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What it is: Ouai Hair Gloss is a hair treatment you apply in the shower similar to the way a conditioner or hair mask is used, to increase shine, treat damage, protect color, and act as a heat protectant. It is left on for about 5 minutes and rinsed out. Conditioner may be used or skipped afterward depending your hair type and needs. It is supposed to be most effective when paired with heat styling.
Price/Quantity: $34 for 6 oz / 177 ml
Availability: Ouai, Sephora, Ulta, Amazon, Target, Kohl’s
Packaging: Squeeze bottle with a tilt open lid. Very easy to dispense the product and control the amount I get out of the bottle.
Smell/Fragrance: It has a noticeable, moderately strong fragrance. It is a clean, bright, subtly floral scent. Leans feminine but not too much. Reminds me of Pantene products I used many years ago.
Expiration/Shelf Life: 12 months after opening.
Ingredients:
AQUA (WATER, EAU), DIMETHICONE, PHENYL TRIMETHICONE, C11-13 ISOALKANE, ISOHEXADECANE, DIMETHICONOL, PROPANEDIOL, GLYCERIN, ACRYLAMIDOPROPYLTRIMONIUM CHLORIDE/ACRY- LATES COPOLYMER, C13-15 ALKANE, PARFUM / FRAGRANCE, PANTHENOL, ORYZA SATIVA (RICE) BRAN EXTRACT, HYDROLYZED HYALURONIC ACID, SODIUM HYALURONATE, ORYZA SATIVA (RICE) SEED WATER, ROSMARINUS OFFICINALIS (ROSEMARY) LEAF EXTRACT, HELIANTHUS ANNUUS (SUNFLOWER) EXTRACT, HYDROGENATED CASTOR OIL/SEBACIC ACID COPOLYMER, SODIUM STEAROYL GLUTAMATE, CAPRYLYL GLYCOL, CETEARYL ALCOHOL, COCETH-7, TOCOPHEROL, GLYCERYL STEARATE SE, SACCHAROMYCES FERMENT, LACTOBACILLUS FERMENT, LACTIC ACID, CELLULOSE GUM, MICROCRYSTALLINE CELLULOSE, GUAR HYDROXYPROPYLTRIMONIUM CHLORIDE, CITRIC ACID, SORBITAN ISOSTEARATE, SODIUM HYDROXIDE, PHENOXYETHANOL, CHLORPHENESIN, LIMONENE, ALPHA-ISOMETHYL IONONE, GERANIOL, HYDROXYCITRONELLAL.
Source: Ouai
My Experience With It
I have had this in my shower for quite some time. I bought it when it first came out, tried it many times in different ways, and at this point I’m done giving it chances. It’s time to review it and declutter it.
For reference, I have fine, thin, straight hair. I have to wash it everyday for it to look clean. It will absolutely get greasy by the end of the day even if I use a clarifying shampoo and a dry shampoo after drying it.
This feels a lot like a conditioner when I dispense it into my hand except it doesn’t have the same slip and it doesn’t provide any detangling. The 5 minute wait time is reasonable and allows me to do other things in the meantime.
As I rinse it out, it leaves behind a bit of an oily feel on my strands, especially if I use it on just-washed but not-conditioned hair. If I use a conditioner first, and then use this (which is not what the directions say to do), I have much less of an issue with this leaving that oily feel on my hair. For this reason, I have used it mainly from my ears down and not near the crown of my head.
I feel my hair dries about the same using a hairdryer, but the hair gloss leaves my hair with this stiff feel. Depending on how I use it in the shower, the coating this leaves on my strands can range from very tolerable to greasy, dirty, and stringy looking. Shampooing AND CONDITIONING before using the hair gloss makes it so I don’t have much an issue with my hair feeling dirty. Skipping conditioner doesn’t work at all for me. In that case, I’m better off not using the product at all.
The main issue I have with this product, though, is not what I’ve mentioned above. It’s that it really doesn’t add shine to my hair. The reflectiveness of my hair is damn near the same as when I don’t use this product. But now it feels dirty to some degree. So why incorporate this added step into my routine, then?
To be fair, this product might work for someone with thicker, coarser hair that doesn’t have issues with it easily looking greasy (though I’d still question how much shine it’s actually adding). I also don’t use heat styling much. The extent of my heat styling is using a blowdryer on the highest heat setting. I imagine pairing this with a flat iron would probably be much more effective on a different hair type.
Before and After
I tried my best to get a decent before and after. These photos are taken on different days but I used the same shampoo and conditioner on both days. The before is shampooed, conditioned, and dried hair. The after is shampooed, conditioned, hair-glossed, and dried hair. I almost want to say my hair looks less glossy when using the product (not by a whole lot) but it does look a bit more “sleek”. This is about the best result I am able to get with it. It’s easy to accidentally use too much product or not rinse it out well enough and end up with a stringier/dirtier looking version of the after.