As a former pageant queen, I’m a firm believer that the higher the hair, the closer to God. That’s right, ladies, I like big, voluminous pageant hair. And to give my baby fine locks a boost, my hair takes a lot of high-temperature abuse.
Between the blow dryer and the hot rollers, my locks get no relief. Of course, this was no trouble when they were barely chin length, but now that my hair is well past my shoulder blades, fighting the damage has become a full-time job.
Last week, I reviewed a Nexxus product that promised to heal my split ends, but provided only temporary relief mixed with a healthy dose of lifeless hair. I was not pleased. So when a commenter suggested that I try Nexxus Emergencee Polymeric Restructuring Treatment instead, I decided to spend a few dollars on yet another miracle in a bottle.
Emergencee is certainly better than it’s creamy counterpart. It heals the dryness without weighing my hair down, and even helps my split ends. While far from a miracle cure, if used regularly (I applied it three times this week), it does help my heat afflicted locks.
My only real complaint is what a chore the product is to apply. The instructions encourage you to shampoo before use (ostensibly so the product can penetrate into the clean hair), leave the product on for several minutes, and then shampoo and condition again. For those of us with limited time in the morning, this means 15 minutes less sleep. So perhaps, this treatment is better left for a lazy Saturday morning.
If you’re looking for a moderately priced ($15) treatment for stressed tresses, I would certainly give Nexxus Emergencee product a whirl. It’s not a magic potion, but it does an acceptable job for the price. And sometimes, that’s really all a girl needs.
Glad you gave Emergencee a try. For me, it's def a once a month, lazy Saturday in the bathtub kind of thing. Some good magazines, a face mask,a hair mask, and a long soak does me a world of good.
I always think of Baz Luhrmann's famous line: “Don't mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40 it will look 85.” here's to hoping you find a solution – this may be too obvious, but have you tried olive oil?
Stupid question. For olive oil, do you just use a dab before shampooing and then condition as normal?
Belle-
Do you recommend any products for actual root boosting? I have tried Big Sexy Hair, Pureology Root Lift, Rusk, etc., and nothing gives me absolutely fantastic results (although the pureology is my fave). I also take a curling iron to my ends in the morning but may have to invest in hot rollers instead.
I'm not Belle, but the Phyto root boost works really great for me. You spray it into your roots when your hair is a little damp and blow dry. I've had my bottle since last summer and it's still going pretty strong. A cheaper version that works pretty well (but not as well as Phyto) is the Victoria Secret root boost. That one smells pretty great, too. HTH.
Katie – Regarding olive oil, I warm it up in the microwave, massage it into my hair like a leave-in conditioner, and then put on a shower cap and let it soak in for 30 minutes or so. (You can leave it longer, but you may not be able to stand your head smelling like a salad for that long.) Then shampoo and condition normally and be sure to rinse very thoroughly. In middle school I managed to strip my baby-fine hair with a perm that I shouldn't have gotten – repeating this once every two weeks is the only thing that healed the damage.
Coconut oil! I have long hair, and this stuff is great. Hard to find, though. Sometimes I can find it at health food stores, and sometimes not. It's a solid, so warm it up in your hands, run it through the ends every other day, and that should help a lot.
Also not Belle, but dry shampoo actually does wonders in terms of root boosting and creating volume. My favorite is Ojon (the spray one), but I believe Belle recommended a more cost-effective option a while back, as well.