Hair Today... L'Occitane 5 Essential Oils Repairing Shampoo and Conditioner

After one use of L'Occitane's 5 Essential Oils Repairing Shampoo and Conditioner I immediately felt compelled to write about them for the simple fact that they were the loveliest, most effective haircare products I've used in a long time... 

L'Occitane is well established at this stage for being a brilliant go-to brand for pampering purposes and also the quality of their products is of such high quality that they are almost always such a reliable purchase. For many years now too L'Occitane has been my number one stop for buying pampering presents for friends and family. Their hand creams have been my favourite for a long time and I always have one in my bag and have made sure many of my friends do too. The products are all so luxurious and perfect as a little treat to pamper yourself when you need it.

I've never tried their haircare products up to now and to be honest I've become a little skeptical over the years about expensive haircare brands compared to skincare equivalents after quite a few disappointments. When a bottle of shampoo is four or five times the price of regular pharmacy or supermarket brand you expect the same results as when you shell out for top of the range moisturisers but, alas, this has not been the case with several brands I've tried so I've pretty much stuck to not buying much over the €5 mark when it comes to shampoo and conditioner especially.

I've never dyed my hair and I don't use irons or curlers so it's pretty low maintenance but my hair definitely has strops from time to time. This L'Occitane duo is designed for repairing damaged hair so I didn't know what to expect when I tried it but, when I emerged from the shower, I was extremely impressed for several reasons.

The first thing that hits you in the unbelievably gorgeous smell! I could bathe in the stuff. The five essential oils in the name are angelica, lavender, geranium, patchouli and ylang,ylang and their combined scent is very appealing indeed.

But, scents aside, the most important aspect which grabbed me about these products was what it did to my hair. As soon as I rinsed it my hair felt like when you get a badly needed haircut after the condition wanes. It was so soft and the condition felt so different I was completely surprised. After drying my hair it was also noticeably softer and shinier and just like new.

The reason for all of these miraculous improvements lies in the ingredients which are designed to repair the hair fiber and strengthen and soften it over time. The results are obvious from the get-go.

If, like me, you've been burned by pricey shampoos and conditioners in the past it's always best to test out more expensive products before you buy, which you can do in two ways. L'Occitane usually have single use samples of most of their products you can ask the shop assistants for to try these out. Also, the reason I was finally encouraged to give these a go was I saw that the October issue of the UK InStyle Magazine is giving away free 50ml bottles of both products with each issue so it's the perfect time to give them a test run.

I don't often recommend shampoos and conditioners from the higher price range but this combo is definitely worth experiencing with such clear immediate results. And give them a whiff too, the smell is gorgeous.

L'Occitane 5 Essental Oils Repairing Shampoo (€6.50 for 75ml, €18.50 for 300ml) and Conditioner ((€6.50 for 75ml, €18.50 for 250ml) are available from L'Occitane stores throughout the country and also from http://ie.loccitane.com/.