This post is my review of many different detangling, body-adding, protein-building, miracle-oil hair products. Unfortunately, none of them helped fix my hair issues. I spent hundreds of dollars on these products - and they're not the only products I tried!

Any of my Twitter followers who have paid attention in the last six months would be very aware of my hair quality issue. FYI, I have "glassy" type completely straight, baby-fine, almost Asian shiny, and a low number of strands, naturally ash blonde hair. This is how hairdressers describe my hair. Mum always had difficulty with it, but figured it was because I was young. Nope.

For the past 3 years I have used only Tresseme Salon Silk Conditioner on my hair. If you massage it into your scalp, and smooth it through your ends and leave for your entire shower, it acts as both a shampoo and a conditioner, and I could then wide-tooth-comb the conditioner out as I rinsed my hair.

It contains silicone, but that only ever seemed to help my hair at this point. I began conditioning my hair solely after I stripped my blue-black hair back to my natural colour of ash blonde (the first time since 2003), and then went deep, natural orange-red. I kept this time consuming colour up from October 2008 through February 2009, but then decided I wanted to try my natural colour of ash blonde. So, I let the red wash out slowly and then needed to help it along by stripping it again. My hair was very long at that stage - small of back. Unfortunately, it wrecked my already baby-fine hair. 

My hair started getting crunchy knots in it, and breaking like there was no tomorrow.

In frustration in this, and other areas of my life, I turned to Fudge colours. After six months of colouring it with Fudge red, blue and purple (singly, two, or all three, normally underneath my hair) on top of that, I made a hard decision. I needed to get all of the damage lopped off. So, I did it. And I started using Wen conditioning shampoo from < TVSN.com.au > which had all natural ingredients and NO shampoo products in it, except some glycerin. My hair started to look much healthier every day I used it.

Wen Conditioning Shampoo

I had never liked my blonde hair at my ear level, even when layered - made my face look chubby I figured. So, a month later or less, I got it darkened again to my old level of quarter black mixed with three quarters dark brown. I've been satisfied with that colour ever since. And when I ran out the Wen, I began using the Tresseme Salon Silk Conditioner as my sole "shampoo/conditioner" product.

Tresseme Salon Silk Conditioner

Then, in late 2011 with mid-back length hair again, I was organising to move back to Tassie and ran out of my Tresseme. I instead bought a couple of bottles of Garnier Fructis light conditioner and mixed it with another equally bad conditioner endorsed by that idiotic "hot" woman who currently dances on her table in negligée for her cat (I'm confused, too). I didn't want to cart a whole bottle of the 900mL Tresseme back to Tas with me. My mistake. My hair quality began to change.
2012. The disaster zone of hair. My daily struggle with crunchy knots and hell.



Then I got here... tank water that hadn't been used in years, with sludge at the bottom of the tank I'm guessing (although the water comes out clear) - and when that ran out due to my 30 min showers, I got it filled with town water which is full of chlorine. Well, that did it.

Even though I was using Tresseme again, my hair became unbrushable - wet or dry, crunchy, mop-like, and dry at the ends - and I cannot even attempt to brush it in the shower with the wide toothed comb and conditioner, knots are so bad that they develop upon me touching my hair, and they have to be cut out. I even started developing split ends for the FIRST TIME since I'd began using conditioner only.

I tried so many things. I have a 10 different conditioners in my bathroom. My first move was to buy a Brita on-tap filter on the kitchen sink, to wash my hair. It didn't fit on my only newly-purchased and installed tap - so, I had to buy and install a new tap that would allow it on it. That didn't help my hair. This cost me $55 for the on-tap filter system, and $40 for the new tap. The old tap was similar in price.

I bought Chi Clean Start from Strawberry Net for $30 and free shipping (plus gift) - the best chelating cleansing shampoo I could find. And it is pretty damn good as a deep cleanser. But, I couldn't use it more than once a week, and it didn't improve my hair condition anyway - just increased knots. Problem.

Chi Clean Start chelating cleansing shampoo

I bought Tresseme Naturals Conditioner without silicone - Coles Superrmarket when it was $6. Still using this before the Matrix and Evo, but no change.

Tresseme Naturals Conditioner without silicone

I bought Matrix Biolage Detangling Conditioner from a local hair house for $29.50. That didn't work after weeks of use: hair remained knotty and unmanageable. 40 mins to detangle one side each with my boar bristle brush three times a day.

Matrix Biolage Detangling Conditioner

I bought Evo Mane Prescription Protein Treatment for $25.75 from one of the small boutique hair dressers near me. And although this "Swedish penis pump for lasting body" made my hair feel a bit better, my crunchy touch-and-it'll-knot hair still didn't improve after weeks. The shine was better, but even using Tresseme Naturals conditioner, Evo Mane Prescription and Matrix Biolage together didn't help.

Evo Mane Prescription Protein Treatment

I bought Dove Nutri-Oil from Priceline when on special for $5, and a number of other argan oil products of $20 value and one sent to me from < @nomboobs > for free, bless-her-heart. :-) Unfortunately, oils have always been too heavy for my hair, so they do nothing to help dry ends, and just grease up or make my hair more crackly. I use only on the ends.

Dove Nutri-Oil

I bought Avon Moroccan Argan Oil from Avon for new product price of $14.99. I just got this, so I don't know if it has helped yet. But, I think the same as the above three oils... it is too heavy for my hair. Blargh. On the ends only.

Avon Moroccan Argan Oil

and I also tried Avon Advanced Techniques Lotus Shield frizz control for $16.99 which I had from last year. But that is too heavy on my hair, too. On the ends only.

Avon Advanced Techniques Lotus Shield frizz control

I even tried EGG WHITES for protein on my hair. And I tried banana smoothies on my hair. But nothing was working!

I couldn't brush my hair, I couldn't wear it down after I had brushed it because it knotted up. I wore it in two or one plait at night, but still any loose ends would be in knots. Even the plaited hair would get knotty when I tried taking it out. Frustration and, when I was at my lowest, tears. My skin is really rashy right now, too. So my frustration is increased.

Noone should spend a combined total brushing time /each brush/ of 80 minutes, not including trying to comb it in the shower. I shouldn't be losing that much hair with roots attached. I shouldn't have split ends. I shouldn't look like Chewbacca. GRAR.

So, I did even more research. And the products I bought today include the Tangle Teezer (ASOS for $14 with student discount and NO shipping), Activance with Rhodanide (green bottle) ($55), and L'Oreal Mythic Oil Milk ($35) both from a hair dresser that sold all three products. See, I even bought a known animal torturing company's product (L'Oreal) because I'm so very desperate. And I NEVER do that.

I have paid a lot of money for my hair. A lot of money. I can't even believe how much money it has cost me to find out that none of the products worked for me.
If the purchases I made today don't work, then I will look into a after-pump water-softener/filter system.

Anyway, I will post an update in a week, after using them for a while. The Tangle Teezer will not require a week. It is awesome. Absolutely awesome. But, I'll wait a week.
I hope, I even pray to Cthulhu that a mix of these three products will repair my hair and make it manageable again.

 

 

-Ashe xo

Labels: Activance with Rhodanide, argan oil, Avon, beauty review, Brita, CHI, detangle, Dove, Evo, hair problems, hard water, L'Oreal, Matrix, moroccan, Strawberry net, Tangle Teezer, Tresseme, unbrushable, Wen

what are your thoughts? 0 Comments

posted by Da at 10:12:00 AM