My hair is frizzy, on the wavy side. I try and avoid heat as much as possible, and heat style my hair once a week maybe less. I did get a keratin treatment done over Christmas, which has helped my hair stay straight and frizz-free, however, I think the keratin’s effect is now gone, so I thought I could do a proper review for the curly-haired, vegan range by Trepadora. Though this isn’t entirely aimed at me as a range, a good shampoo can benefit anyone.
I also got my friend Myrto on board, whose hair is perfect for this range; thick, curly and voluminous.
The shampoo is not your traditional type, and it’s actually described as a ‘cleanser’, and is, in fact, a clarifying product, aimed at product-build-up on the scalp. Having spoken to many different hairdressers over the years, I have understood the importance of cleansing your scalp instead of your hair. After all the hair is a dead fiber, so as long as you keep your scalp healthy it’s enough to keep the rest of the hair healthy too! With that in mind, I stopped applying shampoo all over my hair years ago, which has immensely helped with moisture in the hair as well as softness, and I only use sulphate-free shampoos and avoid silicones as much as possible.
The products and ingredients
The whole Trepadora range is vegan, sulphate-free, paraben-free, there are no silicones, sls, mineral oils or synthetic fragrance and they are 96% natural.
Each product comes in 100ml, 200ml and a super-sized 500ml bottle and they are in air-tight pumps to preserve the product. The pump is super handy to use too, and you can mix and match the sizes of shampoo and conditioner to suit your needs.
Myrto and I tested the goji berry mint hair rinse and the quinoa repair deep conditioner and took photos before, and after our hair air dried.
The key ingredients for the hair rinse are; Gojiberry Fruit Extract, Peppermint Oil and Organic Peruvian Inca Inchi Oil. And the conditioner: Quinoa Protein, Organic Coconut Oil & Organic Peruvian Inca Inchi Oil.
The Peruvian Inca Inchi oil is a key component of all their products, and is a vine that comes from the Amazon Forest – the world’s richest known plant source of omega 3. The specific oil that Trepadora use is certified by Ecocert and comes directly from the Peruvian farmers, to ensure the high quality.
The other certifications Trepidora have include; COSMOS (which I recently wrote about here), Vegan Society, Natrue.org and Ecocert.
Trying it out
Both hair cleanser and conditioner smell amazing, think coconut and citrus in one. The pump bottles are very handy as you won’t get loads of unnecessary product, and I prefer a handy pump in the shower.
I did 2 pumps of the cleanser on my scalp (as instructed), massaged in and rinsed very well, then squeezed out the excess water and applied 2 pumps of the conditioner, that’s more of a mask texture. I usually prefer masks anyway so that works well for me. I leave my hair in a bun for 5 minutes as per the instructions on the bottle. They also say that you can leave for 10 minutes for a more intense treatment and wrap your hair up in a plastic hair cap.
I let my hair air dry as I usually do, I avoid heat as much as I can unless I’m in a hurry, in which case a hairdryer is essential.
Myrto’s experience
Myrto: “I did 2 pumps of the shampoo and used a scalp hair brush (find here), then applied 3 and a half pumps of the conditioner and left it for 5 minutes. And then rinsed off. The texture of the products was good, but I definitely needed a moisturising cream after my hair dried, as I have very thick and dry hair. However, I also tried to leave on the conditioner on its own for a day and I didn’t have to add any other products. That gave great volume to my hair, it was very bouncy and super soft.”
The verdict
I was really interested to see how someone with properly curly hair would find the Trepadora range, as it is formulated with the curly-haired in mind.
I found it very interesting that Myrto loved the conditioner as a leave-in treatment even though it’s not created with that in mind, but that’s the beauty of cosmetics; everyone can use them in a different way.
It gave me really well-defined curls, and essentially enhanced my natural hair texture. My hair was really soft and I will definitely be using the range again. I would use it every once in a while when I really want to highlight my natural curls. I recommend, particularly for my curly-haired gals!
