by Madison Starr

Created on: April 14, 2010

Nature’s Gate Pomegranate Sunflower Hair Defense Shampoo and Conditioner for color-enhanced hair works surprisingly well. While trying out several organic, natural, and cruelty-free hair products, I’ve had some hits and misses. Some of them leave my hair tangled, unscented, or dry. I’m happy to say this is not the case with Nature’s Gate Pomegranate Sunflower Shampoo and Conditioner.

As with any product, there are pros and cons with this particular shampoo and conditioner. Each will be discussed separately in this review. Each bottle is fairly good sized, at 18 fl. oz. each. The shampoo and conditioner both retail for $ 7.29 each but can be purchased for half that price at places like Vitacost.com or Luckyvitamin.com. This product is not tested on animals and contains no animal byproducts. It is also paraben free and pH-balanced with no artificial color.

The shampoo is alcohol-free and smells good. It reminded me of orange cream and left my hair with a fruity scent afterwards. It contains sage and horsetail to strengthen your hair. Sunflower and grape seed extracts are added to help prevent color from fading while pomegranate and red tea leaf extract lend their antioxidant benefits. However, there are some not-so-great things about this shampoo. First, I needed a lot of it to work up a lather in my hair. Second, some of my color washed out when I rinsed my hair, even though it is supposed to protect color-treated hair from fading. It also contains sodium laureth sulfate for those individuals concerned about that. It’s a good shampoo but not a perfect one.

The conditioner has the same scent as the shampoo. After I had dried my hair, I could still smell it, which is a definite plus. It instructs to leave it on for 1-3 minutes.

It soothes with marshmallow and jojoba extract. It also contains coffee Arabica seed extract, sage, milk thistle, and wild pansy extract. Another benefit of this conditioner is that it detangled my hair. I didn’t even need a detangler spray which I tend to need when I use most other conditioners. I’m a natural brunette who lightens to blond every month. I have fine, layered, color-treated hair that falls near the middle of my back. It gets blow-dried at least twice a week and I use hot rollers at least once a week. Even with trims and deep conditioning, my hair tends to be tangled and dry most of the time. When I used this conditioner, a wide-toothed comb went through my hair with no problem. I was thrilled. The only thing I didn’t like about this conditioner was that it even though it had a creamy texture, it was thin and runny. I needed a lot to penetrate my hair.

The bottom line is if you are looking for a cruelty-free and paraben-free shampoo and conditioner, Nature’s Gate Pomegranate Sunflower Hair Defense shampoo and conditioner is a good choice. However, it does not deliver one hundred percent of what it promises it will do. For those of you who color your hair, expect some of it to fade with the use of this shampoo and conditioner. On the plus side, it detangles well and leaves hair soft and manageable. I recommend it.

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