I know I am late by a few days, but please do give this poor old sick girl a break? LOL. Finally had 1 weekend which I didn’t need to work or do anything that I normally would do, so I went out with friends, enjoyed the free time I had and I end up getting sick. Ugh. bad way to start the year, huh?

While I cough and sneeze away, am finally writing about my thoughts on Tsubaki!

Excuse me for my tardiness, I just feel that Tsubaki really do deserve to be my first post of the year! (Excuses, excuses!)

Anyways, I guess most of you know I love Tsubaki and had used quite a few bottles from them, even when it’s not available in Malaysia. Yeap, I had asked friends and sellers to lug them back for me, until the Yen skyrocketed and I didn’t want to wait for my stuff to come, so… I switched to other brands.

But now, Tsubaki is already available in Malaysia! And it’s the upgraded version! Imagine my delight!!!!

I was given the Shining range from Shiseido PR, and tell you what, I think it rocks!

I actually used the Damage range before, click here for my past review, and while it was good for my hair, I felt it could be too oily/ heavy depending on how often I used it and of course, the amount used too.

The Shining range is supposed to make your hair shiny and glossy, while Damage range is to help to “heal” your hair, making it look beautiful. So far I didn’t do anything to damage my hair, so Shining was just perfect for me. I want SHINY locks!

Both the ingredient list for both shampoo and conditioner, but weird thing is, the Mask/ treatment, didn’t have any! It was all in Japanese.

I’ll pretty much skip the scientific details and tell you how has Shining works for me, just because, well, the pictures has said enough!

The shampoo is great for daily usage, so is the conditioner. Both are actually “lighter” compared to Damage range, hence I don’t get the oily/ heavy scalp so fast. But the mask, I do need to be very careful with the amount used and also the frequency, anything more than 1 time a week and used more than  50 cents coin, you will see me having oily, limpy hair. Not a great sight huh? By the way, it smells great! Sweet and floral-y! But not so great who those who don’t enjoy sweet scent, as this scent can be quite strong.

As long as you monitor your usage on it, you’ll get happy hair like mine. Soft, doesn’t get tangled too easily and the frizz are kept to a minimum basis. Only one thing, my hair don’t seem to be as shiny as the models featured!!! It’s shinier compared to before, but not shiny enough! Haha.

Sorry, I was just being an idiot. With coarse hair like mine, it’s pretty much impossible to get glossy shiny locks like Suzuki Kyoka, Nakama Yurie, Takeuchi Yuko, Aoi Yu and Hirosue Ryoko. These ladies are quite the popular actress/ models in Japan and are currently endorsing the Tsubaki hair range.

Tsubaki is currently available in Jusco and Aeon Wellness Outlet, prices are as below:

Tsubaki Shining Range
Shampoo 200ml (RM15.90) / 550ml (RM32.90)
Conditioner 200ml (RM15.90) / 550ml (RM32.90)
Hair Mask 180g (RM40.90)

Tsubaki Damage Care Range
Shampoo 200ml (RM16.90) / 550ml (RM33.90)
Conditioner 200ml (RM16.90) / 550ml (RM33.90)
Hair Mask 180g (RM41.90)

The prices aren’t exactly the cheapest of what you can get in drugstores, but for this case, I do think you pay for what you get.

Now, when will the Hair Spa range gets carried into Malaysia?

Why?

Because I grew up with Pantene, and I think almost everyone in family grew up with them, or at least have been using them for years before they switched to another brand. I had been using it for at least 10 years, switching to another brand and then goes back to Pantene, and the whole switching n returning stop when I finally went to university and stopped using Pantene ever since. Not that I hated it or anything, just because I had more choices than before and was kinda bored with it. Come on, 10 years of Pantene, not enough?

But they revamp their line and it seems to be a good time to try it, since I was running out of shampoo and conditioner, so, I thought, why not? After all, it had worked for me in the past, it should do the same for me now. No harm trying.

Pantene Shampoo, Conditioner and Hair Mask For Hair Fall Control

Pantene Hair Fall Control is designed to strengthen hair from root to tips, to give you stronger hair and noticeably less hair fall due to breakage. It addresses the issue of hair fall by tackling problems such as cuticle damage and hair roughness, which ultimately lead to hair fall. By effectively lubricating and conditioning, hair friction is reduced and as a result, hair fall due to breakage is reduced too.

Taken from press release

My hair is normally normal-oily at the scalp, and pretty dry at the ends (due to bad haircut ) and it’s a little frizzy. Hair breaks due to my dry ends, but the problem got resolved after I got my major hair cut. I have much lesser breakage, but still there’s quite a bit of breakage.

So on to the review, which I have segregated into before and hair hair cut. There’s a wee bit of difference.

Shampoo

Before Hair Cut

It’s like any other shampoo, but one problem, it dries out my end. And my ends are pretty dry to start off. Ugh. I can’t do without conditioner to be honest. And it doesn’t clean my scalp well. I still feel the oiliness there, despite giving it 2 washes.

After Hair Cut

Now that my ends are chopped off, it cleanses my ends good enough, doesn’t dry it out anymore but the problem of my scalp feeling not very clean is still there. I’d get oily at the roots faster than normal. With this shampoo, I need to wash my hair everyday instead of every other day. I’m pretty okay with scent, which smells like honeydew, but my sister says it smells very artificial, and a little too sweet.

Ingredients:

Conditioner

Before Hair Cut

It does nothing for my hair. NOTHING. My ends are still as dry as ever.

After Hair Cut

I like the conditioner better than the shampoo, as it does leave my hair feeling fluffy and soft. It doesn’t weigh my hair down and I think it’s just nice as an everyday conditioner. And I like the scent of this one better than the shampoo, as it’s lighter. Tee hee.

Ingredients:

Hair Mask

Before Hair Cut

Now, this is the one thing which seems to help my dry ends. At least my ends don’t seem to be that dry, and overall my hair seems to feel better. It doesn’t smell of honeydew, but smells like Pantene, like how it always was. I actually used this as a conditioner for my hair because the conditioner wasn’t working as it’s supposed to be and this is good enough to be used daily but not weighing my hair down!

After Hair Cut

After my hair cut, the hair mask seems to be tad too heavy for me to be used as a daily conditioner, so I used it once or twice a week. And it’s great! Just nice for my hair now. Leaves my hair feeling pampered! I think it’s the best of the lot that was given to me!

Ingredients:

Overall, I do know my hair breakage is reduced drastically after I got my hair cut, but ever since then, I noticed no more extra reduced hair fall, even with Pantene. Maybe there is, but the amount is too small to be noted of. Most probably it’s my hair problem, not so much of Pantene’s.

I like the whole combo as a daily maintenance haircare kit, as it’s great just to keep your hair happy and healthy.

Pantene can be bought at local drugstores/ pharmacies/ departmental stores.

Shampoo : RM9.30 (180ml), RM14.90 (350ml)

Conditioner: RM9.30 (180ml), RM14.90 (350ml)

Hair Mask: RM14.90 (135ml), RM19.30 (300ml)

Check out what other ladies has said about it!

Kahani of So Loverly

Rinnah of Rinnah’s Consumer Views

Juan of My Views and Reviews

Clearly, the title tells you basically everything you need to know about my impression and feelings towards Dove.

If you’d like to know more, just read on.

Otherwise just skip this entry and read some other entry that I wrote earlier?

***************************************************************************************

Why do I sound like I’m some diplomat?

Anyways.

I tried very hard to love Dove. I really did. But Dove didn’t want my love. Oh the woes.

My sisters tried to love Dove too, but still, Dove didn’t want their love either.

I guess Dove just love the trash bin better.

Do you want to hear our tragic love story?

Read on!

2 or 3 years ago, I was bored with Pantene. I decided to break up with it. Thus, I was in search for someone (thing) new.

And I was smitten with Dove!

With all those lovely promises like 1/4 moisturizing cream, leaving hair soft and moisturized and all, and with a rather affordable price tag to boot, any girl would be suckered into buying it back home. So I took home Dove Moisturetherapy Shampoo and Conditioner (dark blue bottle) thinking all the TLC it could give me.

And it isn’t a “we-live-happy-forever” ending.

In fact, I was tortured by it. My hair felt fried and crispy and crunchy for the whole period I was using it. Even using the conditioner didn’t help at all.

Worst part?

It is said that Dove Moisturetherapy Shampoo is for dry and damaged hair and intensively hydrates and restores moisture for better manageability. Dove Moisturetherapy Conditioner coats hair to provide added protection.

Puh-leaze!

My hair felt nothing like it at all!

After using 1/2 bottle, I decided to trash it.

Then my sisters said let them try, maybe they’ll love it.

And well, my sisters told me this stuff is poisonous. Never let it get near their hair anymore. LOL.

FYI, my sisters both have fine hair, and not as dry as mine.

So… off it goes to the bin.

Fast forward into year 2009, I decided to give Dove another chance upon reading Kahani’s and Paris’.

This time, I wanted it to be anti dandruff.

Yes you heard me. I got DANDRUFF! eeeeeeks!

I didn’t have them until I started working, and it’s getting worse because of the stress level and also the non stop air conditioning, and of course, my not-very-healthy lifestyle and diet.

I used so many products and none of them work, I had to try Dove.

I bought this…

picture taken from here

And sigh.

It actually made my dandruff even worse!

Other than giving more dandruff, it also fried my hair to a crispy crunchy sound which I so hate it when my hair is dry.

Off it goes into the bin.

No more Dove hair shampoo or conditioners for me, they hate my hair. Well, I now hate them too because they hate me. Haha. Vicious cycle.

Anyone else thinks that Dove is bad for their hair?

I hope I’m not alone!

I haven’t been doing much lately, no thanks to my blog which I think hates me right now and can’t access it without using a proxy. Troublesome!

I have alot of stuff on my mind which I want to write about, so you might see more post than expected! Maybe not too, it all depends on the internet.

Alright then, I shall start my review and you shall read them.

I am a junkie. Specifically, anything beauty related. So I have tonnes of stuff lying around, waiting to be picked up by me. And the worst part, I enjoy buying them even more. >_<

So yeah, I declared my love for Tsubaki, and I still do love it very very much, but it didn’t stop me from buying a new shampoo and conditioner. =_=

Tada! Ascience Deep Nourish Shampoo and Conditioner.

I have been using this for about 2 to 3 weeks, and it should be given a proper review I feel

What tempted me to buy this was the fact that it’s a quite a strong competitor to Tsubaki both in Taiwan and in Japan, and there are quite some raves about it, and I know as a beauty blogger (am I one?, you decide!), I should be trying stuff out instead of using the same old thing over and over

So with it’s classy golden packaging, and with a decent price tag (Both items are selling for RM14.90 each, 220ml each), I’d say it’s not too expensive. It’s cheaper than Tsubaki, well naturally, since there’s no stores selling it right now, with or without a super marked up price. Sigh.

So, how does this compare? Scent wise, it’s pretty much florally-sweeter than Tsubaki White, but lighter than Tsubaki Red. And it has quite a similar scent to Tsubaki. You wanna know why? Because it contains Camellia Oil, an extract found in Tsubaki too! Shall get into that later.

It contains quite a good amount of goodies for your hair, shall list them down right now!

Pearl – Nourishing protein to repair and strengthen
Korean Ginseng – Excellent emollients to moisturize and control frizz (thank god no ginseng smell though!)
Soybean – Nourishing protein to repair and strengthen
Camellia Oil – Excellent emollients to moisturize and control frizz
Eucalyptus extract – Soothing extract to protect and seal in cuticles

Hm, not bad aye? And if it’s not good enough, Ascience also have this Japan’s Advanced M-18 Hair Beautifying Technology that works to restore, replenish and nourish hair to bring back to its original lustrous condition from within. It is due to 18-MEA (I seriously don’t know what that is!), a natural protective coat that wraps around the hair’s surface gets depeleted very easily sue to chemical treatments, blow drying and harmful UV rays, and without 18-MEA, hair is dull, dry and rough. Thus, the Advanced M-18 Hair Beautifying Technology.

Is this for real? You ask. I don’t know. All I know my hair is happy with it. Tee hee.

My hair is soft, smooth and everything, just like using my trusty Tsubaki. However, this one is lighter than Tsubaki, meaning to say that my hair don’t go as oily as fast if I use it on a hot humid day, comparing to Tsubaki itself.

I really think this is a nice product to try, if you have slightly dry hair like mine. And with the price, it’s not too shabby. The bigger bottles, I think about 450ml? Not sure, it’s selling at RM26.90 each. There’s a treatment pack as well, retailing at RM26.90 too, if not mistaken, but I don’t see the need of using the treatment for now as the shampoo and conditioner works well enough.

I would purchase this again, when I run out of shampoo and conditioner. I still have Tsubaki to finish up! Now, if only Tsubaki gets imported in!

Ascience range is easily available at most Watsons and Aeon Wellness aka Jusco outlets.

Me love me hair! What about you?

Shiseido Tsubaki Hair Shampoo & Conditioner

Shiseido Tsubaki. The ever so famous hair shampoo that has been raved by so many people around the world. First the fiery red coloured bottle, and now to the improved version, the classy white bottle called ” Golden Repair”. By the way Tsubaki means Camellia, a name of a flower.

Honestly, I love both of their packaging. It’s really classy and has a good feel overall. Pretty even though it’s simple. Now, that’s what I call less is more, and this case, the minimalist feel is prettier than being too dressy.

* Made especially for dry, permed, sun-damaged, color-treated and coarse hair, Shiseido’s new Golden Repair line is an everyday solution for healing and maintaining healthy hair.

* The hair enriching nutrients in camellia oil in a luscious thick conditioner that heals brittle hair, split ends and dryness.

* Amino acids help strengthen hair from the follicle.

* The Tsubaki, or Camellia flower, is packed with oleic acids that are extremely compatible with human skin.

* Excellent for everyday use, and improvements visible in as little as one use.

Product features taken from Amazon.com

I can understand why people loves Tsubaki and it’s crazy raves everywhere. Because it really delivers results! Just one use, I definitely felt the difference. And I love the floral scent. Quite unusual.

And I ran a few test just to be sure that Tsubaki is really good. Here goes!

Let me explain my hair structure so you get a better understanding.

My hair is thick, slightly hard and slightly dry at the ends. My hair has some slight waves and it goes a little frizzy. I hope this is clear?

I usually wash my hair, blow dry it and go to sleep. At times when I am lazy, I let it air dry till it’s almost 70% dry, I go to sleep immediately. Too tired and too lazy to do anything else.

Take note I do not apply anything extra on my hair after washing them.

1st try:
I wash and condition my hair, blow dry it, sleep. I wake up the next morning with rather tame hair, not as frizzy, soft, smooth and very easy to manage. A good comb and some water will give me good hair.

2nd try:
Wash and condition it, let it air dry till about 70%, sleep. The next morning? Same results as my 1st try. Usually, if I do not blow dry it and sleep on slightly wet hair, the next morning my hair tends to be difficult to manage, curls flying everywhere and basically, horrendous!

3rd try:
I thought maybe it’s just me trying to make myself believe Tsubaki is really that good, so I tried another shampoo and conditioner. I did like what I did in my 1st try, and the results is just not the same. Slightly difficult to manage, and I can’t even rake through my hair without going through a few knots. So much difference!

4th try:
I used the same shampoo and conditioner from my 3rd try, and let it air dry till about 70% and sleep on it. The next morning? Difficult to manage, curls flying everywhere, slightly frizzy and I end up doing a ponytail to hide the fact I can’t tame my hair. >_<

But one thing though, because it’s really moisturizing, people with oily scalp should use sparingly. I try to avoid using too much on my scalp because it’s on the normal side. There was once I used slightly too much on my scalp and ended up with horrible dandruff flakes. >_<

Some of you might ask what is the difference between the red and the white Tsubaki. I honestly can’t tell you as I have not used the red one.

* Infuse body, sheen, and moisture into fine, dry, or even thick hair with this best selling new line of hair care from Shiseido of Japan.

* The red camellia flower is celebrated throughout Japan for its beauty and its extremely high quality oils, rich in oleic and linoleic acid, which are readily absorbed by skin and hair.

* You will feel the improvement in texture and softness after one use.

Product feature taken from Amazon.com

I did rebonding and perming quite a long while back, so I figured the red won’t be enough to help “heal” my hair, so I pick the white one. If looking at both the product features, I reckon the red is for normal dry hair while the white is more of a intensive one for damaged and dry hair.

Obviously, Tsubaki is a clear winner. A definitely repurchase item.

Top left: Loreal Liss Extreme Shampoo
Top right: Joico Silk Result Shampoo and Conditioner (For thick and coarse hair)
Bottom: Loreal Elseve Anti Breakage Hair Mask

I’ll be reviewing one by one. This is going to be a long post!!

This shampoo is especially for maintaining straight, sleek and shiny hair. So for those who have curly hair or very coarse hair, this might not be suitable for you. However, for those who had rebonding, this might be nice for you, I used it after I did rebonding.

It’s texture is creamy-runny, but it’s a shampoo what do you expect? You don’t expect getting some heavy slob or anything like that right? The colour is a light lavender with a light hint of fragrance. Quite subtle, not strong at all. And I really don’t know how to describe the smell, not a flowery note neither a musky or fruity woody note.

When used, it doesn’t produce a lot of foam, especially if you used it in your first wash. I have this habit of washing my hair two or three times, in order to get rid of the dirt and grim. For your information, I was my hair once every other day. If I wash everyday, my hair would be too dry. Back to topic, so usually I wash my hair the first time with Loreal Elseve range of shampoo. Loreal Elseve rang of shampoos are one of the best drugstore brand that I’ve used for a long time! After rinsing, I use Loreal Liss Extreme. The first wash already got rid most of the dirt, so by second wash, more foam are produce. Rinsing out the shampoo is easy, and your hair is coated with a light fragrance that lingers for a while after drying. Hair is soft and smooth after usage. Me like!

I love this one! Very moisturizing! Texture is runny and is pinkish in colour. Fragrance is quite light, not very heavy. Everytime after I’m done with swimming and done with my first wash of hair, I always use this as my final wash. Hair is super soft and smooth, feels very moisturized, and don’t have that dry feeling on hair. *loves*

Of course, after swimming, you will need extra TLC on your hair, so I usually slab on some of this, and let it sit on while I wash my face and body, and then rinse it out. It smells a bit chemical like, funny though because the shampoo and conditioner from this range smells very mango like >_< Anyway, the smell isn't that horrible so I'm okay with it. It's beigy-white in colour, texture is creamy, but slightly to the watery side. Oh, it's quite easy to rinse out too! After rinsing, hair is even softer and smoother than using Joico Silk Result Shampoo! I love this very much because it's cheap and good albeit the smell.

I usually use this on days when I don’t go for swimming. Texture is creamier than Loreal Anti Breakage Mask and it’s beigy-white in colour. It’s highly moisturizing because you can feel the smoothness and softness right after you apply on your hair. It’s just right for normal daily use since I have slightly dry ends and thick hair. If you have fine limp hair or an oily scalp, you might want to avoid using too much of this, because of it’s moisturizing properties. A big heart from me!