For me, finding the right hairstylist has been a more difficult venture than finding the right therapist. I can deal when my therapist is wrong about something, but my hairstylist? That’s not a mistake I want to wear on my head. I really need someone who gets me, who makes me laugh, who speaks my style-reference language, and who's not afraid to tell me “no.” After all, I’m not the expert here. If not for Blackstones owner Joey Silvestera, who would have the heart or wherewithal to talk me out of “cutting it all off” out of boredom, or to explain that the ultra-texturized, Erin-Wasson-circa-2009 cut I want will end in split ends and land me back in the styling chair within weeks? It’s like he knows me better than I know myself. Ahh yes, I love my stylist, so it pains me to admit that when he told me that he'd developed his own hair product line, I was skeptical. A stylist does not a chemist make. While used in concert, shampoos and scissors are as separate as church and state. But I trusted Silvestera enough to give his line, Five Wits, a go, and, after a few weeks with the Moisturizing Cleanser and Conditioner, my hair and I are here to own up to our misjudgment.

I love it. I wouldn’t call either the most moisturizing cleanser or conditioner I’ve ever used. In fact, when it comes to a deep condition, I probably wouldn’t turn to the duo. But what they have done is balance my fine, oily/dry, and occasionally brittle hair like nothing has before. You know how stylists always talk about that mythic “second-day hair' that “will hold a curl better,” “look edgier,” give you “better texture' for the J.Crew undone bun, etc? I think I might have found the missing link. My second-day hair no longer requires an excuse or explanation. I don’t have to tie it back to hide it, and it’s not wreaking havoc on my skin by over-producing oil. It might even look and feel better than the first 24 hours after washing.

I don’t mean to say that Formula No. 3 isn't moisturizing—it's just that, after washing, my locks aren’t coated in the usual residual oils. It doesn’t feel like anything’s in my hair at all. The only reminder that I've used Silvestera's olive-oil-and-burdock-root (an age-old scalp treatment) concoctions is the Campagna-esque fragrance. My hair is comfortably quenched, not over-hydrated. It's content, in other words, for two full days (going on three). And it smells fantastic.

—Mackenzie Wagoner

Photos by Mathea Millman.