Before I launch straight into today’s ‘flash review’ – or ‘crazed stream of consciousness’ as I think it has been nicknamed  – allow me to do a little scene-setting. It’s Thursday night (last night, if that’s not clear) and I have returned from my shoot with ‘slicked back’ hair. Not just slicked back, actually, I’d say that my hair has been Helmetised. It has been made into a solid helmet. If I tap on it, it sounds hollow. Which is worrying. Anyway, there’s enough product in my hair to sink a ship – the challenge, if I choose to accept and not just fall asleep face-down on the bed fully-clothed, is to remove all of said product whilst effectively repairing and moisturising my hair. It must be de-tangled, clarified and conditioned. Step forward the Friday Flash Review candidates; Gielly Green’s Repair shampoo and mask.

“Blimey. These look posh. Very nice packaging. Very nice indeed. This bath water is a bit hot – I think that my eyeballs are steaming up! No, that’s impossible. Oh – it’s just the cleansing oil that’s formed a film over my eyes.

[Rinse rinse splash splash]

Right, I can see again now. Nice packaging. Very nice in- I’ve said that already. It is nice though. Dark, sophisticated, luxurious, expensive. The shampoo looks like a bottle of melted Galaxy Caramel.  Let’s try a bit. I have hair in the shape of a helmet, so I’m guessing that I’ll need two or three goes with this one. Fancy shampoos – especially the ‘repair’ ones – never seem to be as good as plain old clear shampoo for getting rid of product.

What is this Gielly Green then? I have no idea! I like the name though, it sounds like a place in a children’s book. “The villagers gathered around the maypole on Gielly Green and unpacked their picnic hampers.” That kind of thing. Shampoo smells nice – a bit like cola bottle sweets, actually. There are no directions on the bottle, but I’m guessing that I just squeeze a little bit out and lather it into my hair. I shall soak my hair in the bathwater first.

Back! I’m lathering in that shampoo – it’s dissolving the helmet of product very nicely! The lather is rich and creamy and there’s plenty of it. Do you know, I think that this shampoo might do the job in just one wash? Amazing! It rinses out nicely. My hair doesn’t feel incredibly silky, but it doesn’t feel squeaky or knotty, which is something of a miracle. Usually a shampoo that cleans effectively after a beauty shoot tends to leave my hair a bit stripped and straw-like.

Repair mask. Where are the instructions? There are no instructions on the jar. Oh bloody hell. I’ll just leave it on for five minutes whilst I shave my back and so forth. (JOKE!) Hold on a pretty little second though… I can’t get the lid off! I shall have to call for emergency assistance.

[Three minute interval for lid removal and conversation that goes something like this: “Are you talking to yourself again?” “No!” “You were, you were rambling on about there not being instructions on the jar!” “Was not.” And so on.]

The lid is off – I repeat, the lid is off. Nice and very thick gold-coloured cream inside. I’m only going to take a little scoop of it with my fingers because it looks expensive. (I should say now that I have no idea how much either of these products cost – today’s Friday Flash Review is entirely unbiased as I know nothing whatsoever about the products. Whether or not this is a good thing, I don’t know…) Massaging the repair mask into the ends of my hair and halfway up the lengths, it really does rub in easily considering I used such a small amount of product. (Size of a gooseberry? Large grape?)

This bath is hot. My brain is frying. How long have I had this mask on? It could be thirty seconds, it could be thirty minutes. I really have no idea.

[Shout from downstairs: “three minutes.”]

Three minutes, that’ll do. I can’t take the heat any longer – I’m going to have to rinse.

[Rinsing process]

Rinses out very easily, my hair feels quite silky. Lush. I am now going to make sure that I dry my hair thoroughly before I go to sl..zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.”

Well, Dear Readers, that was the Friday Flash Review. I woke up this morning to hair that was pointing in every direction, but it was clean, soft and de-tangled hair. Not outrageously shiny, but I find that ‘repair’ products tend to strengthen rather than add shine. It’s more of a long-term investment than a short-term fix.

So, let’s do a bit of online research about Gielly Green, shall we? There’s music playing on their website, so we’ll put a mute on that straight away… there we go. Here’s what they say about their products:

“Our Boutique Collection is formulated from the world’s finest natural substances, handpicked for the unique care and qualities they deliver to the hair and scalp. Healthy hair is glamorous, sexy and sophisticated – and the art of creating this health is applying these natural substances in just the right amounts – and to focus on the health of the scalp as much as the hair.”

I’d agree with that – my scalp feels great! No itchiness, no tightness, no flakes.

“Using our hair know how and scientific background, we’ve combined Dead Sea ancient minerals with essential vitamins for healthy hair and scalps and three ancient and unique oils – Argan, Neem and Sea Buckthorn – to super-charge your hair.”

Ooooohhh. Nice. I like Argan Oil.

“Our products contain NO carcinogens, NO parabens, NO SLS and NO synthetic fragrances.”

Top marks, Gielly Green. (Gielly Green is a hair salon in Marylebone, by the way, not a place in a children’s storybook as I previously thought.) Prices? £16 for the shampoo and £29.50 for the mask – well that’s actually marvelous in my opinion! I thought that they would be quite a considerable amount more than that, taking into account the swish packaging and the gorgeous-smelling ingredients! Do you know what else? The mask is to be left on for 10-15 minutes or overnight for best results – if it was great after three minutes, just imagine what it could do overnight!

I shall get back to you on that one with a full update. This is, after all, the Friday Flash Review. First thoughts, initial reactions and all that. Can’t wait to see what else Gielly Green have got up their sleeves…

Gielly Green website is HERE.