After telling the lovely peeps at Neal and Wolf that I'd never tried their products but thought they sounded lovely, they were very kind and sent me a huuuuge package of treats to give a try. I'm going to split my review into two post - Hair Washing and Hair Styling. This review will focus purely on the hair washing side of things.
What they say:
I wasn't sent a press release with these products but Neal and Wolf do have a gorgeous website
here which has plenty of information.
Hair Profile
My hair is about 2 inches below my shoulder, dark, wavy, prone to frizzyness, easily goes limp with certain types of products, medium thick, normal to dry and I have an extremely sensitive scalp that reacts at the slightest thing. I wash my hair every other day and either blow dry on medium heat with an ion setting or leave it to dry naturally. My hair generally copes best only being brushed a few times a week - anything more than that and it either turns into a big frizzy mess or becomes flat and lifeless (just don't ask ... it's stupid hair)
Initial Impressions:
The packaging design for this range is really beautiful as is the smell (which was designed in a perfume house - fancy!)
Thoughts:
I tried the Ritual Daily Cleansing Shampoo, Ritual Daily Conditioner and Harmony Intensive Care Treatment (basically, shampoo, conditioner and a hair mask). I've been using these products for over a week and so far I'm quite enjoying them. My favoured combination so far is the Ritual Shampoo with the Harmony Conditioner, as I find that my hair needs a fairly strong conditioner to keep it under control. On the days that I've used the Ritual conditioner, I've felt like my hair has been a bit more unruly. One thing that I have definitely loved is the smell and luxurious feel of these products - plenty of lather and the conditioners don't feels in any way slimy or greasy when you're rinsing them out (anyone else find this to be a problem with some conditioners?) My scalp has coped well and I've had no reaction.
Pros:
♥ Gorgeous packaging
♥ Beautiful fragrance
♥ Seem quite gentle
♥ Leaves hair feeling soft and gives good shine
♥ A little goes a long way
♥ Lathers up quickly and easily
♥ Leaves hair feeling very "clean" if you get what I mean
♥ Hair still has a good amount of movement and doesn't feel heavy or weighed down
♥ Harmony Intensive Care Treatment is a great conditioning mask and doesn't leave me feeling like my hair is coated in gunk!
Cons:
♥ My hair has been a bit frizzer than usual and by the middle of the second day starts to look a bit flat and lifeless (but also frizzy)
♥ I've found I've need to brush my hair more - not because of knots or tangled but just to try and give it a bit more shape/life/tidy it up. My hair generally looks better unbrushed, so this is something unusual.
♥ I'm not quite sure of the price, but according to this blog, the Ritual shampoo is £10.95 and the Ritual Conditioner is £11.95. Personally, I think is quite expensive, however I'm also not sure how accurate this information is.
♥ From what I can tell, this product range is going to be limited to selected salons and high end department stores which, if you like is a tiny city like York, gives you very limited chances of ever finding it.
Final Thoughts:
Would I buy this product again? To be honest, I'm not sure and it really would depend on the price. I definitely like the products enough that I want to keep using them and I'd probably recommend them to friends as a brand that I think offer an excellent product, but the price would be the big sway for me. I'm also not entirely sure whether or not I like these more than I like my normal Lush routine. That said, I think that they make a gorgeous treat and you really do feel like you're pampering yourself when you're using them!
I'd give these three products a collection ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 1/2 hearts out of 5 (1/2 a heart lost for the frizz/limpness factor)
*Disclaimer* These products were sent to me free for review products however I aim to give full, detailed and honest reviews for all products I use.
