Saw It On Social: Prose Shampoo

Do you see Facebook or Instagram ads for Prose shampoo and conditioner regularly?  I tried this heavily advertised product, so you don’t have to trust paid reviews.  So let’s talk about shampoo.

Prose is a “customized hair care system formulated just for you.”  Prose asks you a series of questions about your hair’s texture, whether you struggle with oiliness/dandruff, etc. to create a formula to suit your needs. Then, they send you a hair care mask, shampoo and conditioner.

I’d seen Prose’s ads everywhere.  On all of my social channels.  On the blogs I read.  In newsletters that I subscribe to.  This product was everywhere.  So when readers inquired about its effectiveness, I decided to give it a whirl.

I took the questionnaire and pinpointed by specific concerns — dry ends and volume.  I chose an unscented formula, because I hate most product scents.  And then, I waited with bated breath for my custom hair care experience to arrive.

Judging by the hundreds of glowing blogger reviews, Pinterest posts, and Instagram stories, I was expecting a great product.  What I got was shampoo, bad shampoo.

To use Prose, you apply the hair mask first.  Usually when you apply a hair mask, your hair feels softer and more conditioned immediately after application.  But even after rinsing, my hair didn’t feel softer or better conditioned.

I was also perplexed by the ‘formula’ written on the bottle.  It described my ‘custom tailored’ shampoo as perfect for smoothing hair.  I have stick straight hair, and I never mentioned having texture issues or frizz in my questionnaire, so it doesn’t make any sense to me that that was the primary issue my ‘personalized’ shampoo was solving.

Then, it was time to shampoo.  Opening the bottle I was hit by the smell.  Unscented for Prose means “smells vaguely like the indoor pool at a Quality Inn.”  I thought I would adjust to it, but even after a week, I still noticed the smell every time I opened the bottle.

Also, on the subject of the bottle, a screw on metal cap is about the dumbest way to seal a receptacle for shampoo.  If you drop it, it spills everywhere.  It’s easy to pour too much in your hand.  And you can’t squeeze the bottle to get to the product at the bottom of the bottle.

The conditioner was also nothing special, and like the shampoo, it had the smell.  So the products were zero for three.

I wanted to like Prose.  All the reviews were so positive.  But at $80, I better be wow’ed by your products.  And not only was I not wow’ed, I was extremely disappointed.  Had I paid $5 for this shampoo at CVS, I still would have found it underwhelming verging on bad.

Bottom Line: It was shampoo.  It smelled weird.  It did nothing for my hair, except to somehow make it lifeless.  It was expensive.  And I’ve rarely been so disappointed by a product.  I’d take a hard pass on Prose.

I purchase all products on Saw It On Social with my own money.  No freebies are requested or accepted.  Because how can I decide whether a social media darling is worth your money if it wasn’t worth mine?