Last week I was playing with some clip-in hair extensions that had been sent to me (HairDo from - believe it or not - Jessica Simpson and Ken Paves. Really fun!) when I realized that the extensions looked about 10 times better than my actual hair. After a week of sitting in the sun and washing every day (unfortunate side effects of vacation) my new highlights had lost all their luster, and my hair looked dry and dull.

I needed something to boost the shine, so I turned to...the beauty closet. (You know about this place, right? My utility closet that was supposed to house a washer and dryer, but is now home to all my product samples, impulse purchases, and also my ironing board?) Things had piled up in there since I went away, and I knew I had something that would do the job.

So, in a Pokemon-esque moment, I exclaimed, "I choose YOU, Fekkai Salon Glaze!"

Salon Glaze is a new product that promises to "recharge your natural hair color and highlights for that fresh-from-the-salon shine at home," using a blend of silicones and pearl protein. This glaze is non-chemical, meaning no ammonia or peroxide. It's like a heavy duty serum that you apply in the shower.

I worked a palmful through my hair after shampooing and conditioning, and then went about scrubbing my face and shaving my legs for the requisite 3-5 minutes. After rinsing, I could feel a bit of a film on my hair, but nothing heavy.

As is my usual custom these days, I air-dried and then styled the top sections with a flat iron, and the bottom pieces with a wide-barrel curling iron (this produces the BEST loose waves, by the way). I held the extensions up to my hair for comparison. Much better! Still not as shiny as the faux hair, but getting there.

After two more treatments with the Salon Glaze over the course of the week, my real hair no longer looked like brittle straw next to those impostor Jessica Simpson tresses. In fact, it looked...better!

Since Salon Glaze contains no potentially damaging or hair-altering chemicals, you can use it as frequently as you want. It's great for a pick-me-up before a big event. And it has its drugstore competitor, John Frieda Luminous Color Glaze, beat by a mile (the John Frieda product weighed my hair down something fierce).

Available now at Sephora for a relatively reasonable $28.