Spring has been outrageously unpredictable here in Colorado with snow coming at us only a few days before Memorial Day. The nerve! Thanks to all of the back and forth in temperature and my kids being sick, I fell ill recently and hadn’t felt up to doing my hair. Well, of course I was styling my hair but I hadn’t given it that much needed TLC it deserved. I knew that I was due for a deep conditioning treatment so I figured I would grab a couple of those conditioning packets while at the grocery store. I opted to buy the larger bottle since we’re heading into swimming season soon and my hair will need it then too. The product I’m talking about is the ORS Olive Oil Replenishing Conditioner.
This post may contain affiliate links which means I will make a commission on any product you buy through those links at NO EXTRA cost to you.
Oldie but Goodie
This product has been around forever so I tend to overlook it. It’s definitely been over a year since I used it last so I thought, “why not?” The product claims to, “Strengthen and Nourish,” because it contains olive oil, sweet orange oil and some proteins like panthenol & silk amino acids. I’ve always considered this product to be a light protein treatment because of the protein in it. I figured it was time for a protein boost since I used heat to straighten my hair last month. I wore it straight for a little over a week and could tell my curls were acting funny when I washed it again. You can read more about how to tell if you need a protein treatment in my previous post.
I hadn’t used this product in a while but I still reached for it because it worked for me in the past. One thing I noticed however is that it works best alone. What I mean by that is if you follow it with another conditioner it can lead to tangles. I did this a few times thinking it was the ORS Olive Oil conditioner’s fault. It was actually the fact that I tried to use my Aussie Moist conditioner right after for moisture. Big mistake! My hair became super tangled both times that I tried this. On my last attempt, I used the ORS conditioner alone and then rinsed it out. It left my hair soft and manageable without any major tangles.
Now that I know not to follow it with another conditioner, The ORS Olive Oil Replenishing conditioner works great for my hair. Honestly, it doesn’t actually need any other product to help with moisture because it has moisturizing ingredients already.
Should You Deep Condition With or Without Heat?
I opted to sit under my hooded dryer to add some heat to my deep conditioning treatment. After using heat to straighten my hair I always do this to intensify the results. The benefit of using heat, as opposed to letting it sit for an hour or so, is that the conditioner can penetrate deeper. The heat causes the cuticle layer of the hair shaft to open up which allows more product to absorb into the hair strands.
The package instructions state that you can use this product with heat for 10 to 15 minutes. It goes on to say that you can deep condition without heat for an hour or more. I don’t know about you, but wash day is already long enough, so I prefer to get it over with ASAP! That’s my other reason for using heat while I deep condition. It’s nice to deep condition for 10 minutes and get back to the business of doing my hair.
Normally I sit under a hooded dryer on medium heat. I bought my tabletop hooded dryer from Sally’s for about $40 bucks at the beginning of my hair journey and it has served me well. Another option would be to purchase a microwaveable heat cap. This sounds even more convenient because you don’t have to sit still while deep conditioning. Either way, using heat is the way to go.
Drugstore vs. High End
In comparison to the Joico K-pak Intense Hydrator conditioner I reviewed, I would say that this product is effective as well but much more affordable. The Joico product was a lot more luxurious though and gave me impressive results even without heat. It cost about twenty bucks while the ORS Olive Oil Replenishing conditioner is just under $5. Both products smell great and contain awesome ingredients. The drugstore ORS conditioner worked well and allowed my curls to bounce back. I say for five bucks it’s definitely worth a try.
I’m going to continue to try different deep conditioners in the coming months because I really want to retain more length this year. Stay tuned for more reviews!