Marisa Porter

So I couldn’t resist trying almost every single NYM (Not Your Mother’s) product. The branding and consistent low price lured me in. Every product is exactly the same price – $6.50 or $4.74 at Walmart. The promise of things like “grapeseed extract” and “bamboo” and “argan oil,” which is what all the high end brands are using really made me want to try them. Not to mention their clear self-explanatory titles and prompt customer service.

So I’ll be reviewing more of these. To start with, this is how I styled my fine thin hair this morning.

• She’s a Tease Volumizing Hairspray (for the back)
• Kinky Moves Curl Defining Hair Cream (for the front). I’ve used Deva Curl a lot in the past so I wanted to see how a $6.50 (Ulta and everywhere else – $4.74 at Walmart) product stacked up.

Really soft pretty waves or curls. Softer than what I always got with Deva Curl.

Method: I roundbrush the back with an attachment on my blowdryer, alternating between high and medium heat. I scrunch only on the front and front-sides with the diffuser on my hairdryer. I don’t want really kinky tight curls so I loosen them as I go.

While I”m at it – why not show off some Revlon Just Bitten Lip Balm Stain in Lovesick (the only color I can like this product in – but what a perfect match it is!)

From one side.

From the other side. This is where my technique with the volumizing spray and round brush could improve to more evenly blend the layers in the back. But the volumizing spray does give a lot of height and volume. Maybe too much sometimes. Which just means I have to use less product.

 

For performance, I completely recommend every NYM product I’ve ever tried. Cons? The fragrances. Of both. Kinky Moves smells like a grape scented marker, and the She’s a Tease just smell overwhelming. Fragrance should never be halfway up the list of ingredients – it should just be at the very bottom if at all. Fragrances bother me. If it’s not no-fragrance or an essential oil, I’m probably going to hate it. This is no exception. If there are no adverse effects on my scalp or hair (such as burning scalp and my hair falling out), than I’m just going to have to get use to the smell if I want incredible salon quality products at steal prices. My husband doesn’t think they smell weird though so it could just be me. Given that I’m very picky about and sensitive to fragrances, I’d recommend that you give these a try for yourself – if you like or can ignore the perfume of each of these products, than there’s a good chance you’ll be even more pleased than I am with the overall price, performance and quality of NYM.

Let me say a word about fragrance. WHY?????

That was my word about fragrance. Here is quite possibly “the hair line” I’ve been looking for with really great performance and it smells anything but high end. Why would NYM go through all the trouble to formulate a salon quality product and then pour low-end fruity hopelessly chemically smelling scented kiddie marker style fragrance into it so much so that it’s higher than some of the active ingredients on the list. OK I think I may have just spoiled this product for many people but I’m frustrated.  I’m going to have to come up with my own hair line because sometimes the only difference you’re getting when you buy a high end product is better or lower amounts of fragrance. High end brands tend to use less, often use plant extracts (which I usually indiscriminately love), and usually come up with fragrance formulations that are unrecognizable and unique. Not like – a cherry. A grape. A coconut. More like a subtle concoction of herbalistic rainforest subtle exotic fruit blends with all the high and low notes of a carefully crafted aromatherapy experience. Is that what we’re paying for? Because all too often, it’s not the active ingredients. In fact I don’t see how it could be since I prefer the results I got with these two inexpensive hair products to any others I’ve tried lately (WEN, DevaCurl, DermOrganics, Kenra).

Who puts fragrance at the top of the list like this? It’s higher than any of the botanicals or healthy ingredients in the product.

This one’s better and way lower on the list but I still have a hard time with it. I’m not sure why given that it really shouldn’t be that overwhelming.

I want my own line. I want it now. I want to control the ingredients so I don’t have to worry about itching, burning or hair fallout (I think I’ve worried enough about that in my life).

And there’s my rant about almost perfect products, and being excited and then disappointed in yet another could-have-been-so-great product line. I’m sick of almost perfect products.

I can’t even start a list here on my blog of my “favorite” products. I’m going to have to call it “almost perfect products.”

And for almost perfect, these might fit the bill for some. But not for me.