A Hair Story (plus my super honest and unbiased review of the controversial Monat shampoo)

 

As women we are always on some type of health, wellness or beauty journey. For many years, it was my skin (see my previous post regarding my decade long dealings with chronic cystic acne). Once I got my skin somewhat (mostly, but not entirely) under control, and thanks to 1 and then 2 rounds of Accutane and what I affectionately refer to as the “Accutane hangover” which are all of the lovely side effects you deal with AFTER you finish your treatment, I noticed my hair just wasn’t “hairing” like it used to. It was dry and straw-like, could not hold a style, it looked brassy, and I felt like it needed to be washed and blown out often to look half decent.  All in all I just felt very blah about my hair and I just wanted to love it, and for it to love me back.

Some of my best friends are incredibly talented hairstylists, and I’ve always trusted their methods of coloring, cutting, and product recommendation. And unless you were living under a rock during “Covid times”, you cannot deny that Monat and the Monat girlies were taking social media by storm. We were seeing an influx of miraculous before and after photos, customer testimonies, and these girls were slinging shampoo left right and centre all while posting their earned Cadillacs and incentive trips and gifts. Now I loveeee an MLM as much as the next gal, and I actually think there is something to be said for the heavy hitters in the MLM scene (shout out to Arbonne, Zyia, Scentsy, the list goes on and I truly do love them all for different reasons), and I have nothing whatsoever against the structure of MLM businesses. Admittedly I could not take my eyes off these before and after photos that were spamming my social feeds- the slow mo' hair flip/ shake- yessss Queen! It had to be me and so yes, I drank the Kool-Aid and messaged a representative I went to high school with and asked her where I should start.

Before I continue I should add that I have done some pretty funny and crazy stuff all in the name of having nice hair. First of all I’ve tried every pretty much every salon shampoo and conditioner on the market, and even some drug store ones that claim to be salon dupes. I’ve done coconut oil masks, castor oil masks and drinking it straight, taken pre-natal vitamins, rinsed my hair with beer in the shower (this actually does make your hair super smooth and soft), ate handfuls of spinach [call me crazy, I actually like spinach- but you would need to ingest an exorbitant amount for it to have an impact on your hair growth- who knew]. I even had a period of time where I stopped heat styling my hair almost entirely for about a year, and I will say this helped a bit too.

 

Anyway, I was never getting the results I was seeking which were long, soft, manageable hairs that looked amazing any which way, even without much blow drying or styling. I messaged Rebecca and she hooked me up with a Monat account and a cart full of products she promised would solve all of my problems. It was a bit of a hefty price tag but for the amount of product I received I felt it was well worth it, and the products really do last a long time. My package arrived quickly and I could not wait to wash my hair. I will never forget using these products for the first time, and my instructions were this: wash once, rinse, and wash again (think sweeping before mopping). Then condition and try to leave the products on for a few minutes each during this process. I thought to myself “I don’t have time for this shower fatigue situation” but conceded nevertheless. The second time I put the shampoo through my hair, I kid you not it was so clean it was squeaking. When I got out, my hair was easy to brush through but felt very straw like. I was worried that I had done some irreparable damage because to me it looked the worst it ever had, and that includes the time my best friend and I thought it would be a good idea to fry our hair off with a $10 at home perm. My hair wasn’t even dry yet and I was messaging Rebecca asking her WTF??!! She politely told me to calm my tits and trust the process. I am not a trust the process gal and I identify more with an impulsive instant gratification type A borderline personality (because how can the process possibly know that we’re trusting it…???).

To my surprise my hair air dried beautifully that night, and I followed the instructions I received to the letter for the months that followed, until I got the hang of my new hair system. I then felt confident enough to branch out to some other products within the company.

***I feel the need to make a disclaimer before these next paragraphs that I do not sell Monat, I am in no way affiliated with Monat and absolutely no one from Monat is giving me free stuff in exchange for this post. But if you’re reading this and you want to give me free stuff, please slide into my DM’s. ***

It wasn’t long before my hair was looking and feeling the absolute BEST it ever has. Around this time, I also decided to soften up my signature bleachy blonde (crunchy) locks in exchange for a nice lived in root and more of a honey blonde/bronde, which I think also helped immensely with hair growth and health. As someone who has previously relied on hair extensions to make my hair look longer and better, I was now using them as a mechanism to avoid heat styling my air, as the benefit of extensions are that they do take the brunt of your heat styling and subsequently any heat damage that ensues. Before long, I ended up ditching the extensions and only wearing them intermittently, mainly for special occasions.

The first time I ever washed my hair with Monat shampoo was at the beginning of December in 2021 (peak Covid lockdown number 2 or 3???? I think) and today’s date is July 31, 2024. I can say with total honestly that I have been using these products that entire time, but I do supplement with other products, all of which I will list below for you.

If you’re still a skeptic, just check out my photos posted here with the date stamps. I did track this entire journey because this was a true test in my ability to trust a process aka I don’t have that ability, usually. At age 32, after having two babies and the hormonal spiral that brings on, and two rounds of Accutane, and let’s not forget the lovely at home botched dye jobs and perms I subjected myself to once upon a time, my hair is incredible and is constantly being complimented. Below are the products I recommend if you’re looking to completely restore and grow your hair:

So there you have it! Patience is a virtue my lovely friends. I have none, but the time is passing anyway so I figured what the hell! Now I know what the dark corners of the internet say about Monat but I do believe that is a very small percentage of people that have tried it. This is just what has worked well for me and I do not plan on stopping use of Monat anytime soon. My hair is extremely long and full, soft, managable, holds a style, and I only need to wash it every few days. One thing I will say, is if I wash my hair with something else IE at a hotel, or a friend’s house, my hair just feels kind of yucky. I have my theories on why this is, but truthfully they don’t have any bearing on my decision to keep chugging along on the Monat train.

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