HAIR | Carina Organics Citrus Shampoo and Sweet Pea Conditioner

 

Purchased by me

Local love has been a focus of mine since the pandemic started and though I have shopped from Sephora and other American sites here and there, I have tried my best to keep it local (also I don't like the exchange rate!) and more importantly to products and brands that I truly enjoy. Carina Organics was started in North Vancouver back in 1972 and is still family-owned and run! Their claim to fame, at least when I first heard of them, is their shampoos and conditioners which are pH-balanced, vegan, cruelty-free, safe in rivers, lakes and oceans AND made with ingredients sourced locally! It really doesn't get better than that!

Citrus Extra Gentle Shampoo

For dry and colour-treated hair, the Extra Gentle Collection is best as they are formulated at a lower pH to help lock in colour and come in the scents Sweet Pea and Citrus as well as unscented. I love the smell of anything citrus so Citrus was the scent for me and it does smell delightful! There is tangerine, green apple and pineapple extract and since there is no added fragrance, I know what I am smelling is the real deal! It is subtle, but pleasant just like if you had sliced some fruit in the kitchen. 

The shampoo does lather and cleanses my hair and scalp without leaving it feeling dry or my hair straw-like. I also like that when I rinse it off, my hair feels soft and I am not left praying that the conditioner is going to make my hair feel good again! My colour has also held steady so I am not afraid to wash my hair multiple days in a row.

Sweet Pea Daily Light Conditioner

This is a wonderful detangling conditioner that helps to restore lustre, softness and shine to the hair. Over the last two months I have sometimes used just this conditioner and other brands of shampoo and it never fails to soften my hair and make it feel smooth and slippy (without silicones!). I also love that the ingredients list reads like a Pacific West Coast forest and I am living for it! 

I purchased my Carina products from my local Victoria's Health store so their selection was a bit smaller than what was available on the Carina website and though I liked this conditioner, I think my hair would have done a bit better with the Deep Treatment Conditioner as I felt like my hair needed a bit of extra hair oil after blow-drying. Not saying this conditioner wouldn't work for most hair types, but my hair has always been coarse and dry even before my hair-colouring days and I picked up this conditioner because I kept reading SO MANY rave reviews about it.

Final verdict: Carina's Shampoo/Body Wash products are also safe for colour-treated hair so there are some different scents I would like to try! There are also aerosol-free hairsprays that look interesting and of course I would love to give the Deep Conditioning Treatments a go once I have finished these bottles. It has been a long time since I have finished shampoo/conditioner especially now that my husband shaves his head, but I have been using both of these since the September and have enjoyed how easy yet effective they are on my hair! Of course, I also love knowing that I am supporting a local business and that the products won't be killing fish or wildlife as they go down my shower drain!

You can find Carina Organics at www.carinaorganics.com and Victoria's Health if you are in the Vancouver area.