This Product May or May Not Totally Stink

Garnier Fructis Sleek & Shine Blow Dry Perfector is a “2-Step Smoothing Kit” which promises “Tames Frizz Stays Smooth & Shiny Easier, Faster Blow Dries”. I had to read that about three times to make any sense of it, especially because of the way it’s printed on the box. (Great job, copywriter and art director!) But you get the gist, and it seems good, right?

One application of Sleek & Shine Blow Dry Perfector (or SSBDP) is supposed to last up to seven shampoos. I guess we’ll see about that. It’s a non-permanent product, obvs, but it still has a bunch of warnings printed on the side of the box, which are important to read if you have sensitive skin or dye your hair.

The process was more complicated than I had originally imagined. Yes, it’s two steps, but with a 20 minute break in the middle, followed by a lot of blow drying and flat ironing. AND you start off by shampooing. So really, it’s like 5 steps, not including rinsing, waiting, or towel drying. You wash your hair, skip the conditioner, then towel dry. The kit comes with plastic gloves, which you should not try to put on right after putting lotion on your legs, because they will be impossible to get on. (Why did you put lotion on now, anyway? You’re going to have to get back in the shower in 20 minutes.) Sooo… You wrestle the gloves on and carefully open the tube of Smooth-It Serum, which is very watery. At this point, you may be wondering “But does it smell bad?” And to that I say “AND HOW!” It smells like perm and farts. But what are you gonna do? Give up? The only thing you can do is apply the farty perm juice to your hair as directed, trying not to get too much on your scalp, and comb it through. Then you sit around with a wet, stinky head for 20 minutes. The smell sort of fades but not really. Hop back in the shower and rinse it out while hoping the smell goes away. It won’t. Next, apply the Perfect-It Cream and comb through. Then you’re supposed to blow dry and flat iron, to activate the products and “reveal sleek, shiny, more manageable hair” that still sort of smells like perm and farts.

This is where it gets kind of crazy. It took FOREVER to blow dry my hair, I’m guessing because it was soaked with the Perfect-It Cream. When I finally got done my blow dry, my hair was big and frizzy. I was slightly worried that I had done something bad and maybe SSBDP was a bad idea. Then I moved on to the flat-iron stage, which also seemed to take waaaay longer than normal. I should have timed the whole dry-and-straighten process, but I didn’t. However, I can give you this tip: The best time to do this is on the first hot day of the year, especially if your bathroom doesn’t have a window. The flat iron seemed to get everything under control, though my hair does seem a little fluffier than usual and definitely smellier. The fart smell gradually goes away, but it still smells a little like perm or something. I’m hoping that will go away after the next wash.

There’s only one way to find out if it lasts through seven shampoos, so I’ll post updates as I wash my way through. I kind of/definitely feel like it was a lot of work, so this stuff is going to have to be pretty awesome to be worth the effort. Stay tuned!

IMPORTANT NOTE: As I collected the link for this post, I read some reviews from Amazon that are JUST AWFUL!!! Generally, I research stuff first, but I bought this at the drugstore because it looked interesting, and since it's temporary, I didn't really think it could damage my hair. Some people are having really bad results! It's too late for me, but maybe wait until I see what it really does to my hair before trying it yourself. Or not.