Tuesday, August 30, 2011

It's The Bland Conditioning The Bland - VO5 Honeydew Smoothie Moisture Milks Moisturizing Conditioner


The Good: Moisturizes hair, Smells good, Inexpensive
The Bad: Smell does not endure, Tough to rinse out, Does not give significant body
The Basics: This perfectly average conditioner disappoints as it only adequately preserves hair as opposed to truly revitalizing and conditioning it.


When it comes to health, beauty and personal care products that I review that I generally do not like, the only reason they usually come in groups is because I've purchased them at the same time. So, it makes some sense that when I purchased the VO5 Moisture Milks Honeydew Smoothie shampoo (reviewed here!), I purchased the corresponding VO5 Moisture Milks Honeydew Smoothie Moisturizing Conditioner as well. While the shampoo was underwhelming and fairly bad, I found the conditioner to be slightly better, though not worthwhile enough to recommend . . . at least not in tandem with the shampoo this is supposed to go along with. It might actually work better with other shampoos, but in combination with its mated shampoo, this conditioner underwhelms.

Honeydew 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 minty green 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 Honeydew Smoothie Moisturizing Conditioner is a dry to normal conditioner (at least that was my experience). In the winter, I tend to a fire and also am often outdoors in the wind and cold. This takes my normal hair and often strips it back to dry. I get split ends more in the winter under these conditions than at other times of the year.

The Honeydew Smoothie conditioner did a fair job of preventing some of the damage I am accustomed to suffering through this time of the year. 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 conditioned held the line as opposed to truly revitalizing my hair.

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 the problem I soon ran into was that while the shampoo lathered up (eventually), conditioner, this one included, generally does not. Instead, this conditioner requires almost four times as much product to cover the same area as the shampoo. 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 Honeydew 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 the most subtle conditioner I've encountered that still actually 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 honeydew into their hair. Indeed, perhaps the most disappointing aspect of this product is how wonderful it smells in the bottle versus how little it leaves the hair smelling that way after it is applied. Instead, the scent of honeydew melon fades by the time the hair is fully dried. One of my favorite shampoos I've used had a scent where the overt scent faded, but if one were to bring their hair to their nose, it still smelled gorgeous of the scent of the shampoo/conditioner. Not so with this product. Within two hours of washing and conditioning with the Moisture Milks Honeydew Smoothie, the scent is irrevocably gone.

At least it smells good while being applied; not all products may say that. And, it sort-of works, 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 VO5 conditioner reviews, please visit my commentaries on:
Vanilla Mint Tea Tea Therapy
Split-Ends conditioner
Passion Fruit Smoothie conditioner
Blackberry Sage conditioner

5/10

For other health and beauty reviews, please be sure to check out my index page for a complete listing by clicking here!

© 2011, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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