The Binary Hair System

How many of you know what a binary star is? Basically, this system occurs when two bodies orbit around their common center of mass, resulting in something that looks like this:

These systems are helpful for calculations and observations because they have certain predictable features, and also because if a star appears to be acting in a binary system, yet has no detectable partner, it can be surmised that the partner is in fact a black hole. (Black holes are my favourite scientific phenomenon ever, just in case you wanted to know.) You can even see an accretion disk, more awesomely known as a death spiral!

Above is an image of Cygnus X-1, my favourite star. Ohhh yes, I have a favourite star.

What does this all have to do with the kind of stuff I usually post about? Well, Schwarzkopf's Osis+ line has a product that's all about the power of two: Twin Curl.

Sure, I probably could have come up with a better twin-related intro, but you have to understand, I really love talking about binary systems, black holes, Cygnus X-1, and, oh yeah, death spirals. And hair products.

The idea behind Twin Curl is a combination of two essential curl products in one easy tube: a strong-hold gel and a frizz controlling cream. The cream is in a small tube, which is placed inside a larger tube containing the gel. The opening of the tube has alternating slits from which both products are dispensed. It's not a particularly original idea, but it's not a bad one either.

The product itself is the best stuff I've ever used on my hair. The cream smoothes and shines like there's no tomorrow and the gel is...well, an effective gel. Don't get me wrong, there are bad bad gels out there. This one isn't particularly spectacular, but it certainly isn't awful! Somehow, this particular combination of product is exactly what my curly hair needs to keep it looking fantastic. It also has a very light scent as compared to other products that've kept me up at night. The tube is a very generous size for salon quality product. You can't even tell that there's product in your hair, like some crunchy gels and mousses or oily creams. I don't think you could go wrong with this stuff or overapply.

There is, however, something holding me back from purchasing again, although I really might have to as I've never used anything this good on my hair before. It's the whole dual dispensing thing. It doesn't work as well as you'd think, or apparently as well as their engineers thought. (Are there such jobs? Hair gel tube engineers? There should be.) When I first started using Twin Curl, the tube squirted mostly cream, and then by the end of my squeeze a bit of gel would end up in the mix. The cream of course is the best part of this product anyway...but I did find that my hair would look stunning on day one and then flop if I tried to prolong the look much past that. For people who wash their hair every day, not a problem, but my hair only needs to be shampooed maybe every three days if that. Now I have the opposite problem, though. All I'm getting is gel. There didn't seem to be a happy medium either, where I was getting equal parts of both. The gel is doing a great job at holding my hairstyle, but I'm getting a bit of frizz.

I know it definitely wouldn't have been as cool to package the two separately and have you mix them by hand, but it'd make for the optimum balance of cream and gel. I do hope they alter their dispensing system a bit, because then I'd have no choice to use this fantastic product for the rest of my hair-growing years.