Clairol's Shine Happy, as recommended by beauty blogger, beautyaddict.
I read on one beauty website that this was an amazing shining product, and the idea hovered in the back of my mind for a few days, so I finally gave in and ordered it from Clairol's site. This was after looking for it everywhere around my city. I did not know that it hadn't been released to stores yet, but quickly determined that on my own. (After checking about 4 CVS's. I can't tell if I'm more stubborn or dim.) In this process I also looked at other shiners (I'm terribly suggestible sometimes (yeees... 'sometimes'...) and was suddenly predatorial about having perfect, glossy hair) in their various forms but nothing sold me quite as well as this product's initial review- "like models in shampoo commercials"- what? really?!
This 10 minute rinse treatment is what they've had on me this whole time? There's nothing more I hate than buying products and then hating them, especially when they can't be returned (hello, Burt's Bees beeswax hand creme) - also because I'm cheap enough to keep using them anyway in a fool's attempt to justify my expenditure, and then being continuously reminded of my shopping failure until the
huge endless bottles run out- they will someday, right? has the line moved down yet? I'm looking at you, BedHead Manipulator Shampoo and Conditioner! Basically a good, thorough review from a trusted source is usually a selling point for me. Also it's called
Shine Happy. Shine. Happy....!
During the process of purchasing this item online, it never said
anything about shipping. I know this for sure because I had loftily imagined spending my recent trip to London wowing the British menfolk with both my American accent and
impossibly shiny hair! and had planned to have the shipping expedited since, at the time, I would have been traveling a few days after I ordered this product. When I'd filled in my credit card information and my order was suddenly through (wait, where was the summary page for my order? where were my shipping options!), the site finally revealed a sneaky and disappointing 4-6 week period for shipping! I guess that's what you get for accepting free shipping through the Clairol website, but personally I would have paid S&H for the normal 3-7 day mailing period.
It only took about 2 weeks to receive (it came 4 days after I was back from London... wanker), and I was very excited to try it. I did everything exactly as the box instructed. My friend used some of what was left in the bottle after my hair was liberally covered with the treatment (it provides a large amount that can't be re-used, like most dyes and treatments). The next day there was no noticeable shine.
What the product seems to instead do is make the hair follicles lie flat (which would reflect light and cause more shine, in theory) and it makes your hair much smoother, more controlled in shape. The product uses liberal hydrogen peroxide in this process, which I believe is why the treatment conditioner is included in the box. But for all of that... dundundun... my hair wasn't actually shinier as far as I could tell. I'm glad in retrospect that my friend used the treatment as well because although we are both brunette, we have different hair types, and because she couldn't see a difference in her hair either, I can skip the period of remorse and moping about, wondering what I'd done wrong.
To confirm that my expectations weren't simply too high, no one I talked to the following day noticed that my hair was any different (picture: 'Hey Amber! I need to ask you something... does my hair seem shinier to you? No...yes, I'm serious!' -- 'Hey...hey Mark... good to see you again- would you look at my hair real fast and tell me if it seems shinier? Yes,
seriously!'). You'd be amazed at how little shiny hair can be of import to some people... maybe a meeting wasn't the best place to bring it up? 'Does anyone have any further matters to bring to the table?' Maybe I need a 'Time and Place' chart to sit next to the 'Sense of Dignity' card I carry in my wallet...
Overall I decided that, because it was relatively cheap ($7.99, free shipping), I'd be willing to use Shine Happy again if I wanted to re-create the smooth, sleek look which my curly hair retained for several days (think: second-day hair, but without the oil or dirtyness), and maybe next time I'd try putting every last drop into my own hair (sorry, C.) to see if that would make any difference. It's been about a week, and I would swear that I can still see the effects of the sleekness in the way my curls fall and catch light, but I doubt that anyone else would notice the subtle difference. I wonder if this product would be a disadvantage to anyone with hair that is naturally more flat than mine tends to be.
My rating: 4 for shine, 7 for smoothness.
