When I first moved to Paris, my French friend told me I had to stop pronouncing "oui" the way I'd been taught in years of mandatory Canadian French classes. She told me directly that I sounded very nerdy. It shouldn't sound like "wee", she told me, but more like "way".
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Love the minimalist packaging ❤️
It's this French cool-girl pronunciation that inspired the name of celebrity hairstylist Jen Atkin's new product line, Ouai. Jen's the stylist behind the Kardashian's and Chrissy Teigen's amazing hair and I'd been seeing celebrities using it for months on snapchat and social media before it was available to all us normals. I would have bought the entire line if it would give me the same effortless waves her clients have but I started with the hair oil, the finishing cream and the treatment mask.
First of all, despite the fact that I worked in the beauty industry for a few years early in my career (marketing for beauty brands trade shows and product launches), I am totally inept at doing my own hair. I've never learned how to use a round brush, have no idea what most hair products are for, and I don't think I've ever used a curling iron without burning myself somewhere.
As you can see from the photo, less than a month in and I've already used half the oil. I reach for it when my hair is wet, to detangle and protect it before blowdrying or for smoothing down flyaways. It's a great hair oil and keeps my hair soft, but I probably won't repurchase and it's not worth buying if you already have something similar. When it runs out I'll be replacing with the cult favorite Moroccan oil instead which I think is a bit better on my hair.
Now, confession: I subscribe to the Kardashian apps. More than one of their apps, actually. On Khloe's recently she recommended applying the treatment mask before a workout, leaving it on for an hour and washing it out when you're done working out (or... sitting on the couch watching netflix). I *loved* this mask. I've been going blonder over the summer and my hair is definitely feeling dryer as a result. This brought it back to life and felt so smooth and soft for days after and it's made it into the weekly rotation for me.
TBH the finishing cream just confused me when I got it but I wanted it anyways. I didn't use a finishing cream before and wasn't sure what it was for. The package told me it would add "definition and separation to ends" and promised "model off-duty hair" (but wtf even is that, probably mostly just a ponytail). I didn't have much luck using it as recommended, and I found it just made my hair feel knotty and gritty. But, I had an a-ha moment when I worked it through my hair before tying it up in a bun and it was magical. Now I use it when I'm putting my hair up or in a braid and it keeps it all together, holds well, and makes it look thicker.
If you don't like strong scents you may want to pass on the whole collection, but personally I found the fragrance of the line to be totally ah-mazing. The main note is tiare flower, which smells like a coconutty gardenia and had me smelling hair hair all day. If Jen decides to add a perfume to the collection and I'll be first in line to buy.
So, I was mixed on the collection, but still want to try the wave spray and dry shampoo. And highly recommend following Jen Atkin on Snapchat for behind the scenes snaps of celebrities getting their hair styled: jenatkinhair
And, if you really want to sound like a cool French girl, you'll have to master "verlan" (look it up, and please try to explain it to me if you're French because I never mastered which words could be verlan-ized)
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