If you know one thing about me, it’s that you’ve probably never seen my real hair color. The day after my senior photos, I dyed it black to be an Indian in Peter Pan, and never looked back.
So you can imagine my excitement when the first Influenster box I received was product for color-treated hair! AND from a company whose cleansing conditioner I already use on the regular.
Per their website, the Biolage R.A.W. line is Real, Authentic, and Wholesome with 70 – 100% natural-origin ingredients. “Garbage in/garbage out” isn’t just for your body, but for your hair as well!
I’m always a bit apprehensive to try a new hair product, especially shampoo, given how coarse my hair is and how much bleach I throw at it. Knowing it was a Matrix Biolage product (like what I use already) helped to assuage my fears. I was even more hopeful once I saw how thick and rich the products were. And check out these other perks:
– No Silicones
– No Sufates
– No Parabens
– Vegan
– 98% Biodegradable
– 95% recycled plastic bottle
– No Artificial Colorants
Ok, that’s all well and good – but how does work?
Now, admittedly, my current color state is lightening up the heavy red laid on top of rather light locks for A Wrinkle in Time, so I was not overly afraid of color loss, even though red fades faster than any other dye. [Science!]
What is really exciting, though, is how good my hair feels. While I haven’t fully gone the no-poo route, I haven’t used a traditional shampoo in… months. Even though this was sulfate- and paraben-free, I was still afraid of increasing my frizz. But there is no noticeable difference, and, after a month of use, and six weeks between highlights, my stylist still didn’t tell me I have to chop it all off because it’s otherwise going fall off, and even talked about letting it grow — which is a HUGE win in my book. AND it’s much quicker, following the instructions on the bottles, to do a shampoo and couple of minutes of conditioning vs. my usual several minutes of cleansing conditioner followed by several minutes of a deep conditioner.
Also included in the tester box was a heat primer. I use very little heat on my hair besides straightening my bangs and maybe a few turns of a curling iron on second-day hair; I never straighten it on my own, and rarely do extra curling. I usually keep a spray-on heat protectant on hand, and was concerned about the extra weight of the R.A.W. primer – especially if I wasn’t going to use heat. However, there was no discernible extra weight and, by mixing a dollop in with my curl cream and defrizzer, I didn’t have to think about heat protectant when I needed to pump up the waves a day or two after washing.
While I will probably never use this line exclusively, I believe strongly in rotating products and will definitely keep it on hand. I only wash my hair once, maybe twice, a week, so I still have tons of product left. We were supposed to review after two weeks — which is not nearly enough time for me to judge!
Thanks to Influenster for such a successful first box. These are some trials and tests to look forward to.
[current color. Stacey at Hair Bomb is a goddess]
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I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes. All opinions my crazy-waved own!
Ann Davis-Rowe 
❤