The Good: Wonderful floral scent, Easy to use, No residue left in hair, Inexpensive
The Bad: Potential bottle issue.
The Basics: One of my new staple shampoos, Suave Orchid Petal is an inexpensively available shampoo that scents the hair with a bold floral scent likely to please anyone!
Last year on our cross-country trip, my wife and I stopped back in Michigan for a few days to deal with some nagging administrative problems since she moved out to New York to be with me. There, we stayed with one of her friends and I have to confess, I love it when we do. Her friend, who is very nice and always lets us crash when we are in the area, always has the best health and beauty products and she has a wonderful shower which is a nice treat after we're on the road for so long. This last trip, I was excited to try the Suave Orchid Petal shampoo she had in her tub.
Truth be told, my wife is more for the floral smells and I am more for the fruity ones when it comes to hair products, but Suave Orchid Petal shampoo was so good, it made me a convert to flowers for the weekend! I'll confess that I'm not well-versed in flower scents - I can tell pines from roses and roses from lilacs, but that's pretty much it! - but the pleasant scent of Suave Orchid Petal was enough to make me enjoy the shower and the endurance of the scent on my hair was more than enough to allow me to enthusiastically recommend it.
Suave has been expanding its line of inexpensive shampoos and conditioners. In virtually every market in the United States, Suave shampoos and conditioners may be found on sale for $1.50 for a 22.5 fl. oz. bottle. Orchid Petal shampoo seems is a fairly standard scented shampoo for all hairs that does not seem to rely on gimmicks and is not bad for a staple shampoo or a good one for those looking for a change of pace from fruit or neutral scented shampoos. The 22.5 fl. oz. bottle is a cylindrical tube bottle with a flip-top lid that is easy enough to open with one hand, sort of. The new bottle actually is not perfectly cylindrical, having instead two flatter spots on the sides, which aid the user in holding it. While not contoured, this does make the bottle easier to hold when it gets wet.
More problematic is the lid. The lid is a standard flip-top lid and so long as the bottle is not wet, there ought to be no problem with using one's thumb to flip the top. The issue, however, is that the top of the bottle is a pressure ring, not a screw on top. What this means is that when one applies pressure to the top to open the spout, the user is almost just as likely to flip the entire top off. This is annoying and my first experience with this top (on another Suave shampoo) resulted in the top coming off through sheer force of gravity and perhaps the best advice I might give is to hold the bottles by the bottom. I did not have any problems with this with the Orchid Petal shampoo, but it is worth noting there is the potential for disaster here.
Inside the bottles is Orchid Petal shampoo and it is a light lilac-colored translucent gel. This shampoo has good leg and is refreshingly more viscous than watery. The scent is a very flowery scent that stands up well next to actual orchids (my partner brought me some for comparison and they smell identical). For those looking for a strong scent in the shower and a lasting smell on the hair, this lives up well. This is a powerfully-scented shampoo which satisfied me both in the shower and well afterward.
When in the shower and one's nostrils are opened by the steam (I tend to like very hot showers) this shampoo diffuses wonderfully. I anticipated that in the shower, I would have orchid scented showers and the rich floral smell did fill the tub area and bathroom well, just by being opened and warmed up. Orchid Petal shampoo effervesces well and prepares the user for a great cleaning experience. As well, it seems to have a potent-enough smell that it continues to burst forth with floral scent each time the bottle is opened.
When it comes to use, this is a simple shampoo and one need only flip the lid and dispense a small amount into the palm of the hand before applying it to the hair. The Orchid Petal shampoo requires only about a quarter-sized dollop to clean a full head of hair. This lathered up well, which meant I could get away with using less of it. I have long hair and as a result, shampoo can be an annoying expense when the shampoo I am using does not lather up and clean well.
In the case of the Orchid Petal, it lathers up wonderfully, such that a quarter-sized dollop can easily stretch to coat a very full head of hair, like mine. Used judiciously thus, the 22.5 oz. bottle may easily last a about six weeks with daily hair washings. This makes its value a little greater than some shampoos I've recently tested.
As a shampoo, it works. Hair comes out looking and feeling cleaner after its use than before. I think the most objective test for a shampoo is to see if hair is cleaner using the shampoo vs. rinsing your hair with water alone and for the basic functioning of a shampoo the Orchid Petal shampoo lived up to that basic litmus test. Even so, what Orchid Petal did so well was both cut through the grease and grime of an eleven hour car ride and cleaned my hair completely on the first take. There was no need to rinse and reapply. On the first try, this shampoo got my hair completely clean. It was wonderful in that regard!
I tend to like shampoos that leave my hair smelling delightful, like whatever scent they have lured me in with. Given that the Orchid Petal Shampoo seemed to smell significantly like orchid in the bottle, I was especially impressed when it endured on my hair for over fifteen hours. My partner and I cleaned ourselves up and went swimming the next day and before we went into the water, she smelled my hair and it still smelled like orchid! This is one of the most enduring Suave shampoo products as far as the scent goes.
Orchid Petal Shampoo has no discernible conditioning properties. There is a separate conditioner that has the same scent. As it stands, Orchid Petal works fine as a day to day shampoo that will clean your hair and those looking for a bold scent and a shampoo that strips away dirt and bothersome scents, this is the shampoo for you, with or without its accompanying conditioner! It is well worth picking up!
For other shampoos reviewed by me, please check out:
Suave Professionals Rosemary Mint Shampoo
Bigelow Mentha Hair Mint shampoo
VO5 Blackberry Sage Shampoo
10/10
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© 2010, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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