Salvatore Blue Gold Step 2 Aligning Conditioner (1000ml) is the navy-and-gold bottle of the plant-tannin smoothing system, sold on its own for the back bar. No formaldehyde, no releaser and no glyoxylic acid appear on the list. It is Step 2, the bottle that follows the Step 1 preparatory shampoo. This label works differently from the grey one: it goes on hair that is one hundred per cent dry and prints no fixed time.

Why this step

Salons that learned the service on the navy bottle keep asking for the navy bottle, and the honest answer is that they are right to and wrong about why. The formula is identical to the current export pack, fifty ingredients in the same printed order. What they are really used to is the method on this label, which differs. We would rather sell the pack a stylist has muscle memory for than argue them onto a different instruction sheet.

Key ingredients

Plant tannin is the smoothing active and heat is what activates it. With it come gelatin, collagen and keratin proteins, a silk protein, tucuma and cupuacu seed butters, macadamia and linseed oils. Panthenol, niacinamide, vitamin B6, vitamin E and a vitamin C derivative sit underneath, alongside guarana and bamboo extracts and a moisture binder, saccharide isomerate. The blue is CI 44045, a listed pigment. Full INCI on the product image.

What to expect

Frizz down, wave loosened, shine up, movement kept. What we tell salons is plain. This realigns and softens the fibre from inside the cortex; it is not a relaxer and it does not flatten. It grows out with the regrowth rather than leaving a line to cut off.

Who it is for

• Salons trained on the navy pack who want the instruction sheet they already know
• Columns that empty the conditioner well before the shampoo and reorder it alone
• Stylists who prefer a dry application, which keeps water out of the variables

Who it is not for

• A first order, because no Step 1 comes with this bottle and the service needs one
• Home use: an iron, a strand test and a trained hand are all part of it
• Anyone told this is the weaker or the stronger pack, which it is not

Professional tip

The instruction that matters on this label is the dry one. Dry the hair completely before you open the bottle, because a damp section dilutes the product and the alignment will not hold through the iron. Watch the hair rather than a clock: this pack prints no fixed time and asks instead that you check the product has been absorbed before rinsing. Shake the bottle first, since the pigment settles. We would work the nape first on this pack, where your sections are thinnest and dry fastest.

How to use

Run it as the second half of the service, once the Step 1 shampoo has cleaned and anionised the hair. Patch test first, a little on the forearm and the nape, and stop if it reacts.

The whole method below assumes the hair is fully dry, which is what this label asks for and what separates it from the grey pack.

1. Dry the hair fully. Blow-dry it straight after the Step 1 rinse; no section should feel cool or damp at the root.
2. Shake and brush it on. Apply with a tint brush section by section, root to ends, then run a comb through to spread it evenly.
3. Check the take-up. Look at the hair rather than the clock, because this label sets no time; rinse once the fibre has taken the product up.
4. Rinse and dry again. Rinse with cold or tepid water until nothing slips off, then blow-dry straight and fully dry.
5. Set with the iron. Pass 1 cm sections at least 10 times, 180 to 200 degrees maximum on lightened hair, then close with a pH-stabilising moisture step.

Where it fits in the range

This is the conditioner from the navy duo, bought on its own. The Blue Gold 2x1000ml duo puts it back with its shampoo, and the grey Premium Step 2 1000ml is the same conditioner under the current export label, applied towel-dried. The Premium 2x1000ml duo is that pack as a pair. All of it sits on the Blue Gold line at Salvatore.

In short

• The navy pack of the conditioner, sold without its shampoo
• Fifty ingredients, the same list and the same order as the export pack
• Applied to fully dry hair, with no fixed time printed on this label
• Plant tannin, three proteins, Amazonian butters and a listed blue pigment

Ordering the second step alone assumes the service is already familiar. If it is not, the guide to taninoplastia explained explains what the tannin does. The Tanino Therapy vs Blue Gold comparison shows where this bottle sits.

On lightened hair, read the guide for blonde and bleached hair before you book, together with the tannin smoothing disadvantages and risks guide.