Luxury Hair Care with the Harley Street Hair Clinic

When it comes to hair care, I've never really splashed out. I tend to stick to the high street brands that are probably full of parabens and silicone, but that's all my student budget has ever really stretched to and the habit has simply stuck (does this make me a bad beauty blogger? Probably). I've never had a problem with using brands such as Aussie and Garnier, and to be perfectly honest, have never given much thought to their impact on my hair (instead, using styling products to create any volume and sleekness rather than thinking about how my shampoo and conditioner could help the process). After receiving a luxury hair care package from the Harley Street Hair Clinic, it was time to see whether spending that extra bit of dosh really could make a difference to my hair.

Firstly, the products I received were both shampoos, meaning it's taken quite a while for this post to happen as I trialled each one for a month to see if I could really notice any longer-term change. They were the Balmain Revitalising shampoo (£21.95 for 300ml) and the Leonor Greyl Volumising shampoo (£29 for 200ml). Both quite pricey products, in my opinion! I would maybe justify that price on a hair treatment, but it has never crossed my mind to spend that much on 'just' a shampoo. I love the Balmain packaging; it's really sleek and I really like the pump bottle (although I'm not sure how much product would be wasted when you start to reach the end)...it just looks really simple and pretty on my bathroom shelf! The Leonor Greyl tube is, again, quite simplistic but doesn't have any kind of 'wow factor' about it.

With the Balmain shampoo, I found you needed about 3 pumps to dispense enough shampoo to cover all my hair. The white formula smells lovely- I'm awful at describing scents but it is quite 'soapy', something I personally liked about the product. The fragrance is quite strong, so if you try to avoid heavily fragranced products this may not be for you. One thing which struck me about this shampoo (and the Leonor Greyl one, in fact) is that they don't foam up at all, unless you shampoo twice (the Balmain shampoo does contain sulfates- the ingredient that usually creates the foamy lather we are used to). It is, however, paraben-free and packed with Vitamins E F and P which supposedly help restore dry and damaged hair. The Leonor Greyl shampoo also has a very distinctive scent (notes of jasmine, I think!) which is absolutely gorgeous. It is paraben, sulfate and silicone-free and the brand focuses on the use of natural ingredients to care for your hair.

Although these were both nice to use, I personally didn't think there was anything special about them or that they were good enough to warrant the price tag. I found that the Balmain shampoo did leave my hair feeling quite nice and soft, but not to the point where it was hugely noticeable, and the Leonor Greyl didn't provide me with the volumising effects it so promised. It's a shame that even after a month I didn't notice much change in the condition of my hair; apart from the lack of foaming, I wouldn't have been able to distinguish these from high street products if they were in an un-labelled bottle!

Despite the products themselves being slightly disappointing, I do want to talk a little bit about the company behind the hair care hamper (and, no, this isn't sponsored, it's just a topic very close to my heart!). The Harley Street Hair Clinic specialises in treatment for hair loss, including FUE hair transplant/grafts for scalp and eyebrows (remember Wayne Rooney's hair transplant back in the day? That was the Harley Street Hair Clinic!) and Advanced Tricho Pigmentation (ATP) which is essentially a tattoo to help replicate the appearance of hair follicles. I think it's so important for us hair loss sufferers to know that there are options out there for us and what they are exactly; staying informed and knowing that you don't have to suffer with the appearance of baldness if you are not happy with it could end up changing your life. For example, when I discovered that microblading existed, it completely changed my life and my mindset towards hair loss! Hopefully these options will become more affordable and more accessible as time goes on- it's exciting to think about further developments and what they could do for us.