Monday, July 31, 2006

Get It Straight

*I have been having serious issues with Blogger and the photo uploading tool lately. If anyone knows what's going on, please help me out! It seems like this has been going on, off-and-on, for at least a few weeks. Thanks*

In this day and age of hair dryers, flat irons, curling irons, etc, our hair is subjected to more heat styling that ever before. Although this may make hair look awesome in the short-term, long-term it causes hair to become damaged and brittle. As a result, a whole slew of heat-protecting hair care products have arrived on the market. USE THEM!

Sleek.look by Matrix Smoothing System Iron Smoother Spray (~$13)-- This was the first product I tried when I started using my flat-iron. It was brand-new, and I believe the first heat protecting spray designed to be used with flat irons. I was amazed by the results-- it made my hair easier to straighten, and the style lasted longer. I remember one morning I straightened my hair and wore it down, only to walk outside and see that it was raining. I instantly thought "Oh, crap" and waited for the frizz fest to begin. But, to my utter shock and amazement, my hair stayed straight and sleek all day long. I was AMAZED.

Eventually, however, I found that I was less than thrilled with the use of a spray. It left wierd gunk on my flat iron blades. And I had a hard time trying to make sure my whole head was covered in its protective spray, without overdoing it (and ending up looking greasy). So I ventured out to try to find a cream formula. Enter:

Redken Align 12 Ultra-Straight Balm (~ $15)-- This product is designed to be spread through damp hair. It then helps you get a better (straighter, less frizzy) blow-dry, and flat iron, while helping protect hair from the heat. It requires a bit more forward-thinking (I myself don't always know right out of the shower if I'll want to wear my hair curly or straight) but that hasn't been a huge problem even if I use it and then decide to stay curly. I usually let my hair air-dry, partially to lessen the amount of heat-styling I subject my hair to and also b/c I have yet to figure out how to blow-dry my hair successfully. Anyway, Align still ensures that my hair is better protected against the heat of my flat-iron while at the same time helping it relax and straighten, and stay that way.



The last step in my routine is to use Sleek.look by Matrix Sealing Serum (~$15). This helps tame any frizzies or flyaways, while providing great sleekness and shine. It's one of my miracle tools.


Each of these products are sold at salons and come with a warning that professional hair salons are their only authorized distributors. However I have found each of these at beauty stores, drugstore.com, and even Target. The prices generally are about the same, so if you can find them at a professional salon that's probably best, though it can be difficult at times to find a salon that carries the products you want. I do believe that most Supercuts, Great Clips, etc carry most Matrix products.

4 comments:

ThatBeeGirl said...

Photobucket is an easy (and free) way to post pix when Blogger acts up. Flickr, although I love it more'n anything, it requires you to link back to the original photo page, creating a link from the pic you posted (eg, here) to your whole Flickr acct. I'm not too big on that and thus use Photobucket.

Sales Rack Raider said...

I've always had trouble with Blogger's uploading tool. Some pictures just won't upload on multiple tries, but when I log back in later, it works. When I had to upload a lot of pictures for my scarf post and Blogger had problems, I got mad and waited until later at night before uploading the rest of the pictures. It really sucks, but it's better than the frustration of multiple retries at one sitting.

ThatBeeGirl said...

Dang.
I saw that Sleek Look product on super duper sale today and neglected to get it because I wondered if it was the same one you recommended. I wonder if they'll still have som left...

Anonymous said...

Sleek flat iron smoother is not a product i would recommend using with an expensive flat iron it builds up on your flat iron and eats away at the ceramic if you ever get a chance try ARTEC flat iron creme light weight and doesn't ruin your flat iron or dry out your hair if you get frizz and fly aways use a serum and for people with thin hair use a lightweight serum like Brocato shine drops. The reason you can find these products at drug stores and target it because they are selling them on the black market and they change th PH balance of the product which means they add water to distribute more bottles to these stores that's why it only suppose to be sold professionally