Ombre, balayage, highlights, pretty much the go-to techniques for ladies looking to give a little ‘lift’ to their hair colour. We love to lighten our hair – it denotes a healthy, outdoorsy lifestyle soaked in sunshine. But it can sadly have a harsh effect on our poor tresses, leaving them damaged, brittle and a bit worse for wear, especially if your colour is coming from the bleach bottle. I’ve had ombre’d hair for about three years so the very tips of my hair are definitely feeling a bit sorry for themselves now.
So when, a couple of months ago, I was invited to a consultation with Jennie Roberts, a Treatment Technician for Ojon, I knew she would have some top tips for me. Jennie recommended a number of products from Ojon for me and also addressed some of my haircare worries. As my hair is not coloured from the roots, a lot of it is ‘virgin’ hair. My hair is fine and tends towards the greasy end of the scale, especially from day two so is only dry on the bottom third and I have a sensitive scalp. Therefore I need my moisturising products to be light but effective.
I left with a few wonder products to get my locks in order. First of all, the Ojon Rare Blend Protecting Treatment*. This is a heat protecting styling spray. It’s incredibly light so I use this when I feel like cremes will weigh down my hair too much. Heat is the number one enemy for damaged hair so a heat protecting treatment is a must. Secondly I went for the Ojon Rare Blend Oil. There is a number of varieties of this oil available but Jennie recommended the Rejuvenating Therapy Lightweight Texture* one for me (seems obvious but I would have totally got sucked in my the pretty colours of the Medium and Thick Texture ones!). She also recommended using just one drop at a time and only adding more as I used the product over time and my hair started to repair its dryness. I can say that this has worked wonders!
Lastly, I picked up the Ojon Damage Reverse Restorative Hair Treatment Plus*. This is an intense hair treatment that you use like a mask. It is a hard waxy texture in the tub that you need to scoop out with a teaspoon and warm in your hands to apply. I use this just on the coloured ends of my hair – it would be too heavy for the roots and lengths. I must admit I don’t love the smell, but it is bearable for the 15 minutes that it takes to soak into the hair and do it’s stuff. I use this once a fortnight and that’s enough for me to see a difference – I’ve had no split ends when normally they would be appearing by now.
Ojon is a premium brand so it’s expensive but you do get your money’s worth with the quality of the ingredients which include 100% natural essential oils. And as Jennie explained to me, for my hair type, less id more so these will last me a long time. If you were only able to pick up one, I’d recommend the Hair Treatment Plus which starts at £19 – it is amazing. Ojon is available at Boots so do check them out. Your ombre will thank you!
What are your essentials for colour treated hair?
2013 was the year that Beauty Advent Calendars went mainstream. Boots joined Benefit and the Body Shop in getting a bit of the December long action that Ciate and You have been enjoying and brought out their first Beauty Advent Calendar. Priced at £30 and with enough stock to be on sale for longer than 35 seconds (Benefit) I decided that this would be a good one to dip my toe in the waters.
I promise that I did not cheat and I opened all these doors one by one, each day like a good girl. It contained (in order of opening): Soap & Glory ‘Clean Girls’ shower gel; Balmi lip balm in Mint; Mavala ‘London’ red nail polish; Nina Ricci ‘L’eau Fraiche’ perfume; Rimmel Stay Matte foundation ‘Ivory'; Vichy ‘Idealia Life Serum'; Paco Rabanne ‘Black XS’ perfume; Umberto Giannini hair bobble; Seventeen ‘Miami’ pink ‘Supreme Shine’ nail polish; Orly rubberised base coat; Ghost perfume; Boots Salon Nail Care ‘Salon Shine Solution'; Vichy ‘Liftactiv Serum 10′ for eyes and lashes; Juicy Couture ‘Couture La La’ perfume; Seventeen ‘Tattoo Me’ liquid eyeliner; Nail file; Soap & Glory ‘Flake Away’ body scrub; Ghost ‘Moonlight’ perfume; Carmex lip balm; Mavala ‘Pure Diamond’ silver glitter nail polish; Boots Botanics Heat Protection Shine Serum; Nails Inc ‘Porchester Square’ greige nail polish; Umberto Giannini ‘Backcomb in a Bottle’ hairspray; Seventeen ‘Blow Out’ Mascara; Triple Advantage Card points voucher.
It’s not too much. The hair bobble is terrible though. It was shedding threads and is now in the bin. I think even plain, no-pull bands would have been better, I can’t see anyone who would have bought this using that pom-pom bobble. The nail file was also disappointing, cheap and bent as it came out of the box. I also thought that a couple of perfume sample would have been fine but that 5 was too much. Especially since there were two from Ghost. And, the Black XS one was only half full – maybe it leaked?
That still leaves a lot of stuff I was happy with. I’ve not tried it all out yet so I can’t say if it is actually any good, but I’m happy to have them and to have a go. I’m disappointed that the Rimmel foundation is too dark for me to try, but it’s hardly Boots’ fault I’m a pasty-faced so-and-so and I’ll just pass it on to someone else.
Gotta love a bit of Soap & Glory! I can’t wait to try the Orly Rubberised base coat, I’ve heard good things about it. I’ve also never tried Mavala before and it’s good to have both a creme and a glitter to try out. I love my coconut Balmi and was hoping for a mint one so was very happy when I opened this on day two despite the fact that the box said it would be strawberry. Carmex used to be my go-to lip balm in the winter but I’ve not had it for a while. This one will be living on my desk at work. I love anything that will add volume to my hair with minimum effort so ‘Backcomb in a Bottle’ sounds good to me. Also pretty happy with the full size mascara, always happy to try out a new one.
