Archive for the ‘Hair Care Products’ Category

Hello my darlings!

I know I’ve been absent for a bit, but this flu season has struck me with a vengeance so it’s been hard to keep up with my beauty blogging duties. I’m back to 100% now, so expect an onslaught of posts in the coming weeks as I get caught up on the pile of products that has taken over an entire corner of my already teeny apartment. Up first, however, is the matter of my favorite products for the month of January. A few of these will come as no surprise to you as I’ve been raving about them incessantly (L’oreal Total Repair 5, perhaps?), so check out the video below and see what made the cut!

Products mentioned in this video:

Disney Cinderella Collection Storylook Palette
Price:$55
Get it: Sephora.com

L’oreal Total Repair 5 System
Price: $4.99 (shampoo & conditioner), $7.99 (Damage Erasing Balm), $7.99 (Restorative Dry Oil)
Get it: Drugstores

Mariah Carey by OPI Nail Polish – A Butterfly Moment
Price: $8.99
Get it: Ulta stores

Yes to Grapefruit Correct & Repair Brightening Facewipes
Price: $6.99
Get it: Drugstores

Benefit Total Moisture Facial Cream
Price: $38
Get it: Benefit, Sephora, Ulta

Rarely do I say this about a product so soon after purchasing it, but OMFG I am in looooooove with the L’Oreal Total Repair 5 collection. In all the time I’ve been in Curl Rehab – about 3 months now- my hair has never been this healthy and amazing. So amazing in fact I’ve been swinging my tresses around all day like Kelly LeBrock in the old school Pantene commercials. Or Beyonce in, well, any music video she’s ever made.

I bought this instead of my usual Pantene Pro-V the other night for the sake of trying something new, but I have to admit my expectations were low. My hair is pretty picky and tends to reject anything that isn’t Pantene Moisture Renewal, but as I showered yesterday morning I quickly realized that would not be the case this time around. Since Walgreen’s was out of the shampoo, I started with the Restoring Conditioner ($4.99). This may sound strange to some of you, but I tend to only shampoo a few days a week and use just conditioner the rest to retain the moisture in my already dry and damaged curly hair. After using the conditioner and leaving it in for three minutes as indicated on the bottle, I immediately noticed my hair felt softer. I then moved on to the Damage Erasing Balm ($6.99), that’s so rich and creamy it feels more like body lotion than a hair treatment.

By the time I applied my product and dried my hair, it looked much shinier than it had when I stepped in the shower. The ends even looked smoother and healthier. Best of all, my curls looked almost completely back to normal! *cue Beyonce hair flips*

Check out the video below for more info and stay tuned for updates as I continue on my healthy hair/curl rehab journey!

Update: I found the Restorative Shampoo and Multi-Restorative Oil tonight at Ulta, so I’ll have a separate review of those items up soon!

Since Influenster sent me these products for review, I’ve been a little on the fence about using them for several reasons. First – Head & Shoulders treats dandruff, which I don’t have and second, the few times I used it in the past (I’m talking like, yeeears ago) it was very drying. I decided to give it a go anyway since the formula is supposed to be great for damaged hair, which I’ve been dealing with since the color correction I had a few months ago. Plus, all the handy dandy literature that came in the box was pretty convincing.

I (reluctantly) used both the shampoo and conditioner this morning and was surprised at how good they smell more than anything. I generally associate dandruff shampoo with smelling very medicinal, but this smells like peaches. I’m also surprised by how creamy and moisturizing the conditioner is – I almost forgot it was Head & Shoulders for a minute. While I like what I see so far, the information card says hair is noticeably stronger and healthier after four uses, so that remains to be seen,

I’ll keep you guys posted, but so far so good.

MY CURLS ARE BAAAAAACK, AAAAAAAAAAAH! I’m sorry, I apologize for the caps-lock rage. I’m just too damn excited to type in normal-case.

When last we talked hair, I was super sad about losing my natural, spiral curls as a result of the color stripping I did to remove the black dye from my hair. I had made peace with the fact I would have to wear my hair straight until the damaged parts grew out, but that all changed after a late-night trip to Walgreen’s. As I was perusing the isles I stumbled across this Curl Activator by Twisted Sista that quite literally transformed my hair back to it’s original state. When they say “activator,” they mean it!

I bought this amazing product – originally created in the UK – for just $4.99 and have since bought every tube in the Bay Area. No, seriously. I love it so much every time I go to a Walgreen’s, I buy ALL of it. Yes, I’m that obsessed.

So, before I send you all off to watch the video below and see my curls in all their splendor, let me give you a quick rundown of how I used this product:

Step 1: I washed my hair and conditioned it with the new Pantene Keratin infused conditioner, then applied a little Aussie Instant Freeze Gel just prior to getting out of the shower.

Step 2: I then let my hair air dry a bit as I did my makeup and chose my outfit for the day

Step 3: After sectioning my hair into 8 equal parts, I smoothed the product into each individual section then dried with a diffuser on low heat

And just like magic, my hair was curly again! Check out the video below for all the details and stay tuned for more updates as I continue on my healthy hair journey.

I’ve been dying my hair black for about two years and up until now I’ve been faithful to Perfect 10 hair-color by Nice n’ Easy. On a whim I decided to try out this one despite my bad experience with other foam hair-colors, only because my past experiences with John Frieda products have been great so I figured the hair dye would be no different. And I was right – this stuff is amazing!

The color on the box looks pretty true to how my hair color actually came out. I selected color 2A Luminous Blue Black, as I tend to go for the darkest, most intense black I can find. It makes my eye color pop, looks great in pictures and I can pretty much wear any makeup I want with it.

The box (which costs anywhere from $11.00-14.00) contains a bottle of developer, the color itself, a pump to use with the squeeze bottle (to dispense the foam), gloves and a tube of conditioning treatment.

In addition to being an awesome product, these are hands down the best gloves I’ve ever found in a box of hair-dye. Often times the latex is too thin or too porous so the dye seeps through and the gloves tear – but these are super sturdy. Which I particularly appreciated because I had just gotten my nails done.

While I still love my Perfect 10, this one wins out because the foam is so easy and mess-free to apply. I’ll update in a few weeks to see how the color has help up, but so far, so good!

Final Verdict: Love it.
Price: $11-14 depending on where you get it
Get it: Drugstores, but you’ll find it cheapest at Target and Ulta