Serie Expert Vitamino Color is the newest range of products from L’Oreal Professionnel, designed especially for colored hair. The line promises to protect color and repair hair while nourishing, conditioning and boosting shine. The A-OX in the name signifies the cocktail of antioxidants now in the products that can help protect hair from free radical damage. The styling products have UV filters to protect hair from excessive sun damage, and keep color looking fresh and vibrant.
I’ll admit that I seem to be going through a phases where I’m a little disenchanted by regular hair care lines. Hair is dead – so there’s really nothing that can nourish and condition it, but I love the idea of something making it look like it’s nourished and conditioned. I also think that shampoo seems to be over-rated. If you have tons of product build-up or really greasy hair, yes, a good shampoo is needed, but more than once or twice a week? I’m guessing no.
The Vitamino collection comes with a shampoo, two conditioners, a mask, a sulfate-free soft cleanser, a color-corrector for blondes, leave-in conditioner, and a smoothing cream. Really, it’s a ton of products and even I was a little confused at why there are so many in the lineup.
I’ll start by saying that I found both the shampoo and the sulfate-free soft cleanser incredibly drying. My hair is already dry. It’s curly and long, so the ends tend to need extra care, but washing with these two cleansers seemed to make it extra drying.
I was definitely more impressed with the conditioners and the mask in this line. There’s a Fresh Feel Masque which is actually a very light minty conditioner. I loved putting this close to the scalp because it felt nice and cool and seemed to help wake me up in the morning. I also liked the regular conditioner in this line because it gave my hair lots of slip which it needs. It tends to get quite tangled otherwise.
The Vitamino Color A-OX Masque was the one product that I found to be very unique – it’s a gel mask and so it’s super light on the hair. The packaging says that it works in just one minute to deeply condition hair. It’s super light and seems to absorb into your hair almost instantly, making it shinier in the process.
The styling products are lovely – but to be honest, it’s hard to tell them apart from the many smoothing creams and leave-in sprays that I already own.
L’Oreal Professionnel products are available at salons only – if you see the Vitamino collection and if your stylist uses it on you, go for the conditioners and masks. They’re light enough to let your hair color look more shiny and don’t leave hair weighed down by heavy moisturizers.
If you’d like to find a salon near you, check out the salon locator on their website.
If you like keepsakes, then you’ll love the limited edition packaging for Hanae Mori’s Butterfly Parfum. Just in time to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the perfume, it now comes in a beautiful pick lacquered bottle. I love the bottle: it has major heft but still a touch of whimzy and lightness thanks to the organza butterfly on the bottle.
