Product Review: WEN by Chaz Dean



While the kids were sick a little while ago, I happened to be awake when one of those 4 hour long infomercials came on for WEN by Chaz Dean shampoo. I honestly can only blame my sleep deprived state for being sucked in, and actually hopping online and ordering some! Does anyone else do that? Buy crazy, ridiculous, as-seen-on-TV products because they are sleep deprived? Unlike, lets say, an ab-roller, or a thigh-master, or even those Zumba sets, at least shampoo will actually get used more than once, and in fact, I actually finished the two bottles I received so I could give you a true review of how this shampoo goes over the long term.

My first impression was "wow, this smells really nice!" The almond mint fragrance is refreshing and invigorating, without being overpowering. My second impression was "gee, you need to use an awful lot of this". For my length hair (just above my shoulders) it is recommended that you use 10-12 pumps of the cleansing conditioner, which is an awful lot.  Using the recommended amount, my two bottles (supposedly 3 month's supply) lasted a little under 1 month, which made this shampoo very, very expensive (2 bottles costs $89.90). When I queried why I was using so much, the customer service rep said they recommend washing your hair every 3-4 days. Unfortunately, I need to wash my hair daily, but I'll talk more about that later.

What I did love after trying WEN for the first time was what it did to my hair. My hair looked (and felt) amazing. I have what I call "kinky" hair. It is not curly or straight or even wavy; instead it has straight bits, and curly bits, and frizzy bits combined. And my hair is very, very fine, but there is a lot of it. After using WEN and letting it air dry (which is my usual "styling" method), I had hair that even my husband commented on, and I have often believed that even if I shaved my hair off, my husband probably wouldn't notice!  My hair was bouncy and full, and the ends curled in little spiral curls, and it was so soft. Until late afternoon.

By about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, my hair looked like it needed a good wash - the roots had become super oily and greasy, and looked terrible. And it was like that everyday I used the WEN - fabulous hair in the morning, greaseball by late afternoon. I tried every permutation under the sun to try and make it work - less product, more product, less rinsing, more rinsing - the outcome was the same. I was so disappointed. Now, I have oily hair naturally, and with regular shampoo I do need to wash my hair everyday, but at least I can make it to 24 hours between washed. Which brings me to my previous point of how much you needed to use, and the WEN recommended washing only every 3-4 days.  With the oily feel on my hair, there is no way I could last 3-4 days between washing - I was barely making it through with daily washing! The almond-mint is supposedly for all hair types - in fact, this point is emphasised over and over in the infomercial, but I just don't think it is suitable for fine/oily hair.

Now bear in mind, that this is for my ridiculously fussy hair. For someone with more "normal" hair, and especially someone who already goes 3-4 days between washing, then WEN is probably going to be a game-changer for them (if they can justify the price), as the results early in the day were honestly as good as, if not even better, than the results WEN promised. Luckily, WEN has a sixty day money back guarantee, so I got a full refund after sending back the associated styling products (which I never used), and I plan to try their Cucumber Aloe range (recommended for fine hair), although I will need to have it shipped from the US, as it is not available here in Australia. I'll keep you updated on how that one works out.

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Cons:

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