Girls Only: Product Review (October)

Welcome to the second edition of "Girls Only: Product Review!" This month I will be treating you to two reviews. You're welcome! .... Just kidding. It's only because I don't think I have enough to say about just one of these products to fill a "respectably-sized" blog post. Also unfortunate is the fact that I won't be reviewing anything I said I might review in the September edition. I promise I'll get around to it, but here is what's piqued my interest lately!

This month I bring to you one product that I have been using for over 2 years, and the other I used for about two weeks. Because I like to end on a positive note, let's begin with the short-lived product.

In September's "Girls Only," I told my audience that I would most likely be purchasing a leave-in product to help protect my hair from my damaging styling regime. Well, instead of waiting for my birthday coupon from Aveda—which didn't actually arrive, by the way!—I made an impulse purchase when the Giant and I spotted an Aveda store at a mall near my office building. I purchased brilliant's damage control leave-in spray thinking there was no way I could go wrong with an Aveda hair-care product.

Well, I was wrong. Ish.

I hope you guys realize how ridiculously picky I am when I tell you that the reason I dislike the product isn't because it doesn't do everything it advertises. I'm sure it does. As stated on the Aveda site, it is meant to protect against damage caused by combing, heat-styling and the sun. Like I said, I'm sure it does. I also have no issues with the fragrance. Like all of Aveda's other hair-care products, I think it smells fabulous.

What I didn't like was that fact that my hair felt very coarse—kind of like fine, flexible hay—the moment I put my hair under the blow dryer. The drier my hair became, the more this feeling would give way to soft-ish feeling, clean-looking hair. Apparently I need to learn to read, because when I purchased it, I made an assumption that it would not only protect my hair, but it would leave it feeling super soft. As stated, soft-ish is marginally off the mark, and while the feeling of running my brush through a stack of tangled hay eventually does diminish greatly, the product doesn't do what I expected. Therefore, I'm going to pawn it off on someone who might not be as petty as me and wants to use it anyway. Smells fines. Works great. I just want softer hair.

Now, the entire reason I made the assumption that I know what the product does without reading the handy, descriptive "these are the things I do, and nothing more" text on the back of the bottle is because I've used another leave-in product that does exactly what any hair-obsessed product reviewer wants. The creators aptly named it it's a 10 miracle leave-in product. It costs about $6 less than Aveda's product (depending on where you buy), and it is truly a miracle product. The reason they call it "it's a ten" is because it performs ten tasks, from heat protection, to enhancing shine, to seriously softening the hair follicles.

The only issue I've ever had was caused by user error. A couple of times I've sprayed once or twice too many, and it leaves my hair feeling weighted down and kind of tacky (i.e. if I tried to run my hands through it, my fingers would get caught even though my hair wasn't tangled). So just don't overdo it (you'll figure out how much is enough for your hair type through trial and error) and you can't go wrong.

Here's a funny thing. I've already written what I would consider a "respectably-sized" blog, and I've reviewed two products, but the "it's a ten" product wasn't exactly what I had in mind, even though I have been using it for 2 years.

The second product I wanted to talk about will just have to wait till next time! But I'll give you a hint: It's in the picture!

Before I go, here's a helpful tip!

If, like me, you have very oily hair, do NOT condition from root to tip. In fact, I don't even really get close to the root. I start conditioning my hair at about chin-length, and I make sure that most of the conditioner is concentrated at the tips. This makes it so I can go almost a full two days before the oil in my hair becomes noticeable—which is saying a lot.

This girl is wrong.

This girl is sort of wrong.

Why would you contort yourself like this?
Also, super wrong.

This is where the photos of wrongdoers ends, even though the options are limitless because there isn't actually a single picture on Google of a girl conditioning her hair "correctly"—I put "correctly" in quotes because I've based the use of that word off of our understanding that we're dealing with overly-oily hair.

Fortunately, I found this crazy girl with a pair of scissors that is aimed at the exact spot where I would start spreading the conditioner down through my hair.

This girl knows what she's doing. Except, maybe if she'd conditioned her hair ever, she wouldn't be aiming a crappy pair of scissors at her tangled, frizzy hair with all its split ends. Bet you didn't consider that, you neglectful, scissor-wielding nutjob.