I was contacted by Maple Holistics to try out some of their products. I perused the webstore and picked out the Winter Blend Shampoo and Winter Blend Conditioner, the Silk 18 Conditioner and the Dead Sea Mud Mask. I’m going to split up the reviews for each product type. I’ve yet to try the Silk 18 Conditioner, but I’m most excited about using that one!

I chose the Winter Blend products because I really love the tingly feeling from minty stuff, but products like that usually have tea tree in them. I’m allergic to tea tree, so it’s hard to find something tingly that agrees with my skin. Maple Holistics Winter Blend products contain peppermint, spearmint, wild  mint, bergamot mint, and eucalyptus.

First Impression:

Shampoo- This product is really creamy for a shampoo. I don’t shampoo regularly- I mostly co-wash and only use a clarifying shampoo when needed. Since my usual shampoo is clarifying and quite drying…I was really impressed with this shampoo. It’s sulphate free and did not leave my hair feeling dry or stripped. The first time I used it it wasn’t as tingly as I expected. The next time I shampooed and conditioned, I did feel more of the tingle but my hair was in twists so my scalp was more easily accessible, I suppose.

Conditioner– The ingredients are really nice in this product. It includes stuff like aloe, argan oil, pomegranate, and silk amino acids. The consistency is really nice. Similarly to the shampoo, it smells minty but the scent is not strong or overwhelming.

Performance:

Shampoo- I did like the creaminess of the shampoo. I felt like I had to shampoo twice to get a really good lather. I also feel like I used a lot of the product. I’ve used this twice and have 2/3 of the bottle left. One of those times my hair was in twists and I only shampooed my scalp and avoided the length of my twists altogether. Normally, it takes me years to go through a bottle of shampoo but I could get through this one in a few months. I’ll admit, I’m not used to sulphate free shampoos so that might be part of my issue.

Conditioner- This conditioner felt really nice on my hair. It rinsed out well and left my hair soft. I actually didn’t use a leave in after the first time I used this product. My hair air-dried and still felt soft 3 days later with absolutely nothing on it. I expect to really run through conditioners. but this one actually spread pretty easily. I used almost 1/2 the bottle in two uses. For me that’s really good…especially for a small bottle. To contrast, I don’t think the Tresemme Naturals conditioners spread very well. When I don’t dilute it, I use 750 mL of product in 3-4 cowashes.

Pros:

The ingredients in both products are great! I like the tingling, but it could be stronger. The shampoo was surprisingly moisturising. The conditioner was really good and made my usually-dry-hair soft for days. At this size, they would be convenient for me to take on weekend or day trips.They are small enough to fit in my backpack or small suitcase and large enough to get a few uses out of them. Maple Holistics also has two size options on the site- 8 oz or the 16 oz size.

Cons:

Again, my bottles are really small- both 8oz bottles. 🙁 I tend to use a lot of product and I have a lot of hair. Unfortunately at this size, it won’t last me long.

Verdict:

I was really impressed with these products. I hadn’t heard of the company before they contacted me. Everything is very professionally packaged. The ingredients are really nice and all natural. I was skeptical after browsing the site and not seeing any women of color. I wondered if these would work well on my natural afro hair. I’ve had a very difficult time adjusting my hair and skin to the British weather and water and the last thing I needed was a product that made the dryness worse. These products were very moisturising. I also think the pricing is fair because the ingredients are great and they perform well.