I have always used Johnson & Johnson products for my babies and all three girls had their hair washed using the traditional yellow shampoo until they were around four years old. Their baby brother however has curlyish hair at the back, it's much too long but the thought of taking demon-babe to the hairdressers (with all the stress that would entail) brings me out in a cold sweat so we have to put up with tangles and tears when I get the hair brush out.

It was apparent from a very young age that this was going to be a problem, so when I spotted this Detangling Shampoo in Babies R Us I picked a bottle up despite the ludicrous price of £3.09 for 289ml (Johnson's 'normal' shampoo is £2 or less for the same size bottle). The design is in perfect keeping with the Johnson's range of baby care bottles, the shampoo is a murky blue/green colour which isn't pleasant but is strangely striking. It looks medicinal, not cute and babyfied like the rest of the baby toiletries in the bathroom.

I've used three bottles in the intervening twelve months or so; the thing is that this shampoo is decent enough, unfortunately it's not good enough to warrant extra trips to Babies R Us so I only buy it when I'm in there anyway. It cleans David's hair beautifully, he's blonde and after I've used this shampoo his hair gleams - it looks clean and healthy, a little fluffy maybe but he's too young to care about that!

It doesn't detangle though, and surely if you proclaim yourself to be a 'Detangling Shampoo' this should be your main priority when it's in the developmental stage?! There's a slight improvement in the amount of tangles in the back of his hair but it certainly hasn't detangled it to any useful level. The problem with David's hair is that the curly baby hair is being overlaid now with straighter hair which is stronger, the end result being curls that twist into neighbouring curls and everything then twists around the straight locks. It's a nightmare that has to be dealt with, it would have been great if Johnson's had actually created a product that lived up to its claims!

I like the smell but feel Johnson's have taken a step away from their comforting baby fragrances with this one. It has a very sweet smell, synthetic but pleasant all the same - obviously not in the same LEAGUE as the normal Johnson's baby shampoo but still appropriate for young babies. The actual fragrance doesn't linger on David's hair for long but afterwards his hair smells beautifully clean and fresh, I miss the wonderful smell of the yellow Johnson's when I'm using this though as it makes my baby smell too grown up!

Rinsing is a holy nightmare, thank GOD for the No Tears formula as it's so hard to rinse from his hair that he usually manages to throw himself into at least one position of a face full of shampoo infused shower water per rinsing session. The shampoo doesn't lather well, the gel kind of coats each hair in the same way a conditioner does - only it doesn't, it coats whole clumps of hair and when you start rinsing the water forces the hair together and you miss bits. It's highly irritating; you've a (surprisingly strong) wet and wriggly toddler in one hand and a shower head in the other one - with their centuries of experience you'd think Johnson's would know better than to expect you to have a special third 'rinsing hand'. Anyway, David only cries when the water goes up his nose and doesn't emerge from his bath with red eyes so I can safely say the No Tears thing works.

This is a nice change, that's the way I look at it - I like to swap between different shampoo brands and ranges so why shouldn't the youngest member of the family?!