By BR Kellie
If you've been with Beauty Review for a while now you'll know that I have a hate-hate affair with my hair. Seriously. It drives me nuts. It's fine. There's a decent amount of it. It's wavy in parts. Straight in parts. And proper curly ringlety in parts. It's also prone to boofing out in a triangle shape no matter what products I use or how I style it. Even my GHDs couldn't get my mop to settle.
It doesn't help that I live in Auckland, which is home to much humidty. And any curly or wavy-haired woman knows that humidity plus your hair equals frizz. Lots of it.
Also, if you're a regular on Beauty Review, you'll know that yours truly is a product tart. I love discovering new makeup, new skincare, new hair care. My philosophy is that if you don't try everything you might well miss out on something incredible. And when a product enters the office that claims to tame frizz I'm all over it like a bad rash.
In my quest to tame the mop I've discovered some good solid products that have definitely reduced the fluffies, products that I can see would work beautifully for people with thicker hair, but I've yet to find one that can make my hair type stand up to Auckland humidity. I dream of the day that I can wake up, wash my hair, blow dry it, then waltz about for the rest of the day with my hair out. Speaking of hair out...
One of the sentences I hear most often from Merilyn, Queen of BR, is 'I just don't understand why girls like you with such lovely hair don't wear it out?' This is why...
This isn't just woken up hair. This isn't 'tied up in a bun and recently released' hair. This is my hair after washing it, blow drying it straight, then an hour later taking my daughter outside for all of a twenty metre walk to the school bus, dropping her off, then returning home. This is why I don't wear my hair out 90% of the time, especially on days when it's humid. And yes, the hair went straight up in a bun the moment after I took the picture.
So recently we received an exciting delivery from KMS. A treasure trove of hair care, featuring products to repair hair and to tame... you guessed it... frizz. Merilyn asked me if I'd be interested in reviewing the range. Well, I think we already know the answer to that question. So I went home with KMS Tame Frizz Shampoo, Conditioner and Smoothing Lotion burning a hole in my bag, and a fair few burning questions swirling through my mind. Would it work? Could it work? Was there a chance that this gorgeous salon range could be my hair salvation? Or would it be like so many others? Good at taming the flyaways, but unable to compete with the weather? Could this range be my long searched for holy grail?
I woke up on wash day (to be fair nearly every day is wash day for me, but I wanted to give this a two day trial before rewashing to see if it would a) work on the first day then if it worked b) see if it could handle being brushed out on day two... because, once again, curly haired girls know that brushing out one's hair usually ends in an 'oh-no!' moment.
Into the shower! So the scent... it's nothing to get excited about. I wouldn't describe it as florally or citrussy or botanical. It's a little sweet, but there's no specific scent I can touch on. So if you're looking for a sensory experience, this won't rock your boat. But then, that's not what this product is about, it's here to whip your hair into submission. Moving along...
The shampoo barely foams up, if at all, when you're washing your hair, but what really interested and gave me my first inkling of hope was how soft my hair felt when I washed the shampoo out. I mean, silky soft, almost like the kind of softness you enjoy after rinsing out conditioner. Speaking of...
The conditioner is similarly scented, a creamy thick product that goes through the hair easily and rinses out to leave it soft.
The next step was to apply the KMS Tame Frizz Smoothing Lotion to towel-dried hair, then style as usual. Now being a hair-hater my idea of styling my towel-dried hair is to immediately shove it into a bun, but with hope in my heart and a positive attitude to boot I took the thick creamy lotion, ran it through my hair (I used one pump's worth) and picked up my trusty VS Sassoon 3Q Hair Dryer and went to work drying my hair - in my usual style of running my fingers through my hair and alternately tipping my head forward to dry the underside, then sitting up to dry down the lengths of my hair. Four minutes later (gosh darn I do love that hair dryer) my hair was dry and the results were. Well. WOW. Check this out...
Can you see those smooth waves? Can you see the lack of brown halo? Can you see the hair that my husband said... and I quote... 'it looks like you've just had your hair done'.
It was a good start, but in all honesty my hair always starts out like that after I've gone over it with the hair dryer, but the moment I step out of my house it goes downhill. I was prepared for the worst. What did I get?
The exact opposite. That day I did the usual bus drop off, I went to work, I went grocery shopping, went to the park with the girl child, and all through that day my hair remained as you saw it. My curls were softened, and when they sprang up they maintained their shape. The frizz was super minimal.
And you know what? It was humid. There was heat, there were showers, it should have been hair hell, instead it was hair heaven.
So I slept on it and awoke with the usual tangled mess. With much hesitation I took a brush to it and oh... my... giddy... aunt.
It didn't frizz out. It maintained its wave, it had a hint more curl going on and a touch more of the frizz, but it was still able to be worn out.
This is unheard of. I don't wear my hair out twice - ever. Even after going to the salon and getting my hair gussied up the next day you'll find me tossing it back up in a bun.
So am I converted? Oh yes. Very much yes. Absolutely. Totally. Utterly. Yes. I've not once used the other products sitting in my shower since the KMS Tame Frizz came into my life. I can't. I've been ruined. Merilyn knowing me as she does did ask 'but would you spend your hard earned pingers to replace it?'.
Answer? I've already sussed out where I can buy the replacement bottles when the time comes.
A huge thank you to KMS for giving me the opportunity to try their Tame Frizz range. You've done what I thought was the impossible. Created a product that can take my fine curly hair and allow it to head out into the humidity without it turning into a ball of brown frizz.
Final thoughts? My smile (and hair) says it all...
So do tell... are you a hair-sister? Do you suffer from fine and curly hair and can't find anything to banish the frizz? Have you tried KMS Tame Frizz? Are you tempted to now? Chat away!
Oh! This gets me excited!! My hair is very similar, fine/wavy/frizzy and lots of it. Also will find any speck of humidity in the air and turn to crap. Not had a single good hair day living in the North Island. So my hair is often in a bun. Going to have to try this!