Save or splurge: hair protection sprays. (With a pheasant jumper thrown in.)

I thought I'd write an occasional post giving you the benefit of my wisdom on the subject of 'save or splurge'.  I've accumulated quite a few years' worth of experience in this area, trying various products (a) because Vogue or similar announced they were brilliant ('splurge' category usually) or (b) because I was having a few cash-flow 'ishoos' ('save' category clearly).

This time, I'm reviewing two heat protection hair products.

I have dry hair which is naturally wavy (even frizzy - aarrghhh!) so some kind of heat spray is an absolute necessity for me, given the arsenal of styling implements which my hair has to deal with.

When I got my first pair of hair straighteners many years ago, it was a dream come true for me to have smooth hair. The straightness was not so much a goal for me, I just longed to have hair which laid flat and smooth, instead of fuzzy, flyaway and wiry.  When GHDs came onto the market, I was hooked. (GHDs can also give hair curl / wave as well as straightening / smoothing... )

Since then I have also discovered the Babylis Big Hair rotating styling brush - which is excellent at giving a salon style blow dry with lots of lift and smoothness - and wave, if your hair is inclined to wave.

But before I assault my hair with a hairdryer or any heated styling tool, I always use a heat protection spray.

The 'splurge' item today is GHD Thermal Protection Spray £9.95 from lookfantastic.com (Has changed the packaging again since I bought it!)  Admitedly not major splurge zone - but still - £10 for a hair product in these times of austerity is not a small amount!


The 'save' item is John Frieda Full Repair £5.99 from Boots. (But Boots often - always...? -  have John Frieda products on a 'buy two for £7.00 offer, which is when I stock up!)

In this instance it's a winner for.......................................................................

'SAVE' - Yay!  

The cheaper product I find works best for me. I like the lighter texture, and the smell (!) more than the GHD product.  It's not that the GHD product is no good - but the John Frieda one works best (for me) and at £3.50 (as part of the 'two items for £7.00' offer) - works out much cheaper too.

The thing I also like about the John Frieda spray is that is has an element of 'styling' to it as well, so gives a bit of hold / shape to the finished look - but as far as I can tell the GHD spray is just a heat protection spray. You have to buy another product (hmmmmm...that would be £20 then, ker-ching for GHD) to 'style' your hair.

The other thing I will point out about John Frieda products is that they use them in their salons - yes really! Many moons ago, when I was single and rich had more money than now, I used to have my hair done at John Frieda on Aldford Street in London. Ahhhh... the memories. What a luxury that was.... 

I was very surprised on my first visit to see however, that behind the till, visible through the host of Prada clad customers (not me) at the cash desk, there were ranks and ranks of exactly the same products as you would pick up in Boots. So if you felt inclined to buy a shampoo or styling product which had been used during your visit, that would be '£3.99 please Madam'. Slightly incongruous when a coffee probably set me back £5 - but good all the same! 

Now, as I've never written one of these posts on a specific product before, I have no idea if I'm supposed to write some kind of disclaimer such as 'there are other products available....'?!

I must also say that I am in no way affiliated to John Frieda (or GHD!) and these are merely my own findings / thoughts as a humble consumer. :-)  

By the way, today's outfit was as below. Don't blame me for the 'pheasant' jumper. Blame Kat at 'doesmybumlook40' blog. Emboldened by Kat's post the other day about animal jumpers, I was inspired to dig out my Joules pheasant jumper which had been lurking in a drawer since last year. 

I liked it in the catalogue. It looked good on the rosy cheeked size zero model. It looked fun. 

I saw, I tried, I banished doubts, I bought!

I got home and the image (I feared) didn't quite translate, but I kept it anyway. 

Worn with Jigsaw skirt, New Look denim shirt, Russell & Bromley patent loafers

It will always come in handy for the boxing day walk... It's that kind of item, it would work really well in classic 'Joules backdrop land' with wellies, mud and frosty fields.... none of which featured in my day today - but never mind.

If anyone is interested in similar offerings, Joules have further developed their range this year - choose from deer, foxes, ducks...and maybe more - see their range here.