I bought a travel size bottle of this when I bought the travel size bottle of Pureology Super Straight shampoo. However, while I thought the shampoo was okay, I really did not care for the conditioner. It was very lightweight and just dried my hair out, and I had to use a lot of my Paul Mitchell deep conditioner to repair it. I was not pleased. (It seemed fine other than that — if your hair doesn’t require a lot of moisture, it’s probably a perfectly good lightweight conditioner.) Also I really disliked the bottle — the full size bottle is probably fine, but the odd shape of the tiny travel-sized bottle made getting conditioner out of it really difficult — I had to bend the bottle in half to get the last of it out. Based on that, I guess I would rate this conditioner a 2/5 stars, but since L’Oreal bought Pureology, as I mentioned in my Pureology Super Straight shampoo post, I’m knocking a star off, which moves it down to 1/5 stars. (Pureology products are not organic, but they are vegan.)

Pureology claims that this conditioner will work to “smooth, temporarily straighten and protect frizzy, curly, wavy or unruly hair with maximum thermal and color protection,” and that it is a “premium performance conditioner” that will transform your “tresses for amazingly shiny, smooth, soft, and detangled hair with radiant color vibrancy.” I certainly didn’t feel like it did that to my hair, but it did receive a 3.9/4 stars on MakeupAlley, so maybe it does that for some people . . .

Pureology Super Straight Conditioner (8.5 oz) is available for $22.92 plus super-saver/prime free shipping from Amazon and many salons and mall beauty stores.

Ingredients: Botanicals of White Tea, Seaweed, Avocado Lipids (Certified Organic), Cetearyl Alcohol, Octyldodecyl Ricinoleate, Cyclomethicone, Cetrimonium Chloride, Behentrimonium Methosulfate, Behentrimonium Chloride, Silicone Quaternium 8, Amodimethicone, Trimethylsiloxyamodimethicone, Dimethiconol, Cetrimonium Bromide, Dihydroxypropyl Peg 5 Linoleammonium Chloride, Dimethicone PEG 7 Avocadoate, C11-15 Pareth 7, Laureth 9, Glycerin, Trideceth 12, Polyquaternium 37, Dicaprylate Dicaprate, PPG 1 Trideceth 6, Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Glycereth 26, Hydrolyzed Oat Protein, Hydrolyzed Soy Protein, Wheat Amino Acids, Butyl Methoxydibenzoylmethane, Butyl Methoxydibenzoylmethane, Cinnamidopropyltrimonium Chloride, Octinoxate (Sunscreens), Sunflower Seed Extract (Heliogenol), Melanin, Tocopheryl Acetate, Ascorbic Acid, Superoxide Dismutase (Antioxidants), Citric Acid, Jojoba Esters, Shea Butter, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone, Methylparaben, Aroma Therapy Fragrance

Tags : 1/5 stars, conditioner, hair, PureOlogy, vegan

I bought a travel size bottle of this at one of those mall beauty supply stores and used it for a week or so until it ran out. I thought it was a perfectly serviceable shampoo, but nothing special. It did seem to clean my hair fairly well without stripping it or leaving buildup, but it didn’t minimize the pouffiness without destroying the bounce the way Paul Mitchell Super Skinny shampoo does. So I thought it’s maybe a 4/5 star shampoo. Unfortunately, it turns out that L’Oreal bought Pureology in May of this year, which I hadn’t realized until now, so I’m taking another star off for that — leaving it with a total of 3/5 stars. (I don’t wish to dissuade anyone from buying Pureology products — they are 100%-not-tested-on-animals, and by buying them you are encouraging L’Oreal to stop testing on animals. Since L’Oreal is a huge animal-testing offender, that’s a good thing. It’s just that psychologically I don’t really enjoy buying products that profit L’Oreal, so I take a star off for that.)

Pureology is an interesting company — it used to be an upscale niche hair product brand that produced vegan (but not organic), 100%-cruelty-free products. Lots of people really seem to like its products — I’ve read numerous rave reviews. However, the owner, Jim Markham, sold the company to L’Oreal in May, though he has been retained as the CEO (according to the Pureology website), and I hope he is still running Pureology so that it produces high-quality, vegan, cruelty-free hair products. So far it looks like he still is. I don’t really blame Mr. Markham for selling out — I’m sure if I’d been in that situation I’d have been thrilled to be offered millions for my company. I can only hope L’Oreal keeps Pureology as separate from its other product lines as possible and does not infringe on its not-tested-on-animals policy.

Anyway, the Pureology website claims that Pureology Super Straight Shampoo will temporarily straighten frizzy, curly, wavy, or unruly color-treated hair. It also has a special cleaning agent in it that is not sulfate-based — it’s called “zerosulfate,” and it is supposed to have a non-color stripping formula that “provides remarkable shine, humidity resistance, brilliance and color protection for a super smooth, sleek style.” It can be used daily for “salon smoothness.” (I didn’t really see any sort of salon smoothness, unfortunately, and I realize that many people dislike sulfate-based shampoos, but there are other nonsulfate shampoos out there — off the top of my head I think Giovanni makes one with coco betaine as the active ingredient.) It received a 4.1/5 stars on MakeupAlley – a bunch of people really liked it and thought it smoothed their hair out, some others, like me, were underwhelmed by it.

Pureology Super Straight Shampoo (10.1 oz) is available for $24.49 from Amazon, as well as at many salons and beauty supply stores.

Ingredients: Botanicals of White Tea, Seaweed, Avocado Lipids (Certified Organic), Sodium Lauryl Sulfoacetate, Disodium Laureth Sulfosuccinate, Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate, Sodium Lauroyl Sarcosinate, Cocamidopropyl Hydroxysultaine, Cocamidopropylamine Oxide, Glycol Distearate, Decyl Glucoside, Amodimethicone, Trimethylsiloxyamodimethicone, C11-15 Pareth 7, Laureth 9, Glycerin, Trideceth 12, Cinnamidopropyltrimonium Chloride, Octinoxate, Butyl Methoxydibenzoylmethane (Sunscreens), Sunflower Seed Extract (Heliogenol), Melanin, Ascorbic Acid, Tocopheryl Acetate, Superoxide Dismutase (Antioxidants), Lauryl Alcohol, Hydrolyzed Oat Protein, Hydrolyzed Soy Protein, Wheat Amino Acids, Jojoba Esters, Shea Butter, Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Dihydroxypropyl Peg 5 Linoleammonium Chloride, Silicone Quaternium 8, Dimethicone PEG 7 Avocadoate, Polyquaternium 7, Glycereth 26, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Butylene Glycol, Methylisothiazolinone, Aroma Therapy Fragrance.