Hair Week and Herbal Essences Tousle Me Softly, Part 1

Hi everybody,

Since I started blogging here, once in a while, I wan to have a week dedicated to a certain topic. Yes, we did start with a bang called “Seven Days and Seven Nights of Mineral Makeup”, aka Mineral Week. Then, we did have a so-called “Lip Week” that did not make as big of a stir. But I did not let that to annihilate me- well, maybe a bit of a delay, yes- and today, I gather enough resource to declare another special topic week: Hair Week! Let the fun begin, shall we?

Recently, I got an opportunity to try some new products from Herbal Essences’ new line called “Tousle Me Softly”. They provided me enough products to keep me busy for two weeks just to have a once go-around. Since Tousle Me Softly consists of six products- a shampoo, a conditioner, and 4 hairstyling products- I am going to split into two reviews. This one is about the basic cleaning and prepping products: the shampoo and conditioner.

The Herbal Essences Tousle Me Softly family

Off the bat, I really like the new designs on Herbal Essences products. The color purple of the Tousle Me Softly line is really pretty while the design is hip and chic. The fragrance of this line is violet, which is not too strong or too obnoxious. Back in the day, I mean the early 2000s, all Herbal Essences products smelled the same: strong flowery and quite old lady-ish. I remember the shampoo and conditioner to be really moisturizing and they left my hair looking glossy and long. However, I could not stand the smell. If you had ever used the old Herbal Essences shampoos, you immediately recognize it from other people who used it. It’s very recognizable! So it is refreshing to see each Herbal Essences line to smell different from each other now.

(Top-bottom): Herbal Essences Tousle Me Softly shampoo and conditioner

Herbal Essences Tousle Me Softly Shampoo is quite an interesting product: it suds well and feels like an expensive high-end shampoo. However, the luxurious feeling just ends there. It managed to dry out my oily hair under the Southern sun (and humidity) after only one wash! Now, it’s not something I have never experienced in my life. However, it’s something I have never felt while living here in summer. The constant heat and humidity makes my hair oily and sticky to the max.

Ingredients: water, sodium laureth sulfate, sodium lauryl sulfate, cocamidopropyl betaine, sodium chloride, viola odorata flower/leaf extract, punica granatum extract, fragrance, cocamide MEA, sodium benzoate, citric acid, sodium citrate, tetrasodium EDTA, guar hydroxypropyltrimonium chloride, linoleamidopropyl PG-dimonium chloride phosphate, methylchloroisothiazolinone, methyliosthiazolinone, sodium xylenesulfonate, blue 1, red 33.

Here are the pros and cons:

• Pros: affordable, smells good, contains violet flower/leaf extract and pomegranate extract, does not contain parabens.
• Cons: is drying (so it’s not suitable for those with dry hair), contains SLS and synthetic fragrance.

Cost: $2.99 USD at major drugstores and mass-market stores
My rating: B, can be A if it’s more moisturizing.

On the other hand, the Herbal Essences Tousle Me Softly Conditioner is a true luxury: it smells expensive, it feels expensive, and it makes my hair look shiny. All for a bit under 3 bucks! This purple conditioner is thick and highly moisturizing. However, the shampoo stripped off more moisture than the conditioner can replenish. Overall, I love this conditioner very much and it may have a future of being my stand-in conditioner after I finish my beloved conditioner.

Ingredients: water, stearyl alcohol, cetyl alcohol, stearamidoproyl dimethylamine, Viola odorata flower/leaf extract, Punica granatum extract, glutamic acid, fragrance, bis-aminopropyl dimethicone, benzyl alcohol, EDTA, sodium chloride, methylchloroisothiazolinone, methylisothiazolinone, citric acid, blue 1, red 33.

• Pros: affordable, smells good, is moisturizing, contains violet and pomegranate extract, does not contain parabens.
• Cons: beside containing synthetic fragrance, there's nothing I could think of.

Cost: $2.99 USD at major drugstores and mass-market stores
My rating: A+

A little bit about life itself...

Last week, I took a whole week off from blogging to heal myself. It's not cool being sick and not able to talk for almost a whole week. Half of the time, I sounded a lot like a cross between Bill Clinton and Donald Duck. The other half of the time, I tried to stay awake. NyQuil is miracle, without it I could not sleep, and as a result, felt like a maniac during the daytime!

The other side effect of being sick is laziness. I thought to have a lot of time to figure out how to do lots of things. Instead, I just slept like a baby! Right now, I sound a lot like myself but the cough is vicious. Yesterday, I woke myself up by coughing! Anyways, my cough can scare off some crooks during the PM :)

I hope you enjoy this first post of Hair Week. The second part of the Tousle Me Softly review is coming up tomorrow. Then, we'll have some posts on really simple hairstyles. Have fun, ladies!




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