Hair Spray And Perfume

Hey everyone! Gosh can you believe January is almost over?! It seems like New Years was like, yesterday! LOL! Oh well, with another day comes another review! Today I'm reviewing Crystal Flash, a shine treatment for multi-tonal blondes from Redken's Blonde Glam collection. It's a neat little finishing product I picked up on a whim a few months ago (as seen in this HAUL!), but it kinda got lost in my sea of products so I never got a chance to review it until now!

Here's what the label says: "Leave-in shine treatment creates a lasting barrier against frizz while infusing multi-tonal blonde highlights with iridescent, multi-dimensional shine." Leave-in treatment is an interesting choice of words, considering that it's not a mask or deep conditioner - but it does make your hair shiiiiine. The directions tell you to use it in dry hair, but almost anything you can put in dry hair you can put in wet hair - but never the other way around!

Let's take a look at the main ingredients: Water, Dimethicone, Cyclopentasiloxane, Calcium Sodium Borosilicate, Triethanolamine, Acrylates/Beheneth -25 Methacrylate Copolymer, Carbomer, (fragrance, extracts, preservatives, etc).

So, this product is pretty strong with dimethicone being the second ingredient. Dimethicone is one of the heavier silicones, and even though cyclopentasiloxane is in here to break it up, it's still a bit heavy. Calcium sodium borosilicate is kinda like - liquid glass - hence the name Crystal Flash. They're basically these teeny little shine particles that help reflect the light and make your hair really sparkle. It's commonly found in products like sparkly makeup and glitter hairspray, fun stuff like that. It's actually hard to see it in the actual product (tried taking pics = fail), because it's so subtle - but you can see it on your hands after you put the product in your hair, it's kinda cool! Triethanolamine is used to adjust the pH along with carbomer (which also increases the viscosity). Acrylates/Beheneth -25 Methacrylate Copolymer gives a slight hold to keep the frizzies away, but barely noticable.

Do I like it? Yes. Am I in love with it? Not really. I like it because it does smooth hair, and it does bring out blonde highlights really well, but it's easy to use too much and ends up weighing down your hair. And even though the directions say to use it in dry hair, I think it works better when you use it in wet hair. I definitely will finish it all, but I don't think I'll be getting it again. Honestly, if I want a product for blondes, I think Bed Head's Dumb Blonde Smoothing Stuff is way better. But, if Redken ever reformulates this, I'll definitely give it another shot - because I so wanted to love this! Hmm, oh well.

Redken Blonde Glam Crystal Flash comes in a 50 ml / 1.7 fl oz. bottle and retails for around $15.

Another review done! Have a good weekend pretties, and take care of your hair! XOXO