Apvita: White Willow and Propolis Shampoo Review

As it's been touted as a huge fact around the hair care community for a while, it was very important to hair health that you don't use shampoos, or even just any general hair care products with a silicones in them, and you can find some sources on it here and here. Alternatively there are other sources that also suggest that once in a while, silcicones aren't actually too bad and can benefit your hair, at least also to make it look much better in the short term. If you prefer silicone free brands, this may be for you as Apivita is a brand that produces hair care products free of parabens, silicones, mineral oil, propylene gycol, ethanolamines, phthalates, PCM and NM. They also sell bottles which are made with 50% recycled material and are also recyclable, which I appreciate!

There are even a lot of more environmentally conscious opinions that we shouldn't be using shampoo at all (the 'no poo' method' )- but for me I'm not sure if I could handle not ever washing my hair or get past the initial stages of letting my hair react to not 'over washing' (which apparently takes 2-6 weeks). 

For me, and a lot of my other East Asian pals, most of us wash our hair at least once (or even twice) a day. While I've seen some of my Australian friends go without a whole week without washing and still having perfect and very fresh looking hair, I've once actually tried to shampoo less for all the 3 years of my extremely bleached out hair to not dry out my already dead hair, and in regards to my scalp,  that did not help me at all with the build up of oil, and I found myself losing a lot of hair on top of it (also the bleaching didn't help with scalp health either). In regards, you will probably see a big difference in advice from beauty magazines - most English/Western sources will encourage less washing of the hair, while most East Asian places often encourage more washing and also hair drying as well. I'm not totally sure if this comes down to any inherent difference, but I have noticed that my individual strands of hair are thicker than my friends who have blond/light brown hair, which might be a contributing difference to the difference in washing. 

While I've stopped coloring my hair entirely (3 years bleach free), for me, I've still got a really oily scalp, and my hair slicks up after one night of not washing. During winter months, it's a smidge better, but for me, I really can't go more than 24 hours without washing my hair. I've also never found a shampoo which actually helped my oily scalp, so when I found this Apivita shampoo, I wasn't really sure if it was going to help that much. I've tried a range of their shampoos before, such as their German chamomile and honey (gentle daily), Lavender and Honey - which smells much better as a conditioner (sensitive scalp), hyaluronic acid and aloe (moisturising), orange and honey (shine and revitalizing) and even the very promising nettle and propolis (oily roots and dry ends). 

I didn't find nettle and propolis, the oily roots and dry ends shampoo very effective at all, which makes sense, because it's impossible for you to ask one shampoo to both balance the oil on your head but also know which places to distribute the hydration to. 

Review: 

my beloved shampoo. 

Enter the white willow and propolis shampoo. Oh my life has changed, and how I love it. 

The official description for this shampoo: 

Normally the scalp exfoliates every 20-30 days. However, several factors such as hormonal imbalances, stress, pollution, mechanical or chemical effects and unsuitable shampoos unbalance the scalp flora promoting development of the microorganism Malassezia furfur, which in turn causes inflammation and intensive exfoliation. Celery seed natural extract is the main active ingredient in this line.It is clinically proven to hinder development of Malassezia furfur yeast and reduces flaking within the very first weeks. Make sure to use the APIVITA Anti-Dandruff Shampoo. It treats dandruff effectively, cleans and soothes itching and irritations of the scalp.

Fights dandruff and its causes effectively, while preventing its reappearance with natural salicylic acid and propolis extract. Regulates excessive sebum secretion, soothes irritations and itching, with Greek organic thyme and lavender extracts, cedar and geranium organic essential oils and celery. 

DERMATOLOGICALLY TESTED

Clinical study results*

Helps you go 1 extra day without shampooing (84%)

Fights oily dandruff effectively (100%)

Soothes itching sensation (100%)

Increases volume(100%) and smoothness (92%)

So, while I can't say there's anything totally remarkable about this scent (there are definitely nicer smeller scents from the shampoo lines) but I can agree that this formula has been amazing for me.

Regarding product amount - you don't need too much and it gets a decent amount of foam up, but you mostly need to concentrate on your scalp and just massaging it with the lather is fine. For me, I can actually use this shampoo and I'll be able to go the next day without wanting to scrub my scalp off- so that first point has definitely been proven to me. Now, I can go at least 48 hours in a dry climate feeling like I've got fresh hair with this shampoo, whereas usually it'll only last 24 hours with normal shampoos, and at least a day and a half in more humid climates, where as usually a day gets my hair all clogged up. 

I can attest that I've found that this helps with the build up of oil on my scalp, and as a result I've felt more comfortable with my hair generally, because it actually feels like it's targeted and stripped the oils a little better, so I'm not stuck with just oily roots and scalp - which also hurt after a while when you tie your hair too tightly. Out of all the options, as the no shampoo method hasn't really been too effective for me at all, I find this the best option for my ridiculously oily scalp and roots (although a more eco friendly option would be the ANSC shampoo bar). 

I'm currently on my 4th bottle (although I really wait for some solid sales to stock pile this shampoo) so it really shows you how much I love this shampoo, and while I don't usually stick to one product for a long time, I really haven't found a better alternative to this. 

More information on the back. 

While I can't really say I've ever experienced remarkable changes and differences with other shampoos before, I think this one is the only one I've found to be actually effective and good to use. 

I would definitely recommend this to people who have similar problems, especially with oily roots and scalp and haven't found a better solution besides sometimes dusting powder or dry shampoo, and I find this a much better alternative for hair health than the two alternatives.

Apivita's official site sells this for $12.8 EUR, and this retails for about $140 HKD at the official retailer in Faccess (and also some other shops dotted around Hong Kong.) 

I honestly can't recommend this enough if you can get it, and while it isn't necessarily the cheapest product, for me this has saved me a lot of oil free nights - especially because with normal shampoos I need to wash my hair twice to get the same effect, which saves me a lot of product as well. The only thing is I wish that they offered bigger bottles or a refillable option, but other than that, this is definitely one of my favorite shampoos. I also would recommend this one over my usual favorite (ANSC Shampoo bars), as this is easier to travel with, and shampoo bars often soak up water and don't dry properly when you travel.