Ever had a bad hair day? My hair can often be the bane of my life, with the ever changing weather, pollution in London and the daily styling and build up of products I can often be left with a dry, flaky and often quite itchy scalp.

Having tried different lotions, potions, treatments and creams I was yet to find something which worked over a long period of time and it can be quite expensive trying to find a treatment or hair care product that works for you within an ever increasing market.

So off I went to Boots. Boots is one of the many places that I go to, to try a new product the second it hits the shelf, it is convenient, fairly priced and literally a two minute walk from where I live. However, they didn’t have the actual product that I was looking for so whilst perusing their shelves I came across the Boots Expert range, something I hadn’t seen or heard of before.

The Boots Expert range caters for many needs, if you want to rejuvenate your locks, care for your dry scalp, add volume or moisture; those are just some of the products. The man behind this range Stewart Long is a scientist with an impressive background in Science and medical research and he has now involved and has been for the past eight years, in formulating this brand of hair care products solely for Boots and the Boots Brand.

As this particular range was on the 3 for 2 offers I decided to indulge myself and buy the pre-shampoo treatment, the dry scalp shampoo and the conditioner. If you are going to try and solve a problem you might as well do it properly right? Each of these products retail at £2.99 and for that price you get a 200ml white plastic bottle with the boots logo clearly displayed.

Now the bottles themselves do contain the lotion fully, you don’t get half a bottle like you might with other products, so only using a small amount each time you use them they will still last a long time. I used my shampoo and conditioner everyday for 2 weeks to see if there was a notable difference and I hadn’t even used half of the bottle.

So what is the difference between a dry scalp and dandruff, when buying a product it is always a good idea to find out exactly what the problem is and my stylist told me that most people are confused between the two, me included because with both problems visible flakes of skin are present. However, dandruff is usually associated with small white flakes in the hair and upon clothes but the scalp itself is not generally itchy, red or inflamed.

Dandruff is also usually cleared quite effectively by using an anti-dandruff product daily for two weeks. But If your scalp feels tight, itchy, irritated, inflamed or dry and the dandruff product you have bought and used has limited effect in treating the condition, it is likely that you suffer from a sensitive or dry scalp. If this is the case then you need to change your shampoo and conditioner to one which is highly moisturising with aloe vera to help soothe the itching and irritation and possibly find a hypoallergenic shampoo at the same time or ask your hairdresser to recommend a brand to you.

The Boots Expert dry scalp treatment shampoo states that it is “richly moisturising, it gives immediate soothing relief from irritation while treating its causes and gently cleansing hair” and as an added bonus it is also hypoallergenic which means it shouldn’t cause any further irritations. Eager to try my new products I went straight into the shower when I got home. Now if you buy the entire range like I did then you will be using the pre-shampoo treatment which you would use on dry hair before shampooing and then you would immediately use the dry scalp shampoo.

The first pointer to make about this shampoo is that it does come in one of those flip lid bottles which can be hard to open if your hands are wet, however once you do manage to get into your bottle you will only need a walnut sized blob to completely lather your hair and the direction given are that you should apply to wet hair and massage into your hair and scalp and then rinse out, making sure you do rinse your hair out thoroughly ensuring no residue is left behind. Also avoid contact with your eyes because it does sting and should you do this rinse your eyes immediately with warm water.

Now for a hypoallergenic shampoo it does smell quite flowery but it also smells clean, it has a clean smell about it and the smell will linger through your hair for hours after use. The ingredients within the shampoo are listed on the back of each bottle and within that list you will find items such as Cocamide DEA which is used to make the shampoo lather really well, Dipropylene Glycol which is often found in potpourri and other such products to bring about the flowery smell that I have already mentioned and finally Piroctone olamine which is a non toxic ingredient used to treat dandruff and flaky scalps. For further information on any of the ingredients mentioned or to find out what other ingredients are used then please look at the Boots website www.boots.com or ask in stores for more details/

The one thing I noticed after using this shampoo is that not only did my hair look and smell clean it felt clean and it felt lightweight and much shinier than it had done for weeks. The itching and flaking I am pleased to say was treated very quickly and within a matter of weeks my scalp has been totally transformed and it no longer looks like I’ve just walked into the house through a snow blizzard, instead I am flake and itch free with clean smelling hair.

So would I recommend this product? On it’s own I don’t think I would because the entire dry scalp range has worked for me a three part shampooing and conditioning experience and I would never use one of the products alone because they clearly compliment each other, but as a package I would definitely recommend them because they are effective, reasonably priced and last for quite a long period of time.