I was sent an 8oz bottle of this in the Fig variant by a US friend. I really don't know whether to thank her or to kick her (I won't kick you when I see you in the summer Mary, honest) because I love the stuff, but it's potentially an absolute pain to get hold of in the UK.
The idea of a cleansing conditioner is that it doesn't dry out the hair or strip out dyed colour as much as shampoo does - it's like using a cleansing cream for your face rather than a foaming cleanser. You can condition-wash with a normal conditioner (something quite simple and low or no silicones tends to work best) but I found the texture of Wen works particularly well; it's a thick gel cream that coats every strand to clean it. You do need to use a lot of it to work; the man behind Wen, Chaz Dean, recommends about 40 pumps for one wash (seriously) and I don't think I used quite that much, but I did use the bottle up in 10 washes (I wash my hair every other day.) I found it does work best if I wet my hair thoroughly and then apply the Wen, give it a bit of a massage, and then leave it on in the shower for a few minutes while I wash etc, then massage again and rinse out thoroughly. This is vital; you do have to rinse out very well. I then put a little bit (20p piece size) through the length and ends of my hair as a leave-in conditioner/styling cream.
So, what do I like about it?
It leaves my hair feeling very soft and smooth, but not lank (used in the way I describe.) When I ran out and went back to my current shampoo and conditioner (Oribe, which is very good) I did feel that my scalp was drier and the lengths of my hair were less soft.
It's handy only having to use one product to clean, condition and style. (Of course, I use the term 'style' loosely - all I mean by that is some sort of creamy product I can bung in my hair to stop it looking frizzy; I don't blow dry or anything.)
What I don't like about it?
I'd say that my hair definitely feels like it needs a wash at the end of day two (with the Oribe, it still has good volume and doesn't look noticeably like a wash is needed at this point.) I think that I'd personally find it necessary to do a wash with normal shampoo occasionally with this system.
Here's the kicker:
In the UK, you can only buy this from Guthy-Renker. I have never bought anything from Guthy-Renker, but from the website it appears that they only sell products through 'memberships' where you are automatically sent new kits every 30-90 days, depending on the brand. If you google Guthy-Renker, you find posts of consumers complaining of finding it difficult to cancel their membership, or cancelling and still being charged. This makes me wary of ordering.
It's also £50 for 3 months' supply (2 16oz bottles of the product, which should last just about 3 months on my longer-than-shoulderlength hair.) The kit also includes a styling cream, an intensive hair mask, a texture balm and a comb, and I don't want any of those things, I just want the cleansing conditioner. I can't buy that on its own though.
Conclusion:
I'm torn. I like the product a lot, but I hate (even potential) hassle of any kind. I've emailed QVCUK asking them if they plan to stock it, as it is also sold through QVC in the US. They have no immediate plans to, but have passed my email on to their buying department.
The (Guthy-Renker) website for the product in the UK is www.wenhaircare.co.uk. They don't stock all the variants that the US have (including the Fig) - they stock the Almond Mint and Cucumber Aloe versions only.
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I heard about this from a review Xsparkage did. It sucks that they don't sell it seperately, and that we can't get it in the UK.
ReplyDeletexoxo
I don't know if Sally's Beauty Supply in the UK has it but here in the US they sell a knockoff of this Wen and way cheaper. It isn't bad either.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sallybeauty.com/Cleansing-Conditioner/SBS-737100,default,pd.html
Hi Dreams That Glitter - it is a shame we can't buy it separately over here, it is an excellent product. I'm pinning my hopes on QVCUK.
ReplyDeleteHi Olivia - I've had a look on the UK Sally website, and we don't seem to have that here either. Poo.
Please don't kick me when I see you!! If you still haven't gotten it, I will be happy to bring you a bottle in the summer.
ReplyDeleteI promise not to kick you Mary :) I'm hoping the Q starts stocking it, I might have to take you up on your kind offer though!
ReplyDeletejust found this post whilst googling sulphate free conditioners! in case you dont know looks like you can now buy individual products online from the website you linked to - i'm going to buy the starter kit!
ReplyDeleteHi. I'm from the UK and I too don't like the membership plan that they have on the guthy renker website either. Anyway,after months of browsing around I finally found a website called http://chazdean.com/ and here they supply all the cleansing conditioners and more wen products and all you have to do is register an account and make sure you put UK when choosing your shipping country and it will come straight to you. They won't do the thing that they do on the guthy renker web where once you join you're given a new pack every 3 months.
ReplyDeleteHope this helped.
Hi. I've just been onto chazdean.com and they do have the cleansing conditioner and they will post to the UK but it costs 78 dollars for the shipping - they do state that if your order is over 100 dollars shipping would be free.
ReplyDeleteDon't buy from Guthy Ranker, They completely scammed me. When I called to cancel they told me it was too late even though it wasn't bc I had a 14 day time frame to call and cancel and I was well within that period. They charged me the $90.00 for the 3 month anyways and said I could return it but it would take up to 3 months to credit my account. The fuss wasn't worth it so I was out $90.00 and basically scammed. Wen is great but buy it from QVC or on amazon or ebay. Chaz would make so much more money if it was honest because its a great product but its not great to try and scam your customers.
ReplyDeleteHi just seen this product on one of the uk freeview shopping channels possibly The zone but certainly one of them not bid or qvc, worth a flick around. am sure you could buy individual items not a package as talked about in previous posts.
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