#HairGoals: Pravana, Curly Hair Solutions and Luscious Curlers

One of the great things about being a beauty blogger is trying out new products…for me, specifically new hair products. Since I started my hair journey about two years ago, I’ve done a ton of research on haircare and learned what works for me and what doesn’t. For instance, my hair likes thick creamy shampoos, not clear ones (tend to be a little more stripping). My hair needs a good detangling conditioner, or my hair will look like Harry’s from Dumb and Dumber. My hair loves hair oils and serums, seems to be ok with silicone-based products and needs a good trim like clockwork every 4-5 months.

Lately, I’ve also been researching more natural and organic hair products. When a box of Pravana haircare landed on my doorstep, I happily tore it open and got to testing. Pravana prides itself on using the best, most innovative formulations made with natural ingredients.  The company makes products that are 100% vegan and gluten-free, environmentally conscious and responsible, right down to the biodegradable packaging. On top of all this, Pravana gives 5% of all sales of NEVO Hair Care to City of Hope, is an annual participant in Breast Cancer Awareness Month and supports Ronald McDonald House and Beauty Bus Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides at-home or in-hospital beauty services to cancer patients who cannot leave their homes or hospitals to receive personal care services. How commendable is that?

It’s not surprising that founder Steve Goddard named his company “Pravana”, a Sanskrit word translating to “the source of all things”.  With highly moisturizing products such as a sulphate-free shampoo, reparative conditioners and intensely conditioning leave-in treatments, Pravana is definitely the source of all good hair things.

Well, let’s dive into this review and look at the following products that made my hair very shiny and happy.

Pravana Nevo Reparative Sulfate-Free Shampoo

This sulphate-free shampoo made my hair feel like silk. After washing a couple of times , my hair felt soft and wonderful, and not stripped at all.  This shampoo smells great too, like a bright summer day with its soft, floral and fresh scent. Made with Babassu (oil extracted from the seeds of the Babassu palm, native to the Amazon) and Brazil nut oil (loaded with anti-oxidants which protect hair colour), quinoa, soy protein and Nevo’s proprietary Drops of the Amazon™, this was highly softening and moisturizing and I attribute these ingredients to leaving my hair silky and shiny.

I’m going to keep using this product to repair any heat damage I cause from using heat styling tools. Those of you who colour your hair are going to want to pick this up too as it’s great for protecting colour.

Pravana Nevo Reparative Conditioner

New and improved, this conditioner made my hair happy…REAL happy! It was wonderfully detangling, left my hair feeling silky and smelled incredible! It smelled similar to the shampoo, but softer and a little more powder-like. In fact, I got lots of compliments from the husband and caught him sniffing my hair a couple of times. LOL! Simple pleasures.

Like the shampoo, this conditioner is loaded with Drops of the Amazon™, Babassu and Brazil nut oils. It also contains shea butter. Despite all of the oil-based ingredients, my hair never felt weighed down or greasy…just light, shiny and totally fab.

Pravana Nevo Reparative Intense Therapy Leave-In Treatment

Ok – I loved this stuff. After spraying on my damp, clean hair, it easily detangled any knots I had after washing, which was frankly, not many. My hair felt amazing after using this product. I whipped my hair up into a bun after applying this product and it was incredibly shiny and soft.

This leave-in treatment contains natural astringents which promote scalp health. It’s soothing and calming formula also contains jojoba, algae, sunflower and Theobroma Grandiflorum seed butter. It’s a great heat protectant – my hair felt extra soft even after flat-ironing. I danced around the bathroom cradling this stuff in my arms. Totally adding it to the repertoire! Side note: give this bi-phase treatment a good shake before using to mix everything together.

Pravana Nevo: Deep Treatment Hair Masque

For my weekly deep conditioning treatment, I reached for this award winning hair masque. This product promises to deliver strong, high shine hair after continued use. Now, the instructions recommend leaving it on for 60 seconds and then rinsing, but I kept it on for an hour. Hey – I like to deep condition.

It was highly effective. My hair was easy to detangle after rinsing it out and my hair feels extra soft, even four days after washing (I wash my hair once a week). Like the other products, it smelled amazing…but this one had a more green apple scent which is personally, right up my alley. This formulation is loaded with hydrolyzed quinoa (infused with water) and soy protein, which accounts for its incredibly moisturizing properties.

To reiterate, all Pravana products are sulfate-free and gluten-free. In addition, they are free of phthalates, aren’t tested on animals, sulfite-free, contain no Cocamide DEA (carcinogenic and terrible for the environment), paraben-free, propylene-glycol free, made with no animal by-products and are housed in 100% biodegradable packaging. Can these be the perfect products? ;o)

A few extras!!

Switch Product Luscious Curlers

Omg. These were so fun! These flexible curlers that feel like stiff Fruit Roll-Ups create the best beach waves you have ever seen! It breaks my heart that my hair photos were lost in an unfortunate memory card formatting accident that erased all of my pictures.  Sigh. BUT trust me, these little guys work!

They come in two colours: one colour for rolling hair in a clockwise direction, and another for the counter-clockwise direction to create natural, realistic curls. You can use them on wet of dry hair too with or without heat! They are amazing! They are so good that I promise to film a Youtube video demonstrating how they work because you *need* to see this. Side note: Us ladies with a ton of hair may need two packs of these curlers, but I was pretty ok with one.

To speed up the rolling process, Luscious Curlers come with a crochet like tool to pull the hair through the curler.  Trust me – watch the video to see how these work. Best of all, they are so soft and pliable, that you can put them in your hair and sleep in them. Perfect. Check it out:

Curly Hair Solutions Trio: Treatment Shampoo, Conditioner and Pure Silk Protein Deep Moisturizing Treatment (travel sizes)

I’m a huge advocated of this brand that caters to curly cues.  While I do not have curly hair, these products specialize is moisturizing curly hair which is usually coarser and drier than normal hair…and since I have coarse hair that’s on the dry side, I was all over these.

The Treatment Shampoo, while clear, was quite gentle. It was not as moisturizing as the Pravana Reparative Shampoo, but nonetheless, my hair did feel soft after using it. Best of all, it delivered high shine. It has a light fruity scent too with a soft musk finish. Very feminine and pretty.

The Conditioner was great! Detangling and moisturizing, it did the job well and left my hair feeling very soft. I also use this product as a moisturizer when I whip my hair up into protective styles. I squeeze a dime-sized amount into the palm of my hand and apply to my ends. Keeps them soft, tame and hydrated.

The Pure Silk Protein Deep Moisturizing Treatment is a godsend!!! This treatment is applied to clean, wet hair, left on for three minutes and then rinsed out. Loaded with silk protein, it softens the driest of hair. I used this before having my hair relaxed and it softened and smoothed my regrowth and made it incredibly easy to style. Another bonus is that this product dramaticallyy reduces fading in colour-treated hair. Like all products in this fantastic line, it did not weigh my hair down and is non-greasy. Again, definitely adding this to my repertoire.

Have you tried any of these products? Have you had the pleasure of using the Luscious Curlers? Let me know what you think in the comments! Truly, the Pravana and Curly Hair Solutions lines are perfect for this time of year when hair takes a beating due to the cold weather and dry indoor heating conditions. Give them a go and let me know what you think!

Pravana and Curly Solutions can be found at Trade Secrets stores and online at www.tradesecrets.ca.

*A huge thank you to Trade Secrets for providing me with these products in exchange for my honest opinion