Influenster Review: Head & Shoulders Damage Rescue System

For the past few weeks I've been using a shampoo and conditioning system that was sent to me (for free) by Influenster to test. It's called Head & Shoulders Damage Rescue System and it's a very nice set of products, though probably not completely suitable for me.

I should point out before I describe my experience that my hair is not particularly damaged. Like my skin (including my scalp), it's very dry but that's its natural state, not the result of damage. I do color it -- essentially just root touch-ups every couple of months -- but I don't blow dry it (except for my bangs), curl it, straighten it, or otherwise "torture" it. I don't even use any styling products on it. The only things that ever touch my hair are shampoo, conditioner, and a leave-in moisturizing/conditioning serum.

For that reason, I'm not sure that my review is as valuable as it perhaps should be, but I'm happy to tell about my experience and hope that others will benefit from the information.

I like these products a lot. Both the shampoo and the conditioner work quite well. The shampoo gives a rich lather and leaves my hair feeling clean, soft, and healthy. The conditioner is equally rich and works as well as any conditioner I've ever used. Better, in fact, than some. And it's not your grandma's Head & Shoulders. When I was young, H&S was considered almost medicinal and it treated the scalp and hair that way, too. It offered none of the fancy packaging, texture, scent, etc, that we expect today. Its single focus was preventing dandruff and it did that well, but it didn't do anything else. In contrast, the products that I received are modern, high quality hair care products and I've enjoyed using them.

I will say, however, that my usual shampoo and conditioner are also excellent and I honestly didn't see any difference in the condition of my hair from using the Head & Shoulders products. This may possibly be because, as I noted above, my hair is not technically damaged. But on the other hand it may be because most hair products (and, indeed, most cosmetics and personal hygiene products in general) are more or less the same except for superficial qualities like scent, packaging, and various gimmicky features. To be honest, I'm a bit of a cynic and I do believe this second theory is probably pretty accurate.

Again, that's not to say that the Head & Shoulders products weren't fantastic, because they most certainly are! It's only to say that, in my opinion, they're no more fantastic than my regular products are. Overall, I'd give both the shampoo and the conditioner a score of 9/10, with the one point being deducted for a couple of minor packaging annoyances. (The bottles are too easy to tip over due to their shapes, and the lids are too hard to open.) I've enjoyed testing them and I look forward to sharing more products in this blog.

If you want to receive free products like this one to test and share your opinions, check out Influenster today! It's a free membership and it's a lot of fun trying all sorts of new and unusual products. Visit http://influenster.com and tell 'em Edi sent you. ;-)