New Zealand fashion and lifestyle blog

Short and sweet

Short hair tends to take a bit of a battering, so Emma puts haircare for short styles to the test in a variety of hairstyles she calls the Frauline Maria, Nana curls, Ms. Whippy, and Finger Waves. Read what performed the best and what didn’t…

Short hair tends to take a bit of a battering in the summer (I know mine does).

Salt water, sun, sport, the constant teasing, restyling and blow drying for each new outing and event…So when a large package of nine hair care products came to my doorstep last week, my follicles literally screamed a desperate ‘thank you!’

Overwhelmed with the choices before me, I started with what I thought my hair would most like first.

Wella Refresh as it turns out, contains champagne extract, and smells as good and luxurious as that sounds. After lathering up, my tired, beached-out hair was treated to a slightly cooling, salon clean feel, and seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

Next to the rescue: Wella Enrich, which in my mind, is most like body butter for your hair. But just as some body butters require a lot of rubbing in, so this treatment needs a lot of rinsing out (bear this in mind when begrudging flatmates or family are banging down the door at 8.30 in the morning…) The results following this silk and shea butter-infused mask however, were exactly as one would expect: soft, light, silky, with a big tick from the boyfriend for smell.

After blowdrying, I decided to picture the results as they were: I call this my ‘Frauline Maria’ style.

Hair wash #2 saw KMS Colour Vitality (conditioner) put to the test, the first of two toning products included for my salon-blonded locks. One thing I will say, if you have dyed-blonde hair, you must invest in a toning product, no buts. This will save you from the dreaded brassy/yellow-blonde look which can make your dye look like a home-job.

While I prefer toning shampoo, I had no issues with the KMS Colour Vitality, and quite liked that there was no lid to flip, just a handy one-way valve at the bottom of the tube.

Next on the style-product match were the nana curls, paired with Joico Silk Result Thermal Smoother.

After feeling and seeing the results of this ‘resurfacing spray’, I can easily say that I prefer the Silk Result to a more conventional hair spray. While some products leave styles crunchy and hard to touch, Silk Result does the opposite, allowing for natural bounce, movement, and touchable control, perfect for a style such as this.

From one extreme to the next, Fudge Membrane Gas sits at the opposite end of the finishing spray continuum. For stiff and serious styles, this product means business, and as my staple styling product for the past 3 years, I can vouch for its consistency to deliver a high performance hold. After blowdrying and backcombing, I took curling wand and wound my fringe back into a quiff, spraying the membrane gas as I went. After a little more backcombing and fussing, the final once-over of spray kept the finished ‘do in place, no pins required. I call her: Ms. Whippy.

Second in line of the colour treatments, Joico Colour Endure Violet Shampoo didn’t disappoint. The day after washing, 3 people asked if I’d recently coloured my hair. Win. A little goes a long way, and with its easy lather and ever-so-violet scent, I’ll be tucking this secret away for future reference.

Next I decided to attempt the impossible, that mysterious, ever-feminine style of the 20’s: finger waves. KMS Silk Sheen was thus called forward, as a luxury creme to set the style. One hour and 5 Youtube tutorials later, I eventually admitted defeat, but to the one completed wave in the front, the Silk Sheen was perfect, giving both hold, softness and yes, sheen once dry. While in this style I combed a lot of product through my damp hair, one can normally get away with just a 20cent sized portion to style and effectively control frizz and fly-aways.

Throughout my years of ever-changing hair style, Fudge has been one of those brands that has stayed tried and true. When it comes to Fudge Head Shine though, I’m somewhat indifferent. Squinting into my mirror I anged my head bewilderedly, searching for the promised and wondrous sheen…Thinking it was my hair colour, I lined up my flatmates telling them to hold still while I sprayed each of their ‘dos from the small silver and orange can. When one, fingering her hair asked, ‘what’s it supposed to do?’, I knew it wasn’t just me. I say save your $25 for something more useful, such as either of the next two products, in my last style below.

Perhaps the easiest, and most care-free short summer style can be achieved with just two products: KMS Hair Play, and Fudge Salt Spray, the second of which I already had on my shelf, and just had to tell you about.

KMS hair play, from its vibrant packaging, to its yummy ‘Lipton Peach Iced Tea’ scent, is just an all round good time. Promising texture, volume, and bulk for shorter hair, I’m sold that this is a damn good shampoo. In seeking the full result from the hair play I skipped using a conditioner, and went straight to styling, blow drying, scrunching and spraying with the Salt Spray as I went. The great thing about Salt Spray is it’s super easy, you can use it as you blow dry, spray it on damp hair to air dry, or use it to add volume to dry hair at the roots. And it smells like a tropical beach.

So after two weeks of hard-core treatment, my hair is cleansed, hydrated and shimmery soft. From the nine, my top two picks have got to be the KMS Hair Play, and Joico Colour Endure, and one day, when my cupboards finally run dry I’ll know to head down to my salon to stock up for the winter.

Wella Professionals Refresh Purifying Shampoo, RRP $27, Wella Professionals Enrich Treatment Mask RRP $28, KMS Colorvitality Blonde Treatment RRP $30, Joico Silk Result Thermal Smoother RRP $30, Fudge Membrane Gas RRP $25.50, Joico Colour Endure Violet Shampoo RRP $30, KMS Silk Sheen RRP $34, Fudge Head Shine RRP $25.50, KMS Hair Play Texture Shampoo RRP $32.50, Fudge Salt Spray, RRP $25.50, all available exclusively from selected salons.

Words by Emma Schoombie
Photography by Daryl Habraken
14 March 2012


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