The Afro Hair and Beauty show seems like ages ago doesn’t it? I was invited to attend by ORS and gifted this shampoo at the event. ORS previously known as Organic Root Stimulator brought forward this line as part of their revamp/relaunch and in part as a response to the market, the perceived popularity of natural hair and demand for sulphate free products. ORS describe this shampoo as ‘non stripping and moisturising for natural curls.’
I have used this shampoo a few times now and each time my reaction has been ‘meh’. The first time I used it, was after a hot oil treatment and it did struggle to remove the oil treatment from my hair. On hair that has not been treated, I found that it did cleanse without stripping at the roots of my hair. However, it was not a good at product for the lengths of my locs. After shampooing my hair twice, I either had to shampoo the length of my hair again or use a different product. The shampoo is quite thin, which is not a criticism, just an observation and it was not overly foaming which I also liked as it rinses out quite easily.
The ingredients in this shampoo include rosemary, lemon balm and hops. Sadly when I put my nose to the bottle, I couldn’t smell the rosemary lemon balm or hops or any aromatics which is really disappointing as these along with the chamomile and olive oil are hair loving ingredients. The fragrance is very light, and synthetic, not herbal or woody or lemony. It also does not leave the hair fragranced after use which again is disappointing.
Overall the shampoo was ok but not great for my hair. It is a frequent use not deep cleanse product but it is not a product that I would repurchase. It is great to see another sulphate, paraben and mineral oil free mass market product and this is an interesting move for ORS which will no doubt be successful for them, but I do feel that the they are not fully committed. This felt like shampoo ‘lite’. ORS make some excellent products which I have used and continue to use, there are better shampoos in their range in my opinion and I know that it is possible to have a mass market, highly effective shampoo, paraben, sulphate and mineral oil free shampoo that is still gentle, so lets hope they tweak the formula soon.