I have to admit: I'm addicted to smooth, straight hair. Unfortunately for me, since I am blessed with naturally wavy hair and those oh-so-cute-when-your-five Shirley Temple curls right around my temples, I have been forced into a life of wash, blow dry, flat iron, repeat. I blow dry my hair probably 4 or 5 times a week, which is A WHOLE LOT.
I've always gone to the precaution to put on heat protectants and make sure I only blow dry when my hair is 80% dry, but with the frequency that I blow dry, damage is still being done. So when I saw Garnier Fructis' Sleek and Shine Blow Dry Perfector, I was intrigued. Keeps your hair smooth through 7 shampoos? That would be awesome! It would definitely reduce the amount of heat I'm applying to my hair.
My hair is about mid-back now, so it's quite long. I cut my own hair about every 6 weeks to get rid of split ends. The longer your hair is, the more you have to baby it. My current routine involves Joico's Moisture Renewal shampoo and conditioner, Argan oil on my ends when its wet. I change products around for styling, so a few things are always in rotation: Herbal Essences Long Term Relationship split end mender, Neutrogena's Triple Moisture leave in cream and split end mender, Pantene Pro-V's Combing Cream for Extra Straight hair (which they don't even make anymore since Pantene has repackaged most of their items), and Bumble and Bumble's Styling Lotion. I blow dry frequently, but only flat iron maybe once a week. Most of the wave of my hair can be worked out in a blow dry, so flat ironing is only when I want super straight hair, or want my wave to stay at bay during a concert or while outside.
First impressions: The package comes with two tubes, one which is a clear serum that smells like Drano. No kidding! This stuff smells like rotten eggs, which means it has some sulfur to it. It probably qualifies as a low-grade relaxer. So if you're used to coloring your hair, this probably won't be as noxious as those fumes tend to be, but still be careful. The second tube is the smoothing creme that you use after you wash the serum out, which smells familiar to all of the Garnier products- fruity! You also get directions and gloves (much like a hair dye kit).
Directions:First you shampoo your hair, and then apply the serum to your hair while wearing the gloves. You can comb the serum through to make sure your hair is coated. With my length hair, I probably only used one-quarter of the amount of the serum you get in the package. Let the product go to work for about 20 minutes, wash out, and then towel dry your hair. Apply the smoothing creme and then blow dry your hair. You really need to use blow dryers or flat irons with this product because it is heat activated.
During the process: My hair felt like it had been coated in hair gel while it was damp. I kept it off my shoulders with a banana clip, applied a face mask, checked my email while it was going to town. The smell didn't really travel with me, so it dissipates after application. When I went to wash my hair, my hair felt like it was hanging really straight and heavy. It didn't exactly feel sleek because I associate that more with silicon products, along with the softness you usually get. I washed my hair for probably two or three minutes straight to make sure there wasn't any of that stuff left.
I towel dried my hair, applied about a quarter size of the smoothing creme, applied a dime size of Argan oil on the ends, and then set about combing it. It feels smooth and silky after I applied the creme and definitely smells pleasant. It reminds me of how my hair feels after a nice deep conditioning treatment. I did notice that I got two knots in my hair, but I combed through them. I usually don't get knots, so I associate this with the chemical process and its nature to slightly dry out the ends. Again I let my hair dry a good bit before I applied heat. I blow dried my hair on medium using a large paddle brush, focusing on the hair that frames my face as this is the area that I typically get the most curl action and where I have to frequently apply the most product to tame.
The after: My hair is smooth, and despite a few areas that I would touch up with a flat iron, the one place I don't need to touch is the hair around my temples! The wave is definitely gone, and there are fewer flyaways. My ends don't feel dry, but I attribute this to my use of Argan oil in addition- frankly, if this didn't work with the oil, I wouldn't use it.
The next part of this test is to see how it withstands shampoos. Like all chemical products that are to be used for long-term (or in this case, short term) on hair, using shampoos and conditioners that include sulfates as their primary ingredient can strip the effects of the chemicals used, so I'm going to switch to my MOP (Modern Organic Products) C-Straight shampoo and conditioner, which are both sulfate and fragrance free, for a week. This is the true test as to whether I would buy this product again. I'll check in a week and tell you how it's going (I doubt I'll get to 7 shampoos, but we'll see where I get to!)
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