Brand Focus: Not Your Mother's

 I have to be honest, I've never found a miracle product for my hair.  Out of the sinful amount of hair products I've purchased in my lifetime, I can't say I've ever found one that I thought "Wow!  Now THAT'S some Hollywood hair!"  That being said, I have found a line that I do actually adore & brings my pretty close to that Hollywood hair.


Not Your Mother's covers all your bases as far as hair care goes.  They are an American based company but their products are available outside the US.  According to their website, all their products are gluten-free.  Now I haven't hopped on the whole gluten-free bandwagon so that's neither here nor there as far as I'm concerned.  But if you find your hair breaks out in hives & suffers from an enclosed airway once it ingests gluten then fear not!- NYM has you covered.  They also do not test on animals- yay.  I find my NYM products at Ulta, CVS, or Walgreens.  Recently, they have also been stocking NYM in my local Target.  Because they are a drug store product, you can be sure they are affordable.  Another bonus?  They smell AH-mazing- like a day at the beach.  All their products have a coconut type scent that just makes you feel like you should be kicking back with a fruity drink poolside & applying some SPF.

My hair is baby fine & extremely flat.  I mean, seriously- I can curl one side of my head & before I can finish the other side, the curled part has already returned to its lifeless, flat, stick-straight original self.  Enter: the Girl Powder volumizing hair powder.  The good thing about this product is it will give you some serious volume.  Just sprinkle a few bits at the roots & give them a good "joojing".  Instantly you'll see intense volume & those roots will be screaming "The higher the hair, the closer to God, girlfriend!"  The product itself is really an interesting texture.  It's finer than sugar granules & almost reminds me of cotton candy.  My only complaint about this product is that it makes your hair super sticky.  I get that the idea is so it will work as a dual product- both volumizing & long lasting hold, but unfortunately it just means there's no option for dry shampooing the next day.  You're gonna have to pry that stuff out of your hair with some serious shampooing.

Speaking of shampoo- I absolutely adore the Way to Grow long & strong shampoo & conditioner line.  Once again, heavenly scents & I see way less breakage with these two.  The conditioner is by far my favorite product out of the whole NYM range.  As stated, my hair is super fine so it tangles terribly.  When my hair was much longer (halfway down my back) it would create quite the rat's nest at the nape of my neck.  I'm pretty sure I found a family of four living in there at one point.  The only thing that could touch those knots without lots of breakage & tears was this conditioner.  This duo is the closest thing I've had to being a 'miracle product' for my hair.  They're sulfate free & make your hair so incredibly silky.  Seriously- I sat in the car on our recent road trip consistently (& creepily) caressing my tresses for hours.  I was completely impressed at how soft my hair was!  I just couldn't get over it.

In between shampoos, I like to use the Clean Freak refreshing dry shampoo.  This is another one of those products that I'm completely impressed with.  Once again, these fine tresses really don't handle second day hair well.  With every other dry shampoo I get oily & weighed down.  I feel like dry shampoos are a very personal thing because everyone's hair type is different.  But for my hair, this is the ONLY acceptable dry shampoo.  I don't notice a grey cast like most others & it absorbs all the oil so I feel semi-clean, or at least the closest I can feel without seeing soap...

Another product I've love is the Beach Babe texturizing sea salt spray.  After I recently chopped all my hair off into a lob, this product has been my best friend.  It gives great texture without looking like I've tried too hard.  Ya know, you've gotta rock that bed head chic.  I don't know about you, but I don't wake up looking like that.  We all know it takes a lot of work to look so effortlessly cool.  This is another fantastic smelling product that takes minimal effort to see results.  I've found it works best for my body-less hair if I spray a little on the ends of my hair the night before so I get that 'slept in' look.  The next morning I'll spray a bit more & give it a good scrunching.  Be careful not to get too spray happy though as too much of this product will create some sticky/stiffness.  I also love the spray nozzle on this product.  It gives a really thorough application, rather than one sopping stream on a square inch of your hair.  (Don't you hate that?!!?)

NYM has so many products in their line & I really can't wait to try some more.  I recommend any of these products.  You can't expect a better bang for your buck.  Now go find your Hollywood hair!