Smooooooth operator! (Alberto VO5 Silky Smooth Elixer Conditioner)

Member Name: fruityzo

Product:	Alberto VO5 Silky Smooth Elixer Conditioner
Date:	01/06/09 (53 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent conditioning properties.

Disadvantages: Left my hair somewhat unmanageable.

Being the offer-hungry kinda gal I am, I spotted the 'Elixir' range (new from VO5) in Tesco for a mere £1 per 300ml bottle. Needless to say I decided to give it a try.

Normally the Elixir range retails around the £2.12 mark, depending on where you shop. However I do know that Wilkinsons are currently doing a BOGOF at this price, and my local Poundland also have this product in stock (& thus likely most of their other stores will).

THE PRODUCT:

I am reviewing the 'Silky Smooth Elixir - with satin silk' conditioner. This is "for dull, frizzy, heat damaged hair".

However the VO5 website does list the entire Elixir product range; this includes 7 different kinds of shampoo & conditioners, for various hair types, including coloured hair. They appear to have covered all bases with this range, so I do believe there is something for everyone here.

The website [vo5.co.uk] also contains a little 'quiz' to help you pick which of the range would be best suited to your hair and lifestyle - quite a nice touch I thought.

The Elixir range is "infused with 5 vital oils". The 'Silky Smooth' conditioner mentions these oils as being; avocado, jojoba, apricot, almond, & grape seed oil.
A quick scan of the ingredients list also throws up Rosemary Leaf Extract & Sunflower Seed Oil.

The bottle is predominantly a creamy, off-white, with a pink lid & accents. It has a slight asymmetric slope to the top of the bottle.
A bonus of the packaging being that the lid is at the bottom of the bottle, so you do not have to turn it upside down when the product is running low.

USAGE:

The conditioner itself is a good consistency (not so runny that it slips off your hand, but neither too thick to work through your hair effectively).

Fragrance-wise, it didn't smell the way I was expecting. I thought due to the above mentioned oils that it would have a fruit based smell, however it seemed to be very 'perfume' based. I can't actually put my finger on the scent, but it is pleasant enough.

The bottle does not mention how long to leave the conditioner on for, but I did the usual 2 minutes and found that it rinsed out very easily.

RESULTS:

The results have left me in two minds over how to feel about this product:

POSITIVES:

I found that it left my hair VERY soft and smooth. I wouldn't say the end result after drying was "luminous shine", as the bottle claims, however, I did feel that my hair had a somewhat 'brighter' and better sheen to it.
The smell of this product is quite strong, so could still be smelt on my hair for a couple of days afterward, even with the use of my very stinky hairspray!

NEGATIVES:

*Now in fairness, these negatives are relevant to me rather than it being the cause of a bad product.*

Although it is a conditioner, and the whole premise is to make your hair soft (I know some will find this a strange complaint!), but I found it made my hair TOO soft. By this I mean that it was completely unmanageable for a couple of days afterward - I could not get any style out of it, as it just would not hold (even with a large amount of hairspray).

I also found that although the scent of this product was fairly pleasant, I did find it a tad too strong. It is nice that the smell lingers on the hair, but I felt that it was a little overpowering for my personal taste.

CONCLUSION:

I don't think it'd be fair marking this product down for doing its job (even though it isn't really the right thing for my hair), so I'm going to give it 4 stars. After all, it is a conditioner, and it did exactly as its supposed to!

However, if you are the sort of person that styles your hair (especially putting it up in any manner), I would recommend that this conditioner is best used as an occasional one, rather than a daily - as you may struggle with unruly, fluffy-soft hair (as I did)!

Although I would not buy it again to use as a frequent conditioner, I do think that it does what I'd expect from the more expensive conditioning 'masks' that are on the market.
Taking this into account (and the current price of the product), I'd suggest it is a great product to have in the cupboard for when your hair needs a little pampering boost (and saving yourself £5-£6 instead of buying a special separate conditioner).

Summary: Not suited to me, but is definitely worth trying.