I would say I’m quite brave when it comes to my hair. No, I don’t mean I’ve tried the half-shaved look or that I’ve dyed my hair pink (unless pink highlights in middle school count), but I tend to go from one extreme to the other.
Even as a kid, I once went from Pocahontas locks to a bob on a whim, leaving my grandfather confused about who the short-haired girl seating herself at his table was. In high school, I contributed 10+ inches to Locks for Love. In college, I started with ombré but soon wanted more – so after a few months of going back and forth to the salon, I became a blonde.
Right after graduation, I went to my hairdresser and asked her to chop off the hair I had spent years growing and countless dollars coloring. She questioned my sanity, but I pushed until she did it. It still wasn’t drastic enough for me, though. A few days later, I went back and asked her to keep going.
Up until a month ago, I was back to an ombré look, albeit unintentionally. I just wanted to give my hair a much-needed break from processing, and growing out the remaining blonde was taking an eternity. Then one day I woke up, wanted to go dark, and booked an appointment. So today, I’m a mid-length, mocha brunette.
Ok, so you probably didn’t need a four paragraph history of my hair, but you must know by now that I like to talk – err, type. Anyway, my new hair became a topic of conversation between my boss, Honey, and her hairstylist, Robert. That would be Robert of Robert Jason Salon in Andover, MA, seen in Vogue, Lucky, Allure, Northshore, and Boston magazines. Robert wanted to help me out with my new locks, so he put together a bag of R+Co samples for me. How thoughful?!
I’ll admit that I hadn’t yet heard of R+Co, but it turns out I had been living under a rock. As soon as I was introduced to the brand, I started noticing it in several magazines, my friends’ beauty cabinets, etc. Better late than never, right?
While I am admittedly anything but low maintenance when it comes to my clothing, I am embarrassingly low maintenance when it comes to hair and makeup. I’ve always wished I had the motivation or skills to do my hair more than once every few weeks, but I guess I don’t have much space left in my mind for anything but my closet. I love getting my hair done, obviously, but I’m the girl that jumps out of the shower and lets the air around me work its drying magic. Sue me!
Needless to say, I was a little worried about these fancy R+Co products. How would I know what circumstance in which to use each product?! And, honestly, would I have the energy to put in the effort?
Enter these fabulous bottles of hair magic. The first thing that caught my eye was the packaging. Each bottle has an amazing backdrop, with clean white rectangles and simple black font featuring the name of the product. Some of you may be thinking that I’m putting too much stock into a bottle, but visuals are so important when it comes to products like these. If you say you don’t judge a product by its cover, you’re lying. Not only do we tend to go for the pretty packaging, but we go for the one that matches our vibe. The edgy, artsy, colorful packaging of R+Co? Yeah, those vibes spoke to me.
Moving on to the back of the bottles. They each give you a sentence or two about exactly how and when to use each product, and what the desired effect will be.
Example: “Chiffon Styling Mousse. Good for: Soft, girly curls on any length of hair. How to: Towel-dry hair and apply Chiffon section by section for the perfect blow-dry. Can also scrunch into hair and let it air dry.”
Thank you for working with us hair imbeciles, R+Co! It means a lot.
I’m sure you’re wondering about the price of these bad boys. There’s nothing I hate more than falling in love with a product in the salon and then seeing that the price tag is absolutely bananas. Unless it’s going to have hundreds of potential suitors lining up at my door, no hair product is worth high two-to-three figures, in my opinion. To be perfectly honest, most of my beauty products are purchased at CVS. *Pan to cringing beauty gurus everywhere.* Guess what, though? The R+Co products range from $20 to $29. For a stylist-recommended product that actually works? Now that’s a number I can get behind.
Now for the products themselves. Since I just explained that I don’t do my hair very often, I haven’t had a chance to try out all of the products just yet. But I didn’t want to withhold this info from you guys for much longer, so I’ll be reviewing them in two parts. Time for Part One!
Death Valley Dry Shampoo
Love at first spritz. I’ve been a loyal dry shampooer for quite some time now, but I’m constantly switching from brand to brand. There always seems to be a flaw with each of them. Perhaps it’s because up until now, I’ve capped my dry shampoo budget at $6. I guess you really do get what you (don’t) pay for. Anyway, despite the name, Death Valley smells like heaven on earth. The fragrance is called Rosy Eyed, which is described as “a spirited unpredictable scent.” I know that means nothing to you (or me), but you just have to smell it to understand. It is kind of “unpredictable.” It’s like an edgy-yet-sweet scent. Ok, I think I inhaled too much of it. Moving on. Since coloring my hair darker than ever before, I’ve unfortunately noticed that it tends to look greasy and limp much quicker than it used to. Well, this dry shampoo starts working on the first spray. It gave me a tousled, revived look. I think I’ve used up half the bottle already!
Aircraft Pomade Mousse
I’ve never really understood mousse. I always kind of thought it was for, well, older ladies. Turns out I was wrong. This one is pretty much the opposite of that – it gave me sexy, bedhead waves. R+Co describes the look perfectly: “studiously messy.” Like those models who look like they just rolled around in the sheets – but 1000 thread count, Egyptian cotton sheets. I also always pictured mousse as sticky and heavy, but Aircraft is neither. All it takes is a tiny little pump to thicken up your hair, and it feels like there’s no product in it at all.
Chiffon Styling Mousse
This packaging is Haley on a bottle. That bow blouse?! My ideal top. In fact, I have one just like it – but way less chic. Between the name, the art, and the description, I figured this was just the product I needed to finally morph fully into Blair Waldorf. But unlike Blair, I took the easy way out. I didn’t feel like blow drying my hair post-shower that day, so I did the scrunch-into-dry-hair-and-air-dry method. While it worked to give me a bit more volume and body, I wasn’t ready to take my ‘do gallivanting around the Upper East Side. I’m not giving up just yet, though. I promise I’ll put in the ounce of effort this calls for and let you know the real verdict in Part Two of my post! Xoxo, Gossip Girl.
I know by this point in my post some cynical little soul will be claiming I only wrote positive reviews because I was given these samples at no cost. While these products were gifted to me, they were given by Robert Jason Salon, not R+Co. Therefore, I have no reason to be biased about them in any way. Plus, if I was doing this for R+Co, I probably wouldn’t have said that the last product was underwhelming. All honesty from this low-mainteance, cheap-beauty-product-buying girl, folks.
Thank you again to Robert for my products! Head on over to Robert Jason Salon on Main Street in Andover to stock up on these and many more. Or keep adding to that piggy bank of yours and wait until I finish Part Two. Your call.
Dark-Haired but Still Colorfully Yours,
Haley
