Yet Another New Shampoo Love - Denise McAdam Haircare

My name is Louise and I am a shampoo whore! Try as I might I just can't stick to the same brand of shampoo, I've tried honest, I've repurchased shampoo, but the minute a new one comes on the scene the old one is relegated to the back of the cupboard. So I bet you can guess what I'm going to say next, yes welcome to another shampoo review!

Knowing  my passion for haircare products I was recently given the opportunity to try out some products by celebrity hairdresser Denise McAdam. Famous for doing Sarah Ferguson's hair on her wedding day to Prince Andrew, you would expect McAdam's products to have a price tag and a stockist to match her prestige, but you'd be very wrong. Denise McAdam has produced a range of 18 hair products exclusively for supermarket giant Tesco, and guess what ? the prices range from just £3.50-£3.80, meaning you really can get designer quality products on a budget.

The line contains a range of products focusing on different hair types, including products for creating volume, and fighting the frizz, as well as products specifically for both blonde and brunette hair colours. The products I was sent came from the Moisture Master and the Fight The Frizz Lines

Denise McAdam Moisture Master Shampoo

Packaged in a cylindrical purple bottle, Moisture Master shampoo and the name suggest is designed especially for dry and damaged. It contains a moisture complex which includes Black Oat Extract, Lecithin, and perhaps the ingredient of the moment - Argan Oil.

The shampoo itself dispenses easily from the flip top cap. It is pearlised white in appearance and has quite a liquidy texture. It has a really pleasant fresh smell, I haven't got a clue how to describe it but to me it smells quite similar to the fragrance in the Aveda colour enhancing shampoos, which is described as Cherry Almond. Don't think this smells of marzipan it doesn't it's just a pleasant almost fruity and spicy fragrance, which I actually really liked.

You really didn't need a lot of shampoo to produce a lovely fine lather - It does contain SLS so this isn't really surprising. Given that the lather was so fine it rinsed out really easily and the hair was left feeling nice and clean but not dry or stripped.

I have to say my experience of this shampoo was a good one, the smell was lovely, and my hair was lovely and clean and soft. It's a really gentle shampoo that you could probably use everyday with no problems. If your hair is really damaged though you would need to use some form or conditioner with it, speaking of which...

Denise McAdam Moisture Master Conditioner

As well as the shampoo I was also lucky enough to receive the corresponding Moisture Master Conditioner. In the same packaging as the shampoo, this nourishing conditioner, contains Panthenol for extra moisturising properties, as well as the Black Oat Extract and Argan Oil that are also key ingredients in the shampoo.

The conditioner has a lovely creamy but a the same time quite a light feel, and it has exactly the same smell as the shampoo :)

The light and creamy texture ensures easy application and easy rinsing. My hair was left tangle free and feeling super soft. Again I have to say I really liked this product, it was moisturising but at the same time it wasn't heavy and it didn't weigh the hair down. If your hair is super damaged and dry this on it own, in my opinion probably wouldn't be enough, but Denise McAdam recommends that you use both of these products alongside her once a week Intensive Repair Masque, which is also available in the Tesco line.

Denise McAdam Fight The Frizz Extra Strength Serum

The final product I was sent came from the Fight The Frizz range. My hair is relatively straight, and although it's thin I have a lot of it so it can look a bit unruly and flyaway, if I leave it au natural. It doesn't matter what time of year it is it frizzes in the heat and it frizzes in cold and the damp I can't win! For that reason I'm always on the look for more serums, waxes, and sprays to combat the flyaways.

I guess the things I use most often though are serums, so I was really interested to receive the Fight The Frizz Extra Strength Serum. Boxed and packaged in a pump action dispenser, the product has the same aroma as the shampoo and conditioner, and a clear liquid appearance.

Designed to coat each strand of hair, with shine, conditioning and uv protection, it has an almost oily, silicone feel. You can use it in one of two ways, first of all you can use it on the mid lengths and ends of towel dried hair almost as a conditioning and styling treatment, and you can also use it on dry hair to tame down any static or flyaway strands. I've used it both ways and again I have to this is a pretty decent product. Despite being a silicone based product I didn't find that it caused any build up or that it made my hair oily or sticky. Did the frizz completely disappear? well no not completely but to be honest I'm yet to find a single product that takes away every single flyaway, so for the price I have to say that this did a decent job.

Based on this experience of the Denise McAdam line for Tesco, it's clear to me that you don't need to spend a fortune on hair care, the packaging my be simple but for the price the products are first class. Denise McAdam Moisture Master Shampoo and Conditioner retail at £3.50 each for 250ml, and the Denise McAdam Fight The Frizz Extra Strength Serum retails at £3.80 for 30ml. The Denise McAdam Haircare range is available in selected Tesco stores - unfortunately neither of the little ones near me stock the range so I think I'll need to head to Durham x Any questions please let me know x

(All Products In This Post Were Provided By PR For Review Purposes)

Clynol Hair Product Review

A few months ago I was lucky enough to be sent a bunch of hair products by top salon brand Clynol to try and review for you. I must admit I have used this product in the past mainly the Dream Hair leave in conditioner and I have to say although I repurchased it and some other items the products were OK but nothing special- so I was interested to see if any of their new formulations were any more impressive.
Clynol have recently revamped the ingredients, product design and packaging of their hair care range and I was lucky enough to be sent 4 products a shampoo and a conditioner and 2 styling products from their new Care and Style ranges - I have tried these products for over two months now to give you a through review.

Clynol Revive Repair Shampoo

First of all I was sent this shampoo from the Repair range. This shampoo is for dry, damaged and brittle hair and contains Clynols exclusive Pro.Repair.Complex with amino acids and wheat protein. The shampoo came in a sleek, white 300ml bottle with a flip top cap. It's a slightly, runny, pearlised white liquid with a fresh smell.

Despite the presence of the foaming agent Sodium Laureth Sulfate, I did find you needed quite a bit of the product to produce a decent lather. Having said that though it produced sufficient lather to make my hair feel clean and it rinsed out easily, and I didn't feel as though I needed to shampoo it twice. All in all it was a pretty good shampoo but I didn't think it was anything spectacular. This retails for around £8.45

Clynol Recovery Repair Conditioner

Alongside the shampoo I was also sent the matching conditioner from the Repair range.
This product again comes in a sleek white bottle, which this time is 250ml in size. It has a pump action dispenser which personally I love - its much easier to use when you are in the shower and so on and you get exactly the right amount of product. It dispensed easily and was of a good, not too thick not too runny consistency, and was white in colour - again it has the same fresh scent as the shampoo

I felt it massaged easily into my washed, towel dried hair but again I felt I needed to use a lot of product to cover my just below shoulder length hair. After leaving for a few minutes the product washed out easily and left me hair without too many tangles. According to Clynol this conditioner "Protects the hair surface, gives strength and shine. Gently restructures hair by repairing damaged areas." These are big claims as I have said on several occasions I don't believe products can repair split ends or damaged hair but to be fair this product left my hair, soft, and tangle free which was no mean feet considering I had it coloured (yes OK bleached!) during this trial. Obviously in its current condition I think my hair needs a little bit more help than this product but it's a pretty decent everyday conditioner. This product retails for around £9.45

Clynol Smooth Flatter Iron Spray

As I said I was also sent two of the styling products from the Smooth range. The first one I was sent was the Flatter Iron Spray. Been a compulsive (although hopefully less in 2010 :))hair straightener and user of flat irons I already currently use a heat protector spray so I was interested to try this one out. The product comes in a silver /blue tone pump action bottle which is 300ml in size. This product contains Clynol's exclusive Pro Protect Complex with moisturising silk protein, which supposedly protects the hair during styling and moisturises and smooths hair. Nothing new here I suppose most heat protector sprays on the market make similar claims. Since I don't blow dry my hair I used the product on my dry hair before using straightening irons. The product dispensed easily in a fine mist. The spray though didn't smell that great there was no nice scent like my usual product instead it had a quite chemically and not that pleasant smell. There was no problem whilst I was using no scary hissing or any increased dryness of my hair but I did find that it made it quite stiff with product, a bit tangled and not as smooth as I would have liked. Would I buy this particular product again - no definitely not - this item retails for around £9.50 and my preferred flat iron spray costs only a third of that, gives just as good results and smells lovely :)

Clynol Smooth Silky Frizz-Free Serum

The final product I was sent was a hair serum from the smooth range.It comes in 150ml bottle with a pump action dispenser.Containing the exclusive Pro Sleek Complex with Macadamia Nut Oil this serum according to Clynol gives you "long lasting, frizz free manageable hair with a silky shine and a glossy finish ". After drying and straightening I dispensed some of this fresh, fruity clear serum onto my hands and smoothed it over my hair. I loved the smell of this product which lingered on your hair - the serum was non greasy or sticky and was easily applied to my hair although as you can see in this picture it is a little bit runny

It left the hair with a noticeable shine, and no stickiness, and without knots

I have to say though as much as I liked this serum I don't think the effects really lasted that well - I must admit the current snowy, cold weather probably isn't the best test for this serum but the smooth finish lasted no more than a couple of hours on my hair. Despite that as I say I was pretty impressed with the product I especially loved the smell and the glossy (not greasy!) finish it gave. This retails at around £9.50

I hope you have found this review of some of the new Clynol hair products to be useful - if you would like any more information such as stockists, or to find out what products would be suitable for your hair type please check out the Clynol website If you have any questions on these products please don't hesitate to leave a comment below