Product Review: Glossy Locks Shampoo and Conditioner [UPDATE!!!]
UPDATE BELOW!
Remember those Dare cookies that you were always bummed to find in the pantry when you were a kid because they had currants in them instead of chocolate chips? But you might as well have one anyway, you’d reason, because you could lick off that really good white icing that tasted kind of like sugary coconuts? Anyway, if you do remember those cookies, and you remember how good they smelled, then you’ll have an idea what my hair smells like right now.
Last night I whipped out the brand-new Glossy Locks shampoo and conditioner—a new line from none other than 100% Pure, whose face sunscreen I love—and stuck it in my friend’s face. “Is this…too much?” I hadn’t tried it yet but the smell was overwhelming in an I-can’t-tell-if-this-is-good-or-bad way. “No way,” he said. “It smells like those cookies.” I’m fairly sure we were talking about different cookies—he’s a New Yorker and I think those currant cookies are a Canadian thing—but the cookie consensus was in. This shampoo and conditioner smells super sweet.
The even better news? While intensely smelly coconut things are usually artificial mélanges cooked up in a lab in New Jersey, this stuff is completely synthetics free, and it doesn’t linger on your hair and make you smell like a teenager.
But enough about the smell. What’s it like to use?
The shampoo is more of a cleansing milk: Few to no bubbles, and you need very little. It’s thin and watery, like a rinse, but applied to my roots and massaged in it was definitely cleaning my hair. The conditioner, meanwhile, is super rich—almost as rich as the Rare Elements Alexandra and I looooove (ahem, and you may have noticed their logo just went up on our site… you know what that means!). So I melted about a tablespoon worth by rubbing my palms together, then ran it through my hair. The whole experience was really rather pleasing.
Now, whenever I try a new hair line, I put it to the airdry test. When you own a good hairdryer, it’s impossible to tell what’s a miracle of heat styling and what’s product. Well, you’re in for it, Glossy Locks, because it’s set to hit 92 degrees in New York (ew) and humid: The perfect day to road test a new regimen.
The result so far? Since I’ve been up for HOURS I think it’s fair to assess: Bouncy, shiny, contained waves and basically zero frizz. Not bad, I’d say. Not bad. (And if something goes terribly wrong by lunchtime, I’ll update this post, promise!)
UPDATE: I was a greaseball by 8pm :( Like, total greaseball. Couple things: It was really hot yesterday, and I might have used too much. Today I used it again and used way less conditioner and didn’t put it on my roots. So far, so good. Stay tuned.
Here are the ingredients below. Japanese honeysuckle abstainers won’t like that in there as a preservative, but the rest of the list is clean as a whistle. And as for the “coconut flavor,” since the company promises it’s synthetics free with no artificial smells, too, I’m guessing they’re using food grade 100% natural flavoring to boost the smell a little.
Shampoo Ingredients: Honey, Concentrates of Green Tea, Burdock, Nettle, Rosemary, Peppermint, Rose Petals, Calendula and Hibiscus, Aloe Juice, Vitamin E (a-tocopherol), Coconut Milk Powder, Saponified Coconut Oil, Rice Protein, Wheat Protein, Panthenol (Pro-Vitamin B5), Colloidal Oatmeal, Neem Oil, Citric Acid, Extracts of Japanese Honeysuckle, Grapefruit Seed, Thyme, Oregano, Cinnamon, Rosemary, Lavender and Goldenseal, Coconut Flavor.
Conditioner Ingredients: Infusion of Green Tea, Burdock, Nettle, Rosemary, Peppermint, Rose Petals, Calendula and Hibiscus, Aloe Juice, Honey, Rapeseed Oil, Vitamin E (a-tocopherol), Avocado Butter, Virgin Coconut Oil, Shea Butter, Cetyl Babassuate Oil, Rice Protein, Wheat Protein, Panthenol (Pro-Vitamin B5), Colloidal Oatmeal, Neem Oil, Vitamin C (ascorbyl palmitate), Coconut Milk Powder, Citric Acid, Extracts of Japanese Honeysuckle, Grapefruit Seed, Oregano, Thyme, Cinnamon, Rosemary, Lavender and Goldenseal, Coconut Flavor.
At $9-18 for the shampoo and for the conditioner—$18 for EIGHT OUNCES—and considering how little of each product you need, this seems like a good deal to me.
I like 100% Pure and use some of their products, I’m okay with the Japanese honeysuckle. Too bad (for me) these particular items aren’t gluten free.
ummmmm….on the Rare Elements, hope to see some discussion of how clean their products are. The ingredients as listed on their website don’t look clean to me.
Oops, I meant to pub that response! Here it is again Rebecca: Their shampoo currently contains phenoxy but they are going to get rid of it. The deal we’re planning with them is for the conditioner though: http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/product/178383/Rare_Elements_International_Hair_ESSENTIAL_CONDITIONER/
I LOVE 100 Percent Pure and have used a ton of their products. To me, this doesn’t smell so much like coconuts as maple-brown sugar oatmeal. It’s too strong if a scent for me, but my kids adore it.
Hi my question isn’t about this particular product review but all sulfate free shampoos. I’ve recently tried several times off and on to use sulfate free shampoo and and having trouble. I have fine hair that gets oily rather quickly and i feel like when i use the sulfate free shampoo my roots still feel and look oily almost more oily then before i washed it. Also i feel like the back of my head has a film to it. I have read a couple places that maybe by scalp is adjusting, is this possible? or am I maybe am using the products wrong?
I used this for about a week, and I have to say, almost all of my makeup and skin products are 100% pure, but the hair stuff did not work for me. My hair is fine, blonde, and limp and this made it look slick, stringy, and dark (dirty). Although it does smell like what I’d choose as my last thing to smell before I die.
@Katie, I have had wonderful results from sulfate free shampoos, with no “adjustment period,” though others may have had different experiences. Maybe look for a shampoo that doesn’t have a lot of heavier oils, like Griffin Remedy Daily Shampoo, http://griffinremedy.com/product.php?id=399, which smells great and I find gives a good lather and really takes out any greasiness. It’s available at my local Whole Foods too. The matching conditioner is very light and nice, both smell great. I have really thick hair that needs lots of moisture, so when I need to wash my hair more than every few days as I do now with summer weather, I use Elava Botanik’s avocado shampoo. That one is probably way too heavy for you (I don’t even need to use conditioner), but they have other shampoos I’ve heard are good too. Everything I mentioned is gluten free.
Thanks Rebecca,
I will look into those ; )
@Katie you might want to try Keys Care Foaming Shampoo, I have fine hair that gets oily too, but Keys does the trick. I’m not sold on the conditioner yet, but I might try the griffin remedy. Keys’ is sulfate and paraben free also vegan. http://www.keys-soap.com/xcart41/home.php?cat=22
Regarding sulfate free, I actually had excellent success when I used my baby’s allover over body/hair wash in an emergency oops. Peter Rabbit Organics, Garden Fresh Carrot and Pumpkin Baby Shampoo and Wash. Made by EcoNatura. His hair is super baby fine (to be expected from an 11 month old!) and mine is super thick and heavy. It works quite well for both of us. There’s also no gluten or fragrances, nothing that causes estrogenic activity, and and huge long list of other “nos” even no GMOs, and it’s vegan-ok.
I love the smell on him, but it does NOT blend well with my perfume, which is just a personal thing.
I tried the 100% Pure hair care & wasn’t fussed, either. I don’t like my product to have too strong a smell (if any at all) and I struggled with the non-foaming, also feeling it wasn’t quite leaving my hair clean, but this was before I truly embraced the “clean scene” so perhaps I’d have more patience to give it a more thorough try now. I love the Rahua shampoo and conditioner – quite pricey but a little goes a very long way and it’s something I splurge on because I just haven’t found much else in the clean product area that I really like. (I’m totally willing to switch to a cheaper brand if I happen upon something good, though. Hopefully the NMDL team will continue to explore the world of shampoo & conditioner for us!)
I tried these products after reading your recommendation. I’m very happy with them. I used a little more shampoo than you described, basically massaging my scalp with it and then rinsing it out. I also used a lot less conditioner than you described. My wavy hair ended up curlier and shinier than ever! Even my “second day hair” looks great—and that’s during a Chicago heat wave! Honestly, I’m getting compliments from people I don’t even know. The shampoo is quite thin and takes a little getting used to, but it’s worth it.