Review: Shiseido Tsubaki Shampoo and Conditioner

// HAIRCARE / AFFILIATE LINKS / BEAUTY //

Finally, after loving the Shiseido Tsubaki Shampoo and Conditioner for more than a year I decided to write a review for it. I bought the full size 500 ml pump bottles for both products and recently my refills for both arrived. I’ve used a different shampoo for the last 2 months while waiting for my refills and now that I can finally continue with my beloved Tsubaki shampoo I realized again how much I do love it and how much nicer my hair feels when using it. Actually, I’ve never used one shampoo brand for such a long time and have been so happy with it before!

Shiseido is one of the most famous high-end brands in the world. I think everybody knows this Japanese brand in some way. In Japan, Shiseido has a lot of sub-branches, which also vary in their price range. They have cheaper sub-branches and more expensive ones and also others with very cute designed products. The Shiseido Tsubaki haircare belongs to the more pricey products with a simple and mature design. There are five versions of the Tsubaki haircare products, the Shining range or now called Extra Moist (red), the Damage Care range (white), the Damage Care Rich Premiere range (orange), the Volume Touch range (purple) and the Head Spa range (golden, I don’t know if this is available for the renewed versions). I was quite undecided which line to choose first because my hair is thin, but frizzy and quite damaged and tends to split ends as well…I finally chose the red line because so many reviews were positive.

As I said, I took the risk and bought the full-sized bottles right away. Both the shampoo and the conditioner come in pump bottles, which I love! The cap with the pump attached can be removed and the bottles can be refilled if you want. You can also close and open the pump and so it can be used while traveling, too, if you want to carry 500 ml with you :D…

The two bottles came together as a value set and were packed in a plastic bag, typical packaging for Japanese products. The back side of the plastic bag contained some Japanese description and so does the back side of the bottles. The ingredients are listed on COSDNA >>here<< (shampoo) and >>here<< (conditioner). The key ingredients of the Tsubaki haircare are of course “Tsubaki” or also called Camellia japonica. The oil is used in haircare not only as an emollient but also for smoothening the hair and making it shiny and nice. Camellia japonica oil is rich in oleic and linoleic acid and therefore perfect for hair nourishment.

The design of the two pump bottles is elegant and the color of the bottles is really a pretty red color. And although the bottles look quite similar you can know blindly which is the shampoo and which is the conditioner by touching the top of the pump. Recently, they renewed the design of the bottles and the design of the bottles is less round but looks a bit more modern..I personally like the old design better. Although the material of the bottles is good quality plastic it doesn’t look cheap but really elegant. The shampoo has a semi-see-through bottle, so you know when it is time to buy a new refill.

The Shiseido Tsubaki Shampoo and Conditioner have both an amazing scent. It is flowery and lasts while sometime in your hair. The shampoo has a runny consistency. It has a light, shiny and milky/yellowish color and it is very efficient. I only need one to two pumps of the shampoo. When I still had my shorter hair one pump was enough. It creates nice and quite some foam while lathering it in your hair. Some reviews said that the shampoo is a bit drying. Compared to most European shampoos I didn’t have that feeling. In my opinion, my hair feels already detangled while using the shampoo, but the conditioner works even more wonders. After using the creamy conditioner the hair feels super soft and detangled. I can easily comb my hair and it feels so smooth and nice! As I said, the scent is so nice, too, and my hair feels better and less frizzy. I almost don’t have to straighten my bangs anymore ( I have naturally wavy hair usually) and all in all my hair feels so much better than with the European drugstore shampoos. The only downside is that it is not really a cheap product. But at least you can buy refills, which are a bit cheaper. Below you can see the 350 ml refills for both the shampoo and the conditioner. As you can see, the refills are from the new version of the red shampoo. I don’t know if they changed the formula, I didn’t notice any significant differences yet, but if I will do, I will update this post immediately.

All in all, these are great hair products! I can recommend the Shiseido Tsubaki Shampoo and Conditioner to everybody with dry and tangled and frizzy hair. The scent is nice, it makes the hair super soft and it nourishes the hair with Tsubaki oil. I bought my refills and the bottles on eBay, but the retailer is no longer available. The products are also available on Amazon.com though, starting from 16 US$ per bottle.