It didn’t take very long for me to start playing around with my hair once Quarantine started. For one thing I cut my hair a grand total of 7 times, though to be clear these weren’t big chops but rather small cuts to give my hair a different shape. I managed to give myself some sort of layers which was a nice change of pace as I’ve had the same asymmetrical hair cut since 2016 –  being shorter in the back and longer in the front.

I’ve since decided to grow out my hair, if only to try something new. I also got my first ever dry hair cut at the Miss Rizos Salon in Manhattan the weekend before last, (and I will be sharing that experience on the blog soon as well),  however, that (final, for now) hair cut provided me with more traditional layers and greater volume, so I basically have a new canvas to play with and that also got me to trying CURLSMITH’s  Hair Make up for the second time. Yup, second time, but we’ll get to that.

If you haven’t already heard about CURLSMITH’s  Hair Make up it is a temporary color and styling gel all in one, created specifically for curls. It does NOT dye your hair, but provides a layer of color pigment around hair strands that will wash off with water and shampoo. As someone who loves hair color but doesn’t like the commitment and is scared of bleach ruining my curl pattern, this sounded like an amazing product that would allow me to play a bit with color without much consequence. How did it go? Well, let’s just say it had its highs and lows so I’m sharing them with you today just in case you’re looking to trying something new with your own hair while we are still in this Quarantine/Lockdown period. 

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post. 

Try #1 – July 2020, Turquoise

I have to admit that when it came down to trying this product for the first time, I was pretty scared. Mostly because I was still in the process of giving my hair the care it needed with fairly decent results and I was worried that using this would set my progress back. There have been times that I’ve tried new products only for it to dry out my hair and make it feel brittle to the touch which then takes a while for it to bounce back. So I decided to only apply it to the ends of my hair, giving. myself a bit of an ombre hair effect. 

I kept with my normal hair routine, applying my leave in, my styling creme and my gel before applying the Hair Makeup. This is where I think I messed up, as the mix left my hair super hard and crunchy. Also I applied the Hair Up after finger coiling my hair so it wasn’t evenly distributed on my strands, though the curl definition remained.

When I scrunched out the gel cast I was shocked to see how much the product had flaked off and  I noticed that the color was also more muted than when originally applied as a result. To the point that it could only really be seen in certain light and if you knowingly were looking for it.

Anyway, another thing I noticed and liked, was how soft my hair felt after the gel cast was scrunched out. I thought that my hair would be more chalky and stiff when using this product but this was a welcome surprise.

I left the color in my hair for a week and then washed it off as it faded rather quickly. I attributed this to the fact that I hadn’t made much of an effort to make sure that the gel was applied evenly on my strands and the fact that  my sweating cause the dye to run. (It was mid-July and I sweat very easily whenever temperature is higher than 60 degrees so it was inevitable.) Thankfully I didn’t have any issues washing it out,  because as promised it did com off very quickly with just one wash with water and shampoo. And my hair bounced back with no problems so I considered this “experiment” an overall success.  

Try #2 – October 2020, Ruby

I then decided to wait for colder temps before giving this another try. Halloween ended up being the perfect time  as the weather called for near freezing temperatures so there was a limited chance of me sweating off any of the color this time around, hahaha. I decided to use the gel to give me red hair for my Sally costume as the character has red yarn hair and I didn’t want to wear a wig.  Unlike the first try, I really went for it this time; going for full head coverage. I honestly thought that due to the thickness of my hair I would end up using most, if not all of the gel in the container yet I was pleasantly surprised to see how far a little went. 

I also didn’t put as much product on my hair before applying it. I just used my Eden Bodyworks Coconut Shea Leave In Conditioner and my Denman brush to distribute the gel evenly. This was a bit messy, I mean I had to clean the brush 4 times afterwards and it still has some red smears on it,  but the results at the end were amazing, especially after I scrunched some more when my hair was 50% dry. 

I thought this time was a complete success until I noticed the FLAKING. Compared to the first time – This. Was. Bad.  It got all over my shoulders and back. Every time I took off my bonnet in the morning, my sink and floor would just be full of color/glitter flakes. It was a mess. It even got on my leather jacket that I wore out on Halloween. (It has almost been a week and the jacket looks exactly the same with red glitter stains even after wiping it down with soap and water.)

Even still, it was fun while it lasted.  I was very content to see that the color didn’t really fade with each passing day and I would have keep it up for the rest of the week had the flaking not continued. By day 4 the flaking wasn’t as bad, however, it was enough to convince me to wash it off sooner than originally planed. This was a great disappointment, as I was only just getting used to the color which, oddly enough, I think suits me. 

Final Thoughts

I ended up neither totally hating or loving this product. It does what it promises to do, however, there seems to be a trick to using it so that you don’t have to deal with flaking and the rest.  I honestly think that it is meant to be used with other CURLSMITH products for it to activate itself correctly. I have yet to test this theory but considering the fact that I still have 3 bottles of these in my bathroom cabinet, I know that I will some time soon. Until then I’ll be looking into how to get the color and glitter off my favorite cropped leather jacket as this was the price I paid to be a red head for a few days. 

That being said, I still think this product is worth trying so here just a few things to consider before you do:

1. Try to avoid the bottom strands of your hair. The one great thing is that this product does not transfer to your clothing (the flakes can be washed off), but it does flake, mostly from the strands that hang on the back of your neck and shoulders. So avoid this area as well as your roots and this should help limit the flaking. 
2. Make sure to scrunch some color in once you hair dries for more vibrant color. You do get some color when you just comb this gel through your wet hair, but as you can see above, it is quite muted and it will fade very quickly. If you want more of a pop, wait for when your hair is half or completely dry and apply some more gel by scrunching it in. 
3. This is worth the try you if you want to experiment with a color before taking on a semi- permanent commitment by dying your hair at a salon.  I have been on the fence as to whether or not I should dye my hair again and I’ve also been flip-flopping between purple and teal for almost two years. Now after trying the Ruby Hair Makeup, I’m starting to lean towards this particular shade of red. I did not see that coming and I wouldn’t have, had I not tried the Hair Makeup.
4. While you don’t need to use gloves, I strongly encourage it. You can wash the gel off your hands with soap and water but things get messy and a bit sticky really quickly if you’re not too careful. 

---

Have you taken hair care to being your Quarantine project of choice? If so what have your tried?Also have you tried Hair Makeup from CURLSMITH yet?