Luxury/High-end Product Directory

[nycelle]

Kerastase :

Premiere line - Nice lightweight products that left my hair feeling healthier with less frizz.

8H Magic Night Hair Serum: love it, but if you have very fine or oily hair, it's probably going to be too much. It leaves my fair feeling sooo soft and conditioned in the morning.

Masque Intense Regenerant Hair Mask :I thought this would be a replacement for their old Bain Chromatique line. I was wrong. Absolutely hated it. Didn't do much for my hair considering the price. Odd too because I remember liking it the first time I used it, but after that- nope.



Oribe:

Gold Lust Repair and Restore - Somehow got a sample of the shampoo and conditioner. Pretty sure I've tried it before though. No real opinion. Nothing special, to me at least. I wouldn't spend money on it.



Briogio:

Don't Despair, Repair Deep Conditioning Mask - One of my all time faves. Have been using this product on and off for years. It leaves my hair soft, conditioned and easy to detangle. Might be too much for fine hair.

Scalp Revival Micro-Exfoliating Shampoo - This is one of my all time favorite products. It feels so good and has such a nice clean minty smell. My scalp feels awesome after using this, just very clean. Good for any hair type.

Matcha + Apple Shampoo and Kale + Apple Conditioner - The best thing about these two are the smell. Other than that, they're your basic sulfate free shampoo and silicone free conditioner. I will say that they also leave my hair feeling very clean and soft. So maybe a little better than your basic drugstore brand sulfate/silicone free product. It's good for all hair types.



DryBar:

Detox Dry Shampoo - Hands down the best dry shampoo I've ever used. At least compared to every drug store brand, and all the IGK Dry shampoos. This product leaves your roots looking like you just washed your hair. I absolutely love it for the winter when I shampoo less and need something in between washes. You don't need to use a ton of it (unlike the other brands I've tried), a little works just fine.
The scent is nice but strong, that's the only thing that I dislike about it. But considering how well it works, it's not a deal breaker for me.

On The Rocks Clarifying Charcoal Shampoo - An excellent clarifying shampoo for those who don't want to use any kind of sulfates. It absolutely does the job. This along with Briogio's scalp revival are the only two clarifying shampoos I use (for at least 4-5 years now.) It's good for all hair types.



Alterna Caviar:

Anti-aging Replenishing Moisture Shampoo and Conditioner: The shampoo was terrible. It left my hair dry, ironic since it's supposed to be a moisture shampoo. The conditioner feels like a protein conditioner. It doesn't detangle, or leave hair soft, but it definitely left my hair healthier looking with less frizz, and a lot smoother. I would not recommend the shampoo at all, but if you have a lot of breakage, the conditioner can work.



Kiehl's:
Amino Acid Conditioner - Got this as a sample and liked it so much I bought a larger size. It's a protein conditioner, and will not really detangle. But it leaves my hair very healthy looking, hardly any frizz and feels soft. This is not really a daily conditioner, I use it once a week, once every two weeks, but it's a very good protein conditioner. One of my faves now.


I've tried a ton of other higher end shampoos/conditioners but it's too much to post. The ones I listed are my most recent, or love/hate products so remember the all very clearly.

[Siv]

Thank you both @nycelle, @evernia! I'd forgotten about Olaplex, that's one I've tried too! And Both Kerastase and Kiehl's are on my want-to-try list but I can't ever find mini size Kerastase

[Ylva]

Product: K18 Leave-In Molecular Repair Hair Mask

Your hair type/hair concerns: Fine, predominantly natural but photobleached and sometimes goes through a lot mechanically speaking.

Overall assessment: I can't really tell if it made any difference because my hair was already in a relatively healthy state, having recently cut up to hip from almost knee. But I didn't expect to see a world of difference anyway; I just wanted to give my hair a little extra reinforcement to hopefully somewhat make up for the rough treatment (worn loose when performing, and I mostly wash daily). I need to have faith with this product, lol.

Pros: A little goes a long way. Smells pleasant.

Cons: Doesn't necessarily make a visible difference in natural hair.

Score out of five: 3/5

Worth the price? Probably. I need very little (one pump for my entire length; more than that makes my hair feel tacky already) so it lasts me forever. On the other hand, someone with more damaged hair would probably notice more of a difference but also go through it faster.

[Siv]

@Ylva Interesting! I felt similar about Olaplex, nice but maybe more results with more damaged hair?

[Ylva]

@Ylva Interesting! I felt similar about Olaplex, nice but maybe more results with more damaged hair?

I think that's right. I haven't used Olaplex on my natural hair, but it was a saviour to my bleached hair!

Nice to see you around, by the way

[lapushka]

Couldn't get along w/ Olaplex, BTW, neither did my mom; we both got flaky hair for some odd reason, and yes it's the "real deal" that we have here which is gosh, so very strange all of it. And I can't question the source because it's a hair shop, specialty, I wasn't about to risk getting it from ebay, and then this... I mean.

Anyway, quick question. What is "high end"? Anything over €10 per product, or what's the cut-off point, if there is one.

I mean, I last bought Novex masks, which comes to between €10-12 a big 1KG pot, so it's a lot per product. But per gram it's not even more expensive than a regular conditioner, it actually beats the price. Because that's €2.50-3 per 250ml, and that's amazing! Beats the price of a conditioner, for one, but even the price of a mask, for sure the price of a mask! And it's like 10x better at combating frizz (man it's amazing and you just need a small scoop).

And for the rest, I think, besides a Davines leave-in, that I do not remember the price of but is a high-end brand, no question, and a CHI serum, I actually don't even possess anything that's considered expensive or high-end.

[nycelle]

I go through so many different products that I completely forgot to mention:

Living Proof: "Restore" shampoo and conditioner.
I've used them on and off over the years and really love these products. They made a big difference in how my hair looked and felt.
Unfortunately, I really dislike the smell. It's a bit too chemical like for me. But they are great products.

(I don't mention my hair type because it's listed under my avatar).

[Siv]

Nice to see you around, by the way

Thank you! You too!!

Anyway, quick question. What is "high end"? Anything over €10 per product, or what's the cut-off point, if there is one.

I didn't want to define it since I don't think I'm the expert on this and I imagine depending on one's circumstances, what's a luxury could vary from person to person But for me personally I would say salon brands are high-end and luxury is like (what's to me a) crazy price point like Oribe

[evernia]

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Product: Redken All Soft conditioner

Your hair type/hair concerns: very fine, thin, curly, tangly, low porosity, damaged ends

Overall assessment: this is a moisturizing conditioner aimed at all types of hair, it should smooth fine and nourish coarse hair. comes in a yellow/gold bottle. it smells better than most redken products i tried, but honestly they all smell like they mixed two good smells together and the result is kind of too... busy? this one is kind of pleasantly fruity with an "oily" smell that's similar to scented shoe polish. i like it though, i'm just wondering why do all of them smell kinda weird. bought a full bottle to use in place of a light hair mask as needed.

unlike most redken products, this one has only PEG silicone and therefore can be used with a low shampoo/cgm routine (it has isopropyl alcohol at a very low % where it isn't drying, probably to help the protein extracts)

Pros: it does what it says - my hair is really soft, the oil makes my curl pattern more defined, my hair dries faster and i found out that if i brush my curls after drying them, they come back which is pretty rare for a product to do. the smell doesn't linger after washing out. excellent conditioner and works much better than a lot of fine hair masks i've tried and i can see why it's a classic.

Cons: i have to be careful using it too close to the roots or my hair gets oily earlier

Score out of five: 4,5/5

Worth the price? Yes

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[Chasemi]

Product: Ouai leave in Conditioner

Your hair type/hair concerns: 2C, M, ii/iii

Overall assessment: I use on damp hair to keep softness. Maybe it's just my particular bottle but the spray is quite irregular.

Pros: It does make my hair feel a little bit softer

Cons: The smell is horrendous to me. I cannot stand it. It smells like chemicals.

Score out of five: 2/5

Worth the price? Personally, no