Hello from English girl in France

[justinekay]

I've been lurking on and off for a while and thought it was about time I was brave and posted! My name's Justine, more of an English woman than a girl I suppose as I'm 39 ;-) Anyhow I'm living in France and desperately trying to go cone free, just to see if it suits my hair better.

Does anyone know of many cone free shampoos and conditioners that are available here in France? And where is the best place to buy a shampoo bar because I'm dying to try one!

My hair is between bsl and waist, light brown/mousey with damaged blonde ends where I've grown most of my dyed hair out. I think cones make my hair heavy, frizzy and give me an itchy scalp.

Thanks for any help you might be able to give me. I love this place for all the advice I've already read here :-)

[CitznMag]

Hi Justine and welcome. Sorry don't have any recommendations for you--I'm in the US and have never been to France--but it is on my travel wish list.

I'm sure someone will respond soon with helpful information for you. :)

[justinekay]

Thanks for the welcome :-)

[prosperina]

Bonjour Justinekay!

Welcome. When I lived in France I wasn't really hair savvy. But I did like the garnier ultra doux the kind that comes in the squat green container. I think that's pretty coney though... you might want to check the ingredients list to be sure. Maybe some Europeans will come in and suggest something. There's another Brit living in France here on the boards, but I'm terrible with (user)names.

As far as the shampoo bars, I imagine somewhere in France there are soap makers making yummy soaps with goat milk or something...:shrug: I wouldn't even know where to start though.

[Masara]

Hi and welcome.
I'm a Brit in france too. Whereabouts are you? I'm in provence.
Cone free shampoos are easy in France, most of the ones you get in supermarckets seem to be cone-free. Conditioners are a bit more difficult. You can spend hours tring to read the ingredients. To save you a bit of time, I use ultra doux huile d'avocat et beurre de karité and dessange sublim' argan and they are both cone free. These are the standard conditioners. the masques have cones. But the ultra doux huile de noix et feuille de peche and l'oreal nutri-gloss masques don't have cones, even if the equivilent condiitioners do (it's soooo easy.) I have to admit that i still buy some things from the UK. I always bring back superdrug sweet almond and cocnut deep conditioner, I have a stock of boots buildup shampoo in my cupboard because I've never found a decent clarifying shampoo in france and I still order biolage condtioning balm from HQhair.

[prosperina]

These guys make handmade vegetable soap....http://www.savonnerie-alpilles.fr/savonnerie.php

Similar to shampoo bars I think...

[Masara]

Wow, that's right near me. Pity my hair hates shampoo bars...

[justinekay]

Hi Masara,

Thanks for your detailled reply! I'm living up in Lorraine, in the north-east next to the Luxembourg and German borders. I did find a conditioner from ultra doux that I'm fairly sure is cone free (I'm pretty new to this and don't recognise all of them yet). It's the honey and camomile one, but like I say, I'll have to re-check the ingredients.

I also looked at the cheapest own-label shampoo from our supermarket (Cora – do you have those in Provence?) but I'm becoming convinced that it has cones too. Must learn some more chemical names, or carry a long list with me when shopping ;)

As you say, clarifying shampoos are pretty thin on the ground here. Oh, and one more question while I'm here – do you know what “shampoo bar” is in French? Shampooing solide? It's difficult to search for something if you're not sure what it's called! :confused:

[justinekay]

Thanks Prosperina - I'll take a closer look at that site

[Masara]

Hi Justinekay, my husband was born in Metz so I can more or less place your region even if he hasn't lived there for the last 35 years. I don't think we do have Cora's down here. I know them from when I used to live in Normandy and Belfort.

The couple of conditioners I'm sure about, I checked first myself without knowing much about cones etc and then I put the ingredient list on the old board where there was a thread with a list of cone free shampoos and conditioners, for more knowledgeable people to OK. When I want to check ingredients, I look for anything with -cone or -conol on the end. It's not perfect, but it's a start.

The only shampoo bars I've tried came from the UK or the US. I've heard of French people using either savon de marseille or savon d'alep on their hair, but I don't know if it's any good. I shouldn't imagine decent savon de marseille being too bad seeing the amount of oilve oil there is in it. I've seen both shampooing solide and barre de shampooing in French for shampoo bar, but I have the feeling it's the English word being used in translation, because there isn't really a French equivilent.

If you're not too far from Germany, you may find a better range there. Germany has always been further ahead on the bio/organic etc idea.

[justinekay]

Hi Masara,

(Call me Justine, by the way :-)) I know Metz quite well - it's a lovely town. But I guess it's warmer and pleasanter weather where you and your husband are now!

Thanks for your detailed replies - I really appreciate the information. I will be going over to Germany soon so I'll take a look while I'm there at their products. And next time I'm in England I'll stock up on any stuff I can't get. Good idea :-)

[Tabitha]

I love Klorane hair products, which are cheaper and more readily available in France than in the UK (not surprising, as they are French). My favourite is the Mango - smells delish and my hair thrives on it but I have to save it for "best".

[justinekay]

Hi Tabitha,

Thanks for that - I didn't think of Klorane, simply because I usually get my stuff from the supermarket and they don't stock it. I'll have a look in the department store next time I'm in town - the Mango sounds divine!