Product Review: Orofluido Beauty Elixir Hair Oil

How many of these hair oil products will I review? Until I try them all I guess. So let's compare this one to Moroccan Oil, which is the best known product of this variety. The texture is a bit thicker and heavier than MO, which for those of us who need maximum conditioning is a good thing. This is due to the higher molecular weight of the silicones used in the product. The smell is a warm sandalwood-vanilla type thing, which is right up my alley personally, so I love using it. The packaging is a glass bottle which doesn't have a pump like MO (annoying), but it is approx. 5-10 dollars less than MO depending where you buy, on top of including three sample/travel size vials in the package (which is infinitely helpful to carry in the purse). So my vote is with Orofluido, but those that can't handle anything heavier than MO probably shouldn't bother. 

As most girls with curly, damaged, fried, thick or dry hair know, our hair absolutely loves moisture. Those who don't fall for the "natural beauty" hype also realize that there are very few things which can trap moisture in the hair shaft and prevent the entrance of atmospheric moisture (ie humidity/frizz) like silicones. Although I would love to spend an hour writing a long entry debunking all the silicone myths out there, that's a task for another day and another time. I will say though, that nothing prevent split ends, heat damage and mechanical/friction damage like a good coating of silicones. There's a reason they revolutionized the haircare industry when they first started being used.

Product Review: Live Clean Exotic Nectar Argan Oil Treatment

Well, the day had to come: After years of thoroughly understanding cosmetic ingredients and avoiding wasting money, I found myself duped by a product's marketing. A recent post on another Canadian beauty blog prompted me to respond with my personal experience using this product, which got me thinking if I should post something more detailed on here. To clarify, I barely ever read cosmetic claims or reviews anymore, because I've amassed and memorized so much knowledge about the multitude of ingredients usually found in products that I can usually deduce how a product will perform just by skimming over the ingredient list (the amount of money, time, frustration and skin irritation this has saved me, I could never quantify).

So I guess I thought myself invincible, that no cosmetic company trickery could possibly get past my razor sharp "BS detection skillz". But my how the mighty fall.....

On a recent expedition to stock up on products, I took a quick look at the Live Clean Argain Oil treatment, which billed itself as a silicone free and lower priced version of Moroccan Oil. After a momentary perusal of the top few ingredients and mild shock at how low the price was (approx. 12~ CDN), in my basket it went. Should have known it was too good to be true.... Pure Argan Oil is incredibly expensive, and had Live Clean actually included the amount that it seems like they included, they would likely barely profit on each unit sold. One thing that is absolutely unheard of in the cosmetics industry is low returns on ingredient costs. They will find a way to do it cheap and sell it for more if their life depends on it.

Product Review: Moroccan Oil, Original oil treatment

I tried Moroccan Oil years ago, when the buzz initially began, because I'm usually the first to get on any hair smoothing bandwagon. Over the years as all the beauty bloggers and youtube gurus began to get more popular and become more of a "thing", so did many of the brands that relied on them for supposed grassroots marketing. What seemed like a beautiful thing: a beauty addicted girl sharing her likes, dislikes and tips with the world, in order to help everyone else choose more wisely - quickly became no different from getting beauty tips from Vogue.

I've toyed with the idea of starting a blog which centred on product reviews not sponsored by anyone, but figured the market was overcrowded and I wouldn't want to get drowned in a sea of voices. But the idea wouldn't leave my head so here I am. I'm going to review one of the products that almost every single beauty blog has reviewed, but I'll do it my way: sharing my knowledge of the science behind the product formulations and how they interact with our hair and skin.

Ingredients:
1. Cyclomethicone - clear odorless silicone, it serves as a carrier for other oils onto surfaces and quickly evaporates after application. This is part of why a lot of people report that Moroccan oil feels light. There's an incredibly high concentration of cyclomethicone, so the initial heaviness evaporates while a lot of the moisture stays.
2. Dimethicone - this is the one that actually stays on the hair, due to a much lower volatility than cyclomethicone. the reason dimethicone has revolutionized haircare (and skincare) is that it provides a smooth, glossy coating which helps temporarily mask raised cuticles and split ends, while preventing moisture from inside the strand from evaporating while simultaneously preventing gaseous atmospheric moisture (humidity) from entering the hair shaft; the anti-frizz properties are incredible and due to the smoothing of the cuticle layer, hair is also easier to comb, leading to less mechanical damage and split ends. most miraculously, and for reasons not fully understood yet, dimethicone speeds drying time of hair, which means less heat damage while it also insulates the inner cortex from overheating. this is why its found in almost every hair product on the market, including moroccan oil, the incredible effectiveness.