My current Haircare Favourites Part 1: Palmer's Olive Oil Formula

I have to be honest with you; haircare isn't one of my main priorities in life. Don't get me wrong, I love my hair looking sleek and smooth but compared to my extensive skincare routine, my haircare shelf is really lacking in substance. Not being all that talented when it comes to my hair and the styles I can produce, the extent to which I actually bother with it is pretty minimal. I wash my hair around every three or so days (let's be serious here, it's usually a lot longer) and in terms of styling, it's either in a pony tail or up in a bun - not very imaginative at all! I'd absolutely love to be a whizz kid with my styling tools and be able to do a plethora of braids and fancy up do's, but sadly that's just not me and even though I have been trying to teach myself a couple of different styles (I've been semi-successful with a french braid) for the majority of the time, my hair is just something that gets a little bit left behind. I don't bother with my hair that often and so the products I use are pretty minimal, but I do have a couple of favourites that I keep going back to time and time again and a couple of new bits that I've recently been introduced to that I can't imagine not using in the future. For this post, I wanted to talk about the new products that I've been loving recently for keeping my hair in tip-top condition from a brand that I didn't even know did haircare, but keep your eyes peeled soon for part 2 where I talk all about my favourite John Frieda products also!

Palmer's are a brand that I have been intrigued by for a very long time; having not really used many of their products due to the fact that I'm majorly lazy and barely ever moisturise, when I found out they made hair care products I was almost literally bowled over. If you've recently read my Pregnancy Essentials blog post, then you'll know that I've recently been loving their Stretch Mark cream and being the naïve little blogger that I am, I had no idea their range really expanded any further than just body care products. I do have a separate post coming soon on some more of their bump/pregnancy range so make sure you keep an eye out for that by following BekyLou.com but for now I wanted to talk to you about their amazing Olive Oil Formula range for hair! 

The first product I need you to know about (yes you read that right; you need to know about this product) is the Palmer's Olive Oil Formula Cleansing Conditioner Co-Wash. When I opened up the PR package and saw this I was honestly confused; so it's a conditioner but also a shampoo alternative? I have to admit that for probably the first time in my life I actually sat and read the directions on this before using it - let's be honest, how many times have you grabbed a new product and just gone in guns blazing without actually reading the instructions? I'm so glad that I did though because I would have definitely got this one wrong had I just stormed ahead. This Cleansing Conditioner Co-Wash is a non-lathering shampoo and conditioner concoction that you massage into your scalp and lengths of your hair and leave for the majority of your shower before rinsing out. There's no need for any other shampoos or conditioners to support it and although it is a little bit of a strange concept, I really loved it. I used around 30 pumps for my hair when around 20 is recommended for short hair and between 20-40 for longer hair and massaged this into my scalp and ends. After leaving for the remainder of my shower (which was about 5 minutes) I rinsed it out and then towel dried my hair like normal and my godddd my hair has been loving me ever since! I decided to not blow dry the first time I used this as I wanted to see how my hair reacted to it naturally and I swear to God this left my hair leaving incredibly soft. It felt like my hair had been to rehab and I've been very very impressed! As it is quite a scalp heavy, oil based product I won't be using this every time I wash my hair, but in the past two weeks I've used it twice (washing my hair roughly every three days as I've been swimming more) and my hair just feels so so nourished and healthy and right now I couldn't recommend this more!

Next up is the Olive Oil Leave in Conditioner and before I even start talking about this I have to say I've never really been a massive fan of these kinds of products. Leave in conditioners scare me a little as I absolutely hate the feel of too many products in my hair and I always feel like they weigh my hair down quite a bit; it's never been a product I've ever purchased or reached for out of choice, but I was really looking forward to giving this a go to see if it could change my mind! To start off with, I spritzed in two to three sprays of this into my dry & frizzy hair (thank you swimming with my hair in a bun) and brushed it through after around a minute. Now, after doing this I realised that you're meant to spray it in to slightly damp hair so not the best of starts (see what I mean about rushing in and getting things wrong?) but it still had a pretty nice effect on my hair and didn't leave it feeling too heavy like others have done in the past. It definitely looked and felt a lot healthier and gave my hair a really nice shine too. Having made my mistake though, the next time I used it I sprayed it into my damp  / roughly towel dried hair two to three times and let it settle before brushing it through and this made a great difference. The ends of my hair appeared healthier and where my hair before looked a little frizzy and on the verge of splitting, this just gave it a new lease of life and gave it a much softer touch and less frizzy appearance. Having read the back of the bottle this time around I noticed that it was also perfect to use as a heat protectant with styling and is good for preventing split ends which was something I didn't think a leave in conditioner would do. I have to say, this product has definitely changed my mind on these products, and I will definitely be picking this up more often for an in-between wash hair pick-me-up!

Last but not least has been the Palmer's Olive Oil Formula Dry Oil Mist which again is a product that I wouldn't normally pick up as I hate having my hair feeling weighty or too oily but I've been really impressed with this! One or two sprays through the lengths of my hair is definitely enough for me and   makes it feel so alive and makes it look so much healthier and like a freshly washed barnet compared to a three day old mop (which lets be honest it almost always will be). All three Olive Oil Formula products I've tried have left my hair smelling absolutely incredible too, but for some reason this one has to be my favourite so far! This Palmer's Dry Oil seems so light weight too which is a nice change to other dry oil's I've tried in the past; I also haven't found it to make my hair too oily which for an olive oil based dry oil I find quite impressive and I've actually really been liking this. My hair often gets quite dry and brittle because of how much I'm throwing it up in a bun and am in the pool and having a product like this that I can just throw in my swim bag and refresh my hair with after is perfect!

I really haven't had the best experience with these kind of products previously and was quite nervous to try these out before I started testing (I'm literally so ridiculous) but having these products all impress me so much has been great. Like I've mentioned above I'll definitely be keeping the Conditioning Co-Wash in my haircare routine from now on and the other two bits are perfect for the in-between days or when I'm having a swim. It's so nice to find products that suit my lifestyle and that are great for the hair too! All three of these products are free of sulphates and parabens too which makes me even more inclined to use them on my hair! Have you tried any of Palmer's Olive Oil range before? What do you make of them or would these be something you're likely to pick up and try?

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BekyLou, Beauty, Fashion, Fitness and Lifestyle Blog based in the South West and London.

(*this post may contain items gifted to me for PR purposes*)