This $21 'One-Minute' Styling Cream Transforms My Hair After Workouts and Between Washes

After testing hundreds — if not thousands — of beauty products, I’m wary of anything that promises instant results, miracles, or total transformation, particularly in the realm of haircare. My mane — perpetually frizzy, dry, or a combination of both — has historically responded to very few smoothing solutions, short of a full keratin treatment. Color Wow’s One-Minute Transformation Cream, however, silenced the skeptic in me. True to its name, the product transforms hair from lackluster to wow-worthy within a minute.

Hailing from a brand celebrities like Jennifer Lopez use, Color Wow’s cream is a frizz-fighting, style-refreshing hair moisturizer of sorts. Intended for use on dry hair, it’s perfect for between hair-wash days, upping your strands’ softness sans shower. It also adds shine and smoothness any time, be it post-workout or -blowout to revive the style after a few days. 

Color Wow One-Minute Transformation Anti-Frizz Styling Cream Key Features

How I tested: I’ve tried the product on occasions when my hair looks frazzled, grimy, or simply feels unpolished. Specifically, I’ve used it post-workout to refresh my snarled ends, and most frequently reach for it as a style extender to mitigate bad hair days on demand.

Perfect for: Reviving and extending your good hair days, smoothing frizz, and giving strands a polished, salon-like shine, particularly when you’re short on time. 

What you’ll love: The formula makes days-old hair look freshly styled in a mere minute — without the need to re-wash. 

Keep in mind: Per the instructions, the cream can work with or without the assistance of a hair dryer — though I highly recommend the latter for a salon-like effect.

Key ingredients: Avocado oil and hydrolyzed wheat proteins deliver softness and shine.

Buy It: Color Wow One-Minute Transformation Styling Cream, $21, amazon.com

Color Wow One-Minute Transformation Styling Cream Review

Like lotion to flaky skin, the cream provides instant hydration to sapped strands and helps haphazard hair look significantly more intentional in just 60 seconds. The cream is designed for hair that’s been dyed, making it an extra-perfect pick for color-treated strands. To apply, simply apply the cream on the mid-shaft and ends, or in specific straggly spots for targeted smoothing, though I usually distribute a tiny dollop of cream throughout the entirety of my shoulder-length hair for a full refresh. However I use it, my hair always appears significantly less frazzled, as the formula — which is created with color-treated hair in mind — is highly hydrating and fantastically frizz-smoothing.

Per the instructions, you can simply leave the cream as is, but for a more professional-looking finish, the brand suggests styling your hair with a blow dryer and round brush. I’ve tried both methods and can confirm that the latter delivers salon-like softness and shine.

As someone with an aversion to hair oil, I can assure you that the cream-based formula is entirely non-greasy, both in look and feel. Instead, it simply softens my hair, leaving it in a state of post-salon sheen. (Sidenote: It has that quintessential salon smell, too.)

Ultimately, the One-Minute Transformation Cream is a shortcut to shiny, polished hair, allowing me to make my strands look sleeker on a whim, with or without the assistance of a hair dryer. A little bit goes a long way, making this $21 tube particularly worth the money;, it’s hard to put a price on good hair days — that too, on demand in 60 seconds.