That title up there? It’s a trick question. Let me explain: I recently overheard someone in the salon chair next to me talking about amika and how they offer all these options for different hair types.
I was intrigued, and I wondered how it compared to Prose, a customized haircare brand that has been following me around the internet, claiming to deliver me a formula that’s completely personalized to my needs. I decided to try both to find out which lived up to the hype the most. Take a look at what I found:
If you want the best performance… Prose
It’s taken me quite some time to learn that sometimes the best path to my hair goals isn’t intuitive. I thought my fine, medium-density hair needed tons of hydration to bring back a little bounce and bring out my natural waves. Turns out that using a heavy conditioner and too much curl cream was just weighing it down.
The experts behind Prose knew that already—and this taught me that rather than self-diagnosing my mane’s needs, I’d be better off trusting a reputable brand’s experienced recommendation. I don’t speak the ingredient lingo the way some beauty buffs do, but Prose provides it to me in an easily digestible way to learn from. Love that!
If you want to support a sustainable hair brand… Prose
amika’s products are free from more than 1,300 harmful chemicals and their packaging is recyclable, which I love. But Prose takes it a step further by enabling subscribers to reuse their shampoo and conditioner pumps when they order refills to help minimize waste and overproduction.
What’s more, Prose’s natural ingredients are sustainably sourced and they tout a carbon-neutral environmental impact as a company. That’s hard to beat.
If you have bleached hair that you want to keep cool… amika
Both brands start you off with a quiz to get a sense of your current hair needs. If you indicate that you have dyed hair, Prose will prepare your formula to be color-safe. If you started your Prose subscription with virgin hair and made a big change (we all do it!), you can adjust your preferences at any time and know your next bottle will arrive with the updates you need.
But, let’s say you’ve got a head of perfectly bleached and toned tresses, or beautiful silver or white locks, and are hoping to fend off brassy tones for as long as possible—in that case, amika’s purple-tinted shampoo is unique in its ability to maintain cool tones.
If you have no idea what you want from your hair products… Prose
If all you know is that you want to reach your hair’s fullest potential but you don’t have the bandwidth to do the research, I respect that. A good manager delegates. Because Prose bases your custom formulas on your detailed hair consultation, you can trust that you’re going to be set up with the best possible routine for your hair, your lifestyle — even the water hardness where you live.
Prose sends you everything you need to know about why your haircare will work for you, but I think the amazing results speak for themselves.
My winner is… Prose!
amika has a little something for everyone, targeting hydration, color, volume, curl, or a few other arenas. But Prose has a formula just for you. The best part about using Prose is that you don’t have to focus on just one hair goal, but can trust that they’ll all be met by by your full routine. Their focus on sustainability is another huge win for me. I love knowing my shampoo isn’t just good for my hair, but good for the planet too!
