Beauty Staple Spotlight: Beauty Protector Protect & Detangle | Hello Pretty Bird! - A beauty and not-so-glamorous lifestyle blog

06 April, 2015

Beauty Staple Spotlight: Beauty Protector Protect & Detangle

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Do you have any "invisible products" in your beauty routine? I don't mean some sort of otherworldly ghost mascara—rather products that you use so often, you kind of forget about them until it's time to replace them. As a blogger I often mention my most-used products as a reference point in describing new products, but it's sort of rare that I actually get a chance to elaborate on why they became essential for me in the first place. Over the next couple of months or so I'll be shining a little spotlight on my most-used (but lesser-discussed) beauty staples. First up: Beauty Protector's Protect & Detangle.

Beauty Protector Protect & Detangle spray bottle

If you subscribe to Birchbox chances are you've seen (and probably tried) this product before, but for those who don't, here's the lowdown: Protect & Detangle is a multi-purpose hair mist that's designed to condition, shield from heat damage, and detangle (of course). I primarily use this as a detangler so I'll be talking about it mainly in that context.

Product description from Birchbox.com:
"We tend to gravitate toward products that have as many functions as Imelda Marcos has pairs of shoes. (Okay, that may be a slight exaggeration.) Beauty Protector’s leave-in mist is about as versatile as they come. It conditions, shields from heat and sun damage, and–of course–detangles, among other things. Plus, it’s 100% vegan and suitable for all hair types."

What's a haircare product description without an Imelda Marcos joke? Oh Birchbox, you're so wacky.

Ingredients:
Water/Aqua/Eau, SD Alcohol 40 (Alcohol Denat), Behentrimonium Methosulfate, Cetrimonium Chloride, Fragrance/Parfum, Cetearyl Alcohol, Amodimethicone, Cyclomethicone, Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein, Panthenol, Trideceth 12, Sodium Benzoate, Methylisothiazolinone, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Courmarin, Hexyl Cinnamal, Linalool, Limonene.

These are all common haircare ingredients. The only thing I don't like about this formulation is how high up in the list Alcohol Denat is. Denatured alcohol is a common ingredient in hairsprays and the like for a couple of reasons, namely: One, it acts as a preservative, and two, it evaporates quickly. The problem is that it can be kind of drying, which is why I don't typically use this product as a heat-styling protectant. But as a post-shower detangler when I'm air-drying my hair, it does the trick quite nicely and doesn't seem to cause any ill effects.

Pricing/availability:

Beauty Protector Protect & Detangle is available in an 8oz bottle, which retails for $21.95. Alternatively, you can purchase the Beauty Protector Jet Set kit (which contains 2oz samples of various products) for $22.95. The Beauty Protector brand is exclusive to Birchbox, but if you're industrious you can probably get ahold of a mini bottle through sample swapping sites or eBay.

Beauty Protector Protect & Detangle

The texture of Protect & Detangle is thick and a bit slippery. Speaking of which, here's an important usage tip: You may need to attempt spritzing many, many times before product actually comes out of the nozzle, so don't give up. This is also true with the sample sizes—when I first got mine I thought the bottle was broken, but as it turned out I just needed to attempt spritzing for about two solid minutes, after which the product flowed freely. YMMV.

As mentioned above, I primarily use Protect & Detangle as a detangler. My route is as such: I wash my hair, towel dry to remove excess moisture, and spritz about four or five times on various spots on my head, then gently run my fingers through my hair to distribute the product. After that, it's extremely easy to comb or brush. My hair is prone to tangling up into horrifying knots the second it gets wet, so I really appreciate how well this stuff works with just a few sprays. My hair texture is on the fine side though, so if you have extremely thick or dense hair you may need more.

Now, there other detangling sprays that perform about as well as this one does but are slightly cheaper, so why do I keep purchasing Protect & Detangle? It has, without a question, the most delicious scent I've ever encountered in a haircare product. Seriously, it's like someone baked angel food cake into your hair. I've yet to find another detangler that comes even close in terms of fragrance, so I think it's worth paying a little extra for something that smells positively delightful.

So I guess that roughly explains why I love and continue to use Beauty Protector Protect & Detangle so much. I do think there are other products out there that are better suited for heat styling if you're trying to be extra-careful about protecting your hair, but as an everyday detangler, it's hard to beat. (CAKE!!!) I'm not sure if it would be a great match for extremely dry and coarse or extremely oily hair types, but if you're somewhere in-between, I think it's worth a try. Especially if you're a Birchbox member and have points to burn.


Have you tried Beauty Protector Protect & Detangle? What do you look for in a detangler or heat protection spray?


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10 comments:

  1. I haven't used detangler in so long but I really should! My hair is long and gets a bunch of knots. you sold me on angel food cake smelling hair product!

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  2. The scent is no joke. I think that's the main reason most people love Beauty Protector!

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  3. I've never tried this, but it sounds like a great product. My hair needs a few products to keep it from getting out of control, so maybe I need to give this a try. It might be worth a try for the scent alone!

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  4. The scent is really delightful! I would probably use this as a hair perfume even if it didn't have any detangling benefits.

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  5. This is one of my holy grail detanglers. Smells amazing, works like a charm, and I feel like it helps protect it, too.

    xo Brianna | Glazed Over

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  6. I loooooooove Beauty Protector! I use the Protect & Detangle too and I love how it smells. I use it mostly as a heat protectant.

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  7. The scent is so delicious. I got samples of their shampoo once in Birchbox, but the spray is just so much more aromatic.

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  8. Ok the Protect and Detangle is a MUST. HAVE. It's already absurdly high priced but I would spend double that amount if I had to- that's how much I love it! I've been using it for so long that I stopped seeing a difference in my hair and decided to skip on buying my 4th bottle and trying some of the other hair products I had in my collection. That lasted about a week and then I ordered another P&D because I noticed how my hair started getting more damaged and dry-looking. I will never be without it again!

    ALSO! A tip to get the product to come out SUPER fast when you buy a new bottle! Unscrew the sprayer and lift it out an inch or two and start pumping it. For some reason, when the bottle is open and there's airflow, the pump starts to work almost immediately. It's worked every time for me!

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  9. Thanks for the tip! I will definitely try that next time. I never gave up hope on my darling Beauty Protector, but I saw some comments on the Birchbox page that were like "Oh noez, broken bottle" so I just wanted to make sure folks knew not to give up right away!

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