"One-Of-A-Kind" Hair Care With Prose

For some of us, this quarantine happened around the time we were due for a hair service. I was supposed to get my balayage touched up this month (May) but it looks like I will go when it is deemed safe and when I deem it safe to go back to the salon. Until then, good hair care is in order. I have always been into hair products and when I worked at the salon, it only amped up my obsession. For the past couple of years, I have been using Biolage and Oribe, which I absolutely love! To add to my hair care collection, I decided to give Prose a try.

Prose is a personalized hair care system that offers "One-Of-A-Kind" hair care curated just for your hair type. In order to formulate hair care that is personalized, they begin with a consultation asking you questions about your hair type and areas you want to target, what type of environment you live in, and the potential damage that is inflicted on your hair. You even get to pick your fragrance. The fragrance I picked is Corsica, named for the Mediterranean island of Corse. The best way I can describe it is what you would imagine those deep blue seas to smell like, a little salty air, a little fruity (from the pear), a hint of cedar wood and florals. It is a gorgeous scent that keeps your hair smelling beautiful days after a wash.

Speaking of washing, how often do you wash your hair? I wash mine when it starts to look a little oily on the roots, so I would say every 3-5 days. Since the coronavirus, I have been washing my hair after each shift. I know it doesn't linger in the air but it can linger on surfaces and my hair is a surface. This means that lately I have been washing my hair more often than I usually do. I just got some scrub caps from Blue Sky Scrubs yesterday, so that will help protect my hair during my shifts so I don't have to wash it three days in a row every week.

When you receive your Prose order, you get a little packet of papers that tells you what key ingredients they used in your shampoo and conditioner according to the questions you answered in the consultation. What's also super cute is that the bottles say your name!

These papers even tell you when your shampoo and conditioner were bottled and when they are used best by; this ensures the freshness and quality of their product.
My shampoo and conditioner were bottled on April 28th, 2020 and it is best by July 28th, 2020.
The key ingredients used in my shampoo:

• Plant collagen, lilac, and hyaluronic acid for fiber repair 
• Arginine, pea, and quinoa proteins for heat protection 
• Professional polymer for curl definition 
• Jujube bark extract for scalp cleansing
• Professional silicone for a conditioning agent
• Vitamine F forte for a revitalizer 

The key ingredients in my conditioner: 

• Apple vinegar and caviar lime for a shine activator
• Fermented rice water for smoothing
• Silk proteins for cuticle nutrition
• Plant collagen, lilac, and hyaluronic acid for fiber repair
• Professional silicone for a conditioning agent
• Professional polymer for curl definition. 

Did a couple of those ingredients raise an eyebrow? I want to explain these ingredients a little more in-depth. Prose's products are sulfate-free and gentle on hair in order to not strip the hair of it's natural oils and prevent breakage. Sulfates are salts that result when a sulfuric acid (a thick mineral oil) reacts with another chemical. So really, a sulfate is a synthetic salt byproduct of two chemicals reacting with each other. Simply, it's a detergent and it can be harsh on skin and hair. 

What does Prose use instead? Organic compounds that are biodegradable and are much milder on skin and hair. On the cards that Prose includes with your order, they disclose every single ingredient used in the making of your shampoo and conditioner! These biodegradable derivatives are named Sodium lauroyl methyl isethionate and sodium methyl oleoyl taurate. They sound scary and very similar to sodium laurel sulfate but are far more gentle on your skin and hair. 

The professional silicone and polymers that Prose uses helps condition and protect your hair from the elements, such as heat, humidity, wind and pollution. Silicones have a bad reputation for building up on and weighing down your hair and to be honest, even the most professional, salon-grade shampoos and conditioners can build up if that is the shampoo and conditioner you solely use. In my experience, keeping a few different shampoos and conditioners in your shower and rotating them out can help prevent that build up. Dimethicone is the ingredient you will see Prose use, which is an organic compound, it's non-toxic, and protective for your hair. 

I am appreciative of the professional silicone and professional polymer protecting my hair because living in the South brings on some epic humidity during the Summer months. We have already been experiencing some humidity and my hair has been kept smooth, bouncy, and easy to style thanks to Prose.

In addition to the ingredients cards that Prose provides, they also include your consultation results. These results help them formulate your shampoo and conditioner to target those problem areas. My consultation results included: 

• Environmental factors my hair is exposed to (according to my zip code):
• UV rays ..... 80%
• Water ......... 20%
• Pollution .... 40%
• Humidity ... 100%
• Wind .......... 20%
• Hair and Scalp Needs
• Flakes ......... 65%
• Sebum ........ 10%
• Volume ....... 32%
• Damage ...... 100% (from styling)
• Dryness ....... 61%
• Hair Goals
• More Shine
• More smoothness
• Curl definition 

Now, these results don't mean that these are the stats of my hair. These are areas that I want to target in order to prevent or enhance. When it told me "Damage ... 100%", I knew my hair wasn't 100% damaged but it has 100% potential of being damaged because I answered yes to using hot tools, my hair services include bleach, and I get my hair done several times throughout the year. Prose formulated my shampoo and conditioner to lessen that damage. 

Now that I have tried Prose's specially curated shampoo and conditioner, I am excited to try their other products. Some people collect stamps, some people collect marbles or baseball cards, I collect hair products. Between my Oribe collection and now my Prose collection, I will soon be called The Crazy Hair Product Lady. 

If you are wanting to give Prose a try, visit their website and begin your consultation. That is the first step in getting your personalized hair care.