Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Burt's Bees Raspberry & Brazil Nut Shampoo & Conditioner Review

Burt's Bees Shopping Spree! Whee!!
I went into a Burt's Bees hyper shopping mode when I stopped by the store to pick up a 'few' (yeah, right!) items at The Curve on a fine afternoon with my husband and my sister. My husband just sat at a bench patiently waiting for me and my sister as we browse the neatly and attractively displayed products in the Burt's Bees Store. My intention was to buy just a tube of lip balm and lip shimmer but I ended buying a whole bag full of other stuff as well (a joint shopping spree with my sis - she also got sucked into the zone of buy! buy! buy! haha!). The curse of the gullible shopper!

Well, here's a picture of what we bought:
Our Burt's Bees haul of the day.

What we bought:
1. Rejuvenating Lip Balm with Acai Berry
2. Medicated Lip Balm with Clove Oil (my sis')
3. Lip Shimmer (Rhubarb)
4. More Moisture Raspberry & Brazil Nut Shampoo
5. More Moisture Raspberry & Brazil Nut Conditioner
6. Mama Bee Leg& Foot Creme (one each for me n my sis)
7. Mini Deep Cleansing Cream Pack (my sis', she gave me one tube)

We also received two complimentary items which were packaged inside the brown paper bag with the yellow ribbon:
- Lip Shimmer (Fig) (my sister took this one since I already bought a lip shimmer in Rhubarb)
- Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream (I took this one)

For this post, I will do a review on their More Moisture Raspberry & Brazil Nut Shampoo and Conditioner as those are the first things I eagerly tried when I got home.

Burt's Bees More Moisture Raspberry & Brazil Nut Shampoo and Conditioner
As everyone knows, Burt's Bees is really famous for their lip balms made with natural ingredients. They also carry an awesome line of other products like skin care, hair care and even products suitable for babies. I am quite intrigued to try out their shampoo because of their great reputation in producing great products with natural ingredients.

At the store, my sister and I sniffed at all the shampoo and conditioner testers and I was very captivated by the scent of the Pomegranate and Soy Shampoo but that one is for volumizing which I don't need since my hair is uber thick. The helpful sales assistant suggested I try the Raspberry & Nut which happened to be for dry hair so I picked up both the shampoo and conditioner with high hopes that this is going to be the one that can help rescue my currently dry hair. It smelled all right to me when I sniffed the testers.

Both the shampoo and conditioner comes in a translucent tall and round plastic pet bottles. Both bottles have the same labels and pictures of two raspberries on the front label and the product's name printed above the picture. The only differences are the list of ingredients printed on the right side of the bottle and product information and usage directions printed on the left side of the bottle. Both bottles have white caps with push down tabs with a small square hole for minimal flow of the product or can be unscrewed for a wider access to the content inside the bottles.
Left: Conditioner, Right: Shampoo.
Both bottles have the same white caps.
 Pushing down the white cap.
The white cap also can be unscrewed for better access to the content.

The Raspberry & Brazil Nut Shampoo
Product information: The Raspberry & Brazil Nut Shampoo is a sulfate-free shampoo that effectively cleanses and pampers hair. It moisturizes hair with nature's best hydrators and plant-based cleansers. Raspberry Extract, rich in Omega-3 and essential fatty acids, combines with Brazil Nut Oil to deeply moisturise, nourish and hydrate hair, making it soft, moisturized and beautiful. The featured ingredient - Raspberry Extract - is full of antioxidants that shield hair from harmful environmental elements such as sun and pollution. The shampoo is 98.1% natural and weighs 12 fl oz (350 ml).

The ingredients for the shampoo is: water, decyl glucoside, lauryl glucoside, betaine, glycerin, sucrose laurate, coco-glucoside, glyceryl oleate, coco-betaine, bertholletia excelsa (brazil nut) seed oil, rubus idaeus (raspberry) fruit extract, citrus aurantium bergamia (bergamot) fruit oil, citrus aurantium dulcis (orange) peel oil, litsea cubeba fruit oil, artemisia pallens (davana) oil, hydroxypropyltrimonium honey, fragrance, sodium cocyl hydrolyzed soy protein, hydrolyzed wheat protein, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, xanthan gum, glucose, sodium chloride, citric acid, phenoxyethanol, glucose oxidase, lacroperoxidase.
List of ingredients.

The shampoo has a nice clear yellow colour and is very runny in texture. It lathers very well and rinses off easily too. Out of the bottle, the shampoo has a nice strong mixed berry scent. While shampooing, initially the scent stayed nice and fruity but gradually turned into a pungent and not-so-nice-almost-fishy scent. I think this is where the Omega Fatty Acid thingy kicks in and reared it's ugly smell onto my head. Ewww!
The yellowish runny shampoo liquid in the bottle.

The shampoo also did not meet up to my expectations because even while shampooing, I kind of felt that my hair is going to end up in knots and become very dry. I was hoping that this was not true and placed that hope in the conditioner's performance. My hair felt very coarse and dry.

This is how the shampoo looks like in liquid form:

This is how the liquid shampoo looks like when turned into suds:


The Raspberry & Brazil Nut Conditioner
Product information: The Raspberry & Brazil Nut Conditioner moisturizes hair with nature's best hydrators. The ingredients are hand-picked from nature just for your hair. Raspberry extract's essential fatty acids combined with Marula and Brazil Nut Oils deeply penetrate hair for intense conditioning that fortifies and moisturizes hair without the build-up resulting in soft, beautiful and healthy hair, naturally. The conditioner is 97.5% natural and weighs 12 fl oz (350 ml).

List of ingredients for the conditioner: aqua (water, eau), cetearyl alcohol, glycerin, betaine, cetrimonium bromide, sucrose polystearate, sucrose stearate, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, sclerocarya birrea  (marula) seed oil, bertholletia excelsa (brazil nut) seed oil, rubus idaeus (raspbery) fruit extract, citrus aurantium bergamia (bergamot) fruit oil, citrus aurantium dulcis (orange) peel oil, hydroxypropyltrimonium honey, litsea cubeba fruit oil, artemisia pallens (davana) oil, parfum (fragrance), hydrolyzed wheat protein, glucose,  polysorbate 60, sodium chloride, phenoxyethanol, glucose oxidase, lactoperoxidase.
List of ingredients printed on the label.

The conditioner is milky white and has a soft lotion-like texture. It has the same mixed berry scent out of the bottle like the shampoo but just a tad subtler. It also has the same nice fruity scent when applied initially on hair but the scent changed into a more intense pungent smell bordering on to fishy and not so appealing. Again, the fatty acids of Omega-3 kicking in. Nooooo!
The conditioner. Looks like milk right?

The conditioner spreads easily and gets absorbed into my hair rather quickly but as I distribute the conditioner evenly all over, my hair became quite the opposite of smooth. Usually, conditioners are supposed to make our hair silky smooth so that fingers could run through the conditioned hair without getting stuck in knots, but this conditioner doesn't seem to do that. As I was smoothing the conditioner and massaging it in, my fingers kept getting stuck in hair knots. The conditioner rinse off easily and does not leave any sticky residue on my neck, sides of face and ears.

Here's how the conditioner looked like blobbed onto my palm:

My verdict: Both the Burt's Bees More Moisture Raspberry & Brazil Nut Shampoo and Conditioner did not live up to my expectations and to their name (More Moisture) and advert. Both the shampoo and conditioner did not soften and moisturize my hair at all but made my hair very dry and brittle. My hair got fried and very frizzy especially at the ends. Very disappointing. I am definitely not ever going to buy these again.

You can visit Burt's Bees official website for more information on their shampoos and conditioners.
You can purchase Burt's Bees for RM55.90 each at Burt's Bees outlet store at The Curve, Damansara or at Mid Valley Shopping Mall.

 

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