I talked about taking care of the face a lot and occasionally the hair but just like millions of women around the world I neglected my scalp. I don’t know about you but I actually thought shampoo, treatment or even hair masque is also taking care of my scalp. It’s not wrong to be misleaded that way because these product are being marketed as “scalp care” as one of the benefit. Boy I was so wrong. There are so many hair care brand in the market regardless premium, drugstore brand or even supermarket brand but none of them come out with a product especially designed for the scalp. That was before, until Kérastase took the first step to come out with Initialiste; the Advanced Scalp and Hair Concentrate.

Kérastase said that Initialiste is the first advanced concentrate hair serum to impulse the growth of stronger, shinier hair and more youthful hair. It is made with native plant cells that acts at the very base. So hair grow stronger and more radiant.

Existing Hair – Regenerative Complex maintain the follicle stem sell environment.
New Hair Growth – Growth is healthier as the hair source is stimulated.

 

The heavy luxe bottle is made from glass that fits on the palm nicely. The clumsy me have not drop the bottle on the floor (yet) all thanks to the weight on the palm.

Using Initialiste is not as complicated as I think. According to Anderson; the Education Executive of Kérastase Malaysia, the steps should be:

(1) Wash your hair and towel-dry.
(2) There will be 4 parting involved. Part your hair, pump a full pipette and apply half pipette along the line.
(3) Repeat Step (2) for 2nd parting.
(4) Pump another full pipette, repeat the steps for the balance 2 parting.
(5) Using all 10 finger tips of both hand, massage in the serum onto scalp to evenly distribute the serum. Start from the bottom, from outer to inner. Work your way up and repeat as necessary.
(6) This is important. Blow dry your hair using hair dryer.
(7) NO RINSING REQUIRED.

The instruction on the usage is not as detail as the one on the back of the outer box as well as on the insert included. I would suggest you to read that two before using to get a clearer idea.

Honestly speaking I find that the usage is troublesome for my lifestyle. Let me tell you why. I normally let my hair dry naturally as I was told since I was young that blow drying too much will causes the hair to turn yellow. This may or may not be true, I’m not sure but it has been a habit of mine personally. Secondly after I bath I would be sitting in front of my laptop…blogging. I would be totally into what I was doing such as editing pictures and post crafting. I really don’t have the time to apply, massage and the most troublesome of all…blow drying with hair dryer. I did ask Anderson if I can skip this but he said Initialiste work it’s best with such method. So I comply with the recommended method for the whole month. No doubt my blogging concentration was disrupted but no regret at all. I’ll show you the end result and you will understand why 🙂

Anyhow a how-to-apply video is more understandable and I’ve include below so that you can get a better understanding on the application process.

Kérastase Initialiste comes with a long glass pipette. My new bottle doesn’t seems to be as full as I think because one pipette pump is only 1/4 of the pipette. But I wasn’t worried because that 1/4 pipette amount is sufficient for 2 parting 🙂

The serum is lightweight and slightly opalescent milky white color. The scent? OH MY GOD. It smells so freshly good that I wanted to apply on my whole head! It is quite watery, some may feel that this is sticky but on me it’s not despite the fact that my scalp will oil up by mid of the day. Anderson; the Education Executive of Kérastase Malaysia did mention that it is a must to blow dry the hair using hair dryer for that voluptuous effect to take place. I guess that is what helps with the absorption of the hair serum.

In the Initialiste formulation the totally new regenerative complex gather powerful active agents that act at the hair source.

• Native plant cells taken from Malus Domestica maximise the vitality of the hair follicle and are paired with Gluco-Lipids (SP94) that act on the hair’s outer sheath where the two stem cell reservoir are found. The “Lipid” part strengthen the outer sheath of the follicle, while the “Gluco” part is a reservoir of energy that aids cellular metabolism.
• Antioxidant polyphenols protect the stem cell environment from oxidative stress (pollution, UV, etc.).
• Ceramides mimic the ceramides that are naturally present in the hair components, and strengthen the resistance and cohesion of the hair fibre.

Here is the ingredient list for those that are interested.

So when or which step to implement Kérastase Initialiste in?

“Bathe, Treat, Texturize” are the three steps in the Kérastase beauty ritual. Initialiste completes the process by stimulating the growth of radiant hair. Apply and leave in Initialiste right before styling to maximize the beauty ritual for unparalleled results. This is the most complete Kérastase haircare product to treat all the parameters of the beautiful hair.

Now, the most interesting part in this 1,250 words review is the Before and After. The “Before” picture was taken before I started on Initialiste. As you can see my hair was limp especially on the crown and on the top of the back of my head. It doesn’t help when the gap on my parting is really huge. My hair drop is kind of seasonal. On good days I get normal hair drop amount when I comb my hair after towel-dry. There will be certain time in a year where my hair drop amount is more than usual. I didn’t start Initialiste immediately after I was given a bottle mainly because I was happy with my hair condition that time. Then the seasonal drop happens and I used Initialiste right away.

And, here is the after. Roughly about 2 – 3 days after I started on Initialiste, the hair drop is lessen by 50%. You have no idea how happy I was at that time. I was really getting worried back then because this time the seasonal hair drop duration seems longer. My hair also doesn’t break that easily. I am very satisfied with the whole hair drop issue. And the parting also seems fuller with hair, not because I have new hair growth but the hair is more voluptuous.

I was often ask what is the product that I would recommend to treat hair fall. My recommendation has always been the shampoo, conditioner, treatment and hair masque targeted for hair fall. Now with the new Kérastase Initialiste, I can now recommend this too. After it’s launch into the Malaysia market it has been flying off the shelf of hair salons. Afterall it is the first hair and scalp serum to impulse the growth of stronger, more brilliant, more beautiful hair.

 

Kérastase Initialiste Advanced Scalp and Hair Concentrate is available at all authorised salons nationwide.
Price: RM180 for 60ml

 

Disclaimer: Product was given to me as door gift during Kérastase Initialiste launch and pampering session. This doesn’t affect my judgement in the review in any way.