Ricitos de Oro: Baby Shampoo

When Leoling hit about ten months old, suddenly the tried-and-true, ubiquitious Johnson & Johnson's yellow baby shampoo just wasn't cutting it for us. It left his fine blonde hair dull and somewhat unpleasantly textured, and his scalp a bit dry and flaky. This made me sad, because I can't stand it when my scalp itches, so it didn't seem fair to leave the little dude like that.

Since he's fair haired, I started my quest for a new shampoo for him with one thing in mind: chamomile. Chamomile is a natural highlight enhancer, smells pleasant, and always seemed like a welcome ingredient in my own shampoos. When I was reading, I found a few descriptions of Ricitos de Oro that made it sound worth my time. That it was supposed to be great for fair hair was a bonus for me. I won't cry if Leoling's hair changes color, but I want it to be the prettiest hair of its color it can be while I'm in charge of it. This one wasn't a sampling, I paid for it myself.

Ricitos de Oro Chamomile Shampoo
The homepage is in Spanish.  Some of the favorable reviews, and the ingredient rundown, I found to read in English were on the Walgreen's Homepage: Click Here if Curious

Leoling's lion is standing in for today.
When his nose is better, I'll give his hair a rewash in this to show photos of how it looks. 

First Impressions:
Ricitos de Oro looks a LOT like Johnson & Johnson, color and texture wise. It has a funny bottle with a rattle top, which is amusing. The smell upon opening the flip top, however, was overwhelmingly chemical. I was actually a bit unsure about using it at that point, and reread the ingredients to make sure I hadn't somehow accidentally bought into some chemical hair lightener. Apparently not?

Trying it Out: 
The strong smell faded fairly quickly while I was washing Leoling's hair with it. It foamed nicely and rinsed well. I admit that the smell made me extra cautious while rinsing, so we didn't have any issues with water runoff in eyes to challenge the tear-free claim.

Once I dried Leo's hair, all the dulling residue had been stripped off. It looked the lightest and shiniest it had in months. The lingering scent was incredibly faint, and primarily just a hint of chamomile. It left his hair very light--it stuck up and curled slightly, and would not be tamed down without a little water.

Overall: 
Ricitos de Oro did work as advertised--it left my son with brighter, shining hair. However, it did nothing to help his dry scalp, and didn't really seem to moisturize his hair at all. I didn't particularly mind that it was a shampoo-only as opposed to a shampoo/body wash, but I can't say I cared for the strong chemical smell. Because of that element, and how tricky it was to get, I would probably skip this one in the future.

Ricitos de Oro isn't sold in any local stores. I had ALMOST ordered it off Amazon, marked up absurdly, but we got ahold of a bottle at a little Mexican grocery store in Indianapolis for 4.00. So, price wise, it was comprable to Johnson & Johnson.