Aura Test - Part 1

It will be interesting to learn your results from testing this line of products. I asked my daughter this morning if she was experiencing tangles and she said no. It may have been the Aura oil treatment that caused the tangles in my hair but someone else on the list said she was experiencing tangles too from the Aura shampoo/conditioner, I believe. Sorry to hear your Sally's shopping experience wasn't favorable. Our Sally's here are well kept, but I do agree that alot of grocery store brands are sold there. I love browsing in them, tho now since I have found Aveda, I find I don't go there as often. Ours carries alot of barretts, clips etc..things I am always browsing at. I am looking forward to hearing your results from the testing and also what you found in the listings of ingredients... Cher>> Friday, June 12, 1998> Today Jeff and I went to a Sally Beauty store> at lunch time and bought Aura which is supposed> to be a "knock off" of Aveda.> Jeff and I bought the following items:> 1 bottle of Aura Pure Organic Shampoo (which> is supposed to be similar to Aveda Shampure) 20> oz at $4.99 1 bottle of Aura Blue Malva Shampoo> (which is supposed to be compatible with Aveda> Blue Malva)16 oz at $4.99 1 bottle of Aura Cherry> Almond Bark Revitalizing Conditioner - 7oz at> 6.99.> Total bill plus tax...............$18.37.>> I have not compared the exact ingredient> yet but I will tonight and write up a comparison.>> The interesting thing is that the products> smell very similar. It is shocking how much the> Blue Malva and Cherry Almond Bark smell like the> Aveda.> Shopping at Sally Beauty was less than pleasant> even though we went to a better part of town.> The shop just has a trashy dirty feel to it and> the products are in many cases what you could> buy in grocery stores. The Aura was next to the> Mane & Tail which a friend used until she> starting losing hair. Oh well.> Stay tuned. I will shampoo my hair tonight> and let you know the results of the first application.> Jeff has also promised to test it so we get two> opinions.> Karen

Today was the first day that the Aura shampoo was tested. Jeff decided to go first since I am testing Abba which is also thought to be very similar to Aveda.Jeff shampooed with the Aura Blue Malva shampoo and conditioned with the Aura Cherry Almond Bark conditioner.He washed his hair in the shower, which he always does and used equal amounts of shampoo and conditioner.He found that the Aura Blue Malva is a much lighter color out of the bottle on his hands and in his hair and that the lather was not as much as the Aveda Blue Malva. The smell was not exactly the same and actually had a lesser smell than the Aveda.The Cherry Almond was a lit thinner in texture and he needed to apply more to cover his hair because the Aura was thinner and therefore he needed more to cover his long hair. He left the Aura on the same amount of time as the Aveda and then rinsed with his normal warm to cool rinse.He towel dried his hair and then picked it out with an Efalock pick.He found his hand to be a lot more tangled and harder to pick than with Aveda and when it dried his hair was not nearly as silky or soft or shiny and felt drier and knotted easier.He will try the Aura again to see if there are cumulative effects, but his first try did not convince him to throw out his Aveda.More results of testing to follow.Karen & Jeff> Here are the comparison prices of Aveda:>> 8oz of Shampure $9.84 or 33 oz Shampure $26.00> 1 bottle Aura Pure Organic Shampoo 20 oz: $4.99>> 8 oz of Cherry Almond Bark for $21.50 7 oz> of Aura Cherry Almond Bark for $6.99> 16 oz of Aveda Blue Malva for $12.30 16 oz> of Aura Blue Malva for $4.99> As you can see, the Aura is a lot less expensive.> In all fairness you can get better prices on Aveda> online at the WorldWide Beauty store (listed in> our links section).> However, if you go to a retail store or beauty> shop in Dallas you will pay the prices i have> listed (minus tax).> More to follow.> Karen>

Thanks for the info so far.. it sounds like Jeff is experiencing the same results that I got from the AURA. Tho, my daughter is not. It must be different types of hair maybe. My daughter is a thick haired light brown/reddish color naturally, tho she loves to color her hair Reba red. Anyway, my thoughts are that ARUA is patterned after Aveda but definitely not up to the high standard of quality. After my first try at it, I was done. The tangles were awful. There's nothing to compare at this point with Aveda for me. Thanks tho for going to the trouble of testing.. Cheryl> Since we want to give Aura a fair chance,> we have made the committment to use up the entire> Aura shampoo. Today Jeff did shampoo #2 and conditioner> #2. Again he used the Aura Blue Malva and the> Aura Cherry Almond Bark.> His hair was even more tangled wet today> and even drier and less silky dry. Another interesting> observation about the Aura. The Aveda Blue Malva> really highlights Jeff's gorgeous silver/gray> streaks. The Aura does not. It is a noticeable> difference.> Also, the Aveda Cherry Almond Bark leaves> Jeff's hair very wavy which he likes. The Aura> leave it straighter and more fizzy in texture.>> Needless to say. Jeff is not impressed.> I have personally tried Abba for the past> two days and I am not impressed either. I will> be writing up my Abba findings in the next day> or so and then I will switch the Abba for the> Aura with Jeff.> Stay tuned for more test results.> Karen & Jeff

Karen: I can't blame Jeff.. I would pitch the Aura too. The tangles were quite aggrivating. Tiny tangles..ick. Anyway, I am still here, popping online to check out the site as much as I can. My two year old grandson has been visiting and keeping me hopping. This "grammy" business is hard work! ;-) I heard from my sister in law that the web page is almost ready of some pics of me through the years. The oldes pics being of me in 12th grade then ending with my glamour photo that was done a month or so ago. I, like Valentine, have done alot of cutting on my hair through the years but have had the ability to grow my hair back to very long with some patience and a couple of years. It's been all kinds of lengths but never shorter than top of shoulders. I have had the itches lately to get a good trim to try to get some of the layers that remain taken out but my husband said to just let it go and grow, grow. Kind of like Dawn's attitude.. don't cut on it!! The Aveda is working wonders with the condition of my hair. I still feel alittle uneasy tho about letting my hair grow super long with all this silver. The silver has grown out to about chin length now. I would love to see some pics of ladies with super long hair with silver or gray running through which you hardly ever get to see. I am still pressing on to my goal of knee length hair. take care.. Cher> Hi Cher,> I will try it next. Jeff is getting pretty> fed up. Today he said...do I HAVE to keep using> this stuff? His hair which is normally so gorgeous> (not fair for a man to have such gorgeous hair)> looked defitely drier and less shiny than I have> seen it since he has been using Aveda.> I have been trying Abba (YUCK too) and we> will switch. Then we will run back to Aveda for> a little relief. :-)> I think it is really true. You get what you> pay for. Aveda goes way overboard on adding extra> ingredients. But they work and they make my hair> so beautiful as the pictures attest.> We are going to give this Aura a totally> fair shake before we throw it out. Since Jeff> and I have similar hair (thick, naturally wavy> and more coarse) I think I can expect the same> results. I am going to ask a friend with really> straight fine hair to try it as well. Then we> can have several different hair types to compare> it too.> Glad to see your post Cher. You have been> too quiet lately. :-)> Have a great evening.> Karen

Well,On day 2 of using Aveda after 2 days of using Aura. My hair still hasn't fully recovered. I heavily conditioned this morning with Aveda Cherry Almond Bark. My hair feels better today, but I think its going to take a couple more days to fully recover.Jeff.