Matrix Haircare Review

[Ad – Gifted via Influenster] When it comes to haircare, I tend to run through things pretty quickly so I like searching for affordable options that do the job of salon-style haircare. I was happy to get the invite to get the Matrix haircare Voxbox, filling the questionnaire about my hair-type months before the box was dispatched and then a blip in the system where they sent everyone the wrong boxes meant that I then waited almost another 2 months to get new products, in the meantime my hair colour had changed… meant that I’ve got a lot from the brand to try out!

Matrix for salon haircare is well priced, at full price most of the products within this range fall at around the £10-12 mark, which is more than I’d spend on an average shampoo, but for styling products and treatment style shampoos and conditioners for toning that last me a lot longer – I’m willing to spend more if it works. Matrix Haircare come in at a great price point in my opinion and can regularly be found on offer on Look Fantastic for a good deal.

The packaging of this line is pretty basic in cheaper style plastic bottles that are pretty light and thin, however, the interesting shape to the bottles and bold colour choices have made the line look more expensive and premium than it is. I was initally sent the Keep Me Vivid Colour Velvetiser, the Miracle Creator Treatment and finally – the Dark Envy shampoo which was sent in error as I was meant to receive the blonde range – Brass Off. A few months later this did arrive, but in the meantime, I had decided rather whimfully to dye my hair dark one day after finding a stashed box dye at the back of the cupboard. So for now, the Brass Off set has been put away for when I inevitably go blonde again at some point.

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Matrix Total Results – Keep Me Vivid Color Velvetizer

Full Price £15.50

When this first arrived for some reason I thought the Keep Me Vivid treatment was a hair mask and I’d popped it in my shower ready to use! It wasn’t until I decided to read the instructions that I’d realised I’d put it in the wrong place in my routine. This is a four-in-one product that adds shine, softens and protects coloured hair with a UV filter from fading – in addition, it also acts as a heat protectant. This would have been an interesting product to trial in summer if I’d gone dark then to see how well it protected my hair from fading, but I’m spending little time outside in the sun and most of the time I’m wearing a woolly hat if I am – so I can’t comment on it’s protection abilities. I’ve quite often been wearing this with the Miracle Creator at the same time (more on that at a moment) and my hair has stayed really soft and smooth – I personally think the Miracle Creator is more responsible for delivering on smoothness. However, as a Shine Glaze, I think this delivers incredibly. Coloured hair often does look much shinier than natural hair, but I can tell on the days I use this just how shiny and glossy my hair does look. Particularly if I pair this with curled style my hair looks so healthily-shiny.

Treating as a leave-in conditioner I simply pop a healthy blob in my palm and run ear down through my hair, I have found for me if I get this too close to the root it tends to not help with how quickly my roots start looking greasy – although that’s the same for almost every styling product on the market that isn’t a dry shampoo!

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Matrix Haircare – Miracle Creator Multi-Tasking Treatment

Full Size £11.75

A spray-in treatment with a bold claim of doing 20 different things to your hair at once, now whilst I will happily argue that this is a great hair product – they’ve really stretched those claims out where you’d normally combine at least four of them into synonymic-term! But before we come to that, the scent of this is lovely, it’s an almond and coconut fragrance, but for me, it leans much towards the almond giving me sweet vibes that do leave a soft fragrance in the hair after drying. I spritz this through the mid-lengths to ends of my hair, it’s quite a creamy and thick liquid and whilst the spritzer is good at getting product out, I like to make sure I comb and brush through to get this even throughout – the nature of this texture just doesn’t seem to apply perfectly even.

I do find with this it’s effortless to over-apply – there seems to be a fine balance between one spritz too many with this product and it can turn my hair from beautifully smooth and glossy to heavy and weighed down. Similarly – I find that pairing with the Keep Me Vivid is a bit much for my hair at once, however drier and coarser hairs may benefit from this, my hair which gets oily quickly I have to be careful to not overload my hair.

It’s 20 claims are *takes a deep breath*;
Heat protector, leave-in conditioner, improves manageability, primes hair for styling, corrects roughness, shields hair against external aggressors, anti-frizz, evens out porosity, reduces dryness, adds moisture, conditions lightly, boosts shine, controls flyaways, prevents split ends, softens hair for an easier blow-dry, minimises damage and breakage, smooths the hair cuticle to prevent brush damage.

For me, Reduces dryness, adds moisture, leave-in conditioner, conditions lightly are all one claim – it conditions your hair. The same repetitive claims apply to reducing damage. Now whilst it might seem like I’m slightly shitting on how much it’s over-egging itself, it really is a good all in one styling product. My hair looks glossy, feels smooth and stays pretty tamed and frizz free when I use this. It’s an excellent product and one I really enjoy using thanks to the lovely almond scent.

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Matrix Total Results – Dark Envy Shampoo

Full Size £11.75

So this was the product I wasn’t meant to get, but in fact, ended up suiting me very well on the move to being a dark brunette for the first time in many years. I’ve been well acquainted with blonde shampoos and treatments over the past 10 years, and I can’t remember the last time being brunette feeling like.

Without boring too much on my past knowledge from wanting and working in hairdressers, Brown is a way more complex colour than people often expect it to be – a good brown will have a mix of pigments balancing out the undertone and for me, I wanted to keep things deep but also neutral. Many dark browns will have quite a red undertone which becomes more prominent with washing and the hair becomes warmer toned with washing. This shampoo is designed to balance out that redness and keep the hair leaning more neutral.

I squeezed this out on my hand for the first time to take these photos and was wowed that it was almost black. After taking the photo I went to wash my hands (it couldn’t have been on my hand for more than about 45 seconds) – and woah this stains quickly!

When I introduced this into my shower, I did so with quite a bit of trepidation – leaving it on my hair for only a short space of time and building up to it staying on my hair for a minute or two. Like most colour correcting shampoos, this doesn’t lather like a good moisturising shampoo and drip out your hair, but it does in the perfect amount to cover the hair evenly. I don’t need to use this every time I wash my hair, but I’ve found every 2-3 times has kept the tone of my hair perfectly balanced. This bottle will last me forever, it goes a long way and I think (if I stay dark for this long!) that it could be in my shower for well over a year!

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My hair after a soft blowdry using the Miracle Treatment and Dark Envy Shampoo

3 Weeks Later  – Using Miracle Creator to Style

You can pick up the Matrix Haircare line at Look Fantastic here (affiliate link) – the line is currently all discounted and makes the products an even better price than I have listed here which is the full RRP. If you know someone who is into good quality haircare but you don’t want to break the bank, there are some excellent value sets on sale for under £20 that would make perfect Secret Santa, Stocking Fillers or smaller gifts.

Have you tried anything from Matrix Haircare before?

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