Herbal Essences has released a new line for Spring 2014 called Naked. All of the products in the line are free of sulfates, parabens and dyes. I posted a photo of the whole collection at Target on my Facebook page the other day, and the line is quite extensive with products for 3 different hair concerns: volume, moisture and shine.
The Cleansing Conditioner is part of the moisture collection and being a former Wen user, I had to try it to see if it was a dupe.
This cleanser was very inexpensive at $4.99 for a large 16.9 oz. bottle with a pump.
This formula smells amazing! It's very herbal and green, not fruity like Herbal Essences' other shampoos. It has rosemary and peppermint extracts in it and the scent lingers in your hair all day long. I don't know about you, but when I put my hair up and let it air dry, I can always smell my shampoo throughout the day, but when I blow dry, the scent disappears. Not so with this... I actually used Carols Daughter Monoi Anti Breakage spray after this, which has a strong scent but after blow drying, all I could smell was the Herbal Essences. Even the next morning, I could faintly smell it when I woke up.
The formula is thick, like conditioner, and spreads easily through wet hair. The bottle says to use 3-4 pumps and since I have long hair, I used 4. What it doesn't say, which I learned from Wen, is that you should rinse your hair for a good minute to really get it saturated and loosen the dirt. Since this isn't as strong as shampoo, you need to massage the water in first and loosen the dirt and buildup a bit. Once I learned that trick, my co-washing experience improved a lot.
I let it sit on my hair for about 4 minutes and then rinsed. My hair felt like silk, even more than when using my regular conditioner. After drying, my chronically parched hair was silky, shiny and full of bounce! Since I have fine hair, I can't co-wash every day or my hair starts to get a little oily on about day 3. But I love using them every other day to give my hair a break!
Here's what my hair looked like afterwards- shiny and smooth with body, not greasy or weighed down. My hair is normally more dull with fried ends, so I'm really happy with this result!
Honestly, I like this even better than Wen, and I will definitely pin this to my dupes board as a Wen dupe!
This was the best $4.99 I've spent in a long time.
This looks fabulous! On a side note, I always wondered why herbal essences changed their original scent to the fruitier ones. I loved the original, so I think I'll love this rosemary mint one too.
ReplyDeleteI noticed Wal-Mart is carrying a rose scent of the cleaning conditioner, but not the naked. Target had the naked but not the rose. Torn between the rose scent or the naked formula...
ReplyDeleteAngela, I saw that at WalMart too! Its part of the Color Me Happy line for color treated hair and it smells just like the rest of their products, kind of fruity floral. The naked one is rosemary mint scented so its quite different. If you like their regular scent, you might like the Color one. :)
ReplyDeleteI just bought this for the first time, do I not shampoo my hair?
ReplyDeleteNo, you aren't supposed to shampoo your hair with them.
ReplyDeleteI am glad you like this. I really wanted to like this line but the scent didn't do it for me. I think I assumed it would smell like Aveda but it just bothers me. It is too strong. If I am using a cleansing conditioner I prefer the line that Loreal has.
ReplyDeleteI have been using this for a week. My only problem, and it is a major one to me, is that I have any oily, easy sweating scalp. In summer its dreadful. I am menopausal and have fine, limp hair. The CC does clean, I like the scent, and I rinse well, but my hair feels immediately as though its more limp and never feels competelh dry.
ReplyDeleteI read somewhere that adding essential oils will help, so I am planning on trying that. Frst up, lavender.