Like the gift of the Magi on a particularly cold winter morning, these three beauties arrived at my doorstep for testing. Now, I’ve always been a huge fan of Redken’s styling products, from the Aereate texturizer to the Glass 01 Smoothing Serum.

But these three new products really go the extra mile in volumizing and texturizing your hair. If you want seriously JERSEY GIRL hair, then these products should really belong in your closet.

These textures are inspired by looks straight from the runway, and if you’re hair has felt flat and limp and lifeless as a dead fish or just plain unruly (like the bully from school), then you should be yelling Hail Mary when you’ve tried these products.

Velvet Gelatine 07 Cushioned Blow Dry Gel takes limp and lifeless hair to seriously volumized heights. It’s a gel that cushions your hair; use a small dime size amount for an airy and bouncy effect.

Once you’ve finished blow drying and volumizing your hair, then texturize it, bad-ass style! I love the Wool Shake 08 which is a gel-slush texturizer that transforms flat hair into something va, va voom. This texturizer is basically the genie in Aladdin’s lamp: if you want piecey hair, you can have it. If you want serious texture, you can layer this gel in several layers to get a look that even Adam Lambert will envy. I used a touch of it to recreate this look.

The final texturizing product is the matte sponge 05 rugged texturizer that transforms the look of hair from dull to drab. This is for seriously roughed up, tough, biker-chick look for a defining fringe.

(more…)

I have to say that I absolutely adore this product: the new REDKEN Aerate 08 is a stiff paste that you apply to towel-dry or damp hair and then blow dry to get amazing volume.

Check out this picture!

Directions: Take a dime size amount of the Redken Aerated Cream-Mousse and then apply it all over hair, then using a tourmaline blow dryer, blow dry hair from the roots all the way to the tips (actually the best thing is to leave the tips alone, since they become brittle from blow drying anyway).

All I used was a smidgen to get star-powered volume.If you want to add curls, like the picture below, then use a curling iron after blow drying the hair with Redken:

Product: Redken Aerate 08 Bodifying Cream Mousse. You can get this at drugstores and online.

I do love my straight hair. Except that it’s not really straight — it’s wavy. No surprise really, since my mom has hair that’s curlier than a honeysuckle tendril.

But since I won’t do Japanese Keratin treatments, I’m always on the prowl for products that will “de-wave” my straight hair. And thankfully, this quest led me to Redken’s Sheer straight and Align 12 Straightening Lotion.

The Align 12 is a protective straightening lotion for medium hair. Its sole mission is to protect and defrizz and tame unruly hair, and it offers heat protection for your strands through its fortifying xylose and glucose sugars.

All you have to do is to rub the Align 12 to your damp hair, blow dry it (and this alone will give you hair that’s much much straighter and tamer than your natural locks) but the real beauty is using a flat iron after this for results that would put any Japanese Keratin treatment to shame.

The same thing pretty much goes for the Redken Sheer Straight 06 Gel except its for fine hair instead of medium hair. This gel features the exclusive Straight-Out complex, as well as Coconut and olive oils that act as conditioners and moisturizers.

We heart.