I’ve heard so many naturals speak highly of various organic hair care products (Aubrey Organics or Olyn to be specific) and so when I was attending a hair care lecture at The Raisin Rack I noticed these two trial size bottles of Avalon Organics Nourishing Shampoo and Conditioner.  Because I was in the midst of my co-wash challenge I wasn’t immediately able to try the Avalon products on for size, but the very weekend the challenge was over I couldn’t wait to lather up and condition out!  Because lavender is one of my absolute favourite fragrances I just knew I was in for a treat.  Unfortunately… I was tricked.  Apparently not all organic brands are created equal and my experience is proof of that.

First off, the shampoo came across as containing a fragrance that is similar to carpet shampoo.  Now I’m not sure if that is what organic lavender essential oil smells like or if all carpet shampoo use lavender in its fragrance, but what I do know is it’s a smell I’d really not like to associate with my hair and it did not “calm” or “relax” me as the Website claimed it would.  As far as cleansing the shampoo did a decent enough job, but because it was a gel based shampoo my hair did not respond to it well at all.  Even as the shampoo was lathered on my hair, my strands took on a “rough” texture that is the typical reaction my hair has to gel based shampoo.  The lather produced was minimal, which I thought weird because this is a product that contains SLS and I really couldn’t work it into my hair due to the massive amount of tangling the shampoo promoted.  Once the shampoo was rinsed away my hair felt “squeaky” clean, which is never a good thing for coiled hair, as well as brittle.  Not a good feeling at all and not the normal state of my hair after shampooing with my Garnier Fructis shampoos.

Next came the conditioner, which held the exact same carpet shampoo smell.  In addition to that the cream was “watery” and thin in consistency which caused me to have to use more of it than my usual dollop in order to detangle my hair.  Normally when I condition, whether it’s with a Garnier Fructis brand or my avocado-coconut mixture, my curls instantly appear.  With this conditioner my hair felt limp and “flat”, and the brittle feeling the shampoo promoted was still there, which I found rather odd.  Detangling with this product, both with finger combing and using a wide tooth comb, was a chore compared to my experience with other conditioners.  Once I was done detangling I bagged my hair and let the product sit on my hair over night.  When I woke the next month I was highly disappointed that my hair still had the exact same brittle feel to it that it did the night before.  Seems the conditioner just sat on my strands without smoothing them one iota.  When I rinsed the product off my hair came away feeling really light weight and “wiry”, like poodle hair but with really wispy curls.

Not at all the result I’m used to.

The 2 oz. bottles set me back $1.99 plus sales tax each, and for the result that I got I feel I was overcharged.  Because it takes some time for hair to grow used to the effects of a shampoo or conditioner change I was going to reserve my review till after at least two wash cycles.  But by the time midday rolled around and my hair began to feel dry and knotty, I knew I wasn’t going to give these two products another shot.  I could tolerate the carpet shampoo smell (I actually kind of like it though I wouldn’t buy a fragrance that made me smell like washed carpet though *lol*) the look and feel of my hair after just one use was enough to let me know this combination was not for me.  The one redeeming quality of the pair is the tingling sensation of my scalp during use and for a small amount of time after rinsing.  It’s like the cool sensation the comes after using a peppermint oil or spray on tired muscles.  I really liked that, but not enough to subject my hair to that dry, rough, brittleness again.

One more point about this combination is, while the brand name says it’s organic, the labeling is very deceptive.  According to the Website, both the shampoo and conditioner contain only 70% of organic ingredients, one of which is alcohol (doesn’t alcohol dry out hair, whether it’s organic or not?).  The conditioner itself contains six different alcohols, including the organic one, while the shampoo contains two which I am sure accounts for the wispy curls and dryness.  Now while I didn’t spy anything particularly harmful in the list of ingredients, the fact that the company has organics in its title but only 70% of organic ingredients in its products strikes a cord with me.  And not a very good one.  I might have been more impressed with 85 or even 79.5%, but 70 just wasn’t getting it.

And the JB2M rating?

Avalon Organics Lavender Nourishing Shampoo 

Avalon Organics Lavender Nourishing Conditioner  -

I gave the shampoo the benefit of the doubt because it did what shampoos claim to do.  It cleaned.  But beyond that, I will not be buying either of these products ever again and very well might turn them down if they were gifted to me if I’d accidentally slid head first into a mud pit and couldn’t afford to buy shampoo. Maybe it would work better on thinner hair (even though the label says it’s good for all hair types), but I wouldn’t recommend it.

Healthy Hair Wishes,