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It nourished my thirsty strands back to health.
As someone whose job it is to try out every beauty product on the market, my locks have been shampooed and conditioned by hundreds of different brands. Here's what you need to know: You don't need to spend a fortune for beautiful hair. I've used shampoos that cost upwards of $100 that weren't that great, meanwhile my latest favorite option is an affordable $10 bottle that's made me feel like I belong in a haircare commercial.
On a recent scouting expedition at CVS, I noticed that Sun Bum, known best for its smells-like-summer suncare collection, expanded its lineup to include skincare and haircare. And, because I am totally here for smelling like coconuts on the beach all year long, I decided to try the brand's Revitalizing Shampoo and Conditioner.
Not only do the shampoo and conditioner have an intoxicating scent, but their gluten-, silicone-, and paraben-free formulas have worked wonders on my parched and over-chlorinated summer hair. The products have made my strands look so good that I've reached for the bottles wash after wash - and even my stylist, Ian Hoffner at Mane Techniques in Wayne, PA, approves.
Shop now: $10; amazon.com
Shop now: $10; amazon.com
A few days after I started using the shampoo and conditioner duo I went in for a balayage treatment. Like most stylists, he asked about the products I was currently using. I sheepishly told him, thinking he would give me a hard time for using a $10 drugstore shampoo. I was pleasantly surprised that Hoffner, a self-proclaimed ingredient reader, endorsed my choice. "For the price point, it packs a punch full of excellent ingredients for your hair," he said.
He elaborated on a few of the ingredients in the fruity formula that make the Sun Bum Revitalizing Shampoo a favorite on Amazon with thousands of five-star reviews. Coconut oil "helps to deliver intense hydration and tame frizz," Hoffner tells InStyle. Several banana ingredients not only infuse the shampoo with a lovely scent, but are also responsible for making hair appear silkier and shinier, and can also add moisture to a dry scalp. Other key ingredients include quinoa protein, which "strengthens hair growth and protects your hair from environmental pollution," and sunflower seed oil, which has "intense nourishing properties that aid in manageability of the hair and promotes a healthier scalp and hair growth," Hoffner says.
After a week of using the duo along with some of the brand's other products, including the Coconut Argan Oil and Protecting Anti-Frizz Oil Mist, I received some unsolicited compliments about my hair from friends. "Whatever you use, it is working," one of them told me, commenting on how silky, hydrating, and healthy it looked. I have continued lathering up with it and my hair continues to reap nourishing results.
Shop now: $20; amazon.com
Shop now: $15; amazon.com
Amazon reviewers with various hair types agree that using the Sun Bum shampoo and conditioner together leaves hair "soft and non-greasy" and smelling like "summer all year round." "I have super fine hair and this doesn't weigh it down at all but doesn't cause my hair to frizz either," said one user, while another person with "long and processed" hair said the shampoo kept their dry strands "smooth and tangle-free."
Grab the hydrating Sun Bum duo at Amazon, here.