ProductWhores

Get Taffy Whipped!

Surface Hair Care has released a special-edition Taffy Whip with 10% of all profits going to support Earth Day 2012.  And if that wasn't reason enough to get excited and purchase "the whip" as I have dubbed it, this stuff is the real deal of texturizers!  I love the way it makes my hair look piece-y without the sticky-icky mess that so many texturizers leave in my hair.  You only need a bit, but the results are stunning - it's my new fave texturizer (and it smells of lavendar and vanilla which is lovely!)  The whip is phthalate free and boasts a 100% humidity proof formula, guaranteeing impeccable style and hold.  I love Taffy Whip and I also love taffy (the candy).  Pretty sweet all around.

Calling All Curls!

 

My good friend Kasey has uber-curly, beautiful hair.  When I asked her what she considered to be her go-to products, she didn't even hesitate a moment and screamed "DevaCurl!"  She gushed and gushed and finally I suggested she put some pen to paper to share her experience for all those curly-haired PWs readers out there.  Here you go, folks, a first-hand account from the curliest chick I know!

In the past, I have been a bit of a commitmentphobe when it comes to hair products.  Two pumps into any new bottle of gel, shampoo, conditioner or mousse and I would already be thinking about the next bigger and better thing I was going to buy.  To be fair, this phobia to commit to products is partially hereditary.  However, the main reason is due to the fact that I have incredibly thick curly hair which pretty much has been the bane of my existence since about the age of six, when I came to the sad realization that my hair was never going to feather (sigh…).  So for the past thirty years, I have been in search of a product that would give some control and definition to the mass of curls I have residing upon my head.

Introducing DevaCurl, a "complete collection of hair products specifically developed for a healthy, frizz free, easy to manage curly hair lifestyle."  I nabbed that quote from the company's website because it is completely true (or at least it is for me).  I pretty much use the entire line: shampoo, conditioner, gels and several other miscellaneous items like sprays that re-fresh your curls.  The shampoos and conditioners are low to no lather and sulfate free, which means you can use them every day without drying out your hair or stripping your hair color.  The gel is light and has a pleasant scent, but you can't skimp on quantity.   You need to use a fair amount of it to get results.  Also, the company recommends a particular way of using the products, which at first seems like it won't matter, but they know what they're talking about and following their guidelines makes a big difference. I won't go into the whole procedure right now, since it is a little involved, but I do recommend if you're interested in the products going to a salon and having someone familiar with the products explain how to use them.  On a side note, the products are reasonably priced, with the shampoos and conditioners running around $20 for a decent sized bottle.  If I had any complaints about DevaCurl it would be that I wish there was a little more variety in terms of scents.  I really like DevaCurl and think if you have challenging curly hair you should give it a try.

Second Day Sexy

If you're like me, you LOVE how your hair feels the day after you wash it.  The texture is that crazy-sexy almost beachy wave with extra thickness.  The huge negative is that my bangs always look super-yuck the day after and my hair tends to be very crimped from sleeping so it's difficult to wear it down (I have very thick hair).  Also there's the general feeling of my hair being dirty which bums me out.  Enter Second Day by Unite - my problems are completely solved.  This awesome texturizing paste literally gives your hair the day-after-washing look and feel but without my sacrificing the smoothness of my bangs.  It's so, so awesome and holds for the entire day.  This is one texturizer that no one should be without.  If you haven't experienced Unite products before, definitely go to the site because they are fantastic.  I am a huge fan and I know you will be too.

Note:  A sample of this product was sent to me by a PR representative working with Unite

Color Protect with Shielo

It's kind of stunning how fast my color fades.  Honestly, I felt like I was coloring my hair and two weeks later my shade was already faded.  I am pretty damn psyched to have found Shielo Strengthening Shampoo and Reflecting Conditioner as they have made all the difference in preserving my color-treated hair!  This line is sulfate-free, contains a very low pH level and actually strengthens at the roots.  While I haven't noticed my hair stronger, so to speak, I have noticed my color still looks fantastic and my hair is bouncy and shiny (three things that make me very happy).  Bonus, the shampoo and conditioner smell yummy (jasmine) so I smell delightful the better part of the day (well my head does anyway).  I noticed that they are having a big holiday sale where everything is half-off on their site!  Score!  I felt like I just won money off a scratcher.

Note:  A sample of this product was sent to me by a PR representative working with Shielo

POP in these hair pieces

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!  Now that we've stuffed our faces with turkey, cranberry sauce (in the delightful can) and more amounts of pie than I can even admit to myself, it's time to gear up for good 'ol Black Friday.  While there seem to be mass amounts of awesome deals (Sephora, for one, has that 10 for 10 thing happening), I am all about great deals where you don't have to sleep on the street and fight crowds at midnight. So on this lovely Thanksgiving Day, I give thanks for these awesomely cheap hair pieces called POP (Put On Pieces).  They are synthetic (no animals were harmed in the making of   these - which honestly made me think of that all the turkey pardoning today which is why I had to post now), super affordable (10.00) and they look awesome on!  I am digging the 16 inch Tiger Print one in pink - looks so fantastic, especially with dark hair.  Oh, and they are heat friendly so you can curl and straighten to your heart's content.  Oh, and bonus - you can get them online so you don't have to brave the Black Friday crowds.

Note:  A sample of this product was sent to me by a PR representative working with POP

Everyone Loves Elnett

I don't wear hairspray much anymore, which stems from an incident in college where some friends and I dressed up for Halloween as sexy vampires (I know, we had about as little creativity as you can get) and teased our hair.  My hair was really long at the time, so we super-teased it into this crazy mop of ratted knots, basically.  Clearly, no one was thinking ahead because it literally took me almost two weeks of washing it constantly and brushing it all the time and about $50 worth of leave in conditioner sprays from the drugstore to get it even semi-back to normal.  It sucked.  So it basically scared me away from hair products for years.  I got back on the wagon about five years ago, but still, unless it's absolutely necessary, I don't use hairspray.  But when I do, it's always L'Oreal's Elnett.  As far as hairsprays go, it's the gold standard.  It holds all night, but it doesn't make my hair crunchy or remind me of Halloween's past when I try to wash it out.  And it's widely available and not expensive, so it's kind of the perfect hair solution.  Apparently, Olivia Munn likes it even more than I do because she's got an entire basket of cans.  (I admire a girl who doesn't even pretend to show any beauty restraint.  Restraint is overrated when it comes to products.  More is always better!)  Also, I like her top a lot.  It's fun, right?  I wish I looked that cute during my Target runs!

Fall for Ginger Pumpkin

This time of year, there's nothing I love more than pumpkin scented things.  Pumpkin Spice lattes, the pumpkin pecan cheesecake at The Cheesecake Factory, and of course, pumpkin body products.  Over the years I've tried a ton of them, but WEN's Fall Ginger Pumpkin Cleansing Conditioner is the first I've ever tried for my hair.  First of all, it smells amazing.  It's all pumpkiny and spicy with a little bit of the zing of ginger thrown in.  Delicious!  It makes me crave dessert every time I use it.  A cleansing conditioner is a really interesting product - it's a blend that doesn't have stripping agents, detergents, harsh chemicals or sodium lauryl/laureth sulfates in it, so it lets your hair and scalp maintain their natural essential oils.  I love this because on days I go to the gym, I shower twice and I hate the idea of shampooing my hair that much because I know it's not good for it, so with this, I don't have to.  You use it almost like a shampoo - you wet your hair, then put a good amount of the cleansing conditioner on it, making sure to completely cover all the different sections. Then you give it a splash of water, massage it into your scalp and comb it through and clip it up for the rest of your shower. You leave it on for 3-5 minutes and then rinse it out.  (I have to admit though, I'm kind of lazy and most of the time I don't comb it through or clip it up, I just massage it in and let it work its magic while I finish the rest of my shower routine and it seems to work fine that way too).  When I rinse it out, my hair is soft and clean and smells AMAZING.  And the best part is, the smell lingers in it all day, so I'm constantly getting surprised by a whiff of it while I'm working.  (I might even smell it on purpose when I need a pick me up, which is, uh, embarrassing).  Now I just need them to make a shower gel and lotion with the same scent so I can use all three of them at once.  Are you listening, people at WEN?  Make that happen!

Note:  A sample of this product was sent to me by a PR representative working with WEN 

Now this is a 3Sum I can get into!

There have been a lot of hilarious product names in the four years we've been blogging, but I think this one definitely takes the prize for best sense of humor.  NuMe Professional Styling Products have released two new items - the 3Sum and the 4Play and I had the delight of checking out the 3Sum (quite possibly best sentence I've ever typed).  The 3Sum comes with a full-size curling wand, full-size flat iron and a mini flat-iron (adorably perfect for travel, yet as powerful as any full-size I've ever used).  I have always been a fan of the flat iron which either can make my straight hair happily frizz-free or will give it wavy body and these tools from NuMe are the real deal.  Both the full-size and the mini heat up in just a few seconds (seriously, only seconds) and both have 100% tourmaline-infused ceramic plates and these neat swivel power cords which helped me to not get all tangled while I worked.  I was so impressed with how quickly and easily my hair was straightened (I mean stick straight!) and also how stress-free it was for me to get some awesome body (I love using a flat iron to flip my layers).  The mini was especially surprising for me because it's very small but it packs a seriously powerful punch (was able to straighten my hair just as well as the full-size - just took a bit longer because obviously the plates are smaller).  The last tool in the 3Sum (chuckle chuckle) is the curling wand which actually scared me because I had never used one before (yep, I was staring at this no-clip curling iron and wondering how the heck I would do this without burning myself).  NuMe thought ahead for novices like myself and included a glove with the set so I felt a bit more at ease wrapping my hair around the wand.  Like the flat irons, the wand heated extremely quickly (I can't stress enough how quickly these heat - no need to step away and make your coffee like the old school tools).  The wand is extremely smooth and leaves the softest curls and waves.  It took a bit of practice for me to get the trick down of wrapping my hair, but once I did the results are fantastic.  What a great product - not sure how my hair has lived without it actually.  The 3Sum really is a great set for anyone who does not have professional hair tools.  If you don't want to shell out for the three products, then check out their site because each of the great products is sold separately, as well (just not in the same cool pattern as my 3Sum - purple zebra! and also the three-set is a much better deal money-wise.)  Also, the lovely peeps at NuMe have offered our readers this exclusive discount which is ridiculously amazing (I'm not even going to tell you the % because it's a treat to find out when you plug it into their site).  Use code ProductWhores11 through 12/9/11 and you'll get a huge discount on any of their curling wands.  It's almost the holidays and you'd definitely be a superstar if you gave this to someone.  Plus, if for nothing else, imagine the laughter and surprise on Christmas morning when you give your mom 4Play or a 3Sum.  Makes me laugh just thinking about it.

Note:  A sample of this item was sent to me by a PR representative working with NuMe

Calling All Conditioners

I love Frederic Fekkai products, so this event sounds absolutely fabulous to me.  To show customers how they can achieve their best personal style, they're inviting people to Saks Fifth Avenue stores nationwide on Thursday, October 27th to exchange ANY full-sized conditioner they currently use for one full-sized 8 ounce Fekkai Advanced conditoner of their choice.  How fabulous is that?  You can go buy a new bottle of that bargain drugstore conditioner that you bought and didn't love and exchange it for a fabulous Fekkai one.  It really doesn't get any easier or better than that.  

The promotion is part of their "Hair by Fekkai, Life by You" campaign and a Fekkai team representative will be on-hand to offer personalized consultations complete with a corresponding complimentary product so the customer can achieve soft, luxurious hair.  (Product options will include Brilliant Glossing Conditioner, Salon Technician Color-Care Conditioner, and Full Blown Volume Conditioner).  

The event is limited to one styling product per customer and the offer is only available while supplies last, so get there early.  Mark your calendars! 

Pureology Perfect4Platinum

Apparently blondes can have all the fun with this new, awesome, collection by Pureology - Perfect4Platinum.  I had a friend test the line for me and offer her expert blonde opinion and she would not shut up about how fantastic it is.  First of all, I actually noticed a significant difference in her hair after only a few weeks of using it - her color looked brighter, healthier and definitely had more body.  She said that she adores the mild scent of the entire line and her hair has never felt softer than it does after using the collection.  Perfect4Platinum features Keravis (a protein to help strengthen the hair), Plant Extracts (natural conditioning for all hair types), AntiFade Complex (potent blend of antioxidants and full spectrum UVA/UVB sunscreens to optimize color retention) and ZeroSulfate (sulfate and salt-free so gentle cleansing without stripping color or damaging the hair).  If you have never tried the Purology brand you are completely missing out and if you're blonde you really have no reason to not give it a go now.  

Note:  A sample of this product was sent to me by a PR representative working with Pureology