My Last Hair Care Product Review For A While: VO5 Normal 2-In-1 Shampoo & Conditioner Works!

The Good: Inexpensive, Decent conditioning properties, Cleans hair well!
The Bad: No recognizable scent.
The Basics: Alberto VO5 2 in 1 Normal Shampoo & Conditioner works surprisingly well for daily cleaning and conditioning needs.


Right before my wife lopped off my hair – 20 years in the growing! – I found myself tro save some time. To that end, I picked up a couple of bottles of Alberto VO5 2 in 1 Normal Shampoo & Conditioner. Unlike the moisturizing shampoo and conditioner 2-in-1 (reviewed here!), the VO5 2-in-1 Normal Shampoo & Conditioner actually works and it works pretty well. Instead of being ineffective, the Normal 2-in-1 Shampoo & Conditioner actually cleans and it only truly suffers from not having a delightful smell to make it a slam-dunk.

I like products that produce a decent scent memory or trigger one that I already have. Alas, Alberto VO5 2 in 1 Normal Shampoo & Conditioner is not ideal for that. After a month, my hair was noticeably cleaner and more manageable than it was before, but it did not smell better (outside being devoid of any bad-smelling elements).

Using Alberto VO5 2 in 1 Normal Shampoo & Conditioner leaves hair without any heavy residue and each time I used it, I came out with my hair feeling very clean. The moisturizing properties of this conditioner are almost immediate. Within a week, I noticed my hair was more manageable as well as cleaner.

I tend to like shampoos that both clean and leave hair smelling good. The Alberto VO5 2 in 1 Normal Shampoo & Conditioner did the former well and the latter poorly. The Alberto VO5 2 in 1 Normal Shampoo & Conditioner has a mildly medicinal smell to it. The medicinal smell washes out after the conditioning is done and it leaves my hair without any scent in it.

Since I began washing my hair with the Alberto VO5 2 in 1 Normal Shampoo & Conditioner, my hair has never gotten back to dry and cracking, as it was when I was using just a shampoo.

With a cost of approximately $1.19 for a 15 fl. oz. bottle, Alberto VO5 2 in 1 Normal Shampoo & Conditioner is comparatively inexpensive. The bottle is smooth and is more flat than round. When wet, it slips out of the hands easily. The cap has a flip-top that makes it very easy to get the shampoo/conditioner out with only one hand. As well, the large cap makes it even easier, though because the hole is still fairly small, there is no waste from the bottle.

Alberto VO5 2 in 1 Normal Shampoo & Conditioner is a light green, opaque shampoo/conditioner that is creamy and smooth. It has a nonwatery consistency and while it is not especially thick, it does not need to be watered down to get the most out of the product.

Like most hair care products, there is nothing mysterious to using this product. You wet your hair, lather it up, let it set for a few minutes and rinse. Most VO5 products I can get away with using about a quarter-sized drop and that is so with Alberto VO5 2 in 1 Normal Shampoo & Conditioner. But while I quickly discovered that a quarter-sized dollop of the 2-in-1 in my hand easily lathered up to be able to work through all my hair, my hair never got clean on the first try; I always had to wash at least twice and for the duration of my using this 2-in-1. I had long hair and Alberto VO5 2 in 1 Normal Shampoo & Conditioner lathered up incredibly to condition all of my hair.

As a shampoo, this has an excellent lather quality. It took very little to work it up to a lather and that lather spreads into the hair and it cleans very well. Indeed, with average usage, the product was one of the easiest shampoos I have used to spread through my hair. This required very little agitation to lather it properly, especially for the minimal effort.

This 2-in-1 shampoo and conditioner rinses out incredibly easily, as well. When I am in a hurry and can only wash my hair, the Alberto VO5 2 in 1 Normal Shampoo & Conditioner rinses out very quickly and leaves my hair conditioned. Alberto VO5 2 in 1 Normal Shampoo & Conditioner requires almost no effort to rinse out, making is a quick shampoo/conditioner to apply and rinse out. Since having my hair abruptly cut, the conditioner aspect of the Normal Shampoo & Conditioner, works because my hair has not developed any split ends!

Alberto VO5 2 in 1 Normal Shampoo & Conditioner makes my hair feel heavy when it is still wet, and when I only wash it once with the 2-in-1. Once dry, the shampoo and conditioner lives up to its promise of moisturized, healthy-looking hair. Moreover, it does not dry out my hair, nor does it leave it with any greasy residue (when I wash with it twice).

While this is inexpensive, Alberto VO5 2 in 1 Normal Shampoo & Conditioner cleans and conditions, without leaving any delightful scent in the hair or on the head.

For other shampoo reviews, please check out my analysis of:
Suave Refreshing Waterfall Mint Shampoo
VO5 Kiwi Lime Shampoo
Bigelow Mentha Hair Mint Shampoo

7/10

For other health and beauty reviews, visit my Health And Beauty Review Index Page for an organized listing of the products I have reviewed!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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A Floral Shampoo That Works! Free Me Freesia Shampoo Is A VO5 Success!

The Good: Smells great, Cleans hair, Inexpensive
The Bad: Does not condition
The Basics: VO5's Free Me Freesia shampoo continues the company’s winning tradition of creating shampoos that clean well and smell great!


With summer upon us, there are three types of reviews I find myself writing more of: movie reviews (Summer Blockbuster Season this year is bigger than ever), Christmas ornaments (Hallmark release weekend is coming right up!), and body cleaning supplies! Something about summer makes me wash my hair quite a bit and with that, I have found a number of good cleaners strip away grease and sweat, but do not dry out hair. VO5 Free Me Freesia is one of the good cleaners.

I expect a good shampoo clean my hair and leave it smelling great and VO5 Free Me Freesia does all that. My basic philosophy on shampoo is this: I want something that is inexpensive as possible that makes me feel like my hair is clean. Period. That's it. I'm not paying a ton of money on something I'm just washing down the drain (literally). I believe, therefore, that the VO5 Free Me Freesia Herbal Escapes Shampoo might well be one of the best shampoos for normal hair out there.

With a cost of approximately $1.50 for a 15 oz. bottle, Free Me Freesia is certainly a value. The bottle is smooth and does not have any ribbing or other texturing to it, so it does slip out of the hands easily, which is not great for a product one is using in the shower. The cap has a flip-top that makes it very easy to get the shampoo out with only one hand. I've found that once the bottle is half empty, it's easy to do this one handed without dropping the bottle.

The scent from Free Me Freesia is a delightfully floral scent. This shampoo smells like a blend of lilacs and vanilla and while I have not encountered that exact combination anywhere else, it works nicely with this shampoo. In fact, this intriguing scent effervesces in the shower nicely and makes the shower smell like a nature preserve, a conservatory, or a fancy spa!

Like most shampoos, there is nothing mysterious to using this product. You wet your hair, lather it up with this shampoo (I use about a quarter-sized drop of the shampoo and I have long hair), and rinse. There have been one or two times I've repeated, but for the most part, this product leaves one's hair feeling light and clean after the first rinse, assuming one rinses thoroughly. This shampoo rinses out rather well and leaves the hair with a mild scent of lilacs and vanilla that lasts about an hour in normal activity. When my hair is seriously greasy or otherwise dirty, I do have to do two passes with this shampoo.

Some reviews criticize how short the duration of the scent is, but that is not the case with the Free Me Freesia Herbal Escapes shampoo. While the scent often wears off within an hour, when I’ve double-washed with it or conditioned using the Free Me Freesia Conditioner, the scent has endured for at least four hours, which can make one’s hair into a delight for you or anyone close to you!

Even better, Free Me Freesia shampoo does not dry out my hair, nor does it leave it with any greasy residue. It's a perfectly balanced product for normal hair, just as it advertises. I think that makes for a near perfect shampoo. A bottle goes a long way. One bottle lasts me about a month and if I can escape with paying only $20.00 a year for shampoo, that's pretty wonderful.

If I could get away with that, I'd be thrilled. VO5 has a separate conditioner that runs about $1.50 a bottle as well. While the shampoo does not dry out my hair, it also does not protect it, which pretty much necessitates getting the conditioner as well. It would be nice if they came together, but . . .

Even on its own, Free Me Freesia is a wonderful shampoo well worth trying for those who love their hair, but don’t want to pay a lot to show their hair the love!

For other VO5 shampoo reviews, please check out my takes on:
Cashmere Shea
Moisture Milks Strawberry & Cream
Tangerine Tickle
Nourishing Oasis Energize & Volumize
Honeydew Smoothie
Sun-kissed Raspberry
Healthful Green Tea Tea Therapy
Vanilla Mint Tea Tea Therapy
Nectarine Orange Surge
Kiwi Lime Shampoo
Split Ends Anti-Breakage Shampoo
Passion Fruit Smoothie Moisture Milks Shampoo
Blackberry Sage Shampoo

8/10

For other health and beauty product reviews, please be sure to visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Entirely Average: VO5 Shea Cashmere Silky Experiences Shampoo Is A Staple Shampoo, Nothing More.

The Good: Price, Cleans hair well, Does seem to nourish hair
The Bad: Nothing distinct in the scent, Does not condition, Has no remarkable or superlative properties.
The Basics: VO5 Shea Cashmere Shampoo is an entirely basic shampoo that is not bad, but is thoroughly unremarkable.


It is a pretty rare thing that I discover that one of the shampoos or conditioners I am about to review is actually a new-to-the-market product, though, I suppose that given that I now live in pretty much the middle of nowhere, a “new” product could actually be available elsewhere for quite some time! I find myself considering this idea as I sit down to write about VO5's Shea Cashmere Silky Experiences Shampoo because I just noticed that it is marked as “New.” I suspect the reason I am so contemplative about the idea that it is new is that I have absolutely no idea whether or not I care if it survives in the VO5 product line.

On the one hand, VO5 Shea Cashmere Shampoo has nothing particularly bad about it. It cleans hair, as it is supposed to and what scent it has is entirely inoffensive. But, as one who loves well-scented shampoos, the Shea Cashmere is entirely underwhelming and left me unimpressed. But, at the same time, I see value in a good, inoffensive staple shampoo and the Shea Cashmere certainly fits the bill for that.

This Shea Cashmere shampoo comes in a 15 oz. bottle for $1.00 (on sale) and it is slightly frosted in its appearance and slippery when wet. The bottle tapers near the top to make it easier to hold, but the surface is fairly slippery when in the shower. Fortunately, the big cap is a flip open top that opens and closes easily with a thumb. It's very easy to use this product one handed (which is good because most people I know put the shampoo on their hand before applying it to their scalp and hair), As well, the top has a large, flat surface so when the user is getting toward the end, it may be easily left inverted to let the shampoo come to the egress without the bottle falling over.

This Shea Cashmere is opaque and looks more like a conditioner or cream than a shampoo. It is a slightly tan fluid inside the frosted bottle and it looks almost like liquid wheat drenched in sun and milk.

Unfortunately, that somewhat indistinct quality that Shea Cashmere has in its appearance transfers to the scent. The Shea Cashmere shampoo smells very faintly of vanilla and has a lightly nutty, somewhat buttery scent to it. It is a remarkably unimpressive overall scent that is so nebulous and hard to define, one almost has to guess that they named the shampoo “shea cashmere” because it is trendy (there is no shea butter in this shampoo) and that was the closest they could come with an analogous scent.

That said, this shampoo is a pretty standard shampoo. It is viscous, less fluid than glycerin, more fluid than cake batter and it is easily applied. This shampoo lathers up very well and quite quickly. It rinses out as easily, leaving hair clean. Hair is visibly clean when one leaves the Shea Cashmere shampoo to set on the hair for several minutes. Under those circumstances, the Shea Cashmere Shampoo is nice because it strips away some of the oils on days when I've been out in the garden and getting hot and sweaty and the oils in my hair are building up. This shampoo cleans and it leaves the hair feeling clean.

As well, this is a nice option for those who do not like strong scents. That, however, is not me. Having a faint scent doesn't do it for me.

But moreover, for this Shea Cashmere known as a moisturizing shampoo and yet I’ve seen very little of that with the shampoo on its own. While the shampoo is adequate at cleaning, without its accompanying conditioner, it does very little else. For those who do not like to spend a lot on things like shampoo (after all, it does just go down the drain!) this is a nice, affordable option that does what it promises as far as cleaning, if nothing more.

For other VO5 shampoo reviews, please check out my takes on:
Moisture Milks Strawberry & Cream
Tangerine Tickle
Nourishing Oasis Energize & Volumize
Honeydew Smoothie
Sun-kissed Raspberry
Healthful Green Tea Tea Therapy
Vanilla Mint Tea Tea Therapy
Nectarine Orange Surge
Kiwi Lime Shampoo
Split Ends Anti-Breakage Shampoo
Passion Fruit Smoothie Moisture Milks Shampoo
Blackberry Sage Shampoo

5/10

For other health and beauty product reviews, please visit my Health And Beauty Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Conditioning, But Not Cleaning, VO5 2-In-1 Shampoo And Conditioner Disappoints

The Good: Inexpensive, Decent conditioning properties!
The Bad: Poorly cleans hair, No recognizable scent.
The Basics: Alberto VO5 2 in 1 Shampoo & Conditioner is a disappointing hair cleaner, but a decent conditioner.


In trying to save a little money, my wife and I picked up a few bottles of 2-in-1s in order to save time and money on separate shampoos and conditioners. Unfortunately, the first one I have tried is Alberto VO5 2 in 1 Shampoo & Conditioner. And it’s not great. While before I have reviewed a shampoo and conditioner 2-in-1 (here!), the VO5 2-in-1 is nowhere near as effective . . . or as expensive. Unfortunately, VO5 seems to be proving that the expense of bigger brand name 2-in-1s might yield a better product.

The fundamental problems with VO5's 2 in 1 Shampoo & Conditioner are that it does not clean significantly or have a strong scent. I like products that produce a decent scent memory or trigger one that I already have. Alas, Alberto VO5 2 in 1 Shampoo & Conditioner is not ideal for that. After a month, my hair was noticeably more manageable than it was before, but it did not smell better, nor was it significantly cleaner.

Using Alberto VO5 2 in 1 Shampoo & Conditioner leaves hair with a fairly heavy residue and each time I used it, I had to go through washing my hair with it twice. The moisturizing properties of this conditioner are almost immediate. Within a week, I noticed my hair was more manageable as well as cleaner.

I tend to like shampoos that both clean and leave hair smelling good. The Alberto VO5 2 in 1 Shampoo & Conditioner did both poorly. The Alberto VO5 2 in 1 Shampoo & Conditioner has a mildly medicinal smell to it. The medicinal smell washes out after the conditioning is done and it leaves my hair without any scent in it.

Since I began washing my hair with the Alberto VO5 2 in 1 Shampoo & Conditioner, my hair has never gotten back to dry and cracking, as it was a few weeks ago when I was using just a shampoo.

With a cost of approximately $1.19 for a 15 fl. oz. bottle, Alberto VO5 2 in 1 Shampoo & Conditioner is comparatively inexpensive. The bottle is smooth and is more flat than round. When wet, it slips out of the hands easily. The cap has a flip-top that makes it very easy to get the shampoo/conditioner out with only one hand. As well, the large cap makes it even easier, though because the hole is still fairly small, there is no waste from the bottle.

Alberto VO5 2 in 1 Shampoo & Conditioner is a light blue, opaque shampoo/conditioner that is creamy and smooth. It has a nonwatery consistency and while it is not especially thick, it does not need to be watered down to get the most out of the product.

Like most hair care products, there is nothing mysterious to using this product. You wet your hair, lather it up, let it set for a few minutes and rinse. Most VO5 products I can get away with using about a quarter-sized drop and that is so with Alberto VO5 2 in 1 Shampoo & Conditioner. But while I quickly discovered that a quarter-sized dollop of the 2-in-1 in my hand easily lathered up to be able to work through all my hair, my hair never got clean on the first try; I always had to wash at least twice and for the duration of my using this 2-in-1. I have long hair and Alberto VO5 2 in 1 Shampoo & Conditioner lathered up incredibly to condition all of my hair.

As a shampoo, this has an excellent lather quality. It took very little to work it up to a lather and that lather spreads into the hair, but it cleans poorly. Indeed, with average usage, the product was one of the easiest shampoos I have used to spread through my hair. This required very little agitation to lather it properly, especially for the minimal effort.

This 2-in-1 shampoo and conditioner rinses out incredibly easily, as well. When I am in a hurry and can only wash my hair, the Alberto VO5 2 in 1 Shampoo & Conditioner rinses out very quickly and leaves my hair conditioned, if not clean. Alberto VO5 2 in 1 Shampoo & Conditioner requires almost no effort to rinse out, making is a quick shampoo/conditioner to apply and rinse out.

Alberto VO5 2 in 1 Shampoo & Conditioner makes my hair feel heavy when it is still wet, and when I only wash it once with the 2-in-1. Once dry, the shampoo and conditioner lives up to its promise of moisturized, healthy-looking hair. Moreover, it does not dry out my hair, nor does it leave it with any greasy residue (when I wash with it twice).

While this is inexpensive, Alberto VO5 2 in 1 Shampoo & Conditioner Moisturizing does not clean well enough to recommend.

For other shampoo reviews, please check out my analysis of:
Suave Refreshing Waterfall Mint Shampoo
VO5 Kiwi Lime Shampoo
Bigelow Mentha Hair Mint Shampoo

3.5/10

For other health and beauty reviews, visit my Health And Beauty Review Index Page for an organized listing of the products I have reviewed!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Strawberries & Cream Moisture Milks Shampoo: Another In A Fair Line Of Mediocre Shampoos

The Good: Inexpensive, Intriguing scent, Cleans hair, Lathers well
The Bad: Takes a bit to rinse it all out, Scent does not endure, Doesn't significantly moisturize
The Basics: In a razor decision, discovering my Strawberries & Cream shampoo deceived me about its moisturizing qualities sinks this weakly-scented product.


Every now and then, I come across a perfectly average product that comes down to the toss of a coin for where I rate it and whether or not I recommend it or not. The most extreme examples of this are what I call the razor decisions, works that are ultimately average (five out of ten on my rating scale) and are a "take-it-or-leave-it" experience. The best advice I may usually give on such products is that if you're looking for something that will knock your socks off, you'll want to move on from the razor decision product and go for something more enthusiastic. In the realm of hair care products, I've just found another shampoo that comes down to a razor decision for me: VO5's Strawberries & Cream Moisture Milks Shampoo.

VO5 is fairly well known for having inexpensive shampoos and conditioners. In virtually every market in the United States, VO5 shampoos and conditioners may be found on sale for $1.00 for a 15 fl. oz. bottle. Strawberries & Cream Moisture Milks shampoo seems to be an attempt by Alberto VO5 to cash in on the more trendy hair care crazes, in this case the use of soy milk protein to strengthen and moisturize hair. The 15 fl. oz. bottle is a fairly flat (with rounded sides) bottle with a flip-top lid that is easy enough to open with one hand. The bottle is not contoured and does get slippery when wet.

Inside is the Strawberries & Cream moisturizing shampoo and it is a pink opaque gel that has a pearlescent quality to it that will intrigue those who look at shampoo bottles for long periods of time. This shampoo has good leg. The scent is an intriguing blend of subtle strawberry and overbearing vanilla - which represents the cream, I suppose. If one is looking for the scent of fresh fruit, or the market-tested concept scent most associate with strawberries, the Strawberries & Cream is liable to disappoint. This smells - at best - like a strawberries and cream oatmeal packet . . . after one has poured milk atop the steaming oatmeal.

Even when in the shower and one's nostrils are opened by the steam (I tend to like very hot showers) this shampoo does not truly smell like strawberries. Instead, it is much more the cream scent that comes out. And it does have a very delightful, very true vanilla undertone that is pleasant, at the very least.

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 Strawberries & Cream moisturizing shampoo requires only about a quarter-sized dollop to clean a full head of hair. Unlike the Honeydew Smoothie moisture milks shampoo, I found this lathered up remarkably 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 Strawberries & Cream, 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 15 oz. bottle may easily last a full month to six weeks with daily hair washings. This makes its value a little greater than some shampoos I've recently tested and a pleasure to use.

And, quite simply, 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 Strawberries & Cream Moisture Milks lived up to that basic litmus test.

I tend to like shampoos that leave my hair smelling delightful, like whatever scent they have lured me in with. Given that the Strawberries & Cream Moisture Milks Shampoo barely smelled like strawberries to begin with (lesson here: smell the product while in the store, not after you get it home!) it was little surprise that it left no scent on my hair after it was rinsed out. To be fair, the shampoo adequately cleaned the hair such that other scents were eliminated, but it did not leave anything remotely fruity in terms of bouquet behind. So, it being winter as I write this, my hair is often subjected to smoke from the wood stove I use to heat my house. It takes on the faint aura of smoke if it is not washed for a day. The Strawberries & Cream shampoo removed the smoke smell just fine. But it left my hair smelling neutral and like hair as opposed to strawberries or cream.

The other problem with this product is that I'm at something of a loss for its purpose. "Moisturizing shampoos" seem to me like a lazy attempt to create a shampoo and conditioner hybrid without committing to the conditioning half. The result is a shampoo that seems designed to protect and strengthen hair without truly giving it more body, bounce, or luster. After a few weeks of using this, my hair appears no more protected than it was before. It certainly does not shine more and I've noticed no real difference in the strength of my hair.

The hype about soy milk proteins may be more than just hype, but it is not evident by this product alone. I was about to suggest that this might have something to do with the heat needed to thoroughly rinse the rich lather out of one's hair, but instead I see that in the case of this shampoo, "moisturizing shampoo" is a bit of a misnomer. Yes, here as I wrote my review, I noticed on the back of the bottle an asterisk that noted "*When used with VO5 Strawberries & Cream Conditioner!" The asterisk, I finally traced back, referred to the front of the bottle's word "moisturizing." Apparently, this is only supposed to moisturize when it has the conditioner along with it . . . which makes one wonder how they can get away with calling it a "moisturizing shampoo" if the "moisturizing" part is in a different bottle! That's remarkably deceptive of Alberto!

As it stands, Strawberries & Cream works fine as a day to day shampoo that will clean your hair, but for those looking for a bold scent, actual moisturizing qualities, or something that will do more than simply strip away dirt and bothersome scents, this is not the shampoo for you. With or without its accompanying conditioner!

For other VO5 shampoo reviews, please check out my takes on:
Tangerine Tickle
Nourishing Oasis Energize & Volumize
Honeydew Smoothie
Sun-kissed Raspberry
Healthful Green Tea Tea Therapy
Vanilla Mint Tea Tea Therapy
Nectarine Orange Surge
Kiwi Lime Shampoo
Split Ends Anti-Breakage Shampoo
Passion Fruit Smoothie Moisture Milks Shampoo
Blackberry Sage Shampoo


5/10

For other health and beauty product reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Indistinct Citrus: "Tangerine Tickle" Cleans Effectively, But Does Not Endure

The Good: Smells great, Cleans hair, Inexpensive
The Bad: Does not condition, Smell does not endure on hair
The Basics: A good shampoo, Tangerine Tickle cleans well and energizes while in the shower, but the scent fades fast afterward.


I recently quit the terrible job I had working at a factory that did pretty terrible things to my mind and body and I've been much, much happier since. In the process of leaving that job, I picked up a whole new array of shampoos and conditioners because I learned something important about myself. I can be stuck in a terrible place that smells like oil and sweat and hatred, surrounded by men for whom a sophisticated sentence is "Them parts needa git down to shippin'!" and it instantly becomes more bearable when I have a trigger to remind me that the outside world exists. For me, scents do that very well and I discovered during my tenure working in hell that a good scent on my hair could allow me a quick escape from my work environment to somewhere else.

As a result, I began to experiment with different shampoos to see what might help me escape from my work environment best. Unfortunately, Tangerine Tickle shampoo just didn't do it. Tangerine Tickle by VO5 is a decent shampoo; it cleans the hair and has a nice scent while in the shower, but that scent does not last and after a month of using it, I was pretty much glad to give it (and my job) up. I'm not saying I quit my job because Tangerine Tickle's citrus scent didn't linger on my hair and allow me little escapes from my work environment, but lacking those escapes . . . the job did seem to get worse.

My basic philosophy on shampoo is this: I want something that is inexpensive as possible that makes me feel like my hair is clean. Period. That's it. I'm not paying a ton of money on something I'm just washing down the drain (literally). The VO5 Tangerine Tickle Herbal Shampoo is an adequate shampoo; it's good, it meets the basic needs of a shampoo, even in my rating system.

With a cost of approximately $1.00 for a 15 oz. bottle, Tangerine Tickle is certainly a value. The bottle is smooth and does not have any ribbing or other texturing to it, so it does slip out of the hands easily, which is not great for a product one is using in the shower. The cap has a flip-top that makes it very easy to get the shampoo out with only one hand. I've found that once the bottle is half empty, it's easy to do this one handed without dropping the bottle.

The scent is a decent tangerine or orange smell. Honestly, I couldn't tell you the difference between an orange and a tangerine by scent, but this shampoo smells orangy and decent. I haven't smelled a tickle ever, so I'm just assuming that VO5 likes alliteration. Tangerine Tickle smells good and with its fresh, citrusy smell, it is easy to get an energized feeling when using this shampoo in the shower. With steam - I tend to like my showers very hot - the scent fills a shower or bath area with a delightful scent that is distinctly citrus. The scent alone opens up the nose and invigorates the person using it.

Like most shampoos, there is nothing mysterious to using this product. You wet your hair, lather it up with this shampoo (I use about a quarter-sized drop of the shampoo and I have long hair), and rinse. There have been one or two times I've repeated, but for the most part, this product leaves one's hair feeling light and clean after the first rinse, assuming one rinses thoroughly. This shampoo rinses out rather well and leaves the hair with a mild scent of tangerines or oranges that lasts about an hour in normal activity.

Having discovered the joy of good-smelling hair, how short the scent of Tangerine Tickle endures is rather disappointing. Because I lived almost an hour away from my work, even if I showered right before leaving for it to get energized for the unbearable experience, by the time I reached the factory, the scent had dissipated. So, for those who like scents that come and go pretty quickly, this might be a great product for you. And I'm not saying I want to walk around with my hair smelling like it is perfumed, but when I bury my nose in my pony tail, it would be nice to smell something other than that factory. Other shampoos did that, but not Tangerine Tickle.

Moreover, even outside that abrasive environment, I quickly discovered that the scent fades ridiculously quickly. This is a good shampoo for cleaning, but not leaving a scent memory for the user.

Moreover, Tangerine Tickle does not dry out my hair, nor does it leave it with any greasy residue. It's a perfectly balanced product for normal hair, just as it advertises. As well, a bottle goes a long way. One bottle lasts me about a month and if I can escape with paying only $15.00 a year for shampoo, that's pretty wonderful.

Working in a pretty horrendous environment gave me a great way to test Tangerine Tickle for conditioning properties. While the shampoo does not dry out hair, it also does not protect it, which pretty much necessitates getting a conditioner as well. On its own - for two weeks I used Tangerine Tickle without a conditioner for testing purposes - Tangerine Tickle cleans, but it does not prevent split ends of prevent atmospheric elements from affecting hair. So, a conditioner is rather helpful.

Regardless, Tangerine Tickle is a wonderful option for those of us who want to look and smell good (at least for an hour) but who do not want to spend a lot of money to do it. I've spent a lot more at various points in my life to get the same results. These days, I just go with what works and this does.

For other VO5 shampoo reviews, please check out my takes on:
Nourishing Oasis Energize & Volumize
Honeydew Smoothie
Sun-kissed Raspberry
Healthful Green Tea Tea Therapy
Vanilla Mint Tea Tea Therapy
Nectarine Orange Surge
Kiwi Lime Shampoo
Split Ends Anti-Breakage Shampoo
Passion Fruit Smoothie Moisture Milks Shampoo
Blackberry Sage Shampoo

6/10

For other health and beauty product reviews, please click here to visit my index page that organizes just those reviews!

© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Nourishing Hair, Not Helping The Eyes With VO5 "Nourishing Oasis" Shampoo

The Good: Price, Cleans hair well, Does seem to nourish hair
The Bad: Nothing distinct in the scent, burns eyes, does not condition
The Basics: VO5 Nourishing Oasis Shampoo is simply a shampoo for cleaning that works, but is nothing extraordinary; at least it's inexpensive.


This marks the end of my first month using VO5's Nourishing Oasis Energize & Volumize Shampoo. I have been eager to explore other VO5 products since finding some of their inexpensive shampoos to be superior to more expensive ones. I chose the Nourishing Oasis Energize & Volumize (with Citrus and Vitamin C) Shampoo blind, without even smelling it. I decided to spend a month with pure product exploration.

This Nourishing Oasis shampoo comes in a 14.5 oz. bottle for $1.00 (on sale) and it is opaque and slippery when wet. The bottle tapers near the top to make it easier to hold, but the surface is fairly slippery when in the shower. Fortunately, the big cap is a flip open top that opens and closes easily with a thumb. It's very easy to use this product one handed (which is good because most people I know put the shampoo on their hand before applying it to their scalp and hair), As well, the top has a large, flat surface so when the user is getting toward the end, it may be easily left inverted to let the shampoo come to the egress without the bottle falling over.

I have a feeling the reason the bottle is opaque is because the actual shampoo is closer to clear than most marketers would like. People like things that are colors, they do not feel as much value from things that are clear (which is why most things are colored; the closer to invisible, the more people will begrudge paying for something because they don't see it so much!). This Nourishing Oasis is fairly clear with a hint of peach color to it, but the coloring is quite faint.

Equally faint is the smell. This Nourishing Oasis shampoo smells faintly of orange and grapefruit peels, like an olfactory aftertaste. The scent is not strong and it is barely distinct. It smells like the scent of citrus fruit peels left in a kitchen after one has just taken the waste out to the compost pile. You smell the citrus, but it's faint and the memory of the fruit, as opposed to the actual fruit scent.

That said, this shampoo is a pretty standard shampoo. It is viscous, less fluid than glycerin, more fluid than cake batter and it is easily applied. This shampoo lathers up very well and quite quickly. It rinses out as easily, leaving hair clean. Visibly clean. This Nourishing Oasis is nice because it strips away some of the oils on days when I've been out in the garden and getting hot and sweaty and the oils in my hair are building up. This shampoo cleans and it leaves the hair feeling clean.

As well, this is a nice option for those who do not like strong scents. That's not me. I've enjoyed the VO5 Sun-Kissed Raspberry shampoo and the Bath and Body Works Cinnamon Bun Heaven 3-in-1 (reviewed here!) BECAUSE of their scents. Having a faint scent doesn't do it for me.

But moreover, for this Nourishing Oasis known as "Energize and Volumize," I find the lack of scent causes it to fall short on that first premise. A strong scent can energize the user. When I use other shampoos with good scents, I look forward to opening them up and lathering up and letting the scent envelope me. With this, there's nothing. In the shower, the scent is almost unnoticeable and it certainly does not energize me.

In fact, the only time this shampoo had anything remotely approaching a profound effect on me was when I got some in my eyes. Oh my gosh does this stuff sting in the eyes! Naturally, it's not recommended for cleaning the eyes, but if you get some in your eyes . . . PAIN! That's definitely not a good thing. I suppose this makes it a bad choice for children, if you're concerned about such things. Between the bottle that is too big for little hands and the searing pain that will certainly result if a child gets this in their eyes, this is not a good shampoo for kids.

As an adult, of course, I learned quite quickly not to get this shampoo in or near my eyes. There's something weird about feeling like you have to be careful when shampooing.

Outside that, this is a decent shampoo. It does volumize some; my hair after a month is less limp than it was at the beginning of the month and this certainly does clean my hair. For those who do not like to spend a lot on things like shampoo (after all, it does just go down the drain!) this is a nice, affordable option that does what it promises as far as cleaning, if not energizing.

For other VO5 shampoo reviews, please check out my takes on:
Honeydew Smoothie
Sun-kissed Raspberry
Healthful Green Tea Tea Therapy
Vanilla Mint Tea Tea Therapy
Nectarine Orange Surge
Kiwi Lime Shampoo
Split Ends Anti-Breakage Shampoo
Passion Fruit Smoothie Moisture Milks Shampoo
Blackberry Sage Shampoo

6/10

For other health and beauty product reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Too Subtle The Scenting Sinks Honeydew Smoothie Moisture Milks Shampoo!

The Good: Decent scent, Leaves hair generally clean
The Bad: Does not leave hair feeling clean, Scent wears off very quickly, Does not condition.
The Basics: This subtle-scented shampoo wears off too quickly and leaves the hair feeling less clean and light than it actually is.


VO5 shampoos and conditioners consistently rate as some of the least expensive hair care products on the market. They are often a good value, have pleasing scents and can be found virtually anywhere in the United States. I refrain from using the word "cheap" when referring to these shampoos which may often be found on sale for $1.00 at major retailers everywhere. Cheap implies a lack of quality to go with a low price and VO5 Shampoos often do not suffer from any quality issues.

Eager to try something new, I picked up the shampoo and conditioner from the VO5 Moisture Milks line called Honeydew Smoothie. The Moisture Milks are characterized by having a more milky (non-translucent) color and the claim that is moisturizes. I'm always somewhat at a loss to understand what the point is of a moisturizing shampoo. I mean, I understand wanting to have hair moisturized, but why the shampoo isn't just produced as a shampoo and conditioner baffles me. It seems like an odd half-step and in the case of Honeydew Smoothie, that there is a separate conditioner makes me wonder just how much the shampoo is supposed to moisturize!

I tend to like shampoos that both clean and leave hair smelling good. The Honeydew Smoothie seemed like it would do that, but it had a few issues that will prevent me from purchasing it again and make it impossible for me to recommend it. I tend to have hair that gets dry quickly when overwashed, so the idea of the moisturizing shampoo possibly preventing split ends and cracking appealed to me.

With a cost of approximately $1.00 for a 15 oz. bottle, Honeydew Smoothie is affordable. The bottle is smooth and does not have any ribbing or other texturing to it, so it does slip out of the hands easily, which is not great for a product one is using in the shower. The cap has a flip-top that makes it very easy to get the shampoo out with only one hand. I've found that once the bottle is half empty, it's easy to do this one handed without dropping the bottle.

The scent is a light honeydew smell. The scent is actually quite precise and retains the scent of a freshly sliced Honeydew melon and it is a delightful scent. Over the course of the weeks I used this, the scent of the product did not diminish in the bottle; this milky-green shampoo does smell like honeydew.

Like most shampoos, there is nothing mysterious to using this product. You wet your hair, lather it up with this shampoo and rinse. Most VO5 products I can get away with using about a quarter-sized drop, but not so with the Honeydew Smoothie. This may or may not be indicative of all the Moisture Milks line, but I quickly discovered I needed about a half-dollar sized dollop to get the shampoo to work through all my hair. I do have long hair, but the problem here is the lather.

Despite the claims on the front of the bottle, this shampoo has very poor lather quality. It takes a lot to work it up to get it to the point where it is an actual lather instead of like a gel. Indeed, with average usage, the product was more like putting hand lotion in my hair than shampoo. This required a lot of agitation to lather it properly and the results were not spectacular for the efforts. Indeed, I notices no appreciable difference between the times when I worked the Honeydew Smoothie into a proper lather and when I just worked it in until it was on all my hair.

This shampoo rinses out poorly and leaves the hair with an extremely mild scent of honeydew that lasts, at best, fifteen minutes after it is rinsed out. The Honeydew Smoothie required more effort just to simply rinse it out than to get it into a lather! Interestingly, when lathered up properly, it still too quite a bit to rinse all of the Honeydew Smoothie out of my hair. I believe this might be a function of the Moisture Milks line as I have not previously had this difficulty with any other VO5 products.

The Honeydew Smoothie makes my hair feel very heavy when it is still wet, but once dry, the shampoo lives up to its promise of moisturized, healthy-looking hair. I find myself wishing the scent lasted longer, though. In the bottle it is a subtle, honey-laced smell that is quite nice. That the smell is gone so quickly, especially while my hair still feels wet, heavy and ugly, is problematic to me.

And this does not dry out my hair, nor does it leave it with any greasy residue. It moisturizes well, though not well enough that it actually repairs the hair and protects it in the way a conditioner does. It does leave the hair feeling heavier and the first three times I washed using it, I found as I was drying my hair that there was still shampoo that had not rinsed out and I had to re-rinse my hair. That's problematic.

Ultimately, that's what sinks this shampoo with the soy milk proteins; it's a high maintenance shampoo. I want something that does not require additional tools or a long rinse to get all of it out. I found myself wanting something lighter and being quite glad when the bottle of Honeydew Smoothie was finally empty.

Honeydew Smoothie might work for those who want a subtle scent that is quickly gone and a shampoo that compels them to work longer on their hair, but for an active person who likes a decent smell and one that might last, this is a poor choice.

For other VO5 shampoo reviews, please check out my takes on:
Sun-kissed Raspberry
Healthful Green Tea Tea Therapy
Vanilla Mint Tea Tea Therapy
Nectarine Orange Surge
Kiwi Lime Shampoo
Split Ends Anti-Breakage Shampoo
Passion Fruit Smoothie Moisture Milks Shampoo
Blackberry Sage Shampoo


3.5/10

For other hair care product reviews, please be sure to visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2011, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Epitome Of Raspberries: VO5's Wonderful Herbal Shampoo Sun-Kissed Raspberry Shampoo!

The Good: Smells great, Cleans hair, Inexpensive
The Bad: Does not condition
The Basics: VO5's Sun-kissed Raspberry shampoo is a wonderful shampoo for normal hair that cleans hair as good as any number of more expensive options.


I'm sitting in front of my computer with my bottle of VO5 Sun Kissed Raspberry Herbal Shampoo and I'm wondering what makes for a great shampoo. Having reviewed the Bath & Body Works Cinnamon Bun Heaven 3-in-1 (review here!) and finding it be good enough, I'm forced to ask myself what is the best possible shampoo?

I mean, honestly, what do we expect of a shampoo? I expect it to clean my hair. Often, we want it to smell good. Nevertheless, as a kid who went to summer camp, I'd highly recommend that nasty-smelling RID shampoo to kill creepy crawlies that one finds themselves potentially carrying when they return. So, scent is not necessarily a dealbreaker. In my first review in this section, I received the delightful comment "we all shower, right?" which made me smile when I was about to ask "At the end of the day, what is shampoo?" Shampoo is a cleaner that we apply to our hair, wash out and assume that it is getting it clean.

My basic philosophy on shampoo is this: I want something that is inexpensive as possible that makes me feel like my hair is clean. Period. That's it. I'm not paying a ton of money on something I'm just washing down the drain (literally). I believe, therefore, that the VO5 Sun Kissed Raspberry Herbal Shampoo might well be the best shampoo for normal hair out there.

With a cost of approximately $1.00 for a 15 oz. bottle, Sun Kissed Raspberry is certainly a value. The bottle is smooth and does not have any ribbing or other texturing to it, so it does slip out of the hands easily, which is not great for a product one is using in the shower. The cap has a flip-top that makes it very easy to get the shampoo out with only one hand. I've found that once the bottle is half empty, it's easy to do this one handed without dropping the bottle.

The scent is a strong raspberry smell. I can't speak to the sun-kissed, but this certainly smells like the raspberry and camomile scents that the front of the bottle promises. It's rare I find something that genuinely smells like what it promises to smell like, but this simple shampoo does smell like raspberries.

Like most shampoos, there is nothing mysterious to using this product. You wet your hair, lather it up with this shampoo (I use about a quarter-sized drop of the shampoo and I have long hair), and rinse. There have been one or two times I've repeated, but for the most part, this product leaves one's hair feeling light and clean after the first rinse, assuming one rinses thoroughly. This shampoo rinses out rather well and leaves the hair with a mild scent of raspberries that lasts about an hour in normal activity.

Some reviews criticize how short the duration of the scent is, but I actually liked that about the sun kissed raspberry herbal shampoo. Because the scent wears off within an hour, this leaves the user free to scent themselves with whatever else they would like to smell like; a perfume, antiperspirant, body spray, coffee, whatever. I like that the smell wears off because that makes me feel like the product did its job and went on its merry way (down the drain).

And this does not dry out my hair, nor does it leave it with any greasy residue. It's a perfectly balanced product for normal hair, just as it advertises. I think that makes for a perfect shampoo. A bottle goes a long way. One bottle lasts me about a month and if I can escape with paying only $15.00 a year for shampoo, that's pretty wonderful.

If I could get away with that, I'd be thrilled. VO5 has a separate conditioner that runs about $1.00 a bottle as well. While the shampoo does not dry out my hair, it also does not protect it, which pretty much necessitates getting the conditioner as well. It would be nice if they came together, but . . .

Regardless, sun kissed raspberry is a wonderful option for those of us who want to look and smell good (at least for a time) but who do not want to spend a lot of money to do it. I've spent a lot more at various points in my life to get the same results. These days, I just go with what works and this does.

For other VO5 shampoo reviews, please check out my takes on:
Healthful Green Tea Tea Therapy
Vanilla Mint Tea Tea Therapy
Nectarine Orange Surge
Kiwi Lime Shampoo
Split Ends Anti-Breakage Shampoo
Passion Fruit Smoothie Moisture Milks Shampoo
Blackberry Sage Shampoo

8/10

For other health and beauty product reviews, please be sure to visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2011, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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VO5's Healthful Green Tea Shampoo: Meh.

The Good: Does appear to clean (quite adequately), Does not smell unpleasant, Inexpensive
The Bad: Not a strong scent, Doesn't cut through greasy hair well
The Basics: Disappointing for its lack of a strong scent, VO5's Healthful Green Tea shampoo only cleans hair and it is not distinct in any way.


Every now and then, I do make an effort to try something new as far as hair care products. At least, I try new and different scents and styles of brands that I like. I try to reward companies that are creative when it comes to cleaning power and enduring scents and when they create new products, I do make an attempt to reward ingenuity. This is not to say every experiment is a success and, unfortunately, in the case of the Healthful Healthful Green Tea Tea Therapy shampoo from VO5, this is a study in utterly unremarkable. In fact, it wasn't until I realized just how much I love enduring scents for my hair that I realized just how disappointing Healthful Green Tea shampoo actually was.

I tend to stick to brands I know and like, even if I try their new products, and VO5 is a brand I trust. So, when my wife and I purchased a bottle of Healthful Green Tea Tea Therapy Shampoo, I went in biased toward the shampoo. Healthful Green Tea sounded good and after using this shampoo for a week and a half, I am completely underwhelmed. This shampoo cleaned, so long as the hair was not entirely greasy, and did not leave any scent on the hair. Moreover, while showering, the shampoo barely had a scent to it.

VO5 shampoos are part of an inexpensive line of hair care products that tend to be found for an average price of $1.00 per 15 oz. bottle in most markets in the United States. The bottles have recently been redesigned to be flatter instead of tapered, which makes them easier to hold when wet and I have only found Healthful Green Tea in the new bottles. Healthful Green Tea is a dark brown-green translucent shampoo that has good viscosity and is very much the a standard VO5 shampoo as far as consistency goes. The Healthful Green Tea shampoo comes with a flip-top cap for easy access to the shampoo with one hand while in the shower.

Healthful Green Tea is a shampoo, so there is no trick to using it. Simply place a dollop on your hand and rub it into your wet hair until it lathers up. Then rinse and repeat if necessary. I have long hair and I can get away with a quarter-sized dollop to clean my hair with most shampoos. I suspect that a bottle would last over a month and a half given how slowly my partner and I have been going through this.

The Healthful Green Tea Shampoo does not claim to do anything other than clean hair, with the implication of improving hair's health. This Green Tea shampoo cleans, but after a week and a half of use, I noticed no change in how strong my hair was, nor was it more manageable. As well, this shampoo did not have any conditioning properties, like healing split ends.

That said, in normal daily use, this was not a bad shampoo. It worked when I washed my hair only once per shower with the shampoo. As for that, this seems like the minimum a shampoo ought to do.

As far as the scent goes, Healthful Green Tea has almost no scent and the scent it has is pretty much indescribable. The shampoo smells like muddy water, with an emphasis on the water. The scent is light and indistinct and it did nothing for me or my partner. In fact, this was not an energizing or exciting scent in any way. Fortunately or not, the scent does not endure, leaving hair unscented. The result is a shampoo whose scent fades within moments of being rubbed into the hair. I have smelled my hair moments after towel-drying my hair off and I cannot find the scent, which (as a tea reviewer) was never the scent of green tea! This scent has no enduring quality and truth be told now that I am no longer working in a terrible factory where my hair gets stripped each night of anything remotely good smelling, it's shocking to me how quickly the scent of this shampoo dissipates without being subjected to such harsh conditions! This shampoo does not provide the benefit of a scent-memory trigger afterward!

On the positive side, it does rinse out of my hair remarkably easily. This shampoo may not lather up incredibly easily (or effectively) but it does wash out without leaving any residue of its own.

In the end, Healthful Green Tea is a surprisingly lackluster shampoo from VO5, that only cleans hair and it does that in the most basic way. For one who tends to like shampoos that actually leave hair scented as well as clean, this is a disappointing product.

For other VO5 shampoo reviews, please check out my takes on:
Vanilla Mint Tea Tea Therapy
Nectarine Orange Surge
Kiwi Lime Shampoo
Split Ends Anti-Breakage Shampoo
Passion Fruit Smoothie Moisture Milks Shampoo
Blackberry Sage Shampoo

4.5/10

For other health and beauty product reviews, please be sure to visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Fabulous Television Hair Moments In A Bottle: VO5 Vanilla Mint Tea Shampoo Delivers!

The Good: Inexpensive, Intriguing scent, Cleans hair, Lathers well
The Bad: None that I can find
The Basics: Inexpensive, mild on the eyes, and with a great, enduring scent, Vanilla Mint Tea Shampoo is a wonderful Tea Therapy Shampoo worth stocking up on!


Have you ever gotten movie-beautiful hair from right out of a bottle of shampoo? Have you ever managed to get super stylish hair from a ridiculously inexpensive shampoo (and conditioner)? I have and it shocked me quite a bit when I did. The reason it surprised me because it was so unexpected and I don't think I ever expected to find a perfect shampoo from VO5. But that is exactly what I found in their Vanilla Mint Tea Tea Therapy shampoo!

Eager to try something new, I picked up the shampoo and conditioner from the VO5 Tea Therapy line called Vanilla Mint Tea. The Tea Therapy are one of VO5s newer experiments in trendy shampoos and frankly I picked the shampoo up because the scent sounded intriguing and when I opened the bottle to smell it in the store, it smelled delightful. The shampoo is a translucent blue-green shampoo. The Vanilla Mint Tea Tea Therapy shampoo is a clarifying shampoo and it certainly lives up to that!

I tend to like shampoos that both clean and leave hair smelling good. The Vanilla Mint Tea shampoo did that beautifully. Not only that, after my first use of the shampoo, my hair was perfectly cleaned and smelled wonderful. After my first use of the shampoo and conditioner, my hair was all that, plus bouncy, more manageable and looked better. Yes, I got me some movie hair from the Tea Therapy Vanilla Mint Tea shampoo! I tend to have hair that gets dry quickly when overwashed, so the idea tea therapy was intriguing enough for me to try and this is possibly the one gimmick concept I can get behind fully. Since I began washing my hair with the Vanilla Mint Tea shampoo, my hair has never gotten back to dry and cracking.

With a cost of approximately $1.00 for a 15 oz. bottle, Vanilla Mint Tea is affordable. The bottle is smooth and slightly tapered at the top. However, because it is more flat than round, it does not slip out of the hands easily, certainly not as easily as VO5 bottles used to. The cap has a flip-top that makes it very easy to get the shampoo out with only one hand. As well, the new larger cap with greater surface area makes it even easier, though because the hole is still fairly small, there is no waste from the bottle.

The scent of Vanilla Mint Tea is an intriguing mix of vanilla and a hint of wintergreen. The vanilla is the scent that seems to linger in the hair - I washed and dried my hair seventeen hours ago and I just smelled it and it smells like vanilla! The mint scent effervesces more when one is in a hot, steamy shower and I suspect that the mint in the shampoo does more of the stripping away other scents that might be lingering on the hair than actually scenting the hair. Regardless of the less mint smell, the vanilla scent is the vanilla shampoo scent that has become rather common in the market. That is to say, it is a subtle vanilla flavor, not like a vanilla bean, "knock-your-socks-off,-oh-my-that's-vanilla!" scent. It is subtle, clearly vanilla in an "artificially flavored" type way, but it works. It is still a delightful smell and it smells great on the hair. Over the weeks I have used this, the scent of the product did not diminish in the bottle; this blue-green shampoo still smells strongly like vanilla.

Like most shampoos, there is nothing mysterious to using this product. You wet your hair, lather it up with this shampoo and rinse. Most VO5 products I can get away with using about a quarter-sized drop and that is so with the Vanilla Mint Tea. This may or may not be indicative of all the Tea Therapy line, but I quickly discovered that a quarter-sized dollop of the shampoo in my hand easily lathered up to be able to work through all my hair. I have long hair and Vanilla Mint Tea shampoo lathered up incredibly to clean all of my hair.

This shampoo has an excellent lather quality. It took very little to work it up to a lather and that lather spreads into the hair and cleans amazingly. Indeed, with average usage, the product was one of the easiest shampoos I have used to spread through my hair. This required very little agitation to lather it properly and the results were spectacular, especially for the minimal effort.

This shampoo rinses out incredibly easily, as well. When I am in a hurry and can only wash my hair, the Vanilla Mint Tea shampoo rinses out very quickly and leaves my hair very clean. Moreover, the shampoo alone leaves the hair with a mild scent of vanilla that lasts hours after it is rinsed out. The Vanilla Mint Tea required almost no effort to rinse it out, making is a quick shampoo to apply and rinse out.

When a product works this well, it is strange because there is actually so little to say about it. I don't like to spend a ton of time on my hair, but I like the results of a good shampoo or conditioner. The Vanilla Mint Tea is the best shampoo I have EVER used and its quality surprised me from the first time I used it. Indeed, it was a bit of a bummer waiting a full month of use before writing this review because I was so pleased with what this shampoo was doing with my hair. Now, odds are the diminishing number of split ends is likely to the conditioner that I used with this (it was the VO5 Tea Therapy Vanilla Mint Tea conditioner) but the shampoo on its own does everything it claims to as far as cleaning, plus adds a wonderful scent for scent memory to enhance my hair.

The Vanilla Mint Tea does not make my hair feel heavy when it is still wet, and once dry, the shampoo lives up to its promise of moisturized, healthy-looking hair. I almost wish I kept my lousy job in the harsh-hair environment (I worked in a factory for a while where brazing chemicals in the air stripped my hair and left it dry and brittle) just to see how this would hold up in hellish conditions, but in day-to-day use, this is a pretty wonderful and amazing shampoo.

And this does not dry out my hair, nor does it leave it with any greasy residue. It moisturizes well, though not well enough that it actually repairs the hair and protects it in the way a conditioner does.

What more can we ask of a shampoo that does all that it claims and then impresses us with the shine and bounce it leaves our hair with? In the case of Vanilla Mint Tea, I gladly stock up because the scent is so good on top of the basic hair-cleaning requirements. I only hope VO5 keeps this one on the market; this could be the one I stick with for life!

For other VO5 shampoo reviews, please check out my takes on:
Nectarine Orange Surge
Kiwi Lime Shampoo
Split Ends Anti-Breakage Shampoo
Passion Fruit Smoothie Moisture Milks Shampoo
Blackberry Sage Shampoo

10/10

For other health and beauty product reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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VO5 Nectarine Orange Surge: Falling Short Of All That Citrus Cleaning Power We've Heard So Much About!

The Good: Smells good, Cleans hair, Inexpensive
The Bad: Does not condition, Doesn't clean exceptionally
The Basics: A very average shampoo, Nectarine Orange Surge cleans but does not strip away build-up like most citrus products claim to.


It is a tough thing for me to come back to reviewing shampoos, especially VO5 Shampoos, after I have found my ultimate. I found that with VO5's Vanilla Mint Tea Shampoo and now to go back and review other shampoos I used along the way, it feels tiresome. Yet, that is precisely what I am feeling going back to review Nectarine Orange Surge Vita Burst Shampoo.

I am, if nothing else, not at all a slave to trends or fashion (a point driven home pretty constantly to me by virtually every partner I have ever had) and so when the whole Citrus cleaner "thing" was the fad, I wasn't impressed or involved in it. Instead, I let it pass like every other beauty secret fashion fad. I picked up this shampoo because it was on sale and I hadn't tried it. Now that I have, it is an average at best shampoo.

My basic philosophy on shampoo is this: I want something that is inexpensive as possible that makes me feel like my hair is clean. Period. That's it. I'm not paying a ton of money on something I'm just washing down the drain (literally). I believe, therefore, that the VO5 Nectarine Orange Surge Vita Burst Shampoo is a good shampoo for normal hair, but it is not extraordinary and it certainly does not capitalize on the supposed cleaning power of citrus.

With a cost of approximately $1.00 for a 15 oz. bottle, Nectarine Orange Surge is certainly a value. The bottle is smooth and does not have any ribbing or other texturing to it, but recently VO5 redid their bottles to make them more flat than round, so it does not slip out of one's hand like the old bottles used to. The cap has a flip-top that makes it very easy to get the shampoo out with only one hand. I've found that once the bottle is half empty, it's easy to do this one handed without dropping the bottle.

The scent is a mildly citrus smell. It is not extraordinary and it dissipates quickly in the shower and when applied. It smells like the nectarine and orange scents that the front of the bottle claims it is. It's rare I find something that genuinely smells like what it promises to smell like, but this simple shampoo does smell like oranges of different types.

Like most shampoos, there is nothing mysterious to using this product. You wet your hair, lather it up with this shampoo (I use about a quarter-sized drop of the shampoo and I have long hair), and rinse. There have been one or two times I've repeated, but for the most part, this product leaves one's hair feeling light and clean after the first rinse, assuming one rinses thoroughly. This shampoo rinses out rather well and leaves the hair with a mild scent of oranges that lasts about a half-hour in normal activity.

My thing is this: citrus products are supposed to be great at cleaning, especially cutting through greasy residues, which can be a concern when one doesn't wash their hair for a day. This shampoo, however, illustrated no such cleaning power. It only cut through additional residue when I washed twice with it and that pretty much eliminated the value of this less-expensive shampoo.

At least this does not dry out my hair, nor does it leave it with any greasy residue. It's a perfectly balanced product for normal hair, just as it advertises. A bottle goes a long way, as well. One bottle lasted me about six weeks when I only washed my hair once a day and if I can escape with paying only $10.00 a year for shampoo, that's pretty wonderful.

If I could get away with that, I'd be thrilled. VO5 has a separate conditioner that runs about $1.00 a bottle as well. While the shampoo does not dry out my hair, it also does not protect it, which pretty much necessitates getting the conditioner as well. It would be nice if they came together, but . . .

Nectarine Orange Surge does not leave a strong scent and as one who has come to appreciate some of the sense-memory a good shampoo can provide, ultimately, I felt let down by this VO5 shampoo. It is adequate, but if it is trying to capitalize on the citrus aspect, it should be more than just "okay." At least, to get a "recommend" from me.

For other VO5 shampoo reviews, please check out my takes on:
Kiwi Lime Shampoo
Split Ends Anti-Breakage Shampoo
Passion Fruit Smoothie Moisture Milks Shampoo
Blackberry Sage Shampoo

4.5/10

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© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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