Fake product reviews? where are real reviews?

[ambychelle]

One of my favorite things to do is to go read "reviews" on products before I try them.

I often come across reviews that seem really "fake" to me. Like, Vitamin Shampoo reviews like these http://www.walgreens.com/store/catalog/Shampoo/Shampoo/ID=prod4185710&navCount=0&navAction=push-product

I could be wrong, but it makes me go hmmmmmm when a reviewer spells out a long product name 2-3 times in a review as if they are on an infomercial and when they use buzz words like "antioxidant" and "superfruits".

Anyway, I can across this review for doo gro --
http://www.walgreens.com/store/catalog/Shampoo/Moisturizing-Growth-Shampoo/ID=prod382895&navCount=6&navAction=push-product#ReviewHeader
and it has me laughing --


Comments about Doo Gro Moisturizing Growth Shampoo 8oz.:
I must say, I have used many shampoos to see results in hair growth, and none of them have compared to Doo Gro Moisturizing Growth Shampoo!You can even feel it working when you lather it into your hair. I have shoulder length hair, and after the first use, it was past my collarbone! I am telling you, you will see results as fast as 1-2 days. I love this product, and recommend using it twice a week. Using this shampoo along with the conditioner & leave in conditioner makes my hair grow so quickly! I love it. =)



After one use huh? :eyebrows:


Anyway, does anyone know of a reputable site that has REAL reviews? I know *some* of the reviews at places like walgreens are real, but.. well... you know. :cheese:

[MirandaWelch]

That's hilarious! A crock of shite but hilarious none the less :laugh:

Oh yeah, at the top of this board there are some links and one of them is Reviews. Lots and lots to look through there by members of this board.

[Alia]

Wow! What a product--it makes your hair grow as fast as that 'beauty parlor Barbie', whose hair you could 'grow' from butch to knee in seconds!:magic:

I'm not sure what the answer for finding real reviews is, other than to read carefully and dismiss obviously bogus reviews like the one above.

[pradabacon]

I second the reviews on this board, although I wish there were more of them. I'm as guilty as most of us of not reviewing the things I try. I'll try to go post some...

Just reading with a skeptical eye is a good idea too. That's my usual method. If it sounds fake, it probably is. :p

If there is a particular product you want to hear about, and you can't find anything on it in a search, maybe a thread in the 'hair products and accessories' section could get you some opinions?

I also like MakeupAlley's review section. It's a huge site, so there are lots of product reviews in all categories. Here's the hair section:

http://www.makeupalley.com/product/searching.asp?CategoryID=3&brandname=&Brand=&title=&submit=Find+Products

[longhairedfairy]

I've noticed that fake reviews very often begin with "I was skeptical at first, but..."

[RancheroTheBee]

I've noticed that fake reviews very often begin with "I was skeptical at first, but..."

That's always the kicker. It's supposed to assuage the people who look at the product and think, "I feel skeptical about these claims." It's like online cold reading, I love it.

I think the rule of thumb is, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."

[piratejenny23]

i go to amazon.com a lot for reviews. sometimes it seems like they have almost everything in the world for sale there, and a majority of the products have reviews.

i'm sure some of them could be fake (even negative ones from competitors) but you can leave a comment/warning on a particular review if you suspect it.

i shop from vitacost.com & iherb.com, and you can't leave a review unless you have an account with them, so i don't think there are too many fakers. if it's a natural product you could check there (or similar websites).

[adiapalic]

"Doo Gro" :laugh: 1-2 days of results in growth? That's hilarious. I read reviews here and on amazon. :)

[pradabacon]

Ah, yes. I love Amazon. :heart: They take all my money!

Wait a minute! I hate Amazon!!! :p

[ambychelle]

How did I totally miss the reviews section here? :p

Amazon takes all my money too. BUT, I'd say their reviews have saved me a LOT of money over the years on things I thought I wanted until I read the reviews.

[marikamt]

You mean my hair won't grow that fast??/ wow... better return my bottle....... I was hoping to be classic by Saturday.......

[Kat]

Sometimes it's scary. I don't read hair product reviews much, but yesterday I was on a site that sells roller skates (yeah, I'm a dork. I know I'd never take up roller skating but I keep thinking it might be fun. Probably would wreck my ice skating though) and reading the reviews on some of the skates. I'm not sure what subset of society roller skating appeals to, but it sounds like the same subset as when I was young: kids (the "in" thing to do back when I was in late elementary school/early middle school was go to the roller rink). Most of the reviews, besides having the word "awesome" in there somewhere and using netspeak and horrid spelling like whoa, weren't even reviews; they were mostly "lyk omg i'm totally getting these for mah birfday they're awesome" or "these r so awesome i ordered them n i cant wait 4 them 2 get here u shuld buy them" or "u shuld buy these sk8z i want 2 get them sum day!!" I almost emailed the site to ask them to not post (or remove, if the reviews aren't pre-screened) "reviews" that aren't really reviews--how can you say the skates are awesome if you admit you don't even have them yet? Or if they were reviews, they usually just consisted of crap like "OMG THESE R AWESOME!" that was totally unhelpful. *eye roll*

Speaking of Amazon, anyone know if there's a way to write a review WITHOUT your name attached to it? I've wanted to review stuff on there, but it always wants to post my full name (first, middle initial, and last) that is attached to my account, and I really don't want my full name out there like that (I try to be as anonymous as possible on the 'net). I've seen other reviews that don't have the person's full name, but I don't know if that means they don't have their full name attached to their account, or if they found some way to use an alias.

[teela1978]

Tee hee

Vitamin Shampoo Review:

Pros: Durable

Because we all want durable shampoo :)

[LadyLongLocks]

Try BUZZILLIONS (http://www.buzzillions.com/health-beauty-reviews) for reviews
and drugstore.com (http://www.drugstore.com/templates/browse/default.asp?catid=11899&trx=GFI-0-ROTABS&trxp1=11899&trxp4=10345)enter the product and scroll down,there are reviews.
Or just add the product name in youtube search and there may be a video review.

[melrose1985]

Makeup alley is great for review!

[shadowclaw]

I've always trusted the reviews on Amazon.com... they seem genuine to me. The reviews on here are good, but there aren't many, as others said. I have personally posted about twenty new products, and reviewed probably 30. If everyone else did that, we'd have one amazing review section!!!

If you're ever looking for reviews of electronics, you should check out PCWorld and CNet. They have great ones. If only there was a hair-version of CNet.

[Elenna]

There are way too many products out there and it gets very confusing.

When I started investigating hair and complextion products, I had three ideas:

- First, I wanted to buy products sold in health food stores. I feel that these products have less harmful ingredients.
- Second, I looked up these "natural" brand reviews on MakeUp Alley.
- Third, there are a lot of good posts/threads here at LHC about effective or ineffective products. These are real reviews here. :D

This approach helped narrow down the overwhelming plethora of products to the those that are effective. This way I'm not a guinea pig for products, and saved a lot of money. :soapbox:

[Toadstool]

"i like the idea of using these natural superfruits to add vitamins and antioxidants to my haircare experience"
Excellent! Anyone else out there having a "haircare experience"?

[MAO]

I also vote for Makeup Alley. I almost always read the reviews on there before I try a new product.

[Snowflakey]

I always read the reviews on MakeupAlley before buying new products. Amazon also has pretty good reviews.

[Pumpkin]

I have to agree....love Makeup Alley for product reviews.

[Lyttle Lox]

:bs: + :magic: = :queen:

Geez, I'd neever seen one like that... I'm gonna have to start payin more attention to reviews, if only for the entertainment value! :eyebrows:

[Kat]

Excellent! Anyone else out there having a "haircare experience"?

Is THAT what it is! i always just figured it was something I had to do if I didn't want to have to buzz my head. Silly me. I can't wait for my next "work experience" and "workout experience" and "gynecologist experience" and oh gosh, I'm sure some time in future I'll have to have another "getting a buttload of fillings experience"! It's so exciting!

[Toadstool]

Is THAT what it is! i always just figured it was something I had to do if I didn't want to have to buzz my head. Silly me. I can't wait for my next "work experience" and "workout experience" and "gynecologist experience" and oh gosh, I'm sure some time in future I'll have to have another "getting a buttload of fillings experience"! It's so exciting!
I'm currently having a "gastritis experience"!

[GoldLady]

"i like the idea of using these natural superfruits to add vitamins and antioxidants to my haircare experience"
Excellent! Anyone else out there having a "haircare experience"?

Yes, but only with 'superfruits'. :confused:

[jesamyn]

I'm another one that checks primarily with Makeup Alley or Amazon for reviews. If it's computer/network/etc related, I'll check NewEgg.com.

[pradabacon]

Okay, this thread is officially cracking me up now. http://bestsmileys.com/lol/1.gif

ETA: Kat, I'm testing anonymity on Amazon right now...will update in a bit.

[pradabacon]

Speaking of Amazon, anyone know if there's a way to write a review WITHOUT your name attached to it? I've wanted to review stuff on there, but it always wants to post my full name (first, middle initial, and last) that is attached to my account, and I really don't want my full name out there like that (I try to be as anonymous as possible on the 'net). I've seen other reviews that don't have the person's full name, but I don't know if that means they don't have their full name attached to their account, or if they found some way to use an alias.


Okay, everyone. I've just had a "Posting Anonymous Reviews on Amazon Experience" and it turned out pretty well.

I logged in at www.amazon.com and clicked on the "My Account" link. I then went all the way to the last section on my account's page to a section called "Personalization". I clicked on the link for "Your Public Profile" and filled out what information I wanted the public to see when I post anything on the site (including changing my real name to "Hootietoot").

Once that was accomplished, I wrote a review for the new case I recently bought for my Amazon Kindle 2. The review hasn't posted just yet, but I was able to preview it, and it indeed listed the reviewer as "Hootietoot". I have high hopes that when my review is posted, it will contain that information and no more.

Overall, I give my experience four stars. It would have been five, but they shouldn't make it so hard to post an anonymous review, as long as you have an Amazon.com account.

[lora410]

I got a kick out of it grew from shoulder to collarbone in 2 days :rollin:

[Kat]

Thanks hootie! I'll have to try that.

[pradabacon]

OMG, thatz awesome!!! :laugh:

[heatherdazy]

totalbeauty.com is worth checking out.

[jacqueline101]

I fell for one about hair plus growth shampoo.

[renia22]

Reading reviews before buying products is something I like to do too, and have also noticed certain websites are shady. makeupalley.com is my favorite as well, those reviews seems to be the most 'real' and you get honesty & detail. The online vitamin/ health food stores are good, but I've noticed luckyvitamin.com paraphrases reviews and ends up changing what you are trying to communicate. Not everyone gets detailed when they review products on some of those sites for some reason, so you do get a lot of "love it!" or "works great!" type of reviews (or my favorite, "haven't used it yet, but I'm sure I will like it!"). I do like drugstore.com, viewpoints.com & totalbeauty.com. If you are looking for fragrance reviews, basenotes.net is great. Although I don't use a lot of perfume, if I am thinking of getting a gift for someone, I like to read those reviews. The reviewers on that site get really detailed & creative and it makes it a little easier to visualize how fragrances come across to people in real life. But makeupalley.com is probably one of the best overall.

p.s. you guys are able to open the review section here? I keep getting an error message when I try to open it

[In2wishin]

p.s. you guys are able to open the review section here? I keep getting an error message when I try to open it

It is all tied in with the supposed upgrade: review and articles sections are still unavailable, just like email, adding new members, etc., etc., etc.

[renia22]

It is all tied in with the supposed upgrade: review and articles sections are still unavailable, just like email, adding new members, etc., etc., etc.

Thank you!!