Cheap and Fruity! (Alberto Balsam Strawberries and Cream Shampoo)

Member Name: pink_glitter

Product:	Alberto Balsam Strawberries and Cream Shampoo
Date:	18/04/09 (187 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Leaves hair clean and soft, cheap

Disadvantages: smell is a little bit artificial

I've been trying to save money, especially on beauty products, as that is where a large proportion of my disposable income goes - if you hadn't already guessed from all my reviews! I have used Alberto Balsam shampoos and conditioners before and found them to be OK and often with nice fragrances you wouldn't necessarily expect from a cheap brand, and at just £1.05 a bottle from Boots, I decided to give the Strawberries and Cream variety a try.

The shampoo is for dry/damaged hair, and as someone who regularly straightens my hair, my hair can get quite damaged from the constant heat, which also dries it out, so this sounded ideal for me.

The shampoo comes in a tall bottle with a picture of a strawberry on the front. It has a flip top lid and is OK to look at, and serves it's purpose well.

The bottle tells me that this shampoo 'uses most of the same ingredients you'll find in more expensive brands' on the back. I have to admit I was slightly sceptical about this claim. Whilst it may be true, I suspect that the ingredients may not be of the same quantity or quality found in expensive brands, but obviously that's just my thoughts, I may be totally wrong.

The shampoo is pink in colour and quite a thick consistency. I love the smell of strawberries, and expected this strawberries and cream scented shampoo to smell lovely, as many of the previous Alberto Balsam products I've used have had lovely fruity scents. I thought however that the scent of this shampoo, although clearly identifiable as strawberry, smelled a quite artificial and a little bit chemically, which was a little disappointing.

The shampoo lathers up well, and only a small amount is needed to wash even my hair, which is long and thick. I use a lot of products in my hair, and I sometimes find that I need to wash it twice for it to feel clean, however I've only ever needed to wash it once with this shampoo.

After drying my hair, not only does it feel clean, but it feels really soft too. I have frizz-prone hair, and find that after washing my hair with this it is often quite frizzy and 'puffed up' but I use frizz-taming products on it anyway, so it's not too much of a problem. Also, this does seem to have some positive effects on the dryness of my hair. I wouldn't say it's particularly moisturising, however, my hair doesn't feel as dried out and brittle after using this as it sometimes does, which I wasn't really expecting from such a cheap product. Because it's not so dry it also looks a bit healthier than normal, and my hair looks quite shiny too.

A 400ml bottle of this costs £1.05 from Boots, but they often have special offers of two bottles for £1.50.

Overall, I was quite pleased with this shampoo, it left my hair looking and feeling good, the only negative side, however, was that the smell was a bit artificial, so it loses a mark for that.

Summary: Don't knock it til you try it!