Curly-Q Cocktail

You know how you can go to bed one night and your haircut is totally cute and you wake up the next morning inexplicably channeling Axl Rose and your hair suddenly has NO shape to it? That's what happened to me yesterday. Also, it was raining, so I decided it would be a good day for curly hair despite the fact that my hair just hasn't been curling so well lately. Too much exposure to heat tools and dry winter weather has left me with non-uniform, disappointing curls lately, but I decided to do an experiment.

The past few months, EVERY time I "freed my curl," (as the queen of curl, Ouidad says), I'd wind up looking too Elaine from Seinfeld. You know, in the "wall of hair" years. P.S. fun fact: The fictional Elaine and I share the same college major of French Literature.

To achieve hydrated curls, I used a deep conditioner (PureOlogy NanoWorks Luxury Hair Masque) , then applied Garnier Curl Sculpting Cream Gel ($4) mixed with a bit of Moroccanoil ($39). The results were fantastic. The combo of the humidity and the moisturizing cocktail of prods yielded lustrous, smooth curls - and you KNOW how hard it is to get curly hair to shine. It is by nature a non-smooth surface. It practically demands an Elainian "Get Out!" reaction.

I have no doubt that she would pronounce this product combo the follicular equivalent of "spongeworthy."

Diversion: Buying Hair Products at Drugstores, Supermarkets or Target? Read This!

I'm on the left, talking to Shu Uemura's Art of Hair rep, Beth, at the Anti-Diversion event held at the Tribeca Grand Hotel last week.

Last week, I attended an event thrown by L’Oréal USA’s Professional Products Division (PPD). PPD brands include Redken, Matrix, Pureology, Logics, L’Oréal Professionnel, Kérastase, Shu Uemura Art of Hair, Mizani and Artec.

At the event, we learned that the brand recently launched an Anti-Diversion Communications Program to educate the salon community and consumers about their anti-diversion strategy. What is diversion? Basically, it's the selling of beauty products at unauthorized retailers. On the list of unauthorized retailers are drugstores and supermarkets, even Ricky's and Target. I've definitely purchased these brands there in my quest for lower-priced products. In fact, I was skeptical about this entire topic, thinking how convenient it was that the L'Oreal was telling me how I need to pay full price for my addictions (hair products) directly at salons.

But what I didn't know is that when you buy from unauthorized retailers (whom I'd never known were unauthorized), you run the risk of purchasing contaminated or counterfeit products. To ensure that the inventory of these products has not been compromised, it's important to purchase salon products only in authorized outlets including salons, professional stores and select brand manufacturer websites. Also? Pricing in mass outlets is typically elevated 10% so there's really no "deal" to be had.

David Craggs, President of L'Oreal's Professional Products Division, educated us on the dangers of purchasing hair products anywhere other than a salon. The few exceptions include Trade Secret, Regis and Ulta.

"L’Oréal USA’s PPD sells professional products to salons and stylists, uniquely for their use and for retail by them," says Craggs. "We are committed to fighting diversion, and have been battling this huge industry problem for many years. In fact, thanks to a high sophisticated secondary coding system that is 100% accurate in tracking products, we have cut off diverters and over $30 million in product sales. Through product coding, PPD continues to eliminate diverters and diverted product."

To do my part to urge you guys to buy authentic, guaranteed products, I'm going to link to the brand's website where you can find distributor info as opposed to linking to online retailers. Let's put a stop to diversion!

Click here to learn more.