Hair Oils Series: Conclusion

Time for a round-up. I want to point out that the differences between all apart from Osmo are really small.  If you checked out the pictures of my hair in individual reviews, you'll see there is little if any difference in how my hair looks. A bigger difference is in how your hair feels. Here is my ranking of the five hair treatments I tested.

Winner: Macadamia Natural Oil Healing Oil Treatment

2nd place: Orofluido Beauty Elixir

3rd place: Moroccanoil Original

4th place: Kérastase Elixir Ultime

5th place: Osmo Berber Oil

For me the winner is Macadamia with Orofluido not far behind. Macadamia provided the sleekest, shiniest and most moisturised results, also it is the best defrizzer. Orofluido and Moroccanoil are almost dupes in results, but differ in price and scent. Also Orofluido leaves your hair with more volume. The same applies to Elixir Ultime which made my hair feel very light, silky and bouncy, but left my ends dry. Osmo made my hair feel a bit greasy at first, but dry in a few hours. However, I still love my combination Orofluido Elixir + Sahara best and I'll stick to it.

Some general information about these treatments.

1. Please don't fall for the extravagant over-the-top advertising. These treatments are very good, but nowhere near the miraculous as they are described by the advertisers. It still baffles me why such high prices  of some these treatments. What am I actually paying for? Silicones are cheap and argan oil can't be that expensive if Alverde's Mandel Argan oil is only 3.5€. The only thing left are the fragrances. The nerve of some brands! On the bright side one bottle does last a long time. Please check the prices in online shops first before spending your money in a salon (Macadamia is around 20€ on eBay, while it's around 35€ in Simple salons).

2. These are described as treatments, I prefer to call them styling products, or better, smoothing serums. Even though they contain oils, the amount of them is small and I'm bothered by the first few ingredients: cones. You can use them as a pre-wash treatment and most brands suggest you do so, but I'd never use a product with silicones for several reasons. First, silicones coat the hair and don't nourish it, just conceal the problems. Second, too expensive. Why would I use the pricey oil and then wash it off. I don't think so. Third: pure argan oil, macadamia, coconut and even olive oil work better than these serums as pre-wash treatments. Not to mention how much cheaper they are. I just use regular oils instead. 

3. Don't over do it. A few drops is enough. A 100ml bottle should last you a long time. Mine lasted two years because I wash my hair once or twice a week and I only used it after washing my hair. But I do find that by using more product on wet hair before blow-drying, I get better results. My hair is then sleeker and less frizzy, specially when using Orofluido and Macadamia. I don't want to use too much silicone products, so I use Alverde Haaröl Mandel Argan which is silicone free for when my ends are dry.

4. They tend to be heavier than their silicon serum predecessors. If your hair is oily, they might be too much. However, they are marketed for all hair types, so if you want to make them work for you, the key is in the amount used and distribution. Kerastaste is the lightest and most appropriate for oilier hair. I heard L'Oreal's Extraordinary oil is quite light as well and Mythic Oil was also way to light for my hair when I tried it once at my hairdresser (all are from L'Oreal btw). The rest are quite thick and heavy. Osmo is really heavy.

5. Most have a strong fragrance. All the ones I tried have quite a heavy perfumey scent, so if you're sensitive to that, try to get a sample first or try it at your hairdresser (if they have it, of course). 

There are exceptions in the hair oils world that don't contain silicones. One of them is Alverde Mandel Argan, which actually deserves to call itself oil. Pure oils like argan, macadamia, coconut and olive are heavy and it's difficult to use them as styling products without leaving your hair greasy. I prefer to use them only as pre-wash treatments. Alverde is a great product for those who want a silicon free product for their ends. It's still an oil, but a lighter version. It won't make your hair as silky as those with silicone, but it will actually nourish your hair. I consider it an actual hair care, not just a smoothing serum like the rest. For that reason I didn't include it in this test and because it's drugstore. I use this on dry hair only, I prefer to use silicones on wet hair before blow-drying.
Ingredients: soybean oil, emollient derived from coconut oil, argan oil, walnut oil, almond oil, burdock oil, two Vitamin E variants, Vitamin C, sunflower oil, and six fragrances derived from essential oils.
Ingredients-wise this is a fantastic product. And best of all, it's cheap. It's around 3.5€ in DM's. It's not the best for oily hair, but if your ends are dry give it a go.

I hope this helped if you're on the fence of which one to get. There are so many on the market for such different prices that it's hard to choose which one is for you.  I would still suggest you go and try it at your hairdresser if they have it, or get the sample size bottle first. I'm sorry for such long posts. I try to keep them short, but I always end up writing so much. It's just that I have so much to say, especially when it comes to hair. Thanks for reading!

Links:

Hair Oils Series: Osmo Berber Oil

I bet a some of you are thinking: Osmo? Where did she find Osmo? I've never heard of it. Well, I never heard of it until a month ago when I started this test. It was reduced on Feel Unique, so I decided to try a sample size bottle. This one kind of shattered my theory that all oils are good, since it proved to be the most problematic.

Packaging: a dark glass bottle with a pump (100ml version), but with a clear label so you can still see how much is in there.

Ingredients: Three silicones followed by isopropyl myristate, argan, coconut, avocado oil, oxybenzone (sunscreen, a controversial ingredient, here disguised by an alternative name), fragrances and colours.  Isopropyl myristate helps absorption and lessens the greasiness.

Scent: It's a sweet scent. In the bottle, it smells to me like cherry candy, just like Nyx Mega Shine lip gloss. On my hair it smells exactly like strawberry and vanilla tea. Doesn't stay at all on my hair, not on wet nor on dry hair.

Performance and Results: It's very thick, the thickest out of all I tried. The product is clear with a slight pink hue. It's hard to get a small amount because of the very thick texture. I had quite a few problems with this oil. When I tried it the first time, I used the usual amount I use with other treatments on wet hair. During blow-drying my hair feel greasy and I thought that perhaps I didn't rinse my conditioner well enough. The end result looked ok, but my hair felt very weird, like there is to much product. I washed my hair the next day because of that, but this time I made sure I rinsed off my conditioner well and used a smaller amount of oil. Unfortunately, the result was the same. My hair felt heavy and odd, but it looked ok. It looked shiny, there was less frizz and my ends were moisturised. However, all changed after a few hours. My hair became really dry, and not just the ends but everywhere. I'm not impressed by it. It's too heavy and drying at the same time.

The first picture was taken on the first day, right after washing my hair. The second on the second day. As you can see my hair looks a bit dry on the second picture.

Where to buy: I got it on Feelunique.

This is my least favourite one. I find this oil problematic not just because of the results on my hair, but also because of ingredients. Argan oil is only the fourth ingredient, which means there's only a few drops of it in it. It managed to make my hair greasy and dry only a few hours later. I'm not sure I'd recommend it to anyone. I don't hate it, but there are much better products on the market.

Links:

Hair Oils Series: Introduction

Hair oils have flooded the market in the past years, particularly those containing the ''new'' wonderful argan oil. Words like elixir, miraculous and extraordinary are very freely used by brands. All promise you the ultimate hair care product that is going to transform your hair into silky heaven. Exaggerations just pour from the lips of advertisers, with such extravagant descriptions, I wouldn't be surprised if they claimed it also cures cancer. Almost every brand came out with their version, each with a more dazzling name. Just add the new marvelous argan oil and maybe mix in a few other oils to the cheap silicone based serums that have been around for years, include words like miraculous, elixir or mythic and sell it for a hefty price tag. A bit cheeky if you ask me.

Here are some of them in the 20€+ range: (from the left): Marrakesh Oil, Agadir Argan Oil, Osmo Berber Oil, Macadamia Natural Oil, Kérastase Elixir Ultime, Shu Uemura Essence Absolue, Redken All Soft Argan-6 Oil, L'Oreal Professional Mythic Oil and Orofluido Beauty Elixir.

And some cheaper drugstore versions: Lee Stafford Arganoil, Klas Argan, L'Oreal Elvive Extraordinary Oil (ingredients), Fructis Miraculous Oil (ingredients), Gliss Kur Daily Oil Elixir (ingredients), Balea Oil Repair Haaröl, Avon Advance Techniques Moroccan Argan Oil, Syoss Beauty Elixir (ingredients).

Are you  familiar with these?:

These are all silicone based hair serums that have been on the market for years. Sure they don't contain argan oil, however some of them contain other oils, like grape seed, jojoba, avocado etc. I don't recall anyone advertising them as miraculous oils.

It sounds like I all over this argan craze, but I'm not. I'm just fed up with the over-the-top advertisement. It's all about the luxurious oils and making it sound like they're the only ingredients, but they conveniently forget to include it also contains a bunch of cones, fragrances and dyes. But the truth is: Silicone serums with argan oil are brilliant. Of course, nowhere near miraculous, but really, really good (at least for my hair). I've had a lot of silicone based serums (actually all apart from two in the upper picture) and honesty, they leave much to be desired. My hair is very dry and it needs that little bit of extra help to keep it moisturised. I guess that few drops of added argan oil does the trick.

I've been using Ororfluido for two years now and I still love it. However, there is so much talk about Moroccanoil, Macadamia Natural oil, Kérastase Elixir Ultime and others that I started to wonder: Is the grass really greener over there? I ordered small bottles of the most popular brands to compare. I will do a post on each individually and then do a short recap post as a conclusion There will be seven posts in including this one and I'll post one review per day, so keep your eyes peeled. I'll have links in every review to keep it organised. I used the same hair care routine with all of them - shampoo, conditioner (drugstore one, Dove Oil Care) and heat protection- to really see the difference.
Reviews will be posted in the following order:

1. Kérastase Elixir Ultime, 2. Moroccanoil Treatment Original, 3. Macadamia Natural Oil Healing Oil Treatment, 4. Osmo Berber Oil, 5. Orofluido Beauty Elixir.

Links:

What is the deal with argan oil? (feel free to skip this part if you dislike geography and sciency stuff)

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've heard of argan oil. If you're anything like me, you found it at least a bit curious how this argan oil craze came to be. I mean, until two years ago I've never even heard of this ''groundbreaking'' oil. It's like it just dropped out of the sky and now is added to almost every cosmetic product. Here are some benefits of using this oil on your hair:  

Argan oil penetrates into the hair pores or shafts and enhances the elasticity of hair. It restores the smoothness of hair and makes them manageable again. Vitamin E present in argan oil is very useful in restoring the natural hair and renewing and repairing the damage caused by destructive agents. It is an additional benefit of argan oil that it cures the brittle hair and increases the life of color treated hair. In this job it even surpasses in competitiveness from Jojoba oil. 

Argan tree is native to North Africa, the Atlas region to be precise. It is now an endangered species and under protection of Unesco. It grows wild in semi-arid areas, is adapted to drought conditions and has a deep root system, making it the perfect tree to protect from soil erosion and desertification (I hope you know about the problem of the advancing Sahara desert). Because argan oil's popularity is increasing, these trees became valuable and more effort is given to protecting them. Not to mention the social impact of oil production on local communities, with new jobs and a steady income. So every time you buy argan oil based product don't feel too bad. At least something good came out of trying to satisfy human vanity. 

Thanks for reading!