60 ml/250 ml/400 ml
The Body Shop UK: £2/£4/£6
The Body Shop DE: 3€/6€/9€
http://www.thebodyshop.co.uk/hair/shampoo/rainforest-balance-shampoo.aspx
http://www.thebodyshop.de/haarpflege/shampoo/ausgleichendes-shampoo.aspx
Does not contain parabens, sulfates, silicones, or colorants
The Body Shop Rainforest Balance Shampoo is a sulfate-free shampoo for oily hair. It is formulated with pracaxi oil (whatever that is), white nettle, seaweed, Community Trade sugar (???), and aloe vera. It claims to “reduce excess oil for hair that looks clean and fresh all day”. It has a very thick consistency and a pleasant, herbal smell.
Ingredients
Aqua, Sucrose, Disodium Cocoyl Glutamate, Lauryl Betaine, Laureth-5 Carboxylic Acid, Propylene Glycol, PEG-55 Propylene Glycol Oleate, Sodium Chloride, Glycerin, Polyglyceryl-4 Caprate, Parfum, Sucrose Laurate, Sodium Benzoate, Isopropyl Alcohol, Salicylic Acid, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Fucus Vesiculosus Extract, Alcohol, Citric Acid, Pentaclethra Macroloba Seed Oil, Lamium Album Extract, Sodium Hydroxide, Tocopherol
The two main things that you should have gotten out of the description (no, I’m not talking about the weird ingredients…) are the fact that it is a sulfate-free shampoo, and that it is for oily hair. This brings up a major question… namely; does it clean your hair properly? The answer is yes, it does. And quite well, surprisingly. For people with normal or oily hair it seems that sulfates are useful sparingly, every other day to every three days ton once a week depending on how oily your hair gets and how frequently you wash it. This is because you don’t want to use sulfates on your hair too often, as that would dry it out, but if you don’t use sulfates you may not properly break down the oils in your hair, leaving residue that would make your hair look dull. With this shampoo I don’t feel the need to use a separate shampoo containing a sulfate because it really does what it claims to do, reducing the excess oils in my hair. This is great because I can have my hair clean without running the risk of drying it out too badly. I honestly have no clue how this would work for dryer hair, but it doesn’t have sulfates in so it may work. The Body Shop does have other formulations, which I assume are also sulfate free, so you may try those.
As for lathering, this shampoo is relatively good for a sulfate shampoo. It takes a little more effort and time to get it there, but it does lather up. Obviously not as well as a sulfate shampoo, but it does do the job without too much stress. I have found that you only need a small amount of the shampoo because it is so thick. My hair is of a normal thickness, and I only need like a nickel-sized amount of product. For the Europeans and the Brits, that would be roughly the size of a 10 euro cent coin or a penny. I have found that it helps to distribute the shampoo through the roots of your wet hair and work it in as per usual, but then duck under the shower stream again and then work the product some more. I think this really helps with the lather.
Because you only need a small amount of product means that it takes forever to use up the bottle. Coupled with the fact that you have the option to get it in bigger bottles, this means that if you intend to purchase the product regularly you don’t have to run to the store so often. This is particularly helpful because you can only find this product at a Body Shop store, not just at your local Rossman or Boots. It is also a little more expensive than something you may buy at a drugstore, but I think the long life of one bottle, plus the fact that you can get the more cost-effective bigger size makes this product not that much more expensive in the long run. Plus it is sulfate free, which is sometimes a struggle to find in cheaper shampoos!
Overall, I would really recommend this product. It smells great, does a great job despite not containing sulfate, and is a quite reasonable price for the amount of product you get and how much you have to use at one time.
Rating: A
Beauty and the Freak 