holiday gift guide: give Profound Beauty

Don't let friends ring in the new year without showing off their luxe locks. Just in time for the gift giving season: Profound Beauty introduces its new limited edition Styling Kits ($49 each). Each kit contains three essentials to put hair in the spotlight. Hush controls frizz without weighing hair down, Stylist will accentuate the natural shape, texture, look and feel of their hair to create a style all their own, and atmosphere which is designed to mimic the best weather conditions for their hair (read: no more bad days ahead!) Try the Arctic Straight kit for sleek style and high shine (for my TV-reporter pal), the Desert Volume Kit (for moi!) for root to tip lift, texture, separation and bounce, and the Tropical Curl Kit (my sisters will fight over it!) for lush, dewy, plump curls. Go to www.profoundbeauty.com to purchase.

the straight and shiny

In the never-ending search for products to keep my naturally wavy hair straight, I couldn't wait to try Redken's straight lissage collection. The three hero products include power tame 16 intense straightening balm for coarse hair ($16), align 12 protective straightening lotion for medium hair ($16) and sheer straight 06 lightweight straightening gel for fine hair ($15). Thinking I fell into the medium category, I tried align 12, only to find it left my hair straight but also greasy and limp. Maybe I used too much or maybe I should have dried my hair longer but it really didn't work for me. So the next day, I tried sheer straight 06 and had better results. The lightweight formula left my hair looking sleek and polished, with no sticky residue. Proteins build internal hair strength and coconut and olive oils help condition and moisturize. Also in the news for Redken is the company's new Real Control Mineral Elixir dazzling smoothing oil for dense/dry/sensitized hair ($17), which launches this month. Ideal for combatting dry, frizzy, static-y hair, it tames flyaways and adds shine while misting hair with a glistening shine spray. You get light conditioning and control with intense frizz-fighting power. Just spray it on dry hair and reapply as needed throughout the day. Or point the aerosol applicator at your hairbrush and run it through your hair whenever you need to smooth things over and add a dose of shine. To locate a Redken salon, or find our more about these Redken products, go to www.redken.com.