Bed Head Urban Antidotes

Remember my post about Drugstore Hair care (as we Brits like to call it having watched hours of Friends and House)?

I take it all back.

On Saturday after an hour of hugely stressful wedding photography I was paid in cash and decided I needed a treat.  Whilst Kerastase was a step too far I decided I could run to some Bed Head shampoo and conditioner.

S'cuse stock image, the camera is having a week off between weddings!

The Urban Antidotes come in 3 strengths; Re-energize (light green) for normal hair needing daily care, Recovery (blue) for processed, dry hair in need of tlc and Resurrection (Red) for weak, brittle hair in need of an intervention.

The hairdresser in the salon I purchased from had a quick squizz at my hair and suggested I went for No 2 Recovery.  I have used it three times and the difference it has made to my hair is incredible.  I had been using the L'Oreal PureStrength since I wrote about it on the 10th June and whilst my hair never looked fantastic it was OK and for a shampoo and condition from Boots the results weren't bad at all.  But for a combined price of £20.50 the Bed Head Shampoo and Conditioner have totally and utterly changed how my hair looks.  My hair is much less frizzy, with the L'Oreal it started off smooth'ish and frizzed up over the course of the day, with the Bed Head it stays glossy and unfrizzed for the entire day.  I am really loathe to wash my hair daily given that it takes me about 20 mins to blow dry and I found with the L'Oreal it was a real push to make my hair last 2 days, not the case with the Bed Head, in between washes it has stayed frizz free and only needs a slight sorting with a spritz of water and a blat about with the hair dryer to bring it back to bouncy loveliness!


As you'd expect from Bed Head the shampoo and conditioner both smell lovely, sort of citrus, grapefruity kind of smell? I found when I used Kerastase that I still needed a good sized blob to get it to lather, with the Bed Head I do an initial wash with a single pea sized blob and then a 2nd wash with the same amount again (I use a shit load of styling products!) and then a 10p sized blob of conditioner.  I think I might invest in the Resurrection conditioner to use once a week as a bit of an extra boost, I'd be concerned it would be too heavy for every other day.  When I rinse my conditioner I like my hair to feel silky and its not quite achieving that with the Recovery conditioner, although when it's dried it is very smooth and feels thicker and much more moisturised - the feeling of my dry hair is the thing that convinces me most that Urban Antidotes works, with the L'Oreal it felt rough, fluffy and thin.


So yep, for the two it costs £20.50 rather than £11.98 for the L'Oreal so its a bit more of a splurge but I have to say for me the results are totally worth it and I wont be going back to Boots for my shampoo and conditioner any time soon!  What are you using at the moment? Have you tried Urban Antidotes - what did you think? 

*Quick update* I did buy Ressurection conditioner and it is lovely, makes my hair incredibly smooth and silky, think it will come into its own on holiday when I will wash and let my hair dry naturally, hopefully will end up with waves not frizz.  I now use Rescue conditioner all over and a smidge of Ressurection just through the ends and that seems to work a treat.

Shock horror! Drugstore hair products!!

My name is Debbie and I'm a hair product snob.  There I said it!  Personally if I ever find myself with a lump of cash that I don't need I am going to buy myself Frederic Fekkai Overnight Hair Repair which is £138.  OK, I probably wouldn't, but if that £138 really really was spare I'd be sorely tempted!

I have wanted to use Kerastase shampoo and conditioner for ever but always baulked at the price.  Then last year I managed to justify it on the basis that I was getting my hair cut every 4-6 months and colouring it at home.  I love Kerastase products and would happily use nothing else.  But I have had a complete change of heart regarding salon visits and my hair.  On April 18th I spent £50 on highlights and glossing (thats the nice way of saying they cover up your grey roots that would show between the hightlights).  Then yesterday I just had the "glossing" bit done and a tiny trim, £62, and whilst I was there I booked T-section highlights and glossing for 7th July which is going to be another £60 I'm guessing so I really, really can't justify my Kerastase habit any longer.  

Fortunately Em had a sample of L'Oreal EverPure in a magazine which I pinched.  I have to say I have been sort of drawn to this range since I first saw it.  Just in case you don't know here's what they say:
 Non-sulphate cleansing system. Indulgent care to help protect over-processed, frizzy hair.

Specifically designed for fragile and brittle hair, EverStrong Reinforcing & Vitality is a Reinforcing System that combines non-sulphate cleansing and conditioning care. The formulae are enriched with botanical rosemary and juniper oils. Hair looks shinier, smoother and protected. For extra care use L'Oréal Paris Hair Expertise EverStrong Shampoo with EverStrong Reinforcing & Vitality Conditioner and EverStrong Nourishing Intense Mask

I decided to try EverStrong because it seemed closest to the Kerastase range that I was using.  I have used it for the last week and whilst I don't think it tames the frizz quite as well as the Kerastase did, I think that given I bought the shampoo and conditioner for £9 together in Boots compared to a joint price for the Kerastase of £34.80, the difference isn't worth the additonal £25.90 - gad that's a Dior Extreme Addict lipstick right there, in case further justification were needed!  Considering this is sulphate free it works up a nice lather, it smells lovely, sort of herbal which, considering it contains rosemary and juniper oils is hardly surprising - mmm hair that smells of gin, quick squirt of Juniper Sling and I'm good to go!!  The biggest downside I have found is that with the Kerastase and a good blow dry - this takes me 20 mins and I don't stint on the products;  a smoothing gel, an anti split ends serum (see below!) and a squirt of Kerastase to thicken, the next morning I can "refresh" my hair, using EverStrong I really could do with starting from scratch again the next day, it just doesn't stay as frizz free as it does with the Kerastase.


As if all that weren't bad enough there's this:

 I know!!! Shocking isn't it.  TRESemme stuff.  My god who'd ever have thought it.  Tell you what though, this bloody stuff works!  It smells lovely, like sherbert sweets - covers up the ominpresent whiff of gin! - and it works.  I rub a couple of pumps through my wet hair before styling and then rub a single pump onto my hands and then lightly froof the ends of my hair once its dried and it really tames the frizz.  This costs a budget busting £5.99 and given the amount you need this could last me well into my 80's.

Big thanks btw to Claire of Jolie Laide Beauty Blog, whose review of EverStrong I read and who then answered my questions on twitter, she helped me to decide it was definitely worth trying, thanks Claire; my hair loves you, my wallet loves you, but more importantly my husband worships you and your frugal good sense!!

Kerastase Bain de Force & Ciment Anti-Usure

A word of advice - never, ever buy your salon brand shampoo when you have your other half in tow.  Nipped to Leeds yesterday and spotted an open Regis Salon, OH followed me in and handed me three pound coins to pay for my shampoo, he was joking, sort of!  When we got outside after I had parted with £15.90 he said in a rather horrified voice "did you just pay SIXTEEN POUNDS for SHAMPOO?"  I didn't think that telling him I had got the conditioner for £14.90 instead of £18.90 because where I bought it had priced it incorrectly was going to help!

So yes, it's expensive.  But is it worth it?  I have dry hair that's prone to frizz that I wash, blow dry and straighten (a little) every single day and which is home coloured every 3 weeks, if I can be bothered.  It's had started to look pretty damaged and dry and I had some pretty serious split ends happening.  Anyone that has read this blog for a while will know that I am a bit hair obsessed, usual fat girl thing - I control rigidly the stuff I can control; hair and nails and try not to think about the other stuff I "can't". (Slimming World sorting that out tbh, update post coming soon).  So a bad hair day takes on epic proportions and a bad hair cut quite seriously is "the end of the world I'll stay in til it grows out don't tell me it doesn't look as bad as I think what the hell do you know" cause for a total meltdown.  As a result of a dire cut back at the start of November I haven't had my hair cut since then, see I wasn't kidding.  I am going to have to go back soon but I will be holding my hairdressers bollocks in one hand with a pair of scissors in the other whilst he tells me back exactly what I have asked him to do and promises to do that and that alone.  


So, my hair needs some love. For years I used Paul Mitchell Super Skinny shampoo and conditioner and for a very long time it worked really well but then it just didn't seem to be giving me the same effect.  I then tried Aveda smoothing shampoo and conditioner and whilst the results were a marked improvement I didn't think the additional cost was getting me much better results and it was a total pain to have to order on line as nowhere near here stocks it - I do all my really serious spending in cash, from the secret stash, on line shopping comes out the bank account and has to be "discussed" ahem!  So I decided to try Kerastase.  I started out using Bain Satin 1 which made my hair feel dry and coarse until I applied the conditioner, which wasn't quite what I had hoped for and I felt perhaps my hair needed something more nourishing.  I decided to give the Ciment Anti-Usure conditioner a go - this is designed to reinforce weak, damaged and hair and right from the word go this worked brilliantly.  

My hair looks fantastic and feels much healthier, its soft, glossy - I look like a celeb from a Pantene advert to be honest, if you squint, quite a bit.  I have now added the Bain de Force, which is the shampoo for weak, damaged hair and combination of the two is working wonders, I am really pleased with how much better my hair looks.  

With regard to price, I bought the Bain Satin and conditioner around the 15th December and they have both probably got about a weeks worth left in them (which I am going to have to force myself to use up!) So my £34.80 hair care lasts about 3 months, so works out at £11.60 per month - which you could easily spend in Boots on something that wont give anything like this kind of result.  Did that sound like I was frantically justifying my appallingly spend thrift behaviour?

Hair pics - sorry didn't have time to take these yesterday!

Swishy & glossy, that's me!

 


I have just had a look on Look Fantastic and you could buy both of these for £29.55 from them, conditioner here and shampoo here, if you can purchase on line without having to explain every penny to your other half I would recommend this for the huge saving!


So, what's your absolute holy grail hair product?  Or what is the one thing you'd love to try if you had no budget?

Naked Intensive Care Shampoo and Conditioner

A bit like I have "re-discovered" eye shadow and now never go a day without it, which means a regular jab in the eye with a pointy brush at 6am, I have also recently discovered the whole sls, paraben, toxic shite free world of beauty, hair and skin care. And it just feels right. It makes sense really that the closer to being natural the more likely it is to at least "do no harm" when you think that the whole purpose, certainly of skin care, is that it is sucked in to your open pores and redistributed several layers down to work its magic (that was the science bit, except it wasn't scientific. I made it up). So having pulled up a seat on this particular band wagon I have been seeking out products that are toxic shite free. Skin care, whilst limited has come in the form of Organic Surge (wish to god they would bring out more products - I NEED a serum! oh and a cleansing oil).


Hair care was more tricky, with most bloggers struggling to get to grips with sls free shampoo. In spite of this I decided that as the Naked range was in Boots, was cheap and accessible if it did all turn into a hair mare it wasn't the end of the world. Ha! this from me who would happily phone in sick if my fringe wont straighten just the way I like it - sadly working for myself means that I tell myself to get a freaking grip and get off the phone and at my desk smartish when I try that now.



So Naked Intensive care shampoo and conditioner. First up the shampoo. It smells lovely, a calming relaxing smell, not "of" anything in particular but just a nice way for hair to smell. I tend to use a dollop, rub it round and rinse off this seems to remove the worst of any product build up, the second dollop does the cleaning and I have found that it lathers pretty well tbh - clearly not the masses of bubbles that sls will deliver but thats the whole point isn't it? Having rinsed for a second time my hair feels dreadful, its tangly, chewy, snarly and straw like - first time I used this at this point my heart was in my mouth. I use a broad bean sized amount of the conditioner. I know thats a weird amount, but a pea is too small and a courgette just way to much, so please work with me on this - broad bean, or kidney bean if that's a more 21st century legume, as don't think anyone eats broad beans any more. I may have digressed. So, that, amount of conditioner and just wait for the transformation. Until it happens on your own head you will not believe just how terrific this stuff makes your hair feel. It is instantly converted into Cat Deeleys long swooshing shimmering locks, without the mis-matched eye brows and frankly bloody annoying faux giggle on that stupid ad. It feels like silk and smells wonderful and even when you rinse your hair still feels silky and lovely. And this loveliness lasts. I have colour treated (treated? colour abused would be more accurate, see post on "how I poured bleach on my hair and survived, just") hair that I blow dry and weld straight with ghds. It is wavy and prone to frizz so much product is applied in an attempt to make it smooth and glossy but no matter what I have done in the past the ends remain resolutely frizzy. Since I have been using this conditioner my hair does something weird and rather remarkable - the frizz diminishes over the course of an hour after I finishing blasting my hair with the drier which has never happened before! I was so surprised, usually the ends of my hair stay pretty frizzy unless I give them a good going over with the straighteners but now they seem to de-freak over the course of an hour and my hair looks good, it's still dry - this stuff isn't a £3.95 miracle, but it does make my hair look better than it did with my £13 Paul Mitchell conditioner and that's a result! Want to say again that I do seem to be alone in having such good results, but even so at £8 for the 2 if it doesn't work for you you can always use it on the dog!

Charles Worthington Dream Hair - Results

Well I'm a convert! Have always been a fan of high end products for my hair, not that its anything fab but its more fab than other parts of me so I hope by trying to make it fabulous the other bits of me that are less so will be overlooked! Once saw something on tv that said that if your shampoo contains Sodium Lauryl Sulphate then you might as well wash you hair in washing up liquid, or something along those lines! So of course when you scan the labels only shampoo's that cost around £10 are SLS free, your off the shelf, £2.99 stuff from Boots is full of it. So that seemed to legitimise my inordinate spending on shampoo and conditioner, until I spent an unexpected £30 odd on UNE cosmetics, see my first post, and thought that I ought to compromise.

Like judging a book by its cover - ALWAYS a good idea - I judge a shampoo by its fragrance. I threw out the last of the Bed Head Control Freak shampoo and conditioner I had because although it worked fantastically it stank, its supposedly pineapple fragance seemed more like parmesan to me and it pretty much made me gag, not an ideal way to start your day. In fact all the Bed Head range have pretty strong fruity fragrances and I'm pretty underwhelmed by the idea of smelling like a mint strawberry or pomegranate smoothy tbh. Charles Worthington Dream hair smells lush, like a luxury perfume rather than a chemical soup with no class. The shampoo doesn't produce masses of bubbles, but in my book thats a good thing because rinsing them out takes ages and actually I have a feeling that all that lather is generated by something toxic that is secretly turning your hair to straw anyway so the less the better. (There is a small chance I am wrong about that!) The conditioner is really thick - so much so I thought the pump was broken the first time I used it, I just had to whack the bottle a couple of times to get the conditioner in underneath the pump so that it would work. The conditioner also smells divine and makes my hair feel incredibly silky and soft.


Thought we were in need of a photo!

I also bought the Vitamin Enriched styling spray just because it was there and at the time Boots were doing 2 products for £7, the usual price is £5.49 per product - although NEWS FLASH: Superdrug are doing each for £3.50 at the moment - the tireless research I do on your behalf is second to none, don't you think!

The styling spray seems to give a reasonable amount of hold, I just get a better finish with it than without. I use in conjunction with Bed Head Control Freak Smoothing gel, just to kill off the last of the frizz.

I had a problem with frizz. You will notice the past tense. Sneak peak time:


I have a new secret weapon. Have to test it for another couple of days but expect a hairbrush related post, chock full of hyperbole, very very soon!

Charles Worthington Dream Hair - on trial

Am usually a salon product only type of person when it comes to my hair. My hair is my crowning glory and where I let my control freak run wild. Getting my arse exercised into shape is waaay too much like hard work so my hair takes the brunt, most fat girls have great hair and nails - check next time you are shopping, the stuff that's easy to fix we fix, unless we are inherently lazy and then that's a different kind of fat. Whole other story.

So salon stuff all the way and had been using Paul Mitchell Super Skinny £10 ish for shampoo and £11 ish for conditioner. It was nice but a bit boring. On Sunday spent a little more than I had envisaged on make up (see UNE post!) so thought I should be a good girl and buy cheap hair stuff. Spent ages scanning all that Boots had to offer and having opened and sniffed so many bottles of shampoo was starting to develop holes in my septum I found the Charles Worthington Dream Hair stuff which quite frankly smells delish. I am Taurean. (hence being "well upholstered". Like a bull.) Taureans are sensuous types, we like taste, texture and smell a whole big lot (see Prada post!)

So I got the Charles Worthington Dream Hair Shampoo, Conditioner and Vitamin styling spray based purely on its smell. Decided there was no way I could post about this til I had used it for a week - you don't care how it smells, you want to know if it works, right? So this is a mid-test round up and so far I am thinking this stuff should come with a good hair day guarantee. Loving it.