Beauty road-test: What are the best products for curly hair?
SUMMER is almost here. Which is great news for everyone, except the people with curly hair who have to battle frizz.
SUMMER is around the corner which means a lot of good things are to come like beaming rays of sunshine, eating icy-poles, beach weather, topless men rolling around in the sand and girls everywhere trying to look like a Kardashian in their bikinis.
However, every woman whose hair frizzes instead of curl0s, and I mean REALLY frizzes, has a little cloud blocking their sunshine. It’s time for some extreme curl zhushing before beach season arrives.
I bring you reviews from the curlies in the news.com.au office who have tested six products to help fight frizz, so that we don’t have to walk around the beach wearing a swimming cap or constantly keep our hair in ballerina buns.
Show humidity who’s boss and let those curls fly free with these awesome frizz-fighting, curl enhancing products:
1. Evo Liquid Rollers Curl Balmevohair.com/au
Liquid Rollers curl balm has a great texture, isn’t too heavy on the hair, and smells like you have just walked out of the salon. It makes the hair SUPER soft however the curls weren’t as beachy as I had hoped. It left my hair with a scrunched curl rather than bouncy curl but this may be due to my hair being fine. It definitely fights frizz and gives sleek and smooth effect to the hair making it very manageable.
2. Bumble and Bumble Bb Curl — Conscious Calming Crème for coarse curls, $43, mecca.com.au
The smell and texture was great, the hold was also very good. The crème eliminated a lot of frizz that usually comes with my curls. It lasted for two days without needing a touch up which was a plus.
3. KMS CurlUp leave in conditioner and perfecting lotion, $31.95 each, kmscalifornia.com
A non-sticky formula that kept hair conditioned while helping the curls to stay in their natural state. A bit of scrunching required, but after a brush-through the waves look bouncy and beachy.
4. Kerastase Elixir Serum Solide, $44, kerastase.com.au
This is a brand new product from Kerastase and if you have curls it could quickly become a staple in your handbag/beach bag. As the name suggests it’s a solid serum that contains lots of lovely oils to revive dry curls and tame unruly strands.
5. Kevin Murphy Easy Rider, $36.95, kevinmurphy.com.au
This product has been an essential for this reviewer for the past decade or so. It’s sold as an ‘anti-frizz crème with flexible hold’ and it gives your curls great definition and acts against humidity. Simply work it through damp or dry hair for a beachy wave. It has added vitamins and minerals too to it treats your hair as it styles. A true wonder product.
6. Philips MoistureProtect dryer and straightener, $129 each, philips.com.au
Any curly-haired girl will tell you that dryness is their hair’s biggest enemy (well, that and humidity … you just can’t win). With dryness comes frizz and with frizz comes tears. Philips has released a new MoistureProtect haircare range that includes a dryer and a straightener — both appliances use sensors to monitor the temperature of the hair, and adjusts the heat level accordingly so you don’t suck all the moisture out of your curls. The diffuser on the dryer is a real bonus, as it won’t fluff your curls out.
7. Shu Uemura Kaze Wave, $47, adorebeauty.com.au
I’m a big fan of using mousse to control the curls but I found this brand wasn’t quite strong enough to tame my frizz. Either that, or I just desperately need a haircut. After washing my hair, adding the mousse and drying my hair with a diffuser, the curls were moving into ‘wave’ territory and to be honest, by the end I was looking like I had just stuck my finger in the power socket. But what is great about this product is that is gives your hair some serious extra volume. Anyone who has curly hair knows you usually use at least four products in your hair at any one time so I could definitely see Shu Uemuera being part of the mix.