Ovation Cell Therapy Review

Here is the true story of my experience with the Ovation Hair System and Ovation Cell Therapy.

I'm a healthy woman with fine, normal hair that's almost shoulder-length.  It's light brown and I've had it highlighted forever.  I wore it long for years, but a while back I had it cut very short.  My husband really missed the long hair and I had to agree that I prefer it long.  Also, my hair stylist says I look best with hair that's just beyond my shoulders and we believed I was about a year away from getting my hair back to the perfect length.  

My hair was growing at a normal rate -- maybe a third of an inch a month -- but my hair stylist suggested I look into a hair product called Ovation Cell Therapy.  She heard it was a treatment that's supposed to help hair grow faster.  Fantastic!  I was definitely game.  For years I'd used Nioxin, which is quite expensive, but I'd loved it.  I'm not sure it helped my hair grow faster, but it made my scalp feel wonderful and while using it my hair was soft and pretty.

I got on the Ovation Hair website.  The testimonials were just incredible:  customer after customer raving about how the Ovation Hair System had practically saved their souls.  I looked at the ingredients and the instructions for use.  And there's a money back guarantee, plus the assurance that the company really cares about their customers.  Everything seemed on the up-and-up, so I ordered.  The stuff was expensive -- about $100 for three smallish bottles -- but I waited with bated breath for hair salvation to arrive in the mail.

Several days later, my products arrived:  Ovation Color Therapy Shampoo (which claims to "enhance color and shine"), Ovation Cell Therapy (which claims to "accelerate, rejuvenate, and strengthen"), and Ovation Creme Rinse (which claims to "smooth, soften, and detangle").  I'd also received a video email from Ovation explaining how to "maximize" results.  What passion these people have for their product!  In the video instruction, a guy named Dallas explained that, whenever possible, Ovation Cell Therapy could be applied on the scalp and left on for an extended time, even over-night.  The instructions on the website suggest that Cell Therapy be used "liberally" and left on "up to eight hours."  All signs pointed to stronger, beautiful, lovely hair that would grow like a weed.  The testimonials on the website also claimed that Ovation products made customers' hair color look vibrant and beautiful.  I couldn't wait to get in the shower and start using the stuff!

I followed the directions to the letter.  The shampoo seemed like normal shampoo, but the cell therapy was a bit tingly.  Okay, so now that the miracle product was on my head I was going to get out of the shower and let that stuff soak in, just as recommended on the website and in the email video instructions.  My hair dried and felt crunchy, but I left it on for eight hours.  Then I got back in the shower and began rinsing.  And here, dear reader, is the point at which the sky turned black, the wind howled, and my luck turned.  Standing there with the warm water running down my back, gently rinsing Ovation Cell Therapy and then Ovation Creme Rinse from my head, I was about to begin a real hair nightmare, but I wouldn't fully realize it for over a week.

Okay, let's go back to that first shampoo and treatment using the Ovation Hair System.  After my shower, I looked down and thought, "Gee, that's a lot of hair in the drain.  How much hair is that?"  I picked up the ball of hair and looked at it:  it was much more hair than I usually lose when I shampoo.  But as I still believed that Ovation was going to do great things, I sort of overlooked the strands in the drain situation and styled my hair as usual.  Weird!  My hair didn't look so hot.  It looked thin and dry.  It was lifeless.  "Okay," I thought to myself, "It'll take a couple washings for my hair to adjust."  So I did what I always do when I'm having a bad hair day and I pulled my hair up into a little ponytail.

A few days later I re-read all of the Ovation instructions and did it all again:  shampooed with Ovation Color Therapy Shampoo, "treated" with Ovation Cell Therapy, and rinsed with Ovation Creme Rinse.  I turned off the water.  Gee, why was there a ton of hair in the drain again?  Maybe my hair was "adjusting."  I got out of the shower and let my hair air dry.  At this point my hair was looking quite lifeless:  thin, weak, flat.  I came up with some excuse ... like the weather had been so dry and my hair always goes flat when the weather's dry.  Silly, isn't it?  Denial is a terrible thing.  My hair looked like crap, but at that point I wasn't willing to think the culprit could be the lauded Ovation Hair products.

A few days passed.  My hair had not looked good for a while, but it was time to shampoo again.  I was wondering about Ovation at this point, but it was all I had in the house.  I said to myself, "I'll give it one more try."  I shampooed gently, put on the treatment for only a couple minutes, and soaked with creme rinse for about five minutes.  "What's this?  Why am I standing in three inches of water?  Oh no!  It's because the drain is LITERALLY FULL OF MY HAIR!"  My blood turned cold and a panic ran through me.  All I could think was, "What the hell have I done?!"  I stood under the water for a long time, rinsing Ovation products from my head and I could feel HAIRS RUNNING DOWN MY BACK -- literally falling out of my head and filling up the drain.  I ended my shower and there was a huge wad of hair in the drain.  I got out and carefully combed through my hair.  Loads of hair came out in the comb.  I kept combing.  More hair.  I let my hair dry.    

And "dry" is the operative word.  Not only did I let my hair dry, my hair was now as DRY and wispy as cotton candy.  It was literally STRIPPED.  It was dead and LIFELESS, all of the moisture pulled from it.  But that's not all.  My ponytail is HALF THE SIZE it was two weeks before.  Let me repeat that:  My ponytail is HALF THE SIZE IT WAS BEFORE I USED OVATION CELL THERAPY.

I went to my hair stylist and cried, "I've had a hair catastrophe!"  She put her hands through my hair and ran them along my scalp.  "Oh my god," she said, "You've lost hair throughout your top and sides!  And I need to put a deep conditioner on this.  Oh my god."  

My hair is WRECKED.  It is RUINED.  I have half as much on my head as I did before I used the Ovation products.  The hair that's still on my head is so dry, it looks stripped.  And my hair has continued to fall out for weeks.  Let me repeat:  OVATION CELL THERAPY and the OVATION HAIR SYSTEM RUINED MY HAIR.  My hair was growing out and was going to be just beyond shoulder length and now it is a WRECK.  All I can do is wait for it to grow out FROM THE ROOT.  It will take YEARS for me to get my hair back.

So now you're wondering if I complained to Ovation, right?  Well let me tell you that one -- it's a real laugh riot.

First I left a phone message for Ovation to call me.  No response.  Then I sent an email explaining what happened.  I got a FORM LETTER patiently explaining to me that shedding is normal.  Right.  That really infuriated me.  A form letter?!  So this is a CONTINUING PROBLEM and they have their form email just waiting and ready to go for all of their customers who've LOST HAIR DUE TO OVATION CELL THERAPY?  Stunning.  

I called my credit card company and disputed the charge.  I did not trust Ovation to give me my money back or care about my experience, so I could at least cancel the charge through the credit card people and I told them I was disputing the charge because the product was "defective."  Then I boxed up my Ovation products and mailed them back to the company with a letter.  Do you think they acknowledged my letter?  Of course not.  There was NO ACKNOWLEDGMENT of my letter, though I did get a confirmation that my money would be refunded.  Fine, but I wanted confirmation that their godawful product wrecked my hair!  So I waited for the credit card purchase cancellation to hit them.

About one month after my fiasco, I got a call from a very nice Ovation customer service woman and her main concern was the credit card purchase cancellation.  Of course!  She expressed no interest in what their product did to my hair.  So I TOLD her.  And here's where it gets really funny.  The very sweet customer service girl gave me some obviously stock responses to my complaints, including "some of our customers misuse the product."  MISUSE THE PRODUCT?!  That just sent me 'round the bend.  I explained I had followed the directions EXACTLY, but she pressed on, saying that the product should not be used over the entire scalp and should only be used in small amounts.  What?  WHAT?!  Ovation suggests on their website to use the product "liberally."  They also say to let the product sit on the scalp for "up to eight hours."  They send an email instructional video in which Dallas advises Ovation users to "maximize" results by using the product JUST AS I USED IT, and now the customer service girl BLAMED ME for mis-using Ovation Cell Therapy?  How rich.  How classic.  

Finally, FINALLY, I extracted a bit of truth:  The customer service girl told me that the Ovation System causes dryness and shedding in some people and that "they" (the customer service people who deal with complaints) are "trying to get them to change the instructions."  So the product wrecks some people's hair and then the company lets the poor customer service girls deal with the fallout.  ("Fallout" -- get it?)  The customer service girl was very very sorry about my ruined hair, though I got the feeling she dealt with people like me all the time.  Finally, she asked what she could do.  I told her that Ovation could pay for me to see my hair stylist so we could cut my hair or and at least partially disguise the damage that's been done.  That would be a lousy $100 -- not much, considering.  The customer service girl told me she'd ask her supervisor.  Naturally, her supervisor "was not willing" to pay for me to get my hair cut off, but -- wait for it! -- she was willing to send me FREE OVATION HAIR PRODUCTS!  

So that is my tale.  The Ovation Hair System ruined my hair.  And after Ovation ruined my hair, they DIDN'T CARE.    

Since this extremely upsetting hair disaster I've worn my hair back in a bun with a little "wiglet" to cover up the fact that I have almost no hair.  Thanks a lot, Ovation.  And I have an appointment to see my hair stylist so we can either cut my hair back down to nothing (my husband will be thrilled) or figure out a way to deal with clip-in extensions, though we're not sure I have enough hair to cover the extensions.  I guess I could wear a hat for a year.  Or a scarf.  Or a wig.  That's what people who've had chemo do, except I don't have cancer;  I had Ovation.

This is what you get, DC Labs and Ovation Cell Therapy.  You promised -- and I quote -- to "stand firmly behind our complete 100% satisfaction guarantee.  We also pledge outstanding customer service and professional attention that will exceed your expectations.  If we fail to meet those goals or you wish to contact us with questions or comments, we welcome your input via phone, fax or email."

Ovation "failed to meet [my] goals."  Ovation failed to "welcome [my] input."  So I am welcoming Ovation to my little blog.  And I pledge to warn people about their scary product.    

If YOU, gentle reader, would like to share your bad experience with Ovation Hair Products, please do at ovationcelltherapyfail@gmail.com

UPDATE!  Here's my first email message:

"OMG! That is just horrible! I was about to go "all in" on this product to save my dead,limp hair. thanks for posting."