Thursday, June 13, 2013

L'Oreal Paris Advanced Haircare Total Repair 5 Restoring Shampoo and Conditioner - Review

Hello again lovelies! Sorry I disappeared again for a while, but things have been a little hectic. My husband has been working a lot lately, so I decided to take the weekend off so that I could just spend time with him and my daughter as we have far too little family time these days. Now, my husband works for a private contractor and their schedule is always subject to change. So on Monday my husband tells me he's going to be working out of town and that he'll be leaving in the morning and returning on Friday. This really makes it harder for me to blog because I'm the only one around to watch the kiddo. And to put the cherry on top, when my daughter woke up on Tuesday, she had a terrible cold and has been super clingy. She's starting to feel better and is amusing herself for a change, so I'm back.
Now for today I will be reviewing L'Oreal Paris Advanced Haircare Total Repair 5 Restoring Shampoo and Conditioner. I know I don't usually do reviews on hair products, in fact this might be my first one, but this stuff is deserving of a review. The reason I don't generally review hair products is because I find them for the most part to be rather meh. For me shampoo is shampoo, and I don't really use a lot of other products like pomade or hair color. I randomly got a free sample of this shampoo and conditioner in the mail, and I was almost out of my regular shampoo, so it was like okay, I'll give it a go. Well, I liked it so much I went and bought the full size (12.6 FL OZ) of both the shampoo and conditioner. They cost me $4.99 each at my local grocery store.


Now, according to L'Oreal, Total Repair 5 "Instantly and over time helps repair the 5 visible signs of damaged hair without weighing it down. Split ends. Weak. Rough. Dull. Dehydrated." and this product is designed for damaged, overworked hair.  Now it also says on the bottles "Ceramide" but there is no further explanation as to what it is or what it does. 
I'm not totally unfamiliar with ceramide, as it is one of the lipids that makes up the icky white stuff that covers newborn babies aka the vernix. And I know that the vernix is there to protect and hydrate newborn's sensitive skin after they've been born. But I wanted to know how ceramide worked to make your hair gorgeous. So after some internet searching, I have it figured out. I'm going to explain it the best that I can to you guys, and I don't know how much the average person knows about hair, so I am going to explain it as though you know absolutely nothing so that no one gets left out here.
Your hair shaft consists of 3 basic layers, the cuticle, the cortex, and the medulla. The outermost layer is the cuticle which is the protective covering for the hair shaft. The cuticle is composed of, on average, 7 to 12 layers of cells that resemble scales overlapping one another. Healthy looking hair has a very smooth cuticle with all of the scales staying nicely in place. When the scales start to fray away from one another you get split ends and rather dull looking hair. 
This is where ceramide comes in. Ceramides are the lipids largely responsible for keeping the scales in place
and thereby making your hair look healthy and happy. In damaged hair the ceramides that should be holding the scales in place are lacking or missing altogether. 
So the lovely scientists over at L'Oreal made a synthetic version of ceramide to use in their shampoo and conditioner to replace the missing ceramides in damaged hair and smooth that cuticle back down to where it ought to be. Science. It's a good thing.

But back to my review.. 

The shampoo and conditioner both smell really nice, it's a light scent that reminds me a lot of Garnier Nutrisse shampoos. The consistency of the shampoo is thicker than a lot of shampoos that I have tried and it builds up a nice lather that's rich and not too sudsy. The shampoo does a great job at cleansing the hair and scalp. Lately I have been having issues with flaking on my scalp, and after using this shampoo the flaking has gotten a lot better. It doesn't claim to help with this, so maybe the shampoo I was using before was the cause of it. I don't really know, I just know that this shampoo has made it much more manageable. 
The conditioner has a very thick consistency similar to a balm. The directions on the conditioner say to leave the conditioner on your hair for 1-3 minutes, but I left it on quite a bit longer than that. Basically when I hop into the shower I shampoo my hair, wring out as much water as I can, and then liberally apply conditioner. I leave the conditioner in until I'm done washing my body and shaving and such, then I rinse it out. 

And the results were amazing! My hair was more lustrous than it had been and the damaged ends were a lot smoother. Immediately after using, my hair smelled better, was shinier, and was overall more manageable. I used it again 2 days later and the results were even better. I've got to say that the synthetic ceramide that L'Oreal used to make these products works fabulously. My hair hasn't been this healthy looking in quite some time and it feels so soft. 

So basically, this is a fabulous product. I would recommend it to anyone who wants their hair to look and feel healthier, and I will most definitely be buying this again. It works so well, it smells great, and it's not very expensive. Needless to say, I'm totally in love with this line. There's also a balm and a dry oil in this line that I plan on trying out in the near future. 
So I hope you guys enjoyed this review and mini science lesson! I'd love to hear back from you guys in the comments, I do reply to all of them. Til next time!



15 comments:

  1. It's always great to find a hair product that works for you. I am a bit of a product junkie when it comes to hair and makeup, I love trying out lots of new hair products to see which ones work best. I like the Loreal line, I am using the Instense nourishing sulfate free shampoo by Loreal and it works great. I may have to give this one a try.

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    1. I don't really do a lot with my hair. Depending on the length, I either leave it as is with maybe a bit of wax or I straighten it. I don't even wash my hair that often as I have rather dry hair/scalp. I don't think I've used a L'Oreal shampoo in at least 5 years and I was really impressed.

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  2. Just found your blog!!
    Now following.
    looking forward to getting to know you and keeping up!

    I am doing a free blog design giveaway. Check it out! :)

    xo
    Christina
    pieceitalltogetherx3.blogspot.com

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    1. Thanks for the follow! And I was actually just saying that I need to revamp my blog design, so I will definitely be checking out your giveaway.

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  3. I had no idea about the ceramides, though I've heard the term bandied about a lot (I thought they must have something to do with ceramic-like shine). Thanks so much for the lovely, detailed post.

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    1. I had to research the stuff. I just couldn't throw around the word ceramide without knowing what it was. And I only touched on what ceramide has to do with hair in this post. And really, ceramide is a super awesome lipid that does a few different (and awesome) things throughout your body. I could do a whole post on it, it just does so much.
      Glad you enjoyed the post, I was a bit worried that it got a bit wordy.

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  4. Thank you for this amazing review sweetie :)
    I need to buy this shampoo :)
    I have been using a shampoo by Dermosil for a while now, a Red Orange shampoo and it has the most amazing scent ever :) My hairdresser has told me to switch shampoo from time to time so I will definitely try this out next :)
    Btw, I have given you the Sunshine Award on my blog :)
    hugs
    xx
    http://shortylegsbeauty.blogspot.fi/2013/06/the-sunshine-award.html

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    1. I'm so glad you enjoyed the review! I'm thinking maybe I should review more hair products as I do know quite a bit of the sciencey bits of hair and hair products.

      Thanks so much for the Award! I will be checking it out sometime this weekend for sure! It really means a lot to me. :)

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  5. Ooh I haven't heard of this one, but sounds great. I've had their shimmer one (can't think of the name) and liked it. So I bet I would like this one xx
    http://heroineinheels.blogspot.co.uk/

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    1. It's pretty awesome. It's made both mine and my daughter's hair more manageable and healthier, and we have very different hair types so I'm guessing this would be great for most anyone. Thanks for stopping by!

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  6. Hey, I'm a new follower! Found you on the weekend hop! Great review, btw!

    I'd love it if you can follow me back :)

    xoxo,
    ochibernadas.blogspot.com

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for stopping by and following! I'll be sure to check out your blog. :)

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  7. My hair is hopeless. All these years, when I look at photos, I just couldn't believe how much I've neglected my hair. Or it would seem that I've neglected my hair. Maybe I was just using the wrong products. Will deffo watch out for this when I go to the supermarket!

    Angel
    http://angeldiamante.blogspot.com/

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    1. I have the same issue. My hair looks damaged all the time even though I'm really quite nice to it. This shampoo and conditioner combo really turned it around though and has it looking a ton better. I hope if you can find this it works for your hair as well!

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  8. My hair is hopeless. All these years, when I look at photos, I just couldn't believe how much I've neglected my hair. Or it would seem that I've neglected my hair. so now i m using thinning hair treatment

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