Shiseido Tsubaki Shampoo

Price: $14 for 550ml at my local Asian market

What I say:
This shampoo is wonderful.

Normally, I'm a drugstore shampoo and conditioner person, with the occational splurges on higher end (usually from my mom).  Drugstore shampoo and conditioner has serves me well, and for the most part, higher end brands tend to just show me that they are not worth the price, and that I shouldn't waste my money on them.  The exception, of course, being leave in conditioner, but that's not this post.

That being said, I suffer from what I would call not quite dry hair.  My scalp gets oily at a normal rate, but the rest of my hair gets dry rather quickly, and is always in need of a little helping hand.  Shampoo, unfortunately, does not normally have this as a choice when you are looking at what they do.  Most companies tend to look at the scalp, and not really look much at the rest of the hair shaft, except in terms of frizz, split ends, etc.

I got this shampoo because I finally thought "enough is enough."  I had heard good things about this, mostly from MakeupAlley, so I thought I would give it a go.  I already use Camellia (also known at Tsubaki) oil in my hair for shine (when it needs it), so I knew basically what to expect.  Last time I was at Nigiya (love that market, by the way), I look the plunge, and bought the shampoo and conditioner.

The first this I noticed was the texture, which is not really as runny as a lot of shampoos I have tried.  The color what a nice pearly white, which I have always liked (not only in shampoo).

The smell... mmmmmm.  Camellia flowers.  I can tell that a lot of people might be put off by the smell, but for me, it was nice and refreshing.  It also lasts quite a long time, so I enjoyed that, as well.

This stuff really suds up, with 1.5 pumps being enough for my hair (scientific binary search to find the right amount).  The smells sticks with you during the sudsing, so good times for me.  My hair got really clean, really fast, but without the usual stripping of all oils that I normally associate with really clean hair.  This is one shampoo that not only cleans, it also moisturizes, if only a little.

This rinsed out nicely from my hair, and left it ready for round two (to come later).

I have heard a number of people say that this label causes buildup in their hair, and that it weighs it down.  I have used this exclusively for over 2 weeks, and have had no problems of that sort, even with long, thin, lots of, hates volume hair.  I did notice a little lack of volume at my roots compared to normal shampoos that I am used to, but just changing drying technique and how I lay my hair at night has solved this without the addition of other products.

One last note, I love the packaging.  I got the large pump bottles, and the amount that they release is actually an amount that people might really use.  If I had short hair, one pump would be perfect.  Also, Shiseido makes refills (400ml) that are cheaper than the pump bottles, so yay!

4/5, I'm probably going to repurchase.