BEAUTY

This Viral, Affordable Haircare Brand is Finally Back in Stock

Tracy T.

Jun 27, 2023

Prepare for seriously soft, silky tresses and everything is under $20.

Even if you’ve never used Japanese beauty products before, the principal of wabi-sabi – seeing true beauty in everything, including imperfection – should speak to your desire to be your very best self, perceived flaws and all. For NatureLab Tokyo Co-Founder Rosa Takagi, Japanese art, nature, and beauty are intertwined, so she set out to combine the highest quality natural ingredients with cutting-edge technology to help people experience real results.

Botanically-Based Formulas with Cutting-Edge Benefits

NatureLab Tokyo offers affordable, plant-based products that are clean, environmentally friendly, and safe. Choosing efficacious botanicals is, however, only one small part of the company’s approach. “At NatureLab, [they] harvest unique botanicals and other high-quality natural ingredients and invest in the advanced research necessary to unlock their remarkable benefits.”

Many notable fans of the brand, such as Celebrity Hairstylist Marty Harper and four-time Grand Slam Champion Naomi Osaka have had great results with the brand’s hero products, especially the Perfect Repair Treatment Masque and Perfect Shine Oil Mist.

NatureLab Tokyo Perfect Clean Collection

Takagi’s passion is evident in NatureLab Tokyo’s new Perfect Clean haircare collection. The four-product lineup refreshes sweaty strands, rebalances the scalp, and offers on-the-go touchup products that allow you to shampoo less frequently while still looking your best.

The Perfect Clean Collection features products that are silicone-, phthalate-, and sulfate-free. Sake water and rice water refresh and balance the scalp while also moisturizing the hair, and every product in the collection features a rice-based ingredient.

Perfect Clean 2-In-1 Scalp Scrub + Clarifying Shampoo

Keeping your scalp healthy doesn’t necessarily require a stripping shampoo or harsh scalp scrub. Perfect Clean 2-In-1 Scalp Scrub + Clarifying Shampoo deep cleans the scalp with sugar crystals instead of salt. The thick paste goes a long way, so start with just a tablespoon (half the size of a ping pong ball). The combination shampoo and scrub produces wildly abundant lather, and the sake water restores the scalp’s natural balance while hyaluronic acid adds vital moisture. Platinum fiber and pearl extract lend a healthy sheen, making locks look lustrous and luminous.

Since my hair is highlighted, I usually avoid scalp scrubs due to their tendency to leave my hair looking haggard. NatureLab Tokyo put that fear firmly to rest on day one, and my hair feels and looks silkier than normal for winter. Bonus: the shine is real!

Perfect Clean Scalp Balancing Sake Rinse

Imagine cleansing and balancing your scalp without using a moisture-stripping shampoo. The Perfect Clean Scalp Balancing Sake Rinse is a shampoo alternative utilizing the power of probiotic-rich sake water and naturally moisturizing rice water. From the very first use, this impressed me. I applied it to my dry scalp in sections, massaged it in as recommended, then rinsed and followed with a rice-based conditioning bar. My hair was both unbelievably soft and absolutely clean without feeling dry.

Perfect Clean Style Refresher

Squeezing in time for a post-workout shower or hairstyle touchup after a long day isn’t always possible. Enter the Perfect Clean Style Refresher. It contains shiso oil and rice extract to naturally deodorize your hair quickly. I love my morning exercise classes but not my sweaty post-Pilates strands. Rather than shampooing every day, I spritzed this dual-phase mist into my hair at the roots and “zhuzhed it up” (as suggested by Brand and Product Development Director Dustin Cash). The maranta arundianacea (arrowroot) extract quickly absorbed my hair’s excess oil while the rice extract refreshed my scalp. The mist is also perfect for eliminating cooking smells, so I don’t walk around smelling like last night’s dinner.

Perfect Clean Dry Shampoo

Finding a dry shampoo that doesn’t leave chalky residue on your scalp can be challenging, and especially problematic if you have dark hair. NLT’s Perfect Clean Dry Shampoo pumps out a puff of Japanese rice powder with a subtle almond and violet scent. At first blush, it reminded me of using baby powder on my roots in my teens, but this talc-free, silica-based formula does more than just absorb oil. The rice powder and shiso oil make hair smell clean and fresh without leaving tacky residue behind.

All four products have a place in my arsenal and would make great traveling companions for freshening up on the go. And since they’re all under $20, you can indulge in cleaner products without breaking the bank.

Author

Tracy T.

Tracy Ann Teel is a full-time freelance writer and the owner of Finesse Writing and Editing LLC. She’s a tutorial writer for San Francisco Globe’s beauty platform, FierceLeague.com, covering everything from skin and hair care to makeup and nail art. She writes for skincare companies, dermatologists, and cosmetic surgeons, and proudly taught at her MFA alma mater, the University of California Irvine, as a member of their adjunct faculty in English. She’s been a textbook reviewer for Prentice Hall, been recognized three consecutive years in the Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers, and has written professionally for 30+ years. Her poetry chapbook Such Dust was published by Finishing Line Press, and her work has appeared in Alaska Quarterly Review, Rattle, Pearl, Kaleidoscope, and Lake Arrowhead Life.

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