TRESemme Platimun Strengthening Heat Protect Spray, Therma Silk and Oscar Balandi Review and Comparison

Back Story:

Originally, I was really skeptical because I have naturally curly hair, and the first ingredient in this spray is water. In case you’ve been hiding under a rock your entire life: water and curl DO NOT mix…EVER! 

Or so I thought. 

To me, using a heat protectant with a high concentration of water just seemed really counter intuitive. A year and a half later I’m perusing target and decide to pick it up because the two protection sprays I’m rotating between right now are just not working out for me anymore.

The Comparison:

The two sprays I have are both oil-based as opposed to being water based like the TRESemme. Therma Silk, the one I’ve been using for years, is a very light-weight and liquidy oil as opposed to being a thicker, goopier texture. It protects just fine however, my hair doesn’t absorb the oil, which means my hair isn’t receiving any moisture during the heat application process. It just sits on the surface looking greasy and stringy. It essentially takes on the look and feel of ten-day hair as opposed to hair that has been freshly washed. What’s up with that?

A couple months ago I picked up another dry oil heat protectant from Oscar Balandi by recommendation of NikkiRothBeauty from YouTube. I had really high hopes for this product because it met my prerequisite of being oil-based, it claims to protect hair from temperatures up to 450 degrees, it came in a aerosol can that sprayed a fine mist of product as opposed to the water gun effect, and the product itself is light enough for white girls to use without looking like a grease ball. Long story short, I was excited to try it, but I was NOT excited to buy it. The retail price for a full size is $23. A Travel size is $11.

My thoughts: “Holy Sh*tballs! This sh*t better make my hair look like a Korean pop star’s!”

…

It didn’t.

 I honestly didn’t notice a difference between using this product and not using anything at all. It didn’t seem like it was doing any protecting, especially since it made my hair smell like I left something in the oven for too long. In the end I think my hair is just too thick for the Oscar Balandi to make a difference protection-wise. True, I could use more product, but I would be going through it like crazy! There are lots of other ways I can think of to spend $23.

However I do think it would work better on thin hair.

I needed something that would protect my hair, moisturize and leave my hair with a nice touchable (non-greasy, non-stringy, and non-burnt) finish. And the TRESemme Strengthening Heat Protect Spray does all of those things! Who knew I would have found my salvation in a water-based product? I’m part black and my hair, in its natural state, is just as kinky as the next chick’s, but this spray, partnered with a good straightener and a steady hand, gives me –dare I say- white girl hair? Right now I look like could be some kinda Mexican chick. I like to use this alone to re-straighten or touch up my roots or any frizzies as needed. When I’m straightening my hair after having washed it, I like to use this first, apply heat, and then follow up with pure argan, coconut or jojoba oil as a moisturizer.  The result is definitely worth the $5 price point. I can even use this product by itself, without any heat, as a light moisturizer during the day or at night.

I truly think I’ve found my hair’s soul mate.

Yumm…