Since 2020 haircare has become a big focus for me. Especially now as my hair is finally back to looking healthy after years of damaging it through dyes, straighteners and curlers. For a bit of context, I have been dying my hair in some form or another since the very young age of 10! Yes, you heard that right, I was just 10 years old when I got my first set of highlights. On top of this I also began straightening my naturally curly hair around the same time. For some reason at 10 years old I already hated my hair - but that’s another story.

Fast forward to my late twenties and I am finally embracing my natural hair for what it is, discovered the curly girl method and started enhancing my natural colour with gentle balayage. However, as many of my balayage girlies will know the brassiness and copper tone comeback is real! Especially for those of us who already have a hint of red in our natural tresses. That’s when my hairdresser introduced me to purple shampoo and conditioner. Basically, purple shampoos and conditioner all have a few crushed violet pigments in them that help neutralise brassy and yellow tones, leaving your hair more cool toned which is my preferred look.

After a few years of trying out various purple shampoos and conditioners, Influenster reached out to me about their VoxBox campaign which included the Bleach London’s purple shampoo and conditioners. To be honest I have never tried anything form Bleach London before but I had seen it around and always thought the packaging and marketing looked cool. However I never pulled the trigger on a purchase since I wasn’t looking to stray away from natural hair anymore and alot of their marketing promotes really bold hair dyes.

Before receiving the products, I wanted to make sure they were cruelty-free. And I was happy to be informed that they are both cruelty-free and completely vegan! First big tick from me. There was a downside about the ingredients though - neither products are sulphate-free which means they are definitely not ideal if you want to follow the curly girl method to a “t”. However I’m not so precious about it and thought I’d still give them a go.

As per my usual hair washing routine I applied the shampoo first. Like with all purple shampoos the colour is very violet and can easily stain cream tiles, which I have in my bathroom. Therefore make sure you’re really careful when applying it and wash down your tiles straight away if you manage to get some on them. The smell of the shampoo is delicate and subtle, which I prefer. However the texture can be rather sticky, which in my opinion makes it slightly more difficult to apply. I think because of this, it also takes a while to lather up in your hair too. I had to really scrub it into my scalp for a good minute or two before getting a lather going. It’s super easy to wash out though and is completely gone after one good rinse. For some context, I have shoulder length hair so my entire haircare routine can be done in only 10 minuets. Once it was all washed out my hair felt clean, however I did like my hair was covered in some kind of residue - likely the sulphates as I usually use a sulphate-free shampoo.

Now it was time for conditioner. The scent of the conditioner is much the same as the shampoo - subtle and delicate. The texture on the other hand, is completely different. The conditioner is far thicker and silkier feeling when it comes out of the bottle - far more like a traditional conditioner. This makes it easy to apply. A little really does go a long way with this product too, so I can see the bottle lasting a few months. Because I tend to have "greasier” hair I only really apply conditioner to my ends and then sweep it through my upper strands just once. I find this works best for keeping the oils at bay a bit more. I then leave the conditioner on whilst I do the rest of my shower routine - body wash, exfoliate, shave and facial cleanser. The conditioner seemed to take a bit longer to wash out than my usual however even when my hair was wet, I could feel how clean it was.

As per my usual routine, I then let my hair dry naturally. Once it was completely dry it felt soft, clean and smelt amazing. However, I did notice that my curls weren’t as bouncy as usual and were looking a bit flat. But the all important question - how did it make my balayage look? It looked amazing - even my husband commented on how nice my hair looked. The brassiness was gone and I was left with a beautiful cool toned balayage of my dreams. So overall, I’d definitely recommend it to my balayage girlies, however I probably wont keep it as part of my usual haircare routine due to the sulphates, which over time can really weigh down my natural curls. Let me know what purple shampoos and conditioners you’ve tried in the comments below and send me your recommendations!