When I was a little girl my hair really was my crowning glory, it was long, thick, glossy and almost poker straight, and do you know what? I really miss it. Whilst ill advised hair cuts, styling and bad dye jobs have played their part, long term illness and heavy medication means that my poor hair is now a shadow of its former self all be it, a thin, lank, frizzy, wavy version
I can cope with the change in texture by embracing the curl or pulling out the straighteners but I've found the thinning harder to cope with. On average a human being loses around 150 hairs a day, through normal activity such as washing, and brushing but for whatever reason, be it hormones, medication, illness or stress, some people lose an awful lot more and unfortunately I'm one of those people. Whilst hair loss has historically been seen as more of a male problem, women account for 40% of all hair loss sufferers.
You could say I've been lucky, I've never suffered from any bald patches and I still have a lot of hair but when your hair starts to thin it affects your confidence and self esteem, just think about how you feel when you have a bad hair day, it's like that, only every day. Every time I washed my hair, brushed it or even just ran my hands through it, strands and strands, and occasionally chunks of hair came out and either fell down the plug hole, or fell onto the floor and clogged up the hoover. The picture below shows all of the hair that I removed from the shower trap after just one gentle shampoo.
It's frustrating but all you can do is just take care of your hair, and scalp the best way that you can. I think that's probably one of the reasons that I'm so obsessed with trying out new hair products, I'm always on the look out for that miracle product be it a supplement, a serum or conditioner that will restore my poorly tresses back to their former glory,
Way back in November I received in an email that made me think that miracles can happen. It was on behalf of a new brand called RESEED, that specialise in hair thickening products for both men and women. Using the latest innovations and technologies, this range which has taken over 15 years to develop, is environmentally conscious and they only use the purest of ingredients and natural extracts. All of their products are also dermatologically tested, and they aren't tested on animals and they don't use suppliers who partake in animal testing.
The RESEED line is divided into two ranges, one for men and one for women, each range contains a shampoo, a conditioner, a serum, a botanical solution, and some oral supplements. I was given the opportunity to try out the RESEED system for myself, and I was sent all of the women's products bar the supplements to try out and review for you.
All of the products in the range come boxed and come with full instructions which you should really read before your start. The products basically provide you with a 12 weeks system, which advises you which products to use and when. This sounded a bit scary at first but it's really easy to follow, and the products are simple and pleasurable to use.
RESEED Ginkgo and Sabal Fortifying Shampoo For Women 250ml*
The cornerstone for any hair care routine is a shampoo but it's something that's so easy to get wrong. A bad shampoo can strip and damage the hair but a good one can make all of the difference.
The RESEED Ginkgo and Sabal Fortifying Shampoo, aims to improve scalp health and to leave the hair looking and feeling fuller and healthier. It is specially designed to restore and strengthen the hair, and to help prolong the life cycle of each strand of hair.
It contains Ginkgo Biloba to stimulate, and revitalise the scalp and the hair follicles, and Sabal extract which comes from a type of palm plant and has been found to inhibit the scary sounding Dihydrotestosterone or DHT which is a molecule that has been linked to male pattern baldness. It also contains antioxidants and vitamins B5, B6, E, F, and Zinc for general hair health.
Packaged in a matte white bottle with black print, the bottle has a easy to use flip top cap. The shampoo itself has a clear, gel texture, and a pleasant herbal, almost fruity scent
Mix just a small amount with water, and you get a lovely fine, creamy lather. If your in a rush you can rinse it straight out, but RESEED recommend that you leave the lather on the hair for a couple of minutes before giving your hair a good rinse. The lather rinses out easily leaves the hair feeling clean and almost plumped. It isn't the most nourishing shampoo I've ever use but I do really like it, I love the smell, it's easy to use, and rinse out and it leaves, your hair and scalp feeling fresh and healthy. The RESEED Ginkgo and Sabal Fortifying Shampoo For Women comes in a 250ml bottle and retails at around £25.
RESEED Wheat Bran Ultra Volume Conditioner for Women 250 ml*
For years and years I used to just wash my hair and go - Conditioner was more often than not a step that I just didn't have the time for. How wrong was I though if you want healthy hair, and a healthy scalp you need to need to use a conditioner to give your hair that moisture boost and to protect the hair against daily stresses and strains.
The Wheatbran Ultra Volume Conditioner that comes in the RESEED range is designed for all hair types and it's designed to protect the hair from thermal and UV damage, it's also designed to help preserve hair colour and protect the hair from environmental damage, and lifestyle stresses.
The advanced formulation has been specifically created using a variety of herbal ingredients to improve the density of the hair and strengthen the roots. It also contains pomegranate extract and UV filters to help maintain hair colour, and lightweight hydrating and nourishing ingredients to add shine, improve hair manageability and to prevent hair breakage
Like the shampoo it comes in a matte white, plastic bottle, with black lettering and a black flip top cap to help you distinguish it from the shampoo. It's has a creamy lotion texture and it's off white in colour. I'm useless at describing scents but this one just has a gentle, herbal scent, that strangely enough reminds me of hair conditioners from my childhood.
You use it just like you would a regular hair conditioner - just wash your hair with the accompanying shampoo, then gently massage a generous amount of the product into your hair and scalp -since it isn't the thickest of formula's it massages in really easily without any pulling or tugging. Then you can either leave it for a few minutes or for a more intensive treatment you can leave it for around 5-10 minuted before rinsing.
It rinses out really easily which is an essential when your hair is at its weakest and in my experience my hair was again left feeling a little bit fuller, and it was left looking and feeling separated and detangled - exactly what you need when your hair gets as knotty as mine does.
If you like a thick and heavy conditioner, or if you have really dry hair then this conditioner probably wouldn't be enough for you but for me it was perfect. It definitely gave me hair a moisture boost, but most of all the light weight texture meant that it didn't weigh my hair down, instead it left my hair feeling smooth, and detangled.
The RESEED Wheatbran Ulta Volume Conditioner For Women comes in 250ml bottle and retails at around £28.
RESEED R12 Tri Peptide Active Hair Serum For Women - 30ml*
Shampoo's and conditioners are a staple in most peoples hair care routine but being a treatment regime, RESEED takes take your whole hair care routine to another level.
This serum is probably the most hyped and power packed product in the range. Containing a wide variety of specially chosen plant extracts including ginseng, mulberry and japonica, this serum attacks hair problems head on.
It's designed to help thicken and strengthen the hair, working on the roots, and the follicles to encourage and stimulate hair growth and volume. With regular use, the high concentrations of ingredients can lead to stronger, healthier hair which is less prone to dryness, damage and breakage. This really is the hero product in the range and with good reason, during clinical trials after just 8 weeks participants found that there was a significant changes in the rate of hair growth.
Packaged in a hard, glass or plastic bottle, this product comes with an ingenious dropper type, twist lid. The serum itself looks a little underwhelming, it actually looks exactly like water, it's a clear, liquid with a water like consistency, and no discernible scent
For the first two weeks of the 3 month RESEED system, you need to apply a few drops to the hair 4 times at week, and from weeks 3-12, you then only apply it once a week, and then if you want to continue the treatment you go back it applying it 4 times a week.
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It easy enough to use, after washing and drying your hair you just apply a few drops of serum to your problem areas, gently massaging it into the hair and scalp with your finger tips until it's fully absorbed. Most of the time I massage into into all of my hair and scalp, but on occasions I specifically concentrated on my problems areas focusing on my hair line and my crown.
When you're using a whole system or regime it's hard to say whether or not an individual product has made a difference so at the end of the post I'm going to talk about about the whole regime rather than trying to talk about whether this product alone made a difference
RESEED R8 Botanical Solution for Women 50 ml*
The final product I tried for the RESEED range is another serum, and it's another product designed to help, and make the best of weak and damaged here.
This serum, or liquid is designed again to work on the roots and the follicles of the hair, to produce strong, thick and healthy hair. Crammed full of plant and herbal ingredients including nettle, horsetail, green tea, arnica, rosemary, fennel, thyme and chamomile, this solution is designed to reduce that production of nasty DHT, and stimulate, refresh and protect the hair and scalp.
In the RESEED 12 week system, you starting using this product from weeks 3-12, you use it twice a week on days when you aren't using the RESEED R12 Tri Peptide Active Hair Serum For Women.
Again packaged in a solid dropper style bottle, again this product has a very liquidy, water like solution, this time though it's brown in colour that reminds me a bit of strong. It has a strong herbal scent which reminds me a little bit of really cheap cola ;)
Unlike the hair serum, you need to apply the Botanical Solution, to washed and towel dried, damp hair. You can either apply a few drops into the hands or you can apply it directly onto the scalp. Then starting at the centre of the scalp gently massage the solution into the hair and scalp for around 5 minutes. Massage is key with this product, as it not only helps the product to absorb but the gentle massage also helps to stimulate the scalp
Again it's hard to review one product in a whole regime but what I will say about this one is that if you have a sensitive, itchy or flaky scalp, then this is definitely something to try. I'm just prone to itches everywhere and sometimes I want to rip the skin both off my body and my scalp, but this product has definitely made a difference since I introduced it into my routine, my scalp is way less itchy, and it doesn't seem anywhere near as dry
The RESEED R8 Botanical Solution for Women comes in a 50ml bottle and retails for around £45
My Results
So what do I think and what results have I seen? Well after the first shampoo and condition I saw an immediate difference, my hair was left not only cleaner but it also seemed smoother and plumper.
When I started to introduce the serums though that's when I started to see a real difference - it wasn't instantaneous and my hair didn't improve overnight but over the past few months I have seen a definite improvement.
I'm still losing hairs here and there but now at least I can run my finger through it, wash it, straighten it or tie it back without losing hamster size chunks, I still lose a few strands but I'm probably closer to the average of 150 hairs a day than I used to be. I'm also noticing less breakage around my hairline and instead of having a few inch long hairs, there now nearly all at least 3 inches long
I've also noticed a significant change in the overall length, thickness and health of my hair. I seem to have more hair than I used to and it's now taking longer to dry. It also seems to have a bit more of a shine, and as I said previously my scalp is less itchy and less dry.
My hair is still no where near as good as it was when I was child, but over the last few months I've seen a noticeable change thanks to using these products. This is only my experience and I can't guarantee that yours would be the same but if your a constantly bad hair day then this range could be something to try.
Personally I'm nearly finished a few of the products now and whilst I would love to keep going with the whole RESEED regime, for some people including me at times I think it has quite a prohibitive price point. The whole women's regime retails at around £154 but personally when I consider the results I've seen and all of quality ingredients and research that's gone into the line, I think it's a price worth paying, for the self confidence that a good hair day brings.
The RESEED range is currently available to buy from
Natural Care Inc and
John Bell & Croydon. and it should be available in most larger Boots stores later this year. You can also find out more about the RESEED range from their
official website x Thanks for reading and if you have any questions please leave me a comment and I'll do my best to answer x
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