Remember those television commercials for Clairol Herbal Essences, the ones showing women having highly vocal “Totally Organic Experiences” while washing their hair? Me too. That is, I remember the beginnings of those commercials; I usually changed the channel or left the room before much of their thirty seconds could elapse. Fortunately, Clairol has been promoting its Herbal Essences line in a new direction lately, with more emphasis on the products’ effects and on their fragrances.
The new theme for Herbal Essences is the escape to a “fantasy paradise” of scent. I tried two formulas with different fragrances: Long Term Relationship (red bottle not shown, created to protect longer hair against damage) and Hello Hydration (turquoise bottle as shown, for dry hair). According to Clairol, “Herbal Essences developed each unique scent like a fine fragrance—with top, middle, and base notes.” Can that kind of composition exist in a shampoo or conditioner, the way it would in an oil- or alcohol-based perfume? Somehow, I doubt it (but I’m not a chemist, so who knows). In any case, I tried these two product pairs to see what would happen…