I had my first taste of gelato in Italy. Before I went, I read up on everything I had to eat and do there and gelato stood out. I was warned repeatedly about taking a banana flavoured gelato.
The general rule is that if you want to check if the store sells gelato that is really freshly made from fruits, look at the Banana one. If its yellow, its colouring – stay away because the other flavours may be colouring too. If its grey, go for it! It made sense. If you have ever mashed up a banana, you’d realize that its not yellow – its grey. I’m not sure if gelato stores started colouring their banana flavoured ice creams grey LOL…
Anyway you are probably wondering what my story about Italian gelato has to do with shampoo and conditioner. I should have borne my banana gelato in mind when I bought The Body Shop Originals Banana Shampoo and Conditioner.
They are bright yellow in the bottle.
I don’t recall the original version and I’d never used it so I have no basis for comparison unlike the Passionfruit gel cleanser.
My initial reaction when I took a sniff was that the shampoo and conditioner smells strongly of coconut overlaying banana. Quite a strange smell albeit not unpleasant.
When I wash my hair, I end up smelling like a fruity dessert. Again, not quite unpleasant. The shampoo isn’t anything to shout about. My hair felt a little dry and tangled upon washing. The conditioner works to detangle hair but does not leave it super soft if that’s what you like.
I did however run into 1 major problem.
While I was using this, I realized that the skin on my hands got very dry and were starting to peel. Not quite contact dermatitis like the last problem I had, but it was horrible! I looked like I had some major skin disease and it was quite embarrassing.
I tried hard to cure it with hand creams but nothing worked. It just got steadily worse. As I do when treating a problem, I cut back on my skincare products and finally, it was down to this. So, I stopped using the Banana shampoo and conditioner altogether for 2 weeks.
The skin on my hands started to heal and they looked normal. I went back to using the shampoo and conditioner and 2 days later, my hands started to peel again. Again I stopped and again things went back to normal.
Conclusion. Something in the shampoo and conditioner is killing the skin of my hands! Incidentally, its not just the haircare. Much as I love the body wash from The Body Shop (and I have a LOT) I’ve realized that they kill my hands one way or another.
I either end up with contact dermatitis or dry peeling skin. Its not just one off. I’ve tried many and these conditions manifest after about a week’s use. This is also happening only recently – in the past 1 year – previously I had no problems. I’m not sure if something has changed in their formula in the past 1 year but I’m staying away for now.
I’m now using The Body Shop Banana shampoo and conditioner quite sparingly. I use them once or twice and then move on, so my hands don’t react to the formula. I’ve paid for these so I’ve got no choice but to use them up.
Pros: Conditioner leaves hair untangled
Cons: Formula kills my hands, Shampoo is a little drying, Smells of Coconut instead of Banana
You can be sure that after these few episodes, I’m not going to go crazy at The Body Shop sales anymore. Their skincare is alright for me and some of it actually work really well; but I was always more of a fan of their body washes. I guess that’s no more until they work out what’s in their formula that’s killing the skin on my hands 😛
How did you like the Banana Shampoo and Conditioner? Do you react to products from The Body Shop too?
Paris B
The Body Shop Originals Banana Shampoo and Conditioner are limited edition and retail at RM35 each.
Hanny says
April 21, 2010 at 3:15 pmOuchies, I can imagine how itchy it is… Well, just remember not to eat any seafood when you have the same problem, or it will get worse.
ParisB says
April 21, 2010 at 3:22 pmActually it wasn’t itchy. The skin was just peeling and dry and I looked like a leper 😛 Thanks for the advise
rinnah says
April 21, 2010 at 3:56 pmOho! So it was the shampoo/conditioner combo and not the paper shuffling at your office that was making your hands act up? Interesting… I need to go back and study the TBS products I’m using too… 🙂
ParisB says
April 21, 2010 at 4:03 pmhaha nope prolonged messing around with paper does it too 🙁 But i wasn’t shuffling paper during the most recent flare up
lyn says
April 21, 2010 at 8:06 pmSorry to hear what happened. Perhaps you should stop using them altogether since it’s causing issues to your hands. I took a sniff at the shampoo before but like you said, it was more coconutty. However, it does contain real bananas 🙂 The shampoo has SLS listed as the second ingredient, which can be drying.
ParisB says
April 22, 2010 at 9:42 amI usually use products with SLS without too much complications. I’m thinking its something else. 2 days at a stretch is ok for me. Gotta use it up one way or another!
Vonvon says
April 21, 2010 at 10:51 pmSuch things have happened to me before, though not with The Body Shop products. But since you have experienced such problem, I guess there’s no harm to be more careful. I had wanted to get these too but was waiting to hear what others say about it. Thanks for sharing this.
ParisB says
April 22, 2010 at 9:47 amyupyup really sucked to find that one of my fave body wash brands would do this. I guess its time to move on 🙂
Ting Ting says
April 21, 2010 at 11:53 pmI tried TBS shampoo and conditioner for the first time sometime last year. Although I love the smell (that’s why I bought them in the first place), but yeah, they dried up my hair as well. So I agree with you; TBS body care products are great but definitely not their hair products.
ParisB says
April 22, 2010 at 9:47 amI think I’m only ok with their skincare for the face for now. Stuff for the body or hair is just a big no no sigh.
Calz says
April 22, 2010 at 2:56 amOh my goodness! I finally have a clue to my eczema flare-out on my hands!
I always have a few irritating patches of eczema on my right hand but they were healing. One day I started using the banana conditioner n the Shea body butter. My eczema became bad again. I had only suspected the shea body butter. So I stopped but the eczema did not become better. Before I left for Bali, they were still itchy, dry and bleeds after scratching. After one week in Bali, they became better and no longer itchy! When I came back it started become bad!
I had no idea why n I thought it was the weather. After reading your post, the suspect may be the bananA conditioner! While I was in bali, I did not use them. Previously, the Shea body butter n this conditioner must have given double whammy to my eczema…
ParisB says
April 22, 2010 at 9:48 amGosh! It sounds like you had it worse than I did! I hope your hands are better now. To be safe, perhaps you could stay away from the conditioner for a while. If that’s the cause, its great to know right? At least you know what to avoid 🙂
janice says
April 22, 2010 at 1:26 pmI really love Body Shop products until about 10 years ago and have stopped using it after the experience like you had. (i used mostly body products, shower creams, scrubs, shampoos, body lotion, scrubs) I experimented and go on and off like you do but still no good. I felt terrrible as I couldn’t use my favourite products. After all that I came across a product that gets rid of all these problems and it actually clears the skin of free radicals, and now my skin can use most products without any problems.
Bryan says
April 22, 2010 at 7:39 pmAh what a surprise to hear the TBS Banana shampoo and conditioner are back. I used both many years ago and suddenly they stop carrying the product.
Am gonna stock up on these 🙂