This spring, I was pretty much set in my haircare drill. Giovanni 50/50 shampoo and conditioner, along with John Masters Organics Citrus and Neroli Detangler left my hair clean, soft, and shiny, and continues to be the backbone of my routine. In HAIR: Part I I had also become quite partial to hair oils rather than styling gels or creams, and Dr. Hauschka’s Neem Hair Oil was the first one I used and I found it to be very effective at taming frizzes, adding subtle gloss, and curl definition.
But, having a natural beauty blog means staying open to new products, especially when there’s interest from readers. My HAIR post continues to be one of Scent Hive’s most popular, so here are more reviews:
Aubrey Organics is a brand that has long interested me, and I can’t express enough how much I appreciated turning a conditioner bottle over to read the ingredients and seeing this statement at the top:
100% Natural Ingredients. No Parabens or Petrochemicals
At the bottom you’ll find: No Animal Testing, Vegan, Biodegradable
So Aubrey covers a lot of bases, including many organic ingredients of course. Since my hair is thick, wavy, and leans frizzy, I tried the Rose Mosqueta Nourishing Shampoo and Island Naturals Replenishing Conditioner for starters.
Rose Mosqueta Shampoo, is wow…super scented. Rose musk anyone? And the scent lasts all day long. So if that’s a deal breaker for you, go ahead and jump to the conditioner review. It’s not entirely a deal breaker for me depending on the day. If I want my hair to be my scent of the day, then I’ll go for it because this shampoo is high quality. It has an excellent lather, which is not to say it will be sudsy like a mainstream shampoo, but for a natural shampoo, it’s lovely. My hair felt well hydrated after using Rose Mosqueta and was shiny to boot. I only wish it weren’t so intensely fragranced. I’ll admit that musk is not on my preferred scent list so I might be a bit sensitive to it. But if you like musk, you will love this shampoo.
Aubrey Organics Island Naturals Replenishing Conditioner also gets high praise for its performance. It’s thick and rich and I love its first ingredient; coconut fatty acid cream base. Give me more of that in my hair please! I love running a comb through my hair when it’s being conditioned, and this allowed for smooth combing action. (Not quite as effortless as John Masters Organics Citrus and Neroli Detangler, but smooth nonetheless). With a name like Island Naturals, I was expecting a tropical scent of pineapple, mango, coconut or a hint of gardenia, but instead found mint and rosemary on my head. Fine by me, just not what I was anticipating. Indeed, you will find balm mint and rosemary oil in the ingredient list, with some coconut as mentioned above, but apparently the aromatic herbs are too much for the little island fruit (or seed to get technical). Regardless, my thick hair met its match in Island Naturals Replenishing Conditioner and will be in rotation among Giovanni 50/50 and John Masters Organics Citrus and Neroli Detangler.
Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose Conditioner says it’s for “Dry Brittle Hair”, but I found Island Naturals to be far more hydrating. The Island Naturals Replenishing provided so much moisture, that fine hair might be too weighted down by it, but I think the Honeysuckle Rose Conditioner could be doable in a small amount. If you find that starts coating it too much, give Blue Chamomile Hydrating Conditioner a try, it gets rave reviews on the Aubrey website from the gals with thin, fine hair.
As for styling products, I’ve been keeping it simple with hair oil after the shower. My routine: Towel dry, 3-6 drops of oil rubbed all over the hands, distribute through middle of hair, ends, then hairline. Comb it. Wrap it up in a clip for a while. Done. I’ve discovered Weleda Rosemary Hair Oil and have found my new favorite styling product. No doubt that Dr. Hauschka’s Neem Hair Oil is a quality product, but Weleda’s helps tame the frizzies a smidge better and makes my hair just a bit softer. And the rosemary scent is delicious.
For some fun, not so serious hair care, give John Masters Organics Sea Mist Sea Salt Spray with Lavender a go. While it added too much body to my hair, it would be perfect for someone whose thin hair needs some life. Or if you’ve got some bedhead and need to give it a boast, spritz this on and refresh your hair with a lavender scent and a little wave.
If you’ve got some favorite natural haircare products, by all means, please share your discoveries by hitting the comments button below!
Posted by ~Trish
image from http://blog.vva.org/?m=200808
thefloraesthetic.com 
I have been looking at John Masters Organics Sea Mist Sea Salt Spray and thinking of making some of this myself.
When you talk about the Rose Mosqueta Shampoo and you says its musk..what are you smelling/ what does that smell like?
Great post
You know the scent of musk oils, like Egyptian Musk or White Musk at the Body Shop? It’s a real tenacious skin scent…difficult to describe but I am sure you have smelled it.
Many people adore the smell, for me, it’s got a deadweight that I find overwhelming. The rose in the Rose Mosqueta uplifts the musk with a floral aspect, but it’s still quite intense and I need to be in the mood for it so to speak.
Does that help at all??
~T
I see, well I have smelled body spray that had musk in it… but I have never smelled the pure form. Of the things I have smelled labeled musk, they were not my cup of tea… too bad. I really need to find a natural brand hair products that doesn’t brake the bank and doesn’t cause me to have an itchy scalp. I tried Giovanni and it ruined my scalp! I am still recovering, trying to get ride of the flakiness.
How awful about the Giovanni! I am so sorry to hear that. I wonder what ingredient(s) caused that? Maybe try the Aubrey Island Naturals Shampoo, the conditioner smells great if you like rosemary.
~T
Asked around on MUA someone on the green board stated she experienced the same thing. She said it was the ingredient C12-14 Olefin Sulfonate. I am going to do more research on the ingredient.
That’s interesting. Saffronrouge has that on their “Black List” and I was trying to figure out why because it’s not a petrochemical and there is no mention of it being difficult to biodegrade in my research. So my guess is it has health concerns, one of their reasons for being on the Black List.
I have looked up every ingredient in the 50/50 line, as several of them are on that Black List. One of them, polysorbate 60 (PEG 60) needs petroleum to be synthesized….so it’s not the greenest of products, but far better than most.
Very interestin, it could just be an ingrendient that can cause a lot of irriation, like it did in my case.
Its good to know these things
I’m a big fan of Aubrey, too, but my favorite is their old classic conditioner, GPB. GPB is not for those of limp tresses, though. It’s a thick, super moisturizing conditioner that needs coarse hair to works its magic on. It smells almost like eucalyptus and has a pearly cast to it. I used it in college, then forgot about it until recently, and now I’m in love again.
Aubrey has a good, rose-scented facial toner that I like, too.
Angela,
I am so glad you mentioned this one. I am going to try the GPB shampoo next. I love that they make it in the larger 16 oz size in case I fall in love with it 🙂
~T
This blog post gave me an entire load of ideas, with thanks for sharing
You’re welcome Nicola! Please report back if you find some new favorite hair products!
~T