Orlando Pita Argan Hair Care Collection

Pros: Wonderful scent, hair feels amazing
Cons: Sometimes unavailable at my usual outlet
My hair.

My hair is difficult.  It’s finicky.  The slightest provocation and it’s weighed down.  Heavy.  Limp.  Or, conversely, it’s dry, frizzy, full of static.
My hair can be weighed down, limp, AND full of static simultaneously.  Because it’s just that cool.
So I spend more time (and money) than I should trying to find products that leave my hair clean, soft, and not crazy-Einstein-looking.  It’s a surprisingly difficult task, because my hair adapts.  A shampoo or conditioner that might work great now will STOP working within a couple of weeks.

Usually.
Thus far (three months in), Orlando Pita’s Argan Gloss Haircare Collection is keeping my hair in line.  I admit, I’m surprised.
I came to this product in a roundabout way.  I had picked up a cheaper Organix version of the product and, while I liked the smell, I was neither impressed nor horrified by the results.  Average, with unimpressive ingredients.  But I kept eyeing the Orlando Pita version, wondering what something a bit pricier would do.

A lot, it turns out.
This collection includes shampoo and leave-in oil.
The shampoo is pretty standard-looking, in an average 13 ounce flip-top bottle.  Not the nasty pearlized stuff that screams cheap, but just shampoo.  It lathers well, but not excessively, and contains MOST of the usual suspects, though it is paraben and SLS-free.  Included about dead center in the list of unpronounceables are Argania Spinosa Kernel Oil, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil, Persea Gratissima (Avocado) Oil, and Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Flower Extract.  The shampoo rinses well and leaves a nice scent on the hair (seems vaguely coconutty and more strongly almond/cherryish).  It leaves hair clean but not stripped-feeling.

The leave-in oil (aka Rejuvenating Hair Treatment Oil) comes in a smallish (3 ounce) screw top bottle.  I have to say, without reservation, that I have NEVER used a leave-in oil that worked this well.  Not a bit of greasiness (always a fear with oils) or weight, no tacky feeling or limpness.  This stuff is magical in my hair.  I use this on days I DON’T use the conditioner—I can’t imagine using both at the same time.  Ingredients-wise, this stuff doesn’t trouble me, and the ingredients list goes lovely just three substances in: Argania Spinosa Kernel Oil, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil, Persea Gratissima (Avocado) Oil, Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Flower Extract, Fragrance (Parfum), Coumarin, Linalool.   That last ingredient, Linalool, is a naturally occurring terpene, and, while some folks can be sensitive/allergic, I don’t consider it a troubling ingredient.  And the Coumarin?  Makes my heart sing!  You know that smell of fresh-mown hay?  Doesn’t smell like hay at all, but a sweet, heady scent that only comes after hay’s been mown and is drying in the sun?  That’s coumarin, a chemical found in a number of perfumes (if it contains tonka beans, vanilla grass, sweet woodruff, sweet grass, cassia cinnamon, sweet clover, or deertongue, it’s got coumarin).  Coumarin is also synthesized and used as a blood thinner, but I’m not looking to drink it.   On my hair?  It makes my hair soft and manageable AND goes well, scent-wise, with my Unforgivable perfume, also a coumarin-containing product.
As a set, this is a great collection.  I do, however, have to say that I haven’t found these products to produce particularly “glossy” hair.  It’s about as shiny as it ever was.  Well, except when I was 17, and of course EVERYTHING was shinier at 17, right?
And complaints?
Only two.  The shampoo bottle’s flip-top lid is fiddly and sometimes doesn’t want to close easily, and the leave-in oil bottle is open-topped, i.e., no “drizzler” or spout to prevent spills.  If I knock it over after pouring some in my hand, it’ll run out in a half-second.  A drizzler top would have been better.
And that’s that, except for one thing, and I know I’m shooting myself in the foot here: get it at Costco if you can.  Almost half the price for the same product.  Problem is, Costco is hot and cold when it comes to stock—they might have it, they might not.  If they do, snap it up, because, while it’s worth $29.98, it’s nicer at $15.00.
 
Note:  there is also a , also available at Amazon (or, if you’re lucky, Costco) in a large pump-bottle.  The conditioner is a flat white.  It’s not waxy or greasy feeling, and it distributes easily.  It does take more effort to rinse than average conditioners, and my hair never feels quite fully rinsed.  A feeling reminiscent of some salon conditioners.  That does not translate to greasy or weighed down hair.  In fact, my hair feels very soft AND very clean when dried, and doesn’t look limp or sad.  Again, the usual suspects, ingredients-wise (though no parabens), with these gems pretty close to the top of the list: Argania Spinosa Kernel Oil, Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Flower Extract, Persea Gratissima (Avocado) Oil, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, and Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil.  The coconut scent is much more pronounced here, but I find that very pleasant.