My color-treated red hair is the poster child for fading. Red is the shade that fades the fastest. Plus where I live, we have hard water from all of the minerals in the water. Heck, my house was built on rocks. Plus I’m outdoors almost all day in the sun, most without wearing a hat.
In fact, I got my hair re-colored last Wednesday at Sassoon, and Laurel, my colorist, laughed because my hair had faded to a strawberry blonde shade. And it started out as a deep auburn red.
I try to wash my hair every 4-5 days so that the hard water won’t fade my color as quickly, but at this time of year, it doesn’t make all that much of a difference. It fades. Period.
IGK More Life Color Extending Shampoo & Conditioner
Lately, I have been trying a lot of new haircare products. In fact, I have been trying haircare products from IGK. In fact, I have been using their Hydrating Conditioning Balm, Mistress, off and on for a couple of months. But rather than tell you about my experiences with it now, I will review it another time.
However, I like it enough to take a chance on their brand new duo, IGK More Life Color Extending Shampoo and Conditioner. Here’s what IGK has to say about these new products:
“A color-preserving shampoo and conditioner that provides 2X high shine and extends life of color for 15 washes. These gloss-infused formulas feature color-locking polymers to help seal cuticle gaps and prevent color fading.“
- Clinically proven to preserve color for 15 washes*
- High-gloss formula provides 2X high-shine*
- UV protection prevents color fading and UV damage
The “clinically proven to preserve color of 15 washes” is most likely not possible for my red hair. For one thing, I only wash my hair 4-6 times between color appointments, and for another thing, I have hard water. Nevertheless, it seems worth a try. Plus, I am also interested in the UV protection.
So far, I have only used the duo once, and btw, the clinical data is based on using both the shampoo and conditioner. Yet, I want to let you know about IGK More Life Color Extending Shampoo and Conditioner in case they extend their 25% off sale that’s going on as I write this. They also often have 20% off if you give them your email address.
Here are the ingredient lists below. The shampoo truly has a trillion ingredients.
My (So Far) Limited Experience with More Life
The shampoo is fragranced, and IMHO the scent isn’t really an asset. The scent isn’t easy to describe, and I feel neutral about it. It doesn’t last at all.
The shampoo makes oodles of suds, so you don’t have to go wild with how much you squeeze out of the flip top bottle. Basically, wet your hair, lather the shampoo, and rinse it out. My hair was left with a squeak, and it felt very clean. The good news was that I didn’t see pink/peach suds as I lathered my hair nor did I see a stream of red water going down the drain (the rinse that Sassoon uses after the color usually rinses out).
Next, I used the conditioner that also has an unexciting fragrance that again doesn’t last. The More Life conditioner is very thick, and the plastic flip-top bottle is made from rigid recycled plastic. I ended up taking the top off and squeezing out the white conditioner. I worked it through my hair and waited a little more than one minute, per the directions. Next, I rinsed it out (again, no red water stream!), and the conditioner instantly detangled my hair. In fact, it reminded me of how wonderful my wet hair feels when I use the water-like Milk Shake Insta.Lotion treatment mask.
I combed my clean, wet hair with no issues at all. Because I always use It’s A 10 Miracle Spray as a heat protectant, I sprayed on a little. I blew dry and then flat ironed my hair. My hair feels so incredibly soft and silky. Here’s how my hair (color) looked right after I finished, though my frizzy hair is still frizzy :(.
I will continue to use the IGK More Life duo for the next month till my next Sassoon color treatment, and I will check back with you and let you know how it worked on my torture-test red hair.
The haircare duo is cruelty-free, gluten-free and vegan. Again, the bottles are made from recycled plastic.
Each of the two products is regularly priced at $32 for 8 fl. oz. Because these products were brand new, I bought them online at IGKhair.com. However, they are available elsewhere including Amazon, Beautylish, Image Beauty (use code IMAGE15 to save 15%), The Skincare Supply, A&A Beauty Supplies, Salon Centric, and Shop Beauty.
