The past few months I have partnered with Formulate to bring you a giveaway of Formulate shampoo and conditioner. Before I was willing to offer you the products, I wanted to give it a try myself. So, since January, I have been using Formulate and tracking my experience in my bullet journal. Further, I will be sharing more about the product and my experience using it through my bullet journal. Read to the end to enter the giveaway!
Info: I received Formulate free of charge and have agreed to share the product with my audience. However, these words are my own and my sincere and honest opinion of the product. duct.
What is Formulate?
Formulate is a company which personalized shampoo and conditioner based on your hair, your needs, and your environment. You even get to choose the scent and the strength of the smell!!
Further, they collect information using an incredibly user-friendly website and questionnaire. Formulate even has an awesome app!
One natural concern using a product like Formulate is that they don’t always get it right the first try, this is normal (and even happened to me). However, formulate is aware of this and they offer to fix this and send you a new formula based on feedback from your first one!
And to top it all off, Formulas are sulfate free, paraben free, dye free, preservative free, and cruelty free!!
My Formulate Formula
Before we get into the formulas, it's essential that I tell you what I wanted from my formulas. Choosing the perfect formula is particularly tricky in my case because my hair is particularly tricky. I have incredibly dry hair, but also, very oily skin, so I battle this regularly, I found a fix in middle school and had just stuck to the same shampoo and conditioner since (over ten years!).
In addition to my naturally complicated hair, I have a perm. So, my hair is even dryer from the perm chemicals. Because of my perm but naturally very straight hair, I was conflicted on how to describe my hair.
Formula #1
My original thought was that I would want curl enhancement, oil control, volume, anti-frizz, and strength. Then, I described my hair as blonde, medium thickness, oily, wavy, shoulder-length, and not-sensitive.
You can view my exact formula in the image below.
EPSON MFP image 
EPSON MFP image
Formula #2
As I mentioned previously, I had a formula redo. My main concern with my first formula was dryness, so we made a second formula to tackle that problem. For this formula, I wanted deeper conditioning, anti-frizz, less volume, less curl definition, and more strength.
You can view my exact formula in the image below
EPSON MFP image 
EPSON MFP image
Tracking Formulate Journey in my Bullet Journal
I decided to keep track of my Formulate journey in my bullet journal. For this layout, I wanted it to be like a journal or diary. I created a straightforward set-up with a header in the way of the Formulate logo in gold to match my 2019 theme. Then to the side are boxes which include details about my formula. I used a new page when I got my second formula but kept the layout similar. I then proceeded to journal my experience. You can read my journal entries below or in the images; I will then summarize my experience.
Formula #1 Entries
Day 1: Smells fantastic! Not as sudsy as I usually experience and a different texture to the conditioner that I am used to – not bad, just different. Eager to see how it dries overnight.
Day 2: Hair is a tad dry and stringy; I may not have rinsed well? Curl good and still frizzy, shedding a lot.
Day 4: I love the scent, but my boyfriend says it smells bad after my hair dries sometimes. Hair is drier than I prefer – talk to formulate about that.
Day 6: I tried not rinsing as thoroughly to combat dryness, hair dried oily looking and stringy.
Day 7: Washed again, back to dry and stringy. I used to have this problem, need to up the moisturizing in my formula.
Day 10: Getting new formula so my hair isn’t so dry.
Day 11: No wash = extra greasy. Perhaps the conditioner is too moisturizing.
Day 15: Using 4 pumps seems a bit less dry but is more stringy.
Formula #2 Entries
Day 1: Hair is more moist. Love the scent! I am excited to see how my hair adapts in the next few days.
Day 3: Huge difference! My hair is going back to normal. Still a tad dry, could be the weather and space heater I use.
Day 5: Loving the new formula! Much better! Not stringy anymore, softer! I am amazed at the turn around of the second formula.
Day 6: Added a pump of my old conditioner because of my super dry office, made a slight difference.
Final Opinion
“Like any other custom product, especially one so different from what my hair is used to, it takes some time to adjust properly. I will likely up moisture even more in my next formula, but tat is not a bad of the company. They are amazing!”
I love custom products, but they require some level of patience because they take time and trial and error to perfect. That being said, formulate was amazing to work with through the process and they were on top of requesting feedback to make my next formulas even better.
In addition to fantastic customer service and an excellent custom product, their website and app are gorgeous and super user-friendly! Excellent Customer service is so crucial since their product requires a lot of feedback from the customer.
I recommend Formulate. However, I suggest that if you do use the product you are patient as the first formula may not hit the spot perfectly. Enter my giveaway to get the product free! product free!
