I’m very bad at recognizing faces of celebrities so when I saw the L’Oreal Total Repair 5 shampoo and conditioner ad on tv, I was wondering who that spokesperson might be. Turns out, it is Aishwarya Rai – Bollywood queen.
Since then, every time I think of the Total Repair 5 line, I think of Aishwarya Rai and her exaggerated sashay in the ad. Look it up on Youtube if you want to know what I mean, or click after the jump for the video.
I tried this line at a time when my hair was feeling particularly like straw. (For those who do not know what this means, it means my hair feels dry and stiff like straw i.e. dry grass not drinking straws – yes I’ve had enquiries) and from first wash, I almost felt like I could swish my hair like in a shampoo advertisement!
It was smooth, tangle free and soft. So swishable! Only problem is that I have short hair, so no swishing for me. But it was nice. However, I found the effects did not quite last.
Total Repair 5 aims to address 5 hair problems – breakage, dryness, roughness, dullness and split ends. I have probably 3 out of 5 of the problems so it would be interesting to see how it fared.
As I noted above, from first wash using the shampoo and conditioner, my stiff dry hair immediately felt soft and manageable. The shampoo lathers up a treat so for my short hair, I use just a dollop, about the size of a 20 sen coin. The conditioner too works well with just very little so its really very economical.
However, I found that even with regular daily use, my hair did not stay soft and swishable everyday. It would feel nice immediately after washing, but once dry, it would feel a little “rough” again. Alright, I thought. Lets give this 2 weeks and see what happens.
Well, nothing happens really. Hair feels much much better than straw but still not as wonderful as when you first wash and dry it. I’m not quite sure what to make of it.
Using the Total Repair 5 Night Essence doesn’t quite change anything. It helps make the hair feel lovely and soft, and it isn’t sticky. It reminds me of the L’Oreal Elseve Royal Jelly night essence treatment and I’d say it works about the same really.
Pros: Affordable, Leaves dry damaged hair feeling soft and swishable
Cons: Effects do not seem to last very long
The L’oreal Total Repair 5 line is meant to be more intensive to treat damaged hair and its a step up from the L’Oreal Elseve Re-Nutritive line. As the latter did nothing for my hair (hated the conditioner 😛 ) I must say that Total 5 Repair is an improvement on many levels.
All in all, I’d say this is a pretty decent shampoo and conditioner that I might come back to because whilst the swishable factor doesn’t last, my hair isn’t looking any worse for wear and that’s what it comes down to at the end of the day! Also, its affordable and since I wash my hair everyday, that matters too!
Have you tried the Total Repair 5 line? Your thoughts? Did you go and check out the Aishwarya Rai video on Youtube? 😀 If you did not here it is. I rather enjoyed it – I found it deliciously camp 😛
Paris B
The L’Oreal Total Repair 5 haircare line consists of the Repairing Shampoo (RM11.90/180ml), Repairing Cream Conditioner (RM12.90/180ml), Deep Repairing Mask (RM27.90/200ml) and Repairing Night Essence (RM36.90/150ml)
Jenn says
September 23, 2010 at 9:10 amI’ve been a long time Elseve mask user, and its the only drugstore mask so far that manage to soften my nest of a hair! lol! 😛
I wanted to try this one out, but the scent is putting me off for some reason! >.<
ParisB says
September 23, 2010 at 11:41 amYep I do like the Elseve hair masks too. Now that you mention it, there is a scent but I guess it doesn’t bug me LOL!
Hanny says
September 23, 2010 at 9:15 amMy mum keeps buying them sunsilk shampoos because they keep going on sale. So I rarely get to try new shampoos… HAIH. Got a bottle of Pantene shampoo for SGD 7 last Xmas, and I still haven’t got to it yet. hehehe ^.^ So yeah, I wouldn’t even think of using them Loreal ones, since they’re so “expensive”.
ParisB says
September 23, 2010 at 11:42 amAnd there L’Oreal was positioning themselves as drugstore! Actually Sunsilk made my hair fall out so I’ve stopped using that one. Perhaps you could peep at L’oreal shampoos next time they go on sale
shuaddict says
September 23, 2010 at 10:05 amOoh must check this out. It might be a good alternate shampoo. I love the line for colored hair (red bottles), that’s the only thing that really works on me.
ParisB says
September 23, 2010 at 11:43 amI remember my Mom swearing by the red bottles for coloured hair! I never quite used them for some reason 🙂
Kahani says
September 23, 2010 at 11:56 amOh the campness. The corniness. *writhes on keyboard in agony*
ParisB says
September 23, 2010 at 12:04 pmHAHA! I’m so glad someone agrees. I keep getting the feeling she’s taking the mickey out of it but perhaps its just me 😛
Connie says
September 23, 2010 at 3:01 pmI liked it right after I’ve washed my hair but it made my scalp oily and flaky after a day 🙁
ParisB says
September 23, 2010 at 7:00 pmEeks that’s no good 🙁
Jessica says
September 23, 2010 at 6:56 pmI like her swagger..hahaha. Might give it a go though…weather’s been driving my hair nuts :s
ParisB says
September 23, 2010 at 7:01 pmDon’t you get the impression she’s having a lot of fun? I had to call this the Aishwarya Rai shampoo after watching this commercial 😀
april says
September 23, 2010 at 11:06 pmI can’t stand this ad!
ParisB says
September 24, 2010 at 10:00 amHaha! Yeah I couldn’t stand it too but it sorta grew on me after a bit 😉
Indira says
September 24, 2010 at 11:22 amL’Oreal (that’s available in drugstore, not in salons) shampoo, conditioner and mask NEVER works for me. I don’t know why.
I love Sunsilk 🙂
ParisB says
September 24, 2010 at 11:48 amPharmacy based shampoos are like that. They either work or they don’t and when they don’t the results can be disastrous – hair fall, dandruff, hair of straw… but when they work, its great! 😀
Jo says
September 24, 2010 at 11:31 amI’ve been using this shampoo since they launched it in Malaysia and I love it! Yes the effects do not last long but at least it doesn’t eventually leave my hair dry like straw ala the effects of using Ascience shampoo. Plus it’s affordable too. There’s nothing really that I do not like about it. I’ve since moved on to my 2nd bottle now! 🙂
ParisB says
September 24, 2010 at 11:49 amYou’re absolutely right! This is way better than Asience for me too!
Irene says
September 24, 2010 at 10:17 pmI think the only drugstore shampoo that I actually like was Herbal Essence Hello Hydration. It smells lovely too ^_^. But I read somewhere Herbal Essence shampoos have ingredients that are highly carcinogenic. So I’m kinda iffy about using it even though I adore the smell.
L’oreal haircare and skincare products don’t work for me. Same goes with Sunsilk, Head & Shoulders and Pantene. 🙁
Melisa says
September 26, 2010 at 2:45 pmI just finish my bottle of L’Oreal Total Repair 5 shampoo and I change it to Asience now.It work so so for my hair but I understand that I only pay RM9.80 so don’t think I can have a silk hair,haha.
yuki says
September 27, 2010 at 12:20 amI wish I had hair like her too~~~ Hahaha… I have 4 out of 5; breakage, dryness, dullness and split ends!! Been trying so many things! Ascience didn’t work, Essential Damage Care by Kao didn’t work… Recently been using a deep conditioning treatment by Schwarzkopf for more than 3 months now and still the split ends n brittleness won’t go 🙁
M says
September 30, 2010 at 10:38 pmDoes it make your hair oily when using it everyday ? Because I’ve found these kinds of shampoos made my hair oily by the end of the day. I’ve been using Paul Mitchell to fix that problem since I like to shampoo my hair everyday — & it’s ph neutral ! 😉
ParisB says
October 1, 2010 at 10:10 amInteresting question but no. My hair does not feel oily and I wash my hair everyday.
Naina says
October 18, 2010 at 6:41 amI NEED a product to treat my hairfall problem. And ohmyGod! I feel like smacking her when I watch the ad. I’m a huge fan of Bollywood and a fan of Aish but not the version of her thats in the ad. >_< Makes me not wana use the product just because of the way shes talking ahahahahah! From your review it seems like this product is not even worth trying. I would have tried it for the swishing part if I had long hair XD . Lovely blog!
Gene says
December 13, 2010 at 9:03 pmyup the effect doesn’t last long and my hair feel kinda dry after few days using that.
ascience rocks ;D
Stella says
December 30, 2010 at 1:01 amI know how you feel about having hair like straw! Honestly the range for colored hair (red bottles) works the best, comparable to high end salon brands cos I’ve tried them too. I still use that even when I don’t have color in my hair, it’s THE best! Once a week or whenever I remember I”ll use the Cashmere hair mask too.
*I live near the beach, sun+ salt+ hair dye and my hair is still smooth using this shampoo how great is that!
tiara says
March 19, 2011 at 3:43 pmmy hair have become rough and dry after rebonding its almost 3 months after rebonding now i have tried loreal total repair 5 so wanted to know more how to make my hair beautiful and healthy within 2 to 3 months before my marriage
Ananya says
April 7, 2011 at 8:01 pmWell.. I was really excited to use this one…. “Who doesn’t want to have hair like Ash??!!”…anyways I surly didn’t think twice before trying this one as I suffer from all the 5 problems that it promised to help… L’oreal products works really good with my hair and when I get the offer (shampoo + conditioner) I was super excited …. With the first wash I felt shin but still hear was much dry and rough :-s… I decided to try the whole bottle until I could conclude that this time it made things worst 🙁 had lumps of hail falling while and after bath :O… and though my hair was dry outside …it was very oily in the scalps because of which I suffered increase in dandruffs. I don’t think I will ever use another bottle to loss all my hair …. Now I am back with Dove and very happy using it .. 🙂
ctsoleha says
May 28, 2011 at 10:12 amsince I’m suitable with other shampoo like pantene (make my hairs fall off) and sunsilk makes my hairs more frizzy than before. I tried L’oreal Elseve, wow!!! amazing!.my hairs became more silky and healthier.since that, I use this brand but just change from that series (like pink to this one) or change to the brown one yellow one.
SO, I love this L’oreal Paris Elseve and I’ll not change to another shampoo.
lily wani says
November 26, 2011 at 7:25 pmyeah! i feel the same way too, ive tried sunsilk for quite a long time,it doesnt suit at all! my hair become much worse then b4,frizzier than ever! when i switch to herbal essence hydration ( the blue color one), my hair feels really soft and less frizzy,but then i read an article about herbal essence being the shampoo that is most carcinogenic among all,so i stopped. now im using loreal.But i gotta tell u this, even though it states there at the back of the bottle,it can be use daily,i suggest you guys shouldn’t. your hair will become drier (but still not frizzy 🙂 ). so, i give this shampoo a rating of 4/5.