I have always been envious of people with super-shiny hair. Anytime someone passes me on the street with the kind of hair that light seems to bounce off, I always want to run up to them and ask for a full breakdown of their entire hair care routine. You see, as someone whose hair is textured, coarse and prone to frizz, the natural clarity of my hair is pretty dull. And while I’ve tried every hair oil, conditioning mask and serum under the sun, I’ve never really managed to achieve the level of gloss that I dream of.
It’s not surprising then that I tend to take shine-boosting hair products with a pinch of salt. Sure, some deliver in terms of hydration and moisture, while others might make my hair feel more smooth or easier to style, but most don’t make much difference at all to the overall shine. That was until I discovered the Living Proof Perfect Hair Day High-Shine Gloss—an in-shower treatment that has been getting me so many compliments on my hair. So, what is it and how does it work?
My honest review of the Living Proof Perfect Hair Day High-Shine Gloss
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
(Image credit: Mica Ricketts)
I have to admit that, as someone who is incredibly low-maintenance when it comes to their hair care routine, I tend to pass a lot of the hair products that I’m sent over to friends and family to test on my behalf. However, when this iridescent silver tube landed on my doorstep I was instantly intrigued. Bravo, Living Proof, for making your product look so instantly appealing. Of course, mood-boosting packaging is no good if the stuff inside is rubbish though. So I was keen that the formulation itself would live up to the mirror-shine tube.
To use it, you first shampoo and condition your hair then squeeze out the excess water and apply a generous amount of the gloss treatment from your roots to the ends of your hair. You leave it on for five minutes (the perfect amount of time for me—any longer and it would have been instantly abandoned) then rinse it out and dry and style your hair as usual.
The product itself is a fairly thick cream texture—the kind of consistency you might find from a nourishing mask—which initially surprised me. A lot of the shine-boosting treatments that I’ve tried lately tend to be the thin, watery lamellar water which can be really tricky to apply. The density of this treatment meant it was really easy to evenly coat my hair in it and really distribute the product throughout the lengths. But what’s actually inside the product that makes it so effective?
THE FORMULA
(Image credit: Mica Ricketts)
Powering the Living Proof Perfect Hair Day High-Shine Gloss is an army of emollients that work together to soften, smooth and detangle your hair for a really glass-like finish. There’s a ceramide-like emollient which works to seal the cuticle and smooth the surface alongside a high gloss emollient and an optical brightener that really gives hair a mirror-like shine. Plus, Living Proof’s proprietary smoothing technology helps to give the product its slip—enabling it to spread throughout your hair and align your hair fibres for sleek and smooth results. And alongside all of that hair care innovation, the product itself also smells incredible. If you’ve ever smelt a Living Proof product before then you’ll know that they’ve nailed the kind of expensive-smelling scent that I equate with having had a professional wash and blow-dry at a fancy salon. It’s a kind of clean linen, slightly citrus-fresh aroma that manages to linger in your hair even once you’ve rinsed it clean.
THE RESULTS
(Image credit: Mica Ricketts)
After rinsing out the Living Proof Perfect Hair Day High-Shine Gloss and towel-drying my hair, I noticed an immediate difference to its texture. Usually, once I’ve brushed through my damp hair, it starts to frizz up straight away with the roots of my hair being particularly prone to flyaways. However, this time looked instantly more smooth. After blow-drying it as usual then styling with my trusty curling tongs it was obvious to me how effective this gloss treatment was. My hair looked so much shinier than usual—in fact, I don’t think I have ever got it looking so shiny at home, despite layering on serums and oils to try and boost luminosity. And the most impressive thing about this product for me is how well it lasts. I normally wash my hair every few days—restyling it every other if needed—and my hair still looked noticeably glossy on days two and three. In fact, Living Proof claims that the shine lasts through three washes so you don’t even need to use it every time you cleanse your hair.
For me, I think due to the fact that my hair is textured and coarse and I don’t wash it particularly frequently, I didn’t find that the effects were very noticeable after my second hair wash. So, personally, I would reapply it during my next wash day to see the effects. But if you’re a daily hair washer, or every other day, I have no doubt that the product would still be present to work its magic. Truly, the Living Proof Perfect Hair Day High-Shine Gloss has left my usual serums and oils to gather dust as the results are so impressive. Shine on.