Malavara - Ultra Luxuriant Hair Elixir

Who else feels like they’re constantly stripping their hair by colouring it, curling it, straightening it or washing it? At the Amazing Blog we’re constantly looking for that ‘Holy Grail’product to reverse all of our hair damage… and we just may have found it!

Malavara Ultra Luxuriant Hair Elixir is a modern take on a 5,000 year old Ayurvedic ritual of hair oiling. By Inspired by India but made in London, the elixir utilises potent Hairy Basil Root which acts as food for hair follicles and promotes growth. With sleek packaging, easy-to-follow directions and all-natural ingredients, Malavara gives hair oiling a modern twist.

A Gold Winner at The Pure Beauty Awards 2018, Malavara’s Ultra Luxuriant Hair Elixir is meant to be applied at least 30 minutes before washing your hair. Although it’s meant as a pre-shampooing treatment, a little goes a long way and we recommend to only use enough to massage through your scalp without friction. Made with Gooseberry, Almond and Bhringraj Oil, the Hair Elixir conditions the scalp while transforming the health of your hair. We love that the Malavara Hair Elixir doesn’t leave a layer of oil on your hair that is hard to remove with just a normal amount of shampoo. The best part? It’s vegan, naturally-derived and sustainably-sourced.

Want to experience the 5,000 year old ritual of hair oiling for yourself? A 30ml bottle of the Malavara Ultra Luxuriant Hair Elixir can be purchased here for £29.

Mill Creek Botanicals – Keratin Shampoo and Conditioner

Haircare can be a drama; the pollution, the humidity, the dryness, the curls, the frizziness, the split ends… you know the story! At The Amazing Blog we’ve been testing out a few and we interested to hear about the US brand Mill Creek Botanicals who have just launched here in the UK.

Panch Prasad, CEO of Mill Creek Botanicals, is a trained chemist and natural products advocate. When he purchased the brand in 2001, he wanted to give it a fresh new look with a commitment to being beneficial for the planet. All Mill Creek products are sulphate, paraben, gluten free and vegan; they are certified organic by USDA or QAI following the guidelines of PETA and GMP, and all created in a carbon-neutral environment. All of this has made the brand a multiple winner of awards such as Natural Beauty 2019. With nature and people at the core of their values, Mill Creek has been committed to delivering quality products at an affordable price since 1975.

Although Mill Creek Botanicals’ natural product range is very extensive, we wanted to try the Keratin Shampoo and Conditioner as together they repair and renew the hair with their natural and organic ingredients and high concentration of plant-based keratin. The Keratin Shampoo This shampoo boosts the effects of keratin by combining it with panthenol, argan oil and herbs, all of which repair the hair strands, giving it strength and elasticity. You can now say goodbye to your split ends! The fragrance is slightly fruity and fresh, all from the combination of aloe vera, coconut oil, organic wild cherry, chamomile, hops and field horsetail. To use these, simply wet your hair, pump a little bit of shampoo into the palm of your hand and with its light consistency, massage your scalp and rinse. To achieve even better results, follow it with the Keratin Conditioner.

The Conditioner acts like ‘belt and braces’ to the Shampoo and it made even our tangly hair sleek and manageable. Also composed of the same core ingredients as the Shampoo, the hydrolysed keratin (plant-based), panthenol, argan oil in this Conditioner added to the reduction of hair breakage, also adding a natural bounce and shine. We applied it after the Shampoo, focusing on our ends and left it for a couple of minutes. However, you can leave it on your hair for up to 10 minutes if your hair is dry or has sustained damage; it then acts more like a hair mask. We just rinsed and kept going with our regular haircare routine.

Both the Keratin Shampoo and the Conditioner work beautifully in tandem. If you’re looking for an affordable natural shampoo (with organic ingredients) to improve the quality of your hair, then look no further. It’s another one of our #amazingfinds! Get your Mill Creek Botanicals Keratin 414ml Shampoo for £6.99 here and the Mill Creek Botanicals Keratin 414ml Conditioner for £6.99 here and put an end to bad hair days.

Friday Favourites - Hair Masks

Well, it’s finally Friday and time for another of our Friday Favourites! Have any fun weekend plans that require you to look radiant? Maybe a date night? Or just finally having some time for a bit of self-care? At the Amazing Blog, we like to take time out to apply a weekly hair mask. Whether it’s lying in the bath relaxing with a glass of something chilled, or feet up on the sofa watching Netflix - all are ideal moments for allowing a hair mask to work its magic. Today we have three of our favourite hair masks to introduce, they are hair mask and treatments that will not only leave your hair shiner and more nourished but also help to moisturise your much-neglected scalp too.

Let’s start with the 72 Hair Intense Replenishing Mask. 72 Hair was started by the Greens, a family of hairdressers with over 40 years of combined experience. With three generations of hairdressers, Gary has salons in Miami and London, while Matt is one of London’s go-to colourists. Johnny is 72’s ingredients expert, hand-selecting the finest ingredients to make up the formulas; while Nick is passionate about communicating 72 Hair’s philosophy to clients. As a joint effort, they decided to come together with their experience and knowledge and create an exclusive range product for both their salons and clients.

Winner of the 2018 Hair Awards the 72 Hair Mask is an ideal way to show your hair some love. We recommend using this alone or with the full range for 72 hair. We used it once a week, waiting 10-15 minutes before rinsing for best results, although it can be used more often on damaged hair. Infused with avocado and wheatgerm oil, your hair will be shinier, stronger and more nourished as It penetrates to de-frizz and is suitable for all hair types. It certainly left our hair smooth and tangle-free. To buy your 72 Intensive Replenish Mask for 250ml at £25, see here.

Lore Originals was started with the mission to create a simplified, unisex haircare range that provides integrity and health no matter your gender. A joint-effort between acclaimed stylists, clients, British chemists and perfumers, Lore Originals is suitable for all hair types. With Lore Originals, ‘his and hers’ products are a thing of the past. They are meant to be minimal and the products are all multi-use and versatile.

Packed with natural oils, essential acids, advanced scientific compounds and marine plant cultures the Legend Dry Mask provides complex levels of conditioning and strengthening. The Legend Dry Mask is pre-shampoo mask, and unique because it must be applied to dry hair for concentrated absorption. Volcanic marine bio cultures assist in prevention of heat-induced environmental stress and scalp dehydration, something that most people have. Not to mention, the scientific actives target the core elasticity of the hair which helps to speed up the drying time, great for those of us on the go! As mentioned, it works best on dry hair leaving where you leave mask ‘to set’ for a minimum of 15 minutes in surrounding temperatures of 25 to 40 degrees, which gave us the perfect excuse to have a bath or sauna (make sure to keep the hair dry). Free from parabens, sulphates, triclosan and MIT; with key ingredients including cystine co-polymer, green tea extract, kaolin, shea butter, sunflower and grapeseed oils. This was the best smelling hair mask, we loved the subtle green tea fragrance, that left our hair smelling simply divine. If you would like to purchase the Lore Legend Dry Hair Mask, it can be purchased here in a pack of 6 individual packets of 30ml each for £38. Ideal for travelling or taking on holiday.

Zenz Organics is a Nordic professional beauty and hair care company founded by Anne-Sophie Skjødt Villumsen who also founded the first green hair salon in Denmark back in 1999. After developing allergies towards chemical-based hair products during her apprenticeship as a hairdresser, Anne-Sophie was inspired to create her own line of organic and vegan hair care products. That’s where Zenz Organics was born.

The Zenz Organic Treatment Pure No. 03 Hair Mask is perfect for every member of the family. Made from only organic ingredients and without synthetic perfumes, it leaves the hair silky and soft without weighing it down. We love how it uses organic cold-pressed avocado oil and purified aloe vera to strengthen the hair from scalp to end. It coats each strand with a protective film to maintain the intensity of salon coloured hair, making it ideal for those who use dye. It is meant to be applied on freshly washed hair once a week but can also be used as both a rinse-out and a leave-in treatment. One of us here, has a very sensitive scalp and she said that this is the first EVER hair mask that hasn’t irritated her scalp. So it gets a big thumbs up from us. We’re very excited to have made the discovery of this brand and look forward to trying more from their range. The Zenz Organic Treatment Pure No. 3 Hair Mask 250ml can be purchased here for £28.27.

Which one will you choose?

SEA MAGIK - Pink Salt Shampoo and 3-Seaweed Scalp Mud

Raise your hand up if you have an itchy scalp, product build up, dehydrated or thinning hair. For these reasons, we at The Amazing Blog have given both these two hair treatments from Sea Magik a try, and we can happily say that you’re in for a lovely surprise.

The Sea Magik is a new discovery brand for us. It’s a family enterprise and is one of four award-winning brands under their umbrella company Finders Brands It also has a very unique story to the products. As it all started when the founder Kate Bunyan’s grandmother who took her father, Robert Czik, to visit the therapeutic natural salt lakes and caves in Hungary. These trips are what inspired Robert to create a professional spa brand. Nothing came easy as salty water has a unique chemistry which he eventually tapped into and creating the world’s first line of mineral-infused spa skincare.

Let’s talk about their Pink Salt Shampoo which is blended with three organic seaweed extracts and composed of Himalayan salt granules with lime, rosemary and cypress essential oils. This treatment shampoo exfoliates the scalp and remove product build-up. It is easy to use and just requires you to massage the salt shampoo into wet hair and scalp as a weekly treatment. Take your time to lather the product as you inhale the spa essential oils. Rinse and follow with your regular conditioner. The shampoo is SLS/SLES free, and even though the shampoo is granulated in texture, it is not at all abrasive and smells refreshingly of lime and left our hair squeaky clean pre conditioner.

Next is the 3-Seaweed Scalp Mud which is made up of three organic seaweeds, dead-sea mud and pure coconut oil. The mud is creamy and with a moreish coconut scent. It can be used as a daily basis as a conditioning treatment to soothe the scalp, (especially an itchy scalp) and the coconut oil helps to hydrate the hair. Replace your regular conditioner with the scalp mud and apply after shampooing and let sit for 1-5 minutes. Rinse with fresh warm water. It really did leave our scalps feeling deeply nourished and hair silky soft. A big thumbs up on this from us.

Both products are 100% vegan, cruelty-free, and free from harsh ingredients and silicones. Best of all they are kind to all skin and hair types. There are no sulphates, synthetic fragrances, parabens, petrochemicals, PEG’s, GMO’s gluten and dairy. The plastic tubes are made from sugarcane and is recyclable. So what’s not to like? Purchase Pink Salt Shampoo here 200ml for £11.99 and 3-Seaweed Scalp Mud here 150ml for £11.95. Get on board with healthy scalp and hair with these two products and begin your journey to beautiful hair.

BEYofi by Bernard D. Evans – Argan Hair Care

Are you exhausted by your constant split ends? Then read on, because we at The Amazing Blog find having a dry scalp, split ends and frizzy hair a nightmare too. Having tried endless products to solve these various hair issues, we found that they tend to either have too many chemical-based derivatives which irritate our scalps, or are too heavy for the texture of our hair. However, we received the new to the UK market BEYofi Argan Oil Signature hair care range - ready for us to try.

BEYofi is an established US brand by Bernard Evans since 1986. Bernard is best known as a celebrity hairstylist, working with an exclusive clientele such as Janet Jackson, Latoya Jackson, Madonna, Whitney Houston, Julie Brown, Teddy Pendergrass… His work has also been sought by the leader companies in the beauty industry: Christian Dior, Revlon, Estee Lauder and Lancôme. Bernard is a a pioneer in the industry launching exclusive formulas, guaranteeing high-quality ingredients in his products, all of which have helped to make him the success he is today.

Today we bring you the range of four BEYofi Argan Oil Signature hair care products to add to your must-have hair essentials, and this range certainly has helped to address our hair care concerns (as mentioned above). For those of you who don’t know about  Argan oil, it is extracted from the kernels of the Moroccan Argan tree and is also known as the ‘liquid gold’. Argan is one of the products richest in vitamin E and fatty acids which are extremely beneficial for both hair and skin containing antioxidants and boosting cells to produce healthy hair. If you have tinted hair or have been using chemical-based products, then Argan is the ingredient for you to help reverse any damage.

Let’s begin with the BEYofi Argan Enriched Shampoo. Made with Argan oil, omega 3 and omega 9 as primary ingredients, will nurture your hair and scalp by providing your pores and roots with these essential oils to help grow strong proteins, keep good maintenance of your hair to heal and revitalise it where needed. Treat it like any other shampoo, a small amount massaged onto wet hair, rinse and so on. The fragrance of the first three in the range is floral with a subtle hint of violets. This leads us onto the BEYofi Argan Oil Conditioner, where you can choose from either this classic conditioner, leaving it for up to two minutes after you shampoo and rinse, or go for the BEYofi Argan Oil Leave-in Conditioner which is just sprayed onto the hair (wet or dry), making it easy to detangle and style. Both these BEYofi Argan Oil Conditioners deeply moisturise and give intense nourishment making hair smooth easy to manage and style. Lastly, the BEYofi Argan Oil Serum is ideal for protecting the hair from day-to-day pollution. Rich in Vitamin E and fatty acids, your hair will look shinier than ever due to its moisturising capacity. Apply a few drops of the Serum and wrap your damp clean hair in a hot towel for 10 minutes to let it penetrate into the hair shafts. Or we applied to the ends of the hair combing through before drying. We found this range worked best when used all together, and is particularly suitable for those who have coloured or fine and brittle hair types.  Best of all, the BEYofi Argan Oil haircare products are vegan, free from SLS, Sulphates, SLES, Parabens and artificial fragrances, ensuring optimal results giving you a healthy, silky hair. Purchase your BEYofi Argan Signature hair care collection here starting at £21.95 to strengthen, heal, and protect your hair saying a firm goodbye to split ends.