Review: Ovation Cell Therapy

Ovation Cell Therapy is a popular hair care system that has a strong advertising presence all over the airwaves. Each ad features a handful of women raving about Ovation Cell Therapy's ability to grow their hair thicker, stronger, faster, and longer. But are these claims true? Does Ovation Cell Therapy work? For two months, I've used and reviewed the following Ovation Cell Therapy products: Ovation Cell Therapy, Ovation Color Therapy Shampoo & Ovation Creme Rinse.

The Products
The Ovation Color Therapy Shampoo is a fragrant, cool blue colored shampo formulated for color-treated hair, which means superior conditioning for any hair type. These types of formulas work really well for chemically relaxed hair which often suffers from the same types of porosity and protein loss issues that colored hair faces.

The Ovation Cell Therapy is the heart of the system and is often where the system draws occasional criticism for its claims to "accelerate hair growth and reduce breakage and hair loss."

The Ovation Creme Rinse is a creamy, light weight conditioner formula that does an excellent job of smoothing and detangling the hair.

Before I started using the Ovation Cell Therapy (OCT) System, I clarified my hair with Pantene Purity Clarifying shampoo to remove any old and lingering product residue. I used the system in the recommended order: the Ovation Shampoo, the Cell Therapy, and the Creme Rinse. For the first 3 weeks I used the system exclusively, save for a daily moisturizer and oil.

Though the system offers great moisturizing support, it is primarily a strengthening system. This means that with each use, the system's hair ruggedizing qualities eventually began to outweigh the hair's natural elasticity. The result? Protein overload. My hair began to feel tougher than I liked and begin to show some early signs of protein overload breakage. I quickly rotated in some heavy duty moisturizing products (Kenra) to balance the OCT's high protein profile. This moisture infusion immediately got my hair under control. My suggestion is to use the Ovation in conjunction with a more moisturizing system to balance its superior hair strengthening and thickening attributes to avoid hair breakage.

It's important to always take note of the strengthening vs. elasticizing nature of your products to avoid unnecessary breakage, and once I worked the OCT into a basic balanced regimen my results were very, very good. The products detangled my hair very well, and my hair felt soft and strong long after it dried which can be the deal breaker for conditioners. They'll leave your hair feeling nice and slippery (while wet) and then crunchy and hard when dried! Not Ovation!

Strong Points

Stronger hair?
Yes. If stronger hair is your goal, then you'll definitely find it with Ovation Cell Therapy. Used together, the shampoo, conditioner, and creme rinse will infuse your hair with strength you never imagined.

Thicker Hair
Ovation Cell Therapy thickened my strands on the first use. I could feel the texture of my hair improving with the product as I used it over the weeks. It is very similar to most protein rich conditioning systems that deposit large proteins on the cuticle and give the feeling of thicker shafts.

Longer Hair?
The jury is still out on this one. The exact mechanism by which Ovation "lengthens" the hair is still unknown. I have not noticed any accelerated hair growth during my 2 months of use.

The Downside
Price
The major obstacle for widespread use of this system is its prohibitive price. Though the samples I received were free, I could not help noticing the invoice for the products listing the price I would have paid on the general consumer market. The price for the 12oz shampoo and creme rinse each cost about as much liter sizes of my favorite salon shampoo and conditioners. The treatment, the Cell Therapy, provided the most sticker shock. For current pricing of the Ovation Cell Therapy system please visit: http://www.ovationhair.com, and check out the Ovation Store.