Leaves hair more stressed! (Cairol Daily Defense 2 Shampoo)

Member Name: chinnyli

Product:	Cairol Daily Defense 2 Shampoo
Date:	15/04/02 (196 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Um, the bottles are kinda pretty

Disadvantages: Doesn't protect or moisturise hair at all!

I'd had my eye on Clairol's Daily Defense range ages before I got round to buying it, cos well, it claims to "replenish and protect" from the drying effects of everyday environmental and styling stresses. What with me travelling into London's city centre every day, and then partying in the very polluted smoky pubs, gigs and clubs every night (OK I'm exaggerating, more like once a week!), it sounded ideal for a city worker like me.

What always put me off was the price though, which at £2.99 per 300ml bottle I thought was a bit steep, considering that most other ranges, including Clairol's other haircare range Herbal Essence, costs only £2.19 per bottle (or £1.12 in Tesco) for 250ml.

So obviously I was delighted when I found this on a buy-one-get-one-free offer about a year ago, and promptly acquired both the shampoo and conditioner.

The shampoo comes in a transparent bottle, with a picture of lilac clouds at the back. The conditioner comes in a pinkish opaque bottle, meaning that you can't see how much of it you've used. Both bottles come with a lid that pulls up so that the liquid comes out through a small hole at the top, so you shouldn't be able to accidentally pour out too much or make a mess (like I do :). You can also twist the lid off as normal in case you do want to pour out more or reuse the bottle. However, the lids aren't very good for standing the bottles upside down, which is gonna be a pain when I need to get the last bit of shampoo out.

Onto the products themselves! They smell similar, 'laundry clean' is the only description I can think of and pleasant enough, especially while lathering it into my hair in the shower.

However, that's where the pleasure ends. The shampoo lathers up quickly, but after rinsing it out I immediately noticed a difference compared to other shampoos I've used. With a good shampoo, my hair will immediately feel soft and smo
oth. Running my fingers through my damp hair, I found I was not only encountering tangles (something which is often solved by using conditioner), but my hair felt dry, not in the non-damp sense, but abrasively dry.

Nevermind, I thought, perhaps the conditioner will sort out the tangles and texture, and seeing as I only blowdry my hair and never use styling products, it should be super effective!

False hopes I'm afraid. After using the conditioner, my hair was still tangled, which as most of you might know, does not bode well when you try to comb it through as the hair is most easily damaged while damp. And worse, after drying my hair off slightly with a towel, well, my hair looked more like a kicked over haystack! It took quite a lot of coaxing with a comb (and lots of lost hair), before I could get my hair back into shape.

Having brushed out the tangles, I usually blow dry my hair on a low setting. I have to admit that immediately after being almost dried (I leave it a tiny bit damp to dry naturally), my hair did actually feel silky smooth, but this didn't last. By the next morning my hair was feeling dry, rough and limp, despite having only washed it the previous evening, and I hadn't even stepped out the front door yet!

Leaving your hair to dry naturally doesn't help either, in fact seems worse as my hair (at just past shoulder length) gets kinks easily making it look even messier, especially if I haven't brushed out the tangles properly!

Another thing, is that after washing my hair the morning after I'd been to a club, gig or pub, I found that the shampoo/conditioner didn't quite get rid of the smell of stale smoke from my hair. Admittedly I haven't found anything that's managed to do this yet with the first wash, but I had expected more from this.

The range promised so much with its "exclusive nutrient complex of proteins, vitamin E, protective conditioners, UV filter
s and pro-vitamin B5". All I can say, is they must've forgotten those ingredients in the bottles I bought!

The bottles have lasted me nearly two months now (I wash my hair roughly every other day), and during that time I still haven't seen an improvement. Frankly I'm glad I didn't pay full price for these, and I'm afraid I won't be bothering to buy them again - I've used far better products for less.

Since buying this, I've found these cheaper in some shops. It still costs £2.99 in Boots, but you can get it for £2.49 in Superdrug, or £1.09 for a smaller 200ml bottle in Tesco.

http://www.clairol.co.uk/ddFeatures.jsp for empty promises...

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