essano Blonde Shampoo

I love the fact that this product comes in recyclable packaging and there are no nasties (parabens, sulhates etc). No animals are used in testing of this product so that is a definite plus for me and it is made in NZ. It isn't an overly fragrant product but has a pleasant scent. I found I had to use a LOT of product to get a good lather on my thrice weekly washed hair. I didn't find any noticeable difference to my blonde highlights at all or find my hair shinier and softer. Based on my findings, I probably wouldn't buy this shampoo.

I'll start with the negative's first and end with the positives. I didn't find the scent of the Shampoo pleasant, but I suspect thats due to all of its natural ingredients. I also didn't like the fact that its a non-foam formula, it made me feel as though I needed to use quite a bit for it to actually cover my hair! Now on to the positives! I absolutely love that it does what it says....my hair was toned a beautiful ashy blonde and once naturally dried, it was smooth and shiny! I also left it in for slightly longer than it says and its definately not as potent as the Fudge Purple Shampoo so didn't stain my hair at all. The packaging is brilliant (recyclable, 100% pre-used) and the pump makes it so much easier to disperse the product so you don't accidently use too much! Plus its sulphate-free! How good!

I was delighted to have the opportunity to review Essano's purple shampoo and conditioner. I'm transitioning my hair from permanent brown dye to it's natural silver colour, so my roots are natural and the previously brown lengths have been bleached. The bleached sections can get yellow tones, so I use purple shampoos and conditioner to neutralise the yellow and cool down the tone. Most purple shampoos are salon brands and pretty expensive so it's really great to see a budget option that is very very good. The shampoo is very dark purple, almost black. It has a mild smell, pleasant but not overpowering. It's SLS-free, which I really like because my scalp can be sensitive, so it doesn't lather much on the first wash. If you shampoo a second time, it lathers a lot more. The foam is a pleasing light purple colour. I shampoo twice, leaving the second application on for about 5 minutes. Then I rinse and apply the matching purple conditioner. Afterwards my hair feels soft and clean, and the tones are noticeably cooler. I'm really happy with this shampoo and will continue to use it.

I am currently using a few other Essano products and loving them all and I was pleased to of been selected for this trial so a big thank you to the BR team.My hair is naturally brown/auburn in colour with half a head of blonde foils through the top layers but my problem is that my hair tends to throw a lot of warmth reddish tones and can make my blondes look quite brassy so I have always had a struggle keeping them looking bright and light and my hair not resembling straw until now!This product is totally a game changer and i'm loving the result! The packaging is attractive and eye catching with it's purple label and silver colouring you can easily see it is a blonde toner shampoo for blonde hair.I love that Essano have made their bottles from recycled material that can be recycled again and the ingredients are plant based,win win for the environment.The shampoo is also free of Parabans and Sulphates and other nasty chemicals plus Essano are against animal testing,another win win!

The bottle has a pump top lid which makes it easy to distribute the shampoo through your hair and avoiding less mess and waste of the product.I used about 6 pumps in to the palm of my hand and noticed it was bright purple but a thin consistency and smelling strongly of violets which was pleasant and not too over powering.I massaged the formula evenly through my hair which I did find a bit messy as it does tend to go everywhere if your not careful however the product easily washes off and doesn't stain your palms purple like some other products do.I left it on for 5 minutes although you only need to leave it on for 2-3 minutes.After rinsing and conditioning my hair I left it to dry naturally. Did I notice a difference in my hair?I sure did,the brassy look had gone and I was left with softer,less frizz, lighter and brighter hair,there was definitely a noticible shine too.I can't say the violet scent lingered in my hair though but I was pleased this product delivered and nuetralised my brassy look which was my main concern.

Instead of using chemical laden blonde toners that did virtually nothing to reduce the brassiness to my blondes and left my hair feeling very dry,I will definitely be switching to the Essano purple range.Knowing that it is New Zealand made and kind to the environment is a huge draw card for me too and I look forward to trying out their other products.

I have medium brown hair with 4 levels of lift to about a level 9 blonde. This means it is absolutely crucial that I have a strict regimen of toning to keep my colour from going orange. Not just 'brassy', but ORANGE.

I was told be my hairdresser friend that if a 'blonde' or 'toning' shampoo stains your hands when you use it, then it's an effective product. And wow was I impressed with the high pigment of this Essano shampoo which gave my hands a temporary purple hue! (don't worry, it washes off)

It was still very drying on the hair, which is not great considering the dyeing and bleaching process of going blonde is already highly stressful for anyone's locks. But I was happy enough to tolerate some momentarily straggly strands which can be helped with a deep conditioning treatment IF the toning element of the shampoo was effective.

To be honest, I didn't see a huge improvement in the tone of my blonde once my hair had dried. It's not orange, but my hair hasn't completely corrected to be the ash colour I was hoping for. I feel this could be because the accompanying conditioner was only a faint lilac colour with little pigment.

I will definitely still consider repurchasing though, as the price is very competitive for a shampoo aimed at blondes.

I’ve had highlighted hair for many years so I am a frequent user of purple tone-correcting products. I recently went to a lighter shade of blonde so I was very excited to trail this new product! The plus points for me is that this shampoo is cruelty free, plant based, 100% free from parabens and sulphates and the bottle is made from 100% recycled materials, making it a very eco-friendly product. The bottle size is a generous 300ml and comes with a twist pump application top so is easy to use. The product is recommended for use on coloured, dry, dull, damaged, frizzy, flat, oily and normal hair so it covers pretty much all hair types. My hair is particularly dry and frizzy due to the highlights so im always looking for products to soften and moisturize my hair. The product label doesn’t mention how often to use the product so I used it twice a week as per how often I use my other purple shampoos. The product has a faint aroma, a bit like a plant/flowery smell. Not a very strong smell but certainly not unpleasant. The product is a very deep violet colour and has a very runny watery consistency. I initially did 4 pumps into my hand and applied it to my wet hair, I found the product didn’t lather at all so I added more and more pumps, to a total of 8 pumps before I found that the product covered my hair. My hair is only shoulder length, so quite a lot of product is required. Even after using 8 pumps, the product still didn’t lather like a shampoo normally would. Due to this, I didn’t really feel like I had applied a shampoo to my hair. I then discovered something that unfortunately brings down my rating for this product, after applying it to my hair I noticed that the product had stained my hands purple! In a panic I reached for my shower gel and had to scrub my hands several times to try to get the purple stains off. It particularly stained between my fingers, my nails and my cuticles. After discovering this, I was then terrified that the shampoo would stain my hair purple! I did (reluctantly) leave it on my hair for the 2-3 minutes as per the instructions but couldn’t wait to wash it off as quickly as possible! Once washed off, my hair felt very dry and brittle and definitely needed to be followed up with a conditioner. Once I dried my hair, I was thankful to see that it had not stained my hair purple, although my hands and nails were still slightly tinted! The product did seem to have helped even the tones through my hair and it looked a little less brassy. Comparing it to other purple shampoos it maybe does work a little better than them in colour correction, however I would choose to use other brands over this one as this one left my hair too dry and brittle, it didn’t lather like a shampoo and I don’t want to use a product that stains my skin and nails! My rating points are given to this product for being eco-friendly and cruelty free but based on the product performance and skin staining, unfortunately I would not use it again.

Love the look of the bottle. There is no mistaking that it is a purple shampoo with its large and gorgeous purple label on what looks like a black bottle. Really effective and attractive at the same time. The pump on the bottle unlocked relatively easy which was great as I usually struggle with the initial unlocking of pumps. The bottle is a great size to fit in my palm and the pump action works really well and DIDN'T DRIP after pumping which I loved as my usual purple shampoo (non-pump, just a lid) makes a real mess every time I open the lid. The shampoo was rich purple in colour and had a relatively thin consistency. It did lather up really well which I like as it makes me feel like I am washing my hair. The scent was quite gentle and pleasant to begin with but by the second shampoo it had become quite strong and my nose did not love the smell. I did two shampoos and on rinsing the second round my hair felt quite matted and dry which is not new to me as I always wash with a purple shampoo and this is usually the case. I thought with the Violet Leaf Extract which claims to naturally smooth and soften dry, damaged hair my hair may not feel so matted and dry but even after washing unfortunately my hair proceeded to look more dry than it did prior to using. I had high hopes for this shampoo as I like Essano as a brand and have used their other products in the past and had really enjoyed them however my blonde hair ended up looking quite 'fried' and the various blonde shades on my lengths ended up a lilac/ash colour whilst my root areas remained quite brassy. I happen to like a lilac/ash colour so was not totally upset by this result but if I wanted my whites whiter and my blondes cleaner then I would have been unhappy with the result. After a few uses the lilac/ash and the brassy colours were unfortunately not looking quite so funky anymore and my hair looking less and less healthy ... it got to the point where I didn't feel 'hair happy' leaving the house so I had to have an urgent appointment at the hairdresser and am now sporting a chocolate brown shade.

I am enjoying this shampoo, it is a deep violet tone with a good consistency, I felt it gave a very nice tone to my hair (My hair generally throws a good amount of brassy tones) and doesn’t leave it dry and straw like. I love that it’s a generous sized bottle and has a pump which makes using it super easy. I did feel that it didn’t give a huge lather but still did a great job of cleaning my hair without leaving it frizzy or heavy. The shampoo has a pleasant very soft fragrance also which is really nice. Overall really love this shampoo and will quite happily continue using it for my hair.

Its not often I give a product full marks as normally the trial period is too short. However in this case it worked from the first shampoo and it was love at first sight. I experimented with each wash and found it worked best for me if I used about three pumps worth on the first shampoo as it didn't lather up as much but on the second shampoo one pump is sufficient .I then left it on for two to three minutes. There wasn't any fragrance to it and most definitely no chemical smell being an entirely natural product. The bonus of this shampoo is no purple hands, shower walls, towels and so on. For this alone the shampoo is worth its weight in gold. The end result was beautifully gleaming silver tresses with no trace of yellow .The container is one you would be happy to display on your cabinet and the pump on it works smoothly . I will definitely be switching to this shampoo permanently. The price will astonish you. The supermarkets sell it for around $15.

I have naturally dark brunette hair and i have balayage blonde, so my ends are very light blonde. When freshly done my ends are very cool toned, but like a lot of faux blondes, they often go brassy, so I am always on the look out for the perfect toner.

One thing I noticed the bottle it doesn't tell you how often you can use the shampoo - usually with toners they specify if they can be used every wash, or weekly etc because of how harsh the ingredients may be on your hair. However Essano are known for using natural ingredients. The purple shampoo is plant based, 100% free from parabens, PEGs and sulphates. Even the bottle is made from 100% recycled material.

The shampoo is a very effective toner. It can temporarily leave purple staining on your hands after you apply it (don't worry this easily washes off with the warm water by the end of your shower!). It has definitely removed brassiness and left me with very clean and cool toned hair.

I gave 4 out of 5 for 'would you use it again' and the only reason I marked this down is because of my personal hair type. I usually wash my hair twice a week. The shampoo says it can help coloured, dry, dull, damaged, frizzy, flat, oily and normal hair. However I have found that my hair gets quite oily after a couple of days, meaning I have to wash 3 times a week to avoid looking greasy. I also used this shampoo in conjunction with the conditioner; so I will try using just the shampoo and see if that helps.