Sunsilk Anti-Flat VS. Herbal Essences Body Envy Shampoo

All shampoo is the same right? With so many brands on the market today, it might be easy to think that. A lot of brands even offer solutions to "problems" such as dandruff, flat hair, or lack of shine, but even that doesn't make them unique. For example, Sunsilk, Aussie, Head and Shoulders, Herbal Essences, Aveda, Alberto VO5, and Dove all offer "volumizing" shampoos. With packaging, price, and scent often being similar, it can be hard to tell many brands apart.

Sunsilk and Herbal Essences both have many different varieties of shampoo, it seems. But looks closer and you can see how alike their varieties are. These include Body Envy (Herbal Essences) and Anti-Flat (Sunsilk), Straighten Up (Sunsilk) and Dangerously Straight Pin Straight (Herbal Essences), Hydra TLC (Sunsilk) and Hello Hydration (Herbal Essences), None of Your Frizzness (Herbal Essences) and De-Frizz (Sunsilk). There are several more examples, but you get the idea. They each have products with cute names, but they basically all do the same job. Their retail prices are comparable. Are there really any differences?

Unilever's Sunsilk Anti-Flat shampoo sounds promising. The bottle proclaims, "Turns blah into body and bounce." The bottle also advertises, "With collagen-C". Well, that sounds great. Or it might, if I had even the slightest clue what it was. Obviously it's supposed to be something good for your hair, but beyond that, does the average consumer know (or even care)? (In case you're as clueless as me, apparently collagen-C makes one's hair shinier. But don't ask me what it's made of, you don't want to know. Believe me.) On the back of Sunsilk's unattractive yellow bottle (I dislike yellow, sure, but that's not the only reason I find the bottle unattractive; I also don't care for the rounded top) is more text that screams, "I'm exciting! Use me!" Actually, it's more like a whisper. "Is your hair making you feel blah? Sunsilk will pick you up with Anti-Flat Shampoo. Formulated with Collagen-C, it will take your hair from blah to full of body and bounce." I had actually assumed all of that from the front of the bottle, but I guess they had to put something on the back.

Enough about appearances. You may be wondering if it actually works. Good question, but we're not there yet. Remember that rounded top I didn't care for in the last paragraph? It's also not fun to open. Not that opening shampoo is supposed to be fun, but I don't need to spend five minutes attempting to do so while in the shower. Although the flip-top has the appearance of being easy, it's actually not. It's not terribly difficult, but I do believe it shouldn't be quite so hard just to get some shampoo. Now onto the scent. I don't believe it's describable. It's not necessarily unpleasant, but it's not something I want to be smelling for any length of time. Luckily, the scent doesn't stay long after you shampoo. Although a long-lasting scent is usually something I want, I think I need to thank Sunsilk for this.

So does Sunsilk Anti-Flat actually work? Well, yes. It doesn't do anything amazing, but my hair does seem a little shinier and a little less "blah" after using it. Personally, I think the best thing it has going for it is the fact that I can't smell it for long after I use it. If that's the only thing you can like about a shampoo, there's probably something wrong. Is it better than Herbal Essences? Let's see.

Clairol's Herbal Essences Body Envy volumizing shampoo has a modern-looking package. It's attractive. The front of the bottle says, "with a fusion of white nectarine & pink coral flower". Like collagen-C, I may not know what they are, but at least they sound good! The bottle also states, "get a lift in all the right places". (What, shampoo does plastic surgery too? Somehow I think the price would be a little higher if that was the case.) The back of the bottle is fun. "I'll show you the difference between body and big hair", it proclaims, "It's all about body with my weightless formula fused with white nectarine & pink coral flower. This exhilarating clean will lift you up. And my fresh lather will leave you with lush, full volume that moves naturally. Think it's uplifting? Try my conditioner." Other than the fact that a talking shampoo would be creepy, the text doesn't sound unbelievable or over the top. In fact, the shampoo itself seems lighter than Sunsilk's, so their "weightless formula" is easy to believe.

Herbal Essences products also have "herbal head games" on the back of them. This would be better if there was more variety, but the questions are the same for each kind, since one has to look at the conditioner to find the answer. Body envy's question is "What is the most popular sport played in nudist colonies?" (So you don't feel the need to rush out and buy the conditioner, I'll tell you: volleyball.)

Unlike Sunsilk's bottle, the Herbal Essences bottle is easy to open. A push-top as opposed to a flip-top seems to make all the difference. Also unlike Sunsilk, I adore the Herbal Essences scent. Is it that "fusion" of white nectarine & pink coral flower? Who knows. It's a light fruity and flower-like scent. It could even be described as "fresh". And the best part? It can be smelled even hours after it's been used! It's strong, but not overpowering.

Herbal Essences Body Envy does what it advertises: adds volume. It also leaves hair manageable, shiny, feeling clean, and healthy-looking. And did I mention that scent?

Do I think there's a clear winner in this battle? Yes! Although Sunsilk isn't terrible, it's just not as good as Herbal Essences. I'm disappointed because Sunsilk has fun commercials that are memorable (if Herbal Essences has been advertising their stuff lately they need to work on their presentation because I can't remember seeing anything from them), but that obviously doesn't translate into the product. Each product was tested under the same conditions and same conditioner (Dove's Beautiful Care, in case you're wondering), and Herbal Essences Body Envy certainly came out on top. I would recommend it to any woman (or any guy who's into a fruity scent).