Living Proof Sili-CLONE Restore Shampoo & Conditioner Review

I've broken up with silicones...

[unpaid/sample/affiliate/ad] It’s taken me a long time to love Living Proof – early iterations were not nearly as good as the products are now and since Unilever stepped in and bought the brand. Living Proof is a good example of how big corporations can make a success of a small brand by slowly growing it, using advanced technology that’s far more readily available at their richer fingertips than it would be for a brand still counting the pennies. Sili-CLONE has come in to great fanfare: it’s Living Proof’s alternative to silicone and more importantly than the absence of silicone is the ability of these formulas to not just clean the hair but to improve it, too.

I’m not that interested in hair care – too many claims for what feels like exactly the same formula, but it’s undergone a skinification and formulas now appear with ingredients that were never formerly used in something as workaday as shampoo. Polyricinoleic acid in the case of Living Proof conditioners and a sunflower based surfactant in the shampoos. It’s funny, but despite claiming ‘science backed, multi-sensory modifiers’ in the press release, I feel there’s something missing in the information I have. Often, the marketing department likes a sexy ingredient that they can use to blind us with science and I think maybe that’s what’s happened here because even having read it several times, I do not quite know what the ‘proprietary technology’ is. But, since I didn’t ever really have an issue with silicones – my hair loves silicones – and I can definitely tell just from using the products that they are better for the proprietary technology and do give your hair that swish and shine that silicone is so good at, I don’t think I really care.

I tried the Restore Shampoo and Conditioner aimed at repairing the look and feel of damage, although please note that the ‘leaves hair feeling stronger and protected’ is meaningless – a feel is not a cure. My hair is heavily bleached now – I’ve had to put maintaining the greys on hold for now thanks to a misunderstanding at the hairdresser where I was asked if I wanted it brighter and for some reason, I heard ‘greyer’ and said yes. So, until I go back for a root touch up, I can live with this very bright blond (and quite like it). I lost a lot of hair from Covid – it has never fully recovered – it’s much better but gosh, I thought the fall was never going to stop.

If I have any issues with my bleached hair, it’s that it goes a bit fluffy and can feel dry. With both Restore products (which I was hesitant to use because it sounds heavy and I am a reluctant thorough rinser and literally furious if it takes and age to get product out of my hair) I can, hand on heart, say that the results were way beyond expectations. Swish – yes! Fluffy – no! Sleek – yes! Soft – yes! Easy to rinse – yes! Dry- no! I mean, what more could you possibly want? The products aren’t cheap – near enough £30 a bottle (you pay less for gin) but there are smaller bottles available and I’d recommend, through an abundance of caution, that you start there because they’re £14 each HERE.