Soap & Glory Hair Supply: Disappointment after a Big Build-Up (Soap & Glory Hair Supply)

Member Name: Teteenlair

Product:	Soap & Glory Hair Supply
Date:	22/12/08 (264 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Smells nice, not tested on animals

Disadvantages: Expensive, makes hair feel caked and heavy

I'd been wanting to try Soap & Glory for a while as I found the packaging so appealing; I love the fifties style ladies and witty captions ("If you get the product in your eyes rinse with water and perhaps consider wearing goggles next time"!), and I'd seen good reviews of their products. But the price had always put me off - at about £6 per product, I always thought that was a bit much just to try something out. (I've since learned that a mini range is available for some of the products at around £2-3).

So when I saw the current 3for2 (plus free Soap & Glory gift bag!) offer in Boots I thought I'd treat myself. I picked up two body scrubs (thinking one was a face scrub, oops) and this Hair Supply intensive conditioner for around £12.50. I normally use the Aussie 3 Minute Miracle conditioner which I love, but I'd run out and that range wasn't on offer. I just can't bring myself to spend six quid on a conditioner!

I like to use an intensive conditioner a couple of times a week as, although it seems to be in pretty decent condition, I think my hair goes through quite a lot all told. It's fairly long, I have it highlighted every couple of months and wash and blow dry it every day as the roots do get greasy quickly. My daily regime consists of shampoo and conditioner plus a leave-in spray conditioner as my hair is inexplicably curly when it's wet and impossible to get the brush through otherwise. Then once it's dry it can be quite flyaway and static so I'm always on the lookout for products to tame it.

I was excited by Hair Supply, with such claims on the bottle as "Super gloss-giving radiance and repair mask treatment for all hair types" and "Ultra-lite gel formula hydrates and de-frizzes but won't weigh hair down!" It can be used as a daily conditioner and washed out after 60 seconds, or leave it on for 3-4 minutes for a more intensive weekly treatment. I went for the latter and left it on for a good five minutes. It smells really lovely in a hair-producty kind of a way (I don't know how else to describe it - it's not fruity or anything, but does smell gorgeous). When I came to rinse it out, my hair felt really soft and I had visions of myself looking like a mermaid with my luscious locks spreading out in the water. So far so good. The brush went through my towel-dried hair with ease and I was feeling good about things. However, once the hairdryer had started to do its work, my hair began to feel increasingly heavy and sticky as though it had a coating of product on it. Once I'd dried and styled it it looked OK, if a little flat, but felt really greasy and my fingers would get stuck if I tried to run them flirtatiously through my mane.

Upon looking again at the bottle, I noticed another claim: "Coats and controls split ends" - this is obviously why my hair felt so heavy. 'Well in fairness to the product', I thought 'I did leave it on longer than recommended and maybe I didn't rinse it properly'. So I washed my hair as normal the next day to get rid of any build-up and tried again the day after. This time, I decided to go for a 60-second application instead of my normal conditioner, made sure I applied it mostly to the ends and only a tiny smidge at the roots, and concentrated really hard on rinsing it out properly. It occurred to me whilst doing this that hair products are not something one should have to concentrate on first thing in the morning.

Even after all my efforts, although the result wasn't quite as drastic, my hair still felt horrible and sticky so I definitely won't be using this product again. Maybe it's just my hair type, but to be honest I can't imagine what type of hair this would be good for if it makes my fine wisps feel heavy.

Summary: Smells nice, but that's about it. A big disappointment from a respected brand.