Cheap and Fruity Part Two! (Alberto Balsam Strawberries and Cream Conditioner)

Member Name: pink_glitter

Product:	Alberto Balsam Strawberries and Cream Conditioner
Date:	19/04/09 (113 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: leaves hair untangled and soft, cheap

Disadvantages: scent

I bought a bottle of the Alberto Balsam Strawberries and Cream Conditioner at the same time as I bought the matching shampoo. My main reason for the purchase was mainly that I am trying to save a bit of money at the moment, and I seriously need to cut down what I spend on beauty products, as it can get a bit out of control at times!

This conditioner is specifically for dry or damaged hair, and unfortunately my hair is both of those things, due to my over zealousness with the hair straighteners. My hair (as well as being dry and damaged) is long and thick, so a good conditioner is vital, as my hair easily tangles.

This particular conditioner claims to strengthen the hair with pro-vitamin B5, moisturise and nourish the hair, whilst restoring softness and shine. Like the shampoo it claims that it uses 'most of the same ingredients you'll find in more expensive brands, but at a great price.' Big claims, but did it live up to the hype?

The conditioner comes in a tall round bottle with black flip top lid. It's very similar in appearance to the shampoo bottle, and features a picture of a strawberry on the front.

The conditioner is a pale pink colour, and the first thing I noticed about it, was how watery it is. OK, maybe watery isn't the best word -runny is probably better - but to me that's usually the sign of a poor quality conditioner. I like my conditioners to be thick, as I feel that the thicker they are the more benefits they are having on my hair - whether this is actually the case or not. One benefit of this being such a runny consistency however, is that it's really easy to distribute it throughout the hair.

The smell of the conditioner is much like the shampoo - a rather artificial, and chemical type of strawberry smell. It's OK, but not as nice as some of the other Alberto Balsam varieties I've tried in the past, but I actually think the conditioner slightly better (scent wise at least) than the shampoo, as it has a bit more of a creaminess to the fragrance.

The conditioner should be left on for 1-2 minutes before rinsing. As soon as I rinsed my hair, I could tell that it was tangle free and felt soft.

Once dry, my hair looked and felt pretty good. I can't claim it had outstanding results - it wasn't as though I'd immediately obtained hair that would look good in a shampoo advert, but it was good enough. It felt soft, wasn't dried out or brittle, there were no tangles and it looked healthy with a slight shine.

A 400ml bottle of this conditioner will cost just £1.05 from Boots, but most big chemist chains and supermarkets also stock it.

Given how watery this conditioner was, I wasn't expecting very good results, but I'm pleased to report that I was pleasantly surprised. This left my hair looking and feeling nice, and although it wasn't the best conditioner in the world, it still gave decent results, and did more than expected for the price.

Summary: Give it a try