The Good: The shampoo appears to work to clean and dye hair subtly
The Bad: Expensive, Dries out hair, A lot of collateral work in cleaning
The Basics: After months of making my hair nice, a week with Just For Men ControlGX Grey Reducing Shampoo pretty much ruined it again . . . though it did reduce my gray!
I am not a particularly vain person. In fact, I happily dress like a schlub most days and the only reasons I write reviews of health and beauty products are that they were a real moneymaker for reviewers when I wrote reviews for the now-defunct reviewing site for which I used to write and now my wife manages to get a pretty wide array of product samples. So, I was not feeling at all insecure about the gray in my hair that has crept in over the last five years. In fact, my wife has done a pretty amazing job of showing love for the new, grayer, me. But, with Just For Men doing a big product push for their new Just For Men ControlGX Grey Reducing Shampoo, she thought it might be worthwhile for me to try the shampoo for review purposes.
And I have.
Being someone who is not really vain at all, there are a number of beauty procedures that are normal that I was not at all familiar with before using the Just For Men ControlGX Grey Reducing Shampoo. Unfortunately for both me and Just For Men ControlGX Grey Reducing Shampoo, while there are some aspects to using a product like this that are normal, they are not exactly positive selling points to me. Unfortunately, all of the key aspects that my wife informed me were normal were all aspects of the Just For Men ControlGX Grey Reducing Shampoo that annoyed me. On the plus side, Just For Men ControlGX Grey Reducing Shampoo actually does (generally) what it promises to do, so despite my issues with this shampoo, I am unable to deny that it is effective.
Sadly, the Just For Men ControlGX Grey Reducing Shampoo is expensive, dries out hair, and requires a crapton of additional cleanup compared to other shampoos. In addition to my other disclaimers, it is worth noting that I have much longer hair than most of the target demographic for this product. My hair is a foot long; my wife tells me that, after looking at pictures of people testing this very product, this product seems to be used almost exclusively by men with buzz cuts and other very short haircuts. So, right off the bat, many people might not have the first issue I have with the Just For Men ControlGX Grey Reducing Shampoo; it is comparatively expensive because it does not last very long.
The Just For Men ControlGX Grey Reducing Shampoo is a 2 fl. oz. tube of shampoo that is designed to both clean hair and dye hair in a subtle way to reduce grays in the hair. I used the Just For Men ControlGX Grey Reducing Shampoo for five out of six consecutive showers over a one week period and was only able to get five uses out of the shampoo before exhausting my supply.
Using the Just For Men ControlGX Grey Reducing Shampoo is a hassle compared to most shampoos. First, because there is a dye in the Just For Men ControlGX Grey Reducing Shampoo, one needs to do an allergy test on the skin first. The Just For Men ControlGX Grey Reducing Shampoo comes with directions on how to do a skin allergy test for the shampoo first. But, before the first proper usage, one needs to do preparation two days prior. I was not allergic to the Just For Men ControlGX Grey Reducing Shampoo.
After determining that I was not allergic to the Just For Men ControlGX Grey Reducing Shampoo, I started using it. One begins their shower like normal, then applies enough shampoo to lather through one's hair. The Just For Men ControlGX Grey Reducing Shampoo is a pearlescent brown shampoo and it took me two half-dollar sized dollops to lather both the top of my hair and my mane. The shampoo lathers fairly well and it coats well all of my hair.
But, the Just For Men ControlGX Grey Reducing Shampoo is also incredibly messy. I've never dyed my hair before, but when I watch my wife dye her hair, it seems to be a pretty static process. She dyes it, puts her hair in a shower cap for about half an hour and then washes it out. A dying shampoo like the Just For Men ControlGX Grey Reducing Shampoo requires some agitation through the hair to get the cleaning properties of the shampoo and, no matter how careful I was, that led to splatter. I have the sneaking suspicion that my wife hooked me up with the Just For Men ControlGX Grey Reducing Shampoo just so I would clean our shower and tub more.
Just For Men ControlGX Grey Reducing Shampoo is not a shampoo for an insecure, graying, man-on-the-go. Any random lather or shampoo from the Just For Men ControlGX Grey Reducing Shampoo that splatters onto the wall of the shower or tub needs to be washed off pretty much immediately to prevent staining. Since we got our Hydroluxe Full-Chrome 24 Function Ultra-Luxury 3-way 2 in 1 Showerhead/Handheld-Shower Combo (reviewed here!), cleaning our shower has gotten much easier with the handheld showerhead and it became essential while I was using the Just For Men ControlGX Grey Reducing Shampoo. Fortunately, because the shampoo needs to be left on the hair for one to three minutes (I went with at least three minutes each shower before even beginning to rinse out my hair), there is plenty of time while one is in the shower to clean the dye splatter off the walls and floor of one's shower. Using Just For Men ControlGX Grey Reducing Shampoo means the consumer has to spend time virtually immediately cleaning.
I have spent the past year and a half getting my broken, dry hair nicely conditioned and lustrous through the use of various conditioning products my wife has brought me. After the first use of Just For Men ControlGX Grey Reducing Shampoo, all that progress was gone. After the first time I used Just For Men ControlGX Grey Reducing Shampoo, my hair was noticeably more brittle and dry than before . . . and each time I used this shampoo, I conditioned twice after the last of the ControlGX Grey Reducing Shampoo was used. While the Just For Men ControlGX Grey Reducing Shampoo actually effectively cleaned my hair and it appeared to reduce the appearance of gray in my hair, it also ravaged my hair, noticeably weakening and reducing the luster of my hair.
As for the coloring effects of the Just For Men ControlGX Grey Reducing Shampoo, it does appear to work to make non-drastic coloring changes to one's hair. To wit, the difference between my natural hair (BEFORE) and after five uses of this shampoo (AFTER) is:
BEFORE
AFTER
BEFORE
AFTER
Ultimately, Just For Men ControlGX Grey Reducing Shampoo is a lot of work, for a comparatively high price relative to many other shampoos I have used, to deliver fair results that are not overly extraordinary. As one who would prefer a distinctive smell, conditioning properties and straightforward clean hair, the Just For Men ControlGX Grey Reducing Shampoo left me unimpressed. But then, I might not be the target market for this product. But, for aging vain men who don't like cleaning the shower or bath tub as frequently, this is probably not the ideal product for them, either.
For other shampoo reviews, please check out:
Vidal Sassoon Pro Series Extreme Smooth Smoothing Shampoo
OGX Strength & Body Bamboo Fiber-Full shampoo
VO5 Honeydew Smoothie shampoo
3/10
For other health and beauty product reviews, please check out my Health And Beauty Product Review Index Page for an organized listing!
© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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