When it comes to dandruff, I am lucky enough that I do not need to use an anti dandruff product constantly, just a flare up every 4/5 months. Recently I had one of those flare ups, and let it get quite bad until I could not even brush my hair slightly without having thick flakes loosen from my scalp. I had a look at the usual cure - Head and Shoulders - in a few different shops, and was really shocked that the lowest price I could find a bottle at was £4.99 (there are smaller bottles around but I have really long thick hair, so the bigger bottles are needed where its concerned!) and as I needed the shampoo and the conditioner, i drew the line at spending £10 out for non designer hair products! During a shopping trip with my sister in law, she had a Boots voucher to spend and only wanted one product, so asked if there was anything I needed, and together we came across this bottle of 2-in-1 anti dandruff shampoo by L'oreal Elvive for under £3.

The bottle is an eye catching bright blue colour (lighter than the picture above) with a bright pink flip cap, and sliver and pink logo and writing. What I like about the bottle is it explains to us why we get dandruff - 'Dandruff can occur when the skin on the scalp looses its balance. To effectively combat dandruff, you need to act on visible flakes while caring for the scalp, helping to restore a natural balance.'
The product also combines two ingredients, Actirox and Equaderm, which together apparently reduce the appearance of white flakes and calm the scalp.

I was dubious about using a 2-in-1, my hair is naturally course, thick and not really easy to manage so I tend to go through a lot of conditioner, and previous experience of 2-1in-1's hasn't been great, but I was willing to give it a try.

The first thing that struck me when I popped the cap was the smell, usually I find anti dandruff shampoo's do not smell particularly pleasant, almost chemically, but this one smells lovely, almost with a hint of a fruity smell, although I cannot find anything on the bottle that explains what the scent is!

After soaking my hair, I squeezed a big blob out of the bottle into my hand, the shampoo is thick, which I liked as it usually means you use less, and a green colour. It lathered into my hair really well, and even though the bottle doesn't call for it, I massged it well into my scalp. As I started to wash it out, I began to worry this was where my experience would turn sour, waiting for my hair to get that straw like feel to it, but it still felt fairly soft as I rinsed it out.

After towel drying my hair, I went to brush. It was pretty obvious to me that I had not used a separate conditioner, and it took me slightly longer than usual to get my hair brushed, but once I had it felt ok, and once dry it didn't really feel much different to any other time I have washed it.

Of course, the feel of my hair was not what was important, whether or not I still had a head full of fake snow was. Going through my hair, I was amazed at how little dandruff there appeared to be on my scalp, and there were none of those telltale flakes to be seen. It was terrific!
A few days later when my hair needed washing again, I thought I would test it. I tipped my head upside down, and rubbed my scalp, trying to set free any flakes that would be there. Upon inspection, i couldn't believe it when there were just a few flakes left. And now, after using the shampoo twice, I can honestly say there is no dandruff on my scalp at all. When I have dandruff my scalp tends to be rather itchy, too, and I haven't had any irritation at all. I did use some of own normal conditioner after washing the second time, just so it was easier to brush my hair after, and it didn't affect the way the shampoo worked for my scalp at all.

I will now make sure I always use L'oreals anti dandruff shampoo, I found it worked amazingly well for me, it worked a lot quicker than Head and Shoulders, and for over £7 cheaper than what H&S would have cost me for a seperate shampoo and conitioner, it was so worth it!