When I was a teenager my hair slightly resembled an afro with curls framing my face and waves at the back. And it was all rather frizzy and dry. As you can imagine, I wasn’t too fond of my hair. Forward ten or so years, after bad dye jobs (instead of chocolate I ended up with raven black) and numerous hairstyles I finally settled on some style I am happy with. It’s not perfect, it’s a combination of being realistic about my hair, it’s merits and limitations, the budget and my laziness when it comes to styling. I am just not willing to wash it and straighten it every day. Plus, my hair being on the dry side, I just can’t afford to use the hot tools too much.
So I’m going to show you a few products that work for me … and some that don’t.
Redken – Smooth Down Heat Glide: protective smoother for very dry/unruly hair with macadamia oil
My hair is not that dry but can get frizzy and just having mind of its own to my annoyance. I was recommended this product and while I like it, I don’t love it. It’s a silicone based oil/serum that is designed for wet hair application followed with blow-dry. It’s supposed to make your hair manageable and smoothed. There is a few good things about this product: it does smooth your hair and make them less all-over-the-place and while it’s rather pricy, the bottle is 150ml and will last you forever. What it doesn’t do is taking a bit of the volume down and it feels like it doesn’t get absorbed by the hair and just kinda sits there a bit. Which is good as far as a protection from heat goes I suppose but it will not give you that super soft hair without ironing. The smell is very pleasant, not too strong, feels light and fruity. I like to use it just on my hair ends for smoothening and protection when blow-drying my hair. Also, it doesn’t defy humidity too well. It’s a good product for what I use it for now but I will not repurchase.
BEAD HEAD Tigi After Party – Smoothing cream fro silky, shiny, healthy looking hair
This one is to be used on dry hair as a final smoothing/styling item and for that it works perfect. Smells great (but rather strong) in that typical BH fashion, very fruity. It’s silicone based as well, doesn’t feel sticky. It’s quite rich and unless you have lots of hair combating frizziness I wouldn’t recommend it apart from using it for a special occasion. The 100ml bottle will also last you a while.
BEAD HEAD Tigi Smoothing Stuff
This cute little 50ml pink ball contains pinky pearly gel-cream that is loaded with fine shimmer. It should seal and smooth your split ends and give your hair extra shine. It does both but… it’s rather sticky and I feel like the gloss is looking artificial. It’s not a bad product, I will use it up but will not repurchase.
WellaProfessionals Boost Bounds – Curl Enhancing Mousse
While I am not fond of Wella hair care, I like a few of their styling products and this is one of them. Approximately a year ago Wella re-designed their entire styling range and I thought while the packaging looks better now, the actual product inside is the same. I loved their previous mousse for curl enhancing. It made my waves/curls defined and soft and that effect lasted 2 days for sure. It was perfect for days when I didn’t want to style my hair straight, especially in summer when I just wanted to wash my hair, condition, apply the mousse and let it dry naturally to beautiful soft curls. It was heaven for curls & waves. The new version, not so heavenly anymore. It’s still pretty good but my curls are slightly crispy to the touch and I cannot go my usual 2-3 days without washing as it makes my hair feeling dirty on the second day. What a shame.
Frederic Fekkai Glossing – Sheer Shine Mist
It gives beautiful gloss to your hair. Wow! It also smells absolutely terrible. Rotten plastic fish anyone? How could this pass the quality control and the nose of Mr.Fekkai is beyond me. Glossy locks are important but there are so many good glossing products on the market that do smell lovely, it’s anyone’s guess why would to pay so much money for … well, rotten marine fauna 😉
L’Oreal Professionnel Nature Serie – Masque aux huiles for rebellious hair
This mask is a part of L’Oreal’s line targeted for customers preferring natural ingredient based hair care without silicones and parabens. According to the ingredients list at the back there is olive and rice bran oil, also glycerin and some fatty acids. This mask truly makes my hair beautifully soft yet manageable, smooth, shiny. I don’t feel like it leaves a residue and I don’t need to wash my hair the next day. My only BUT – and you knew there had to be one, right? – is, yet again, the scent. Why does a natural mask have to smell like a spice rack? What is wrong with lemon or lavender essential oil? Or orange and mandarin? Or even vanilla? Why does it have to stink…er, sorry…smell like cinnamon and garam masala??? Ok, if you’re truly natural and hippie person that is used to earthy scents you may like it, but I don’t. I will use it up as it is a great hair mask and peg my nose in the process 🙂
Alverde Sensitiv Shampoo – with birch and sage extract
I’m sure my scalp would enjoy watching Itchy & Scratchy in the past as it was the only thing it could sometimes do. It can be horrible and I even scratched my scalp while sleeping. I have tried every pharmacy shampoo for sensitive and irritated scalp from Vichy, LaRoche, Bioderma etc to no avail. And then I thought I could give this drugstore shampoo a go since it’s so inexpensive ($2-3)and if it doesn’t work, so be it, no big loos (unlike with the previous brands). And surprisingly, it worked and still works. It’s silicone free, has a slightly jelly like texture and smells very herby (not unpleasant)…and it soothes my scalp like nothing I have ever tried. After second washing my scalp is itch free for weeks even months. I still can’t believe such an inexpensive drugstore product is so amazing. You can buy it Drogeriemarkt (DM) only as it’s their own natural line for hair,face, body and make-up.
BEAD HEAD Superstar – Conditioner for big massive hair
I got this from a dear friend and I cannot understand how this would give anyone volume. It doesn’t weight hair down but volume? I love it so I cannot imagine my friends aspiring for massive hair would find it helpful. It contains silicones and quite a few of them. Feels very creamy, smells great (strawberries & peach) and makes my hair nourished without overloading them. If I blow-dry my hair straight I can go 3 days easily without washing and without that sticky/oily/dirty feeling. My locks get glossy, smooth and soft. Is BH sure this one is for volume??
This are pictures of my hair washed with Alverde Sensitive Shampoo, conditioned with Bead Head Superstar, Redken Smooth down oil on the ends and Wella mousse applied all over my hair,dried naturally. Pictures are not perfect, I’m blaming my camera (iPhone) and hubby 😉
That’s all for now, next time I will post about my fave shampoo and conditioner. If you have any tips for products or styling my kind of hair or just want to ask anything about a particular product, feel free to do so in the comments. Happy Sunday!
All the pretty jars 