Ai Cawaii

Kao Essential Nuance Airy Shampoo Up Close

Kao Essential Nuance Airy Shampoo Back

Just finished using Kao Essential Damage Care Nuance Airy shampoo & conditioner. I chose the Nuance Airy range over Rich Premier because I wanted to have something lighter for my hair. I quite liked them actually as after washing, my hair felt smooth and airy (light). Lather from shampoo was quite rich and was easy to rinse off.

Kao Essential Nuance Airy Conditioner Up Close

Kao Essential Nuance Airy Conditioner Back

The conditioner worked well too. Although I still find Shiseido Tsubaki conditioner works best at detangling for my hair, Kao Essential’s wasn’t bad. I just needed to leave it on slightly longer and it would detangle easily.

In my opinion, Ichikami and Essential are very comparable with each other fragrance-wise and detangling-wise and I wouldn’t mind getting both brands again. But before I get my hands on Nuance Airy again, I would like to try its Rich Premier range to see whether it can give me the sleek and shiny look that Tsubaki provides.

Fragrant-wise, it was a pleasant fruity floral scent which wasn’t too overpowering.

One more thing, if you read behind the bottle, it says, “Hair shines all the way to the end”. Hmm… well, I think if you are looking for something that really gives shine, go for Tsubaki conditioners or treatments or masks, especially the Red or Shining range. You can use shampoos from other brands and follow with the conditioners. It will result in sleeker and glossy hair.

Kao Essential Nuance Airy Shampoo & Conditioner

Having tried a number of different brands of Japanese haircare products, I think I should post my reviews about these brands (listed alphabetically):

• Fancl
• Kao Segreta
• Kracie Ichikami
• Shiseido Tsubaki

Fancl

I love using Fancl products because they are preservatives and addictives free. When I discovered that they have shampoo and conditioner (a few years back), I couldn’t wait to try them. Pricewise, they are not cheap; selling in Japan for 2470 yen (around USD24-30) for the set. And mind you, it is a 200ml bottle!

200ml set

But it didn’t work for my hair…

The lather was so-so and after shampooing, my hair felt kind of dry. Of course, I followed with conditioner but the result wasn’t smooth and silky hair that I expected. Hair did not felt dry or rough overall, it was just MODERATE. Moderately smooth, moderately soft, moderately shiny. I believe with prolonged use, my hair can be very nice and healthy because of all the good ingredients the products have (or the absence of the not-so-good ingredients) but for the price, I hesitated to continue after my first set.

Nevertheless I like it for its scent. Very mild and soothing  citrusy scent that I still remember until today. Anyway I might try it again in future, when Fancl has new improved formulations.

Luscious ingredients that attracted my attention to try Segreta back then

Kao Segreta

Segreta was one of the earliest Japan imported haircare brand that I have tried and loved. The brand actually aims for the more mature market but I was feeling very keen to try when I saw some of the ingredients it has such as the pomegranate extract which gives shine to your hair.

I love the smell of Segreta too. Fruity but not ‘sweet’. And did it work? Yes, my hair felt very soft and smooth to the touch. I noticed after a few uses, there was a gentle sheen on my hair.

Kracie Ichikami

Ichikami shampoo & conditioner

This is another one of my favourite brands. I haven’t managed to try its hair pack, Ichikami Premium Mask, which was ranked as No. 1 under ‘Hair Pack/ Treatment’ category in 2010 at cosme.net yet. However, the shampoo and conditioner were good.

Ichikami Premium Mask

Shampoo had a good lather and conditioner detangled well. The products had a pleasant fresh blooming wild cherry trees fragrance. And, Ichikami is silicone-free.

Another point worth mentioning is, it did not cause irritation to my scalp as some shampoo/ conditioner brands make my scalp itchy.

Shiseido Tsubaki

Shining (Red line)

Tsubaki has three ranges, namely Shining (Red line), Damage Care (White line) and Head Spa (Gold line). I prefer Red Shining line over White Damage Care line but I love the Head Spa (Gold line) most because it does not only made my hair shiny, it cared for my scalp too.

Shiseido Tsubaki Shining (Red line)

A lot of users will prefer the white range because it is the Damage Care range but I found the Shining range doing a good job in repairing my damaged hair plus making it shinier too. I have used all three ranges for the shampoo and conditioner but I don’t think that the Damage care range actually repairs your hair better than the other two. Not saying that it doesn’t but I just didn’t see or feel the improvement any more than when I was using the other two.

In addition, its fragrance was much nicer than Damage Care. I really like its fruity camellia scent which is a delightful mixture of Camellia, Hamanashi or Shore Pear (a rose that grows on the coasts), Nankobai (a type of Japanese plum), Shiro Budo (White Grape), pomegranate, Ogonto (Golden Peach), ginger, and Kosuinashi or Kosui pear.

	Scent:	★★★★★★★
	Shampoo Lather:	★★★★★★★
	Conditioner Detangle:	★★★★★★★
	Overall:	★★★★★★★

Damage Care (White line)

Shiseido Tsubaki Damage Care (White line)

As I already mentioned above, I didn’t really like the Damage Care range but it is popular because it’s specially for damaged hair. It worked fine really but I didn’t fancy its fragrance of Camellia, bamboo, moss, willow, water lily, and sweet-smelling daphne which resulted in a very ‘green’ scent.

	Scent:	★★★★★★★
	Shampoo Lather:	★★★★★★★
	Conditioner Detangle:	★★★★★★★
	Overall:	★★★★★★★

Head Spa (Gold line)

Shiseido Tsubaki Head Spa (Gold line)

Tsubaki Head Spa is my favourite of the three ranges. Sometimes my scalp will get itchy when I did not rinse off the conditioner cleanly when using either Red or White range (the usage instructions did actually ask users to rinse off thoroughly), but with Head Spa, I have gotten almost no irritation. Head Spa actually helps preventing dandruff and itchiness on scalp.

As usual with Tsubaki products, my hair was shinier and smooth. The fragrance is a mind and body relaxing aromatic blend of natural essential oils which I enjoyed.