We purchased the Monday Haircare Shampoo & Conditioner for our writer to put to the test. Keep reading for our full, hands-on product review.
The Bottom Line
For anyone who wants to elevate their haircare routine without springing for a luxury brand, Monday Haircare is a wonderful option. The products are high quality, give hair a lightweight, glossy look, and the bottles look super cute in your shower, too.
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When you wash your hair as often as I do, spending a lot of money on shampoo and conditioner can feel like money down the drain—literally. However, when you venture into the world of budget haircare, you do so at your own risk. Cheap haircare can be anything but cheerful, often leaving hair feeling dried out, weighed down, and generally lackluster. So, forgive me if I’m a snob, but I approached Monday Haircare’s Gentle Shampoo and Volume Conditioner with a cynical eye.
But right off the bat, I could tell that these were not your typical drugstore shampoo and conditioner. Even the chic, pink packaging is designed to elevate this range above its budget shelf-mates. I’ll get into the specifics, but the TLDR is that I was pleasantly surprised, even shocked, by this affordable haircare range.
Read on for my full review.
What We Like
- Affordable
- Gorgeous packaging
- Clean, shiny hair results
What We Don’t Like
- Some questionable ingredients
- Annoying pumps
The Facts
Monday Haircare Gentle Shampoo
- Best For: Sensitive scalps
- Can Be Used For: Straight, wavy, curly, and coily hair types
- Cruelty Free? Yes
- Price: $6 – $18, depending on where you shop
Monday Haircare Volume Conditioner
- Best For: Fine and oily hair types
- Can Be Used For: Straight, wavy, curly, and coily hair types
- Cruelty Free? Yes
- Price: $6 – $18, depending on where you shop
About The Brand
Founded in 2018 by New Zealand entrepreneur Jaimee Lupton, Monday Haircare is based on the premise of making high-quality haircare more inclusive. The brand has a full range of shampoos and conditioners to address different hair concerns, all in that cute, retro pink packaging.
Monday Haircare splits its shampoo-conditioner duos into ranges. Currently, there are four: Smooth, Moisture, Gentle, and Volume. I tried the Gentle shampoo and Volume conditioner, proving you really can mix and match for your perfect haircare pair.
About My Hair: Long, color-treated, and straight
My hair is naturally pretty easygoing. It’s fine, but I have a lot of it, both in terms of individual strands and in terms of length. However, I dye my hair red at home, which does incur some level of damage, which I try to counter with my haircare routine.
I also swim in a chlorinated pool most days, so I wash my hair a lot. This means the shampoo and conditioner I choose are extremely important to me. The shampoo needs to be effective enough to properly clean, while the conditioner needs to help repair and protect my poor locks. I also want to be able to leave my hair to air dry without frizz or lankness, as I’m not interested in causing extra heat damage on top of what I’ve done with the box dye and the swimming pool!
Which is where Monday Haircare comes in. From the jump, I was impressed by the packaging, but the user experience and final hair results also exceeded my expectations. Gentle enough to use every day, but effective enough to get the job done, this line is that rare unicorn – haircare with a drugstore price but a high-end performance.
The Gentle Shampoo Feel: Foamy and Cleansing
The Gentle shampoo comes out of the bottle feeling fairly standard-issue—but a little goes a long way in terms of lather. It dispenses as a pearly, gel-like liquid, but upon contact with the hair, it begins to grow. The product foams up nicely, which is particularly impressive when you consider that this is a sulphate-free formula! It feels cleansing on the scalp but doesn’t leave hair feeling stripped and squeaky. Instead, you’ll just feel nice and clean.
The Volume Conditioner Feel: Lightweight and Silky
Monday’s Volume Conditioner is packed with hydrating yet lightweight ingredients and feels creamy and soft. Even though it has a more lightweight texture, it doesn’t feel thin or watery at all. It seems designed to deliver a proper dose of hydration, but one which rinses out easily and without adding any excess weight to the hair.
One slight grievance of mine is the pump action. While pumps can be a quick and handy way to get the product out of a bottle, I found this one took a long time to come back up after being pressed down. If you want a fair few pumps of conditioner, as I do, this means the product retrieval process can be a little longer than you may like, which is a little frustrating.
The Results: Glossy, Bouncy hair
After washing with the Monday Haircare Gentle Shampoo and Volume Conditioner, my hair felt clean and soft. My scalp was calm and non-irritated, and my locks felt soft and strong but without any extra weight.
To offer some extra hydration and protection, I applied the Davines OI Oil to my tresses before air drying. I was super happy with the result – shiny, soft, and bouncy hair, without any lankness or signs of grease.
The Scent
To use the term ‘fruity-floral’ is to do a disservice to Monday Haircare’s signature scent—although it is sort of accurate. Most drugstore shampoos have a synthetic and cheap fragrance that marks them out as a more affordable product. Monday’s range has a more refined, luxurious feeling scent, named by the brand as gardenia.
Nonetheless, it’s a sweet and clean smell that should agree with all noses. The scent is also fairly lightweight, meaning you experience an enjoyably fragrant shower but without the aroma lingering for too long in your hair after rinsing.
The Ingredients: Pretty Impressive
Monday Haircare’s entire range is designed to showcase high-quality ingredients on a budget. All Monday products are paraben- and SLS-free, making them safe to use on colour-treated or damaged hair. However, if you have a particularly sensitive scalp, it could be worth doing some extra research on the ingredients of the line you choose.
Monday Haircare’s Gentle range is formulated with nourishing and supportive ingredients such as shea butter, coconut oil, vitamin E and provitamin B5. The brand’s Volume line is packed with skincare-inspired ingredients, including coconut oil, ginger root, and panthenol.
The Value: Incredible
The price point of the Monday Haircare Gentle Shampoo and Volume Conditioner offers amazingly good value. The regular sizes of the shampoos and conditioners come in at 12 fluid ounces, which is not meagre by any means. These bottles retail for around $8 each, depending on where you shop.
But where the truly unbeatable value comes into play is when you look at the bigger, salon sizes. These hefty bottles are a whopping 30 fluid ounces each, and retail for around $15 a pop. Stacking these two big bottles in your shower will have your hair-washing needs taken care of for months at a time. And just because the products are cheap, it does not mean you’re skimping on your hair. Monday Haircare delivers champagne results on a lemonade budget.
Similar Products: Gentle Shampoos and Volume Conditioners
The Seen Haircare Skin-Caring Fragrance-Free Shampoo is another great option for cleansing hair without causing any irritation to the scalp. It’s dermatologist-tested to ensure it will not irritate the scalp, but still delivers on clean and shiny hair, wash after wash.
The OGX Biotin & Collagen Conditioner is a great conditioner option for thin or fine hair that can get weighed down easily. It fortifies hair with hydrolyzed wheat and B vitamins to plump each individual strand, giving locks a serious boost.
The Final Verdict
For anyone looking to upgrade their hair routine without springing for pricier products, I really do think Monday Haircare is hard to beat. These enormous pink bottles have earned a permanent place in my shower, and every time I look at them, I feel happy. And that’s not all—my hair is happy, too.
The Specifications
- Brand: Monday Haircare
- Product Name: Gentle Shampoo and Volume Conditioner
- Price: $6 – $18 each depending on which size you go for.
- Size: 30 oz. each