Saturday, February 11, 2012

Let's Talk About Hair

Confession: Sometimes I get more excited about hair than makeup. If I had more skill manipulating hair the direction of this blog might have been entirely different, but alas, another confession: I don't know how to style my hair at all. I can barely even handle a respectable braid. This kills me when I see girls with perfect beachy waves, elaborate updos, simple updos even. I just can't do anything but hope my hair looks pretty when I leave it down.

So, I'm not an expert on hair, but I love it. I love good hair so much that having bad hair ruins my entire day. I mean, if you have bad skin at least you can throw some foundation over it, right? Anyway, a few readers have asked how I style my hair and the simple answer is I don't. I don't own a flat iron and my curling iron is relegated to an unknown back closet somewhere.

The only thing I use for now is the Shu Uemura Muroto Volume Amplifying Shampoo and Conditioner. I have pin straight Asian hair, which wouldn't bother me as much if it weren't also so flat. These two bottles are basically fairy volumizing dust in a bottle. It contains Depsea water, an ingredient widely used in their skincare, which softens and nourishes the hair (my hair has never looked and felt this healthy) while delivering the promised volume. It also doesn't hurt that it smells absolutely amazing (the fragrance listed on the website is Aquarelle).


Shu Uemura Muroto Volume Amplifying Shampoo and Conditioner retails for $48 and $58 respectively. It is a shocking amount to spend on hair, but I don't buy any other product. With these I don't feel the need for hair oils or volumizing gels and mousses. They can be found at certain salons but for convenience I ordered them from shuuemuraartofhair-usa.com. Beware though, as I found out the hard way, once you start using this there is no way to go back.

19 comments:

  1. Wow... I didn't knew Shu had hair products. I must tell you: I really envy your hair. I wish mine could be really straight, but it isn't. It isn't curly either... it's just frizzy, so de-frizz stuff is completely for me. I also love hair styling, but I don't do it very well either... but I'm able to use a flat iron jeje. Nice post, nice to have Shu has hair products ;)

    ReplyDelete
  2. A really simple trick I use to volumise my roots is to not use conditioner there at all, just work it through your ends and rinse it out. I also have pin straight Asian hair so I know how you feel! Another thing I love is dry shampoo :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ooooh!

    Is the shampoo SLS free? My scalp *hates* SLS :(.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anne JF- Shu has some of the best ones in the market, I hear!

    Hahaha, I guess as the adage goes, we want what we can't have. I want mine to have soft curls/waves *wistful sigh*

    Jo- I do that too! But with regular shampoo that trick doesn't work either :( I don't know what they put in volumizing shampoos but it really does the trick o.o

    Ah, I wish dry shampoo worked on me too. All it seems to do is weigh my hair down.

    dani- I don't think so :( they don't advertise it (I can't find the ingredient list) and it suds up quite well...

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm pretty hopeless when it comes to hair, too. I wish I knew how to do one of those casual messy buns. :( My hair is naturally wavy, so when I don't have time to get a blowout at the salon I just wash it and let it air-dry overnight and hope for the best when I look into the mirror in the morning.

    Like Dani, I am anti-SLS. Recently BTiBeauty turned me on to Rahua. It does a very nice job of volumizing, and I swear my hair looks fuller and healthier every time I use it.

    So you don't seal your hair with any oils afterward? I'm pretty much addicted to Rodin by Recine.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Leigh- ah casual messy buns </3 super jealous of your naturally wavy hair!

    I don't use oils because they usually weigh down my hair. :(

    ReplyDelete
  7. OH. MY. GOD. I didn't even know they had haircare products! You are terrible for my wallet lady!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I've heard many good things about Shu's hair products! But they are very expensive here in Singapore :(

    ReplyDelete
  9. I didn't know Shu Uemura makes hair products!

    I have no skill in terms of hair manipulation at all either. That's why my hair was just natural straight Asian hair for years and years till I decided to change my game and get a digital perm last summer. I like it a lot curly, and it's not much more work (I mousse it up and dry it with a diffuser that's all). 7 months on I still have it nice and curly! If you're in New York I bet you can find a Korean hairdresser who can do that, just in case you want to try :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Your hair always looks great, but Shu will be one of the last brand I will go to for hair products. And the first for lash curler;)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hey Xiao. I'm so glad to hear your thoughts on this. I have the same type of hair. Very fine, long, but mine is slightly wavy. Recently, after having my second child, I had a dramatic weight loss and now I'm actually losing hair! I was thinking of trying this shampoo, or the cleansing oil for hair. Have you tried that? I know Raeview uses it and she has pretty fine hair. It seems to give her lots of volume. Hmmm. Thanks for your thoughts!

    ReplyDelete
  12. theres free shipping at shu uemura for a limited time for anyone who's interested in trying their products! usually shipping is pretty pricey..

    Xiao, have you tried their other products? Im curious about the silk bloom and prime replenish lines.. If they weren't so expensive I'd buy both to try but if you tried them before please let me know =)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Phoebe- ;)

    looknookhook- They are super expensive here as well :( but soooo good

    mostlysunnybunny- I had a digital perm last summer too :) I got it at Shanghair and it was amazing! It lasted about a year and the only reason it's gone is because I kept trimming the ends :P I'm sticking with straight hair again for a bit though

    time4beauty- aww why! you don't like their hair stuff?

    BGissm- oh no! (but congrats on your second child!) I haven't tried the cleansing oil so I'm afraid I can't give you my thoughts on it. But Rae's review does make me want to try it... let me know what you choose in the end!

    AZ- ooh thanks for the update! And I think if you sign up with them you can get two free samples.

    I haven't tried the other products because they don't really fit my hair concerns... The essence absolue is tdf though.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I think I tried using just the shampoo at one point and wasn't totally blown away, so perhaps I should try using them in a set? My hair, while definitely Asian, isn't quite pin straight - I have layers, so if I use the right products and dry my hair properly it can get very voluminous. The Shu Uemura definitely wasn't bad but one of my favourite products ever is Frederic Fekkai's volumising duo. The price *should* be roughly the same, you should look into it! If you can bear to be parted from these products, that is :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Nicoleen- I can always bear to part with products if there's something better :) When this one runs out I'll look into it. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  16. OMG. I so want a digital perm. I have Asian hair and lashes (well...in the sense that my hair is really fine and straight and that my lashes are pin-straight too :D)...and I think a digital perm could safe my life. I bet you can't do it in Denmark. If anyone knows a place in Denmark or anywhere in the EU, please let me know!

    All I ever use in my (long) hair is sls-free shampoo, conditioner from Klorane and a heat protectant spray from Tresemme. It's lovely, doesn't weigh your hair down and adds shine. But I don't style it. I've been considering buying a Babyliss wide barrel curling iron to give the front bits of my hair some movement, but a digital perm would be much more awesome and less time-consuming.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I am the opposite of you! I have puffy slightly-frizzy-but-not-yet-wavy Asian hair that I have to waste 10 minutes straightening every single day. I sometimes wish I got the pin-straight hair so I can wake up in the morning and not worry too much, but I guess the grass is always greener on the other side! I'm with you though when it comes to not knowing how to style my hair. I can't even curl it without looking ridiculous! And it figures that my mom's super talented in this aspect and can't understand my inability to do anything but straighten, lol.

    ReplyDelete
  18. i have the same problem with my hair. So while ordering the cleansing oil from shu, i also chose two samples which is the exact same thing for fine hair but instead of the conditioner i wanted to try the treatment. I love both! idk if you like to treat your hair once a month bc the treatment is wonderful. My hair has more volume and it gets less tangled. I love it!

    ReplyDelete

Hi, lovelies. Due to excessive spam, I would appreciate it if you refrain from including self-promoting links in your comments! This ensures that your comment will be visible and keeps the section clean. I look forward to hearing from you!