I’m a big advocate of self expression. The world would be so boring if we all looked the same and dressed the same; variety is the spice of life. I’ve never been shy about self expression, I love tattoos and piercings as well as less permanent ways to show the world who you are – like changing your hair colour.
I’ve been dying my hair for half my life and it’s been pretty much every colour under the sun. The most drastic change was when I dyed it the actual colour of the sun, blonde. My natural hair colour is black so I never thought I’d be able to go blonde, but the team at Joe’s Salon proved me wrong and took my then dark brown hair all the way to blonde in the space of 8 hours and a TON of bleach, toner and dye. I blogged about it in a previous post, if you want to hear about it in more detail.
After about 18 months of having more fun as a blonde, I decided so switch back to brunette. We tried to dye my hair a lovely conker brown but the colour slowly faded away over two weeks. My hair was just too damaged and porous to hold the colour. Essentially, the bleach and dye had made my hair really porous, so the cuticles were sitting open rather than lying flat, meaning they took the colour but it also washed straight out. Needless to say, my hair was in pretty poor condition. No matter what potions or oils I used to try to remedy my dry hair, the open cuticle meant it just washed out straight away.
Fast forward about four years and my hair is in better condition as it’s grown out. I now have a lovely soft ombre which is much kinder to my hair and a lot less high maintenance than having to get blonde roots redone every 3-4 weeks! I still suffer from dry hair and the dreaded frizz, which seems to be a hangover from my blonde days. For a while, I heat styled my hair to smooth out the frizz but it’s so counter-productive – it works short term but was further damaging my hair in the long term.
After much experimenting including coconut oil, Olaplex and everything in between, I finally have a decent haircare regime which leaves my hair smooth, nourished and relatively frizz free. I can get away with not heat styling my hair to smooth out the frizz, I can run my fingers through my hair without getting caught in tons of knots and it looks and feels soft and healthy.
I’ve been following this regime for the last six months, so that’s enough time to try and test a routine thoroughly before endorsing it. Although all the products I use are by Philip Kingsley, this isn’t a sponsored post. I genuinely love the difference their products and wanted to shout it from the rooftops. I’ve actually been using Philip Kingsley’s Elasticizer for years but only recently added a shampoo and conditioner to my regime.
For those of you who may be asking “Philip who?!”, let me give a quick introduction. Philip Kingsley is a hair whisperer. He has been a qualified Trichologist – meaning he understands the science behind the structure behind hair as well as diseases. Kingsley actually such a specialist in Tricology that he was chairman of the Institute of Trichologists as well as becoming a Fellow Member, the highest honour. Essentially, there is nothing about hair that he does not know and cannot fix. He has provided solutions to extreme hair and scalp problems, which has led him to create a retail range, the iconic product being the Elasticizer.
Elasticizer is a legendary product and it was fittingly created for a legend – Audrey Hepburn. Hepburn approached Kingsley to help improve the condition of her hair, which was subject to over processing and constant styling on set. Kingsley set to work in his lab to create a product to resort elasticity, manageability, bounce and shine to damaged hair, and Elasticizer was born.
Through my own journey of overly processed, dyed and heat styled hair, Elasticizer is the one product which really makes a difference. It’s a pre-shampoo treatment and super easy to use, I often apply it to my hair and forget about it til it’s time to wash it out. It always leaves my hair feeling soft and so much more manageable. I really can’t be without it so I tend to use it nearly every time I wash my hair!
I don’t know why it took me so long to try Philip Kingsley’s shampoos and conditioners after falling in love with Elasticizer but hey ho, I’m there now. There are different collections based on your hair texture and structure, Kingsley is a master Trichologist after all. My hair is super dry and damaged so I use the Moisture Extreme collection, which is actually for African-Caribbean hair but it suits my hair just fine. There are other formulations for fine, medium and coarse hair.
Moisture Extreme shampoo and conditioner are specially formulated to deal with extremely dry hair which is susceptible to damage due to its structure. The shampoo is incredible, it’s the most moisturising shampoo I have ever used and my hair actually feels silky and smooth after a shampooing alone. It cleanses and removed styling products without dehydrating and deposits moisture as it does so. The conditioner is super rich and uses 4 naturally-derived oils that condition the hair from the cortex to the outer layer to really nourish it from inside out.
The shampoo, conditioner and Elasticizer combination is so powerful, a real triple threat. My hair not only feels nourished, it is nourished because Kingsley understands and works with the science of hair rather than just making products which coat your hair in silicone to make it feel smooth. Thank you for saving my hair!
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