Alterna Caviar Overnight Hair Rescue

RATING (out of 5 stars): 5 stars

COST: $35 for 3.4 ounces

THE SKINNY: This is hands-down the best product I have tried all year. (It got a 5-star rating, which is somewhat hard to come by here as well.)

But Alterna Caviar Overnight Hair Rescue is one of those products I did not expect to like. When I squeezed it out of the sample packet, the product was thick and gooey. And I was supposed to put this on my dry hair! And leave it all night! It was like slathering Jergens in my head, only with a nicer scent. (Honestly, it grossed me out a little and I figured my pillow was done.)

In the morning my pillow was clean, although my hair looked a mess. I washed it out right away.

And that's when I fell in love. My hair looks and feels better than I can ever remember. It styled beautifully and had bounce and lift that repeated color treatments have stripped away over time.

The Alterna website claims damage s reduced by 44 percent and I believe it. Even a day later, my somewhat thick and long hair still looked and felt great. The company also recommends using several times a week, but I think that might be a bit much. My guess is a weekly or every-other-week application will do the trick unless you have an extreme amount of hair damage.

KEEP OR TOSS: I wish I had 30 more sample packs because this stuff is pricey. But it is worth it. I plan to forgo a few lattes and save the money for a full-size bottle.

CHECK IT OUT: You can find out more about Alterna Caviar Overnight Hair Rescue on the product website or order it from Sephora, which also has some pretty good reviews (although they did not seem to like it quite as much as I did).

-- Tested by Carrie