Masks are not just for faces, give your hair a piece of the action too (Umberto Giannini Indulgent Beauty Moisture Mask)

Member Name: foreveramber

Product:	Umberto Giannini Indulgent Beauty Moisture Mask
Date:	28/12/08 (190 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Repairs damaged hair, smells divine, lasts a long time

Disadvantages: Doesn't leave hair shiny

As someone with long hair that's been artificially coloured for many years, I struggle to achieve any kind of shine. My conditioner copes well and leaves my hair feeling soft, but recently I've started using a hairdryer more often, which has resulted in very dry, flyaway hair.

I was moaning about this to my sister one day, when she suggested I use a hair mask. She swears by their effectiveness and I must admit, her hair is in pretty good condition. Then again, she does spend a lot of money at the hairdressers and I refuse to visit a hairdresser. Once they see you have long hair, all they want to do is chop the lot off!

Well, I think I do OK taking care of my own hair, but I thought I'd start by treating myself to one of these miracle hair masks just to see what they're all about. Hair masks are quite intensive and shouldn't be used more than once a week or you can end up with more problems such as oily hair. Whereas conditioners coat the hair and smooth it, hair masks go some way towards repairing damaged hair.

I was browsing around the Salon brand conditioners in Boots, when I came across this mask from Umberto Giannini. Now, I know nothing about Salon brands and who's good and who's not. To be honest, this was the first hair 'mask' I spotted and since there was a discount for Umberto Giannini, I decided to give it a shot. And wouldn't you know, my sister has gone and given me another hair mask product for my birthday. That's another review in the not too distant future as it's a different brand.

This particular hair mask is for dry, damaged or processed hair, or all three combined! Anyway, the price was a lot better than I was expecting from a salon brand. It cost £5.99 and you do get a large pot of the stuff with 200ml. It recommends you only use it once a week so it should last a while.

The tub has a screw top lid and when you open it up you'll find it brimming to the top with a lovely thick, white cream. And the smell is absolutely divine. I can't stop sniffing it. It's hard to describe. It's sort of a flowery and herby smell combined.
It instructs you to liberally apply to damp hair and leave for 3 minutes then rinse. It also mentions that the longer you leave it on, the better.

So, after washing my hair in the shower I forgo my usual conditioner and scooped up a handful of this hair mask. I worked it well into my hair and the ends then clipped my hair on top of my head and carried on with my shower. All in all, I left it on for over 10 minutes.

When rinsing it out my hair felt very soft and almost heavier than usual. I felt I had to rinse a bit longer than normal to make sure all of the product was out of my hair. The proof of its benefits would come once my hair had dried. It was a bit of a task combing through my hair, but I've since found out that you should still use your usual conditioner afterwards. This is not mentioned on the hair mask pot though.

Once my hair had been blow dried, it didn't look any different than it usually does with regards to amount of shine. However, it definitely felt thicker, smoother and heavier than it usually does and that wonderful smell was still lingering.

I've noticed my hair is less flyaway, so I can hopefully put this down to the restorative properties of the mask. I would recommend this as a treat for anyone with dry and damaged hair.

Summary: A gorgeous smelling treat for your hair