It is only in recent years that I have started upping my haircare game. While I have my drugstore hair favourites, the luxury hair game is still something I am trying to wrap my head around because ingredients can't be compared in the same way as luxury skincare. I don't really know how hair works other than "add moisture when dry" since hair is pretty much dead by the time it is out of your scalp. I received a few Shu Uemura hair products to try out last year, but for some reason always had a reason to pass them over. Maybe I have become slightly jaded with hair products. After trying so many, it's hard to believe one can make a serious difference in my life. Well, it seems I need to eat my words.
I was all about purple shampoo and conditioner when my hair was blonde, but when I went back to dark with oilslick hair last November, I had to switch my hair routine to any and everything colour-preserving. I was using a highly recommended colour-preserving shampoo that did help me to hang onto colour, but left my hair feeling dry and frizzy. Even when I curled it, the curls became frizzy and tangled and my first two weeks of having oil slick hair were not shaping up to be any good. Then I decided to switch completely to Shu Uemura hair stuff just to see what would happen because oilslick hair is supposed to look awesome not lifeless and the difference was immediate!
I should mention that these products are core Shu Uemura hair products, but in the limited edition Murakami holiday packaging so they will always be available! I started with the Shu Uemura Cleansing Oil Shampoo* (400mL/$56.00 CDN), which has a mild lather, but amazingly enough ACTUALLY cleans any buildup on my scalp and product from my hair! I have to use two pumps for the top of my head and then one pump for underneath my skull. It rinsed out easily which I was so grateful for as I have used Wen before and it was brutally hard to rinse out. Then the whole hairloss lawsuit started and I just stopped using it altogether.
I have also started shampooing with my knuckles instead of my fingers which I find has been better. I don't really know why, but JT from Civello did it fairly firmly at my last visit and it just made my scalp feel better!
I don't have it showing here, but I also started using the Shu Uemura Color Lustre Brilliant Glaze Hair Conditioner* (250mL/$56.00 CDN) right after the shampoo which makes my hair feel so silky and tangle-free! The frizz is no more and right away, a co-worker asked if I had had my hair professionally styled because it was so bouncy. My whole head just "looked" lighter. This is an expensive conditioner so thankfully even with my hair length, I just need one pump. Those with thicker hair will probably need two.
Next comes, blow drying which I actually HATE with a vengeance because I feel like it takes so long for my hair to dry! Mentally, it feels like such a process to wash my hair that I actually schedule doing my nails on nights I DON'T wash my hair because I don't have time to do both before bed!
I just bought a brand new hair dryer by the name of Baby Buttercup (LOVE HER) and have paired her off with Shu Uemura's Wonder Worker Leave-In Spray* (150mL/$42.00 CDN) which seems to have cut my styling time down significantly. This is a moringa-scented styling spray that has a very fine mist making it awesome for touch-ups later on if you need to restyle your 'do. I have already used a third of the bottle, I love it so much!
Next comes, blow drying which I actually HATE with a vengeance because I feel like it takes so long for my hair to dry! Mentally, it feels like such a process to wash my hair that I actually schedule doing my nails on nights I DON'T wash my hair because I don't have time to do both before bed!
I just bought a brand new hair dryer by the name of Baby Buttercup (LOVE HER) and have paired her off with Shu Uemura's Wonder Worker Leave-In Spray* (150mL/$42.00 CDN) which seems to have cut my styling time down significantly. This is a moringa-scented styling spray that has a very fine mist making it awesome for touch-ups later on if you need to restyle your 'do. I have already used a third of the bottle, I love it so much!
Just like my obsession with facial oils, I HAVE to use a hair oil before I go to bed. I am almost superstitious about it because I love having silky smooth hair. It makes my flat iron glide so much more easily to create curls. One thing that I have learned in recent years was that though I do not like silicones in my skincare, I don't mind them on my hair as they have been the only thing that has given my hair that satisfying smoothness and shine white protecting it from environmental stress.
The Shu Uemura Essence Absolue Nourishing Protective Oil* (150mL/$69.00 CDN) has been fantastic for giving my flat iron that perfect amount of "glide". Since this is a yellow-hued oil, I probably won't use it when/if I go back to being blonde, but it has been totally fine now that I am dark as yellow oils tend to make blonde hair go brassy more quickly. Again, this is a pretty pricey product, so 1-2 pumps should be more than enough. I only use one pump for my ends and avoid my roots though the instructions say this oil is light enough to use from root to tip.
The Shu Uemura Essence Absolue Nourishing Protective Oil* (150mL/$69.00 CDN) has been fantastic for giving my flat iron that perfect amount of "glide". Since this is a yellow-hued oil, I probably won't use it when/if I go back to being blonde, but it has been totally fine now that I am dark as yellow oils tend to make blonde hair go brassy more quickly. Again, this is a pretty pricey product, so 1-2 pumps should be more than enough. I only use one pump for my ends and avoid my roots though the instructions say this oil is light enough to use from root to tip.
I have been so pleased with how my hair has been responding to these products that I am now somewhat hesitant to move away from them, but at least I know I can always "set my hair right" if I use another product that doesn't quite work!
All three of these products are available at all Shu Uemura counters and at www.shuuemura.ca
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