~L'Oreal Colour Protect Shampoo~

The Colour Protect range offered by L'Oreal includes a few different products designed to prolong the life of coloured hair. The shampoo is designed with highlighted or coloured hair in mind and is enriched with UV filters. L'Oreal claim that this shampoo will leave coloured hair shiny for longer, protected and soft.

~Packaging~

This shampoo is presented in a tall, slim plastic bottle. The bottle is red (as are the other products in the Colour Protect range) and all the essential product information is present. Once the bottle is empty, it can be popped into the recycling bin.

~Price~

Colour Protect Shampoo is available in a 400ml sized bottle.

*Boots - £3.99 (currently part of a 3 for 2 offer)
*Tesco - £3.99. A smaller 250ml bottle can also be purchased priced at £2.89 (and is part of a 2 for £4.00 offer).

~My Thoughts~

I bought both the shampoo and conditioner in this range a good few months ago from Tesco as part of a buy one get one free offer. I chose this particular range as I have coloured hair and L'Oreal is a trusted brand. I have since moved on to try other shampoos as I wasn't completely satisfied with this one.

The actual shampoo is quite thick and certainly thicker than cheaper alternatives. I found that this shampoo lathered up well when massaged into my thick, dry hair. The lather offered was quite luxurious and very soft which made it easy to work with. The lather rinsed fairly easily but I did need to rinse for a little longer than I normally would due to the thickness of the lather.

The scent of this shampoo wasn't to my tastes - it reminded me of a swimming pool abroad and was very chlorine like. The scent was quite strong too and lingered on my hair which isn't pleasant considering I took a dislike to it! I prefer fruity smelling shampoos. Once the lather was rinsed from my hair, my hair looked and felt clean which is exactly what a shampoo should do for hair.

Whilst washing my hair, the shampoo did feel gentle but I noticed that my scalp felt a little uncomfortable and a tad itchy each time I used this shampoo. My scalp is very sensitive and becomes irritated if a shampoo doesn't agree with it so I can only conclude there was something in the shampoo which didn't want to work with my scalp!

As I previously mentioned, my hair is thick and dry so I normally need to use a conditioner after washing my hair. Without conditioner, I noticed my hair appeared fairly soft and bouncy. My colour remained fairly vibrant - L'Oreal claim 7 weeks but I needed to top up my colour before this time anyway as my hair grows really quickly. This shampoo didn't leave any residue on my hair once fully rinsed and I was able to go 2 days before my hair started to feel a little unclean so pretty average for me really.

~Conclusion~

This shampoo cleans and protects well but simply didn't agree with my scalp so I won't be buying it again. Others with less sensitive scalps (like my fiance) may not have the same issues. I used this several times before the itchy feeling on my scalp got the better of me but my fiance finished off the bottle. I wouldn't say this shampoo is any better than cheaper alternatives but product claims are fufilled.

Thanks for reading :)