John Masters Organics Rosemary & Lavender Shampoo

jmo

My favorite hair products have always been the more traditional products. I was a huge fan of Bumble & Bumble, and Kiehls, with splurges on Leonor Greyl products when I felt like something extra fancy. My casual dabbling in cleaner hair products often left me disappointed. They never seemed to perform the way I’d hoped, where I could substitute them in for my favorite products. A few weeks ago, I ran out of my Aesop Calming Shampoo and that’s when I remembered that my boyfriend had just bought a bottle of John Masters Organics Rosemary & Lavender Shampoo from Whole Foods a few days ago. My blogger hat instantly came on!

Let’s start with presentation, as someone who loves her luxury beauty products, I feel like this modern and simple dark brown plastic bottle with bold white lettering fits beautifully on any beauty counter. It is subtle to not be glaring but still impactful where you feel like there is a quiet elegance. I’m quite pleased with the overall unisex design and one can easily mistake it for a more expensive shampoo.

Image

I know some people will not touch products with Rosemary & Lavender but I’m not one of them. They have a bad reputation as irritating essential oils but I think sometimes people are afraid of things because they hear others have bad reactions so they won’t try. I personally do not have any reactions to these plants, so luckily, I can use them and enjoy their rich antioxidant properties and in this case – their scalp and hair balancing features.

The shampoo itself is a brown gel that smells herbal but not in a bad way. You only need a little for it to lather. The scent is more lavender than rosemary but definitely nothing too floral. The ingredients include 15 certified organic botanicals including aloe, jojoba seed oil, nettle root, lavender EO, rosemary EO, yarrow, white tea, horsetail, willow bark, chamomile, comfrey oil, borage oil, sunflower oil, and flax seed oil. The surfectants which cause the lathering are rather high in the list which also explains why it lathers so well.

It cleansed my hair really well and left my scalp very happy – not stripped or oily. My scalp is prone to dandruff and I found the white willow bark (a natural salicylic acid) and lavender/rosemary to really help with flakiness. I generally don’t like to use conditioner regularly (aside from a once a week treatment) since I have oily hair but I found that this shampoo left my hair needing that extra bit on conditioning care after a few uses so it might be a tad stronger than I would like. It could also be because this doesn’t contain silicones that really give hair that soft silky texture. To the guys, my boyfriend says he uses this because it is really good at getting out hair product, so if you’re concerned about that, this seems like a good option.

I’m quite pleased with this find and although at $16, I wouldn’t consider it a budget buy – it does prove that you don’t need to shell out high-end prices for something that is both clean and effective. I would happily use this or try other shampoos from their line in the future.

Available at John Masters Organics $16

Share:

7 Comments

  1. Laura
    April 4, 2013 / 12:48 pm

    I have used the john masters bare shampoo for a few years now. It is similar to the one yoy reviewed but is essential oil free, which I prefer as I have sensitive scalp. There is no stripping and my scalp feels soothed.

  2. April 4, 2013 / 11:08 pm

    I have always heard such wonderful things about John Masters Organics’ products–both skincare and haircare. I keep meaning to try something but I haven’t yet. Definitely will keep a lookout for this shampoo though–it sounds lovely and so refreshing! Lavender and rosemary work really well for me too in general, and I love the fresh scent! I am prone to dandruff too so this sounds perfect for me 🙂

    • April 5, 2013 / 7:51 pm

      I know what you mean! I’ve been meaning to try JMO products too, each time I see it at Whole Foods or Vitamin Shop, I eye a few products but ultimately decide I don’t ‘need’ it since I’ve amassed a huge collection of products already! But I’m glad I gave this a try and I still use this as my go-to shampoo beyond just reviewing it.

  3. Edie
    April 5, 2013 / 5:32 pm

    My extremely accomplished colorist, Bryan Thompson-DiPalma, is also a therapeutic herbalist. He has a wonderful new line of shampoos and conditioners. Here is the website: http://www.thomsondipalma.com/philosophy/
    Just two shampoos and two conditioners for now, with a shampoo for kids on the way. These products are, in my opinion, completely excellent. I have used the geranium shampoo/lavender conditioner combo for about 8 months. I encourage you to visit his very informative website and perhaps give these a try.

  4. Meredith
    April 7, 2013 / 8:32 pm

    The only shampoo and conditioner I use these days is the John Masters Evening Primrose shampoo and Citrus Neroli detangler. They smell amazing and are wonderful for everyday use. Since I don’t use any other hair products, I don’t mind shelling out for them. There’s only one health food store I can find them in near me. Otherwise, the John Masters website offers free ground shipping on all orders, which is wonderful!

  5. April 10, 2013 / 4:02 pm

    I hope I could say I loved this shampoo, too, but I’m torn. I love how it really cleanses my hair and scalp. It’s humid all year round where I live and having ‘oily and sticky’ scalp and hair is quite common here. This shampoo relieves me of that feeling. However, this shampoo also dried my hair and didn’t really help with my dandruff. So I like to use this once or at most twice a week but not more often.

Leave a Reply to Becca @ The Beauty Sample Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Instagram