Denise Richards is one of my hair idols. What I wouldn’t give to have her long, voluminous locks! I was excited to hear that she now has her own line of volumizing, cruelty free hair products! Produced by veteran hair care brand, Cristophe, Denise’s “Volume Extend” line has the following products: shampoo, conditioner, styling creme, volumizing spray and finishing spray.

The Denise Richards Volume Extend by Cristophe hair care collection is a revolutionary product line with a new technology and product formula which penetrates the hair shaft to actually increase the hair strands diameter;  giving the hair amazing beauty, body, volume, and shine. The line is completely paraben, sulfate, and cruelty free.

I loved all of the products. A little goes a long way – especially for the styling products. The styling creme is for damp hair and the volumizing spray can be used on damp or dry hair – great for a mid-afternoon pick me up or after-work happy hour date! It also contains UV protectors, Vitamin C and creatine to strengthen hair.

You really only need a tiny bit of the styling creme, so this is a really cost-effective purchase ($14.99 for 3 oz). Apply to damp hair and then blowdry and style as usual for great volume.

The shampoo and conditioner have wheat proteins, sugarcane, green tea, lemon, apple, sea fennel, probiotics (“good” bacteria) and peptides to boost hair strength and volume. A pretty unique blend of ingredients!

The finishing spray is a hair spray that you can use on your roots to boost volume, set a hairstyle or use when your hair is getting oily and needs a boost!

How would you like to win a full set of Denise Richards Volume Extend hair products? Just sign up for the My Beauty Bunny newsletter and leave the email address you used to sign up in a comment below, telling me which Denise Richards product you are most excited to try. If you’re already signed up, just leave a comment below. The winner’s email address will be verified. For an extra entry, like the Cristophe Facebook page. Leave a separate comment for each entry. You get up to 2 entries. Any additional comments will be deleted for the purposes of this contest! If your comment doesn’t show up right away, don’t repost. It just means I haven’t approved it yet!

You must be 18 or older, US only. Ends 2/29/12. By entering, you agree to the official rules here.

Want more? Check out our Beauty Blogger Coalition $500 Visa gift card giveaway!

Jen

New Design and Formulas from JᾹSÖN. By Abi Mogge, Staff Writer.

For those morning showers where you condition your hair 3 times because you’re blind as a bat without your contacts… now there’s hope for those who can’t tell the difference between their identical bottles of hair care products!

JᾹSÖN has been creating natural, healthy products since 1959, using all natural ingredients of the highest quality that are free from any kind of animal testing. Now they have introduced a new ‘inverted’ design for their bottles, with an upside down conditioner bottle to help differentiate between the two.  When I told my mother (who wears glasses) about this innovation, she practically wept with joy. Plus, the bottles use at least 50% post-consumer resin plastic, that otherwise would have ended up in a landfill.

In addition to the new, user friendly design, Jason is introducing new formulas to their natural hair care line. I tried ‘Super Shine Apricot’, which has a really gorgeous, yummy scent and uses shine-enhancing apricot oil to smooth cuticles, as well as wheat protein and aloe vera to moisturize. The result? Shiny, bouncy, healthy hair.

My hair is fine, but this duo gave me the body that I would expect from a volumizing shampoo with a noticeable increase in shine and smoothness. JᾹSÖN’s hair care products are made without harmful sulfates and phthalates, which are both listed as carcinogens by the World Health Organization. They are available at natural food stores, Whole Foods, ULTA Beauty and on the JASON website.

Abi

First of all, the Quick Blowdry packaging makes me happy. I love the colors and the design, and when I see the shampoo and conditioner in my shower, I think happy thoughts.

You’re thinking, “Okay, great Jen, but does it work?”

Yes – it does shorten drying time. Not by a crazy amount, but my hair is fine and never took THAT long to blow dry anyway. But, I hate blow drying, so anything that makes it faster is fine by me. I noticed that it made my hair straighter and less frizzy, but it seemed to dry it out a tiny bit. For that reason alone, I don’t use it every day. I haven’t tried the shampoo with a deep conditioning conditioner, but that may be the way to go.

ALSO – the day I first tried it, I had my makeup professionally done by MAC at a local outdoor mall called The Grove. When I went to the bathroom in Barnes & Noble, a girl washing her hands next to me said, “I have to tell you, your hair is beautiful!” I was expecting the compliment to be on the makeup – not my hair! It totally made my day. Had to be the Quick Blowdry products, because I don’t usually get a lot of random strangers complimenting me on my hair!

The Fine Hair versions have rose hips, shea butter, antioxidants and a broad spectrum sunscreen to protect your hair (and your color). The Coarse Hair versions have aloe vera and acai berry. They are all safe for chemically straightened or colored hair, and there are no sulfates, alcohol, parabens or sodium chloride.

Jen

I have an honest confession: Although I consider myself decently in-the-know about cruelty-free practices in beauty and fashion, I just was not aware of the harmful effects that real feather hair extensions had upon the animal kingdom. Sure, I knew feathers used were actual bird feathers; however, until doing a bit of research, I did not know that often these feathers come from birds that are kept in cramped conditions, are bred and/or genetically altered for long, beautiful feathers, and sadly may only be bred and used for that sole purpose. Yikes!

Confession #2: Because I was, well, naive with regard to how feathers for extensions were obtained, I actually wore an extension I had attached in a local salon for several months last year made from real feathers. It held up well–although it needed to be reattached once–but the application involved I think three rescheduled appointments (stylist + bicycle accident = sad times), a good amount of money, and too many minutes of me holding my head very, very still on an awkward stool while the stylist fiddled with a chunk of my hair. Yikes again.

Based on the above knowledge and experience, then, I clearly was very excited to try a sample from Picasso Hair Feathers’ (www.picassohairfeathers.com) line of synthetic, cruelty-free feather hair extensions. Kate of Picasso Hair Feathers sent me a super-cute package with the Au Naturel 12-pack of feathers to try.

Here are the highlights of how my experience of applying two feathers went:

• Again, the feathers were adorably packed in a fun pink padded envelope with a handwritten note(!). The Au Naturel pack includes browns, grays, and light-ish pinks–which are close to “real” feather colors and blend well with my blonde hair in a subtle way that’s fun yet still suitable for the workplace.
• The only tool needed for application is a pair of pliers. A hair clip is also recommended to make parting your hair and locating the place where you want to attach the feathers easier. I did the entire application alone, but it wouldn’t hurt to have a friend around to help keep the hair parted and give advice on placement.
• I first tried figuring out how to attach them myself without watching the video, despite the recommendation to watch the video for instructions. Do yourself a favor and watch the three-minute video first. Not watching the video turns the event into one of those almost-intuitive-surely-I-can-figure-this-out-but-gosh-I-can’t-quite-figure-it-out-oh-wait-almost-no-but-just-oh-I-give-up sorts of activities.
• After the video, it was SUPER easy to attach the feathers just where I wanted them in mere minutes. My main suggestion: try to attach them to a small chunk of hair under a decent portion of the top layer of your hair (especially for girls with very fine hair like me). If not, the metal clamp may be slightly visible.
• Do be mindful of these metal clamps when combing your hair, too, to avoid combing the feather out or causing a quite painful tug/snag involving the metal clamp.
• My hair is about 14 to 15 inches long, and the feathers are just about even with the ends–the 14-inch guarantee on the website is certainly accurate–so I didn’t need to trim them at all.  If you do need to do so, though, there’s additional information and a video on how to cut and/or style your feather located on the website.
• Overnight, I slept with my hair in a loopy bun, but the feathers bounced right back, and they also seemed to hold up just fine during shampoo/conditioning in the shower and while I was drying it with a hair dryer.

I’m very, very pleased with my feathers–they’re cruelty free, a 12-pack costs about 1/3 of what I paid at the salon, and I’m very impressed by the resilience, texture, and color. Thanks again to Kate and all at Picasso Hair Feathers!

Picasso Hair Feathers are sold in a variety of colors–from bright and bold to natural and subtle–and in packs of 5, 12, and 25 (ranging from $19.95-$59.95) via their website. Picasso Hair Feathers also invites contact regarding wholesale orders.

Morgan

Guest post by Susie B.

Okay I hold my hands up; I am a hair color addict! This year alone I’ve been through 6 different shades, some for fun and some to make a statement. I feel that hair color can be the ultimate form of expression, it can be used to reflect your mood, show off your personality or tell the world that you mean business (no one messes with a girl with blue hair!)

Here are three simple tips to achieving a fabulous hair color whilst staying cruelty-fee.

Cruelty Free Cosmetics Companies

Of course, a great place to start is by using the products of cruelty-free cosmetics companies, and you’ll be pleased to know there are plenty of fantastic brands that wear the cruelty-free badge with pride. My current favourite has to be IT&LY, the Milan-based firm that has been taking the celebrity world by storm (you might recently have seen Paula Abdul and Latoya Jackson dazzling the red carpet in IT&LY products).

There are plenty of other great cruelty-free firms out there too, and if you want to find the perfect hair color then check out the ranges by Developlus, Revlon and Fudge. If you are feeling a little more adventurous, check out the wild and funky colors available from the gals at Manic Panic.

Henna Hair Dye

If you are looking for a cruelty-free hair color and want to avoid the ammonia and peroxide, then I want to give a big recommendation for henna hair dye. Henna has been used to color hair for thousands of years, in fact Cleopatra famously used the plant to dye her legendary locks.

Henna color is used by mixing the plant extract with hot water and applying to the hair, and by varying the formula you can create fantastic red, black and natural shades. As well as looking great, the products achieve their effect without drying or chemically altering the hair, it’s a win-win situation!

There are some great cruelty free companies selling henna hair color products, and for a really amazing look check out the ranges from Avigal Henna, Surya Brasil and Morrocco Method.

Fruit Juice

Do you want to change your hair color without using any products at all? It might sound like an old wives tale, but fruit juices really can help give you a great natural color. A little lemon juice rubbed into your hair will add lighter tones and help you achieve a fresh sun-kissed look that will have people wondering how on earth you’ve found time to spend the summer on the beach!

A word of warning though; if you decided to take this ‘au-natural’ route you need to remember that fruit doesn’t come with an instruction manual, and any changes you make should be done in moderation and built up over time.

So there you go, three quick tips to leave your hair looking fabulous whilst staying 100% cruelty free. Happy hair coloring!

Susie

Susie B. is a UK-based hair color fanatic, and proud co-founder and Editor of HairColorCode.com.