Amika
Image taken from: https://terriboulet.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/img_9084.jpg
With fun packaging and a commitment to individuality, Amika hair care brings together vegetarian, cruelty free ingredients with “inclusion and positivity.” Founded in 2007, Amika commits itself in five things: “experimentation over perfection, fun over elite, individuality over conformity, collaboration over ego, and hair over clothes.” On top, all Amika products are free from sulfates, phthalates, and artificial colors. While their products are on the more expensive side, they are still relatively reasonable, and deliver amazing ingredients.
Fan Favorites
Amika’s best sellers list, titled “Besties” on their website, is full of colors, products, shampoos and conditioners, and hair tools. Here’s a sample of their best products!
1. perk up dry shampoo ($25)
This dry shampoo absorbs oil in hair naturally. Rice bran oil refreshes and conditions, disteardimonium hectorite helps to keep hair in place, and sea buckthorn extract - Hippophae rhamnoides - softens. On top of that, citronellol and limone provide a fresh scent for this shampoo, Amika’s number one best seller.
2. un.done volume and matte texture spray ($25)
This “sexy-in-a-bottle” spray features a few great, and rather interesting, ingredients. Zeolite, a volcanic mineral, acts as an adsorbent in this spray to soak up oil and give that matte look. Triethyl citrate works here as a hair fixative, holding that textured spray in place so it doesn’t go limp halfway through the day, while disiloxane helps to give a bit of conditioning. Limonene gives this spray a citrus-y fresh scent on top of it all.
3. soulfood nourishing mask ($42)
If your hair is feeling a bit dull and lacking its usual luster, this mask promises to return your lacking vibrancy, packed with healthy ingredients to strengthen hair. Simmondsia chinensis, or jojoba seed oil strengthens the hair cuticle. Ascorbic acid, or Vitamin c, helps with hair growth and regeneration. Like many of Amika’s other products, this mask also includes ingredients to give it a fresh, lemon citrus scent.
4. show off gold finishing dust ($24)
This finishing dust adds a bit of sheen and fun to any hair style. Mica creates a sparkly shine to add to your hair, while iron oxides and carmine help to create a golden appearance.
5. velveteen dream shampoo and conditioner ($24)
For a smoothing and strengthening fix, look no further than this combination. Aloe barbadensis leaf juice adds “strength and luster” while panthenol, also called provitamin b5, moisturizes each strand of hair. Tocopheryl acetate, or Vitamin e, conditions and smooths. In the conditioner, glycerin helps smooth “dry, brittle hair” while limonene gives a fresh scent.
HairToStay
HairToStay is a project devoted to helping publicize and raise funds for scalp cooling, a process that helps patients being treated with chemotherapy retain their hair. This process only recently came to the United States in 2015, and is still largely unknown to many. By cooling the scalp, blood vessels in hair follicles on the head constrict, letting in less of the chemotherapy medication and lessening the effects of hair loss.
In an effort to encourage self- expression through hair and help those suffering from cancer retain self confidence and decrease emotional trauma in any way, Amika has partnered with HairToStay. For every Amika purchase, 1% of the proceeds go towards HairToStay, and every customer is offered the option to donate further at checkout. They also encourage salons to host their own HairToStay events by providing links on the Amika website to HairToStay’s event hosting page.