And Then There Was One

Yes, my search is complete. I bought my full-size product today.

The Korres Shampoo/Ojon Conditioner miracle day was a total fluke. All three days I gave it failed to live up to the first time. And while got the Ojon to work well, my hair needs a lot and it is too expensive to be running through so fast.

And when I paired the Korres Shampoo with it's counterpart, it still left me wanting a bit more.

So it was the Ojon Shine and Protect Shampoo that consistently left my hair feeling good and looking shiny. This product didn't stand up and scream "I'm awesome", and since I like me some loud products, I wasn't giving it enough credit. But through my whole search it remained consistent. Always shiny, always soft, manageable and poof-free. I had bought a full-size bottle of the Korres Silk Milk (which was the winning conditioner and my early favorite) since a sample didn't seem to exist. So now I am set.


Both of my rejects: Korres S & Ojon C, have half of the product remaining, and I am curious to test them again after I use my selected products for a good while.

Friday I am off to my family for the holidays until New Year's Eve. I'll be enjoying my new products, but being away from home doesn't allow for proper testing....

So, when I return, I'll begin testing leave-in conditioners. I have my little tube of phyto 7 and I got a sephora made sample of phyto 9. Next time I am in sephora I'll get some phytosesame and anything else my "research" finds so that I can do a thorough testing. I'm leaning heavily on Phyto b.c leave-ins seem to be their thing, but I would like to have some other brands tested as well.

Enjoy your Holidays.

See you next year with my Fab Hair!!!

Save The Best For Last

Korres Sunflower and Vitamin F Shampoo finally arrived on Thursday night and Friday morning I had the WOW day I was looking for.

Even more surprising was how well the Ojon Shine and Protect Conditioner worked with it. My hair felt great after rinsing and it was so soft and smooth after blow-drying. I had totally written off this conditioner, but now it is staying in the race as a contender.
I had an equally great experience when I used the Korres Silk Milk conditioner.

So, is the Korres shampoo totally amazing, or did it reap the benefits of going last? I'm not sure if a weeks worth of using the other products left my hair in a better conditioner so that the Korres got an advantage in performance.

After completing Phase I, I have three combos that require further testing:
Ojon Shine & Protect Shampoo with Korres Silk Milk Conditioner
Korres Sunflower and Vitamin F Shampoo with Ojon Shine & Protect Conditioner
Korres Sunflower and Vitamin F Shampoo with Korres Silk Milk Conditioner

Before I start testing those, I want to finish up what I have left of the Phytojoba (This one fell out of the race because of the design of the bottle and the lack of any wow-factor). I think I have 2 or 3 uses left.

Then I'll use each of my combos for 3 days, starting with Korres Sham and Ojon Cond, then Ojon Sham and Korres Cond, and finishing with both Korres.
Hopefully when I finish this, I will have made my decision. Stay-tuned.

Save Your Skin

All of the articles on combating winter skin issues were never of any real use to me. Bring on the cold!! My skin stays fine.

That was the case, until this year. All of a sudden - I'm dry and itchy and I don't like it. Plus I do not have an arsenal of products to protect me. Only the bits I have gleaned over the past years and my general obsession with all products, has prepared me to find products to correct and protect. And I would like to share two fab products:

Caudalie (are you surprised?) Gentle Cleanser is a light creamy cleanser that removes all makeup and impurities. Obviously it smells and feels awesome, but the best part is that after you rinse it off your skin doesn't feel dry - it actually feels like you just moisturized - all because of the amazing ingredients:
grape-seed polyphenols (OPC)
cornflower water
oat milk
sweet almond and jojoba oils, shea butter
coriander, sweet lime, lemon, guaiac wood, sweet orange, vetiver, sandalwood and hybrid lavender...

The bottle is huge so it will last you all winter and well into spring.

The other product is Ahava Dermut Intensive Hand Cream. My hands, especially my nails and cuticles, have been painfully dry and cracked. I try to heal them, but it's really hard for me to resist picking at them. I was looking in my draw-o-goodies for something this morning and I came across a sample packet of this cream. After one use I am hooked. It felt so good going on, deeply moisturizing, and I also felt it was protecting my hands from further damage. There is also a foot and a body cream in the same line.

Phyto & Korres x2

I still haven't received my korres shampoo, so I used the phytojoba with the korres silk milk for the second day in a row.

On tuesday, I washed, rinsed, and conditioned. The hair was ok, but not as soft as I'd like.

Today, I followed Phyto's instructions, and left the Joba on for 2 minutes (i washed my face) then, rinsed and conditioned. This definitely made a difference. My hair felt much softer today. The one thing I really do not like about the the Joba is the bottle. It has a crew top, and when it comes to dealing with shampoo, the flip top is really the only way to go.

Since I can't continue testing tomorrow, I will repeat the Ojon Shine & Protect Shampoo. I'm pretty sure that between this and the Joba, I'd go with the Ojon - tomorrow will finalize this.

PhtyOjon

More like PhytOh-No!

The combination of Phytojoba Shampoo and Ojon Shine and Protect Conditioner was dismal.

In the shower, everything was going good, I even thought the Ojon was doing a better job. The comb-through went fine. But that's were it ends.

Once my hair was dry, all hope faded. My hair was poufy, kinky, and frizzy. I was so bothered by my hair that I had to put it up in a ponytail all day. I think this is going to be the worst combo I test. I can't imagine my hair being worse than it was today. Let's hope the Korres pairs better with Phyto tomorrow.

The Competition is Getting Stiffer

I just finished drying my hair from my post-ballet shower and I now give you round two:

In the Shower: My thoughts on the Ojon shampoo haven't changed. The scent of the natural oils that are in the shampoo are strong and the deep smell isn't "feminine". The Korres conditioner also had an odd un-girly smell. I also found it a bit hard to squeeze the bottle. After rinsing it out, my hair felt soft, clean and smooth.

The comb-through: it took a little extra work because I had two medium sized tangles.

Post-Blow Dry: Now we are talking. Day two of the Ojon shampoo and this is working it. My good hair half is looking shiny, the fly-aways were better, and my highlights seemed brighter. The Korres conditioner seems to have better results with my bad hair half. While still looking dull compared to my good hair, it was hanging much straighter than usual and seems to be less kinky.

After testing both conditioners, Korres is in the lead. I'll be using each two more times so it's still anyones game.

Ojon Lady is a Hairetic

This morning I used the Ojon Shine and Protect S&C.

The shampoo had a good lather and there was nothing that struck me as bad about it. I tried to use a half-dollar size of the conditioner, but it didn't seem to be enough for my hair. After I rinsed it out, I felt that my was a bit rubbery.

Out of the shower, it was fairly easy to comb through my wet hair and get out any tangles. I blow-dried it using my usual products and I was pleased with how it turned out.
The top half of my hair will show the results of all these products, but the bottom half, having been permed 2 years ago, is in quite a state, and it always requires a little bit extra.
With that, all of my hair felt really soft, and the top was looking pretty good. The bottom was it's usual self, so I added the Leave-in glossing cream that came with the set. My hair wasn't transformed, but it was ready for a day at the mall.

And so, while walking through Sephora to get to the Caudalie section (i bought new face wash) I stopped to look at the phyto products to see if there were any mini sizes. Well, who happened to be next to be but a rep from Ojon. She starts her pitch and I pipe in that I already have stuff. She then showed me the Leave-in cream and I told her that it was actually in my hair right now. Well she was offering some for my fly-aways. It's really bad when a sales person offers you a product to fix what that same product didn't do the first time around. So she asks me what else I use, and then follows up by telling me she uses both Shine & Protect and another S&C set they have. >Now every magazine, stylists, etc. advises everyone to shampoo as little as possible. Shampoo strips your hair of its natural oils and of any color added to it. < Well she tells me that like her, I should wash with the shine and protect, wash a second time with the other one, and then condition. WTF, wash my hair twice in a day? This lady was old and I am sure she grew up in the time of lather, rinse, repeat, and thought that smoking was good for you. She obviously never got the memo on hair, what else is she doing like it's 1955?

Unfortunately, the fact that Ojon is letting this woman represent them has put a sour taste in my mouth. I've already decided that this combo won't be the winner, it just didn't do anything to wow me. And when a rep (no matter how stupid) offers the same product you're already using, that speaks volumes.

Next Up: Ojon Shine and Protect Shampoo with Korres Silk Milk Conditioner.