Hair products

This is my natural hair colour in good lighting. It is actually a bit darker than it looks here. I think I am 3a on the curl scale
This is my hair when straightened using ghd IV straighteners. I do this once every couple of years because I am so lazy. This is also my natural hair colour.

When lookfantastic started, it was an incredible place to find salon sizes and brands. On Wednesdays and over weekends they had the most amazing special offers and gifts with purchase. Shipping from the UK was free, and fast. TK Maxx in London was another source of salon products when I used to travel there for work.

This is how I discovered that my hair loved Redken (particularly Anti-Snap and So Soft) and Kerastase (particularly the curl products). Phillip Kingsleys products for Afro-Caribbean hair, and their Elasticiser were products in a million. Sebastian had Potion 7 (pre-wash) and Potion 9 (a treatment and styler in one).

I have long, thick, dry, curly hair so I chose products targeted at my hair type. But I would recommend Redken, Kerastase, Kingsley and Sebastian as reliable products for all hair because I have students with typical fine, straight Swedish hair who love it.

I stopped travelling to London so often and then Lookfantastic merged with HQ Hair into the Hut Group and the great deals dried up. So I now use products I can find locally for dry hair – John Frieda, Charles Worthington, Gliss, L’Oreal Elvital, L’Oreal Professionnel, Briogeo (this I really like), Isabella Löwengrip, Björn Axén, Sachajuan. I will always buy Sebastian Potion 9 but luckily it is pretty easy to find locally. If I had to use one haircare brand for the rest of my life it would be Redken, because I have never found a product of theirs that my hair did not like, even the ones for different types of hair. They have a broad selection of products particularly for curly hair.

When I am in South Africa I am spoiled for choice as there are many local brands for very dry curly hair. Iwori is my favourite, and Protein Feed.

Here are photos of some products I like

These are 3-in-1 products – you can use them as a conditioner, a hair mask or as a leave-in conditioner. They are not as heavy as I would like my hair masks to be but they are cheap and my hair likes them.
This cult product was not as outstanding as I thought it would be but it works well enough for the price point. They also do travel sizes.

These are magical. I use so little shampoo and so much conditioner that these sizes are perfect for me.

Author: Janet Carr

Fashion, beauty and animal loving language consultant from South Africa living in Stockholm, Sweden.

5 thoughts

  1. Thank you so very much for this post! I am definitely going to bookmark it. I feel like buying every single one of these products but I also have to keep in mind that my hair is very different from yours in that it’s super straight and thin. But I do want to try the Olaplex product, especially when my hair is finally all gray. I also have some Redken shampoos, which I haven’t tried yet… I had tried Mane and Tail but it didn’t really agree with me. How funny that it became so popular for humans!

    Reply

    1. I was also rather underwhelmed by Mane n Tail. My hair liked it, but I expected it to be a miracle worker because of the hype. Olaplex should be good for your hair too. I have the salon treatments when I colour my hair and use the others for a few weeks after the bleaching. I did see there is a lawsuit against them at the moment for destroying hair so I have been waiting before rebuying in case they changed their formula after I last used it. I have always liked Redken but it is so expensive in Sweden. I used to buy from the UK and US but the customs charges are so high these days.

      Reply

      1. I felt the same about Mane and Tail. I had both the shampoo and the conditioner but it was just meh. I had heard something about Olaplex but I didn’t know it was so serious… I will definitely wait before splurging. I got my Redken bottles during Black Week on Amazon as they were seriously reduced. We are lucky to have a TK Maxx so I need to have a look and see what I can find. One product I like a lot is the shampoo by Miele. I also use the hair oil. I’ve been following a few girls who have really long hair on Instagram and I follow their hair beauty routines. I oil my hair lengths every night with a product by Garnier with argan and camelia oil. I also braid it before bed and I use satin pillowcases. I’m already seeing some difference in my hair health. Your hair looks beyond gorgeous. I would pay a lot of money to have curls like yours!

      2. I hated my curls for years, and grew up before hair products so it has taken a while to figure out what works for me. My hair is much shorter now (about to my bra strap) and I am having it cut on Tuesday. Wish me luck! I am off to explore Miele.

      3. Your hair looks gorgeous! With a cut, it will be bouncier! My hair always looked blah. I had hairdressers have nervous breakdown trying to do something to my hair to make it less straight… I hope your appointment goes well! I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed for you! I hope you enjoy the Miele products if you try them!

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