I was strolling the aisles of Target one day when I saw a new shampoo in minimalist pastel packaging and I knew I’d have to do an Odele Shampoo review. I’d heard of the brand before as they had recently started making products with a cool proposition: haircare for everyone—men, women, and kids—that are also salon-grade and cruelty-free. They are also one of a new band of emerging clean brands that are entering the drugstore in beauty.
Their current haircare offerings focus on three issues: volumizing, smoothing, and defining curls. They have a shampoo and conditioner for each of these concerns, plus other hair products like a leave-in conditioner, air dry cream, sea salt spray, dry shampoo, and more. They claim their products are salon-grade in terms of quality but with an affordable price tag. I’m naturally a little skeptical about claims like this, but I was curious to see if the products hold up.
I have fine wavy hair that is prone to oiliness so I chose their volumizing shampoo and conditioner to try out. They also have a smoothing shampoo and conditioner as well as one specifically for curl defining, one for moisture repair, one for ultra-sensitive scalps, a clarifying shampoo, and a purple shampoo and conditioner.
If you’re not sure which to use for your hair type, the back of the bottle helpfully tells you who it is for in terms of hair type and texture.
The volumizing shampoo says it is for “weightless moisture, shine + fullness’ and claims to help hair look and feel thicker over time.It’s a pretty hefty-sized bottle at 13 oz so I would hope it lasts me a while.
All of the Odele shampoo and conditioners are sulfate-free and have 100% natural fragrance (except for the one for ultra-sensitive scalps.) They are a clean haircare brand because they are free of sulfates, formaldehyde, phthalates, paragons, synthetic fragrances and any of the 1300+ cosmetic ingredients banned by the European Union.
They are also cruelty-free, vegan, gluten-free, or color-safe. Their ingredient list seems aimed at catering to everyone and they even have an easy to scan list on their website of every ingredient used in their hair products, along with a description for the ingredient, its source, and which products the ingredient is used in.
The Odele Shampoo has a very light scent called Marine that really does come off to me as gender-less and age-less. They describe it as cucumber, oak moss, and ylang-ylang, but to me it reads as mainly clean, slightly fresh, but mostly too subtle to love or object to. It is 100% natural and sourced from essential oils and other naturally derived materials.
I love the pastel packaging with minimal but bold type (I’m a sucker for packaging.) The flip top cap is easy to open and pour out the product.
The Odele shampoo and conditioner packaging is recyclable and the bottle and cap are made from over 40% recycled plastic.
I used the Odele Shampoo and Conditioner for several weeks (about 6-8 washes) before writing this review. Sometimes I use heat tools on my hair and styling products, but I often let it air dry, so I got to see how the Odele set held up in situations where I had some product build up and and situations where I had none.
The Odele shampoo lathered pretty quickly for me and while that’s not necessarily a sign of how well it’s cleaning my hair, I liked that it worked into a pretty quick lather. The scent was something I might have missed altogether if I weren’t paying attention as it’s very subtle and smells somewhat generically clean with a fresh gender-neutral floral note.
The conditioner was a lot more watery than almost any conditioner I’ve used. It was the same viscosity as a shampoo, but it was white instead of the clear shampoo liquid. By looking at it, I guessed it wouldn’t conditioner my hair super well and I’d need to use a lot of it to detangle my hair, and…that’s pretty much what happened.
I applied conditioner and let it sit for a few minutes as I let it soak in (which I do for all conditioners.) I went back two more times for more conditioner (and I did this each time I used the Odele Shampoo and Conditioner over the course of a few weeks. If I were to use this Shampoo and Conditioner set exclusively I imagine I would run out of the conditioner long before the shampoo. I also really like when a good conditioner smooths my hair quickly so it was a bummer that it wasn’t very effective for me.
The Odele Shampoo worked pretty well for me, working to a fairly quick but soft lather that left my hair clean for 2 days. That’s a pretty typical amount of time for my fine hair when using a volumizing shampoo. The smell was inoffensive but nothing amazing.
The conditioner was more of a disappointment for me. It wasn’t very effective at conditioning and detangling my hair and I had to use a lot of product to get my hair as smooth and tangle-free as I was expecting.
- Packaging looks nice and works well.
- My hair was pretty clean for 2 days.
- I prefer a stronger scent in my shampoo and conditioner.
- The conditioner was a lot less effective than I expected.
The Odele set makes sense if you’re looking for a solid shampoo for the whole family since they avoid irritating ingredients, have subtle fragrance, and are packaged and marketed for all ages and genders. If you are a haircare snob (like myself, haha) you may find it not super effective, especially the conditioner.
The Odele Volumizing Shampoo and Conditioner is a good set for a lot of people, but if you expect great performance it probably won’t be able to replace your Kerastase or Living Proof products. I’d still use it for my kids or family as it’s a nice gentle shampoo and conditioner set that’s still effective enough for most people.
