January 06, 2010

For the Wavies/ Curlies: L'Oreal Elvive Re-nutrition Hair Mask

As faithful Loverly readers know, I went on a Curly Girl quest a few months ago in an attempt to make peace with my frightfully frizzy hair. While it has mostly been successful -- I now get straightish hair or waves 9 days out of 10 -- the search for great curly products hasn't been too great. I have found a great (cheap) conditioner for co-washing but have yet to find my ideal hair mask and conditioner which doesn't break my budget.

So, I was both delighted and dismayed when I found out that L'oreal hair masks are all CG-friendly -- not a hint of 'cones or 'xanes in the ingredient list. I was delighted because L'oreal fell nicely into my budget. And dismayed because L'oreal does animal testing.

(I really do try to avoid buying products from companies that animal test. My conscience pricks each time I get a new tube of sunscreen from Olay or Neutrogena. I love the stuff but why why why must they compromise my principles?)

Looking at my lifeless ends, I decided to go against my ethics and buy a pot of this. Vanity, how you do a girl in!

If you are looking for moisture, this mask is IT. I have used other L'Oreal hair masks from the Anti-Breakage and Smooth Intense range before and they do not provide the moisture I get from this particular version. Even without another curl product, I get lovely clumping once I get out of the shower. I have always heard that honey works for curls and this may have proved it.

I even used this after swimming the other day and was pleasantly surprised to find that my hair felt soft and moisturised enough to create loose waves. With the other two masks, my hair usually feels a little coarse to the touch. Chlorine is really kills my hair and it takes ages for it to go back to normal. No such problem with this mask!

As much as I like the Re-nutrition mask and what it does for my curls, I won't be repurchasing again. Not because of the animal testing thing, but because my skin breaks out into big red rashes each time I use it. Ouchie. I wonder if the strong royal jelly scent has anything to do with it.

I strongly recommend a patch test before giving this a go.

L'Oreal Re-nutrition Deep Nourishing Mask retails at AUD 11.50 for 200ml.

5 comments:

AskMeWhats said...

I've been an elseve user, I've tried Elvive shampoo and conditioner only :) I'm glad this works for yoU :)

kuri said...

Thanks for this review! I've tried the pink L'oreal mask which didn't do anything for my coarse hair, so hadn't been inclined to try anything else. I'll have to give it a try!

Eli said...

Nikki: And judging from your flowy locks, L'oreal works for you too! I just wish that this wouldn't break me out in rashes. *sigh*

Kuri: Try it out and see how it goes! I thought this was a lot more effective than the others.

Steph said...

The only thing that got my attention was "I went swimming the other day..". Lol! I miss the Malaysian sun & swimming!!! :) As I miss you, babe.

organic lipstick said...

Elvive products are always quite promising.I love this range of products...and Loreal definitely gives the best to the market as I believe.