Cleanse & Polish for Hair by Liz Earle

Yesterday I had the ultimate beauty addict fix of actually meeting Liz Earle, co-founder of cult skincare brand 'Liz Earle'.

What a lovely, modest and inspiring woman, it's so rare for someone of such grand success to stay so grounded. Anyway, Liz arrived at the flagship store in Chelsea to visit her team who were presenting the launch of the long awaited shampoo and conditioners.

Liz Earle has kept things simple and non-fussy, which is perfect for someone as impatient as myself. The Botanical Shine Shampoo is basically the 'Cleanse & Polish' for hair, designed for all skin and hair types with nourishing botanical ingredients. The fascinating aspect about this shampoo is that it is SLS and SLES free (surfectants or just the foaming agent to us non-science folk), basically the surfectants are responsible for the foaming effect most shampoos give you. However, Liz's clever team have used a cleansing agent derived from coconut ensuring hair is left squeaky clean but you still get the foamy effect, which most of us are used to. I have tried SLS and SLES shampoos in the past, such as Phyto and I couldn't get used to the lack of foam, even though foam doesn't mean it's cleaning your hair, it's a pyschological thing for me, I like my shampoo to foam. The shampoo smells extremely fresh due to the orange and apple extracts, which are responsible for the shine.

The conditioners intrigued me too, they work in harmony with the shampoo and treat hair according to your specific needs. There are three types of conditioner; for Normal, Dry/Damaged and Oily hair. Each conditioner contains 95% natural ingredients. I was most curious about an ingredient called Yangu,I have never heard of it before, turns out it's from Kenya, it's pressed by hand and is precious for it's moisturising properties. As a result of using Yangu in the conditioner, the forest tribe community collecting Yangu by hand (80% being women), are able to support their families and send their children to school as well as preserve the local flora and fauna associated with them.

Tonight, I will be testing out the Botanical Shine Shampoo and the Botanical Shine Conditioner for Normal Hair. The key moisturising ingredient in the Normal Hair Conditioner is Meadowfoam, which is a seed grown ethically in Oregon. I'll write up my review tomorrow and take some pictures.

(L - R: Shampoo for all hair types and conditioners for normal, dry/damaged and oily hair)

Some of the primary ingredients in the conditioners, such as Meadowfoam, Shea Butter and Yangu