Introducing: OUAI Thick Hair Shampoo and Conditioner
Not only am I introducing OUAI’s all-new Thick Hair Shampoo and Conditioner to you today, I am also, technically, introducing the all-new Introducing feature, too. I decided that, instead of posting review after review until the end of time, which would inevitably get a little boring, any product that is new to the market as well as new to me will now be the subject of an Introducing feature as opposed to a hard-and-fast review. So, although you can still expect some first impressions and other observations, I probably won’t go into as much detail as I would in a regular review. Does this make any sense? Or, like Boris Johnson in his address to the nation last night, have I muddled my message so much that I might as well not have bothered in the first place? Either way, it is with great pleasure that I introduce OUAI’s Thick Hair Shampoo and Conditioner to you all.
This is one of three hair type-specific shampoo and conditioner duos brought out by OUAI earlier this year (believe it or not, Fine and Medium are the other two). Chances are you’ll know your own hair type better than anyone else, so it is up to you to decide which of these duos is best suited to your hair’s needs — that said, if you’re not 100% sure, OUAI have a quiz you can take. As my hair is highly porous and about as thick as straight hair can be, this decision was a fairly easy one for me. The Thick Hair Shampoo is formulated with avocado oil, “to fight frizz”, as well as something called hydrolysed keratin, and marshmallow root and shea butter to smooth wayward strands. It is also imbued with OUAI’s signature Mercer Street fragrance, which has notes of orange, peony, magnolia, jasmine, musk and orris, so you can expect to smell divine when you emerge from your bath or shower, too. The Thick Hair Conditioner also contains the above ingredients and scent, and it is, as OUAI themselves describe it, “so rich, you’ll have to pay taxes”.
Now I’m fairly certain my tax bracket hasn’t changed since I started using OUAI’s Thick Hair Shampoo and Conditioner, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t noticed a difference. The first time I used these products, my god, what a revelation it was! My perennially troublesome hair suddenly transformed into something soft, shiny and manageable, almost like it was starring in an ad campaign. (Just the hair, that is. Not me.) It seemed terribly unfair that my hair would wait until a nationwide lockdown to look the healthiest it has in years, but, c’est la vie…obviously there are far worse things happening right now. On subsequent uses, unfortunately, the effect hasn’t been quite so dramatic, but then this is probably down to the aforementioned troublesome hair as opposed to the products themselves. In any event, I will continue to use this duo once or twice a week, and I would encourage you to peruse OUAI’s latest range if you’re in the market for a new shampoo and conditioner. I’d love to know more about the Fine and Medium versions, so if you’ve already given them a go then, please, comment away!
This piece was originally published on Part Time Beauty in 2020.