When it comes to hair products, I am a bit of snob. You see, I've been coloring my hair for the better part of... well let's just say A LOT of years. Maybe longer than some of my readers have had hair. All of this coloring takes a toll, especially when one makes decisions like "Maybe I'll DIY my hair jet black for a decade and then go to a salon and demand they strip it all the way out to the white blonde I had as a toddler, and then add in pink stripes." No matter how talented your stylist, THAT TAKES A TOLL.
For me that toll came in the form of super dry, matte hair that refuses to become the shiny smooth platinum and pink do' of my dreams. Because of this, I don't use drugstore hair products. I use the big ticket brands, I have to, or my poor hair will start shedding worse than my pets.
This is the thought process I've been living by for the last, well let's just say a really long time. Buy the expensive stuff and turn your nose up at the affordable brands.
Then last February, while walking across the lobby at Lincoln Center during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week New York, a rep from TRESemmé approached me. She wanted to take my picture, as part of a street-style tweet promo they were doing. (The pink stripes, get attention everywhere I go- again super talented stylist, not his fault my hair is dry.) I declined, as the super cold dry New York was making my already fragile hair freak out. The rep pleaded, and finally convinced me to let her do it, claiming my hair looked great. As she was walking away however, she did sort of mutter in passing "You should come by the booth, we have a new product Platinum Strength that can repair up to two years of damage."
I laughed. "Two years? How about TEN years of damage, if it can do that I'll try it." She just smiled and said I should stop by anytime.
I didn't. I completely blew her off, and spent the rest of the week soaking my head (after I saw the super horrible twit pic the rep had tweeted) in a bevy of super pricey restorative formulas.
Fast forward another month, (I swear this is getting to a product review) and I'm getting ready to go to Japan for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tokyo. I want to bring products with me as buying toiletries there is a nightmare of weak-Dollar-strong Yen exchange rates. But I want to bring stuff I can dump before heading home to make room in my suitcase for all the amazing, sold in Japan only products I want to try. So in other words, I needed something, well CHEAP. Heading to my local drugstore a week before leaving, the words of that TRESemmé rep came back to mind. "Well I'm just gonna throw it out." I thought to myself. "I'll get to try it and hopefully it won't destroy my hair."
First night in Tokyo, exhausted from the 15+ hours spent traveling, I washed my hair and than I sank into the soaking tub in my hotel room with a head slathered in TRESemmé Platinum Strength Renewing Deep Conditioner, and hoped for the best, but emotionally preparing for some crazy frizzy, dry hair.
The next morning I woke up and immediately noticed something different about my platinum and pink locks... they were SHINY! Really, really shiny! This continued every day of the trip, despite an anti-humidifier set on super high in my hotel room (I couldn't figure out how to turn it off!) and super long days under the bright lights shooting runway shows. My hair was more manageable than I can remember it being in a very long time. It was easily detangled, and blew out (even on a funky hotel hair dryer) with a smooth sheen I haven't seen in years. And the best part of this whole experiment, backstage at one of the shows, all the professional hair and make-up people kept asking ME what I use on my hair, because they couldn't believe colored hair like mine could be so soft and shiny!
So of course, when it came time to leave Tokyo, I did not throw out the products to make room in my suitcase, I brought them home and have continued to use them with excellent results!
Final analysis: TOTAL WIN. At any price I would continue using TRESemmé Platinum Strength, but at a drugstore price it's even better!