White Sands Hydrating Shampoo & Conditioner review

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Welcome to the working week, readers! Are you going Meatless this Monday? As promised when we joined in the MM campaign, Mondays at we heart this will not only be about vegetarian meals. Today, we’re thinking green by reviewing one of Hollywood’s (and beauty stylist’s) best kept secrets for high quality hair care, White Sands. The we heart this team received the latest products from the crew at White Sands, their Hydrating Shampoo and Conditioner, which just so happens to be all natural and 100% vegan! Adding to the good for the earth; fab for your hair vibe, these products are free of sulfates and silicone and rely on wheat and silk amino acids to gently wash, hydrate, nourish and protect hair.

First, a confession, even with the luxury of being able to test so many beauty products, I still fall into some beauty ruts. I discovered a big name brand of shampoo and conditioners a few years back, that did wonders for my fine, lifeless hair. Those with fine hair need to wash often, just a teensy bit of dirt or oils can weigh hair down. The catch is that with frequent washing, and subsequent blow drying/styling, hair can become dry and damaged fast. If you dye your hair, forget about it. So, even when I couldn’t afford the big name brand, I went for similar styles; a shampoo that super cleaned my hair till it squeaked and an extra thick conditioner to alleviate all the damage. My test trial of the Hydrating Shampoo and Conditioner turned all of that on its head! And the hair on my head couldn’t be happier.

It took me a while to warm up to this duo. They are packaged in your standard bottles shaded in cool blues and purples with silver accents and a cool, postmodern scrawl drawing of a woman. The scent, unfortunately, is not my favorite. It’s a sweet floral, almost perfumey scent that is of medium intensity in the shower, yet very light once hair is dry.

I first noticed a difference in the shampoo – the creamy White Sands Hydrating Shampoo lathered into great suds (hooray), while feeling creamier and more moisturizing then my regular shampoos. It rinsed well and my hair felt clean, but without that squeak.

The Hydrating Conditioner is a definite cream conditioner. I was worried I needed more gloop, but liked the way the conditioner clung to and worked into my hair. A fine-tooth comb easily went through my wet hair distributing it all evenly. After a few minutes, the conditioner rinsed quickly and easily away. I wondered if my hair would be adequately conditioned.

That first day, and for the last few weeks, I’ve been amazed at the way White Sands thoroughly cleans; smoothing and moisturizing without weighing down my fine hair. Instead of strip cleaning my hair and then weighing it down with conditioners, the White Sands works with my hair issues. My hair has been shiny and bouncy (well, bouncy for me), my split ends are less pronounced and the static and flyaways are in hiding. And, my hair is noticeable lighter. I can get away with a bit more time between washes with these lightweight products.

Talk about a win-win situation! I’ve been using less water and less product (thinking green, you know) while loving my hair during my White Sands test period.

If you dye your hair, it gets even better. White Sands blends natural botanicals into these shampoos and conditioners, including Heliogenol, lemongrass and chamomile, providing color protection and enhancement. They also boast of a Clear Micro Shield that locks in and protects your color. I can’t wait to hear from our ladies that dye their tresses.

Testers: What did your hair think of the Hydrating Shampoo and Conditioner? we heartsters: Have discovered why White Sands is on the sets of some of the biggest shows on television?

Author

  • tyna

    Tyna is a former editor of we heart this that worries about becoming a crazy cat lady, reads at least a book a week, checks in at a Flyers fan forum every morning and is forever organizing her closets and drawers. skin tone: NW 20/25 skin type: combination favorite beauty product: eye shadows and lip balms

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9 Comments

  1. Well, I guess you can all tell from my post above that I really liked this shampoo and conditioner. It cleans well and cares for my hair and they really seem to work well together. All the green ideas behind it – vegan, no sulfates, etc just makes it even better. Even with things starting to get cool and dry my hair is not full of flyaways, always a plus!

    I’m giving this 4 stars, taking one away for the scent. But bear in mind, that’s a personal preference – I know lots of ladies will like this scent. The results of the shampoo and conditioner are worthy of 5 stars!
    .-= Tyna Werner´s last blog ..Etsy – 4 for Friday – Drinking! =-.

  2. I’m always open to looking for new shampoos so i was pretty excited to try both the White Sands Shampoo & Conditioner. I guess you could say i have normal to dry hair because i do color it. It was perfect timing when i recieved this because i had just had my hair done the week before so this would be perfect testing grouds! The first thing i noticed when using was the consistency of the shampoo, it was really thin when i poured it my hands to put on my head. So i thought that it would have a so so lather, like some of the other natural shampoos, which is a big NO NO for me. I like A LOT of lahter! Well, much to my suprise, the White Sands suds up amazingly!!! I was totally suprised. And i poured extra thinking it was going to be a weak lather, since then i’ve adjusted with the same results! Unlike Tyna i liked the scent. I thought it was pretty.
    The next test was the conditioner. Super thicke and i just used the normal amount. I agree with Tyna that even though its thick consistency, it rinsed out easily.
    I loved the results, my hair was light, super clean where i had no problem skipping a day or two. Its a great set especially that its vegan!
    It works so good, that as time went on and my roots became more and more prominent, i had to cut out the conditioner. You see, my natural hair is super oily so the conditioner was too much and just the shampoo alone was enough. i didn’t use any other conditioner to replace it. The shampoo alone has enough cleaning and conditioning agents in it that i didn’t need to.
    Currently, the White Sands is onhold until tomorrow when i get my hair done.
    Not sure what the cost is but its a great product especially if you color your hair.

  3. I have hair in need of hydration that’s for sure! So I was anxious to test this out. And as the girls said it delivers. The scent is a little too on the floral side for me, but it’s nice, just not my favorite.

    The lathering is super thick, and the conditioner is a really extra hydrating.
    It delivers the end result of really clean and very soft hair. A good line especially if your wanting a green Vegan product!

    There site has a pretty cool feature
    http://www.whitesandsproducts.com/Hair-Type/
    You can pick your hair type and get a good breakdown of the products to suit you. And by picking a hair type they even have photos as a reference which is a plus to detect your match. They also have a fancy Hollywood guide to give you the products you need to get certain styles to stay.

    The brand is the number one choice for tons of shows and films. From Ugly Betty to SNL.

    So it’s obviously a pretty hot ticket item! :)

    I did like it, but I’m addicted to Fekkai and Aveda so I think I’ll be sticking with them, but if I ever change my mind this would be a quality choice!

  4. I’m sad to report that I didn’t like the White Sands Hydrating shampoo and conditioner. I wanted to, as try to make green choices whenever I can, but I really found nothing hydrating about them at all.

    I liked the shampoo more than the conditioner. I liked the scent, and as the others have said, it’s got a nice lather.

    But I thought the conditioner had a funky smell to it, kind of medicinal. And I could tell even as I was using it that it was not going to be enough for my over processed dry hair. And it wasn’t. My hair felt even more dry afterward.

    Sorry, this one is a pass for me.

  5. I totally need to change my avator especially reviewing hair products!!!Look at Bret Michael’s hair! and theres a good possibility that a reader might actually think thats a real picture of me! and that’s the hair that i’m ranting and raving about! Oy Vey!

  6. Hmm…I didn’t care much for White Sands. It wasn’t the scent (which I found neither enchanting nor offending), but the lack of performance.

    Maybe it was my hair. I have combination hair (I may be inventing the term, but it’s what I’ve got): my hair is oily close to the scalp and dry towards the ends; it’s fine, but not thin. I don’t color much anymore, but I’ve done my damage in years past. I try to let my hair dry naturally most of the time (or bring in the heat when it’s nearly dry), and I don’t get my hair cut nearly as often as I should. My bad.

    My shampoos/conditioners of choice are Aveda Rosemary/Mint and Matrix’s Biolage (I use a hydrating one in summer, mint in winter), and I alternate between the two brands. I’m not a shampoo snob, though; Suave makes some pretty great products on the cheap. I also long for the days when Clairol’s Herbal Essences was green and came in a clear bottle with Eve (from The Garden of Eden) on the label. That stuff worked great for me.

    I wasn’t opposed to a new shampoo but I didn’t expect to find anything to sweep me off my feet, either.

    Swept, I was not. Looking at the bottle (and I think I’ve mentioned before what a sucker I am for a pretty package), I was unimpressed. The blue and silver wasn’t designed to look upscale (it reminded me of that drugstore “mane” stuff with the horse head on the bottle…not sure why, but it may be the pencil-type sketch of a woman with a “mane” flowing). And blue and silver? Those are old-lady hair references if I ever heard any. Looking at the ingredients, I had hope: those appeared to be upscale. So I gave it a try.

    It cleaned my hair and that’s about the best thing I can say about it. I didn’t find the conditioner thick or rich, and it seemed to dissappear into my folicles. “Maybe it’s working” I thought. Nah. It didn’t. My hair was squeaky and tangle-y and dull. After the first couple usages, I went out and bought a leave-in conditioner from Neutrogena to help out White Sands.

    I’m sorry but this didn’t work for me. Again,let me blame it on my hair: it’s freaky and hard to please (a personality similar to my own), and has a comfort zone that doesn’t usually extend much beyond Ulta or the Aveda store.

  7. Jessica P says:

    I’m pretty choosy about my hair products because I have thick, curly hair that tends to get frizzy and dry. I received a travel sized sample of the Shielo Hydrate Shampoo, and was pleasantly surprised when I used it. It smells nice and left my hair soft . . . . my hair is more manageable as a result

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