Pros: Rich formulation, somewhat hydrating
Cons: Too similar in quality to cheaper brands for price point
In my quest for perfectly performing 4A (and 3C?) spirals, I have tried many a (supposedly) well-built conditioner. While I promised myself to stick to KISS a few months back on my grow-out process, I made the mistake of perusing some threads on NaturallyCurly's forums. Big mistake. Once again, I am prowling the health food stores, armoured, saddled, bearing a shield and questing for that Holy Grail conditioner.
Why.
Why.
WHY?
Well, what I found (at VitaminShoppe for about $10.49) was a well built conditioner; I'd read wonders about Aubrey Organics among women of all hair types, but this one was supposed to be a shoe-in for dryer / tightly coiled strands. In my awesome lack of ability to learn from previous mistakes (*cough* http://www.skincaretalk.com/t/28551/bergamot-oil-to-prevent-hair-shedding/60#post_472541 *cough*), I grabbed yet ANOTHER of Ms. Aubrey's conditioners to use based on hear-say vs. my own experience.
First off, it's still a decent brand, but at $11 a bottle, I'm at least expecting something w/ decent slip and penetrative moisturizing abilities. I firmly believe that if you're going to charge more, you need to DO more, and that is not the impression I got from the Honeysuckle Rose, the brand's supposedly most humectant offering. I cleansed the scalp, did a root-tip with this stuff, and was not impressed.
One note: whenever I use an AO conditioner, my hair gets ... 'hard'. The 'hardness' that I experienced with this one is nothing compared to the GPB Protein conditioner, but it was still there. I expect the conditioning stage to provide penetrating moisture to my parch-prone strands, so this one, sadly went back to the store after one use.
Overall, I have to say that this offering was a so-so experience in terms of moisture and slip, despite an all star ingredients list and organic formulation. I am going to be shelfing / overlooking AO and her line up indefinitely, and I highly recommend avoiding her shampoo/conditioner line if you are protein-sensitive, which my hair appears to be. Despite the fact that this particular conditioner doesn't list a protein / protein precursor, I still got the hard feeling that accompanies using anything w/a protein in it.
Aubrey Organics, Honeysuckle Rose Conditioner Ingredients:
Coconut fatty acid cream base, organic aloe vera, organic shea butter, wheat germ oil, organic jojoba oil, organic rosa mosqueta rose hip seed oil; extracts of fennel, hops, balm mint, mistletoe, camomile, yarrow, chrysanthemum, angelica, forsythia and magnolia; honeysuckle oil, carrot oil, aubreys preservative (citrus seed extract, vitamins A, C and E).
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