Hair Junk: Garnier Oila Hair Dye

When I was younger, I used to dye my hair religiously.  There was a period in my twenties where I legitimately don't think I saw my natural hair color for years.  But after a hair straightening accident (who knew your hair didn't like being bleached and relaxed on the same day?) wherein all my hair fell out, I stopped for a long time.
Then I was lucky enough to get a free coupon for Garnier Oila from Bzz Agent.





I figured - why not dip my toe back into the dyeing ocean?  If I was going to dye again, Oila seemed a good fit.  After all, according to Garnier, "Olia visibly improves and restores hair as the oils help to reverse roughness and dullness for more brilliant, dimensional color and softer, shinier hair with more bounce."  I could use softer, shinier hair!  I like bounce!  So let's give this stuff a spin.
I grabbed number 4.60, Dark Intense Auburn.  My hair's naturally on the very dark brown side of things, but due to my mother's side of the family having a bazillion redheads, it's got a bit of red highlights.  So why not play that up?
Now, you may be wondering what the "oil powered" part of the product is. Garnier states: "unlike traditional haircolor, Garnier Olia uses an exclusive 60% oil blend with natural flower oils to achieve maximum color performance while visibly improving and restoring hair".
You'll notice it first during the application.  It doesn't smell bad.  I mean, I'm not going to clamor for Oila perfume, but at the same time it didn't make me feel like my nose hairs were being burned from the inside out.  It's a standard creme formula, maybe a little on the watery side, but nothing hair dye devotees haven't dealt with before.

You can deal with it.  I did.  
After washing it out, it didn't feel like it totally fried my hair.  My hair felt about as good as it had pre-dye.  Which, considering that most dyes turn my already straw-like hair to something resembling candy floss, is fantastic.

I'm in love with the color, and my hair feels fantastic. The other sneaky bonus for Oila - since it's oil based, it doesn't immediately stain everything in your bathroom.  I got a good dollop on my sink?  Gone!  The bit on my forehead?  Washed right up!  The stains on my hand?  WASHED RIGHT OFF.  If that's not reason enough to buy it, I don't know what is.

Disclaimer: This product was provided by a third party for reviewing purposes.  No compensation was received. All opinions are my own.

Hair Junk - Not Your Mother's Kinky Moves Curl Defining Hair Cream

I've always hated my hair.  As such, I refuse to spend a lot of time on it.  Now in my thirties, I've got a routine I like: I wash it, I towel dry, I put some Josie Maran Argan Oil Hair Serum in it, I let it air dry.  The serum makes it dry wavy, and when I brush it after it's finally dry, it has waves and bounce but isn't HO DAMN curly.

But when I got a sample of Not Your Mother's Kinky Moves Curl Defining Hair Cream, I figured why not.  It says you can air dry it and get smooth, defined curls.  That's what I do!  That's me!  I'M THE GUY IN THE STORY.  

See?  It says so!  And this comes from their website.

So I did my usual thing and after towel drying, I went ahead and took about a quarter sized dollop of this stuff and put it through my hair (my hair's thick as hell, it takes a bit).  First thing I noticed, this stuff smells like I spilled grape juice.  Kind of like a weird day care smell.  But that faded quickly enough, so I went ahead and got it all saturated, got my hair scrunched, and then I let it hair dry.  And the results were ... mixed.

No, I'm not wearing makeup.  Yes, that's a men's undershirt.  FOCUS.

It basically did the same thing to my hair that conditioner would.  That's it.  It's a tiny bit more sticky than it would be if I'd just used conditioner, but ... eh.  I'd much rather just stick with my usual. 

So, yes.  If you're out of conditioner / anti-frizz stuff and see a bottle of Kinky Moves (which sounds like a better name for lube anyway), by all means.  Go for it, it's better than just shampoo by itself for curly girls.  Otherwise, if your usual product is around, eh.  Not worth the six bucks USD a bottle. 

And now I want to wash my hair.  Again.

Disclaimer: This product was provided by a third party for reviewing purposes.  No compensation was received. All opinions are my own.

Josie Maran Argan Oil Hair Serum

I don't like to do my hair.  If you've been reading this blog, then I'm sure you're getting the gist in terms of what makeup I enjoy (nailpolish and eyeshadow), what kind of colors I like (bright!), and what kind of effort I'm willing to put in (minimal at best).  So as such, I don't really "do" my hair, and I never have.  In the past, I've just washed it, conditioned it, let it air dry, and worn it back in a ponytail or that messy knot thing that's not really a chingon that every girl learns how to do in junior high.

I'd like to say that Josie Maran's argan oil hair serum has changed all that.  But no, I'm not flat ironing every day or using hot rollers, or really doing anything besides brushing it.  But that's where the magic of this glorious, delicious smelling bottle comes in - I don't need to.  My hair care routine now consists of washing my hair with T-Gel (yeah, fabulous bitches get dandruff too, what) and then my beloved Garnier Fructis for normal hair.  That's it.  I don't condition it anymore.  I don't need to - this hair serum is that fantastic.  So I just wash it, towel dry once I'm out of the shower, and pop two pumps of this stuff in and let my hair air dry.

You might be thinking that I don't really have frizzy hair, or maybe I don't really need to condition my hair.  Well, you'd be wrong.  I actually took a photo back in 2002 to illustrate for a friend just how terrifying my hair is if I don't condition.  Here is my hair, air dryed per usual, with just a shampoo and no additional product.

If that isn't some Sideshow Bob level frizz, I don't know what is.  If only this product had come out sooner, then I might have been saved a lot of effort.  Hell, I didn't wear my hair short for a very long time, if only because of the allmighty frizzbomb that you see above.

Now I'm going to show you what my hair looks like, post shampooing and then airdrying, with my beloved argan oil hair serum.  I'm also not wearing any makeup, so if you shriek, that's why.  This picture is about two weeks old.

Bam.  Look at how smooth that is!  I used to only be able to get that much smoothness with a flat iron or a blowout.  Sure, there's still some natural curl, but hell, I don't mind.  Plus, when I consider how much shorter my hair is in the second picture, it's damn near miraculous how frizzless it is.  Plus?  I live in Houston, Texas - a hot, swampy, disgusting part of the country where 10 months out of the year walking outside is very much like walking around in a sauna. 

This stuff moisturizes my hair enough where I don't need conditioner, did I mention that?  That helps justify the 30.00 USD pricetag.  Plus it smells good, it saves me time - I'd marry this product if I could.  I'm thinking of sacrificing a goat to the mighty Argan Oil gods, won't you join me?