A couple of weeks ago the lovely ladies from Modern Hair sent Jules and I some Wella products to try. One of my biggest hair concerns is lack of volume – whilst I have quite a lot of hair, it’s very fine and can look limp easily. Based on my feedback, they sent me a few products to help boost up my locks: a shampoo, leave-in conditioner, mask and mousse from the Wella SP Volumize Range – that’s a lot of volume right there! And in the words of the inimitable Dolly Parton: “The higher the hair, the closer you are to God” – can’t argue with that!
I hopped into the shower and started the volumizing process with a healthy dollop of shampoo. I really liked it – it smelt great, cleaned my hair well with one wash, and was incredibly lightweight. So far, so good. Next up: conditioner (insert ominous music here)…leave-in conditioner. I have never got on with leave-in conditioners and I’m sad to say that this one was no different. The formulation is a foam/mousse hybrid, as you will see from the pictures below, and I found it very strange to use. It’s incredibly lightweight (what with being a foam and all) so it doesn’t weigh the hair down, but at the same time I didn’t feel that it hydrated or nourished my hair at all. So whilst this product might help with volume, if your hair is anything like mine, it will be left feeling a bit sticky and dry. It’s probably more of a mental thing that anything else, and I’m sure there are leave-in conditioners out there that are excellent, but I just don’t feel like my hair is properly clean when I use them – I like to rinse everything out in the shower and then apply my styling products onto totally clean hair, if that makes any sense at all. Silly, I know, but it is what it is.
The hair mask, on the other hand, was lovely. It is recommended that you use it every fifth time you wash your hair in place of conditioner (of course I couldn’t wait and used it the second time). It was hydrating and didn’t weigh my hair down in the slightest. I can’t say that I noticed a real difference between the amount of volume it gave me versus the leave-in conditioner, but I did notice that my hair felt softer and looked healthier.
The last step: styling. Regular readers will know how fond I am of my Bumble & bumble Thickening Full Form Mousse – it is the only mousse I have ever used that has left my hair feeling clean and shiny, as opposed to sticky and crunchy. I’m afraid that the Wella SP Elegant Shape Mousse hasn’t got a patch on Bumble & bumble though. While it didn’t leave my roots looking particularly unclean, it left the ends looking very dry and crispy. I apply mousse throughout the entire length of my hair because I don’t want mega-volume up top and limp ends – but I don’t think that this product is the best for that. It did volumise my hair, so we can tick that box, but what’s the point of having big hair if it doesn’t look healthy, right?
However, all is not lost! Just because I don’t love something, doesn’t mean that other people won’t – so I decided to hand the products over to my lovely friend Jes to try. Jes has short blonde hair which she describes as “very fine and lacking in texture” so I thought she would be the perfect person to give me a second option on this range. I’m pleased to say that she liked it a whole lot more than I did – she found the volumising effects to be excellent and she said the people at work even commented on it. She didn’t find the conditioner or the mousse to be too drying either and was really happy with how her hair looked.
So, there you have it – I didn’t adore this range and will be sticking to Pureology and Bumble & bumble, but Jes really likes it and will be using it regularly. Have any of you tried any Wella SP products? Did you enjoy using them? Please let me know, I’d love to know what you thought.