We’ll take a look at this shampoo and conditioner duo that claims to “add smoothness and shine.”
I received a free sample of Drunk Elephant’s shampoo and conditioner when I ordered some other products through Sephora. I’d never used the brand before, but have heard many beauty influencers praise them… so you know when I had the opportunity to get a free sample, I jumped right on that!
Typically, Drunk Elephant’s shampoo and conditioner cost $25 each, which for someone like me who doesn’t mind splurging on the $40+ bottles at the hair salon, I thought that if I loved this stuff I wouldn’t mind the price tag at all. Plus, can we just admire how chic the bottles are? I love the pops of color on their bottles; everything from neon pink to baby blue hues grace the caps of the bottles and packaging of the product is always the most important factor to me right after quality.
According to Drunk Elephant’s website, their shampoo is supposed to produce “a gentle, creamy foam” and contains at least 3 kinds of oils, including argan and almond oils. It’s also supposed to be focused on the scalp and can “dissolve years of buildup.” The result? Your hair should be bouncy and voluminous.
As for the conditioner, Drunk Elephant lists a plethora of oils in this one as well as marula butter. Marula butter is an ingredient that’s meant to help with softness and moisture – two essential outcomes of a quality hair product. Finally, the company specifically recommends that the conditioner be combed from root to tip and left to rest so that it can fully soak in. Rest assured, I followed that instruction closely.
When I received the products, I was more than pleased with their appearance. The matte feeling of the bottles along with the fact that there are anywhere from 2-6 uses that someone can get out of here depending on your hair length had me excited to test these out ASAP!
Both the shampoo and the conditioner are scentless, which as a personal preference is not my ideal. I love that feeling of smelling my freshly-cleaned hair with a hint of something feminine. Of course, that doesn’t have anything to do with the performance and I just wanted to note that for anyone who also prefers their hair care to have a scent.
Getting to performance, I was left very underwhelmed. Drunk Elephant’s shampoo page mentions that there may not be enough suds and to just rewet and lather again; unfortunately, I ended up using more than my hair usually needs just to get a few bubbles out. With the conditioner, I left it in my hair the recommended minute and then some. Usually after washing out conditioner, my hair immediately feels softer – this didn’t accomplish that. I figured after using the products I would wait to see how they did with the promised shine and bounciness, but again, my hair wasn’t any shinier or bouncier than before. Not to mention, I’m someone who has drier, curlier hair with buildup on my scalp and these products did not clear the buildup. In fact, I felt I had more buildup than usual.
To their credit, these products do feel light and aren’t harsh at all; so many shampoos and conditioners with sulfates and more in them can burn when you give your scalp a nice scrub. These products didn’t do that, I felt I could scrub scrub scrub and there was no irritation.
Final Recommendation
Overall, would I recommend purchasing this product? If you’re someone who doesn’t require much hair maintenance, this shampoo will probably work great for you. It’s light and gets the job done. But if your hair needs the red carpet rolled out with extra attention, I would move on to the next and give it a try only if you can get a free sample, too.
I do plan on trying other Drunk Elephant products and will update on those as these beauty reviews continue. I’m curious to hear your experience with this shampoo and conditioner and any other Drunk Elephant products, leave a comment below and let me know!
As always, thanks for reading, until next time xo.
All opinions are my own and all references to the products including name and descriptions are credited to Drunk Elephant