No, hair glossing not damaging the hair






http://www.theperfectcut.org

I heard that it was damaging... I thought it worked the same way as hair color, just clear? I'm no expert, though.
I did, however, try a drugstore glossing treatment a couple of years ago. I was really excited about it, but it did nothing for me. Maybe they've gotten better since then.

It's not a glossing treatment, but I really like this stuff: http://www.drugstore.com/products/prod.asp?pid=83557&catid=32542&trx=GFI-0-EVGR-49973&trxp1=10782&trxp2=83557&trxp3=1&trxp4=5&btrx=BUY-GFI-0-EVGR-49973
It's not too heavy for my fine hair and gives me some nice shine. I like it a lot better when I have highlights, though. It's like it really makes the highlights pop. Either way, though, it's nice and glossy. I bet if you used it with a flat iron you'd have super glossy hair. Haven't tried that one yet. Hmmm...

I've tried Clairol Nice and Easy Color Seal Hair Conditioner Gloss. It says it is for color treated hair. Even though I've never dyed my hair or had highlights, I bought it and tried it out (it was only $4).
It didn't make my hair look shiny. In fact, it was slightly more dry. I read great reviews online about this gloss but I didn't experience anything good :( 
Myabe its also due to the fact that I have thick hair. On the reviews I read, those that had fine hair seemed to have good results.
Jules, please let us know about the clear henna and Frederic Fekkai glosses! I,too, am in search of super shiny, healthy hair!!!!

The Frederic Fekkai Salon Glaze should be arriving on Monday or Tuesday and the Henna around that time too.
I read in a few forums that the Frederic Fekkai Salon Glaze gives "mirror-like" shine after three uses and very impressive shine after one use.
So I'm going to try to Frederic Fekkai stuff first and then try the henna glosses once i've finished the Fekkai bottle in a couple of weeks. I'm definitely going to keep all of you updated on how well it works when it arrives!

ps. Darkeyes - i heard that about the Clairol stuff too - that it causes dryness with some people - did you apply it to dry or wet hair?

Ok - so i've received the colourless henna in the mail today and i'm dying to try it. I'm going to take before and after photos of my henna glossing so i can really be able to tell the difference.
Also i've now heard that doing regular henna glosses can actually slightly change the texture of your hair so that if it was really curly before it can actually stretch out your curl a bit - i'll be interested to see if that happens to me.

I've also received the Frederic Fekkai Salon Glaze in the mail - but i'm going to do that later on (maybe in 3 weeks or so) because i'm impatient and i want to see results straight away and the Fekkai stuff reaches it's full potential after a couple of uses - apparently some girls i spoke to got the "mirror-like" shine after the 3rd use - but i try not to wash my hair that often so that could be some time next week before i see the results.

Do you guys think i'm doing this the right way around? maybe i should do the henna glossing later and the Fekkai first? I'm so impatient though.
But I'm worried that the use of henna will render the Fekkai stuff ineffective later on.

I think i'm going to do some more research and i'll have my answer in a few hours :-)

Right ok - i ended up deciding to do the Henna glossing first - it's colourless.
Here's what i did:

1. Put 50grams of colourless henna powder (aka Cassia) into a bowl
2. Then pour lukewarm water into the bowl - enough water so that when you stir the henna powder and water together it makes a smooth paste
3. Then I let it sit in the bowl for about 30mins
4. After 30 mins i then added some of my favourite conditioner to the mix (this helps with the application to the hair) and mixed it in
5. Then i put on some rubber gloves and applied it to my hair and scalp (apparently it's meant to be really good for your scalp) - I applied it to my already wet hair.
6. Then I let it sit in my hair (whilst i sat outside in the warmth reading a book) for about 1 hour.
7. I then got back in the shower to rinse it all out (it's messy) and i had to use a bit of conditioner to help me get it all out

Right now my hair's still wet so i can't tell whether there's any extra shine just yet - i'll update when my hair's dry.

I hope this works - if not, it's on to the Fekkai salon glaze stuff

Wow. The results from the neutral/colourless henna (cassia) were wayyyyy better than i expected! The shine isn't "mirror-like" but it is definitely VERY noticeable and my hair feels stronger and in really good condition.
As soon as my friend came over yesterday evening she commented on how shiny my hair looks (she didn't know i did a henna gloss - and i decided not to tell her lol) and I've had a couple of comments from my brothers too (which i definitely didn't expect)!
The texture of my hair has slightly changed too - but i think that's because it was soo unhealthy looking and frazzled before i did this gloss - the curl is definitely less tight and slightly more stretched out - but then again, i wouldn't worry too much about it Darkeyes because i think that's only because my hair was sooo destroyed before (whereas if your hair is healthy in the first place then i don't think there will be a texture change).
I also was reading some articles and forum posts on henna/cassia glosses and many people said that the shine increased a few days after doing the treatment (something about the henna oxidising)..

So all in all I'm very pleased with the results that this glossing gave me because:
a) It was very cheap (1 packet of 100grams only cost me £2.95)
b) I really wasn't expecting anywhere near the shine and health it gave to my hair

However, it's important also to realise that this is the first glossing that i've ever done so i don't really have anything to compare it to. So that's on to my next little project - i'm keeping the before and after photos of my hair and then i'm going to try out the Frederic Fekkai Salon Glaze stuff - but i'm also keen to keep going with the Cassia/henna gloss because it really seems to be improving my hair's appearance - so i'm going to keep records of both with photos.

Also - on another really important note - it's important that if you order Henna or Cassia powder online that you get only the BEST quality (i.e. ones that are pure and aren't mixed with metallic salts or anything else) because otherwise it could react badly if your hair has been previously dyed (i.e. you dyed it less than 1-2 months ago).

I dyed my hair brown (over bleached blonde hair) about 1and a half months ago and the powder didn't react badly with my hair.

By the way, Darkeyes, thanks for all your posts of support! :-)

I know! I was pleased too! You're just as enthuastic as I am, Darkeyes!!!

By the way, Darkeyes, what colour is your hair? If it's not too light, then i'd recommend Cassia (a.k.a Neutral henna) because that's what i used and my hair is a light-ish brown with a few of my old blonde highlights (that i had done before i dyed my whole head brown with semi-permanent colour) starting to show through again - and the cassia/neutral henna won't change your hair colour. :-)

I'm going to try another glossing tomorrow!

Darkeyes - if you have black hair then you could even go for the regular henna powder (that isn't colourless) because it won't really add any colour to your hair and it's even more conditioning than Cassia (but that wasn't an option for me because my hair is still quite light brown/dark blonde and so the regular henna would've dyed my hair). But if you don't want to risk it, then i'd definitely recommend the Neutral Henna (Cassia) from www.bodydeco.co.uk - the lady who mails it is very friendly and is happy to answer your questions. But that's of course if you live in the UK ( I do). If you live in the US then i'll look for some good websites for you and i'll post them up when i find them.

My hair is about just below bra strap length and is sort of very wavy (of course it's still damaged from all the stupid things i used to do to it) :-( And it is relatively thick.
How long is your hair?

Also I did the Cassia (aka Neutral henna) treatment twice because i wanted to experiment and see the difference between when i apply it to dry hair and wet hair. The first i applied it to dry hair but i actually preferred applying it to wet hair because it's already difficult enough (because of the thickness of the paste) to apply it evenly all over. I really recommend adding as much conditioner to the mix as possible so it helps with spreadability (i know that's not really a word lol). Actually i did it again the other day and i added a little bit of melted coconut oil to the mix and that really helped me spread it on my hair more evenly.

What I did is I made the Cassia mixture and then whilst i was letting it stand for about 30 mins (or even a little more) I got into the shower and washed my hair with a very gentle shampoo (and i didn't scrub too hard so that my hair would get too tangled) and then i put a little conditioner in my hair to help remove any tangles. Make sure that you thoroughly wash out any shampoo and conditioner.
Then i towel dried my hair a little (so it wasn't dripping wet) and then i put on old clothes (just in case the cassia stains). Then i applied the cassia to my hair.

Also i'd recommend sitting in quite a warm room because that helps the treatment - a lot of other Cassia users have said that too.
Try and leave it on for as long as possible ( i managed about 1 hour the first time, 70mins the second time and only 30 mins the third time)

Oh and another thing, after 3 treatments my hair is very shiny - so don't get impatient if after the 1st treatment you're hair is only marginally shiny - some people get more shine with extra treatments and others get it straight away after the first.
Also - i found that after the first treatment about 2 days later my hair shine had noticeably increased - i think it took a little while for the Cassia treatment to oxidise. So even though i hadn't done anything extra to my hair, by day 2 it was shinier than straight after the treatment.

Hope that helps Darkeyes!! - I'm off to try the Frederic Fekkai Salon Glaze now - I'll let you know how that goes! :-)

Hey Darkeyes!

I'm glad you've ordered the cassia, that really worked on my hair - it's made it really healthy feeling.
About the Lush products - i've never tried them before - but i'm a little bit skeptical about products that contain henna in them, if you really want shine you're best to get the pure henna powder and then make you're own concoction to put on your hair. Have you been on the Long Hair Community forum? They have some great threads about using henna and they've got before and after pictures showing how improved their shine is!
Apparently henna glossing is meant to be the best for shiny hair - especially dark hair (Darkeyes, you're so lucky that your hair is dark because you can use henna whereas i can only use cassia which is very good but doesn't produce quite as amazing results as henna does on dark hair - I mean, WOW, those results are just ridiculous!)
I really recommend you try henna well! Did you get the cassia for cheap? Cassia's well known for adding thickness and general health to the hair as well as improved the condition of the scalp.
Ok - now my 2 cents on the Frederic Fekkai Salon Glaze - I'm actually VERY impressed with the results. I have been using it for about 3 washes and my hair is not only sparkling but it's also ridiculously soft - i mean wow. just wow. Never before has my hair felt sooooo soft. I'm very pleased. Also, the shininess has definitely improved as i've used it more. It's more a sort of sparkling shine at the ends of my hair and a mirror-like shine from my ears upwards. Another thing - i don't have to use any products when i use the Fekkai stuff because my hair hardly tangles and is so smooth.
This stuff is definitely worth it!

Darkeyes - Keep me posted on your results! I'm dying to know.

Jules, i finally got the cassia I ordered and I did the glossing last night! (and yes i did get it for a good price)
I followed your directions: first I shampooed my hair, i added 50g of cassia in a bowl, added enough lukewarm water so that is makes a paste, let it sit for 30 minutes, after 30 minutes i added some coconut oil, then i applied to my hair (oh, and my hair is below my bra strap too),
I also wrapped my hair in saran wrap and went to sleep like this. You said it was best to do this in a warm room so I left my humidifier on high all night. The cassia was in my hair for about 11 hours.
So I washed it out using some condiitoner to help get it all out.
My hair is still wet, so I will let you know later if I see any results!
I'm so glad the Federic Fekkai Salon Glaze worked!!!! I definitely am going to check that out!
Thanks for all the tips and advice. I really appreciate it!

Ok, so my hair is completely dry now and....my hair seems more tamed (less frizzy, waves look nice), but there isn't really much of a difference in shine. Maybe slightly shiny.
Jules, I know you said that it takes some time for the cassia to oxidize, so maybe in a few days my hair will be a little more shiny. I'm remaining optimistic. lol
**keeping fingers crossed**