Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I don't normally gush about products, so this is going to sound a little bit like a shill piece written by a salesperson, probably. It's not. I'm probably just talking like a giddy dip**** because I just finished styling my hair with this stuff and I'm a little in shock at the results. A little backstory: I have mixed-race hair. Highly mixed-race hair (well, and the rest of me), as in my family tree looks like my ancestors got bored and went on a seven-continent sex tour. Unfortunately "Dry, frizzy, and curly" won the lottery as far as hair texture, though when I lived in Louisiana I was fine as long as I got relaxers and touch-ups every few months and used the right products. Cue a move to Chicago, a climate change that my hair didn't like, and three years of going out of my bloody mind trying to keep my hair straight for longer than half an hour. Whether I put the relaxer in myself or had a stylist do it, it never straightened fully; flat-ironing would finish it off, but the second I had to put any type of moisturizer in my hair (and with my hair type, I have to) it would immediately curl back up. Flat-ironing it again did nothing but make it frizzy and crunchy, even using the styling products recommended at various salons. They'd leave my hair waxy, gummy, tangled, partially straightened but mostly just a bushy mess that snapped combs in half like the hungry tentacles of Cthulhu. Not to mention repeated flat-ironing damaged my hair, even using protective products. Wrapping? Nothing. I'd just end up with a funny-shaped 'fro. I can't exactly afford to spend $200 every other day and four hours in a salon for them to go through the whole process for me, only for it to bunch up the second I walked out of the climate-controlled environment. I pretty much gave up, cropped my hair short, hid it under a do-rag, and thanked whatever was listening that I worked from home so I didn't have to see people very often. Some guys can pull off a crazy hipster fro. I'm not one of them. I ran across It's a 10 Miracle Leave-in Product as a product recommendation when I was shopping for a multi-pack of combs. (See previous note about Cthulhu and the tentacles that have possessed my head.) I read the product description, read the reviews, thought "Yeah, right, but these people don't have hair like mine. It won't work. Nothing works." But I was curious, intrigued, so I bought it. It came a few days later, and after washing and drying my hair I sprayed it in. Lo and behold, my hair immediately felt softer, smoother, much less brittle. I combed it through my curls and was pretty surprised at how easily the comb went through, like the spray changed my hair type and texture immediately. It even looked a little shinier in the mirror. "Well, so great. Now I have manageable curls. I don't want curls, dang it." But I was even more intrigued. I decided to order the repair mask ('cause really, I needed it after months of neglect since I gave up on my hair), the shampoo, and the conditioner. If I was going to experiment with this stuff, I was going to do it right. While I waited for the other products, I kept using the leave-in product daily, and watching my hair texture improve with each passing day. Finally the rest of the products came. Moment of truth, right? Wash my hair, condition it, then use the repair mask. Spray the leave-in product in, blow-dry, then use the leave-in product again as a flat-iron aid. First thing I discovered: don't use more than a light spritz per section of hair, unless you enjoy the sound and smell of moisture steaming off your hair at high temperatures. (It sounds like bacon on a griddle. It smells like...well, I wouldn't recommend it.) Second thing I discovered: I have straight hair now, it's staying that way, and I think I'll be spending way too much money on this stuff, but it's still cheaper than thrice-weekly salon visits. It's not perfect. My hair isn't perfectly glossy-smooth, yadda yadda. I don't look like a Pantene commercial. But my hair's straight and soft, it moves when I turn my head instead of hanging there in a stiff, fried mess, it's got a fairly decent shine, and it looks healthy. It's been about a day now and it's holding, too. I'm sure it'll curl back up when I wash it, but that's fine. It won't take me long to fix that. There is a bit of a waxy residue when I run my fingers through it, and I don't really like the feel of that, but it's not nearly as bad as some of the other products I've tried. Tolerable, at least. Using a boar-bristle brush after flat-ironing helps get rid of some of the waxiness, and also adds shine and helps settle a bit of a cloudy/floaty "poof" effect caused by separating the hair with a fine-tooth comb to straighten in sections. Short version of the review: if you have mixed-race, frizzy, or otherwise problem hair, this stuff could be a lifesaver, though it works better in conjunction with other products from the same brand. It's not going to fix your hair overnight, especially if it's damaged, and it's still going to take some work--but it'll make that work a lot easier than it was before. I'm going to keep using it for a few months and if I see noticable repair and improvement that's worth crowing about, I'll come back with an update to my review.