Suave Professionals Line review, Part I

Thanks to the helpful folks at the PR firm that works for Suave, I recently received a shipment of products from the Suave Professionals line try out. I've been testing some things for weeks now in order to give you my most honest, detailed reviews so please note that I'll be writing a few more reviews in the future (today I'm only covering shampoos and conditioners).

Let me preface these reviews by telling you what my hair is like: I have long, fine hair but lots of it. I used to have stick-straight hair but then something happened in the '90s after I got a spiral perm (yes, a spiral perm) and after that, my hair went permanently wavy. It's not one of those gorgeous, consistent waves, but more of an erratic wave that does whatever it wants if I don't use the proper products. If I do use product, I can get loose, beachy waves that I love, but if I let it air-dry without product, it can be a frizzy mess. Also, my hair is color-treated and oily at the roots but dry on the ends. In other words, I'm all over the place.

I've been curious about the Professionals Line for a while now because the products are dupes of expensive salon-brand products at the always-affordable Suave prices. LOVE that. I first tried Sauve Professionals Volumizing Shampoo and Conditioner, which claim to "add fullness and shine as well as Matrix Amplify Shampoo and Conditioner". Now, I haven't tried those particular Matrix products but I can tell you volumizing products tend to clean the hair very well, and Suave is no exception. When I used this shampoo my hair felt SO clean. It really takes every last bit of dirt and styling product out of your hair, but it didn't leave it overly dry, which is awesome. The smell is pleasant and clean and the boyfriend liked it also. I will say that while it didn't give me tons of volume, it did give me a detectable amount more than other shampoos, and it somehow made my hair less fly-away and more manageable. The conditioner, on the other hand, didn't do much to condition, but that is to be expected. My experience with volumizing conditioners is always the same: They are made to give you volume so they can't really provide a deep conditioning because that would negate the volume. I didn't care for the fragrance of the conditioner as much as I did the shampoo (it's sort of got a chemically scent) but I would say that if you don't have dry hair and you don't need a lot of moisture out of your conditioner, this might be a good product for you.

Next up: Suave Healthy Curls Shampoo and Conditioner. Now these products contain coconut oil and honey (sweet!) and claim to "control frizz and define curls as well as Redken Fresh Curls shampoo and conditioner". Now I HAVE used those Redken products in the past and I can honestly say that the Suave products work just as well, if not better, on my wavy hair. In fact, the Redken products don't seem to get my hair as clean as I like, but not the case with Suave. I used the shampoo and conditioner for 6 days straight and I have to say that my wavy hair LOVES this stuff. My hair is clean, managable, and it actually gives me more curls (as opposed to other shampoos and conditioners that make my waves limp and lifeless). Oh and did I mention that these products smell like old-school Agree shampoo? Love that scent! All in all, I really love what these products do for my crazy wavy hair. If you have curly/wavy hair, you know that you need a good shampoo and conditioner to "prep the canvas" for your styling products. If your cleansing products don't work, then you can put as much styling product in your hair as possible and you still won't get those bouncy, consistent curls. So these Suave products definitely pass the test with flying colors.

Because I'm always trying to mix things up and customize my haircare, I experimented with using the Volumizing Shampoo with the Healthy Curls Conditioner and I have to say that, for my particular haircare needs, this combo rocks. I get the extra volume from the shampoo and the extra conditioning and curl-enhancing properties from the conditioner. A winning combo so far!

Next week I'll review some Suave Professionals styling products (dupes of popular sprays, mousses, and frizz creams) so stay tuned if you've been curious about those.

A sample of this product was given to Nouveau Cheap for editorial purposes, either directly from the manufacturer or from the agency that works on behalf of the manufacturer. All reviews on NouveauCheap.blogspot.com are the honest opinion of its author and gratis samples do not, in any way, affect the outcome of product reviews.