.:: CybeleSays ::.

Smooth hair is such a luxury and I was starting to take it for granted the other day until it started rainin and my strands bulked up. With all the controversy continuing to swell over the Brazilian Treatment and whatever else name it goes by, smoothing products have reared their head as a temporary alternative. One in the game that I’m giving kudos to is the Agave Smoothing brand from Bio Ionic. The products have serious frizz-fighters in the form of the Agave Smoothing Shampoo (color safe) ($12.50/8oz), Smoothing Conditioner ($12.50/8oz) and Agave Healing Oil ($20/4oz) @ agaveoil.com.

Shown here: Agave Smoothing Home Trio sampler.

Yes, this is probably my favorite all time hair conditioner but I don’t/can’t use it all the time for various reasons, price being one of them. However, I do still want to use a good conditioner and boy, are they hard to come by. One that knocked my socks off at how well it works for so little investment $ is  NEUTROGENA’s Triple Moisture Deep Recovery Hair Mask. The concentrated formula is for dry/color-treated/over-processed strands and brings hair back to life in a little as 5 minutes.

It contains olive, meadowfoam and sweet almond to help moisturize, nourish and totally leave hair detangled and ready for styling. $6.99/6oz @ drugstore.com.

I think my hair is the longest I’ve had it since I was a kid so along with long hair comes the responsibility of taking care of it. KERASTASE’s latest collection called Cristalliste is made for young women (I’m young at heart!) with long hair, prone to weighed down roots and of course dry ends. What makes these products specifically made for long hair is because they help preserve the hydro-lipidic layer, a layer of natural fatty acids located between the cuticle and sebum of the hair fiber, which will typically be damaged and make hair look like the above (heavy at the roots and fried ends).

And they also contain a first – a first at using the New Liquid Light Complex, which is a blend of ingredients that mimics the natural reflective visual light has on the surface of the hair, so shiny, shiny, shiny!

The collection has cleansers, Luminous Perfecting Shampoo ($38/8.5oz), and conditioners, Luminous Perfecting Conditioner ($40/8.5oz) for fine or thick hair and both even come in travel sizes ($16/3oz) so you’ll never be without. And I really like the Lumiere Liquide Luminous Perfecting Essence, which is a serum, for my towel-dried hair. A nice finishing product. Get 'em @ kerastase.com. 

Disclosure: Samples of these items were provided for review purposes.

I really liked PUREOLOGY’s Precious Oil recently but little did I know they would base a whole collection around it called, easy enough, the Precious Oil System.

It’s comprised of a Precious Oil Shamp’Oil ($29/8.5oz), Precious Oil Conditioner ($29/8.5oz), Precious Oil Softening Hair Masque ($50/5.2oz) and the aforementioned Precious Oil Versatile Caring Oil ($40/4.2oz, $12/1oz).

The standout product from this line up is the unique Shamp’Oil. First, it’s infused with oil, it contains zero sulfates, like the rest of the line, and this one has a unique delivery system. It’s able to deeply penetrate each strand 4x’s more than the average shampoo to nourish from the inside out. It reminds me of some skin care lines that use nano-peptides to deliver the ingredients deeply into the skin. So I guess it was only a matter of time before the hair care companies started using the technology.

And did I mention the pleasant scent lasted in my strands well into the next day? Now that's rare. Love these products!

And on a side note, when did the brand change out their packaging to these stubby bottles? I like them but they are just so different from the graceful giraffe-like bottles they used since the beginning of the brand. All @ pureology.com. 

My girlfriends love stopping over my house when they can, just to gawk at the products I have and when one of them saw REDKEN’s relaunch of the All Soft collection, she recommended I give them a good try out. She shows and grooms dogs for a living and the original line is one of the ones she uses quite regularly! Seems strange to use people products on the dog’s coats but she swears by just a handful of lines/products so I’m listening.

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With this line brings the second time this year I’ve heard about the topic of pH and hair care products, as in, keeping the pH level of shampoo and styling products between a certain range will help keep treatments longer. Why is this good? From what I understand, a product’s pH plays a big factor in how long your hair color or treatment stays in the strands. When you have hair color put in for example, the cuticle must be opened up to deposit the formula, and it must be above a 5.5. So if you use a shampoo and other styling products that have a high pH, you are opening the cuticle and removing the color/treatment every time you use them. Makes sense.

When I met with the very knowledgeable Cindy from Zerrans here, they were the first ones to bring this fact up to me and their line is also pH-friendly. So now you’re probably wondering how the products you currently have in your bathroom will fair. If you’re up for it, Cindy says to get some litmus paper and test them. Yup, the same litmus paper you used to use in science class, and test your shampoos and conditioners. Bring on science class 101 again! Anyway, back to the products. The line is called SOJOURN and was created by Vidal Sassoon’s son Elan, so you know he knows something about hair, right? He studied the hair in its natural state and determined that the idea pH range is 4.5 to 5.5 so all the products fall in that range or lower. And they also incorporate keratin into the formula with what they call Keratin Cashmere Protein to really help moisturize strands and keep it strong. The line is also 100% biodegradable and free from parabens, formaldehyde, and sulfates.

And he’s made it easy for us to get the most out of the line by breaking it into four different collections – Smooth (the peach bottles), Moisture (the sky blue bottles), Volume (the moss colored bottles) and the one I tried, Colour Preserve (the ivory bottles shown here). Prices range between $20 and $26 @ sojournbeauty.com for salons.

I’m all about a great mascara and a great hair conditioner and both are hard to come by. But I am putting Luxury.Rinse from Aussie's KEVIN MURPHY right next to this one in my tub area. They reformulated this one recently and it’s made for those who color and have tthicker, coarser hair and even curly. It contains Kukui Nut Oil and Murumuru Butter as well as Grapefruit Extract to help promote hair growth. At the end of the day, the proof is in the touch and manageability and this one gives it all. Need I say more? 21.50/8.4oz @ kevinmurphystore.com.

Ok, you get your ubber-expensive Brazilian Blowout or whatever your salon is calling the Keratin hair treatments these days and now what? How do you keep the super-straightness of it for as long as possible? Yes, sulfate-free is now your main business but two new companies have not made it their business to help you keep it straight for as long as possible too.

KERATIN PERFECT – Exclusive to Sephora, this line contains:
PerfectCleanse Keratin Enhanced Shampoo ($24/8.5oz)
PerfectSilk Keratin Enhanced Conditioner ($24/8.5oz)
PerfectRenew Daily Keratin Replenishing Spray ($34/6.7oz)
PerfectRescue Intense Keratin Repair Serum ($40/1.7oz)
PerfectShine Keratin Oil ($40/1.7oz).

This line uses a very tech-forward process called ReBonding Techology, which penetrates the hair to repair any weak Keratin bonds and keeps strands frizz-free and manageable. The Repair Serum has been my go-to for the past few weeks and I really feel this one fills in the nooks and crannies as my straightening treatment slowly washes away. Get them @ sephora.com.

GLOSS MODERNE - Line contains:
High-Gloss Shampoo ($27.50/8oz)
High-Gloss Conditioner ($28.50/8oz)
High-Gloss-Serum ($26/4oz)
High-Gloss Masque ($32/4oz) and you can purchase all four products for $114.

Their products contain Keratin, panthenol and botanicals like coconut and passion fruit extract among others to help keep hair 180 degrees from frizzy. And these have a Coco de Soleil scent to them, which is a blend of coconut, almond and rum and was created in a fragrance house just for these products. Nice. Get them @ glossmoderne.com.

Disclosure: Samples of these items were provided for review purposes.

When I say CAROL’S DAUGHTER Monoi Repairing Hair Mask ($29/7oz) is good, I mean it’s gooooood! Since coming off of this system, I’ve been a tad backed up with trying out hair products and I was really curious about these new Monoi hair products they recently put out. The collection was created for those who have problems with hair breakage, which is common with African-American hair. From what I’ve gathered, Monoi oil is made from soaking the petals of Tahitian gardenias in a semi-wax of coconut oil and it’s used as a hair softener among French Polynesians.

Now I’m not sure how far down a list an ingredient can be if it is to be the focus of a product (Monoi is the 9 ingredient in) but maybe you don’t need a lot of the ingredient to benefit?  I guess we’ll just have to take their word for it. Also in it is pro-vitamin B5, sunflower seed extract and Shea Butter so I think no matter what your hair type is, it will benefit from this. I’m so glad I gave this one a spin because it really made my hair feel so silky and soft. Also available, Monoi Repairing Shampoo ($18/8.4oz) and Monoi Repairing Conditioner ($20/8.4oz) @ carolsdaughter.com.

Disclosure: A sample of this item was provided for review purposes.

CRACK, yup this Styling Treatment is called Crack.

What it is:

• A lightweight, super moisturizing hair fix.
• Smoothes split ends
• Protects from UVA/UVB rays and chlorine
• Provides a barrier from heat and thermal styling
• Adds shine and slip without making hair greasy
• Keeps hair looking healthy and polished all day

How to use it: This micro protein/power peptide infused formula is one that is applied right after shampoo on towel dried hair (I used about a quarter-sized dollop). Work into strands and then blow dry to help it penetrate.

So how did this work? Click below!

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