John Frieda Root Awakening Shampoo & Conditioner

I bought this new range of shampoo and conditioner from John Frieda as I have been variably impressed by the rest of the John Frieda stable (Well, I didn't try the Blonde range obviously!) and I'm always searching for the new next big thing! I'm a bit of a hair slut to be honest, I rarely repurchase the same products twice in a row.

This claims to 'improve hair health from root to tip. Containing Eucalyptus, it invigorates for bouncy, shiny and strong hair'.

Now, I have very thick black hair. I haven't noticed it being especially weak but as I'm trying to grow it longer I want it to be in peak condition. Being so dark, it usually is quite shiny and I find that its shininess level depends more on my physical and mental well-being, such as being run-down and having a cold or times of stress, rather than whatever hair products I use. 

This shampoo and conditioner fairly impressed me. They have a fresh, sweet minty smell, rather like mint aeros and the eucalyptus extracts give the scalp a wonderful tingly feeling that is great for waking you up first thing in the morning. The shampoo lathers up well and leaves my hair feeling squeaky clean and the conditioner is creamy and rinses out without too much fuss.

This leaves my hair very shiny and I find that it is much easier to style and that it stays straight and smooth all day. (I do not use any styling products.) I haven't noticed my hair being any 'stronger' but it feels in very good condition and much healthier (well, as healthy as something that is dead can be anyway!). In line with the other John Frieda products, I don't notice any build up of silicones.

The only downside of this product is the price. I think that they are about £6 each in Boots which is a lot compared to other drugstore brands. I got this in Tescos in a '2 for £7' deal which they have quite frequently and makes it much more reasonable.

When you compare the results of this, however, with the results and price of high-end products such as Keratasé and MorrocanOil (which I will be reviewing soon), it really is quite worth it. Although many other brands attempt it, John Frieda is the best range for achieving high-end results from a mid-market price.

Have you been impressed with any drugstore/supermarket haircare brands lately? Despite my fear and hatred of all Pantene products, I've heard their new Aqua range is quite good. I think I might give it a go next as I haven't heard any horror stories yet!

xx polkadot

Fight!!!

How did we survive without dry shampoo? For festivals, for sleepovers and most of all those grungy days where an extra half an hour in bed is more important than the whole shower-blowdry-straighten rigmarole. And up until now, Batiste has been the original, most widely available, affordable and best.

Until now. We have a new contender entering the ring. In the red corner, Batiste Coloured Dry Shampoo in Black! In the Blue corner, we have TRESemmé Instant Refresh Dry Shampoo! Ding Ding!

OK, I'm going to stop with the boxing analogies now, because I really don't know anything about boxing. Lets just compare the products, shall we?

Colour: When I spray the original white Batiste into my jet black hair, I like to play a game called 'This is what I will look like when I am old and grey'. You should try it sometime, it's really fun. Even when its brushed out, my hair is a lot less black and the colour is a lot flatter. The black Batiste solves this problem because the powder is black instead of white. This is great in your hair, but not so much when you brush it out and your hairbrush is covered in soot.
The TRESemmé is not coloured but does not make me look like I've just seen a ghost, as the original Batiste does.

Smell: Now, I generally dislike the smell of Batiste in all its incarnations. It just smells a bit cheap but I suppose its better than the dreaded Dinner Hair smell. Apparently there is a new version of the original formulation called 'Fresh!' which sounds right up my street but I haven't seen it in stores yet. This black Batiste isn't the worst but its not great either. I'm terrible at describing scents but this is very sweet and kind of smells like Charlie! or So! or one of those awful cheap things we wore when we were 12.
The TRESemmé smells YAMMY as Rachel Allen would say. It smells just like the TRESemmé shampoos and conditioners and isn't your hair smelling like its clean and washed one of the main things you look for in a dry shampoo?

Refreshing-Powers: Maybe it's just me but I always feel that the black Batiste doesn't make my hair feel as clean and refreshed as the original does. It works grand, but it tends to still feel itchy and dirty by the end of the day (gross, right?) whereas a can of the original formulation has got me through Thursday - Monday at Oxegen. Pretty iimpressive, right?!
The TRESemmé has a similar feel to the black batiste, but the real test will be how it feels this evening. As I always wear my hair scraped back in a bun and wear a hairband to distract from the mankiness on dry shampoo days, this actually isn't as much as a deal breaker as the scent is.

Price: I bought this in Superdrug in Enniskillen (my home town when I'm not stomping around Dublin) and paid £2.50 for the TRESemmé and £2.99 for the Batiste. To put this in perspective, they had the original cans of Batiste (in Blush, Tropical and Original scents, all gross) on offer for 99p. Personally, I do not think the black batiste is worth £2 more when a can would not last longer than 4 uses. However, I think the TRESemmé is available in Tescos where everything is a lot cheaper.

The winner: The TRESemmé wins hands down, solely because of the scent. I am so fussy about smells, so much so that I have been wearing the same perfume since I was 14. This actually smells delicious and clean which makes me feel so much better about being lazy!

'Daisy, Daisy, Give me your answer do! I'm half crazy, all for the love of you!'

The answer to your amazing hair of course! I've had a major style crush on Daisy Lowe ever since she hit the scene and it just grows even stronger when I see pictures like this for Biba at House of Fraser. (Love the clothes too, especially the faux-fur leopard coat, but waaay out of my budget!)

Do you remember about six months ago when there was that Facebook craze of putting your 'celeb-lookalike' as your profile pic? Well, some well-meaning but deluded people said my picture should have been of Daisy here. Sensibly I refused, because I didn't want to be like one of those poor unfortunate girls who had Christina Hendricks as their doppelganger just because they were a bit chubby and ginger. Oh dear...

But I suppose they kinda have a teeny-little, tenuous point as I have the (naturally) long black hair, the brown eyes and the boobs. However, I do not have the amazing model height, looks or sexiness. Ah well...

Looking at the picture, I can't figure if it's the way it's cut or the way it is all blow-dried and backcombed, but I could definitely rock this look! My hair is currently about the same length but it's very straight and sleek. Would love this sexy bed head look! I'm sure my beloved Style Club in South William Street could figure it out!

xx polkadot.