I don’t know about you, but I’ve definitely been washing my hair less over the last two years. Showering as a disabled woman has always been a tricky thing in general – having to make sure it works in my work/PCA schedule, plus it can be tiring! – but now that I’m home a lot more, I’m much more okay with having dirty hair a few days a week. I’ve also been wearing it up in a ponytail a lot more, too, just to have it off my face while I’m at home.
I know some people can train their hair to go longer between washes, but honestly… I haven’t really found that to be the case for me. Instead, going longer between washings and wearing it up more often was leaving me with some flakes, which isn’t something I’ve really had to deal with before, and just as much oil as ever. So when I saw (from Grace, an excellent source of new beauty product news) that Briogeo came out with a Scalp Revival shampoo, I was intrigued.
I’m someone who, after hearing about a new product, immediately goes to read the label. I want to know the claims, the ingredients, and if I think it’ll live up to the hype. I have juuuust enough scientific knowledge to make me dangerous when reading labels! I want ingredients that I think will be able to stand up to the claims of efficacy. All of this is why I got excited when I checked out the label for the Scalp Revival shampoo. Not only is it sulfate and silicone free, it also has lactic and salicylic acid, charcoal, and coconut oil. Yes!
Why did that make me so excited? Salicylic acid is a BHA and lactic acid is an AHA – both are exfoliants; lactic acid helps with surface issues and salicylic acid gets deeper into the pores to clear them out. Since I suspected my flakes were happening because of oily, clogged pores, this combination is exactly what I was looking for – the AHA will get rid of the flakes and the BHA will help keep them from happening as often. The charcoal can help with oiliness, at least temporarily. And the coconut oil helps keep the shampoo from being too stripping and drying, which is an issue that I’ve had with other dandruff shampoos that I’ve tried.
Even though the ingredients were promising, I was still trying to keep my expectations low, but I ended up being so impressed! The flakes that I’d been dealing with for a few weeks were gone, and they’ve stayed away. The Scalp Revival shampoo just… works, really well. My hair looks and feels great.
The only thing I don’t love about it is the scent. The shampoo has tea tree and peppermint oil in it, and I can definitely smell the peppermint as I’m using it, which is just a little bit odd to me. Now – once I rinse it out, my hair smells great, but it’s just a little bit disconcerting to me to put something minty smelling on my hair! I don’t dislike it enough to stop using it, but I feel like it’s worth a heads up.
As for conditioner – there’s no “matching” conditioner, though there is a hair mask. I didn’t want to choose something with a conflicting scent, so I went with this fragrance free version. I actually love it – it’s super thick, which had me very nervous, but it rinses out really easily and leaves my hair so soft but not too weighed down. I will note that I agree with the many reviews that say the pump doesn’t work! I’ve just been unscrewing the lid to get the product out and that’s been working fine.
The shampoo + conditioner has been such a winning combination for me, and I’m so glad that my hair is flake-free again!
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