Friday, April 12, 2019

Formulate Shampoo + Conditioner

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A while back, I was contacted by Formulate and asked if I would be interested in testing their custom shampoo & conditioner. I've put together this blog post to talk about my journey with Formulate! There's also a giveaway at the end of this post so be sure to enter for your chance to win your own set! (Or you can order HERE).

The first thing I had to do was take the survey. It was super quick and simple, just asked a few questions about my hair (color, thickness, texture, etc.) and what I was looking for in a product. I said that I wanted help with split ends, color protection (since I dye my hair regularly), thermal protection, frizz, and curl definition. I have really thick, kinky-curly, course hair that drives me bonkers and never does what I want - so I knew this would be a good product test!
For starters, here is a picture of my natural hair:
It's often pretty frizzy, I have a hard time defining my curls without a ton of products, and tend to straighten it a lot to make it more manageable! So that is how we started out.

In about a week and a half after filling out the survey and placing the order, I received the products:
They were packaged really nicely, with much appreciated pumps included (seriously, I LOVE shampoos and conditioners with pumps. Less fumbling in the shower!) The scent I chose was "At Dawn," which is a nice floral scent. It also let you choose the intensity of the fragrance, which I really liked. I chose the strongest, because I like my hair to smell good and almost be "perfumed!"

They send a pamphlet that talks about what you chose, along with an ingredients list, and some info about the main ingredients. But, if you go on their website under your account, you can see all of the ingredients used, an explanation of what they do, etc.  
The main ingredients in this first set were Pumpkin Seed oil, Broccoli Seed oil, and Lactic acid. The scent was amazing, and I've been referring to it as a "time-released scent," because I always catch whiffs of it randomly when I'm just sitting still. I LOVE that about it! They do warn you beforehand that your hair might get greasy at first until it adjusts to the formula, and to give it a fair try by using it for 6 washes. I did this and my hair just wasn't getting used to it. It felt pretty heavy and weighed down, like I had a lot of product in it, and it was very greasy. Here is a photo for reference:
So I had been in touch with the Formulate representative who had originally contacted me, and I let her know my hair just wasn't adjusting. She went ahead and reformulated for me, and a couple weeks later I received another set. Same fragrance, different main ingredients. This second set had Polyquaternium-37, Argan oil, and Hemp Seed oil as the main ingredients. 

With this second set, I immediately felt a difference the first time I used it in the shower. My hair felt clean and light, not weighed down with product like it had before. It still had that same awesome scent that I liked from the first batch, so I was happy about that as well. My hair seemed to adjust to this set immediately. It was pretty cool that they nailed it on the second try!

I really enjoy that the shampoo and conditioner are formulated for my curls, because during the summer I haaaaate straightening my hair! Any time I can find something to make my curls look good, I embrace it and wear my hair natural during the hot months. Who wants to mess with heat tools when it's 90 degrees outside? My hair is soft and my curls are defined without me having to glop a bunch of gel and curl scrunch mousse into my hair, and I really appreciate that.
It's important to note that through this whole journey I was in contact with a representative from Formulate that made the process so easy to understand and helped me out a lot! They are super responsive when you email them, so if you have any questions you will definitely receive a response in a timely manner.

Now for the pricing info and all that jazz! The bottles are 14 oz. and it is $49 for the set. There is a lot of work that goes into getting your formula right so that it actually works for you. If you are interested, you can order here.

Enter to win your own set here: formulate.co/u/sullenxriot182

*The products were sent to me for review purposes. All thoughts are my own.


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