You know when you're sitting in a stylist's chair and right before they start your blowout, they ask whether you use heat-protectant spray at home? It's in this moment that I pause…and confidently nod yes, even though we both know it's not true. Nope, my hair is dry, frizzy, and terribly split at the ends—shout-out to my faded highlights, last summer's keratin treatment, and years of overstyling without the right tools or hair-care products.
It's not that I don't want to use anything before styling (I know I need to), but I've never had the patience (or discipline) to regularly use a stand-alone product that wasn't giving any payoff. That's partly because I don't have just dry hair. I have the kind of thick, frizzy hair that could probably be doused in a bottle of Olaplex No. 7 and still be broomstick-dry. (Okay, that's maybe a touch dramatic.)
Hair oils do help with shine and hair masks do help nourish my chemically treated waves, but no styling product or leave-in treatment has been able to deliver same-day results and switch up my habits quite as fast or as drastically as Hair Rituel by Sisley's The Cream 230. One word: wow.
Hair Rituel by Sisley's The Cream 230 is a heat-protectant cream that can be used before styling, as a leave-in conditioner after showering—or both. The cream has a smooth, lightweight texture that folds into hair seamlessly, leaving no white, sticky residue behind in my hair (or on my hands after washing). The formula is packed with nourishing botanicals and a proprietary blend that the brand calls Complex 230. (Hence the name.) The product is activated through heat and is meant to protect hair from styling tools up to 450°F. This is ideal for me since I tend to use the highest possible settings on all my styling tools since my thick, wavy will take hours to dry otherwise.
I've been using the product for a few weeks now—typically one or two pumps—and have applied it on damp hair after shampooing and conditioning, as well as on dry hair the day after washing. I've even reapplied to semi-sweaty hair after working out when I needed to smooth out frizz and touch up the waves in the front with a quickie blowout. (Even with several layers of product in my hair at this point, adding in more cream didn't make my hair feel or look overly greasy.)
The best results I got were after smoothing into it to damp hair and then blow-drying after letting my hair air-dry about 80%. My hair was bouncy, soft, and supremely shiny—results I'm normally used to seeing only after a professional blowout. My own work lasted throughout the next day and even looked good after an hour-long yoga class. Impressed? Same. (My fellow Glamour Beauty Awards judges agree: Sisley's The Cream won Best Leave-In Treatment this year.)
At $105, it's definitely the most expensive hair-care product in my arsenal—but it works some kind of magic to make my hair look as shiny and bouncy (the kind you just want to constantly run your fingers through), which makes it so worth the price. At 5.1 oz., I'm also getting a lot of product—and with sparing use, I know I'll have it for the entire year. Besides, if you add up all the other $25 styling lotions and sprays I've relegated to the unknown parts of my vanity, the price is easily justified.
The next time I'm sitting in a stylist's chair, I know exactly what to say when they ask whether I use a heat-protectant spray—and this time we'll both know my answer is not a little white lie, but Hair Rituel by Sisley's The Cream 230.
Want more from Glamour? Check these out:
- The Best Curly Hair Products of 2022
- The Best Products for Straight Hair of 2022
- The Best Products for Wavy Hair of 2022
Talia Abbas is the commerce editor at Glamour. Follow her on Instagram @_taliaabbas.
