Beauty Dish

Review: Avon Advanced Techniques Age Defying Shampoo and Conditioner

I was V-ger
assorted notes on a few of Avon's various hair products

Two years ago today I took a men's shaving razor to my head. My hair was already short - inch high barbed-wire spikes colored the shade of strawberry Starburst candies. It wasn't a pretty sight. Twenty minutes later my hair lay scattered on the floor, a mini rainbow straw harvest, and I stared in the mirror at the decidedly unbuff version of G.I. Jane glancing back at me. My young boys called me "V-ger" in homage to the Star Trek movie character with the bald head and vacant expression.

Since then I've been growing, growing, staring, waiting, praying, massaging, doing everything I can to get this hair L-O-N-G! I even began a regimen of talking to my hair when no one else is around, thinking if it works for my begonias and Christmas cactus, why not my shock of fine, evasive hair? I've read poetry, emails, news stories and blog posts to my hair. I think it likes the Entertainment News best, but so far my hair hasn't talked back so I can't be sure. Today my hair rests, artificial color-free, just below my shoulders. I'm growing it to waist-level, long and elegant and princess-like, able to keep me a bit warmer on cool winter nights.

Now that I have longer locks, I am the perfect Avon hair junk test subject! Over the past six months I have tested most of Avon's Advanced Techniques hair line as well as the newer Avon Naturals haircare products. I should explain first and foremost that my hair is naturally fine, on the oily side, and prone to tangle. My color is a natural dark brown/almost black with some stray gray hairs. Here are a few notes on some of the tested goods:

Avon Advanced Techniques Salon Hair Care Age Defying Shampoo and Conditioner, cost $3.49 each, 11 oz. each.

I was especially excited to try this shampoo and conditioner set because Avon claims that this conditioner and shampoo set is designed to "boost fragile, thinning hair" so that it "appears fuller, thicker, and more radiant." Boy could I use a little hair fluff and shine! The ingredients lists on the bottles read like a chemistry student's nightmare exam. Some of the ingredients end in the "cone" suffix, which some longhair devotees claim will coat and suffocate hair, and not allow it to take in natural moisture from the air.

The bottles are trim and attractive, molded in tones of light blue and calming gray. The product is a bargain, too! Other similar shampoos and conditioners will set you back a few extra bucks at the drug store. Both items smell fresh and clean, a bit like chemical soup with a sprinkle of spring fragrance. The shampoo is rich and creamy and lathers into a mountain of suds. It rinses easily, but in the shower I could tell that it made my hair feel a little more rough, less soft, more like my dog's shedding winter coat than soft and clean hair. The conditioner coated the strands and left them easy to untangle, but my hair felt limp and heavy, and a bit lifeless, dull. As my hair dried, it looked worse and worse, as wooly and unattractive as my ex-mother-in-law's negative attitude.

In all honesty I can't recommend these two products at all. As a woman firmly in the thin-hair demographic targeted for this shampoo and conditioner, I am disappointed. It took several weeks of nightly applications of a deep conditioner (non-Avon, I must admit) to return my hair to a softer state.

Avon Advanced Techniques Straight & Sleek Shine Spray, $4.99, 3.4 oz.

Straight & Sleek comes in a cool green and gray spray bottle. You spritz it on your finished style, where it "tames and smoothes" hair, leaving a light-reflecting sheen. Again, the ingredients that promote the shine are those "...cone" chemicals which cover the surface area of each hair strand, making the shaft slick, uniform, more shiny and strong.

I like this product. It works as Avon promises, gives my hair a gentle shine and helps keep the strands smooth and in place. It does have a stronger odor that I would like, but it dissipates after an hour or two. Two thumbs up, chemicals and all. Again, Avon delivers a product much less expensive than similar goods at the drug or department store. If you are counting your pennies and already use a shine serum from another company, do try Avon!

Avon Naturals Jasmine & Lemongrass Shampoo and Conditioner for fine and oily hair, $1.99 each, 8.4 oz.

I was reluctant to try the newer Naturals haircare line after nearly ruining my long hair experiment with the Age Defying combo. But! A good Avon Lady soldiers on! The Naturals shampoos and conditioners come in a range of "flavors" for oily, dry, and processed hair. I chose the Jasmine & Lemongrass as Avon promised it has a "refreshing mix of jasmine and lemongrass combined with natural sources of antioxidants and vitamin E, known to refresh hair and scalp while helping to control oiliness." Other scents include Key Lime & Passionfruit, Avocado & Rice Milk, and Poppy Flower & Rice Milk.

I stared at the bottles a long, long time before opening them. What if they gave me winter wolf hair? What if I had to go under the knife once more, face another year or two as V-ger, lost in short hair space? The cost of these products - a mere buck ninety-nine - enhanced my sense of doom. How can something half the price of the disappointing hair stuff possibly be good for my tresses?

The ingredients for the Naturals line is much like the other Avon hair products - a long list of chemicals - but with a few natural extracts and oils added. The Jasmine & Lemongrass duo contains helianthus annuus (sunflower) seed extract, and jasminum officinale (jasmine) extract in addition to twenty or so unpronounceable artificial substances.

I opened the shampoo first and took a deep sniff. It smelled great! Kind of a cross between Thai soup and my Gramma's perfume. I lathered carefully, keeping my toes crossed that the potion wouldn't tangle or fry my hair. It rinsed out quickly, leaving hair that felt soft, fresh, clean. The conditioner smelled nice, too, and left me with bouncy, shiny hair! I loved it!

I am still using the Avon Naturals shampoo and conditioner, two weeks later! For under four bucks, you get a wonderful set of products that work great and smell wonderful. Leave that icky Age Defying gunk in the brochure and try the Naturals haircare products. I am recommending them to all my customers, they really are that good.

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