Review // L'Oreal Steam Pod

Hello guys! I have a real treat for you today, if you suffer from thick, frizzy or lacklustre hair and can't go a day without your GHDs or will protect your hair at all costs against the elements then this could be your hair saviour and THE END of bad hair days!

Now a bit of my hair background, I have suffered from chronically frizzy hair for the majority of my life, you wouldn't believe I had hardly any hair until I was 3 or 4! My hair is mid length but ultra thick. Now it wouldn't be a problem to have thick hair if it was naturally straight or curly, but unfortunately (as you will soon see, gulp!), mine is a cross between Monica from Friends when she goes to Barbados, Anne Hathaway in The Princess Diaries and Chewbacca.

Every time I wash my hair, I will probably spend 20 minutes washing, 20 minutes drying and 70 minutes straightening, if I want to curl my hair I have to straighten first then curl, so add another 60 minutes on top. That's up to 3 hours to wash and style my hair!!! Now I have better things to do with my time then have to go through this process 2 times a week, so the amount of time I spend doing my hair is ridiculous and laborious! I'm always envious of people who have naturally beautiful hair that's never out of place when I spend hours doing mine for it to go fluffy and horrible at the slightest hint of rain or humidity, which usually results in me touching up my hair with my GHDs every day.

I thought GHDs were the best thing I would ever get for my hair, don't get me wrong they are good, but I have to use them so much my hair looks over processed and as my boyfriend always says 'has a burnt hair smell'. As my hair is so thick it can handle the heat, but it just doesn't look nice, smooth and glossy.

My latest trip to the hairdressers resulted me sitting having my hair blow dried within an inch of it's life, producing so much smoke and steam they had to open the fire doors to prevent the alarms going off (a regular embarrassment for me). The owner of the salon came over to me and said 'instead of going through all this, would you like to try the steam pod treatment?' Now, you might be asking yourself 'what the hell is a steam pod?'

This is a Steam pod

Let me tell, you I was THAT amazed by the results, that I had to put an order in for the home version straight away (slightly smaller 'pod', but apart from that the same). L'Oreal and Rowenta (manufacturers of irons no less, you will understand why later) have joined forces to produce the Steam Pod, the latest innovation in hairstyling.

 This is 'The Pod', the top slides out and you fill it up with demineralised water (like an iron!) and slot it back in, the water is then filtered through a pro-keratin cartridge and the keratin infused water is converted into purified steam.

This is the head of the straightening iron, the purified steam that is infused with Keratin is then pumped through from the pod into the straightener and goes deep down into your hair as you straighten, keeping it hydrated without damaging your hair like conventional straighteners. There is also a de-tangling comb to help smooth out your hair before it is run over the straightening plates.The temperature of the steam pod can vary from 170-210c, so it is suitable for all hair types, not just hopeless cases like me! The injection of steam into your hair before it runs through the plates means you will find your hair is styled a hell of a lot quicker than with GHDs trust me!

Now I'm going to show you pictures of my hair styling process with the steam pod (try not to laugh too much). Below is a picture of me with just washed hair, you would never know that once it dries it turns into an actual nightmare!

Now here's the money shot, here is me having just blow dried my hair, and yes, this is my actual hair, I haven't backcombed or plumped my hair up, I wish it was just that! But no, this is the hair I was blessed with, hopefully you will now understand why I really suffer with my hair! As you can see there is no way I can just leave it like that and why I have to spend hours trying to tame it.

As you can see, my hair is very unruly, has no style whatsoever apart from sticking out in any direction it pleases. It literally looks like a witches wig, you can see why I need all the help I can get, and I've finally found my hair saviour!

The steam pod is really simple to use, when you turn it on it will illuminate and you are able to choose your temperature setting. It takes about 90 seconds to heat up and you will hear the steam starting to come out of the straightener, it will sound exactly like an iron! then, with the steam jets and comb facing downwards, section your hair and straighten like normal! you will constantly hear the steam jets making noise, that just means it's working! run the steam pod slowly down your hair to allow the steam to evenly penetrate your hair and give it a burst of shine and hydration.

As you can see, even with just one run of the steam pod on a section of my hair, it is already poker straight and super shiny! Usually I would have to run the GHDs 4 or 5 times over my hair and I would often have to go back to it later on to do it again, so I am super impressed that the steam pod can do it all in one and make my hair look more healthy and shiny than GHDs ever did with my hair. 

Do you want to see the finished result?

Tadahh!!

As you can see from the pictures, my hair looks healthy, shiny and full of life! Even though my hair looks super straight, it doesn't look like it's been overworked, my hair actually looks natural for once in it's life! What's even better is it took me just 30 minutes to straighten my hair, that's right, instead of over an hour that it usually takes me with my GHDs, it took me under half the time with the Steam Pod and my hair looks 100 times healthier and sleeker which is absolutely amazing!! I never thought i would see my hair look this nice and it makes me so happy to think I don't have to have a bad hair day ever again! The cherry on the cake is the price, the L'Oreal  home Steam Pod costs only £150! I think it is worth the money ten times over considering how luscious and smooth it will make your hair look without damaging it.

Here is me this afternoon after a day of work, usually I would have tied my hair up in embarrassment from it's unruly and fluffy state but my hair still looks like I've stepped out of the salon!

 It looks flawless and glossy and requires no touching up from straighteners, all that's in my hair is a little bit of oil, no hairspray, no heavy pastes or gels and there are no flyaways or frizz!

I really do believe that the Steam Pod is the next big thing in hairstyling and that you should all be heading down to your nearest salon to order one! Trust me if it can work on my hair, just imagine what it can do to yours! For £150, you could have salon styled hair everyday! Check out the L'Oreal Professionnel website for more information, but hopefully you won't need much more persuading! Hopefully if anyone has problem hair like mine, this will have finally answered all your prayers for glossy, perfect hair!

If anyone has experience with the steam pod or any frizz treatments that work wonders then leave a comment!

Amie xx

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Labels: bad hair day , beauty , frizz , frizzy , GHDs , glossy , hair , hairdressers , hairstyling , healthy hair , incredible , keratin , L'Oreal , problem hair , review , salon treatments , steam pod , straighteners