Happily meandering around the beauty hall in Harvey Nicks a few weeks ago, I came upon the Aveda stand. In the market for a gentle chelating shampoo to cheat my hard water, I'd been intending for quite a while to invest in a bottle of Shampure as soon as payday rocked around. So what did I walk away from the Aveda till with?
Yep, a big bottle of Smooth Infusion shampoo.
I was pounced upon, d'you see. An (admittedly very nice) Aveda sales assistant insisted on helping me with my product choice (why can SAs not just take “No, I'm grand, thanks very much" as their cue to leave you alone?!) and looked mildly horrified when I said I was thinking about getting Shampure.
Advertised
She insisted that I smell Smooth Infusion (“Now isn't that just gorgeous?), extolled the virtues of its ingredients at length (“Organic aloe... maize... guar bean... stops frizziness and flyaway hair"), assured me that it wouldn't weigh my hair down in the slightest, and looked like a woman whose mind was made up when I admitted that yes, yes I did occassionally use hair straighteners.
"Ah well this actually protects your hair against heat damage. Perfect!"
So I headed home with my purchase (oh, there's one born every minute) and proceeded to be very, very whelmed by Smooth. I should have gone with my gut instinct because it's just not right for my hair type - I've close to dead straight, fairly fine locks that wouldn't hold a wave, never mind a curl, if you promised them a lifetime supply of tea and Twixes. Halfway through Day 1 post wash, my hair was hanging limply in my face and had to be clipped back; on Day 2, it needed a good blast of Batiste before being tied up. I kept using it, thinking that perhaps I'd used too much shampoo or hadn't washed it out thoroughly on my first go, but the end result was always the same.
I can see Smooth Infusion being the biz for anyone with thick or wavy hair - apparantly it can actually help to reduce unwanted wave - but be wary if you've fine or straight hair and like any bit of volume at your roots for more than a few hours after washing!
