I am usually a lurker (I know, I know, sorry! =P) but was appalled by all of the really negative reviews, so had to add my experience.
I want to start by saying that I have a KDF shower filter, so I do not need products that help with the removal or repair of damage caused by hard minerals, heavy metals, chlorine/chloramine, etc. I also don't hardly use any products (more on that below), especially none that contain silicones, etc.
I was looking for a new conditioner because I am growing my hair out now (it's now about halfway down my back...1 1/2 years ago it was a bob as it had been for 7 years prior). My hair was almost too well hydrated by my old conditioner, but breaking off at the roots like crazy, and my dandruff was getting uncontrollable.
When I first used this product, I was disappointed. The product had been really thick and my first purchase of the product was one of the small 12 oz bottles. I had had to squeeze the bottle against my thigh to manage to dispense the product and I'd found it a little difficult to spread throughout my hair. When I climbed out of the shower, my hair did not have the slip I was used to from my old conditioner. My hair also tangled a bit more due to this (I have ~2b hair).
But once it dried, I was blown away. There was a healthy, glossy sheen to my hair I hadn't seen since I was a kid and had 1a hair (near my roots is still pretty straight). I couldn't stop touching it. It was making that swoosh! sound. And instead of having an insanely itchy, oily scalp halfway through the day (this was not caused by my old conditioner - I've been dealing with that for years no matter what product I tried), I can go a full day and a half before I get a little itchy, sometimes even two days!
That being said - this product is NOT as hydrating as I need it to be for my ends. I live in a dry climate, so I use the Avalon Lavender conditioner on my scalp/top half of my hair, really giving myself a nice good scalp massage with it and making sure it's evenly applied everywhere, and I use my old conditioner on the bottom half of my hair. This works out better for me financially than just using the old stuff (which is more expensive), as I got 32 oz. pump bottles of the Lavender from Whole Foods on sale for $17 (and this is in Los Angeles, so I'd assume it could be cheaper elsewhere).
I'm not savvy to the rules of MUA so I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post the other products I use in my review? If anyone has a problem, send me a message, and I'll edit them out if I can. I use Acure Moroccan Argan Stem Cell + Argan Oil Conditioner on my ends. I let both of these products sit in my hair a few minutes while I shave and scrub my feet; I've found this extra soaking time to be crucial for my hair.
When I get out of the shower I use a light spray on leave-in conditioner (Acure Argan Stem Cell + Argan Oil Leave-in Conditioner...love this stuff despite it's pricetag) to detangle and comb through, then put a tiny amount of grapeseed oil on the ends to seal in the moisture. I always just let my hair air dry and don't do anything special to it but people always ask what shine products and what curling irons I use...this never happened before I used the Lavender on the top half of my head!
I'm very pleased with the Lavender conditioner for what it does for my scalp and hair's health, considering my environment. It smells absolutely lovely, as well, though as another reviewer noted, it doesn't last strongly for very long in the hair. Also, I've only used the New formulation, but I don't see any cones in the ingredient list as another reviewer mentioned, so maybe those were removed when they reformulated the product? Good luck! =]
My hair has never been softer after trying this product. I recently decided to switch to an organic hair regimen, and Avalon Organics Lavender seemed like the better option, seeing as it has Beta Glucan, essential oils and many other ingredients that caught my eye. I'm giving this a 4 because the bottle is just too small for my hair. My hair needs lots of conditioner, its been less than a month and its already finishing. I leave this conditioner on for as long as possible. I love the smell, it leaves a tingling sensation and after just one use my hair was so much stronger. I've gotten hair growth with this too! I do want to continue to buy it, only because I feel like there's no better product for me to try, however my hair hasn't been reacting so well to the silicone in this. I feel like I have to wash my hair constantly.. But so far, the benefits outweigh the few cons.
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I like this conditioner but I think it may be my hair type. I have baby fine hair that is slightly frizz prone, a bit wavy, and even though the strands are fine I have a decent amount of hair. My hair is now past my bra line and I find this conditioner is to do an ok job of daily conditioning/detangling. It rinses very clean and my hair is left shiny, a little more manageable, with hardly any frizz and I live in a humid part of Europe. I think I probably need a weekly deep conditioner/hair mask to top off this routine, but it's the best option I have right now without shopping on the economy here in Germany.
So sad! This was an amazing conditioner but they reformulated it and it doesn't work anymore! Very very unfortunate.
I like Avalon products, but their conditioners aren't for me. This one smelled nice, but it did not condition. My hair was a dry, tangled mess after my shower, and though it smelled very very nice it is not a conditioner I would buy again :)
More reviews by dishwaterblondie
I am really amazed at all the bad reviews for this conditioner. I first bought a sample size at whole foods and loved it so I bought the regular size bottle.
Mu hair is very thin and the ends are damaged from color. Gets very frizzy in humid weather. This conditioner is very thick but does not weigh down my hair, makes it shiny and looks healthy.
Helps a little bit with frizz but still need to use some sort of product afterwards. The scent goes away so it doesn't bother me.
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I recently bought this with the matching lavender shampoo. I've finished the bottle of conditioner and most of the shampoo so feel I can write a review on it.
I'd say the numbers and reviews are fairly accurate. The shampoo is a basic shampoo- not stripping and not over moisturizing. The conditioner, unfortunately, is not good. I've never had a conditioner actually dry out my hair but this one did.
It smells WONDERFUL which is the main reason why I bought it and why even though it doesn't work well for my hair I *might* repurchase it anyway. But my hair is dry, hard and brittle once it dries. It softens a little after a few hours, but it still feels pretty dry and I'd be afraid to use this conditioner exclusively for fear it would damage my hair. Another tragedy is the scent doesn't last long in my hair. It's VERY strong directly out of the bottle, but fades quickly on my hair.
The bottles themselves are quite pretty with the see though green plastic and lavender flowers on the labels. I also appreciate that I could get giant bottles from Whole Foods if I wanted to. However, I am at a loss as to why this is so bad for my hair. I really, REALLY want it to work because of the beautiful scent and the shampoo is just fine. I don't "get" this conditioner and wish it worked just a *little* bit better. I'd use it for life if it did.
Not sure if I'll repurchase, but I probably will just for the lavender scent.
As I said with my review for the lavender shampoo, I cannot believe all the bad reviews. I love the conditioner as well as the shampoo. And expensive? Hardly. If you think $8-$10 conditioner is expensive, try going to a hair salon or Sephora. Anyway, this worked all the tangles out of my hair and left it very soft without weighting it down. Also, the smell is Devine. People don't know how to act when something doesn't reek of chemical cookies or something. The natural lavender essential oils make this an ever greater product. I had no problem with this product and I'll be rebuying for sure!
(Repost with some edits from my lavender shampoo review.)
This smelled good but I thought it was too strong. And it leaves my hair dry so I need to condition with the lavender conditioner from the same brand. I finished the bottle of shampoo only because it was too damn expensive to throw away. But the effect on my locks and scalp was just not good. My scalp would itch often and would have thouse tiny sorta pimple-like feel like trapped hair follicles. So much for being organic. I still have half a bottle to go with this conditioner but I don't think I wanna finish it.
As in the words of my mom... "I tried your new conditioner! It put it in my hair and... it felt like nothing happened!"
We had a good laugh about it! Anyway, I personally love the fragrance and LOVE how natural it is.
I am a natural product fiend (I make my own soap) so any and all natural products come into my ownership at some point. Recently I have purchased MAC products which is the furthest departure in a long while...
I digress, my apologies!
What I mean to say is that I am in a position to know a thing or two about natural products and my motto is:
**Just because a product is natural, does not mean it's OK for the customer to accept that its affectiveness is inferior to traditional products***
There ARE better, just as natural hair products out there - ie, Aubrey Organics (creme de la creme in my opinion, WAY better than AVEDA), Nature's Gate, even Suave Naturals! (If you check their ingredients they are quite good for a DS brand).
I found the Lavender conditioner to actually make my hair worse... not fun!
Not recommended!