Here is a roundup of literally all the hair products I use in one neat post. Because people are always asking and I don’t delve into it on my main site or social media.
Mine would be categorised as colour-treated, naturally straight, and for lack of a better word, normal. Since I promised myself that I would grow out my pixie cut, I’ve really stepped up my haircare game in order to keep it healthy and strong. The growing-out process hasn’t been awkward (so far) — I transitioned from a long pixie to a short bob with relative ease. Although therein lies the rub: the short cut afforded me oft-changing styles that I now find myself missing.
So I am thinking of going for a chop again, but in the meantime, it’s all about the grooming and care to keep potentially awkward phases at bay and keeping things as healthy and strong as possible.
Shampoo & Conditioner
I wash my hair nearly every night. I’ve been using BONTANIST Botanical Shampoo (Moist) and Ichikami Smoothing Conditioner for the longest. Currently, I’m alternating them with Olaplex No.4 Shampoo and No.5 Conditioner. So incredibly expensive for the size (just 250ml each!), but I only need a tiny bit. I have noticed considerable change since I started using them.
Scalp Massaging Shampoo Brush
I’m also still using the SUCCESS Scalp Washing Brush that I’ve featured in my Best Pick review 3 years ago. 3+ years of near-daily use and countless drops later, this Japan-made scalp massaging shampoo brush still looks completely brand new!
Microfibre Hair Towel
I use Aquis Hair Towel twice each time I wash my hair — I first blot dry with it before conditioning (it works a lot better!) and then after to towel dry. I prefer it over regular terry cloth towels since the microfibre material wicks away excess water from the hair much more effectively and gently.
Monthly Treatment
Once a month, I do Olaplex Stand-Alone Treatment with No.1 and No.2 as insurance. These two are sold to licensed professionals only and they’re not available to the general public. My hairstylist ordered the Traveling Stylist Kit for me. You can find No.1 and No.2. individually or as a kit easily online but there’s a very good chance they’re counterfeits or diluted products.
Leave-in Conditioner/Treatment
My main goals with leave-ins are to moisturise, strengthen, and protect. Japanese leave-in conditioners (called “out bath treatment” in Japan) are primarily oil or silicone-based — I’m not a fan of them. Nothing wrong with either, but they tend to make my short hair quite lank and greasy. I’ve used Bumble and Bumble’s Hairdresser’s Invisible Oil Heat & UV Protective Primer for years. It moisturises and protects hair and leaves it soft and silky smooth without weighing it down. Recently, I’ve been using the new Olaplex No.6 Bond Smoother instead. While the bottle is tiny for the price, just like No.4 and No.5, a little goes a long way!
Brush
I couldn’t do without my Tangle Teezer — I’ve used it daily for years. It glides through wet or dry hair so efficiently and gently without stressing strands whatsoever. I prefer the compact styler over the original larger brush. Its smaller ergonomic design sits neatly in the palm of my hand and the protective cover keeps the teeth clean. It comes in a myriad of colours and print designs.
Professional Hair Dryer
I rough-dry on low heat. Drybar’s Buttercup Blow Dryer is what I’ve used for years but I’ve recently switched to Elchim 3900 instead. They’re both fast and powerful.
Flat Iron
I heat style in the morning with a small flat iron on low heat setting: even though my hair is naturally straight, I’ve been warned off of anything like a curling iron. I use it to add volume and create a gentle curve. It takes me no more than 3 minutes since I don’t touch the underneath layer.
Hair Wax
If the look I’m going for is natural and effortless (which is most days), I use LIPPS L11 Light Move Wax. It gives light-medium hold, and it emphasises natural texture, movement, and dimension without leaving it feeling sticky, greasy, or heavy. I reach for Arimino’s Peace Pro Design Hard Wax (Chocolate) if I want hair to look more styled and it needs to hold all day.
Colour
I’d have to add hair colour as the last thing on this list, actually, if I want to be totally pedantic. Once a month at the salon and I believe it’s a demi-permanent formula. There’s never visible regrowth since the colour fades away gradually over the course of a month. It’s not an at-home box colour, per se, but it’s definitely still a hair product (that you can do at home if you have the supplies).
Have you ever tried Paula’s choice hair conditioner? It’s economical and effective for my hair.
No, I’ve never thought of even looking at Paula’s Choice for anything beyond skincare.
Hey!
Also, I found this blowdryer – https://www.solis.com/com_en/solis-swiss-perfection – I’m planning to order it as soon as my old + cheap one retires. It’s 80€ from amazon.de, if I remember you reside in London sometimes so it’s perhaps the same price for you when you’re there.
It looked like a potencial “Best pick” to me if it would hold true to it’s promises so that’s why I thought you would be interested, but I assume the price to Japan would increase due to shipping so that would affect the p/p ratio.
Have a nice day!
The main issue with buying from Europe would be voltage. They wouldn’t work in North America or Japan without an adapter/converter. I don’t need yet another hairdryer (I have 3 working ones!), but if I were to splurge on one (hypothetically), my pick would be Bioprgramming’s Repronizer 3D or 4D Plus.
Okay I see now (I was also thinking outside of yourself though like a future gift for a close relative or something).
Thanks for sharing the brand, it seems like a fundamentally new/different technology so I find it easier to understand its high price tag unlike the Buttercup where it’s hard for me to see its supposedly high value compared to the one I linked for an example.
To be honest, I almost never give beauty products or tools as a gift because of what I do. Close friends and relatives would most likely automatically assume that they’re samples I didn’t need or want.
The Drybar’s Buttercup is made by Bio Ionic and it’s literally the same as the Bio Ionic PowerLight except for the colour and the back vent cap design.
Well, I would personally rather worry why I actually gave them the gift than what they think why I gave them the gift and in your specific case I would just tell them that verbally aswell because if they think I’m lying than that would be a trust issue for me.
Ohh okay, I think that’s good marketing as I actually thought it was Drybar’s product, but it is still ~110€ pricier than the Solis but yeah I’ll rather wait and have an opinion when I actually use it for a while.
Also, I might have seen it wrong but your Scalp brush seems to me a bit swollen and loose at the end, mine was much much worse but the difference with the new one (received it yesterday) is fundamentally different in my opinion (much more “penetrating” through my hair).
I give my close friends and family samples I don’t need or want all the time so it would be a perfectly fair assumption. In any case, beauty products and clothes are 2 categories I personally never buy for others as a gift unless they’ve shown interest in a specific item. These things are so incredibly personal.
I think it’s just the picture since the brush looks and feels exactly the same as when it was new. It works perfectly fine!
Yes, exactly because of that “perfectly fair assumption” in your specific case I would tell them verbally why I actually gave them the gift, that’s what I meant in the first place but I may have written it unclearly.
Yes I agree with you on the second part, not always as “incredibly personal” though as I would say “Best pick” category is in my opinion a good bet for someone if you pick up a cue by yourself and in the end they can still learn something from the product (that they don’t like it for an example);
but also price wise, 80€ in case that I linked is just too much pressure for a gift I think unless there is a very high chance of success to the point of almost obvious.
I think that’s amazing after all this time, mine started deteriorating after a year because many times the only space in the shower to put it down was on the floor so I forgot it a couple of times there and once specifically turned upside down, but mine also changed color (to kinda greenish) so I would say there is a chance that someone saw it and thought it is a “very special hair brush” and maybe it got a chemical reaction from a hair product or something.
Anyway it tricked me into thinking it is still efficient because I use it almost everyday.
Personally, beauty products and fashion are 2 categories I would never buy someone as a gift without knowing for sure they would like that brand/style/item. Among my close relatives/family, gift cards are what everyone wants to receive and give the most! And my circle of friends are all in closely related industries so giving a beauty product as a special occasion gift (i.e. birthday) without any prompting is quite odd.
Ok. (I think people in my country personalize clothes much more than skin care or even make-up so perhaps the cultural difference also plays a role I would guess)
By the way, I linked an article about the history of soap in USA a few months ago under one of your blog posts and I recently saw people selling this particular soap out of South Korea, it has a very old formulation so that’s why I thought you would be interested. (https://www.amazon.com/Lanolin-Agg-Tval-Swedish-Eggwhite-Soap-bars/dp/B0073XXZHW)
PS: I’ve noticed Olaplex is pushing the No. 3 as a staple for home users (and it also seems to me like they seriously oppose using No. 1 and No. 2 by non-professionals so I hope you are risk-free when you mention that in the blog post from the point of law or something) so I’m a little baffled that you skip it.
The only possibly logical reason I’ve thought of would be that you find it impractical due to waiting time before the rinse-off (up to 90min I think) and simultaneously you believe that because you use all the other ones that No. 3 provides you too little additional benefit to invest in it.
I’m not sure what you mean by from the point of law. This is a post of everything I use on my hair — Olaplex No.1 & No.2 are part it. And like I’ve already said in the post, they’re sold to salon professionals only and cannot be purchased without a licence. They don’t “seriously oppose” non-professionals using them — they’re not sold to the general public at all. Mine are from my hairstylist. You can find them online (like everything else these days), but there’s a high chance that they’re counterfeits or diluted products.
The difference between No.1, No.2 & No.3 is concentration. No.1 is 100% concentration of the active ingredient when undiluted. (However, if you follow the provided instructions for a standalone treatment and dilute it with water, it ends up being a 16.7% concentration.) No.2 is 15% whereas No.3 is 12.5%. Aside from the 2.5% concentration difference, No.2 & No.3 formulas are otherwise completely identical. So if you already have No.2, there is no point in No.3 since it can be used the same way and it’s also cheaper. Of course, this is a moot point if you don’t have a licence (or have a hairstylist that can get it for you).
I actually have No. 3 too but I never use it for that reason, which is why it isn’t pictured nor mentioned.
I think you’ve explained it beautifully in regards to No. 3, thank you.
I have probably thrown in the word “law” too casually so I hope you took it with a grain of salt, I’ve been mainly thinking internet censorship which is kinda on the rise in Western world I believe (I have already seen it’s effects in the context of the upcoming EU elections, just on Facebook though).
When I’ve said “seriously oppose” I’ve been basing on this quote:
“The No. 1 and No. 2 are for professional use only. Her stylist should not have sold her those products as they require a license and technical training to use properly.”
I’ve understood as if the stylist is somewhat tied to Olaplex through “license and technical training” , but now if I think again she’s probably just meant it in the context of professional hairstylist in general, she’s been perhaps just worried that the hairstylist I’ve mentioned has been lacking responsibility.
She wasn’t wrong. A reputable salon/hairstylist wouldn’t sell any professional-only products to the general public. The only reason why I have them is because my hairstylist also happens to be a close friend.
Personally, I feel the Olaplex is completely goof-proof —the provided instruction is so clear! It requires no more technical training than using a shampoo/conditioner/mask. The worse thing that can happen is absolutely thing (so you end up wasting your time and some of the expensive product).
Salons that offer Olaplex most certainly would object to non-professionals using No.1 & No.2 at home since they’re charging $20-50 for the added service.
I started using cheaper shampoos (that are lying around the house) before my primary to break the initial oily hair and spare some money