I am happy to reveal that I was selected to review Influenster’s Bella VoxBox. The box included a number of beauty products (and a bag of candy). I will do a full review on the box in another post. Right now, I need to share my experience with the only product that’s just not for me.
Not Your Mother’s Deja Vu ‘Do Style Extender boasts protection from humidity and oiliness so your hairstyle lasts longer and you don’t have to stress your hair with overwashing or heat damage. That sounds great! My hair is naturally wavy and fine, and the humidity in Texas means I never keep flat ironed hair for more than a day. I was excited to give this a try. The NYM brand has been popping up all over the place lately, and while I haven’t tried any of their products before, I’d always at least considered it for future hair experiments.
The first thing I did was open the tube to smell the “Red Apples & Berries” because I’ve had some skin reactions to apple in the last couple years. I wasn’t worried after I smelled it. There’s nothing natural about this fragrance. It smells exactly like the little blue foot air freshener for your car. I’m not put off by the smell. It brings back memories from my teenage years riding around after school with my best friend. That’s the Deja Vu part for me.
I tried it one evening without investing time in a style, because I’m a nighttime shower person and I don’t style my hair until the next morning. The smell disappears fairly quickly and then you’re just left with the smell of your hair, which smelled ready to wash again two days later. I decided to wash it earlier in the day and try straightening my hair for the weekend. As I shampooed my hair, it felt dried out and rough, and the conditioner didn’t help much. Once again, I followed the instructions on the tube for proper application, but it’s hard to tell if you’ve gotten full coverage. On damp hair, the cream blends right in and you can’t feel a difference between treated hair and bare strands. The instructions advise blowdrying to activate the protection, so I did that. Geez, my hair felt so fried. It got better after I took the flat iron to it. I used an anti-frizz cream to tame a few broken flyaways near my part and hold down some of the static that was making the fine ends float (Suave, if you’re curious, the silver and orange one).
I will say this, all day long my hair stayed straight and it felt much softer than when I’d initially applied the product.
The very next morning, the back of my hair curled up the same as it would if I’d gone to bed with damp hair. The front stayed straight, because I must have gotten more of the product on that part of my hair. With full, generous coverage, I’m sure the whole thing would have stayed, but it’s really hard to tell if you’re getting it.
Verdict: Hair doesn’t feel as healthy, and there’s a learning curve to getting enough (but not too much) product in your hair. It does hold the style in place and prevent humidity and oiliness from affecting the hair, but the oil has to go somewhere and you’ll want to wash your hair again right on schedule.