Moroccan Oil versus Kerastase Elixir Ultime

Moroccan Oil    

My hair is naturally wavy, salon coloured, and regularly exposed to stresses which include salt water, bright sun, sauna, occasional chlorine from pool swimming, and sometimes blow drying or straightening using my GHD hair straightener.

Coloured, treated and stressed hair needs more than conditioner and I always have on hand a good quality intensive hair treatment that really boosts the quality of my hair. 

(Note that the following advice will be of no interest perhaps to women with very oily or limp hair who  do not need to add moisturising products, and look to other solutions to normalise their hair - such as vinegar solution or beer rinses.)

About a year ago I started hearing lots of buzz about Moroccan Oil, from friends who were claiming amazing conditioning results from the hero product.

Friends with dry, wild, wavy or frizzy hair were reporting that Moroccan Oil smoothed their hair and gave it softness and shine. Battling as I do with similar hair problems, I had to try it.

Everything I heard about Moroccan Oil was true - it’s a great product. Unlike other smoothing products it is an oil, not a cream, not a silicone product, and not one of those sticky gel/cream hybrids, of which there are many, and which are mostly disappointing.

It is based on argan oil, from the Moroccan argan tree. Apparently this has been used by North African women for a very long time, and known for its benefits to hair and skin. Soon after Moroccan Oil , a number of other argan oil hair products started to come onto the market.

Kerastase Elixir Ultime - a product comparison

By the time I had finished one bottle of Moroccan Oil, Kerastase had launched its Elixir Ultime, which also contains argan oil, as well as camellia nut oil. (Camellia nut oil is also a key ingredient in Aesop’s Violet Leaf Hair Balm, one of my all-time favourite hair products - which nonetheless frustrates me greatly over a period of years because I love it and can’t do without it, but hate the jar, small portion size a mere 60 ml, and the price per ml)

Because I love Kerastase hair products,  I was immediately tempted to give it a try instead of the tried and true Moroccan Oil. As they are similar  products, I searched for points of differentiation.

In price, surprisingly Kerastase Elixir Ultime was slightly cheaper. This would not be enough to swing my vote if I preferred the product.

What WAS enough to swing my vote is that Moroccan Oil is a Made in Israel product, whereas Kerastase is Made in Spain.

Israel boycott a personal decision

It’s a personal decision for you whether you choose to use your consumer power to make a statement about Israeli human rights abuses in Palestine or Israel itself.

I don’t agree with Marrickville Mayor Fiona Byrne who has sought to introduce a municipality-wide boycott against Israeli products. I don’t believe the boycott can be imposed or enforced at municipal level, nor should it be.

But I do not understand how Israel, a religion-based State which represents Jewish people, a race which has contributed way more than its size in nearly every form of learning, and human rights, has become such an aggressive, unenlightened and undemocratic nation.  I do, however, have a belief that religion-based States are inherently undemocratic because the adherence to religion is built into their Constitutions and legal systems.

Up to you, but I am sticking with Kerastase.

A cruelty-free note

The Kerastase website says very clearly that the products are cruelty-free and that the parent company L’Oreal has not used animal testing for decades. Some cruelty-free activists argue otherwise, but I have not seen evidence of the claims. That is not surprising, as manufacturers have long hidden hidden their complicity in animal testing by relying on the suppliers of their source ingredients to do the testing.

Nowdays, a representation on Kerastase’s website about cruelty-free would constitute “misleading and deceptive conduct”. In Australia, we have the Trade Practices Act, a national law which contains strong punishments for companies who are found to be deceiving consumers. 

Would L’Oreal would be so sloppy to tell such a lie?

Product recommendation

Kerastase Chroma-Riche hair mask

As I said, a deep conditioning treatment is great when you have dry or coloured hair, or if you want it not to get dry or out of condition.

Kerastase or Frederic Fekkai are my two favourite brands. I find a lot of other hair products are just too highly fragranced, such as Redken.

I am currently using the Kerastase Chroma Riche hair mask, because salon hair colouring is expensive and I try to extend the life of my hair colour by using specialist products such as this.

Austerity note

If you can't afford a commercial product, egg yolk hair mask is amazing, and you can stiff whip the whites and do a simultaneous face mask at the same time - the latter is a proven brightening, firming and boosting skin treatment.