This shampoo strips my hairs so much that I am returning it and going back to my beloved Abba Gentle Shampoo. I wanted to try Black Malva to help keep my hair from becoming brassy, but the ammonium lauryl sulfate in it is too drying. It left my hair dry, sticky and tangled. I cannot recommend this shampoo.

I've used a lot of fail products and quite frankly given this products stellar reviews I'm surprised that this one ranks so high in my fail column. In fact this one really P@#ed me off to be blunt considering how much it costs and how little you get. I'm reviewing the conditioner which I purchased to keep the red tones out of my dark brown hair and maybe prolong trips to my stylist. I bought this at an Aveda salon and was told that this was so strong I would only need to use this once per week for 3-5 minutes to keep my color fresh but that it probably would not color greys. No problem...I hadn't used this until after a trip to the keys and my color had took a bit of a beating & lightened in the sun no matter how much UV conditioner I coated my hair with. I expected no miracles but was hoping for a bit of a boost so that I could hold off a week or so from getting a color touch up. What I got instead was a total strip of color from any area that color was covering grays. I mean what was lightened from the sun went completely white in one conditioning treatment with this crap. I guess the sales associate forgot to mention that possibility? I have medium fine hair and went grey early so fighting that battle is frustrating enough. Perhaps this product works best on someone with a courser texture hair but for me this is not only was a wasted purchase but would have sent me to the hairdresser a lot sooner than necessary had I used it right after a color. I wouldn't even give this crap away. continued >>

have the shampoo in the liter size and the conditioner in the large tube. Of all the color deposit products I've used, this is the best. I have very dark brown hair with a lot of natural red in it... it will go brassy very quickly. I color it every 4 weeks as it's 100% white now (started at age 11 and was white by early 20's). I rotate it with another Aveda shampoo (the Colorsaver one, whatever it's called, lol). The conditioner, however, is where the true pigment comes from. Sadly, the conditioner is NOT hydrating enough for my thick, coarse, colored Irish hair. In order for me to make this combo work, I MUST combine the conditioner WITH the Dry Remedy TREATMENT MASK (which I also use as my daily conditioner).
Perfection!!!

My hair is medium brown.I got this because I wanted to darken my hair and take out the brassiness. The first time I used it as a conditioner, left it on for about 5 minutes and didn't really change anything. Didn't stain my bathtub or nails either. The second time I used it as a hair color and left it on for almost an hour. It came out an uneven reddish dark brown and left my hair dull looking. This time stained my bathtub and nails. I give it 2 stars because it did darken my hair a little.I've return it.

I got the tube size of just the conditioner for $18 at an Aveda salon, so it's pricier than the John Frieda brunette glossing one I used to use, but it's that much better!! I will never go back to the John Frieda one again.
My hair background: I dyed my hair awhile ago with a stupid compound henna dye (bad!) that left my hair kinda fried. I was scared to dye it again with a regular chemical dye, so I got a glossing coating treatment at the salon. I specifically asked for dark neutral brown with no red tones, but of course, when the coating faded, it left my hair more red/orange, especially in the sun. So my hair was natural almost-black on top, and the bottom half of my hair was a red/orange mess. I'm tryin to grow out my dyed ends instead of re-dye it, so a color depositing conditioner was the way to go! I didn't bother getting the shampoo cuz the color depositing stuff is in the conditioner. Black Malva is perfect because after 3 times of use, it has definitely reduced my brassiness and had darkened the dyed part to blend more naturally with my natural dark hair color. I no longer look "half black, half red", but more uniform and natural now, thank God.
How I use it: I shampoo with my normal moisturizing shampoo, condition with my normal moisturizing conditioner, rinse, then put the black malva on just the bottom half of my hair that needs it, leave it on for approx. 3 min, and rinse. I don't wash my hair every day, but so far I've used it every time I wash, but after I reach the desired level of saturation, I will probably cut down to every other wash or once a week to maintain (that's what the salon girl told me to do). Yes, it's messy and can leave blue-black stains on the tub or turn your palms blue-black, but I just wipe the tub right after I apply it, and wash my hands with soap. By the time I get out of the shower, my palms/nails are normal and not stained. Not a big deal, and the results on my hair are worth the minor annoyance.
Why this is better compared to the John Frieda color depositing gloss thing: John Frieda left my hair feeling more coated and waxy rather than soft and silky, while the Black Malva rinses out leaving my hair silky soft! It also smells herby fresh, for people who care about smell. Most importantly for me, the Black Malva is truly cool-toned to fix brassiness. The blue tone of it cancels out the orangey red in my hair. The John Frieda was just warm brown so it didn't do much for fixing brassiness (sort of how Aveda Clove would be probably- more brown but NOT for fixing brassiness). This is perfect for toning down brassiness in medium to dark hair! I wish I found it sooner! Try it if you're a dye-phobe like me or wanna grow out your dyed hair and go back to natural!

I had a dark brown colour with some red hues in the light. My hair is quite damaged on the ends and on the dry side naturally. I bought this to freshen up my colour and take me more to the 'cool side' as I don't like warm tones on my hair but somehow they always pop up.
The shampoo is quite harsh and causes my hair to tangle. It does not deposit any colour in my opinion... this shampoo can easily dry out your hair if you use it everyday without a deep condiotioner afterwards. ( the black malva conditioner is not moisturising enough for dry hair types.)
The conditioner... Its packed with pigment. Do not use if you have porous or damaged hair! I applied this and left it for a couple of minutes and the results were horrific!
My ends were left smokey grey/black with no shine! towards the roots, hardly enough color had taken! so i had 2 tones of hair colour that looked digusting!
I tried washing it out with dishwash soap over and over to get rid of the color but only a small change took place, it still looked awful... I had to use a color remover to stip all the artificial pigment from my hair and redye it with a semi to dkrown again.
I know some people love this stuff and it works beautifully for them. My warning goes out to you girls with porous, proccessed hair with damaged ends.
Reccommened for black hair or very dark brown... results will not be flattering if your hair is as light as a med brown or lighter.

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this stuff! I have naturally dark brown hair and am always dying it black. This stuff is amazing, smells great too!
It is a bit on the exspensive side...but I find it really lasts, you really don't need to use that much!!!

HOLY GRAIL!! This stuff just TRANSFORMED my hair in a matter of minutes.
Here's what happened:
After MANY years of bleaching, I decided it was time to give my natural color a chance. My stylist dyed my damaged, fine hair a deep, WARM brown with an Aveda deposit-only color. What started out as a deep cherry-mahogany proceeded to fade to a far less flattering brassy, light, organgey, ginger-brown. I understand that we needed to put the red pigments back in first because my hair had been bleached, but I'm a natural dark ash blonde or light ash brown, so the ginger color looks weird with my complexion.
I had more or less resigned myself to the idea that I would have to patiently endure many months of ugly orange-brown hair before my virgin hair would reach a length that would allow me to chop off the color. Since I'm trying to stop the cycle of dying and re-dying, I didn't want to do another round of dye if I could avoid it. Thus began my hunt for a color depositing conditioner. I read TONS of reviews for ALL the various color conditioners out there, and it was the MUA reviews for Black Malva that finally sold me.
Today I received the condish in the mail. After shampooing, I left in on for about five minutes. Before rinsing, I added some Alba honeydew conditioner because I'd read what other people had said about the Black Malva being drying, causing tangles, etc. It all rinsed out beautifully and I just dried my hair and HOLY MOLY!!!!! I am now a BEAUTIFUL, rich, COOL espresso brown!!! It looks AMAZING!! And perfect with my skin and makeup.
I am SO SO SO SO SO happy!! I really thought I was just going to have to look ugly for a year or two while my hair grew out, but you can't even see the line of demarcation anymore. I am totally in love with this conditioner and SO thankful to everyone else for sharing their experiences. This has truly saved my hair!!

I was looking for a product to counteract the brassy tones my highlights were getting and my stylist recommended this product which they sell at my salon. I have light brown hair with medium blonde highlights and my hair gets brassy really really easily. I've tried several blue toned shampoos/conditioners including the John Frieda and L'Oreal ones. These work much better in my opinion. I wash my hair about 3 times/week and I use these every other time. The shampoo doesn't leave my hair very soft, but the conditioner works well and with the combination I get clean, non brassy hair! I have fine, straight hair that isn't too damaged so I don't know how well this product would work if you need serious moisture. Even so I use Bumble and Bumble mending shampoo/conditions on the days I don't use this because I don't feel this really helps the condition of my hair. That being said I will repurchase because it does help with the brassiness. Oh and I got a huge bottle for $26 so I feel like the price wasn't too bad, however I think I need to get a pump for the bottle because it's almost too much to pick up in the shower.

I've been using this for 3 months. I only use the conditioner. One tube last me 2 months if I use it 3 x week. I found it wouldn't cover evenly even when I brushed it in or applied like a regular hair color by applying in sections and using a cap. So then I started mixing it with conditioner and it applied evenly but since conditioner doesn't completely rinse out of hair I would stain my towels and clothes. Now I mix it on with shampoo in a clean old empty bottle and a little water. I apply in the shower while looking in a shower mirrow to make sure I apply it in my hair well with just my hands, which takes about 2 minutes. Then I comb it through. I put my hair up with clips. I look at my shower radio and then I kill 10 minutes by exfoliating, shaving, and washing my body. When the 10 minutes are up I rinse it out like any shampoo and it washes out clean so I don't have to worry about staining my towels or clothes. If I do this 3 x week it helps cover my grays (actually whites) in the front of my hair and makes my dark brown hair look a natural shade of black which is more flattering to my PPP skin than my natural color. It's not the best solution to gray hair since I spend 30 minutes a week doing it but I haven't had to mess with my virgin hair by dying it so for now it's worth it.
UPDATE 1/9/11
I stopped using this and dyed my hair. I'm in school so it wasn't worth the time and effort to me to keep using this. I also didn't like to have to keep scrubbing the walls and floor of my shower each time I used it.

My natural hair colour is light brown/dark blonde, and I was a highlighted bleach blonde for 5+ years. As a blonde, Aveda's Blue Malva was my HG conditioner that I used 2X a month to maintain my colour. So I needed a hair change and I ended up dying my hair brown. The stylist explained to me before the colour that because of the blonde highlights, my hair would take a red-toned brown instead of the blue-toned brown that I wanted. I was fine with that, but because of the filler and bleach in my hair, what was intended to be a light medium brown, ended up being a very dark brown with red tones. As the colour faded it became dark auburn. I really didn't want to dye my hair again because my hair was fried, but I wanted to get something to get rid of the red tones. I absolutely SWEAR by Blue Malva conditioner, and I have used faithfully on my blonde hair for years. When I saw the red tones getting stronger as I washed my hair, I decided to get the Black Malva because I had such great results with the Blue Malva.
So I did the same routine that I did with the Blue Malva: I worked it through my hair and let it sit for about 20 minutes. I definitely noticed a difference after the first round. My hair was a shade darker, but the red seemed diminished which is what I wanted. However, the next time I washed my hair it seemed to wash out the effects of the Black Malva, so I'm was right back at square one. Also, the conditioner stained my cuticles which was really hard to get out. With the Blue Malva I was able to go at least 2-3 weeks between conditionings, so I'm not sure why the Black Malva seems to wash out. Maybe it's because my hair is artificially darker??? I'm not a hair professional so I really have no idea. If this was drugstore conditioner, I would be using this this 2-3 times a week when I shampoo, but at $35 CND I can see myself going through a bottle too quickly to justify paying for it (FYI a bottle of Blue Malva lasted me a year on my thin, shoulder length hair).
I'm going to begin the long process back to blonde, so I wouldn't buy this again. If I was going to stay a brunette, I really don't see a big of enough of a difference in my hair to justify the price. I will definitely go back to Blue Malva once I am blonde again.

Why is the shampoo and conditioner lumped together? Anyway, I used the Aveda Black Malva Conditioner. I have dark, full, medium Asian hair, and bought it after dying it black. I didn't notice whether it helped maintain my hair colour, although I do know that it does deposit colour. I did not repurchase because it was not moisturising enough for my hair. My hair was very dry and damaged because of getting a wavy perm, and this did not help at all in untangling it. I've given up on the conditioner, but I may try the shampoo next.

My hair is naturally medium-to-dark brown with some greys. I haven't colored my hair in 6 months, but it tends to turn brassy, and the re-growth actually looks ok while the previously colored part still had a reddish cast. I bought this shampoo and conditioner to see if I could tone down the redness. After using for only a few weeks, I have seen a pretty noticeable difference - the reddish cast is way less! Now, this isn't a hair DYE, so it's not going to make a dramatic difference, but I've gotten good results. It's expensive, but all color-enhancing shampoo/conditioners are, and this is less expensive than some other shampoos/conditioners that claim to do what it does, but it's more effective. My hair has also been soft and shiny and I haven't had any scalp irritation (which I get from some hair products). The smell is pleasant but not overwhelming, and I like the fact that it's not full of chemicals and harsh detergents.

I have short darkbrown-blackish colored hair. Got this for the two reasons that it says on the tube, to enhance dark hair and to give a cool tone ( remove/tone down redness).
The biggest problems with my hair is many colors give my hair a warm tone like goldish or even a redish undertone that I don't like. Loreal colors have worked great, but after 4 weeks I have a reddish-goldish black tone that I don't like. Also my roots are starting to show, and because I'm 3-4 lighter than the ends I look bold on some parts...
This helps with 50% of my problems. It gives a dark(er) tone to my hair, and also gives some colors to my roots making them blend in better.
But it doesn't give a cool tone like it says on the tube. On me more a neutral almost warm tone that I don't like.
I do use it, my hair feel soft after using this, but hard to say how it works on longer hair.
If you have lighter hair (like blonde) don't use this, I did an experiment on a blonde hairpiece and it make it silver-greyish....

It claims to "enhance" black or brown hair. I have brown hair and this stuff turned my hair green! It wasn't moisturizing at all and left my hair looking/feeling scraggly and messy.

The black malva shampoo from aveda is my HG shampoo. This is the first shampoo i have ever use that not only cleans, but makes my hair SHINY and healthy. I shampoo about 2 to 3 times a week and condition at least once among those days. I do think for the amount of shampoo you get, the price isn't that bad. In terms of the conditioner, i think it is expensive for the amount you get so i use it sparingly. I already have black hair so i don't know how the color depositing in the product is but when i do use the conditioner it makes my hair amazingly shiny(like triple the shine), and silky. I don't like using added products after my shower and i have retired my blow dryer and straightener so it's nice i can get healthy shiny hair without either of those things. Like most conditioners, my hair is just too thick and my hair near my sculpt just gets weighed down and looks limp when i use it so that is another reason why i use it sparingly( I don't like using a lot of products to add volume). I can probably live without this specific conditioner as it is expensive but as someone who regularly changed her shampoo, I think i've finally found a keeper. I have been using the shampoo for approx. 9 months now and it still has a lot of product left inside so i think the shampoo is definately worth the expensive price tag.

I like this shampoo and will buy it again when I want to treat myself. It's a bit expensive but smells wonderful, cleans very nicely and a little goes a long way. I don't think it helps retain my hair color but it's a great shampoo.

I love this stuff. It really does cool and deepen the tone of your hair. I use it every single time I wash my hair, because black dye fades fast, and light roots are atrocious. I gave this only 4 lippies because: 1) its super messy (treat it like dye) and 2) the shampoo is a waste of money - you're fine with just the conditioner (that's what actually deposits the color)

Aveda’s Black Malva shampoo and conditioner are excellent companions for dark hair. My hair has a lot of natural red in it and Black Malva keeps it at bay making my hair just a gorgeous dark brown. I love the smell. It’s kind of herbally, but not in a medicinal way.
The conditioner deposits gorgeous colour to your hair and will stain your hands, but it’s not permanent and it easily washes away with soap.
I don't find myself reaching it for all that much anymore as I find it doesn't leave my hair as smooth or as soft as I would like. In fact, on days I do use it, my hair looks coarse and puffy.

Love, love, love.
I used the Shampoo with every washing. It's light, rinses clean, and has a lovely cherry smell. About twice a week I use the Conditioner, leaving it on for about 5-10 minutes. My hair is always shiny, the colour rich, and a bonus...it extends my hair colour and extra couple of weeks.
A bit steep though. I find the conditioner doesn't last very long, since my hair is longish and needs a lot of product.