Olive You, but Not My Conditioner

Olives are not something that I would usually associate with beauty, but having spent numerous years complaining about my dry, straw-like hair, I was pleasantly surprised to recieve Palmer's Olive Oil Formula Conditioner for my birthday as the bottle promises soft, silky hair.

I want to come straight out and say it though: I am not a fan of this product - strange, I know, seeing as I usually have heaps of praise for the products I review! Unusual as this may sound, the reason that I don't like it is because, after use, my hair is super sleek. So sleek, in fact, that it quickly becomes lank and greasy. I used to be able to enjoy stretching my time between hair washes for three and even four days with a spritz of dry shampoo. But now, even by the start of day two, I start to feel oily and dirty. I can't deny that this product does exactly what it says on the bottle - it leaves the hair soft, moisturised, frizz-free, shiny and smooth. So if that is what you are after, I can and would recommend it. But as an everyday conditioner, it is not right for me.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil is a powerful natural ingredient which has been used since ancient times to give hair strength and shine. I often read that straight olive oil directly on the hair is a good hair mask every few weeks - I tried this once though and it felt absolutely disgusting and took a million washes to get out - never again! This rich conditioner combines olive oil with soybean oil and hair keratin amino acids which work together to protect the hair from environmental factors and hot styling tools. The olive oil is also certified organic and Palmer's do not test on animals.

It is nicely dense and silky in consistency, but it doesn't really smell of anything in particular other than a generic soap scent. Something I can praise it for though is the amount of washes per bottle. This 250 ml bottle has been on my shower shelf for as long as I can remember and I still haven't finished it. I even want to finish it as I have some other tempting conditioners lined up that I'm looking forward to enjoying. You only need a small pearl and it will smooth all the hair (and mine is pretty long). Leave it on for a minute or two while you scrub and get squeaky clean before rinsing clean away.

If you have frizzy hair or unmanageable curls - I imagine this will be a life saver at times. For me though it is a little too oil-based and leaves me feeling greasy so I will just be sticking to the classic Palmer's cocoa butter formulas for now.