No friend of mine! (Umberto Giannini Curl Friends Easy Comb Conditioner)

Member Name: glitter_princess

Product:	Umberto Giannini Curl Friends Easy Comb Conditioner
Date:	20/10/08 (135 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Makes styling curls easier

Disadvantages: Manly smell; poorly designed bottle

I've been experimenting with the curly look recently so when I saw Umberto Giannini's Curl Friends range I was thrilled- a range of products which claims to 'do what they say'. And this 'super rich conditioner' claims to give you 'the glossiest frizz-free curls and waves' whether your hair is naturally curly or straight. For a mere conditioner that seems like a pretty big claim but being the advertisers' dream that I am, I stocked up on this, filled with naïve gullibility.

The Curl Friends range is packaged to appeal to the girly girls among us: the conditioner itself is pale pink and this is complimented by silver writing and a silver lid. All in all, the packaging looks very classy. It's a shame really then, that the packaging is so unmistakably phallic that it draws many smirking, witty comments from everyone from fellow shoppers, to check-out people, to housemates. But in terms of sheer practicality, the packaging of this product is very disappointing. Remove the silver lid, and to get the conditioner out you have to squeeze the bottle very hard. While this design is fine for shampoo, for a thicker conditioner it just doesn't work! Getting that last little bit out of the bottle is going to be a nightmare!

Well, let's move on from the disastrous packaging and onto the product itself. Considering the girly girl target market, I can't help wondering why it's fragranced like men's aftershave! If you've ever smelt Jean Paul Gaultier Classique for men, it smells exactly like that- there's no mistaking the masculine smell! I love the scent on a man, but on me? No way!

Once you've finally got it out of the bottle, it spreads nicely in your hands and does feel quite rich. It massages into the hair nicely and rinses out easily. However, the actual results it achieved with my hair were distinctly unimpressive. Despite being called a 'super rich' conditioner, it didn't moisturise my hair any more than my normal conditioner and I actually found that my hair was more frizzy than normal. In terms of its curling effect, I didn't find that this actually created curls in my hair, although it did make styling my hair in curls slightly easier. But don't be fooled that this on it's own will create tumbling sexy curls- I need to use Frizz-Ease, scrunching jelly and curling mousse after using this conditioner to achieve the effect I want!

Priced at £4.49 for 250ml, this is a reasonably expensive conditioner, putting it on a par price-wise with Nicky Clarke, Aussie, Toni & Guy and the like. I think I'll be sticking to my regular Aussie conditioner in future!

Products that 'do what they say'? Don't believe everything you hear!

Summary: Disappointing conditioner for curly hair