Dedicated to "sandra101" (Montagne Jeunesse Frizz Miracle)

Member Name: missixty

Product:	Montagne Jeunesse Frizz Miracle
Date:	07/10/08 (216 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: works great, smells nice, has serum with it, not too expensive to afford as a treat

Disadvantages: no bottle version available, too expensive to use every time

Not only has being a member of Dooyoo enabled me to feel less guilty about buying products (as I can make an albeit minimal amount of money back off them), gave me a little more pocket money for buying more things to review but also it has gotten me a few freebies here and there. Some of these have come from other wonderful members of the community, and the latest of such, was this hair mask courtesy of sandra101 - thank you so much!!

I know how she feels, when you have tried a product you love, and you just want the rest of the world to realise how great it is too. I know myself I've waited for people to try things I've recommended in the past, and when people do try it off your recommendation and they love it, it's a great feeling - I guess it's what Dooyoo's all about (well that and the free cheques!).

I had noticed a comment from sandra101 about how great this hair mask was on a review of Aussie's 3 Minute Miracle, saying how great this stuff is in comparison to that and how she can't wait for someone else to try it, this sparked my interest enough to read the review, and the review had me wanting to try it - now!! Lovely as she is sandra101 sent me a sachet, and I couldn't (but had to) wait to try it out!

As you may have all gathered I've been more than a little busy of late, in fact that's underestimating to the utmost. Along with neglecting Dooyoo somewhat, I've also been neglecting myself - gone for the most part are the evenings of pampering - I know, it's upsetting to say the least!

On the verge of collapse but desperately needing to wash my hair before I went bed (as I wasn't getting up at 5am to wash and dry it in the morning) I opted for a bath instead of a shower, as at least I could relax in the bath. Since I was going to be relaxing in the bath I decided it would be a good opportunity to use my hair mask. Having a read of the sachet it said to apply the mask and leave it for one minute. Since I was having a bath I decided I would leave it on much longer than that, I was quite surprised for a mask it only stated to leave it on for 1 minute as this doesn't seem much time at all. I'm all for the theory the longer something is on your hair, the longer it has to penetrate and let the ingredients work their magic. So, whilst it's good that if you're in a rush you can use this in just 1 minute, if you have longer I would personally say leave it on longer. I left mine on for about half an hour while I had my bath.

On the front of the sachet it shows a woman with a thick pink mask on her hair. I don't know what she has on her hair, but it isn't this product. Not a huge issue, just a little odd to show it completely different as it is. In fact it comes out in a light peachy pink colour that looks a bit pearly and a bit like some conditioners. It says to apply all over the hair from the roots to the tip, after shampooing like you would any conditioner, which was really easy to do. It kept my hair tangle free which made it easy to distribute it evenly. When on the hair you can't see it at all. Your hair just looks wet, which, it is!

The packaging of mine is different to that shown on the Montagne Jeunesse site, and it was a reduced sachet, so it may have been changed somewhat since this version, but mine was fragranced with Pink Grapefruit. I wasn't sure I'd like the fragrance but I surprisingly did. I really liked it. I could smell it when I'd applied it (before I got in the bath) but as soon as I got in my (Frosty Gritter) bath I could only smell the bath, which was a good thing for me as I love the smell of the bath! When my hair had dried I could still smell the fragrance lightly on my hair. It was just a nice amount of fragrance, not at all over powering, but nice for anyone up close and personal!

After you have had the mask on for however long you've decided to indulge for, simply rinse it out like you would conditioner. I found after this it was left feeling very soft and tangle free and manageable. Now the other half of the sachet comes into play, which is a serum that you are told to apply to your hair, in small sections at a time. The serum looks very similar to John Frieda and didn't have any distinctive smell. I combed it through sections of my hair, which I just separated roughly - you don't need to be precise, it's not time consuming, just make sure you're not reapplying over the same sections or your hair could become greasy. I used the full sachet of serum, which was a little worrying for me, as I'd find one pump of serum to be enough normally, so I was a little concerned I'd wake up looking like I'd stuck my head in a frying pan.

On my sachet it shows pictures not un similar to what used to advertise John Frieda's Frizz ease serum. I'm not sure if John Frieda still uses them or not but they just remind me of when I first saw it. It has a picture of a woman with frizzy hair, and then two examples of it after using it with the product - one styled straight and sleek, and the other left to dry to create lovely defined natural curls.

Now, since I was so tired, I decided to leave my hair to dry naturally over night, and go for the curls look. This also works out quite well for you guys, as sandra101 went for the drying it and straightening option - so there are reviews of how it works both ways!

When I leave my hair to dry naturally (literally do nothing to it, just leave it down, don't touch it and let it dry) it does go into quite nice naturally curls. They aren't tight bouncy curls like on the packet, more loose curls but they do look quite nice. However, with curls, comes dry looking hair more often than not, so I can only wear it like this after a good conditioner. This was absolutely perfect for it. It didn't weigh my hair down which would cause the curls to basically not happen, but it nourished and moisturised my hair so that it wasn't dry, and the serum made them defined and shiny without looking greasy.

I was really surprised given the amount of serum I used that it didn't look greasy after using it. Not only that but on the second day it still looked as good as it did on the first day, and (although it's embarrassing to admit) by the third day (yes, I still hadn't washed my hair - eek) it still looked quite good - not greasy, but not dry!

As to the original claim - is it better than Aussie's 3 Minute Miracle? Well, quite possibly! I prefer the smell of the original Aussie to this, although this does still smell great. On performance, they both perform well, but I think this does perform better! However, the thing (as well as the smell) that Aussie have over this is you can buy bottles of the Aussie 3 Minute Miracle, whereas this only comes in the sachets. The sachet was easy to open and actually wasn't as messy and annoying as some can be, but I still would prefer the option to buy a bottle of it.

You are actually getting decent ingredients for your money too, as it's not just full of things that fake good hair, it's full of beneficial ingredients that will truly nourish your hair.

It has pro-vitamin b5, lime peel extract, orange peel extract, lemon peel extract, grapefruit peel extract, bergamot leaf extract and mandarin orange peel extract! Like a lovely nutritious fruit cocktail for your hair!

Pro-vitamin b5 strengthens the hair and is excellent at conditioning it. It's brilliant at moisturising the hair without weighing it down - which is exactly what I felt happened with this product - it conditioned my hair without weighing it down like some treatments can, which is perfect if you wish to have your hair curly.

Lime peel extract contains vitamins A, B and C, which have a whole host of benefits for the hair. It also keeps the hair fresh and dandruff free.

Lemon peel extract is rich in vitamin C and also prevents dandruff alongside the Lime Oil. As well as this it regulates the sebaceous glands, making sure hair is not greasy but also not dry, and it also gives the hair great shine.
Grapefruit peel extract stimulates the hair follicles and can actually promote hair growth, as well as keeping the hair healthy and strong.

Bergamot leaf extract keeps hair shiny and strengthens the hair shaft. It also treats the scalp by preventing impurities and build up of products.

Finally the mandarin orange peel extract makes the hair fresh and bouncy as well as conditioning it and giving it shine.

Everything the ingredients should do they did. My hair was left nourished and shiny without being weighed down or greasy - what more could you ask for in a product?

I like that for 99p you not only get your hair mask, like you would with other similar options on the market (Aussie 3 Minute Miracle, Naked Hair Rescue etc) but you also get the serum too. The results of the two parts of the sachet used together exceeded the results of other hair masks I have tried, and not only is this better compared with other things of a similar price on the market but it is a million times better than Lush's H'Suan Wen Hua , which if you read my review you will know how much I hated!

I really liked this product, and would enjoy using it again, and perhaps trying out what it is like used when hair is blow dried and straightened, although it is perfect for using for leaving my hair to dry naturally. If I could change one thing I would beg Montagne Jeunesse to start to sell bottles of the stuff, as sachet's could work out quite expensive, for only one use per go, and because it's so much easier to use and store a bottle.

Montagne Jeunesse also does three other versions of this: Volume Miracle Conditioning Hair Mask, Hot Miracle Hair Reconstructor Oil and Moisture Miracle Conditioning Hair Mask. I really want to try all of them. Although I didn't buy my sachet of this I have seen Montagne Jeunesse hair masks in supermarkets and in Ethel Austin (usually reduced in there) before but hadn't paid them much attention (since I hated their face mask so much) in the past. I will now keep my eye out for this though and for other versions to try out as a little treat. They are also available direct from the website with free delivery which is great, and the website also states they are available to buy in various supermarkets, Argos, Boots, Superdrug, Savers, Claire's Accessories and various other stores.

At 99p a go, there not a cheap habit if you want to use them regularly, and I do wish they were available in a bottle, but I would definitely use this again as a treat, and would thoroughly recommend this to anyone whose hair goes curly or wavy when left to dry naturally, but can appear dry without a little help along the way!

Summary: A nice little treat, can't wait to try the other versions now!