System Professional is a new professional hair care brand from the Wella group that I got to learn more about at a recent launch. The line’s pretty extensive so to figure out which will suit you best your hair dresser will use an app that asks a series of questions in a bid to assess your hair’s requirements.

Each product has an abbreviated name consisting of a letter and number so the product prescription you end up with gets strung together to act as your hair’s unique ‘energy code’. It’s not exactly groundbreaking stuff as many brands ‘diagnose’ then put together a ‘prescription’ but I appreciate the fact that System Professional acknowledges that many people, myself included, like to mix things up. Just because I use a shampoo volumising shampoo doesn’t mean I want to use the matching conditioner.

Anyway, System Professional’s recommended energy code for my hair turned out to be V1 R2 H3 L5.

I’ve really enjoyed using the Volumize shampoo (R325). I was worried it would ‘strip’ my hair, as many volumising shampoo’s do, but it didn’t. It did a great job of cleansing but didn’t leave my hair ‘squeaking’.

Interestingly, the volumising line doesn’t have a conditioner linked to it, just a weekly mask, so I got my conditioner from repair line – Repair conditioner (R385) – and that suited me just fine. As I colour my hair and use a hot styling tool regularly it was important to me that I have something repairitive in the mix. Also, if given the choice, I’d rather using a repairing conditioner as opposed to a shampoo because conditioners generally have a higher concentration of the ingredients doing the fortifying (in this case a dash of hydrolized keratin) and better penetrate your hair than a shampoo.

I really enjoy using this guy too. I like that it doesn’t confuse hair in need of repair as being dry (the two conditions aren’t always mutually exclusive) so my hair isn’t left feeling limp or over conditioned when I’m done. Just these two products alone give me what I need. Hair that’s clean and conditioned and soft to the touch but still with a bit of swish.

As far as the Hydrate mask (R495) goes I liked this too. My hair isn’t really dry (I have to wash it every single day) and in retrospect I should probably have asked for the repairing mask. My baby fine, fragile hair can never have enough keratin. But I liked that how, after using it, my hair was super soft to the touch and easier to brush while wet. It did leave it feeling ever so slightly weighed down, however, so when I use it again I’ll focus on just the lengths.

As far as the Keratin Boost Essence goes this didn’t work out for me. The finest hairs in my crown section turn into a nightmare of tangles after each wash so I religiously reach for a light spray conditioner to use on that area only for detangling purposes. I know this contains yet more keratin but I also expected it to have a detangling action and it doesn’t as it kind of feels like plain old water which doesn’t serve up any ‘slip’.

While the ‘essence’ was a miss, the volumising shampoo and conditioner are fab and I can happily recommend them as a winning combo for anyone dealing with fine, ever so slightly damaged hair.

Love, love

Leigh

Update: While I wasn’t aware of it at the time, I’ve since learned that System Professional have a Hydrating quenching mist (essentially a fancy name for spray-con) and I suspect that would’ve been a better bet than the Keratin Boost Essence. In a way, it goes to show that using a tool isn’t always a failsafe way to figure things out. Fortunately, if you’re buying in a salon you’re not limited to what it prescribes. The trained hair dresser on hand will also put in their two cents worth and make adjustments so you leave with an ‘energy code’ that translates to happy, healthy-looking hair.