As the product I am reviewing today is one that belongs to Avon's bath-time range for children, namely the Avon Kids Super Gentle Conditioner, you might guess, that I am not the sole beneficiary of the product's merits and I'd like to introduce you to my little daughters :
Anna (5) and Melis (4)

They both have very long hair for their age, Anna's hair, when wet, reaches the back of her knees and Melis' reaches her buttock. While Anna has very thin and fine hair that is slightly curled at the end, Melis' hair is thick and totally straight.
Every single day - and especially after washing their hair - the same drama unfolds in our household: As soon as it is time to comb their hair our little one is in tears and by the time I am finished with detangling it, the neighbours are wondering if it isn't about high time to alert social services.
Anna is not only the older one but also the brave one, as her hair gets much more tangled up an knotty, but every now and then - on especially bad days - she too is left in tears and begs for me to stop.
Not nice for mummy either and daddy, who always veto's my feeble attempts to suggest a haircut, is somehow always very busy when it is time to comb his daughters hairs.

Over the years we have tried several conditioners for the girls hair - all brought some relief but didn't exactly knock me over - and it was in the end my older one, who convinced me to give the Avon Super Gentle Conditioner a try. She had spotted it in one of my brochures - it was on offer for representatives to buy two items from the range and get a fishing game for free.
Well, you can probably guess what she was really after, but it was a good offer and so why not ?


The packaging :
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Avon Kids Super Gentle Conditioner comes in a bright blue bottle with a yellow flip top. The top is very easy to open and I would recommend to keep it out of reach for the little ones, as I don't think that children that are older than maybe 1 1/2 would have too many difficulties opening it.

To make the bottle more appealing for children Avon have given it a face with big eyes, smiley expression and feet. My girls quite liked this design and found it to be "cool".

The bottle contains 250 ml.


The product
++++++++++

After washing the girls hair and rinsing it thoroughly I opened our cheerful bottle. What hit me straight away was the smell of coconut that evaporated into our bathroom. The scent of a product is certainly the one point everybody has their personal preferences - coconut is about at the bottom of the list of mine ! It is much to sweet for my taste but the kids found it "yummy " (makes mental note - reduce intake of Bounties for the kids)

The conditioner is very thick and creamy and totally white, which the kids found a bit disappointing as they had hoped it would be as blue as the bottle. Well, it was fine with me though.

I have applied an amount of about the size of a 50 p coin to Melis hair, somewhat more on Anna's. I was a bit surprised that this seemed to be enough as I had needed much more than this with our old product. I always keep the children's conditioner on for about 5 minutes until I rinse their hair and have done so with this one as well. The fishing game came in handy to keep them busy in the meantime...

When it was time to rinse it of it came out very easily and didn't leave any residues, as some other conditioners do which can make the hair look flat and greasy.
After drying their hair with a towel I couldn't see any difference in their hair, it was the same tangled up mass as usual after washing it, but it did feel a bit softer than it used to and the smell of coconut was clearly around.


The result :
+++++++++

Both girls are dry again and dressed in their pyjamas and the moment we all hate has come : I take the comb, the kids go quiet (tearful look in the little ones eyes) and my husband remembers that he wanted to hoover the car...

As usual I start with Anna, the older one, as Melis is just too scared and wants to see, if here sister gets over the ordeal unharmed.

As soon as I start to comb her hair I can feel the difference, the comb seems to glide through her hair without many problems, the tangles and knots dissolve without any pulling and the her hair is straight and tidy within 3 minutes. Now this is certainly a record for us and I am amazed.
Even more so is my daughter whom I am trying to send of to play. First she didn't want to move, insisted that I " do the job properly " (thanks for the trust sweetheart ) and only after a quick look in the mirror she is convinced that she doesn't look like Spot from Bob the builder.
" That was quick today mummy !" was her last comment before she ran of to her dolls - which pretty much sums it up.

I didn't have any problems with my younger daughters hair either and I didn't expect any, as her hair is always easier to detangle. She did cry a bit, but I suspect that was because she always used to do so while I combed her hair and after some more washes with Avon's conditioner she totally stopped that now.

After their hair had dried totally it had a lovely shine to it, didn't look dull or tired at all, something we had encountered with other products, especially the ones that are hard to wash out and seem to leave residues in the hair.

The next morning, when I had to comb their hair to get them ready for school we were all pleasantly surprised that I still was able to detangle their hair - which had become all mixed up over the night again - without much effort again. All in all the time I spend to tidy their hair up has been reduced by more than half - forget about the tantrums and the tears at the sheer sight of the comb...

The conditioner does state that it is a "no tears" product if the kids should get it into their eyes while washing their hair. I cannot comment if this is true as we never had that problem and you might understand that I didn't really want to make the test just to be able to do so ....


All in all I can recommend this highly to anyone who has a small child and is facing similar problems as we did. I wish I had tried it before as it would have saved me a lot of nerves and my girls a hell lot of discomfort.
My only little complaint is the sweetish smell of coconut, which I am really not too keen on, but this disappears fairly quick and one day after the wash is only detectable if you really press your nose into your little ones hair.

Apart from that, our car could do with a good cleaning again, as my husband has been robbed of his chance to disappear and do it undisturbed now.

Other products in the Avon Kids Bathtime range:
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Mild & Gentle Body Wash
Mild & Gentle Bubble Bath
2-in-1 Gentle Shampoo for Fine Hair
2-in1 Gentle Shampoo for Thick Hair
Detangling Spray
2-in-1 Super Gentle Shampoo for Normal Hair


Price and Availability :
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Only at Avon, either through their catalogue/representative or their website:

www.avon.uk.com

Item no: 21881

Price at the time of writing is £2.50 for a bottle of 250ml. This seems a bit steep to me, but Avon being Avon there is always a deal on such as buy-one-get-one-free or everything half price, so it is worth to look out for those offers and stock up.


Thanks for reading this, Sandra