Garnier Fructis Hair Food Macadamia Review

I use a hair treatment weekly but since the Garnier Fructis Hair Food arrived I have done the procedure each day.

What a generously sized tub! The thick and creamy product has a gentle, clean and sweet fragrance and it's a pleasure to use. The tub had an easy screw-off but safely secure lid and it's colouring and design are appealing since the "macadamia" ingredient was the hair food's focus.

Approximately one tablespoonful provides ample supply for each treatment, which the product instructions suggested be done in three different ways. I tested all three. As a conditioner, the hair food was "too good", although my hair did benefit. As a mask, the hair food was perfect, its qualities remained in my hair for the next 24 hours, leaving a sleek, shiny finish. It felt nourished and soft. My hair is short so therefore not very unruly, although without regular good cuts it does become this way - not so with the hair food which gave an "under control" finish for the day. The third method was a leave-in which I did try but did not like much. I was anxious to "wash it out" and after a few hours I did so. Possibly I need to adjust to the newer methods of using dry hair products!

As with other Garnier hair care products, I assume this one is fairly priced although I cannot confirm as it is not on sale locally as yet. I will definitely be purchasing this hair food in future, I am most satisfied with the results and ease of use of Garnier's intense conditioner. To note "no parabens and no silicones or artificial colourants" is reassuring indeed.

Ok. I know you shouldn't judge a book by its cover...but I was totally expecting big things from the Garnier Hair Food. Was it the super-cute packaging? The 98% natural claim? The fact that it just looks like it'll be a miracle for your hair?

My first impressions of the tub in real life were overwhelmingly positive. It looks like something you'd pick up in your organic food store. Its just got that natural, 'good' vibe about it. Loads of info on the packaging, no 'extra' packaging like a box or plastic disc under the lid. It looks as simple and clean as it could be.

I do have a few issues with the tub format - water does get in there if you're using it in the shower. But it does make it easy to get the product out I suppose.

I first used it as a conditioner after shampooing. It is so thick and creamy I wanted to start off sparingly, just because my thick hair holds on to product like a sponge.

As a conditioner its simply wonderful. It spreads easily, it rinses well and it leaves hair soft and smooth. My hair is ombred and the ends were looking a bit knackered and I am prone to frizz. After drying and styling, my god my hair was so soft. I felt like Monica from Friends. You know that glossy, frizz free hair? It even straightened easier than usual.

As an intensive mask this is brilliant, but don't be tempted to use more than you would when conditioning. I went a bit slap-happy putting it on as a mask and it was more difficult to rinse.

As a 'leave-in' it was a bit of a fail for me. My hair felt icky and tacky.

The softening and smoothing effects last at least 2-3 days. The gorgeous scent lasts at least 24 hours.

The price for the mask is great, and I think it'd make a lovely gift too.

I'll definitely be trying other flavours - Banana is next on my list!!

After I used up my last hair mask, and after seeing all the positive reviews on BR, I decided to give this a try. I like nut-flavoured things, so I thought this one would be good to try for my first experience of Garnier’s hair food.

The Garnier hair food claims to be 98% of natural origin and to not contain any: parabens, silicones, or artificial colourants. It is labelled as an “intense conditioner for dry & unruly hair.” The label also says it can be used as a conditioner, a mask, or as a leave-in treatment. It is meant to nourish hair without weighing it down. The hair food comes in a big 390ml tub. The Macadamia one has an orange label on a cream-coloured plastic tub with a dark brown lid. The lid is easy to unscrew. The product itself is a thick, nutty-coloured cream. It has a very pleasant scent, which is not too strong. It is easy to apply: all you have to do is dip your hands into it, scoop out some product, and massage it into your hair. It rinses out well too.

I have very fine, dry hair. My hair is also damaged because I lighten it. Something that nourishes my hair without weighing it down is ideal. Because I want maximum moisture without added weight, so far I have only used this as a hair mask, but it has been working very well. Not only does it smell delicious, but it has been leaving my hair feeling intensely hydrated, and softer and smoother looking. You do not need to apply much product either, and with such a large tub, it is great value for money. I am really enjoying using this hair food. I hope to try the other flavours once this one is finished.

I really like this mask. It leaves my hair soft and more manageable and smells Divine. It's great for a cheap mask

This is one of the only products that is a constant in my hair care routine. It has so many purposes and all work great. I have a dry scalp and hair and my hair is curly. It is such a good leave in treatment for afterwards and helps my curls feel hydrated. Essential in my hair care routine!

I use this as a deep conditioning mask once a week and it leaves my hair feeling really soft and detangles easily afterward. The hairfood feels very thick and rich, like high end deep conditioning treatments i have tried. Also, it smells amazing!

I’ve tested out Garnier Fructis Macadamia Hair Food quite thoroughly on my hair now and used it in the three different ways suggested - as a conditioner, a hair mask and a leave-in treatment. I’ll go into more detail a bit later on in this review about these three uses.

Clearly, with three haircare uses, this product is versatile and economical. You get quite a lot of it, in a decent-sized tub. The tub looks like a big pottle of frozen yoghurt or ice cream! What a novel way to package a hair ‘food’ product! It looks good enough to eat and has a kind of yoghurt-like texture to it too (don’t worry, no haircare product was eaten for the purpose of this review!). The actual smell of it though didn’t blow me away. It’s pleasant enough – it smells a bit like caramel or something sweet enough to eat – but perhaps it’s just not the kind of smell I want to plaster all over my hair. But I didn’t hate the smell as it’s not offensive or overpowering. But a big tick for me is that it’s mostly natural, with no parabens/artificial colours etc. Lovely, natural ingredients make up 98% of it, including macadamia seed oil, coconut oil, almond oil, etc.

Now for the three ways you can use this product:

1) LEAVE-IN TREATMENT: I tried using this as a leave-in on dry hair a couple of times, but it just felt too heavy in my hair and I wanted to rinse it out straight away - not ‘leave it in’ at all! It felt too concentrated as a leave-in. The other thing I found was that I couldn’t really rub it in evenly on to dry hair: it was hard to apply and ended up in my hair in patches, which felt heavy and greasy.

2) HAIR MASK: this was a better option for me as I found it easier to apply to wet hair. Using it as a mask also suited me better because I could rinse it out after applying it (you only need to leave it in for one minute).

3) CONDITIONER: WOW! My hair loves this stuff when I just use it as a simple conditioner! It leaves my hair feeling silkier and more hydrated. This is my favourite way to use this product and I’ll continue to use it as a conditioner.

All things considered, this Smoothing Macadamia Hair Food gets four kisses from me. I didn’t like using it as a leave-in treatment. However, it does a decent job as a mask or conditioner. And you know it must be gentle and kind on your hair when it contains so many gorgeous natural ingredients.

It’s fair to say that, in the past, I’ve not been that complimentary of Garnier products, as is obvious in a previous review I’ve done on this site. But clearly I need to try out a few more Garnier products as I reckon they’re on to a good thing with this Hair Food! I’m keen to try out some of the other ‘flavours’ in this range now. I’ll just have to hold back on the temptation to eat any of them!!

I wasn't too sure what to expect of this product and I can't say I am too familiar with the brand but first impressions were pretty good.

The container is HUGE, like double what I usually get in a hair mask tub. It can be a little bulky to open in the shower and I can imagine water would get in pretty easily (I have a bath shower so I can just walk out of the water to open the tub).

I wasn't a fan of the smell. The combination of perfume-y fragrance mixed with macadamia doesn't do it for me but I can see how it could be enjoyable for others. My hair doesn't smell like that afterwards so I'm fine with it.

I used this product with my usual hair routine and swapped out the mask for this one. It worked really well and my hair was visibly less frizzy which is a pretty big deal for me. I don't typically have dry hair but it certainly did feel hydrating. It didn't make my hair as soft as my usual mask. The one problem with this mask is that it made my scalp itchy. This is not unusual for me but if you have a sensitive scalp, I would recommend trying a sample first if you can since you get so much product in the tub and it would be a shame to see it go to waste. It would have been nice to see a bit more vibrancy in my hair colour but that is not the intention of this product.

I also tried this product as a conditioner which means applying to the ends of my hair. It worked well but it didn't feel like anything special and again, my current conditioner makes my hair feel softer.

I was super skeptical about using this as a leave-in treatment as the packaging suggests but I did it for the sake of the review. Surprisingly, I liked it. It was a good way to reduce my frizziness without having the product on my scalp.

Overall, the best results from this product came from using it as a mask. It was a shame it makes my scalp itchy but using the product in conjunction with my coconut oil mixture works for me to reduce the itching that I typically get from most hair cleaning products (I add a couple of drops of the made-up mixture to my shampoo or mask - 9mL fractionated coconut oil and a couple drops each of tee tree and rosemary essential oils). I will continue to use this product, but I am doubtful I would purchase it when it runs out only because I love my regular mask.