Luxury/High-end Product Directory

[Chasemi]

Product: K18 Hair Mask

Your hair type/hair concerns: 2c/M/ii/iii

Overall assessment: I have done some awful at home dye jobs on my hair. The longest parts of my hair have been bleached at least 7 times, within the span of a year. On top of bleached I used plenty of other dyes as well. I have finished my first full size bottle now!

Pros: It makes my hair feel soft. Visible results that just got better as I used it more. A little product goes a long way. Quick and easy to add to my wash day routine (easy day than waiting 10-20 minutes for most masks). My hair had stopped breaking off (seriously any pressure on a strand and they would snap off right in my hands)

Cons: Pricey

Score out of five: 5/5

Worth the price? Yes

[evernia]

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Product: Olaplex no. 7 Bonding Oil

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

Overall assessment: it's a standard mix of silicone and natural oil (corn). super expensive for 30 ml. i've seen it recommended for fine to medium hair, it has a lot of great reviews everywhere. comes in a nice minimalistic bottle, has a slight pleasant "young" floral/fruity smell that disappears after putting it in the hair. it's yellow colored because of added dye (why?). it has the olaplex patented chemical but that's only marketing, as the oil/cones would prevent it from actually doing anything on the hair. there's so many fakes on amazon and second-hand sites that it makes buying it kind of tricky

Pros: it's a decent hair oil, a little goes a long way. the smell is nice and i really like how the bottle looks and that it's practical. i had the best results when i put it into wet hair. the texture is thin and spreadable

Cons: it's good but not great. honestly i think the 5 star reviews come from people not having tried many alternatives at this price point... it's a bit too heavy on the natural oil, so it's very easy to overdo it and just make your hair greasy. it doesn't tame frizz all that well. the most accurate way to describe it would be coconut/sunflower oil mixed with some silicone - those oils tend to make my ends kind of hard/crunchy and that's what the olaplex oil does to my hair. it's better than the drugstore ones i've tried, but kind of lacking among the expensive ones. i was afraid i got a fake because of the performance but then i had a chance to try it in store and it's the real deal.

if you like natural oils on your ends you might like this better but then... you could just use coconut mixed with some good silicone hair oil and save your money. or maybe it's better suited towards medium hair as opposed to fine?

EDIT after a week: i tried this on my sister's hair, who has fine TBL hair that's not as wispy as mine and feels/behaves more "normal" and it works way better on hers, makes it a bit softer in a weightless way and most importantly not crunchy like it does for me. it's ultimately a different product than shu uemura or kerastase - it's not supposed to work for frizz and i think the goal with this oil is for it to be competely invisible. still not worth it in my opinion though, could be dupe-able with almond oil and some silicone serum to spread it.

Score out of five: 3/5

Worth the price? No

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[evernia]

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Product: Shu Uemura Essence Absolue Oil

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

Overall assessment: a lightweight hair oil that's a mix of silicone with camelia oil (that's the only natural oil in it). should work for all hair types. minimalist ingredients list. it's probably the most expensive cosmetic product i'll ever own per bottle (150 ml), but per mililiter it's less expensive than olaplex or kerastase. the consistency is thicker than the olaplex one but it's more spreadable. the bottle has a light tea color but the oil itself is colorless. it smells really good, like a real, realistic flower without any perfumey-ness. it's a part of loreal like kerastase is, and is also made in spain - i read it's similar to the kerastase elixir but it should be a bit lighter. the japanese brand and aesthetics is just marketing.

Pros: the smell is really wonderful - i usually prefer unscented products but with this one, i'm sad it doesn't linger a bit more. it's impossible to overdo it, even if you completely saturated fine hair with it it wouldn't look greasy. makes my ends feel "alive" and repaired. tames frizz and gives shine, on days when i don't wash my hair it's my only styling product. the bottle looks elegant. really love this oil and it might be a holy grail for me.

edit: forgot to mention that i quit CGM after 7 years because of this oil alone.

Cons: the only con is that it sort of disappears after a day, i think that's what you pay for the lightweight effect. i read the kerastase should be better in this aspect but might have other downsides, i might try that one once i run out of the oils i own, but something tells me i'll be repurchasing this one.

Score out of five: 5/5

Worth the price? Yes

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