Review: Philip Kingsley Elasticizer

Years of reading beauty blogs and watching Youtube reviews means I tend to do my due diligence before forking out for a new product. It’s not often that you come across a collection of reviews that are split between glowing, faultless endorsements and one-star, disappointed scrutiny, but the Philip Kingsley Elasticizer was one of those seemingly polarising products, and know I see why.

Late last year, before I could get my damaged tresses to a hairdresser, I fell hard for the idea of a hair ‘elasticizer’. In my mind, the term conjured up ideas of adding strength and bounce to my dry and zapped hair and so I bought a tub and hoped for the best. Spoiler: the best didn’t happen.

What Makes It Special:
A pot of the Philip Kingsley Elasticizer pre-shampoo treatment is sold somewhere in the world every 2 minutes. It promises to add shine, prevent breakage, stop frizz and rehydrated the hair. It contains castor oil for hydration, hydrolyzed elastin for strength and olive oil for shine, and yet even with all that promise I didn’t see any benefits to my hair.

Why I Like It:
I don’t.

What I Don’t Like About It:
Everything. After I rinsed the Philip Kingsley Elasticizer out my hair felt okay but when I then went to shampoo my hair it started to feel really ‘straw’ like and stripped. I’ve used this four or five times, a couple of times for a shorter period and a couple of times for 3+ hours. I also tried it with and without the provided plastic shower cap in case that made a difference, and once with a hair towel. Each time my hair felt unusually dry and ‘squeaky clean’ after shampooing and it had no positive effect on my hair post-wash. After my hair dried it looked and felt exactly the same as normal.

Application:
The instructions are to apply it to damp hair for at least 20 minutes pre-wash (while wearing the provided plastic shower cap or a hair towel), then shampoo and condition as normal.

Product Claims:
Strengthens, repairs and hydrates – disagree
Adds elasticity and bounce to fine, medium and coarse hair – disagree (for the record I have fine hair)

Ingredients:
Aqua (Water), Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil, Glycerin, Propylene Glycol, Cetearyl Alcohol, Ethylhexyl Dimethyl PABA, Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil, Cetrimonium Chloride, Amodimethicone, Phenoxyethanol, Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Ethylhexylglycerin, Hydrolyzed Elastin, Trideceth-12, Sodium Benzoate, Citric Acid.

Available From:
Cult Beauty
Adore Beauty

Details:
150ml – $72.75 / £34.00

Repurchase:
Unsurprisingly, it’s a firm no from me.