New treatment for in-dire-straits hair

CREAM Silk’s newest endorser Georgina Wilson

Women with straightened or rebonded hair know the dilemma too well. You come out of the salon after a straightening treatment with the softest, frizz-free hair only to wake up a couple of months (or even weeks!) later with a permanent bad-hair day that refuses to respond to the  most expensive shampoos and conditioners. In your desperation, you go back to the salon to literally straighten the situation out, and the cycle starts all over again.

Cream Silk may have a more sustainable solution for you. In a recent product launch hosted by RJ Ledesma and the brand’s newest celebrity endorser, Georgina Wilson, at 7th High in Bonifacio Global City, Unilever launched Perfection by Cream Silk, its latest product line designed for women with chemically treated straightened hair.

Unilever executives Vic Gutierrez and Anna Mangilin described the product as a breakthrough in hair science. Unlike ordinary hair conditioners, Perfection by Cream Silk  was formulated using “Keratinology.”

Said to be 1,000 times smaller than nano technology, Keratinology enables the product to penetrate up to three layers of the hair strand and weave its way into the tiniest cracks to help gradually revive and restore straightened hair from roots to tips, making it shinier, softer and full-bodied.

Stressed tresses

ORNUSSA Cadness and Phoemela Baranda

“A growing number of Filipinas today love to go to salons and have hair treatments meant to straighten, relax or rebond their tresses,” said Gutierrez. “Over time, these treatments destroy the hair, making hair strands as dull and as lifeless as broomsticks. This product line was developed  for them.”

Perfection by Cream Silk comes in a range of products that you either leave on or rinse off: Full-bodied Straight Daily Treatment Conditioner, Intensive Treatment Mask, Instant Frizz Control Leave On, and Detangling Spray.

“We still carry older variants of Cream Silk,” Mangilin clarified. “This line is for women with specialized needs because they regularly have their hair straightened.”

VICTOR Basa and Divine Lee

Gutierrez also pointed out that perhaps no brand knows the hair-care needs of Filipino women better than Cream Silk. Unlike its competitors, the brand was conceived and made in the Philippines for Filipinos.

“We understand Filipino women’s needs because we really talk to them,” he said. “Through the years, Cream Silk has become the most trusted brand of conditioner in the Philippines. It is sold abroad, but we export it from here.”

Unilever’s headquarters is in London, but the multinational company also has research centers in Bangkok, Shanghai and Manila. If the total hair market in the Philippines is worth P25 billion, said Mangilin, 45 percent of that comes from sales of hair conditioner.

“We honestly don’t know how long it took Unilever to develop this latest product,” she said. “Our huge research and development team work on these things, and it’s a continuous process. Each breakthrough comes from what we’ve learned through the years. It’s not like we invented Perfection by Cream Silk from scratch.”

Unlike when they have their hair regularly straightened, users are in no danger of “over-conditioning” it with Perfection by Cream Silk. It’s designed not to “weigh down” their crowning glory.

REGINE Chung, Katrina Espe, Erika Raffai and Kaiyir Trinidad PHOTOS BY JIM GUIAO PUNZALAN

“In fact, the more you condition your straightened hair, the more it becomes beautiful,” said Mangilin. “Since the objective is to nourish your hair, the product is not designed to be harsh. It’s meant to bring back you hair’s natural luster.”

The premium product line is a bit more expensive than Cream Silk’s regular line. But it’s probably a small price to pay to resurrect hair that has flatlined from being chemically pummeled once too often.

Read more...