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L'Oreal Elvive Fibrology Review | Before and After

1 February 2014 13 comments

Can a bottle really give you thicker hair than nature meant you to have?

L'Oreal certainly seem to think so, with their latest Elvive release.  

Today's post is the follow up to my L'Oreal Elvive Fibrology Review Part 1 so click on the link for a first glance and explanation of the collection if you haven't already had a read!


And now onto results. 

The burning question on everybodys' lips: Does it work???

My hair.

My hair is of a fine-medium texture, is relatively long (below the bust), has a slight wave which intensifies the greasier it gets (typical!) and is pretty much all one layer. Pretty dullsville at the moment (I'm due a trip to the salon) but arguably a good base to try a range like this.

What I did.

On the wash before using the Fibrology range, I washed my hair using Pantene's Clarifying Shampoo to rid my hair of any product residue and get it into a clean, 'empty' state, ready to test the range. (I borrowed this at a friend's house and have been hooked ever since, I use it maybe once or twice a month and find it much better than any high-end clarifying shampoo!) No conditioner or products as the silicones can act as a barrier.

On the wash before using the Fibrology range, I washed my hair using Pantene's Clarifying Shampoo to rid my hair of any product residue and get it into a clean, 'empty' state, ready to test the range. (I borrowed this at a friend's house and have been hooked ever since, I use it maybe once or twice a month and find it much better than any high-end clarifying shampoo!) No conditioner or products as the silicones can act as a barrier.

Here's how my hair looks straight after, once it had air-dryed. You can see the fluffiness/frizziness of my hair, it's flyaway nature and how wispy and thin each strand can look.



I followed the instructions on the bottles to the letter, for the purpose of this trial, starting first with a dime sized amount of shampoo and massaging that into my scalp before rinsing. I followed up the shampoo with the same size of conditioner, worked that through my hair before rinsing again. I then applied the masque, which I left for 3 minutes before rinsing out. 
All the products up to here are dense, viscous and creamy in texture, but wash out easily and have a light, pleasant scent reminiscent of beauty products, berries and pear drops. 
The serum can be used on wet or dry hair so I waited until my hair was 80% dry before applying the serum through my lengths and ends. It's texture is of a runny, light-weight silicone that doesn't weigh the hair down.

Here's what my hair looks like 100% dry. It feels a lot softer and, although it doesn't look it, feels a little bit thicker.




And here's what my hair looks like having repeated this routine on 2 more occasions, a couple of days since it's last wash to allow for some waves to develop. Granted, my hair has more wave to it but I feel like the strands look a little more coarse??



Conclusions.

My results were by no means the miracle-1-time-fix (it's not going to make your ponytail thicker and I'm not all that sure it's even too visible) that I was naively hoping for but I'm so pleased to say that my hair does feel thicker! 

I can't recommend the shampoo. It's full of sulphates and I'm sure it's doing my hair and scalp no good. I'm going to be keeping mine to rotate with the Pantene and use it as a clarifying shampoo.

The conditioner is (the dreaded) 'nice'. It doesn't feel like anything special in the shower but I imagine any thickening effects come from using all the products together so I guess it plays it part!

The masque I love. It's extremely thick and gel-like in texture and wrestles my tangle-y locks into submission. If your hair, too, tangles at the first contact of air, you'll love this. Having looked at the ingredients, I can't say I'm convinced of all the "nourishing" it claims to be doing, but it's an extremely good detangling-smoothing-softening mask at the very least!

The serum I also love. It's the much lighter cousin of John Frieda's coveted Frizz-Ease, and smoothes my hair without making it look or feel greasy.

Overall? 
For such an affordable range, it's worth a shot! If not thicker, you'll be sure to get touchably soft, sumptuous hair. 

And there's every chance you'll get both!

Jennifer x