Our hair changes over the years—and not just in terms of style. Hair grows in a cycle that takes 4-7 years, and while I couldn’t begin to guess where I am in my own cycle, my hair has made it clear that it’s not loving its current situation.
I felt like my hair deserved more than whatever bottle was on sale at the grocery store. It was time for a big upgrade. So I took a deep dive into the top recommended haircare brands out there: Prose, Aveda, Amika, and Olaplex.
We’ve got a lot of great contenders here, including brands that hair stylists recommend, but my own extensive trials have shown that one totally outshines the rest.
The Contenders
Prose is a custom haircare brand that uses high quality, safe ingredients to deliver fully personalized formulas, from Shampoo and Conditioner, to Hair Oil, Curl Cream, Styling Gel, and more, so you can build the perfect routine for you.
Aveda has been around for a long time, and was probably your first foray into professional haircare. (It sure was mine!)
Amika is a brightly-colored fan favorite, known best for its oil-based haircare products.
OLAPLEX is beloved by stylists, and their repair products have become a fixture in the haircare industry.
Round #1: Best line for oily roots & dry ends
*Eagerly raises hand.* Yep, that’s me. The oily one. And Amika’s got a clarifying & cleansing collection to take care of that. But here’s the thing: my fine, light hair could use some volume help too.
With Amika, you’ve got to explore a completely separate line of haircare to meet another need. I could buy two shampoos, but how would I decide which to use, and when? Confusing. I found that with Prose’s custom haircare, you tell them all of your hair needs and goals, and they create a custom formula to check all your boxes in a single product. 💆♀️🧴
They also offer a Custom Dry Shampoo to tide you over ‘til the next wash that’s aerosol-free. Amika’s best-selling dry shampoo was serving me well—until I tried to board a plane with it. Womp. Prose’s non-aerosol Dry Shampoo is TSA-friendly and works just as well.
Winner: Prose
Round #2: Best for defining curls and waves without weighing them down
Curly girls might already know that both Aveda and Amika have curly hair collections with all sorts of hydrating shampoos, conditioners, gels, and oils. But Prose takes into account 85 factors from your consultation to get a complete picture of your curls — and what they need.
Not only do they factor in your curl pattern (wavy, curly, coily), they also take into consideration hair density, the humidity where you live, and all sorts of other things that never occurred to me but make so much sense (water hardness, anyone?). By taking in the whole picture, Prose formulas deliver the clean ingredients your unique hair needs.
Winner: Prose
Round #3: Best for frequent heat styling
Hair people know that OLAPLEX is the holy grail of hair repair. They developed and patented an ingredient called Bis-Aminopropyl Diglycol Dimaleate to address disulfide hair bonds. If heat-styling is a key part of your routine, then Olaplex is the way to go.
However, if you’re like me and only sometimes use heat tools on your hair, you can protect those strands before they’re damaged with Prose’s heat-protectant ingredients. My favorite is their Leave-In Conditioner, which offers heat protection up to 450°F.*
Winner: OLAPLEX
Round #4: Best for color experimentation
If you’re rocking bleached hair, Prose has a custom purple conditioner that goes beyond just protecting your color. Their anti-brass ingredients help to neutralize warm tones — and when you let them know brassiness is one of your concerns, they’re added into your regular conditioner so you know your needs are being handled by one product.
Prose is my top choice as someone with lighter hair, and if you indicate that you have dyed hair of any sort, they’ll hook you up with fully color-safe products. A note for babes with funky hues that want to stay vibrant for as long as possible: Aveda and Amika both have specific lines that are meant to promote longer-lasting color in dyed hair.
Winner: It’s a tie!
Round #5: Best for that morning boost we all need sometimes 🌞
I’m not an early riser at all, and I’ve given up on trying to find the right side of the bed to wake up on. So I couldn’t have anticipated how much joy it would bring me to see my name on my Shampoo and Conditioner bottles in the morning, or how much I’d start to look forward to my daily dose of aromatherapy from Prose’s luxe fragrance options.
Those small details make something that’s already special—a just-for-me formula that gives me endless good hair days—and takes it to the next level. It’s the Good Mood level.
Winner: Prose
The Ultimate Winner:
Are you ready for the drumroll? Prose is our champion today!
It’s a wonderful time to be a human being who washes their hair—there are so many high-quality choices! From my experience, none compare to what Prose offers. Having the details of my hair and lifestyle taken into consideration, and actually addressed by a custom routine of shampoo, conditioner, and more is my dream come true.
All the details of Prose make me feel cared for, and best of all, my hair looks and feels fantastic.
