Dear Garnier Fructis
I stole the photo above from Bzzagent. Hopefully they won't mind. I didn't have that neat green background available in my home, nor do I have the computer skills to make it look so clear and pretty. Thanks, Bzzagent!
My friends at Bzzagent decided they wanted to send me more Garnier Fructis products, and I gladly accepted despite disliking loathing their Crisco based oily shine spray. So, I tried the following:
-Hydra Recharge Shampoo
-Hydra Recharge Conditioner
-Hydra Recharge 1-Minute Moisture-Plenish Treatment
**Editted to add: I got these products FREE. This is apparently something I did not remember to put in and have to. Next they will be asking for my first born (hahaha). No, I truly am grateful that they give me these products (for FREE) to try and review and push onto every one that I know if I like them (the products, not the people). :)
And then I wrote a letter to Garnier Fructis that went a little something like this:
Dear Garnier (Garrrrr-neeee-aaaa),
I forgive you.
Sincerely,
Natalie
I wanted to add "Thank goodness not all your products are absolutely terrible," but I wanted to keep it short and sweet. I know you're on the edge of your seat right now and screaming, "Well, Natalie, WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?! How did they earn your forgiveness?" Patience, my friends.
It all started this morning. I woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed to the birds chirping and the sun shining. Ok, that is a little bit of a fabrication as I woke up groggy and crabby to a dark, gloomy, rainy so early the morning that it's not light out yet day. Whatever.
I skipped shuffled to the bathroom to take a shower and saw my poor Garnier products lined up on the shelf just begging to be tried. Ok, ok. I can take a hint, Garnier Products. The very first thing I noticed once I took the products into the shower with me was that that vibrant green color is especially useful early in the morning before I've put my contacts in. I would have no trouble locating them. The other thing I liked about the appearance was that all three products look different enough that you don't have to look closely to see which is the shampoo, which is the conditioner, and which is the moisturizing treatment. The shampoo looks amazing. The bottle is clear and the shampoo looks like something you would see in a sci-fi movie - bright green with little teeny beads floating around in it. The conditioner looks ok and has a nice bottle/label but just isn't quite as cool as that shampoo. The moisturizing treatment is in more of a squeeze tube that reminds me more of a Bath and Body Works lotion tube. I like this because I know which one this is without reading the label. Good call, Garnier. Make it easy for all of us half-blind in the shower people. Is it bright? Check. Are there different transparancies and shapes? Check!
I used the shampoo first (daring and rebellious I know). Once that cool green goo was out, I got a little nervous. Those pretty beads felt a lot like a scrub, and I didn't want it all stuck in my hair and to my scalp. Being the dare-devil that I am, however, I forged ahead and scrubbed up. Alright...that went fine. I thought it smelled a little sour...no, fermented. I smelled a hint of beer, which sounds crazy now that I actually type it out. It smelled fine other than that, though. It smelled wonderful with a hint of beer. I didn't witness a miracle - no glowing halo or anything.
Moving on. Conditioner. It felt and looked like, well, conditioner. The smell was ok. No brewsky in there. I usually like to leave my conditioner on for a minute, but the moisturizing treatment is supposed to be left on for one minute, so I decided to follow instructions (for once in my dare-devil life) and apply from root to tip and then rinse. No waiting period. Again, no glowing halo.
You get one more try to blow my mind, Garnier. On to the moisturizing treatment. Leave in for 1 minute it tells me. Back to my rebellious ways, I didn't actually time how long I left it on but left it on for as long as it took me to loofah up and get squeaky clean from the neck down. The consistency of it reminded me a little bit of those little tubes that come with the box of hair color. I LOVE THOSE THINGS! I don't know if they are for sale in bigger tubes or not, but if I find out they are, I'm going to buy about 500 of them. They are like conditioner x 1,000,000! I digress... So, anywho - this felt an awful lot like that, which got me really excited to see the results. After I rinsed the treatment out, my hair was very smooth, and it was easy to get my fingers through it.
I shut off the water, opened the shower door, reached for my towel...wait. We can probably skip this part.
I combed through my hair (easy peasy!) and then dried my hair with the blow dryer. I looked in the mirror and...
TA DA!!
I wish! But seriously, here's what it really looked like:
Now, I know you all have questions. And I have answers. Get ready for the Q&A segment of the review.
Q: What is that fabulous brown, red, orange, and yellow thing by the side of your head? Fire? A floral hair piece?
A: No, no, no. That is an amazing turkey that my two-year-old daughter made at daycare. Despite the fact that Thankgiving was a month or two or five ago, I can't bear to take it down.
Q: Why are your nails not done nicely? They look pretty chipped to me.
A: I have a two-year-old. NEXT!
Q: Is that an empty dish rack I see? Are all your dishes really done?
A: Oh, hahaha! How silly! They are hiding in the sink next to the dish rack.
Q: What time was this photo taken?
A: 6:30 am.
Q: No way! Who looks that fantastic at 6:30 in the morning?
A: I do!
Q: I still can't believe it.
A: Well, believe it! Wait...that wasn't a question!
But seriously now. This stuff is fantastic. I don't have wonder hair, but it still made it very soft and much more shiny than usual. I didn't use any product (shine spray, etc) on it, and it still looked pretty darn nice. The only thing is that it does not give any volume. Then again, it doesn't claim to. It is definitely for a more sleek look.
I must admit that after that disaster of a shine spray, I was worried that I would have to toss out these full bottles of Garnier products, which would have been an awful shame and an awful waste. Thankfully, I don't have to. I really loved what these products did to my hair and would actually *gasp* recommend them.
So, you see, I really have forgiven Garnier. I've moved on. No grudges. They are officially off my poo list and have earned a coveted spot in my shower. Give yourself a round of applause, Garnier. You deserve it.