Cherish Me

If you have bleached your hair before, or have experience being a blonde, you know brassy shades are your enemies.

The copper hues can make your hair look duller and redder than you want.

That is why you need to find a quality blonde shampoo to help maintain your locks, and give it what it needs for cooler tones. So how does Ion’s blonde shampoo measure up?

Who Is the Ion Cool Blonde Shampoo For?

Blonde shampoos are designed to provide your hare with the cooler blue hues it needs to keep your hair looking blonde. That is because most people naturally have warmer, red hues to their hair.

When you bleach it, these red hues can stay, making your hair look brassy and more like copper than a platinum blonde. 

Whether you are a natural blonde, or a bleached blonde, a blonde shampoo is what you need. That is because it contains blonde, white and silver tones to create more dimension and highlights to your hair.

This will help you to both avoid your hair looking dull and faded, and provide the cool hues to prevent more reddish hues from taking over. 

This particular shampoo is designed to be used for those with blonde hair, as well as white or silver hair.

It is also more successful with dyed hair, rather than on natural blondes or greys. However, you can use it on both. That is because it will still help you to balance the amount of moisture in your hair, as well as increasing shine. 

What Is in It?

The ingredients of Ion’s Cool Blonde shampoo are:

Water, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Cocamide Mipa, Dimethicone PEG – 8, Meadowfoamate, Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein PG – Propyls, Diazolindinyl Urea, Sodium Chloride, Polyquaternium- 7, Disodium EDTA, Citric Acid, Phenoxyethanol, Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Benzoate, Iodopropynyl, Butylcarbamate, Linalool, Cinnamal, Hexyl, Benzyl Salicylate, Violet 2, and Fragrance. 

After reading that list, you may have noticed a few red flags. First is Sodium Laureth Sulfate, or SLS. SLS is one of the ingredients we are taught to avoid in shampoos and conditioners because of the damage it can cause.

Used since the 1930’s, SLS is something that has a long history, but is also linked to potential hair loss. 

There is also PEG, or polyethylene glycols. PEG is used in hair dyes and shampoos for hair dyes to help aid in keeping color in your hair by softening the follicle.

However, the ingredient that softens your hair also makes it more susceptible to absorbing chemicals and carcinogens. PEG is classified by many as a carcinogen. 

The third red flag is the fact that this is clearly a shampoo that uses chemicals and not more natural alternatives.

While this can mean, softer, better looking hair, it can also damage your hair, and your health in the long term. You will need to consider for yourself if the risks are worth the results. 

There are some positives when it comes to ingredients. That is because it is free of some of the other popular shampoo ingredients that can harm you and your hair. For example, this shampoo is completely alcohol- free.

That means you do not need to worry about alcohol drying out your hair. There is also no soy or gluten, for those with allergies. Parabens and phthalates are also excluded from the recipe. The formula is also 100% vegan. 

Pros

• Prevents brassiness or yellowing
• For those with blonde, silver or white hair
• Climate pledge friendly
• Paraben Free
• Gluten Free
• Soy Free
• Alcohol Free
• Phthalates free
• Vegan
• Good pricing on Amazon

Cons

• Little to no natural ingredients
• SLS can cause hair loss
• PEG can allow you to absorb carcinogens 

What People Are Saying

When you look at reviews for Ion’s Cool Blonde shampoo, you may notice that they vary greatly by site.

For example, on Amazon, it currently has over four and a half stars. But on other sites it barely makes three stars.

So why the big difference in ratings?

The Smell

Those who have bought the shampoo seem to be divided nearly fifty/fifty on the small of the shampoo.

Some say that it is a wonderful smell, while others think it is absolutely disgusting.

Because the fragrance used in this shampoo is not described beyond that, we sadly cannot give you any idea of what the shampoo is going to smell like.

It would be beneficial for you to smell the shampoo if possible, to see which side you fall into. 

The Price

The pricing also ranges widely based on the site you are on. For example, on average, you are looking at seven to eight dollars for ten ounces of shampoo.

But on Amazon, you will pay only a dollar less for ten ounces than you would for 32 ounces. It is recommended that you look around to see who has the best price because it varies so much.

This will help you to both save money, and better your overall experience. 

Those who paid more seem to have more anger towards to product because they view it as having wasted more of their money.

Those who got a great deal seem to be more neutral going into using the product. 

The Results

The reviews for the results range from people now swearing by it, to throwing the bottle out after two uses.

Common issues are that is leaves their hair smelling in a way they do not like, leaving their hair feeling sticky, or that it dried out their hair.

Others say that it left their hair more vibrant and softer. 

Final Verdict

Sadly, it is hard to give you a definitive opinion whether or not to use this shampoo.

That is because it has many benefits, but there are ingredients in it that are not known to be good for hair.

It is going to have to be up to you as to whether or not you want to use the shampoo, but we want to make sure you have all the information to make an informed decision. 

If you have been looking into hair extensions, you may have seen the term micro loop.

While there are a few ways of attaching hair extensions to your natural hair, the micro-loop is quickly gaining popularity as a new salon favorite.

But is it the best thing for your hair, or is it just the latest fad?

What Are Micro Loop Hair Extensions?

Also known as I-tip or micro ring hair extensions, these are one of the safest ways to get extensions. The hair is attached to your natural hair going in the loop.

There is then a small metal bead that closes the hair extension in place. There is no heat, chemicals, adhesives, or sewing required, and the hair extensions last far longer than other methods.

You will also see far less hair damage or problems, especially when done by an experienced professional.

How Do They Differ from Other Hair Extensions?

The biggest difference between micro loop hair extensions and other hair extensions is the installation process.

There is no heat needed to install like hot fusion hair extensions, no adhesives like cold fusion or tape- in hair extensions, and no pain like weaving hair extensions.

They also last far longer than clip in hair extensions, and most other methods.

How Long Do Micro Loop Hair Extensions Last?

This is all going to depend on how fast your hair grows. When installed, the micro loops go right up to the scalp of the hair it is being attached to.

As your hair grows, the loops move, making it less stable and more likely to slide and fall out.

On average, these hair extensions will last between four and six months before needing to be adjusted.

For faster growing hair, you might need to have adjustments done sooner than this. For slower growing hair, you may get up to eight or nine months before needing adjustments.

It is important to note that adjustments can be made without fully needing to remove them. If you have any loose strands, just make an appointment with the salon to get it tightened back in place.

Are Micro Loop Hair Extensions Damaging to Your Hair?

If you have very thin or damaged hair, it is not recommended that you get any type of hair extensions because of the added weight on your hair.

This weight can lead to further breakage. Before you get micro loop hair extensions, you should take a month or two to get your hair healthy again.

But for those with normal, healthy hair, micro loop hair extensions are completely damage free.

There is no risk of damage, and you can carry on your normal hair routines with them in.

The only issue people complain of is some slight itching of the scalp as you adjust to them. After the first few days, that should go away.

How Do You Care for Micro Loop Hair Extensions?

Just like with other hair extensions, there are some care tips to take advantage of to get the best results.

One thing that seems to be common with all hair extension types is to avoid the water when it comes to swimming.

The chlorine is not good for your hair and the process of swimming can cause the micro loops to loosen or become matted. If you want to swim, use a cap to prevent any issues.

When it comes to showering, you can feel free to using your regular shampoos and conditioners.

There will be no issues, as long as your shampoo helps to keep your hair clean and the metal bead free of oil build up.

To dry your hair, avoid vigorously toweling off your hair. Instead, pat your hair dry and let it air dry. Or, gently use a hair dryer and try to avoid creating any more tangles than necessary.

When it comes to hair care, you want to brush your hair often and sleep with your hair up or in a braid.

This will help prevent matting from all the extra hair. You should also take time to make sure your hair extensions are separate and the beads are not crossing or tangling.

Leave in conditioners and detanglers are also helpful to brush your hair, without pulling too much on your hair extensions. This will prevent any unnecessary loosening of your hair extensions.

Pros

• Easily adjustable
• Hair looks more natural
• No adhesive necessary
• No heat necessary
• Do no need to braid hair before installation
• No sewing involved
• Easy to wash
• No chemicals involved
• Lasts up to six months
• Can style, and even color your hair
• More affordable than other methods

Cons

• Can make scalp itchy
• Loops become loose as hair grows
• Not for people with very thin, damaged or short hair

What Are People Saying?

People who have used micro loop hair extensions have very little negative things to say.

Especially for those who have used other methods, this is by far their favorite method.

Users say that they have more freedom with these hair extensions than with other methods, and do not need to worry about hair damage once the extensions come out.

Users report that they can style their hair, color it, and even get hair treatments with micro loop hair extensions in the only downside to the micro loop hair extensions is the time it takes to install them.

It can take between one hour and four hours, depending on how many extensions you want to have installed.

Final Verdict

If you are serious about getting longer, thicker hair, these are great options. They last for a very long time, and allow you the most freedom in terms of styling and coloring.

Micro loop hair extensions also help to keep your hair healthy during the time they are in, rather than damaging your natural hair like other hair extension methods.

Overall, this is the best way to get hair extensions while protecting your natural hair.

We have all heard of biotin as the magic pill for hair, skin and nails. But it takes more that biotin to keep hair healthy, no matter how much you take.

This is why Mielle Organics has a blend of all the necessary ingredients in their hair vitamins.

They have three distinct formulas that will help keep your hair looking and feeling great.

Why Do I Need Vitamins for Healthy Hair?

Your hair goes through a lot every day. From curling and straightening to product use, your hair is exposed to damaging heat and chemicals.

You also see damage from chemicals in shampoos and the air around you. This can lead to brittle, dry and damaged hair that looks and feels horrible.

Changing shampoos and using more natural products can help, but it isn’t going to fix everything. By taking hair vitamins, these supplements work to fix the damage to your hair from the inside out.

This will not only repair damage, but also strengthen you hair, making it more resistant to damage in the future.

What Vitamins Help Hair the Most?

When you look at hair supplements, you want to see certain ingredients.

Biotin (B7)

Biotin is one of the miracle supplements when it comes to hair. This is because hair strands become thicker and stronger when taking biotin.

Folic Acid

Folic acid helps to promote healthy cells, and promote cell renewal for hair growth.

Vitamin B1 and B2

These two vitamins are crucial for strong, healthy hair. Without vitamins B1 and B2 in appropriate amounts, hair can actually start to fall out.

Niacin (B3)

Niacin, or vitamin B3, is important in improving blood circulation in the scalp to allow cells to function and hair to grow.

Vitamin A

The right amount of vitamin A can be the difference between healthy hair and hair loss.

Too much can cause hair to fall out, too little can make it difficult for hair cells to replicate and new hair to grow. With the right amount of vitamin A, your body can stimulate hair follicles, helping sebum to be produced.

Sebum is vital in keeping your hair hydrated.

Vitamin C

In addition to helping to build your immune health, vitamin C is also important for keeping your hair in place.

If you don’t get enough vitamin C, you can see hair loss. This vitamin also helps prevent brittleness and dryness in hair.

Vitamin B12

Vitamin B12 is another vital vitamin that can cause hair loss if you do not get enough of it.

Vitamin D

Vitamin D is associated with sunshine, but is also needed in supplements for many reasons.

One of them includes promoting hair growth and creating new hair follicles.

Vitamin E

Vitamin E helps to fight free radicals at the follicle level, which can also help reverse hair loss.

This powerful antioxidant should be taken in moderation, in multivitamins.

Zinc

Zinc is a vital part of healthy hair because it takes part in protein synthesis and cell division of hair follicles.

This helps hair successfully grow, but too much can make you sick. This is why it is recommended that you take zinc in multivitamins rather than on its own.

Iodine

Iodine may not be something you consider vital when it comes to hair, or health. But iodine deficiency can also cause hair loss, as well as lots of other health problems.

Pantothenic Acid (B5)

Yet another important B vitamin, Pantothenic acid deficiency can also cause hair loss.

Mielle Organics hair vitamins contain all these ingredients and more.

In the advanced formula, you will also see ingredients like:

MSM, Copper, Riboflavin, Thiamine, Saw Palmetto, herbs, amino acids, and minerals.

What Is the Difference Between Mielle Organics’ Three Formulas?

There are three versions of Mielle Organics hair vitamins. The first is an Adult formula, with all the basic necessities for healthy hair.

The second is a Children’s formula that has much smaller quantities of the ingredients. This is because their smaller bodies do not need the higher doses adults need to see results. The third formula is an Advanced blend.

This features all the ingredients of the Adult formula, plus extra ingredients to help stimulate hair growth. While this is not going to regrow hair after you have experienced balding, it can help existing hair grow faster.

How Are People Liking Mielle Organic Hair Vitamins?

If you look on Mielle Organics’ site, you will see hundreds of five-star reviews on all three of the vitamins they offer. The reviews all rave about the products and how much healthier their hair is.

Because of the vitamins in the supplements, users also see an increase in their immune system, skin and nail health.

Overall, the vast majority of users ordered the product again and would recommend these hair vitamins.

Mielle does have certain recommendations on their site as to how to take the hair vitamins and what will give you the best results.

They recommend that you take the vitamin with a meal and that you maintain a healthy diet.

This includes foods containing iron, protein, Omega-3s and dark leafy greens. You should also drink lots of water.

This will help prevent gaps in your nutritional needs and make sure your body is getting everything it needs.

They also recommend getting your hair trimmed before you start the supplement to help get rid of split or dead ends.

This will help you to start fresh with a healthy head of hair. Otherwise, split ends can continue to split and become dead ends. Once dead ends occur, your hair will stop growing.

You should also maintain getting your hair trimmed at least three times a year, if not more frequently. This will help prevent split ends from forming again.

My Final Verdict

Overall, Mielle Organics is one of the best vitamins for healthy hair. Featuring biotin as an ingredient, you will also see benefits in your immune system, skin, and nails health while taking it, which is always a plus. And the fact that they come in gummy form is always a plus!

If you have struggled with trying to get and maintain straight hair, you probably have heard about keratin and Brazilian blowouts.

But there is a new product called Magic Sleek that is turning the hair straightening industry on its head.

What Is Magic Sleek?

Magic Sleek is a multi-step process using several products to help straighten and remove frizz from your hair.

They guarantee that in three steps, they can give you the results you are looking for, while also retaining body and volume.

Magic Sleek claims that they are safe for all hair types and ages, and is free of some of the most dangerous and damaging chemicals other straighteners have.

Magic Sleek also has an emergency repair for those who instantly want the results, without the long- lasting results.

They sell serums of acai buriti maracuja oil, to help maintain the results after treatment to help prolong the results as well.

What Is in It?

When it comes to hair treatments meant to be permanent or semi-permanent, ingredients play a major role. This is because the processes usually include multiple steps and styling afterward.

With all this, there is a risk of chemicals interacting and causing damage to your hair and potential health issues. One of the biggest issues with straightening chemicals is formaldehyde.

Magic Sleek has been tested to guarantee that there is no formaldehyde in their treatment, nor is there anything that could help create formaldehyde when interacting on your scalp.

There is also no methylene-glycol, formalin, methanol, formic aldehyde, methylene oxide, oxomethane or other dangerous chemicals that break down into formaldehyde. Instead, the ingredients are:

In the Shampoo

Water, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Citric Acid, Cocamide Dea, Theobroma Grandiflorum Seed Butter, Cocamidpropyl Betaine, Lauryl Glucoside, Sodium Sulfate, Propylene Glycol, Glycerin, Sodium Chloride, Ethanolamine, Disodium EDTA, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methyllisothiazolinone and Perfume

In the Relaxer

Water, Acacia Decurrens Extract (Tannin Extract), Citric Acid, Hydrolyzed Keratin, Theobroma Grandiflorum Seed Butter, Euterpe Oleracea Pulp Oil , Polyquaternium – 10,
Behentrimonium Methosylfate, Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride,  Acetamide Mea, Cetrimonium Chloride, Amodimethycone, Cetearyl Alcohol, Cysteine HCI, Sodium Lactate, Arginine, Glycine, Alanine, Serine, Proline, BHT, CI 60730, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, methylisothiazolinone, Disodium EDTA, Fragrance

In the Finisher

Water, Hydrolyzed Keratin, Citric Acid, Cetrimonium Chloride, Polyquaternium-10, Glycerin, Behentrimonium Methosulfate, Theobroma Grandiflorum Seed Butter, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract, Euterpe Oleracea Pulp Oil, Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetrimonium Chloride, Ceteareth-20, Panthenol, Ceramide, L-Cisteine, Sodium Lactate, Arginine, Glycine, Alanine, Serine, Proline, Acetamide Mea, Cyclomethicone, Mineral Oil, Amodimethicone, Trideceth-12, Cetrimonium Chloride, Phenyltrimethicone, Disodium EDTA, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone, Perfume

How Does It Compare to Other Straightening Products?

While the Magic Sleek hair treatment is the new big thing, there are some older methods that salons still use to straighten hair.

To make sure you are making the right decision on which method is best for you, you need to know all your options.

Brazilian Blowouts

Brazilian blowouts have greatly been discontinued in favor of keratin only treatments. This is because the Brazilian blowout process already used keratin, but also included a preservative like formaldehyde to lock in the keratin.

Considering the ingredients used, most people view it as an outdated process and overall, not worth the money.

Keratin

Keratin is used as an ingredient in many products, including shampoos, hair serums, and straightening treatments. There is no one set process or ingredient list, but it has to contain a certain amount of keratin.

Some products and treatments are better than others, but every salon can have its own style.

For salon keratin treatments, you need to avoid getting your hair wet for a certain amount of time after the treatment, then get repeat treatments again down the road.

Flat Irons

Flat irons are a great temporary option for those who occasionally want straight hair. But as an every day way of getting straight locks, you are looking at major hair damage.

From heat exposure drying and frying your hair, to the chemicals needed to preserve the look, you are going to run into major issues.

Many people end up burning their hair so severely that they can burn their hair off, and create so much damage it will take months to recover.

What Are People Saying About It?

People, including many celebrities, are absolutely raving about how amazing the results are when using Magic Sleek. The results are similar to keratin, but last much longer. The process to gain these results, though, takes a very long time.

For the express version of the Magic Sleek hair treatment, you are looking at approximately five hours in the salon. It is important to remember that this is the express option, which removes steps from the standard process.

If you get the standard option, you are looking at even more time in the salon. It is recommended that you prepare to be there all morning and afternoon, so it is best to clear your day.

Those who have used Magic Sleek while happy with the results, were not as happy about the price.

The express version of the hair treatment is the best way to say money if you do not want to pay the $250 or more cost of the standard option. While you miss out on a few steps of the treatment, you can save a substantial amount of money, and still get great results.

These results, however, will only last three to four months with the express option.

Another cost, that is really non-negotiable, is the shampoo from Magic Sleek. The shampoo is designed to help maintain the treatment for the longest amount of time.

Other shampoos can just wash out the treatment and cause you to waste your money. The Magic Sleek shampoo is going to run you around $50 per bottle.

While it is more than most people want to spend on their shampoo, it will make your hair remain straight for a much longer period of time.

Is It Worth the Money?

While you are going to pay more for Magic Sleek hair treatments and shampoos, overall, it is worth the money.

For those who are serious about having straight, silky hair, with longer-lasting results and no harmful side effects, this is hands down the best choice.