Have you ever had the experience of using your favorite products, and realizing that they’re not working as well as they once did for you? That’s always disappointing, but sometimes your skin or hair can just get too used to a product, and you need to try something new. Whether you’re looking for luxurious products to protect your color, clever multi-taskers, dry shampoo that’s invisible and you don’t have to brush out, or a super-powerful hair spray that holds almost instantly, The Advice Sisters have suggestions that can make your (Hair Beauty) routines a lot easier!
fabulous products for all hair types, tailor made for the sybarite
Colored hair is like a bouquet of cut flowers, at first vibrant and lovely to look at, but that beauty and the color fades quickly. You can prolong the life of the color with products and these can be purchased in a variety of price points, but some are more effective than others and some are more delightful than others. When it comes to Shu Uemura Art of Hair Color Lustre Collection, designed specifically for color treated hair to keep it from fading, and to keep it shiny and beaut iful, the products are high end, and as you might expect from Shu Uemura, they have more than one unique ingredient. Before I go into the products in more detail (I tried three of these: Shampoo, Conditioner, and Thermo-Milk) I’d like to give you the bottom line first. The products are not just ordinary cleansers, conditioners and hair masques. Consider a routine chore turned into a pampering experience. The bottles look beautiful (sleek, shiny red almost like Japanese Lacquer), the scent is subtle. The company mixes high tech with a unique ingredient that’s been around since the 16th Century!
Refining Lipids help to restore the hair’s natural varnish and protect from color fade and damage but the star ingredient in these products is musk rose oil which is used in a lot of beauty products because it helps boost cellular regeneration and epidermal suppleness. Musk rose oil, extracted from the musk rose tree, is rich in fatty acids that deeply nourish the hair fiber and people have known about it’s properties since the 16th century. There is something romantic about the intersection of biotech and botanicals, don’t you think? The shampoo has a faint floral scent with actual top, middle and bottom notes Top notes of Mandarin, grapefruit, black-currant, cardamon essence, Heart of rose, freesia and violet and base of sandalwood, musk and vanilla). It lathers up a frothy cloud although you don’t need a lot of product.
I’ve already told you about the lipds and musk rose oil, but there’s also Goji Berry Extract, a natural anti-oxidant so delicate they they must be harvested carefully by shaking them free from the trees so as not to crush them. It’s the Goji Berry extract that protects hair color from fading and oxidation. The Conditioner is no less lovely and the Thermo Milk is a powerful, leave-in conditioner to use before blow drying and heat styling for added protection and even more shine. In fact, all of these products emphasize the words “glaze” and “shine” and yes you do get plenty of healthy looking shine, but my hair was also amazingly silky. No doubt the treatment masque is equally luxurious. Whether your hair color is from the drugstore or from a high priced salon, you want it to last and more importantly you want it to look shiny, healthy and beautiful. These Shu Uemura products promise that they’ll help you accomplish that goal, and yes, they do deliver!
Check out the entire collection on the Shu Uemura Art of Hair Web Site
clever multi-taskers that simplify your hair cleansing routine
These days there are plentyh of shampoos and conditioners. Most are pretty UNremarkable, but three that are pretty UNbelieveable are from UNwash. It is UNfunny when you purchase something to cleanse your hair, and the product promises that your hair will be shiny, bouncy, and feel clean, but then you quickly realize that your new bottles of shampoo and conditioner make your hair limp and no matter how many times you re-try, your hair still doesn’t really look or feel clean or all that great. When I was told about the UNwash products, I honestly felt that they’d be just another gimmick. When I tried them, I was hooked. The unewash products are trulyh a new way to look at cleaning your hair. They’re multi-tasking, appropriate for color treated hair and for all hair types and textures.
At first glance, even the packaging looks like of unique, gracefully curved white bottles with color-coded topos and pretty black graphics. The first product I tried was the Bio-Cleansing Conditioner ($36.00). I wasn’t sure if this was just a conditioner until I realized it was a shampoo that gently removes oil and dirt and other gunk from your hair, without stripping the natural oils off as well. And it actually adds nourishing oils and extracts as well, so your hair is left clean, frizza-free, and it looks shiny and feels soft. All with one product. I really loved this! There is also what I’d classify as a “clarifying” wash, called the Anti-Residue Rinse ($32.00) that gets rid of build-up when you’ve been indulging in a lot of styling products, hairspray, dry shampoo and so forth. But it doesn’t have sulfates or parabens. Unlike a lot of clarifying shampoos however, it won’t leave your hair feeling like sticks and straw and it won’t strip the color out of it, either. I liked this one too! The third bottle contains a Hydrating Masque. It’s a fancy name for a conditioner or treatment. It hydrates, it adds moisture, it smoothes and softens above and beyond the extracts and oils already in the UNwash. For $34.00 It’s a nice way to treat yourself to something good for your hair (try it weeekly) when life has been a bit UNkind to it. All three are, as I already mentioned, free of harsh sulfates, detergents and parabens. You won’t get high foam or a lot of fragrance, but that’s part of minimalism, and a trio of truly unique products that we’re really getting into!
To get in on the UNwash craze as well, check out Unwash in Salons, and learn more by visiting the unwash website
a dry shampoo that you don’t have to bother brushing out
A friend was visiting over the weekend and, knowing that I review beauty products, she asked if I had any dry shampoo. Of course, I do! I recommended the new Aquage Dry Shampoo Style Extending Spray isn’t your usual dry shampoo, in that it isn’t just a powdery product. This one is not a powder nor a shampoo, it’s a hybrid hair and style freshener for second day (and beyond) hair. It absorbs oil like a dry shampoo does, but it also has the benefits of a texturizing and volumizing spray so your Winter weary hair isn’t so limp and lifeless, either. Apparently, the key is “zeolite” a mineral formed when lava interacts with sea salt. It will absorb (some) oil but unlike the powdery dry shampoos, it won’t leave a white residue. Spray it on dry, previously styled hair (from about 8-10 inches away ) concentrating on your roots. Just re-fluff and see more volume. Unlike the standard dry shampoo, there is nothing to brush out. The good points are hair that smells better and definitely gets some volume back into the style you lost, without having to re-wash or re-set your hair. If you are doing an updo, there is more texture to give it “grip” (stylists love this feature of all dry shampoos). The downside is that it does give your hair some texture you can feel, so if you don’t like that on your hair, you’ll probably want to wash your hair the next day, anyway. On short hair it really makes a significant difference however….a styling tool and a freshener all in one. Suggested retail for an 8 oz. can is $24.00 and a 2 oz. travel size is $7.50.
For more information and to find a salon in your area, visit the Aquage web site
a hairspray that gives instant gratification with strong hold
Another way to add volume that stays put is with hairspray. If you don’t normally use it, I understand, but in the Winter, when hair falls flat and hats are a must, a good, stiff hairspray can be a styling tool that helps you deal with the ROOT cause (pun intended) of flat, hat hair.A hairspray from Biomega that is new and really gives you lock and leave style is Freeze Baby ($22.00 10 oz. or $7.50 2 0z travel size). This micro-fine quick drying mega-hold hairspray nearly instantly freezes hair in place with what Biomega calls “advanced resin technology” done with an environmentally-friendly formulation. If you spray it in short bursts at the roots about 10-12 inches away — the further away from your head the better the distribution — you can not only achieve “prom hair” status on hair that needs bumping up, but you can just keep your roots from flopping the entire style down to sad and tired. This spray also help to lock out frizz and provide maximum humidity resistance. Omega-rich nutrients condition, and there are also UV protectants help keep hair color vibrant. All in all, you might take another look at hairspray even if you’ve shelved yours for a while, and start loving it for all sorts of reasons. If you like spiky styles,for example, this one gives you the boost you need. True, once you have this on your hair it isn’t quite as soft and touchable, but I use it just as the front and at the roots, Like any other styling products, you can comb it through to soften it up, and …it washes out, after all.
