Should You Join The Low-Shampoo Revolution? 

I heard about one of the latest releases from loreal back at the start of the year when I heard Fleur de Force mention their new ‘Low Shampoos’. The bottle has sat neglected in my shower until a few weeks ago when I heard the marvelous Zoe London talk about these, and with my recent blue hair drama, it couldn’t have been a better time to test this new concept. 

So what is low shampooing? 

The idea between this product is that it skips over both your shampooing and conditioning step on one. Similar to what a trusty bottle of head and shoulders would do, but instead the products are formulated with very low sulphates. For a shampoo this basically doesn’t foam at all, a few suds are created from massaging around the scalp but this feels more like a thin conditioner than any type of shampoo I’ve tried.

L’Oréal have launched this concept with two different versions, A colour care one in the red bottle for dry coloured hair, and an extraordinary oil versions for the driest of hairs. At the time of buying I had no colour to protect other than bleach, and my hair felt dryer than the Sahara, so I picked the Extraordinary Oil Low Shampoo, in addition to that I’m a massive fan of that conditioner from that range which you’ll know if you saw my empties last year – it featured heavily.

In addition to its low sulphate properties, meaning it’s a gentle cleanser – this comes with claims of being anti breakage, making hair soft as well as aiding in detangling. All great in theory, right? Yet sadly, I don’t like this. The application is absolutely fine, and I like this comes with a pump top, however you need a lot of product per use. The bottle advises around 10-15 pumps, which for £6.99 product feels like a lot in one go – I also don’t know how that’s easy to measure, if you have a short bob, or long waist length hair, that measurement isn’t helpful – for reference, my nipple length hair takes 15 pumps. The product feels nice on the hair, I’ve noticed when I’ve used this compared to other shampoos with sulphates far less of the blue has been noticeable in the shower, so it does help protect colour well.

When my hair dries however it just doesn’t look clean, my roots look like day 3 hair, and feel just as bad to touch too. No amount of excessive rinsing and attempts to massage the product away has cured this feeling. When I’ve been washing my hair with this it has had to be styled into a top bun straight away to mask just how bad my hair looks, as down it looks like I’ve been camping in the woods for days, with no access to hygiene facilities. The mid lengths to ends of my hair don’t feel as bad and actually feel soft and smooth – however it does still feel coated in something, a bit like I’ve gone overboard with an argan oil prior to it drying.

Whilst the ends don’t feel to bad to the touch it feels heavy and weighed down, with any volume I have eradicated. I couldn’t contemplate trying to curl my hair after using these products, I just know it would stand no chance of holding any style.

Maybe the red version is better, that’s the version both Fleur and Zoe reviewed, I just don’t know that I’m likely to spend another £7 on trying to find out.

Have you tried the low shampoos from L’oreal yet?

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Helpless Whilst Drying

Email: helplesswhilstdrying@gmail.com

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22 Comments

  1. Sherry
    March 17, 2017 / 6:27 am

    Such a great, to-the-point, honest review! I’d been hearing a lot about this stuff too as was asking around for low sulphate products because of my dry ends and was recommended it. Safe to say I probably won’t was the money now plus it doesn’t sound like it would have longevity at 15 pumps a time!

  2. March 17, 2017 / 12:20 pm

    I’ve never tried the Loreal one but I have been trying to use shampoos with low sulphate in them for nearly an year now. I don’t know if they make my hair healthier which I at one point heard of but I’ve been pursuing it nevertheless. 😆😅
    Hajara | Chocolatefrosst Xx

      • Ghada Abouras
        July 31, 2018 / 5:02 pm

        I had problems with my dry fine frizzy hair all of my life, i was never happy with any shampoo, I tried the more expensive brands available in pharmacies only that were by far better. Years went buy, when I started dying my hair it became more amd more dry, I searched for a hair treatment to hydrate my dry hair, I tried different masks, oils, beer, banana mask, aloe vera, you name it, they used to work temporarily and a long time to prepare and apply, I had used the best brands such as kerastase , Klorane and Phyto.Finally I have found the perfect easy inexpensive solution for my hair. L’oreal low shampoo left my hair highly hydrated without weighing it down, it smells amazing too. Tje bonus was it detangled the hair of my 6 y old daughter. It is the best shampoo I have ever used. I love you l’ oreal people…keep on the innovation!!!!

  3. March 17, 2017 / 12:49 pm

    Love this honest review! Now if I try this trend, I can grab a different kind of low-shampoo. Thanks for sharing! 😊

  4. March 17, 2017 / 3:10 pm

    Haha “my nipple length hair takes 15 pumps” – great measurements. Also funny taken out of context.
    Based on your description, I do not think this would be for me either. I need my hair to be SQUEAKY clean or else it is limp. I wash my hair pretty much every day. No “low-poo” for me!

  5. March 17, 2017 / 5:24 pm

    Never tried anything like this. Not something that appeals to me. I don’t wash my hair every day and when I go I use sulfate-free shampoo/conditioner anyway. I have baby fine hair so this would probably make it look like a hot mess.

  6. March 17, 2017 / 9:04 pm

    I prefer Sahara dry but clean hair over soft hair any day. The sheer “not cleaned” feeling is very off putting. If anything, my favourite is the crazy clean hair range from Paul Mitchel clarifying shampoo three. It stripes the hair clean of chlorine and everything else *LOL* or my drugstore favourite… the Neutrogena anti residue shampoo. LOVE that super clean feeling.

  7. March 17, 2017 / 9:53 pm

    I have Yves Rocher cleansing cream as a low poo shampoo but if I am honest, I am also not sold on it as my hair is fine though curly, although my hair could manage it in winter but cannot stand it at all in summer. However it is excellent on my children’s mixed race long hair inbetween proper shampoo as their hair soaks the cream up and dry coily curls cannot stand even baby shampoo more than once a week so something like that is really more for people with dry or very curly hair.

  8. Ella - A Pocketful of Lipstick
    March 19, 2017 / 2:13 am

    Thanks for the heads up on this. I haven’t actually heard of this before, but I have heard of cleansing conditioners (aka cream, lather free shampoos). I may try the red version of the L’Oreal one if it ever comes our way (though I’m not holding my breath), but since I’ve finally found a sulfate-free shampoo that works great for my dyed hair, I’m not all that eager to move away from it.

  9. March 19, 2017 / 11:15 am

    Whenever I have used this type of shampoo my hair looks terrible and feels terrible! I love the idea of it and the concept, but it’s just not for my hair type.

  10. Sophie in Wonderland xo
    March 27, 2017 / 2:17 pm

    That doesn’t sound fab tbh, not sure i’ll be givin it a go! I need a good old clean feeling when I wash my hair xxx

  11. Sonia Rao
    April 11, 2017 / 5:27 pm

    Thanks for giving your honest review– I just wrote about my experience trying to go no-poo and it was an EPIC failure. Products like this are intriguing to me because they’re sort of the middle-ground between going shampoo-free and using regular shampoo, but it doesn’t sound like they’re worth trying yet!

    • April 11, 2017 / 5:34 pm

      At the end of the day, I’d rather have clean hair and not feel horrible than lead a life where ‘I’m doing better’ for me/my hair. Give me the sulphates, I don’t care haha

      • Sonia Rao
        April 11, 2017 / 6:44 pm

        LOL I literally could not agree more.

  12. Sherry Scribbles
    April 15, 2017 / 8:52 am

    Its almost like they have tried to fix a problem that doesn’t really exist with this product. I won’t be risking it as my hair is already lifeless as it is and I can’t afford for it to look more rubbish lol! Thanks for the honest review.
    Sherry x

  13. Leanne Saunders
    April 17, 2017 / 5:51 pm

    I’m all up for trying products that’s gentle but 10-15 pumps! that seems ridiculous! I’ve been testing out no conditioner on my roots just the lengths of my hair as I use to apply it all over, after reading that by only having shampoo on my roots makes it not get greasy as fast and it actually does seem to be working.

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