The Good: Softens hair wonderfully
The Bad: I'm not wild about the smell.
The Basics: Not the very best offering from VO5, Passion Fruit Smoothie conditioner is, at its worst, adequate, and it is hard at the end of the day to argue with that.
It is a rare thing that I will try a conditioner without trying the accompanying shampoo. And yet, a recent sale at Rite Aid on VO5 shampoos and conditioners left me with a ton more conditioners, many of which went unaccompanied by their appropriate shampoos. As a result, I ended up picking up a few bottles of Passion Fruit Smoothie Moisturizing Conditioners without any of the same shampoo, though I later got some (and reviewed it here). It behooves me to mention right here - up front - that I am not a big fan of the whole recent obsession with passion fruits and pomegranates. Still, when I tried the Passion Fruit Smoothie conditioner, I was pretty excited. I had had generally good experiences with other VO5 products in the Moisture Milk line. Passion Fruit Smoothie Conditioner is a pretty average conditioner, though, with just enough to recommend it.
Passion Fruit Smoothie Moisturizing Conditioner is part of the Moisture Milks line of VO5 hair care products, shampoos and conditioners that have soy milk protein that supposedly helps revitalize dry and damaged hair and protect it from the elements. It comes in a 15 fl. oz. plastic bottle and has an opaque light orange color. In most retail outlets, it may be found for $1.00 when on sale. VO5 has a strong reputation (well deserved) for providing inexpensive hair care options and the Moisture Milks line seems to be their attempt to capitalize on the niche market that surrounds such trendy things as organics, soy milk, etc. in hair care products.
The bottle is a simple soft plastic bottle with a hard plastic flip top lid. I've discovered that this bottle slips quite easily out of one's hands, especially if they have either shampoo or conditioner still on one's hands. Fortunately, when this happens, the bottle does not split or crack. The top can crack if it's dropped too often, but most people are not as clumsy as me, I suppose. The flip top bottle is very easy to open with one hand if need be. It may, similarly, be closed easily with just a thumb.
Despite the fact that it does not say it on the bottle, the Passion Fruit Smoothie Moisturizing Conditioner is a dry to normal conditioner (at least that was my experience). As Spring bloomed, I first encountered this conditioner at a time when my hair was pretty strong anyway. Unlike prior winters, I did not strip my hair back because of problems in the environment - either workplace or multiple washings because of a smoky smell from a woodburning stove I was trying to get rid of - and as a result, I came to this conditioner with pretty strong hair to begin with. Still, the bottle claims that the rich formula will result in two times stronger hair, but I found that even when applied generously and thoroughly, at best the conditioner held the line as opposed to truly revitalizing my hair. My hair looked good from using this conditioner, but it did not improve in condition in any way.
I have long hair and in order to get enough of this conditioner to adequately coat my full head of hair, it took at least two dollops of conditioner, half-dollar sized each. This is a lot of conditioner and while shampoos lather up, conditioner does not. Instead, this conditioner requires almost four times as much product to cover the same area as most VO5 shampoos. This means that as far as usage goes, the $1.00 value shampoo and the $1.00 value conditioner just became a $5.00 hair care regimen, though that's not bad considering it can be stretched to last approximately two months.
The real problem is that the results are merely adequate. Unlike many conditioners that actually add volume, shine and bounce to hair, the Moisture Milks Passion Fruit Smoothie moisturizing conditioner merely prevented split ends and drying after about a week's use. There was a mild improvement in hair shine (luster), but nothing in the way of body.
Like most conditioners, this requires a thorough rinsing in order to get it all out. I discovered very early on that this is not something that may be rushed with this product as it becomes a very heavy wet/waxy coating when it is not properly rinsed out. This is problematic for those who are on-the-go and eager to get out of the shower (especially if one has a lot of hair and doing a proper washing means finishing up as the hot water runs out!).
So, on the conditioning end, this is - at best - adequate. It lives up on the most basic conditioning functions, but it is not much of a moisturizer or bodybuilder. This is a rather subtle conditioner, but it works. It might only be ideal for maintaining low maintenance hair. Indeed, shorter hair where body and luster are not as important, this conditioner may well meet the needs of the person using it. But for longer hair, hair that is exposed to many elements, this is not the ideal product for.
Neither is it the ideal product for those who want to lock the scent of Passion Fruit into their hair. First, the scent is not one of the best ones I've smelled, so the fact that it washes out easily is not much of a detraction to me. That said, when one sniffs the bottle, they get the rotting floral scent that defines the sour-sweet of passion fruit and the scent is accurate and potent. In the shower, the conditioner's smell does not exactly permeate the shower, but it does smell accurately (and unfortunately) like passion fruit, with a subtle, but biting scent. Within two hours of washing and conditioning with the Moisture Milks Passion Fruit Smoothie, the scent is gone from the hair. This, I found, was a relief to me given I was not a huge fan of the scent to begin with.
VO5 Passion Fruit Smoothie holds the line, at least and not all products can say that. Unfortunately, for the amount of product to make it adequate, there must be others that will do more for the same price.
For other conditioner reviews, please check out my takes on:
VO5 Blackberry Sage Conditioner
Suave Juicy Apple Conditioner
Bigelow Mentha Hair Conditioner
6/10
For other hair care product reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!
© 2010, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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