Excellent Empties #1: Burt's Bees Super Shiny Shampoo and Conditioner with Mango

I've decided to start a new little section here at DWK called Excellent Empties. These are just as the name says, excellent (or not so excellent) products I've used all up and want to share with you. The format may change over time, depending on how this works for me and for you, but for now it will consist of a basic description, pros, cons, and a "bottom line" statement in which I'll simply state whether or not the product was worth buying. So, in the words of the famous red Nintendo plumber, "A-here-ah we go!"

The facts:
"Turn up your hair's shine naturally with our Super Shiny Shampoo and Conditioner system. Our gentle shampoo rinses easily and helps reduce frizz so that hair looks healthy and brilliant. Fortified with Mango Seed Oil and Fig Extract, this nourishing formula will leave your hair feeling soft, shiny, and silky."  I picked these up at Wal-Mart for $7.97 each. I picked them up because I've been thinking a lot about trying to eliminate toxins from my life, even all the way down to my beauty products. But I've often heard the rumors that natural things just don't work as well, so I've decided to investigate. These are formulated without:
-Sulfate
-Paraben
-Phthalate
-Petrochemicals

Pros:
Obviously, these shampoos and conditioners being free of a lot of crazy bad stuff is definitely a plus, and the reason I picked these products up in the first place. To be completely honest, when I picked up these products I had no idea why sulfates, parabens, phthalates, and petrochemicals were bad, I just new everyone kept saying to stop using them. (Which, I might add is not the recommended way to do things, especially not here at DWK!) So, with that, I've decided to do some research. Honesty is something that's really important to me, so I promise to find out exactly why those things are bad and how they affect our bodies, and relay that information to you lovely people out there.

However, besides my rather inconclusive results on the "why should I buy natural stuff anyways" front, there's a few other pros to these that you might want to know about. Number one, they smell really nice, in my opinion. I love fruity mango-y smells! Number two, they work. My hair gets weighed down really easily, and these shampoo/conditioners didn't do that. They left my hair really nice and silky smooth, just like the bottle said.

Cons:
There are only two. The first being the smallest concern, and that is that this being a natural product, it doesn't foam up like a lot of other shampoos. Being basically a three year old and a huge fan of foam, I find that disappointing. The second con is a little larger, and that is the price. The bottles are about $8 for only 10 ounces, which translates roughly into about 80 cents per ounce. To put that into perspective, Clear Total Care Shampoo (a comparable non-natural shampoo in my opinion) is about $5 for 13 ounces (a bigger bottle), which is about 38 cents per ounce. So, if you're on a tight budget, this may not be the stuff for you.

The Bottom Line:
If having a natural (effective) product is important to you, I would say absolutely buy this set. Personally, since I haven't done the research as to why go natural yet, I'm on the fence. I'm using a different shampoo right now, but if I came across this one again I certainly wouldn't mind using it again. Repurchase? Maybe.

Stay Fabulous!
-Rachel