Ah Redken, I used to be such a loyal user. My hair salon at the time only used and stocked Redken hair products and I was sucked into various products from the brand. My favourite was All Soft with the lovely almond scent and and I loved how lovely and soft my hair felt every time I used it. It also made my shower floor terribly slippery!
I haven’t used anything by Redken since I moved away so coming back to the new Redken Diamond Oil hair care range had me with high hopes.
The silicone-free Redken Diamond Oil range is targeted at those with dull, damaged hair and claims to be formulated to offer your hair unparalleled shine and really, who doesn’t want shiny hair right? 🙂 This shine is accomplished by adding into the products a combination of natural oils including camelina oil, coriander oil, apricot oil, olive oil, jojoba oil and coconut oil, with the intention that they would condition and repair your hair from inside out and strengthen hair.
The “problem” is, that hair is pretty much dead. So I had my doubts about the whole conditioning from inside out deal because it’d be like flogging a dead horse you know. But that’s the claim and I’m here to see if it lives up to it! What do you reckon?
The only thing is this. Seeing as how I have very short hair, any “diamond shine” wouldn’t be very noticeable. I also have slightly dry and frizzy hair and my shampoo of choice has been the very affordable L’Oreal Everstrong LOL! Lasts me ages and does the job! But I took the Diamond Oil range for a spin and here’s what I think of them, briefly.
Redken Diamond Oil Shampoo – RM63/300ml
Hmm, prices haven’t gone up very much since the days when I used to be forking over lots of moolah for these! Sad to say however, I dislike the Diamond Oil Shampoo. After just 3 days of use, my hair felt like straw. I did use the matching Conditioner, mind. So yeah, disliked it, don’t recommend it at all.
Redken Diamond Oil Conditioner – RM65/250ml
I didn’t think a lot about the Diamond Oil Conditioner either. It didn’t soften my hair after I shampooed it and although the texture was thick and luxurious, it did not leave my hair feeling more manageable. It was telling that after 3 days, my hair had turned into a rat’s nest so I’m giving the Diamond Oil Shampoo and Conditioner just one star. Maybe half a star. Meh.
Redken Diamond Oil Deep Facets Hair Mask – Price unknown
You’d think that if the shampoo and conditioner sucked, that I’d be all Debbie Downer about the Deep Facets hair mask too right? Well, surprise! I’m not 😀 The hair mask is a weekly treat for your hair and has a thicker texture. So, apply a generous amount to your hair and leave it in. If you have an oily scalp, you may want to avoid putting it directly on the roots or on your scalp. I am very irreverent so I plonk everything straight on my head 😛 I don’t have an oily scalp so perhaps that’s why I don’t really care.
But when I wash off the mask after a few minutes languishing in the shower (I really should get a tub so I can luxuriate in there for hours and give my hair some pampering. Somehow, it’s not the same in the shower. I get tired 😛 ) my hair feels lovely! It doesn’t feel super soft, but it felt light and breezy. I can’t tell if it was any shinier, but it FELT nicer. Gets the thumbs up!
Redken Diamond Oil Shatterproof Shine Oil – RM108/100ml
Ah, I think I’d appreciate this one if I had longer hair because it does live up to its claims. There are 2 versions – Shatterproof Shine which comes in the golden bottle and Shatterproof Intense which comes in a black bottle for more intense repair to hair. This is your regular hair oil which we have seen popularized in the past couple of years.
There are a couple of ways you can use it:-
- Before shampoo – Massage some oil into your hair before you head into the shower. For people with fine hair, this gives you the treatment of the oil without weighing down your hair with product after. I found it made no difference to my coarse, thick hair.
- Before Blow-drying – I blowdry my hair on most evenings to get it dry before bed, and what I do is run a pump of product through my hair before I blow dry. Unlike the MoroccanOil product, it doesn’t help speed up the drying process, but it did stop my hair from being too frizzy post-blowdry.
- On dry hair – I also sometimes use it post blow-dry, straight on dry hair. Since I go to bed right after, it is almost an overnight treat for my hair. It doesn’t feel oily, does not weigh my hair down and doesn’t leave oil marks on my pillow. It does however, give my hair a nice shine even if it doesn’t make it feel any softer.
I use a full pump i.e. I pump once and pump out all the contents from the dropper into my palm, then massage into my hair. That is what is recommended on the box. 1 pump for shorter hair and 2 pumps for longer hair. I’ve seen people recommend using a few drops. Unless you have very little hair, or are very oil-adverse a few drops aren’t enough. It absorbs very quickly and you will need to ensure it is properly distributed throughout your head.
So yes, I do like the Shatterproof Shine oil. I did notice that after using it for a week straight, my hair did look a bit better. A little shinier, a little less frizzy, but this was provided I did not use the Shampoo and Conditioner. When I did, my hair became frizzy and kinky and dry and not even the oil could save it. Yucks! So, Shatterproof Shine Oil, yay; Rest, meh 😛
Are you a Redken hair products fan? Do you like using oil on your hair?
Yes I do realise that you can just as easily use oils straight e.g. Argan Oil so this will come down to personal preference. If pressed, I’d say I prefer the Kerastase Elixir Ultime over this Diamond Oil Shatterproof Shine Oil. I just like the former better and so does my hair. The latter works, but just not as well for me. The shampoo and conditioner, don’t work at all. Maybe my dry, frizzy hair might have appreciated the Intense version better 🙂
Paris B
Redken Diamond Oil Shampoo, Conditioner, Deep Facets Hair Mask and Shatterproof Shine Oil are available at all Redken salons
I used to be an avid redken user as well, when my salon uses this as one of their major products there.
Now, my favourite shampoo is from Lakme K. Therapy Sensitive and once a week I’ll use Lakme Extreme Cleanser. Lakme really stops my scalp from itching though. But of course I have really long hair and hair fall is inevitable.
I don’t really use conditioner anymore as my hair has been really dry this past year. I use Kao Essential hair mask as a conditioner. 😀 Yes, a little over the top but it’s the only thing that will make my hair feels normal again! Although I do like Redken All Soft hair mask. The best thing ever but at RM80+ a tub for daily use, I’d rather not spend that much of $ on that.
I’ve heard of Lakme! I think it’s from India right? I haven’t tried them though, but have heard lots of good things. Maybe I’ll give them a go the next time I see the brand sold 🙂 I don’t use conditioner either, if I use the L’Oreal Everstrong shampoo. It just feels good enough for me 🙂
Too bad about the shampoo and conditioner being meh! but the other two items sound promising! Especially the spray oil-looks like a few brands are coming out with them now, just like the one I reviewed haha!
It’s actually a dropper style packaging, not spray on, but yeah, so many new hair oils hitting the market these days. I seem to think there’s some sort of worldwide trend or something for these things. Everyone launches the same thing at the same time!
I’m very careful with shampoos and conditioners because most are too moisturizing for me. I have this oil too, and it does wonders to both my children’s hair after their swimming lessons. Definitely makes their hair more manageable. For me, I have to use it on my hair dry.
How nice! When I was a kid taking swimming lessons, I had hair like straw LOL! Thankfully, it was also short 😀 Good to know you found a use for it anyway. I find it ok, just not wonderful.
Hey Paris, I’m more or less a Kerastase girl as well. I’ve tried the entire Elixir Ultime range. Strange as it is, my hair reacts much better to the shampoo and hair mask than the oil itself! The oil works well because it coats my hair with silicone. After one month of continuous use, I could see it stopped making a difference. The shampoo on the other hand, is the only shampoo I’ve tried so far that contains oil but doesn’t make my hair grease up! The hair mask is great and it doesn’t contain silicone! If it’s up to me I’d stick to those two 😉
I haven’t tried the Kerastase Elixir Ultime shampoo or hair mask (I didn’t even know it existed :P) I’d only known about the hair oil and it was really nice for my hair when it was longer. Now that I have short hair, it just doesn’t make any sense to use these oil things LOL!
I never used Redken. I tried many cheap or BIO brands though but only Kérastase works magic (of course after I bleached my hair, before I could use only shampoo and would be fine)
I have a friend who is very good hair stylist working with big brands (Chanel, Dior, Vogue) and she recommended me Kérastase. I never looked back as it basically solved my problem with frizzy/unmanageable hair and oilier scalp.
Kerastase is an excellent hair care brand, I’d totally agree! It’s good to know your pro-friend recommends it. It tells us that we’re doing something right by picking it 😉
I am using the hair mask. The hair mask has a lighter texture than Keratase Elixir Ultime mask. It does what it claims – shine like a diamond and it feels soft. If you want to tame frizzy hair, this hair mask doesn’t really make the cut. Keratase Elixir Ultime is the better option but it has a heavy feeling to it after rinsing it off, though hair does feel soft. I personally feel that Keratase Elixir Ultime mask is an acquired taste. Redken Diamond Oil mask is fine, if shine is what you are after. For frizzy hair and shine, there is a better option besides these 2.
Thanks for sharing, Angelina! As I was telling Sunny above, I didn’t even know that the Elixir Ultime hair care range had a hair mask. Ever since I cut my hair short, I just use cheapy hair products and it doesn’t bother me 😛 Lots of benefits having short hair! 😀
As much as I wanted to use budget hair care products, both my scalp and hair doesn’t seem to agree with my wallet. I am most likely to have an itchy scalp or dandruff when I use budget hair care products but that doesn’t stop me from using budget hair care products on and off.
I’ve read of a lot of people experiencing the same. Maybe it’s the fragrance or the SLS or maybe your hair and scalp likes the luxury treatment! 😉
Most likely is my hair and scalp, but I think it is more than that. Re to environment change, hormonal change etc. What used to work for me doesn’t anymore, some not all. I just rekindled with my first love recently, and it has been lovely. Am re to products though. Haha
Hi – first comment here! And I do like your blog! I am yet to explore your blog more though. Coming to Redken, it’s not that easy to get this brand in India – unless it is an exotic shop or maybe very high end store. Do you know of online stores shipping to India? Would love to try it at least once.
Hi Vidya, thanks for leaving a comment. Redken is only sold in salons or speciality hair shops here too, not easily located. If you want to buy online, I know Strawberrynet.com ships internationally. You could try there.
Never tried Redken as I have always preferred Keratase. For more affordable versions, I used the Loreal oil serum after my Keratese one finished and currently using Dove conditioner for straight and shiny hair. Works well so far 🙂
On a separate topic, what is your opinion of ensuring your hair products does not contained Sodium Laurate Sulfate or any variant of it? I know of one blogger who has listed out the dangers of this ingredient in hair products. Besides hair and body products, I have even seen it in in cleansers & refiners. I was seriously considering switching to organic hair products after reading this blogger’s take on it but I find organic products too expensive and limited in range.
To be honest, I am not fussed about SLS in my shampoo or body washes. I talked about this one a long time ago here and basically, I’d say I’m not fussed about it simply because I don’t have skin that is that sensitive and my hair doesn’t seem to care either way. In fact, I have found that my skin reacts to coco betaine which is an SLS substitute in that it dries my skin so I prefer not to use products that contain it, and that means many organic/natural products.
Ultimately I think it comes down to our beliefs and comfort levels. I do believe there are a lot of scare tactics out there being perpetuated which is why I don’t believe what anyone else tells me and I do my own research before I decide how to react. I get that a lot of natural/organic products are good for us, but I have personally experienced horrible reactions to organic/natural products which is why I am very careful about them.
The oil bottle looked like perfume bottle!
It’s heavy like one too!