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Tigi Catwalk Oatmeal And Honey Shampoo Review

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Today I am writing a TIGI Catwalk Oatmeal & Honey shampoo review. I have been using this shampoo for five weeks. I am a hair enthusiast, so this salon brand product that you could not get outside the salon before the rise of the internet is really exciting to me.

The Origins Of TiGi Hair Care Explained

TIGI hair care company was founded by four Italian brothers: Anthony, Toni, Guy and Bruno Mascolo. The roots of TIGI hair care products can be reached over generations of proper hair care professionals, starting from the grandfather’s hair care salon. Their father also cut hair, so obviously, the four were destined for hair styling greatness.

Toni and Guy opened their first salon in 1963, and London was swinging. They went on to build the hair care brand Toni & Guy, where TIGI would later spawn from. The first TIGI product was a mousse released in 1986. The Bead Headline was created in 1996 and now includes their famous Recovery shampoo and conditioner. In 1998 they introduced their Catwalk line.

The story of Toni & Guy and TIGI ended when they split up in 2002, and the brother Anthony, who had been a hairstyle guru in his own rights also working in England, became the creative director of TIGI. It is no exaggeration to call Anthony the mastermind of subsequent TIGI style. Since then, the range of TIGI products has grown with a couple of more hair care lines, but today I am concentrating on the Catwalk, specifically on the Oatmeal Honey Shampoo.

So why am I writing all this? Well, for me it is important to know the history behind the product. Yes, I know that nowadays TIGI is a well known international brand, but it is interesting to see that it was not created by some marketing men somewhere but by real people with real passion for hair styling. And it makes using the hair care product a lot more enjoyable when I know something about it.

Tigi Catwalk Oatmeal And Honey Shampoo Review: Is The Hype Real?

You may find yourself asking “what is good for dry hair?” Well, the Oatmeal and Honey Shampoo promises to moisturize dry and damaged hair. It is supposed to be color safe too and leave the hair soft and silky even without a conditioner.

Because I have quite normal hair, I recruited my mom, whose hair is really dry and damaged from all the dye jobs she has done and continues to do, to help me out with these trial weeks. She got her own bottle from her hairdresser, although she did complain about the price. Three weeks later we compared our notes.

Woman getting her hair washed.

Hair washing at a salon.

I found it pleasing to use. I like the unusual edgy design of the bottle. It got my hair clean and as promised, it left my hair soft and silky and feeling healthy without the need to use conditioner. I have always thought that at hairdressers the shampooing is the best part. The touch.

But also because hairdressers know how to wash hair, which I have noticed in my time as an amateur cosmetics enthusiast, most people don’t. Hair is washed with strong fingertips, massaging the scalp thoroughly, not with your palms. And you leave the shampoo on for a few moments. Using this shampoo reminded me of this luxurious salon experience, although by myself, in my own shower, it is impossible to recreate.

My mother liked it better than I. I can’t say that I disliked it, but I don’t have the same problems as my mother does with her hair that the shampoo is formulated for. After she got over her grudge for the price (why use so much money on a shampoo!) she got to know that it might actually be worthwhile to invest some money on a shampoo and on your own wellbeing.

I think this is a generational thing. I think my mum’s generation either thought it wasteful to use too much money on cosmetics and even if you did, you would need to feel guilty about it, because taking care of yourself would be self-centered, and that’s just terrible. Thankfully the times have changed. I am self-centered and my mom should be too.

So when we were comparing our notes, I could say that it had worked for her just by looking at her hair. And she knew this too. For her, finding the best hair shampoo for colored hair was difficult. Her hair usually gets coarser and coarser when the dye ages, but now even though I saw her roots, the hair looked good. I wish she would dye less, but if she continues to do so, I hope she will continue to use a good shampoo like this.

She said that her hair felt a lot better and, as I touched it, it really was quite smooth and silky, almost as smooth and silky as my hair, which is usually in a much better condition than hers.  She liked the texture and the color and the scent of the shampoo. The professional hair care link can really be felt, and that feel is luxurious. When I tried to get some further, even critical comments from her, the only bad thing that she would say about the shampoo was “the teenage bottle.” Ha, yeah, although we like the product a lot, this is the great divide between the generations.

Tigi Catwalk Oatmeal And Honey Shampoo: What’s In The Bottle?

So, as we have now established that it is a good product with an interesting history, I think the next important thing to know about a product is, what does it actually include? Perhaps it would have been better to get acquainted with the ingredients before trying out the product. I would suggest that you continue reading before trying the shampoo yourself, even if chemical names can bore one to death and TIGI has a nice youthful brand.

On the TIGI website, I could find this description: “Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein, Vitamin E, Glycerin, Conditioning Agent.” What on earth is conditioning agent? Where are the oatmeal and honey? My high school chemistry is very rusty and although we went through some commercial names for chemical compounds, I have forgotten everything else besides H2O and –OH ending of alcohol.

I went to check the INCI listing from Amazon, where I bought my bottle. OK, the first one from the list above, the hydrolyzed wheat protein is supposed to be the oat, but oats are not wheat. If this has wheat, it is not glucose free, although I don’t think such small amounts would harm anyone. But whether or not the product actually contains oatmeal remains a mystery.

Vitamin C, the second one, is brought to the product with Tocopheryl Acetate. Good things that were not mentioned in the short product description are the various oil extracts, like Sandalwood and macadamia, that really do nurture my hair. They also have a nice scent that is extracted from real flowers and not just manufactured in the laboratory, like Jasmine and Bitter Orange.

How about the honey? I could not find bee wax or anything that might have anything to do with honey in the INCI list. But I might be wrong, as I am not an industrial chemist but just a keen hobbyist. So I cannot make a conclusion if it is vegan or not. If it actually does have honey the answer is obviously no. If the honey is just in the title, then vegans can enjoy this product too. So, if it does not contain honey or oatmeal why is it called oatmeal & honey shampoo?

The ingredients of Catwalk Oatmeal Honey shampoo include Ammonium Laureth Sulfate. Sulfate is a synthetic detergent that is often used in shampoos but also in engine degreasers. I am not a super fan of sulfates. They make the shampoo bubbly, and I don’t have any irritation from it, but many people do, my hubby being one with sensitive skin. Without sulfates would always be better.

The other thing to look out for in shampoo’s ingredient list is parabens. Parabens are preservatives that are still used quite widely because there is no real data saying that it is harmful, but there is data saying that it is dubious. The Oatmeal Honey shampoo does not have parabens, instead, it has the preservative Sodium Hydroxymethylglycinate.

Something To Consider…

Here is another thing to consider if you plan to purchase a shampoo. TIGI is currently owned by Unilever. I know people who do not like multinational super corporations that control the economics and even political decisions that are made. Some of my friends try to avoid buying things from Unilever and Nestle and Kraft, so I think it is fair to mention that this company is owned by Unilever if you want to make educated consumer decisions.

Conclusion

To sum it up, when I used the shampoo it was just ok. When my mom did and continues to do so (I gave her my bottle too), it really rocked her world. So I think the thing with shampoos like with life, in general, is to “Know thyself”. I’ve tried the Tigi Bead Head Shampoo and loved it. My friends sometimes complain about their cosmetics or shampoo, how they don’t work. Well, usually it is because they don’t know what sort of hair type they have, so they use the wrong stuff.

This shampoo is not for me, but I cannot deny that it is a good shampoo. For my mother, who had dry, coarse dyed hair, this is the perfect shampoo, whether or not it includes oatmeal and honey. (Check out my review of  Tigi Bed Head Hairspray, one of my favorite TiGi products).