If you follow me on Instagram, you know I’ve been trying out a few different shampoos recently to help hydrate my distressed hair.

When I went to get my hair colored/cut back in May, I knew my hair was not in the best condition. I was at the tail end of a stress-related hair fallout episode, so it was a bit thinner than I would like it to be and just generally unhealthy. I had a lot of split ends, I had issues with the hair around the nape of my neck knotting up constantly, and it just looked generally dull.

My hairdresser, love her, I’ve been going to her for almost 10 years now (which was crazy to both of us when we realized that at our last visit), was even like; “yeah….this is about the second worst condition I’ve seen your hair in awhile”.

The first would have been when I had so much breakage from another stress related fallout that the bottom third of my hair actually looked like a fork.

It was bad.

And I knew my hair was getting to the point of severe breakage again if I let it go too much longer without having her treat and cut it.

If you’ve experienced any sort of hair loss, you know that when you’re going through a loss episode, your hair becomes so fragile and so unhealthy, that even the gentlest brushing can cause all sorts of breakage and fall out.

I’ve written several posts over the years regarding my hair loss and regrowth journey that you’re welcome to read through if you’re new here.

My hairdresser wound up cutting about 5 inches off (right above where the breakage was happening) and putting an Olaplex treatment in my color to help strengthen and repair my hair. She also suggested adding a hydrating shampoo and conditioner into my rotation to help ensure that my hair is getting the moisture it needs while I am bringing it back to life.

She suggested I try Pureology Hydrate. Now….if you’ve been here a minute, you know, I tried Pureology Hydrate a couple years ago or so and hated it. It did not feel like it hydrated my hair at all, in fact my hair felt drier after using it. I told her that I tried it and hated it, so I didn’t think I’d like it now. And she says:

“You know we’ve used Pureology on your hair when we shampoo you for like 2 years now, right?”

I did not.

So, fine, I decided to try it…and 2 other hydrating shampoo/conditioner combos because….I’m me (aka I’m stubborn and slightly defiant, so I knew I would have to go back and say something else worked better).

I would up going to Ulta a few days after my hair appointment to take a look at shampoos. One of the things I love about Ulta is that they have a lot of travel/trial sizes of products. So, you don’t have to buy a huge bottle of something you aren’t sure if you’re going to like and have to worry about possibly returning it.

It’s a whole thing.

So, I grabbed trial sizes of three different brands of hydrating shampoos and conditioners to see which one I would like better.

The three were:

• Pureology Hydrate Shampoo and Conditioner (Trial Sizes: shampoo & conditioner)
• Redken All Soft Mega Shampoo and Conditioner (Trial Sizes: shampoo & conditioner)
• Joico K-PAK Color Therapy Color-Protecting Shampoo and Conditioner (Trial Sizes: shampoo & conditioner)

I used each of the sets for a few weeks to see which I really felt helped my hair the most (those trial sizes actually have a lot of product in them). I do, also, still use the Nioxin shampoo and conditioner that I’ve been using for a few years, which helps with regrowth and helps my hair appear thicker. Sometimes I alternate between the Nioxin and the hydrating shampoo, sometimes I do use them together – it just kind of depends no what I think my hair needs that day.

Do we want to take a guess at which set I purchased the full sizes of?

I’m actually surprised, though!

I have said, NUMEROUS times that Pureology was horrible on my hair the last time I tried it. Maybe it was just my hair at the time, I don’t know. But, this time it was wonderful. My hair had never felt softer or silkier than it did after using this, and I was floored.

Obviously, I used the entirety of the bottle before I went and bought the full-size (I got about 7-8 washes out of the trial size) but man does my hair love it.

My second favorite though, was probably the Redken all Soft Mega. The conditioner felt a little thinner than I would have liked for it to be, but I thought it was a good option. For me, the Pureology just made my hair feel softer than the Redken did. If you’re hair isn’t really like brittle and dry like mine was/is, it would be a good option for you.

The Joico just didn’t really blow me away. I didn’t really feel the difference in my hair the way I did with the Redken or Pureology. It’s more of a repair shampoo, I know, which means you may not see the results as much, but even after a couple weeks of use, I didn’t feel it was doing enough to continue using it.

So, I am a Pureology convert. Who knew? Maybe there was just something wrong with the bottle I tried the last time – anything is possible.

I will admit, it is pricey, but you don’t need to use a lot at once to feel the effects. Considering the trial size bottle lasted me about 8 washes (and I only wash my hair every 3-ish days), which was almost a month, I can see the normal size bottles lasting quite awhile.