Matrix Color Care Intensive Hair Mask

About two months ago, I ordered and reviewed the Monoi Hair Mask from the Carol's Daughter hair care line and I have been using it happily ever since.  I love that mask so much that it makes me want to buy more from Carol's Daughter and see how all the different products in the line perform, a task that I will taking on once I begin to run on some of my different hair care products.  Due to the fact that I highlight and color my hair along with heat styling it nearly every single, I take very careful care when I pick out my shampoo and conditioner formulas and will alternate formulas every few days so that I do wash my color down the drain or create a build up issue on my strands.  One of the sets that I always use is the Matrix Color Care Shampoo and Conditioner (the set recommended to me by my hair stylist) and then I alternate the other set between many different brands.  With my last purchase of the Matrix Color Care set, I received another free product from this collection.  The last time that I bought the set, I received a small size of the leave-in spray and this time I received a small version of the Intensive Hair Mask.  I am still very happy with the Carol's Daughter formula but I wanted to try out the Matrix Mask and see how it performed.

I think that I used a much older version of this mask when I was a senior in college and was using Matrix pretty religiously, I got away from the brand in the following years but then came back to it when I was recommended it from my stylist and I remembered why I loved the brand several years ago.  The Shampoo and Conditioner will be among my favorite products for a long time coming and I am considering picking up the Leave In when I need a new bottle of a leave in treatment.

The Matrix website states, "Weekly, deep conditioning treatment. Nourishes hair with intense moisture. Helps strengthen porous hair."  The two active ingredients in this product are Vitamin E and Sunflower Oil.  Vitamin E is "rich in antioxidants, Vitamin E helps fight free radical damage and defend against environmental aggressors." and Sunflower Oil is "rich in antioxidants, Sunflower Oil contains emollients to soften and condition hair."

After using this product twice, I can already state that I know that I will not be purchasing the full size of the mask.  This is a nice mask and helps to hydrate my hair but I could do better with a bunch of different formulas.  Perhaps the Carol's Daughter Mask has spoiled me but this mask barely registered on my beauty product radar.  It is a typical deep conditioner, it hydrated my hair better than before using it but any conditioner formula would (whether I bought it at Wal-Mart or Sephora) and my looked exactly same before and after use.  The little bit of improvement that this product brought to my hair is not worth me buying the product, I would finish up the free bottle of it that I got with the shampoo and conditioner but that is all.

I think that this is the biggest let down of the Color Care line, I love the other three products in the line but this one will be skipped over the next time that I am at the salon.  This is an ordinary formula and will help hydrate but there are many more formulas on the market that will do that and much more.

photo courtesy of Matrix