Bumble And Bumble Invisible Oil And The Hairdresser's Trio*

My hair goes through phases and at the moment it's going through a rough patch. I don't know whether it because I've been a bit under the weather or  whether it's because I've been constantly changing my routine in attempt to use products up but it's thinning, falling out, difficult to style and it needs some serious TLC. So in attempt to give my hair the love it deserves I stripped my routine back to basics and I've been using a few products from Bumble And Bumble.

For the last month and a bit I've used nothing else on my hair bar top salon brand Bumble And Bumble's, The Hairdresser's Trio

This cute travel or trial size pack contains 3 products from the Bumble And Bumble Bb Hairdressers Invisible Oil range - a 60ml Sulfate Free Shampoo, a 60ml Conditioner, and a 60ml Heat / UV Protective Primer All of the products in the Invisible Oil range contain 6 lightweight, nourishing and moisturising oils, including Grapeseed, Safflower Seed, Sweet Almond, Macadamia, Argan and Coconut oil

Bumble And Bumble Bb Hairdresser's Invisible Oil Sulfate Free Shampoo - 60ml

Designed for coarse, dry and thick hair, this shampoo is infused with moisturising oils and is sulfate free making it ideal if you have sensitive skin or a sensitive scalp. It's designed to soften, tame, de-frizz, detangle and protect the hair.

It has quite a thick texture and it's pearlised white in colour. All of the products in the Invisible Oil range have the same pleasant scent, it's an almost nutty, fruity, coconut aroma that comes from all of the natural oils.

A small amount of shampoo goes a long way, and like most sulfate free shampoos, you just add more water to the shampoo to increase the foam. This shampoo produces a nice creamy lather that rinses away easily, and leaves their hair feeling clean, and nourished.

I really liked this shampoo and on some occasions this was all I used. It left the hair feel moisturised and if you have normal hair this shampoo could be all that you'd need. The full 250ml size of this shampoo retails at £23 which isn't cheap, but in my opinion it's a worthwhile investment. If that's too much to shell at once then the 60ml size that you can see is available for around £7.50.

Bumble And Bumble Bb Hairdresser's Invisible Oil Conditioner - 60ml

If your hair needs a bit of extra attention though then the next step is to use a good conditioner, and the pack that I got also included the corresponding Invisible Oil Conditioner. Especially for dry, coarse and brittle hair, again it contains the 6 featherlight oils, and it's designed  to help soften, silken, tame, de-frizz, detangle and protect the hair.

Packaged in squeezy tube, it's white in appearance and has thick, and creamy consistency, and exactly the same fragrance as the shampoo. Despite it's thickness and density it spreads easily through the hair, and after leaving it for a minute or two it rinses out really easily with warm water. It sounds strange but when it's rinsed out the hair almost feels thicker and plumper. It was also left smooth and silky, with very few knots and tangles.

Again I really liked this product x The texture was lovely and creamy, and it surprised me how easily that it rinsed out and how nice my hair felt afterwards. Although it isn't advertised as being a thickening product my hair definitely felt thicker and fuller when I'd used it but it didn't feel weighed down, lank or heavy. Again this isn't cheap, and a 200ml tube retails at £25 but a little goes a long way, and you can also get the 60ml tube that you can see here for £8.50 if you want to try it or you just feel as though your hair needs a treat.

Bumble And Bumble Bb Hairdresser's Invisible Oil Heat / UV Protective Primer - 60ml

The final product in The Hairdresser's Trio is this fabulous, multi use spray, which again is crammed full of those 6 vital oils. Created to help soften, de-tangle, de-frizz, tame fly aways, ease styling and protect against breakage, heat-styling and UV damage, this is the only spray bar maybe a hair spray or a dry shampoo that you will ever need.

With the same nutty, citrus, coconut scent, in its simplest terms this is a leave in conditioner or heat protection spray that you can either use on damp hair before blow drying or on dry hair before straightening or curling. You can also use during the day to protect your hair from UV damage whether your on holiday or even if your hair is feeling a bit dry and frazzled.

In a pump action bottle, it has a very light almost water like texture but it does seem to make a difference. I've predominantly been using this as a heat protection spray on dry hair before I've used my tongs or my straighteners and I really think it's helped. My ends especially don't feel as frazzled and there definitely seems to be a lot less frizz. I've also been using it as a detangler on damp hair, and again I think that it's given the hair a nice moisture boost and it's got rid of any residual knots and tangles. At a push I think that you could also use this as a refresher and revitaliser on drier hair, and for when your hair needs a moisture boost without weighing it down.

This one isn't cheap either but I've been using my 60ml bottle for over a month now and I've barely put a dent in it. I can't find this 60ml size online anymore but the 250ml bottle retails at around £20.50.

Okay this isn't the cheapest hair care range on the market by any means but what you are getting are good quality products that are used everyday in a salon environment and do what they promise. My hair still isn't great but it's getting there. These are the only products that I've used on my hair over the last month or so and I've definitely seen an improvement in both the condition and the texture. It is a considered purchase but if your hair needs some TLC, after your summer holidays or after illness then the Invisible Oil range could be something to try. Unfortunately I can't find this particular kit online any more but some of the smaller sizes are available directly from the Bumble & Bumble website and from various retailers including Look Fantastic and Escentual, and of course you can take the plunge and buy the full sizes from the likes of Boots and John Lewis. Does your hair need some TLC at the moment? Let me know and we can bemoan our bad hair days together x Thanks for reading x

*Sample

Clynol Hair Product Review

A few months ago I was lucky enough to be sent a bunch of hair products by top salon brand Clynol to try and review for you. I must admit I have used this product in the past mainly the Dream Hair leave in conditioner and I have to say although I repurchased it and some other items the products were OK but nothing special- so I was interested to see if any of their new formulations were any more impressive.
Clynol have recently revamped the ingredients, product design and packaging of their hair care range and I was lucky enough to be sent 4 products a shampoo and a conditioner and 2 styling products from their new Care and Style ranges - I have tried these products for over two months now to give you a through review.

Clynol Revive Repair Shampoo

First of all I was sent this shampoo from the Repair range. This shampoo is for dry, damaged and brittle hair and contains Clynols exclusive Pro.Repair.Complex with amino acids and wheat protein. The shampoo came in a sleek, white 300ml bottle with a flip top cap. It's a slightly, runny, pearlised white liquid with a fresh smell.

Despite the presence of the foaming agent Sodium Laureth Sulfate, I did find you needed quite a bit of the product to produce a decent lather. Having said that though it produced sufficient lather to make my hair feel clean and it rinsed out easily, and I didn't feel as though I needed to shampoo it twice. All in all it was a pretty good shampoo but I didn't think it was anything spectacular. This retails for around £8.45

Clynol Recovery Repair Conditioner

Alongside the shampoo I was also sent the matching conditioner from the Repair range.
This product again comes in a sleek white bottle, which this time is 250ml in size. It has a pump action dispenser which personally I love - its much easier to use when you are in the shower and so on and you get exactly the right amount of product. It dispensed easily and was of a good, not too thick not too runny consistency, and was white in colour - again it has the same fresh scent as the shampoo

I felt it massaged easily into my washed, towel dried hair but again I felt I needed to use a lot of product to cover my just below shoulder length hair. After leaving for a few minutes the product washed out easily and left me hair without too many tangles. According to Clynol this conditioner "Protects the hair surface, gives strength and shine. Gently restructures hair by repairing damaged areas." These are big claims as I have said on several occasions I don't believe products can repair split ends or damaged hair but to be fair this product left my hair, soft, and tangle free which was no mean feet considering I had it coloured (yes OK bleached!) during this trial. Obviously in its current condition I think my hair needs a little bit more help than this product but it's a pretty decent everyday conditioner. This product retails for around £9.45

Clynol Smooth Flatter Iron Spray

As I said I was also sent two of the styling products from the Smooth range. The first one I was sent was the Flatter Iron Spray. Been a compulsive (although hopefully less in 2010 :))hair straightener and user of flat irons I already currently use a heat protector spray so I was interested to try this one out. The product comes in a silver /blue tone pump action bottle which is 300ml in size. This product contains Clynol's exclusive Pro Protect Complex with moisturising silk protein, which supposedly protects the hair during styling and moisturises and smooths hair. Nothing new here I suppose most heat protector sprays on the market make similar claims. Since I don't blow dry my hair I used the product on my dry hair before using straightening irons. The product dispensed easily in a fine mist. The spray though didn't smell that great there was no nice scent like my usual product instead it had a quite chemically and not that pleasant smell. There was no problem whilst I was using no scary hissing or any increased dryness of my hair but I did find that it made it quite stiff with product, a bit tangled and not as smooth as I would have liked. Would I buy this particular product again - no definitely not - this item retails for around £9.50 and my preferred flat iron spray costs only a third of that, gives just as good results and smells lovely :)

Clynol Smooth Silky Frizz-Free Serum

The final product I was sent was a hair serum from the smooth range.It comes in 150ml bottle with a pump action dispenser.Containing the exclusive Pro Sleek Complex with Macadamia Nut Oil this serum according to Clynol gives you "long lasting, frizz free manageable hair with a silky shine and a glossy finish ". After drying and straightening I dispensed some of this fresh, fruity clear serum onto my hands and smoothed it over my hair. I loved the smell of this product which lingered on your hair - the serum was non greasy or sticky and was easily applied to my hair although as you can see in this picture it is a little bit runny

It left the hair with a noticeable shine, and no stickiness, and without knots

I have to say though as much as I liked this serum I don't think the effects really lasted that well - I must admit the current snowy, cold weather probably isn't the best test for this serum but the smooth finish lasted no more than a couple of hours on my hair. Despite that as I say I was pretty impressed with the product I especially loved the smell and the glossy (not greasy!) finish it gave. This retails at around £9.50

I hope you have found this review of some of the new Clynol hair products to be useful - if you would like any more information such as stockists, or to find out what products would be suitable for your hair type please check out the Clynol website If you have any questions on these products please don't hesitate to leave a comment below

Remington Wet 2 Straight Review

Like many other bloggers I was recently sent a pair of the Remington Wet 2 Straight hair irons to try, so If you have had enough of reading reviews on these I suggest you look away now (I've always wanted to say this like when they show the football results on the tv lol.)

I was super excited to try these as my and my bestie had been discussing the possible merits and pitfalls about this product since it first launched. The idea in theory sounds fabulous a set of hair straighteners which you can use on wet hair to dry as you straighten, and on dry hair as a normal straightening iron. I must admit I have real problems blow drying my own hair due to CFS related pains and thick hair so I was hoping that these would be a good solution (I normally dry my hair naturally and then straighten it)

I have to admit before I start the review that I am a GHD addict I am on my second pair and I love them, other straighteners I have used in the past just dont compare and have usually ended up in the charity bag so I was interested to see how these performed in comparison.

Design and Features
They are an ergonomically designed straightner with a slight curve to fit in the hand and to the scalp more easily. They also have longer and slightly thinner ceramic plates than my GHD's.

Unlike GHD's they also have an adjustable temperature control which is something I like this means you can adjust the temperature of the stylers depending on your hair thickness or type, e.g. higher temperatures for thicker hair etc. Like GHD's they also have dual voltage which means you can use them throughout Europe too.

The big difference though with the Remington Wet To Straights though is that they can be used on wet (realistically though damp hair) and dry hair. The straighteners features an easy 4 button control panel and an LCD display and you can easily switch between wet and dry at the touch of a button. The top set of plates feature a set of steam vents (in my pic they are upside down). According to Remington these vents draw the water away from your hair and create steam which helps the condition of the hair.

These straightners also come with a heat proof silver pouch which is very handy because they can get very hot!!


The Test - Wet Hair
Before

As I said before wet to straight is probably a bit misleading - the straightners must be used on damp, towel dried hair, that has been combed through and sectionned out. I put the straightners on the wet mode and put it up to the highest heat setting of 230 degrees as recommended - obviously they take a little bit longer to heat up the higher the tempertaure you set them at but it still wasn't any more than a few minutes and they let you know with an indicator beep. I am in no doubt that these do indeed straighten and dry very well but I do have a few issues. First of all the biggie are they damaging the condition of you hair? Remington claim not - the production of the steam and the frizz resistant conditioners built into the plates prevent damage and actually aid the conditioning process -I have no reason not to believe this my hair certainly didn't feel any drier although I will say that I found the sizzling noise quite off putting!. Perhaps my biggest problem with wet to straight when used in wet mode was that it was incredibly difficult to get close enough to the scalp to dry the roots -the straighteners got very hot and it was very hard to hold them in a way to get to the roots without burning my fingers, and I found the same with my fringe. I also found it quite time consuming to dry all of my hair especially the underneath section -it seemed to take quite a while and you kept having to go over sections to make sure they were completely dry. Having said that it was for me personally easier than blow drying my own hair and I have to say I was quite pleased with the results - my hair was pretty straight, dry and not frizzy at all, and this seemed to last till the next morning
After


The Test - Dry Hair
Before

The is the most familiar way to most of us of using hair straighteners - as I say I normally leave my hair to dry naturally and then straighten it when it's dry. As you can see naturally it's quite wavy, I sometimes leave it but more often than not I wear it straight. All you do with these is set the straightener to the dry setting with the touch of a button and adjust the temperature accordingly (I set it to about 190-200 degrees which is the GHD temperature). As before I applied a heat protector spray all over my hair sectionned it out and started straightening. The straighteners were pretty effective although I did find I had to go over certain sections a few times to achieve maximum straightness. Again though I found them a little hot to hold at times and again it was quite hard to straighten my fringe due to the design and shape of the irons. I was pretty pleased with the finish that they gave my hair but Remington claim that your hair should be left without frizz for up to 8 hours - I don't actually believe this -although all hair types are different, weather conditions can vary and so on mine only stayed really frizz free for a couple of hours or so
After

What Do I Think
Well as I said I'd always been interested in trying these straighteners- anything that can make my life easier I'm all for! I have to say on the whole I was quite impressed they did what they promised all be it with a few issues that I have mentionned. I do query a few of Remington's claims about this product though. I don't particulary understand the concept of how they protect the hair rather than damaging it maybe that is something you would only see over time, I also don't quite believe they banish frizz for up to 8 hours it certainly didn't in my case. I also don't think this product would be suitable for anyone with any thicker or longer hair than mine, I think the drying process would just take to long to complete. Would I buy this erm if I had GHD's already probably not I personally get just as good a result from drying my hair naturally and straightening it afterwards but if I wanted a set of straighteners and I didn't want to spend GHD money - yeah I think they are worth a try especially with the added drying feature. I get the impression that these are like Marmite a love / hate product -this is just my opinion and what I thought about them after a few weeks of use yours may be very different.

Where Can I Get Them
The Remington Style Therapy Wet 2 Straight Slim Straighteners RRP is £79.99 but there are loads of special offers around at the moment where you can get them for up to half price. You can get them from all good electrical retailers including Boots, Superdrug, and Argos

If you have any queries or questions please don't hesitate to ask me or check out Remington's own site for more information :)