No Lift with Aussie But A Touch of the Down Unders! (Aussie Real Volume Shampoo)

Member Name: skidd

Product:	Aussie Real Volume Shampoo
Date:	08/04/09 (223 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Pleasant smell. Lathers well. Goes a long way

Disadvantages: Doesn't do what it claims. No lift, no thickening, no volume to speak of

Glancing through the special offers at Tesco, something I do more often in these penny pinching times, I stumbled upon some Aussie hair care products at an enticing one third off, just £2.27 instead of £3.40. I have not used Aussie products for years not through any dissatisfaction but because I just drifted away. In fact I seem to recall I was quite a fan and always found their shampoos especially effective leaving the hair feeling as if the shampoo had also acted as a conditioner. As my hair is fine, flyaway and always in need of some body I went for their Real Volume Shampoo and eagerly anticipated the results. How boring is my life that a new shampoo can cause me so much excitement?

Of course there can be no prizes for guessing whence Aussie products originate or can there? I was surprised to learn that, although the ingredients are supposedly from the land of the kangaroo, they were developed by an American hair supremo, Tom Redmond. Apparently when visiting Oz in 1979, he was introduced to many local fruit and other natural remedies. He was impressed by such delights as blue gum leaves, Australian custard apple. Quandong, mint balm, wild cherry bark and Jojoba seed oil and it dawned on him that such exotic ingredients might well benefit tired frazzled locks. From this experience came his first product the Aussie 3 Minute Miracle Reconstructor quickly followed by many other lines designed to cope with problem hair. In 1997 Redmond Products was sold to Bristol-Myers Squibb and became part of Clairol which in 2001 was sold to Procter & Gamble. I didn't know all this when I made my purchase. It's so easy to be fooled into thinking you are buying from quite a small specialised concern and that because its products are based on natural ingredients they must be ethically sound only to find out you are actually adding to the coffers of a huge multinational and in this case one with very poor environmental and animal testing credentials!

Nevertheless, remembering Aussie from the old days, I looked forward to the experience of trying this Real Volume shampoo. The cream opaque plastic bottle is quite a plain but brightened by the familiar purple logo with its leaping kangaroo and matching cap. I read that this 300ml of shampoo contains "extract of Australian hops" which leaves the hair "with body and fullness from roots to tips." I wondered for a minute about the hops but then had to smile as I remembered that, when I was a nipper, my Mum used to wash my hair using a very popular beer shampoo! Well perhaps fifty years ago we knew a thing or two because I read on and apparently the proteins in the hops coat the hair and help build it up! Most of the other ingredients, which I have to squint to read, are incomprehensible and unpronounceable but I do note the presence of citric acid, Hawaiian white ginger and wild cherry.

In the shower, the handy rocker mechanism dispenser is easy to cope with and I pour a little of the colourless clear liquid into my palm. There is an aroma and quite a pleasant one but it's difficult to describe. Quite sharp at first it then settles into a gentler fusion of spicy fruitiness with a hint of sweetness. I can't identify the hops but then I realise that, even though I come from Kent originally, I have no idea what hops smell like! I massage it into my wet hair and I don't need a great deal before I am well lathered. Amazingly the directions end there, no mention of rinsing it out and no mention of a second application. I decide rinsing would be advisable and it takes quite an effort to clear all the bubblea but eventually my hair is squeaking.

This was my first experience and it was rather misleading because I invariably use a Trevor Sorbie hair thickening mousse whilst my hair is still damp. I do know this works well and I have already reviewed it. The end result was satisfactory and my hair appeared thick with plenty of body but soft and shiny too. But was it any better than when I used other shampoos? I decided it was too close to call. I did find that my hair still looked quite good the following day and I did not need to wash it again.

The real test came several applications later when my home hairdresser came to give me some streaks and a trim. I washed my hair before he arrived and just left it to dry without any styling products. When it dried I couldn't notice any increased volume. It hung lifeless and sparse and looked a right sight! I used it again when I rinsed out the potions Jermaine used to streak me beautiful. Now Jermaine does not use any styling products when he blow dries my hair and usually he manages to make it look reasonably voluminous being very adept with his brush strokes. However this time I was disappointed. Although it was nicely cut and styled, it looked limp and very flat. After he left I re-brushed it and it was rather fly away even with a hint of static. Of course, this could have been down to the colouring products but it has never happened before and the only difference from previous occasions was the application of the Aussie.

So would I buy it again? Definitely not! It is quite pleasant to use, not exorbitantly priced and seems to be lasting well as a little lathers a long way. The hair feels quite fresh after use and the scalp, clean without any trace of the skin irritation to which I am prone. But unfortunately it just doesn't do what it claims for my hair. There is no lift, no voluminous appearance and "that bit of oomph" promised by the hype on the container never happened for me! I have had better results with other thickening shampoos and I have used cheaper shampoos with no 'volumising' credentials but much the same results. It is not the worst shampoo I have ever used but I think the beer shampoo my Mum used to use did a better job even if it didn't smell as sweet!

Summary: It's nothing special and there are much more effective products around