muk Spa

A few years ago I discovered argan oil and and fell for its ability to smooth, hydrate and essentially tame the beast — my frizzy hair.

Then I made a few life-changing decisions and with those changes, my hair reacted. It fell out. Not in clumps, but enough to scare the crap out of me; I went from having a lot of fine, frizzy hair to not much. It was stressful, I shed a lot of tears because I couldn’t pinpoint what triggered the great fallout of 2010. It happened in stages too, at first it fell out fast and furious and then things would go dormant for a few months; this vicious cycle went on for close to 18 months.

For a while I stopped noticing the frizz, lost my confidence and ceased caring about myself. I didn’t truly grasp how much my hair meant to me until I saw dozens and dozens of strands circle the drain, clutter the basin and tango on the floor. For hours, or so it seemed, I would stare in the mirror, focussing on my hairline and wondered how much I lost that particular day.

Before moving to Australia I was diagnosed with telogen effluvium, basically my hair growth entered a state of rest, thus pronouncing the increase in hair loss. Telogen effluvium effects women post-pregnancy; it’s also linked to maintaining a poor diet or caused by abnormal stressor(s). For over a year I’ve been fighting hard to keep the hair on my head by eating better and exercising regularly. As for the great hair care products, they’ve helped to nurture the strands that stuck by me through thick and thin. I also stopped staring at my head, which helped calm my nerves and ease my worries.

Now that my head of hair is almost back to normal, I’ve been open to trying new things like blowouts, braids and hair chalk. Recently muk haircare, a Melbourne-based company, released muk Spa — a haircare range dedicated to making your hair beautiful from the inside out. Coming off the back of two years spent on research and development, muk aspired to fuse nature and technology; their efforts yielded five products sans “sulfates, phosphates, mineral oil, parabens and contains no added sodium chloride.” Now I’m not a chemist, but I think the reduction in serious sounding ingredients is enough to not make my hair jump out of my scalp in fear.

muk Spa Argan Oil Repair Conditioner (left) and Shampoo (right)

I’ve always been a firm believer in washing my hair daily and it’s a habit I don’t see myself breaking any time soon. For the past three weeks I’ve been using muk’s Argan Oil shampoo and conditioner daily; using this duo has proven to be too much for my hair — the one, two punch of shampoo and conditioner weighs my hair down and leaves it feeling not as clean as I would like. Going forward I can see myself using the shampoo every other day and the conditioner will continue to be a daily staple. The plastic bottle with pump dispenser gets a major thumbs-up in my book.

muk Spa Argan Oil Repair Mask

Currently their best-seller, muk’s Argan Oil Repair mask serves as a drink of water for your hair. After you’ve shampooed your hair, towel dry the hair, then apply the mask from roots to ends and comb to evenly distribute the product. To intensify the treatment, wrap your hair in cellophane or a towel to trap the heat. Make sure you allow the mask to sit on the hair for 10 to 20 minutes and then style as usual. I have yet to try the mask out for the simple fact that I don’t think my hair needs it.

muk Spa Argan Oil Treatment (left) and Shine Spray (right)

Ahh, muk’s Argan Oil Treatment, my favourite product out of the bunch, however, can we talk about the packaging for a moment? It’s annoying, awkward, unwieldy and I despise that it’s made out of glass. I don’t feel inclined to pop this in my shower kit or even dare take it on a long haul. The dropper is too long, has a tendency to dispense too much product and when it’s time to recap, I manage to scrape excess product on the lip of the bottle. The end result: the exterior of the bottle is coated with product — I’m not sure if the bottle is going to eventually float away in a pool of its own oil or there’s going to be one off-morning when the bottle will inevitably slip out of my hand. Good-bye pinky toe. For those far more coordinated in the early morning, simply squeeze a few drops in the palm of your hand, rub your hands together and smooth over your hair.

The great thing about the Argan Oil Treatment is it can be used prior to styling as a way to protect your hair or used to finish for additional conditioning and solar protection. If you were to buy one thing from muk, the Argan Oil Treatment is it.

The Argan Oil Shine Spray is similar in principle to the Argan Oil Treatment, except it’s the diet version. Spray on and style. Perfect for fine or curly hair. The spray bottle is glass as well, you’ve been warned.

My hair after using muk Spa for three days

The Bagful breakdown:

Total amount for muk Spa’s Argan Oil Haircare range:

• Argan Oil Repair Shampoo, Conditioner & Mask – $26.95/each
• Argan Oil Repair Shine Spray & Treatment – $34.95/each

Value for money spent (performance and quality):

• A tad expensive, switch out the glass packaging in order to bring down the price.

Would another purchase be on the horizon?:

• Currently testing out muk’s Style Stick 230-IR – review to follow.

*PR sample provided –  Thoughts and ramblings written here are completely my own.