Photo courtesy Marley Kate / The Licensing Project
Regardless of your hair type, the way you treat it at home – using clean treatments, masks, serums, and deep conditioning products – can make a huge difference in how it looks and feels. Even professional hairdressers can tell: Garrett Markenson, an LA stylist and founder of Valley Studio and the clean hairline Reverie, notices which of his clients have regular scalp treatments at home. “I see a huge impact on how your hair looks and behaves,” he says. Whether you’re looking to repair heat styling damage, add shine and bounce, or balance your scalp for overall healthier looking hair, these are the home treatments everyone is talking about – and they really work.
Brandenson’s own botanical scalp treatment has become something of an internet sensation. He says he’s his best customer and jokes that his brother’s (untreated) hair didn’t cut off as well as his. “We want to take care of the skin on our scalp because it can be weakened over time by environmental stress and aging, just like the skin anywhere on our body,” he says. “It can make our hair look dull, flat, and less lush.”
The world got it and suddenly scalp treatments are everywhere. At the same time, masks, oils, and conditioning treatments designed to make hair shinier, softer, and manageable are at least as powerful as their salon counterparts, and there’s even a brush that manages to approximate the salon head massage – heaven.
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This brush is everything
This flexible, palm-sized brush from Manta adapts to the shape of your hand and scalp and creates less tension than conventional brushes. The flexible, forgiving bristles minimize stumbling blocks. Manta founder Tim Binnington, a British hairdresser, created it for his wife when she was regrowing her hair after an illness and feared brushing could lead to breakage. Use it to detangle, comb damp hair, or brush dry in the shower. And guys love it too – it feels really wonderful on the scalp.
Manta hairbrush goop, $ 30
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The ultimate splash of moisture
Smooth out frizz, unravel and protect your color with this leave-in treatment spray that is ultra-misturizing and light in air. Made from rahua, ungurahua and moraine oils as well as protein-binding organic mango sugars – all grown in the wild, hand-processed and sustainably sourced from the Amazon rainforest – it smells wonderfully of mango and passion fruit extracts. Spray it on wet hair to instantly soften and straighten it. When drying your hair, expect bouncy, shiny, manageable, and healthy-looking hair.
Hydration detangler failed
+ UV Barrier Goop, $ 32SHOPPING NOW
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The hair oil that changes everything
This light castor oil is magical no matter what hair texture you have. Deeply moisturizing, curl-defining, and instant frizz-straightening, it contains the same nourishing goodness as traditional castor oil – it’s full of antioxidants, omegas, vitamin E, and protein – but feels silky and absorbent. It is extremely versatile (moisturizer for hair, hair styler and nourishing skin care for face and body in one), and the founder is a woman who employs 90 percent female employees in her home country Haiti, where the company harvests sustainable ingredients – and where Castor oil has been popular for generations because of its pampering effects on the skin and hair.
Kreyol Essence Haitian Black
Castor Oil Light Goop, $ 50SHOPPING NOW
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The twice-weekly miracle mask
This is the hair mask the clean beauty room has been waiting for: an ultra-luxurious, salon-level deep conditioner that nourishes your hair, leaving it healthy and shiny. With tsubaki seed oil for deep moisture and yuzu fruit extract to smooth the cuticle, it’s light and smells amazing – that’s the Crown Affair scent of yuzu, lemongrass and bergamot. Use a wide-toothed comb (as in the Crown Affair set) to apply it evenly. Leave it on for five to fifteen minutes, depending on how dry or damaged your hair is, instead of or in addition to your regular conditioner.
Crown Affair The Renewal Mask goop, $ 58
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Treat your hair and scalp at the same time
This ultra-nourishing, soothing treatment is made with beautiful botanicals and oils straight from the Amazon. It’s especially brilliant for dry scalps: rich in omega-9, rahua oil that has been valued by indigenous Amazon women for centuries, moisturizes and strengthens; Palo Santo Oil helps clear scale and balance the scalp; and hemp oil soothes and calms. Massage into scalp and length, leave on for 15 minutes (or overnight), and rinse – your hair and scalp will look and feel healthier, happier, shinier and more resilient.
Founder Blend Hair & Failure
Scalp treatment goop, $ 40SHOPPING NOW
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The Instant Shine and Volume Shampoo
Our scalp and hair are our crown, and this unique shampoo made from whipped, mineral-rich Himalayan pink salt, nutritious cold-pressed moringa oil and pure, unfiltered rose hip oil cleanses and detoxifies in one go. The scrub cleanses the hair and scalp of product buildup, dirt and oil, leaving behind both clean and refreshed products. The cleansing scent – rosemary, geranium, orange and peppermint – lingers subtly in the hair (and smells amazing when washed).
goop Beauty G.Tox Himalayan Salt
Scrub Scalp Shampoo goop, $ 42SHOPPING NOW
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The internet legend tonic
This refreshing serum protects, hydrates and supports scalp health. Developed as a leave-in treatment, it contains active ingredients such as apple stem cells, lupine protein, and rose and rosemary hydrosols. Apply small drops to a damp scalp (clean or dirty), massage in and leave on – no residue is left behind. Use it daily for a healthy, nourished scalp.
Reverie Cake Restorative
Scalp Tonic Goop, $ 72SHOPPING NOW
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The new, Weekly Clarifier
This weekly tonic is designed to cleanse and detoxify the scalp. It dissolves buildup and excess oil while gently hydrating. A blend of extracts and oils – basil leaf aids growth, health, and shine, while baobab and moringa oils soothe, hydrate, and replenish moisture in the scalp (all ingredients are cold processed to maintain nutritional levels). Apply the tonic directly to your scalp, massage in – to spread the product, stimulate the scalp and feel amazing – leave it on for 20 minutes and then rinse off before shampooing and conditioning. It smells slightly herbal, leaves the scalp fresh and clean and works wonderfully on all hair types.
Act + Acre Cold Processed®
Scalp Detox goop, $ 42SHOPPING NOW
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Gua Sha works for both hair and skin
Use this beautiful hand-cut jade comb for an invigorating Gua-Sha massage for your scalp. Based on ancient Chinese Gua Sha therapy, which involves smoothing a shaped massage tool over the face or body, massage with this comb feels absolutely incredible (especially after using the cold processed scalp detox tonic). It stimulates the scalp and relaxes the mind. It is our new daily favorite ritual.
Act + Acre Scalp Gua Sha Comb goop, $ 40
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