To review: all the shampoos and conditioners.

I tend to forget that I have this combo from Matrix, because I am not familiar with the brand, and it’s tucked away on my tub. If you click the link, you can see them, hanging out kind of gormlessly on the edge, on your right. Since I’m right-handed, I tend to reach in that direction for stuff, even in the bath. It could be argued that I am saving certain concoctions for very specific use… well, whatevs. I do think that these got tucked up because my highlights had gotten so low, so what would have been the point of caring for the color?

I didn’t know what kind of hair the day wanted, and when I reached for these, I was pleasantly surprised by their fullness. Fullness due to their being tucked, etc. Sure, let’s give these a go, I thought, and as my highlights are light again, I’d be in a good position to judge whether or not this did the job.

I got seriously sleek salon stylin’, but I wasn’t as impressed by the punch of of colour, as I was by the John Freida Sheer Blonde that I wrote about recently. I think I thought this brand was fancier than it is; I’m not having much luck finding €/£ prices, but I found a site that sells the 10.0 fl oz bottle of shampers, as pictured, for $10. Now, it may something about my maintenance budget, but that doesn’t seem like a lot. When I was addicted to Aveda’s Shampure {ah! the scent!} I’m pretty sure it cost a bomb.

This begs the question: why are fancy shamps+conds so ‘spensive? It’s all down to ingredients, as you may have suspected. Mass produced cheap-o stuff is less likely to be infused with essential oils that have been harvested and extracted by hand from the only night-blooming ooga booga bush that grows along the Nile. Seriously, though, I’ll say it again: when it costs more, you use less. And you need to use less, because the quality of the surfectant — the thing that makes it lather up and clean you hair — in pricier brands is better.

So, this is really, really good for shiny and fancy, a bit ‘eh’ on the colour boosting, and while not as fancy as I thought, Matrix still a good thing to keep in the back pocket for a guaranteed shiny hair day.