Redken Nature's Rescue First Glance Review

Hey everyone! Today I'm doing a quick first glance review of the brand new Redken Nature's Rescue products. This is Redken's venture into "natural" hair products, boasting absolutely no parabens, sulfates, and silicones. You all know how I feel about all this anti-sulfate propaganda business, and how it's a big crock, so I'll spare you. But I will tell you that so far I'm loving these products! I've been using them for almost a week now, and have had great results. The products pictured on the left in the stylist intro kit I bought are: Radiant Sea Spray, Refreshing Detox Shampoo, Cooling Deep Conditioner, and Refining Sea Polish (the little packets in the back).

Obviously the most unique product in the collection is the Refining Sea Polish. It's advertised as a gentle hair exfoliant, enriched with pumice to remove impurities and refine the hair surface leaving it smooth and shiny. It's such an interesting experience to exfoliate your hair! I can tell this won't be a product that everyone will like, because it really does exfoliate your hair to give you that squeaky clean feeling, and not everyone likes that. I however, love it! It makes my hair feel very smooth, like it buffs off my dead ends and makes my hair feel healthier.

 Another interesting product is the Radiant Sea Spray. It's a multi-functional texture spray that uses time-touch fragrance technology to release a burst of fresh ocean-y fragrance (kind of like those candles that are supposed to smell like the ocean or rain or something, but better) every time you touch your hair. It really works, trust me. The other day (1/20 I think it was) I sprayed it in my hair at around 11AM after I showered and got ready and stuff, and I made it a point to play with my hair all day. After going to lunch at Red Lobster, tanning, and shopping for a couple hours, I could still smell it up until around 5PM! I absolutely loved having my hair smell fresh all day! And it's so lightweight that I could re-apply it later without my hair feeling heavy and gross, you know?

As for the Refreshing Detox Shampoo, it's different than any shampoo I own. For a sulfate-free shampoo, it cleans your hair pretty well. It also doesn't really lather at all, which kind of bothers me because I like a shampoo that has a rich lather. But after I rinse it out my hair does feel just as clean as if I used a shampoo that does lather, so I'll give it that. But combined with the Refining Sea Polish, they make a great pair.

The Cooling Deep Conditioner is also pretty great for having no silicones. It moisturizes my hair very well, and smells great. I don't really get the cooling effect though. It's supposed to rebalance the moisture in your hair while cooling your scalp, but I haven't really felt it. Which is surprising because it contains menthol, and I usually feel menthol in my products right away. Considering I'm such a hot head, I'm surprised I don't feel it. But maybe you will.

Anyway, those are my first impressions of the new Redken Nature's Rescue collection. What do you think? Anything look interesting? I know I'll be getting the full sizes pretty soon! As always, comment and tell me your thoughts or questions! Take care of your hair everyone! XOXO ...read more ⇒

HAUL!

Hey everyone! Time for another haul! I noticed tonight that I've gotten a lot of new stuff lately, but I haven't posted a haul in a long time! So I gathered up all the new products I've gotten recentlly (at least I think that's all of it), and put it together for you all.

Starting from the top left: S-Factor Vivacious Hairspray (re-purchase), Matrix Design Pulse Hard Lock Hairspray, KMS Makeover Spray (re-purchase), Bed Head Colour Combat Dumb Blonde Leave-In Conditioner, Catwalk Sleek Mystique Look-Lock Hairspray, Catwalk Sleek Mystique Haute Iron Spray, Catwalk Sleek Mystique Fast Fixx Style Prep (the old Fast Fixx re-packaged), Catwalk Sleek Mystique Blow Out Balm.

From the middle left: HerCut Normal-Dry Shampoo, HerCut Medium Conditioner, It's a 10 Miracle Texture Fiber, Matrix Design Pulse Rock N' Hold Gel, Redken Real Control Slim Supreme Serum, Redken Nature's Rescue Stylist Kit including: Nature's Rescue Detox Shampoo, Nature's Rescue Refining Sea Polish, Nature's Rescue Cooling Deep Conditioner, and Nature's Rescue Radiant Sea Spray.

From the bottom left: It's a 10 Miracle Leave-In Plus Keratin, Biosilk Silk Therapy, Rockaholic Rock Out Shine Blaster, White Sands Porosity The Fix, Matrix Design Pulse Go Big Extra Strong Hold Mousse, Matrix Design Pulse Fiber Shuffle, CHI Silk Infusion.

My friend G. over at Nouveau Cheap has been DYING for me to review the new Redken Nature's Rescue products, so I'll be posting a first glance review on all four tomorrow, with more detailed reviews coming later after I've tested them thouroughly (namely the Refining Sea Polish). The It's a 10 plus Keratin is formulated for people who have keratin straightening treatments done to their hair. You can tell it's different cos the texture actually looks like a leave-in, whereas the original has the texture of a deep conditioner. The Bed Head Colour Combat line is pretty new. There are two lines: Colour Goddess and Dumb Blonde. I think they might be phasing out the Brunette Goddess and original Dumb Blonde lines, but I'm not sure. Another new product is Redken Slim Supreme Slimming Serum. I love the Real Control line, and so far I really like this. I'm totally reviewing this soon. I always wanted to try Biosilk Silk Therapy and CHI Silk Infusion since they seem to be so popular. I don't know how I never got around to getting them before. Oh and I'm loving these Matrix Design Pulse Products. The hairspray works great and the mousse gives a lot of volume while leaving hair soft and lightweight.The Catwalk Sleek Mystique products are great too! They all smell so sensual and seductive, and they work amazingly well. They're all lightweight and make it way easy to straighten your hair. Fast Fixx was one of my favorites in the old Catwalk line, so I'm glad they just re-packaged it and didn't change the formula. The Haute Iron Spray is great too, it makes your hair super straight and shine like glass. And I've been wanting to try White Sands Porosity The Fix for a long time! They call it makeup for hair - it's supposed to conceal the imperfections in every hair strand and prime your hair for your styling products. It can also be used in color or lightener formulations!

Anything look interesting? Have you tried any of these? As always feel free to post a question or comment! And be sure to look for my first glance review of the new Redken Nature's Rescue products tomorrow, and take care of your hair! ...read more ⇒

HerCut Normal-Dry Shampoo Review

Hey guys! So I was browsing through Marshall's the other day and came across a bunch of HerCut products at like, ridiculously low prices! I got the Normal-Dry Shampoo and the Medium Conditioner for $4.50 each! I think they retail at Sephora for like $20! Crazy right? Anyway, I love the shampoo but the conditioner just wasn't for me. It's not bad or anything, it just wasn't moisturizing enough for my dry, chemically-processed hair. So I don't think I'll be reviewing it.

HerCut Normal-Dry Shampoo boasts:

• Sulfate free color safe technology
• Strengthens roots to bring out the best in your haircut
• Maximizes color vibrance
• Paraben free

I actually really like this shampoo, bloated claims and all! It moisturizes my hair while effectively cleansing it without the use of sulfates. Not that I buy into all this anti-sulfate propaganda, but for those of you who do I highly recommend this! It also smells pretty good, it kinda reminds me of suntan lotion. Like Coppertone or Banana Boat or something. Anyway, let's break down the ingredients:

The full list:

Purified Water, Cocoamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate, Sodium Methyl-2-Sulfolaurate, Sodium Lauroyl Sarcosinate, Disodium Lauroamphodiacetate, Sodium Methyl Cocoyl Taurate, Disodium 2-Sulfolaurate, Sodium Cocoyl Glycinate, Glycol Stearate, Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein, Polyquaternium-47, Butylene Glycol, Sodium PCA, Panthenol, PEG-150 Pentaerythrityl Tetrastearate, Polyquaternium-7, Fragrance, Glycerin, Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein PG-Propyl Silanetriol, Arginine, Polyquaternium-59, Aspartic Acid, PCA, Glycine, Chlorella Pyrenoidosa Extract, Alanine, Citric Acid, Sodium Lauryl Sulfoacetate, Serine, Valine, Sodium Lactate, Irish Moss (Chondrus Crispus) Extract, Proline, Sugar Kelp (Laminaria Saccharina) Extract, Threonine, Isoleucine, DMDM Hydantoin, Histidine, Brown Seaweed (Undaria Pinnatifida) Extract, Phenylalanine, Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate, Disodium EDTA.

Without the fluff:

Purified Water, Cocoamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate, Sodium Methyl-2-Sulfolaurate, Sodium Lauroyl Sarcosinate, Disodium Lauroamphodiacetate, Sodium Methyl Cocoyl Taurate, Disodium 2-Sulfolaurate, Sodium Cocoyl Glycinate, Glycol Stearate, Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein, Polyquaternium-47, Butylene Glycol, Sodium PCA, Panthenol, PEG-150 Pentaerythrityl Tetrastearate, Polyquaternium-7, Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein PG-Propyl Silanetriol, Arginine, Polyquaternium-59, Aspartic Acid, PCA, Glycine, Alanine, Sodium Lauryl Sulfoacetate, Serine, Valine, Sodium Lactate, Proline, Threonine, Isoleucine, Histidine, Phenylalanine, Disodium EDTA.

Basically what we have is a bunch of very gentle, non-sulfate cleansers, proteins, a ton of amino acids, and a few moisturizers here and there. Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate is an ingredient that comes from coconut oil, that cleans hair by helping water to mix with dirt and oil and be rinsed away. Cocoamidopropyl Betaine and Sodium Lauryl Sulfoacetate are foaming agents - and there is a lot of foam for a sulfate-free shampoo! It's not necessary, it's just added for the effect that consumers expect. See all those words that end in "-ine?" Those are amino acids. HerCut is big on using amino acids in their products. According to them they use this thing called Proprietary Multi Micro-Molecular Amino-Plex Technology. I'm not familiar with HerCut, but it sounds like a gimmick to me. But listen, I don't know if all those amino acids really help that much in a rinse-off product like this, but it certainly can't hurt. Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein and Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein PG-Propyl Silanetriol are used to try and add protein to hair that's been lost. Sodium PCA is a humectant and anti-static agent, PEG-150 Pentaerythrityl Tetrastearate is an emulsifier, Sodium Lactate is a hygroscopic (moisture attracting) agent, and Disodium EDTA is a chelating agent (make the product work better in hard water) and stabilizer. I know I didn't cover everything, but questions and comments are always welcome!

I'd honestly recommend this shampoo to anyone, unless you have very oily hair. Personally, I like a shampoo that lathers nicely, and gets my hair clean without making it squeeeaky clean, and that's exactly what this does! I'm pretty sure if I had very healthy hair, I could use this shampoo and not need conditioner. However, my fondness for chemicals and heat tools isn't going away anytime soon so I might never know. BUT! My hair is the healthiest it's been since...before I went platinum blonde/white again last summer. Right now my hair is very dark (about a level two) and I'm just gonna let it grow out until I'm au naturale again. No, really, I mean it this time...

HerCut Normal-Dry Shampoo comes in a 10 oz. / 300 mL bottle, and retails for $22 at Sephora, but like I said - I found it at Marshall's for $4.50! So keep your eyes open, and take care of your hair!

EDIT: Just realized this was my 100th post! Yay me! :)

...read more ⇒