The rising gas prices have really started to cut into my beauty budget. In order to find hair care products that don’t cost me an arm and a leg I have enlisted the help of my fellow Beauty Chatter, Leeann. To be honest, we have tried our fair share of shampoo and conditioners, and there are some pretty good ones out there, but they are pricey.

We needed to find something affordable, and readily accessible. We did not want to have to drive all over town, or pay shipping to get it. Enter our local drug stores. There are mass amounts of hair care products located at these stores that I had no idea existed! Now we just need to find one that really works.

Leeann and I have different types of hair; mine is short and thick and hers is long and normal, but both are color treated (who doesn’t these days). After learning about L’Oreal’s latest line from Total Beauty, we decided to check the products out. Leeann tried the Vive Pro Color Care Shampoo and Conditioner, and I tried the Vive Pro Nutri-Gloss Shampoo, Conditioning treatment, and the Studio Line Perfect Fix Finishing Hairspray.

Each shampoo cost about $4.69, the conditioner was about $4.99, and the hairspray was about $4.99.

Not bad, and you can find all of them at your local stores. Here is what Leeann and I thought of these L’Oreal products:

Leeann: “While the price tags on these products are fabulous, I can’t say that my hair was after using them. If I use the shampoo and conditioner, then blow dry immediately, the results are fine — a nice look and smell. However; if I wash my hair and let it air dry overnight, the result is a greasy mess. In fact, that’s what I did last night and today my hair feels a bit dirty.”

Denice: “This is a great shampoo and conditioning treatment for girls on a budget. It gets the job done. I followed the directions on the conditioning treatment perfectly; I left it on for exactly 3 minutes. When I dried my hair, I thought “WOW! It was so soft and manageable!” I had no dry frizzed ends, and it felt silky smooth. It even smells great. Now that I am on a beauty budget, I will definitely be switching my hair care.”

Let us know what you are doing with your beauty budget!

photo credit: walgreens.com and PlasticSurgery.com