#BEAUTY ON A BUDGETSunsilk Natural Recharge Conditioner: One surprising upshot worth the know! Uttarika Kumaran December 1, 2016 Hair Care views: 450 Now I wouldn’t identify as being an elitist of any kind, but my secret inner hair snob must confess – I would have scoffed if you’d told me 3 months ago that a Sunsilk product, and that too a hair conditioner in which anyone with troublesome hair places her highest trust, would become a product I actually kinda love! The Sunsilk of Yore For those of us growing up in the 90’s, the word ‘Sunsilk’ still brings to mind faint memories of mom’s oil champi the night before, bright pink Rs.2 sachets that lined our bathroom window sills & a one-shampoo-fits-all world where a giant bottle of Sunsilk would comfortably meet the hair-washing needs of an entire family of four for a year. It was only natural that as we grew into independent women, we would forgo the symbolic value that Sunsilk held for our mothers for brands like L’Oreal, Dove & Garnier that bore no association with our unglamorous childhoods. Sunsilk has, of course, known this and the brand has spent nearly a decade rebranding itself, starting in 2008 when Sunsilk launched Gang of Girls in India, a fashion & haircare blog for college girls & 20-somethings. Since then, it has done everything to effectively erase its ‘mom-shampoo’ image and has more or less come out on top. Now that I’m in my officially uncool 30s, it’s safe to say that in the final race to stay fun & relevant, Sunsilk has done a better job than I have. Sunsilk today is young & appealing – from the product packaging to the celebrity TVCs and of course, the amazing range of hair solutions they provide for every kind of hair type and concern. In other words, if I still mentally associate Sunsilk with my mom, I’m the one who’s outdated! Sunsilk Natural Recharge Strong & Abundant Conditioner Perhaps one of the best marketing moves Sunsilk made was when it came out with its Co-Creations range of hair products a few years ago, created in collaboration with international & Indian hair experts. Among these products is the Natural Recharge range, co-created by Hollywood-based hair stylist Jamal Hammadi. It has all the right keywords to make it a popular choice – ‘natural’, ‘paraben-free’ and ‘ginseng root’ will strike a chord in every millenial’s heart. However, the ‘paraben-free’ tag of this product is disputable since, as a lot of bloggers point out, it contains SLS in the the ingredients list. Now perhaps it’s the fault of my frizz-prone curls, but no regular conditioner has ever satisfied me completely. That’s why I round off my conditioning with a MorocconOil deep hydrating hair mask at least once a week to keep my strands in check. Sunsilk Natural Recharge Strong & Abundant Conditioner is not a GREAT product, but I’ve found that with a good shampoo, it does its job pretty well. The consistency is a little thin if you’re used to rich conditioners but coat your strands with it generously and the end result is definitely a smoother, if not frizz-free, head of hair. But what has made me a fan of this conditioner is the fact that with regular use over the past few months, I’ve noticed a visible reduction in hairfall. The overall thickness of my hair has also improved. Given that nothing else has changed in my haircare routine – I oil my hair every second day, followed by a shampoo + conditioning the next morning – I believe I can attribute it to this conditioner. Skip the shampoo – it doesn’t do much! I have to reiterate – the Sunsilk Natural Recharge Strong & Abundant Conditioner works well if you pair it with a good shampoo and that shampoo is NOT the Sunsilk Natural Recharge Strong & Abundant Shampoo. Fairly satisfied with the conditioner, I recently bought the shampoo, believing the two combined might give me a better result. Sadly, I was proven wrong. The shampoo has an instant drying effect on my hair, evident even hours later when my hair feels markedly rough to the touch. Even the conditioner can’t undo the damage, despite my generous use of it. However, pair the same conditioner with another shampoo – I’ve recently been trying out the new Garnier Ultra Blends Shampoo range – and even by leaving it on for just about 2 minutes, I find my hair is definitely softer to the touch with a pleasantly mild smell that holds its own even against other products you may use on your hair after the wash. If you’re battling hairfall & thinning hair, I say pair this conditioner with your favourite shampoo and see if it works for you. Product: Sunsilk Natural Recharge Strong & Abundant Conditioner Weight: 80ml Price: Rs.73