My biggest obstacle when trying to coax my blowout into lasting two, three, four more days is my frayed-ends situation. Regardless of the fact that I've avoided a good deal of hair damage—or so says every professional who's touched my hair in the past five years—my ends are completely split and dried out. The main culprit, I suspect, is the several years worth of razor cuts I was getting. Apparently this is not a good match for someone with dry and/or coarse hair (has this happened to anyone? I'm aching to talk about it in the comments). So cool haircuts be damned. It's plain old scissors from here on out when it comes to my cut—but back to the product review portion of today's programming...

Shu Uemura's Touch of Gloss is not new, but it somehow flew under my radar until last December. Admittedly, it's the perfect 'holiday' product—its tagline, “Lipgloss for your hair,” is certainly festive enough with its mica-particle glint and frosty metallic packaging. Once my party circuit slowed down a bit (not that it was ever that hoppin'), I kept reaching for the slim, pink tube. Despite its shimmery finish (you will need to wash your hands after using this, unless you're interested in upgrading your jazz hands with a pair of glitter palms), it's more like a moldable, gel-balm hybrid that goes on a little sticky to seal the ends back up for the night, and then it dries shiny as if your poor hair hadn't been tortured in the first place. I also smooth the scraggly, short hairs that sprout up near my part with it for a finish that feels intentional, as opposed to passable. Most importantly: It smells good—like Washington, D.C., in the springtime. (Hello, cherry blossoms.) Because let's not forget, you haven't washed your hair in a week.

—Emily Ferber

Photographed by Tom Newton.