Beauty Swellness: Aveeno Active Naturals

A week and a half ago I was in New York as an Aveeno Active Naturals Ambassador — didja know I’m an ambassador with the brand? Yup! So far I’ve been testing out a lot of their products (one hand lotion, too fragrant for me, but I am a fan of their sulphate-free shampoo!). While on the topic of their shampoo, did you know Aveeno has haircare products? I know many people think of them for skincare, but they have a wide range of haircare, too, from its Living Colour Collection to Dandruff Control products.

To find out what line is best suited for my hair, I got to meet with Patrick Melville in NYC. He’s done Nicole Richie’s hair, along with Victoria’s Secrets models and Petra Nemcova. (Drat, I totally should’ve asked him for Victoria’s Secret Angel hair 

After having a look at my hair (the texture is very fine and there’s not much of it), Melville recommended the Aveeno Active Naturals Positively Nourishing Volumize Shampoo and Conditioner for me. They contain lightweight conditioners so that fine hair can still have great body. Turns out the dry, tangly ends of my hair were a giveaway that I run (and thus shampoo my hair very often) and the Volumize products contain both the proprietary Nourishing Wheat Complex and blue lotus flower, so this helps replenish moisture.

He also suggested I use some of Aveeno Pure Renewal Dry Shampoo to add some texture to my hair. We lopped off about two inches from my ends and tidied up my bangs, which I’d had trimmed (accidentally shorter than usual…) a few days earlier. (For the blowout, he used a Mason Pearson brush — hello, soft, shiny hair! How have I lived this long without trying one?!) And, voila, my new ‘do:

That night, we ambassadors were lucky to snap up a reservation at ABC Kitchen for dinner, but I’ll save that for a Foodie Swellness post.

3 Comments October 24, 2013

Beauty Swellness: How to rock unshampooed hair

(Photo: Balmain Spring 2013, allure.com)

In honour of Earth Month, would you consider conserving some water and skipping shampooing your hair so often? I have not yet totally embraced dry shampoo myself (plus I run what seems like all the time, so I shampoo a lot, often twice a day), but picked up some valuable info from Kristjan Hayden, Aveda’s creative director, on getting great hair when you have not washed it fresh.

Embrace your second-day hair. Loads of the top runway looks work better with not freshly shampooed hair. Updos, braids, textured hair? All easier to accomplish with “dirty” hair.

Too-clean hair can lead to annoying catch-y ends. I’ve been noticing that my hair always seems somewhat tangled, even when it’s not. Kristjan explained that because my hair is squeaky clean, this can lead the ends catching. This is why I can never run my hands easily through the ends.

Use a crimper.  Yes, you read that right. A crimper can give you some nice lift. Are you like me — my fine hair when unshampooed will lie super flat against my scalp. Kristjan suggests crimping sections from underneath at the roots to give some lift and volume. Brush it out (plus the sections over top will cover the sections you’ve crimped) and it gives oomph to hair but without the solidness of backcombing.

Try a liquid volumizer to refresh on day 2. Kristjan is wary of some dry shampoos for the potentially powdery look they can give hair. He recommends Aveda Pure Abundance Style Prep spritzed into dry unshampooed hair to add volume and texture.

Leave a Comment April 11, 2013