Ojon Rub-Out Dry Cleanser

Price: $24 for 4.5oz

What they say:
"What it is:
A dry cleanser that revives, refreshes, and recharges hair and scalp without water.

What it does:
Ojon® Rub-Out™ Dry Cleanser instantly "erases" impurities, toxins, excess oil, and product build-up. It increases hair volume at the root while treating the hair and scalp. Ideal between washings, as a hair pick-me-up, when you're in a rush, or when you overuse a styling product. The Dry Cleanser leaves hair cleansed, light, luminous, and healthy -looking.

What else you need to know:
Fortified with wildcrafted Ojon® oil, an ancient native secret to naturally beautiful hair from Central America's Tawira tribe, known as "the people of beautiful hair.™" Supported by clinical studies to instantly hydrate, strengthen, and restore dry or damaged hair, Rub-Out™ Dry Cleanser is appropriate for all hair types and is eco-friendly."

What I say:
This stuff is not worth the price.  Not even a little.

I bought a Ojon kit because I had heard a number of good things about this brand, and thought I would give it a shot.  Included in the kit was a To-Go size of this product, and since I had been looking for a good dry shampoo, I thought I would give this a shot.

There are a couple of things that I liked about this product, and I think I will get those out of the way first.  One, the product smell, to me, is not offensive.  I wouldn't say I would wear it as a perfume, but overall, I think it does a good job of covering up the dirty hair smell, and also not offend the nose when spraying onto hair.  Two, the powder that is in the product doesn't cause the white cast in my hair that a lot of dry shampoos can do.  I still need to try a shampoo for darker hair (I have light brown, but still dark enough that normal dry shampoos are obvious), but I think this is a good alternative for those.  I know if you use dry shampoo correctly you don't get a white cast, but there is sometimes that spot.  You know the one, that spot that you thought you brushed properly... yeah, that one.

Now the bad stuff.  This stuff did nothing for me.  In fact, every time I tried this product was on a day that I didn't need to wash my hair, but was just practicing for days that I might need this (last minute dinners, for instance), and not only did it not help my hair, I could feel it in my hair enough that I was compelled to wash it out!  Talk about counterproductive.  I mean, I might be able to see the slightest amount of matte, but overall I can still feel the oil, and on top of it I can feel the powder from this.  Not good.

Before you ask, yes I do know how to use dry shampoo.  I am getting the product out, but as you know, it is impossible to get something 100% out of your hair without washing it out.  This is why dry shampoo doesn't work against styling products, and you can't just use dry shampoo as your only cleansing source.

Next bad thing is the price.  This stuff is way too expensive for what it is, especially when there are supposedly better shampoos for a fraction of the price.  Sally's Beauty Supply, for instance, carries Batiste, which even marked up from importing is still only $7.50 for 5.05 oz, an even larger size than this Ojon one.  Granted, the powder is white, but from many reviews that I have heard, and seen, this comes out of dark hair easily (this is the next dry shampoo I will try, and I forgot to get it yesterday while I was in town).

Overall, if it works for you, it works for you, but for me this stuff was rubbish.  Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to wash this stuff out of my hair, again.

2/5 (Did like the smell, and the no white cast)

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.