A lot of you have been leaving comments, asking me to write a post on natural cosmetic haircare products. As I’ve been using a variety of natural hair products for years now, the demand for a post about the subject took me by surprise. People’s bad experiences must date back some years, because natural hair products have been evolving and improving at great speed, or otherwise it’s just a case of the wrong product for the wrong hair. There are still some not-so-great conditioners on the market, after all.
Neal’s Yard Remedies has long been a haircare favorite of mine, not only because of the great price to quality ratio, but also the wonderful aromatherapeutic fragrances of the products. The oldest natural cosmetics range in England, the brand continues to impress me with its holistic approach. I would be hard pressed to find a company as comprehensive, transparent, genuinely ethical, and thoroughly ecological as Neal’s Yard Remedies. My dream is to visit their factory in England one day – let’s see how I do…
I’ve compiled three haircare sets for you, using products by Neal’s Yard. I can guarantee you’ll love at least one of them. And do share your own tips in the comment box!
I personally love all of these, and have gone from favoring the gentle rose, then the stronger orange flower, and finally the rosemary and seaweed.
Invigorating Seaweed Shampoo and Conditioner
For some reason, it wasn’t until the Finnish importer of Neal’s Yard literally forced the products on me that I got around to testing the refreshing Rosemary and Seaweed shampoo and conditioner. I suppose I had thought that the combo would be too harsh, and leave my hair feeling coarse. How wrong I was! I love the perky scent of rosemary, first of all, and any product containing seaweed must be good. My flat hair got a major boost from using this combo. The shampoo gives a good wash but not enough to necessitate getting out the detangler; the conditioner is neither overly rich nor flattening, leaving the hair just silky and smooth enough to be easily combed through.
Nurturing Rose Shampoo and Conditioner
The Rose duo was my favorite for quite a while, and I must have gone through several bottles of it. These products are especially suited for coarse, damaged, or dyed hair, or if you suffer from a dry scalp in the winter. The rose shampoo contains rose hip oil, sea buckthorn oil, and passion flower oil to nourish the scalp. The oak and marigold extracts in the conditioner help to detangle the hair, and to give it shine. I eventually moved on to the orange flower shampoo, but kept the rose conditioner – works just as well.
Revitalising Orange Flower Shampoo and Conditioner
People have differing opinions about orange flower, but I personally love the scent. It’s simultaneously sweet and a little bit sour – yum! The shampoo contains Moringa- or horseradish tree extract, orange flower extract, as well as Japanese camellia oil and passion flower oil, and is best suited for normal to greasy hair. I go for this shampoo whenever I feel my hair needs a more thorough wash. The conditioner is lighter than the rosemary and seaweed one, and while it provides shine and volume for thin and fine hair, I don’t think it works as well for thick or coarse hair. And as my hairdresser tells me I’ve got “too much” hair, it’s clearly not a product for me.
Next up is a slightly more high-end haircare range.
The Invigorating Seaweed products are available at Naturelle, and the Orange Flower duo can be found at Jolie. Using the code KATJA15 at check-out will give you 15% off all products at Jolie until the end of November.
Photos Katja Kokko
Translation Katja Nikula
