Is Gisou’s Best-Selling Wash & Go Combo as Hydrating as it Sounds?
Main Image – Courtesy of writer
When I see ‘honey-infused’ written on any beauty product, my instant assumption is that it’ll be far too heavy and hydrating for my hair.
Whilst my hair is quite frizzy, it also gets easily flattened and weighed down by even the hint of a hydrating ingredient. You could say it was annoyingly sensitive. So, finding a good balance of not too hydrating and something that doesn’t make it too wild, can be tricky.
Gisou, a French brand ‘born out of a passion for honeybees and haircare,’ was founded by Negin Mirsalehi, an active beekeeper, naturally. Their Wash & Go Combo (£55) is supercharged with hydrating ingredients, including mirsalehi honey and bee garden oils. But how did it fare on my hard to please locks? Keep scrolling to find out.
The product details
Made up of the 330ml Honey Infused Hair Wash and the 240ml Honey Infused Conditioner, this combo promises to leave hair feeling nourished, soft, shiny, refreshed and healthy, ‘use after use’.
First impressions
My initial feelings were that I was a big fan of the packaging. The shampoo and conditioner arrived in glossy pink and cream boxes that made me just want to display them on my bathroom shelf, let alone open them up to see what was inside.
The shampoo comes in a see-through pump dispenser bottle whilst the conditioner comes in a shiny white tube. The shampoo is a silky beige colour, almost replicating actual honey and the conditioner is a plain white cream.
I pumped out two helpings of the Hair Wash in the shower and applied it like any normal shampoo. I noticed it wasn’t very efficient at lathering – slightly irritating, but this is a sign of there being natural ingredients present. The more lather, the more foaming agents (or, ‘surfactants’), which are great for spreading around your shampoo but not so great for your scalp.
Despite it being hard to know whether you’re spreading the shampoo around enough due to lack of lather, it smelt great, and I made sure I didn’t apply any more than instructed, for fear of my hair being weighed down. Still, a bit of lather wouldn’t have gone amiss!
After washing it out, I then towel-dried my ends and applied some of the conditioner (just one pea-sized blob as I have short hair) to my mid-lengths and ends. Then after 1-2 minutes, I rinsed it off. Nothing ground-breaking, nothing life changing. So all there was left to do was await the outcome.
Image – Courtesy of writer
My mixed results
First of all, my hair felt lovely and soft as I was brushing it through after my shower. I know it’s easy to say that because wet hair is generally softer anyway, but my brush happily sailed through the ends.
I noticed my hair felt quite silky while I blow dried it too, although it had less shine than I’d hoped. The end result once I’d finished my blow dry was fine. My hair felt soft – particularly at the ends – but when I use the word fine, I mean just…fine.
My roots were by no means greasy – yet – but they didn’t feel like they had much volume to them either, despite my every effort to blow dry them upwards at the roots. They did fall a little flat if I’m honest. A bit like that feeling you get when you realise you haven’t washed your conditioner out properly, although I knew in this instance I definitely had.
That day my hair was clean and smelt great. But I could tell it was a little heavier than usual. Whenever I ran my fingers through it to scrape it back a bit (as you do), it felt a little too hydrated. Again, not greasy but my hair wasn’t exactly swishing. It sort of just stayed in the scraped back position for a little too long.
As a result, I needed to wash my hair again the following day. Now, as someone who only needs to wash her hair twice a week, this was a real shame. It couldn’t have been because I used too much because I deliberately didn’t overload my hair with it, despite it not lathering satisfyingly.
As lovely and soft as my hair felt after using this combo, I’m afraid that’s all I could really love about it. And even then, it was more of a like, than a love.
Image – Courtesy of writer
What other users are saying
Sadly, I wasn’t the only one who was disappointed. Larisa (uk.gisou.com) writes, “Shampoo does not wash the scalp and after 4-6 hours the hair looks dirty again.” But to be fair on Gisou, this is the only negative review I can find of it on the website.
Emma says, “I like the shampoo better than the conditioner. It only has 1 star taken away because of the price. Overall, really nice hair wash and conditioner. Would definitely repurchase.” We’ll come onto that price in a minute.
There are some hardcore fans out there too. Honorah P writes, “I feel my hair condition has improved since I started using this product,” while Charmey says, “this set is amazing, the shampoo hydrated my hair and it was super gentle on my scalp. The conditioner made my hair super silky and left a nice finish.”
Image – Courtesy of writer
Overall value for money
I would prefer it if these products were sold separately just because £55 is a lot all in one go. Plus, let’s face it, shampoo runs out far quicker than conditioner, making everything go out of sync.
I wouldn’t spend £55 on these simply because I would be washing my hair way more frequently than when I use my usual shampoo and conditioner, and would therefore be spending £55 again in no time at all.
The takeaway
I really wanted to love these but, honestly? They just didn’t make me feel at my very best, which is how hair wash day should make you feel. I like a bit of volume – some swishiness, even on my short bob – but I ended up cringing every time I felt my roots as they got flatter and flatter, and I needed to wash my hair far sooner than I usually do.
If your hair is crying out for some heavy hydration, by all means, give it a go. It smells beautiful, contains some really lovely ingredients and the brand has a beautiful story behind it. But I highly recommend saving your pennies if you like to use a more lightweight shampoo and conditioner. Because, unfortunately, my assumption about ‘honey-infused’ hair care being too much for my hair was spot on.
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