John Frieda Frizz-Ease vs. Root Awakening smoothing creams

Let's not mince words: I'm a smoothing cream addict. With my hair texture (fine, long, wavy and color-treated with oily roots and dry ends) I am prone to frizz and, since I often don't like or want to heat-style my hair, I'm kind of asking for flyaways. In other words, I'm the perfect candidate for a good smoothing cream.

It's been a while since I've used a John Frieda product. I remember purchasing the iconic Frizz-Ease Serum back in the day, but I could never quite get it to work with my oily roots. For some reason, even if I didn't apply it directly to my roots, Frizz-Ease Serum had a way of migrating toward my roots and making my hair just look and feel a bit greasy.

But then I discovered John Frieda Sheer Blonde Crystal Clear Shape & Shimmer Hairspray a few years ago, and I swear that's the one John Frieda product I will not be without. In my opinion, it's the best hairspray at the drugstore (and I don't even have blonde hair, so please don't think you have to have blonde hair to experience its magic). But let me save that for a future review--back to smoothing creams.

So for whatever reason, the Sheer Blonde hairspray has pretty much been the only thing I focus on when I walk by the John Frieda section at my local drugstores. Until one day, there was a good sale at CVS and I also happened to have a coupon, so I picked up one of the new root AWAKENING products for next to nothing because, as I said at the start of this post, I'm a smoothing cream nut.

And then, several weeks later, there was another good sale on John Frieda at CVS, so I figured why not? I picked up the Frizz-Ease Smoothing Creme for about a $1 after the sale and coupon, and I figured it would be fun to do a compare/contrast of the two products for all my fellow smoothing cream fans out there.

John Frieda Root Awakening Strength Restoring Smoothing Lotion (around $6, 4 oz)

John Frieda Frizz-Ease Straight Fixation Smoothing Creme (around $6, 5 oz)

At this point you probably just want to know which one I like better, right? Well, I love both, but for different reasons and different purposes.

Ironically, Straight Fixation Smoothing Cream works best for me when I want to air-dry my naturally wavy hair! It actually enhances my waves and gives them great definition. It also makes my waves a bit more springy and full of life. How crazy is that? I mean, it's a straightening product! Anyway, if you have hair that's similar to mine and you like to wear it wavy (as opposed to straightening it) you might want to give this a try. I honestly love the way it controls my waves, but it doesn't add any weight or grease--just gentle control that lasts all day for me. It's my new best friend! (Word of caution: less is more for this product, so don't use too much or it will weigh down your hair.)

As for root AWAKENING, I prefer this product for the days when I straighten my hair with my hair dryer. It's AWESOME for that specific purpose and here's why: for my hair, I find that it almost pulls the waves out and makes my hair straighter, even before I start to blow-dry it. BUT, it doesn't make my hair flat! I can apply a few pumps of this product to my damp hair, and by the time I comb it through, I can see my waves starting to disappear. And then when I blow-dry my hair, this cream makes it soft and straight yet full of life. No frizz, no flyaways. Just straight hair that's soft and still got a lot of bounce to it. But I do want to add that, contrary to the name on the bottle, I haven't seen any difference in my roots since using this product. I don't detect any added volume to my root area, but I do see an overall bounce to my hair that is quite nice.

Oh, and the fragrance! The Frizz-Ease Smoothing Cream smells OK. I can detect some peach, and also an underlying "hairspray" type of scent. Overall, it's tolerable and not off-putting. But the root AWAKENING smoothing cream? Now THAT, I love. To me it smells like buttercream mint candies! Seriously, it's got this crisp, clean mint note, yet it's also got this vanilla note to it that just makes the whole thing smell yummy. I'm kind of obsessed with it and sometimes I'll twist open the lid just to take a whiff when I'm in the bathroom. Weird but true.

I am so absolutely pleased with these two products. I got much, much more than I bargained for and I am still kind of in shock about the whole thing. If your hair texture is anything like mine, I think you might enjoy either one of these smoothing creams, depending on how you prefer to style your hair.

Do you already own either of these products? If so, how are they working for you? Are there any other great John Frieda products I should know about? I'd love to hear from you!