I promised this
review awhile ago but held off because I was unsure. Unfortunately, time has not made things much clearer. This comes in two "indexes," 1, for delicate, fine hair and 2, for normal, thick or resistant hair. I used number 2. The biggest downside of this product is the 60 dollar price tag. I was able to justify it by the reviews I read which said you could get two treatments out of it and the fact that it would cost more to go to a salon. This product is used in salons though. It even has halfway marks on the bottles to help you out.
In the box are a pre-care balm, straightening cream, index inductor, neutralizing and cleansing emulsion, and milky restructurer. I am a bad person who never does a strand test but I decided to do one in this case because you can straighten the rest of your hair right after you do it. It's a good thing I did because the inductor and cleansing emulsion look very similar and I didn't read the bottles. Also I was lucky because I only used half. It turned the product a bright pink which I thought was pretty cool. I put it on my strand and followed the instructions as best as I could. The second downside is that the instructions are a little strange. It says to apply the solution with the back of a comb and then to also use that during straightening. It was only when I went to use the cleansing emulsion I realized my mistake. I did not however re-do the strand test. I mixed it all up and applied it to my hair the way I thought I should. Unlike other straighteners, this has a very thick texture, almost clay-like and you don't comb through it while it's in your hair. I left it on the required time and proceeded to the neutralizing, cleansing emulsion. It is nice that you get to wash your hair after. Then I used the restructurer, of which I still have a lot left after thoroughly coating my hair.
After blow-drying, my hair looked amazing. Super straight and shiny. And it lasted several days. It still looked great after washing it again with my regular shampoo and conditioner. So, why would I still be unsure. Well, I still have to blow it dry or it frizzes. I know that doesn't seem like much but, if you've read some of my other post you know that I want perfect hair with no effort. The other reason is that it was great for a couple of weeks but then I started waking up with my old
hair "bumps" again so it didn't last as long as it should have at that price.
My recommendation, if you want a chemical-free straightener, would be to find a salon that uses this or to work something out with your stylist where you can bring this in and have them use it (although unless they are familiar with the product, they may have a hard time with the directions as well). I did send an email to Phyto to ask for clarification but never received a response. I will update if I ever find out. If I do get clarification, I may actually try this product again on my own. Otherwise I will just keep looking!
http://www.sephora.com/phytospecific-phytorelaxer-index-2-normal-thick-resistant-hair-P6120?skuId=365700
http://phytospecific.com/phyto_usa.html
