My hair looks best when it’s three days old, shrouded in a gritty nest of dry shampoos, hair spray, and texturizing sprays. Sounds lovely to the touch, I know. If you have fine hair, a vigorous wash can leave it squeaky clean and completely limp. Bringing hair back to life requires a vigorous cocktail of products, but such a mix can leave hair full of buildup. When I get the feeling that my hair has had enough, I turn to Shu Uemura’s Cleansing Oil Shampoo, a clarifying shampoo that deep cleans without stripping. Much like its cult cleansing-oil face wash, it derives from the philosophy that oil attracts oil. This shampoo’s super-gentle foam thoroughly cleans by attracting excess oil and product buildup. Hair feels clean but still moisturized, luxuriously soft but not downy, and shiny and bouncy (but not too bouncy) with volume. It feels like hair rehab in a bottle — the fancy celebrity kind, like Promises in Malibu.
Shu Uemura Cleansing Oil Shampoo, $57 at Shu Uemura.
