Friday 12 January 2018

Thoughts on hair box subscriptions

My Beauteque subscriptions ran out last month and I didn't renew. I've been fairly happy with them. I got to try lots of new products, but of course also had a lot of them that didn't work for my sensitive skin. Friends and colleagues have been really happy with that!

The only problem I've really had with them, is that the mail sucks! Some of the boxes simply didn't show up, and one was even tracked as delivered to "Me"... Who lives in London! WTF.

I'm thinking of renewing, but also considering getting them and some other subscription service as well. I need something to compare to. Mishibox seems popular and it fulfills my demands for a subscription service.

I've been looking around at Cratejoy which has an overview on all kinds of subscription boxes out there. It surprises me that, with as many skin and beauty subscriptions they have listed, there are very few hair boxes!

Those few I do find, I find myself disliking a lot of them...

I guess what I want for a hair subscription box is:
  • Ships internationally (Duh) 
  • Not limited to just a single brand (I want the subscription service to be more than just a vessel to push a brand) 
  • Possibility to prepay for the entire subscription (Because I want this as a gift to myself I buy here and now, and not something to have as part of my budget) 
  • A mix of products and accessories (Strange how many bow only, ties only and bobby pins only-boxes I found!) 
  • Based on full size products (It's just not worth it with the shipping!) 
Those five simple demands severely limits the possibilities. So far I haven't found an option that actually fulfills all this!

So... Removing the options that didn't fulfill the first two demands, and ignoring the fact that none of the options had prepay (?) that left me with six options.

Does anyone have nay knowledge or heard anything about the following?

This one amused me:
Hairstylist Club Box



Price: 20 USD a month for the box, shipping unknown. It also has a special box for plus sized clothing and a special box for a book club. This is actually the cheapest option for full sized products.



It actually fulfills my demands except that it can't be prepaid. Some products, some accessories, and a lot of hair related merchandise. Might actually be fun?
Verdict: Has full sized products and a mix of products and accessories. Two points.

The mane crate



Price: 12 USD a month for the sample box and 29,95 USD for the full sized, quarterly boxes. Shipping unknown.



Perhaps the most well known on the list. It also has a quarterly option with full sized products. Again: No prepay option!
Verdict: Has full sized products in the quarterly boxes and a mix of products and accessories. Two points, but I feel tempted to give them a minus for being a quarterly box (At least when I want the full sizes)

Maneful



Price: 22 USD a month for the box, shipping unknown.



No prepay option, and I can't really say the pictures and description makes me particularly interested. No accessories in this one in this one either.
Verdict: Has full sized products. One point.

Honestly, the one that looked the most interesting was this one:
The COS box



Price: 39,99 USD a month for the box, which is by far the priciest option of all. Shipping unknown.



This box is also intended for professional hairdressers and also contains products for hair coloring and styling, which I will not use. And yet, this looked the most interesting! It looks like it has a good mix of diverse and fun products. Hmm!
Verdict: Has full sized products and a mix of products and accessories. Two points.

Lotus curl box



Price: 10,99 USD a month for the box, shipping unknown.
No accessories and no prepay option. Also, this is currently sold out and can't be ordered.

The pictures shows a box packed with full sized products, but the description says "4-6 sample size", which annoys me a lot.
Verdict: Sample sizes and no accessories. No points.

Treasuretress


Price: 20 £ a month for the box, but has 3 different options: Qween, Tween or Mini-Me box, which sounds like there should be a price difference, but the website doesn't show that. Ships out of the UK and the shipping cost is unknown. Shipping might be cheaper for me since its in Europe.



My hair likes curly hair products! No accessories in this one. This box also can't be prepaid.
Verdict: Has full sized products and no accessories. One point.

So the only two boxes that had both full size and accessories was the Hairstylist Club Box and The COS box. Both targeting stylists.

Any opinions or experiences with these from my readers?

Wednesday 10 January 2018

Seriously weird hair related anime

*Chuckle*
Doctor-friend shared this link with me.
It's so seriously weird I can't even feel creeped out by the weird fetish fodder.

Plot Summary
Haimura Kiri is a seemingly ordinary boy with one slight problem: he is obsessed with cutting other people’s hair. One day he meets Mushiyanokouji Iwai, the “Hair Queen” who cannot cut her hair because of an inherited curse. Kiri finds out that his scissor, “Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge” is the only thing that can cut them. But little did he know tha… more Haimura Kiri is a seemingly ordinary boy with one slight problem: he is obsessed with cutting other people’s hair. One day he meets Mushiyanokouji Iwai, the “Hair Queen” who cannot cut her hair because of an inherited curse. Kiri finds out that his scissor, “Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge” is the only thing that can cut them. But little did he know that their meeting sparked the start of an old murder game to kill the “Hair Queen” using the cursed killing tools, the “Killing Goods.” Can Kiri protect Iwai from the Killing Goods Owners? Let the game begin!

Enjoy!

Also: Warning for a lot of annoying pop ups

Sunday 7 January 2018

Product showdown

Continuing my product showdown:
I usually buy my conditioners following the rule "Whatever is on sale", and then just grab one of each line out of the brand. So now I have a lot of conditioners from the same brands, but different lines. So I was thinking that maybe I should do a comparison for all of those "doubles" so in the future, I will only get the best one at the next sale.

Schwarzkopf Gliss Ultimate Repair conditioner
Schwarzkopf Gliss Total Repair conditioner


I'm going to compare them on a few different factors:
  • First impressions
  • Effect: Shine and manageability
  • Ingredient analysis and interesting ingredients such as "actives": Oils, fruits, keratin, sunscreen

First impressions
Schwarzkopf Gliss Ultimate Repair conditioner
Bleargh... This one has a seriously weird scent.
I don't even know how to properly describe it. Like... Sweetened dirt?
Luckily it fades after a while and it doesn't linger in hair after rinsing, but it is seriously weird to apply this sweetened dirt-smelling conditioner in my hair.
I'm not usually picky about the scent of my conditioners since it rarely lingers, but this was icky. It seriously had me wondering if there was something wrong with this product?!

Have anyone else tried this conditioner? Was it a production error or did anyone else notice it?

Schwarzkopf Gliss Total Repair conditioner
This just smelled like your regular, normal conditioner. A little bit sweet maybe? But otherwise that sort of "clean", mildly soapy scent.

Effect
Schwarzkopf Gliss Ultimate Repair conditioner
and
Schwarzkopf Gliss Total Repair conditioner
I'm doing an overall effect-comment on them both, because I honestly couldn't tell a difference.
Both left my hair happy, smooth and shiny. But both also left my hair a little bit irritated when detangling. I think maybe my hair is bordering on a protein-overload, so it's not fair to judge the effect of the conditioners when my hair is acting like this.

Schwarzkopf Gliss is one of the conditioner-lines I always grab when I see them for a good price. It's just generally good conditioners that never lets me down.


Ingredient analysis

Schwarzkopf Gliss Ultimate Repair conditioner
Aqua (Water, Eau), Cetearyl Alcohol, Isopropyl Myristate, Behentrimonium Chloride, Distearoylethyl Hydroxyethylmonium Methosulfate, Stearamidopropyl Dimethylamine, Cetyl Palmitate, Phenoxyethanol, Isopropyl Alcohol, Citric Acid, Methylparaben, Dimethicone, Parfum (Fragrance), Polyquaternium-37, Panthenol, Cetrimonium Chloride, Dicaprylyl Carbonate, Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Cocodimonium Hydroxypropyl Hydrolyzed Keratin, Hydrolyzed Keratin

Applying the Beauty Brains "First five ingredients rule"
Aqua (Water, Eau), Cetearyl Alcohol, Isopropyl Myristate, Behentrimonium Chloride, Distearoylethyl Hydroxyethylmonium Methosulfate
With the first five ingredients-rule in mind, I would expect my hair to turn out nice and soft afterwards.

Interesting ingredients
Cetearyl Alcohol is an emulsifier which means it can dissolve oils and be used for cleansing.
Polyquaternium-37 is a quaternium ammonium compound and will bind to the damaged areas of hair.
Glycerin is a really good moisturizer and an humectant.
Panthenol does maybe-maybe not penetrate and strengthen hair.
Cocodimonium Hydroxypropyl Hydrolyzed Keratin and Hydrolyzed Keratin are proteins, but fairly far down the list.


20 ingredients in total
This conditioner advertises with "19 ingredients complex", so this left me with a question: Which ingredient is the one that doesn't count here? Water or perfume? Strange. It would make more sense if the Ultimate Repair conditioner with 30 ingredients total would be the one with this claim.

1 marked as a "1" for acne-trigger. 5 % 
1 marked as a "2" for acne-trigger. 5 %
1 marked as a "5" for acne-trigger. 5 %

1 marked as a "2" for irritation-trigger. 5 %
1 marked as a "3" for irritation-trigger. 5 %
1 marked as a "4" for irritation-trigger. 5 %

It sticks out that there are no ingredients in red here. Nice!
15 marked as "green" for safety. 75%
4 marked as "yellow" for safety. 20 %
And one marked as "green-yellow" for safety. 5 %

Schwarzkopf Gliss Total Repair conditioner
Aqua, Cetearyl Alcohol, Quanternium-87, Stearmidopropyl Dimethylamine, Dimethicone, Citric Acid, Distearoylethyl Hydroxyethylmonium Methosulfate, Isopropyl Myristate, Glycerin, Propylene Glycol, Polyquaternium-10, Panax Ginseng Root Extract, Arginine, Arctium Majus Root Extract, Acetyl Tyrosine, Hydrolyzed Soy Protein, Polyquaternium-11, PEG-12 Dimethicone, Niacinamide, Ornithine HCI, Citruline, Biotin, Panthenol, Cocodimonium Hydroxypropyl Hydrolyzed Keratin, Hydrolyzed Keratin, Phenoxyethanol, Parfum, Sodium Methylparaben, Dimethiconol, Citronellol

Applying the Beauty Brains "First five ingredients rule"
Aqua, Cetearyl Alcohol, Quanternium-87, Stearmidopropyl Dimethylamine, Dimethicone
With the first five ingredients-rule in mind, I would expect my hair to turn out nice and soft afterwards.
I also find it interesting that a lot of brands simply exchange the featured ingredients, but it seems the Ultimate Repair and Total Repair conditioners are fundamentally different from each other.
Interesting! I don't think I've seen this before.

Strangely, even with such fundamentally different ingredient lists, I couldn't honestly tell the difference in effect.

Interesting ingredients
Cetearyl Alcohol is an emulsifier which means it can dissolve oils and be used for cleansing.
Quaternium-87 is a quaternium ammonium compound and will bind to the damaged areas of hair.
Glycerin is a really good moisturizer and an humectant.
Polyquaternium-10 is a quaternium ammonium compound that is particularly prone to building up.
Panax Ginseng Root Extract (Ginseng) and Arctium Majus Root Extract (Burdock) sounds nice and all, but there are no explanation on what "extract" really means. There is an episode of The Snailcast where Shell of Holysnails talks about how a supplier to her webshop offered her ruby extract to add to her products. Which is completely nonsensical, but explains a lot of what extracts can be. It can be something good, but it can also be a ginseng root quickly dipped in a bucket of alcohol...
Arginine supposedly promotes circulation and stimulates growth hormones to prevent hair loss.
Hydrolyzed Soy Protein, Cocodimonium Hydroxypropyl Hydrolyzed Keratin and Hydrolyzed Keratin are proteins, but fairly far down the list.
Biotin doesn't penetrate skin, so it doesn't do anything in the product, but can't really harm either. I have no strong opinion on this as long as the product isn't advertised with "OMG has biotin to make your hair grow!!11!"
Panthenol does maybe-maybe not penetrate and strengthen hair.


30 ingredients in total
This is quite a lot actually. Rare you see a conditioner with this many ingredients in it. I had to double and triple check that I wasn't analyzing the wrong conditioner here because I thought I might be looking at the Total Repair conditioner instead, which boasts of "19 ingredients complex". It would make more sense that the other conditioner is the one with such a high ingredient count.

1 marked as a "1" for acne-trigger. 3 %
1 marked as a "2" for acne-trigger. 3 %
1 marked as a "5" for acne-trigger. 3 %

1 marked as a "2" for irritation-trigger. 3 %
1 marked as a "3" for irritation-trigger. 3 %

It sticks out that there are no ingredients in red here. Nice!
23 marked as "green" for safety. 76 %
4 marked as "yellow" for safety. 13 %
And one marked as "green-yellow" for safety. 3 %

Lady Igor says
This shouldn't be a surprise by now, but... That weird scent on the Ultimate Repair-conditioner is such a no for me. Yuck. 
Lady Igor picks the Total Repair conditioner as her favorite of the two.