The latest trend in hair care is gender-neutral, aka unisex, hair, bath and grooming products. (We’re also seeing more unisex skincare brands, too.) While some brands are trying to offer men ultra-masculine grooming products that smell like bourbon or gunpowder, others are acknowledging the fact that men have been borrowing their wives’ and girlfriends’ hair care products for a long time. Odele is one such brand, and the hair care company just launched three new unisex products at Target. The line includes two of Spy’s favorite grooming hacks, leave-in conditioner and dry shampoo.
Recently, I had the opportunity to road test Odele’s three newest products: Odele Clarifying Shampoo, Odele Leave-In Detangling Tonic and Odele’s Dry Shampoo. Each product contains plant-based ingredients, and all of their products have a base of amaranth and rice protein. Those two plant-based ingredients have amino acids that nourish, moisturize and protect strands. Every time you use one of their products, you’re feeding your locks and scalp. And each product has the brand’s signature marine scent; it’s like a blast of fresh oceany air every time you use the stuff. The fragrance wasn’t stereotypically feminine, which can be a problem for guys with some unisex products and dry shampoos.
While the quality of the products is salon-grade, their prices are very wallet-friendly. Keep reading for our full review of the new line, available now at Target.
Odele: About the Brand
Based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Odele is a woman-owned company. Its owners, Lindsay Holden, Britta Chatterjee and Shannon Kearney all have a retail and marketing background. Odele, which is a play on the Norwegian “å dele” which means “to share,” was created out of need. As Holden stated in an interview with Beauty Independent, “You have that $40 bottle of shampoo and, then, you walk in the shower and your husband is using it or your kids are squeezing it all out, it’s sort of this panic moment, so we wanted to make something shareable.”
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All three founders are working mothers and were too familiar with that scenario, so they created a line of hair care that is just as good as the luxury brands, gender-neutral, and most importantly, affordable to everyone. It follows both the EU and Target’s stringent requirements for clean hair care. In fact, Odele believes so strongly in clean unisex hair care that they refuse to use any of the 1,328+ cosmetic ingredients that have banned by the European Union. They’re also vegan, cruelty-free and dermatologist tested. Not bad, not bad at all.
The entire line can be found at Target, Target online and Odele’s website.
1. Odele Dry Shampoo
Here at Spy, our male editors are big fans of dry shampoo. Let’s say you’ve got a Zoom meeting in 20 minutes, and when you check your reflection in a mirror, you realize you have a serious case of bed head. You don’t have enough time to shower, shampoo, condition and dry it before the meeting. Don’t panic, grab Odele’s dry shampoo instead. Women have been using dry shampoo to refresh their strands for years, and men are finally waking up to this grooming hack. After a quick spritzing of dry shampoo and a once-over with your comb, it will look like you just watched and shampooed your hair. Odele’s dry shampoo is a powder, not an aerosol, which makes it easier to place exactly where it needs to go. The dry shampoo grabs oil and it stops odor too. Sprinkle it on, and quickly comb your hair into its normal cool-looking style.
Dry shampoo does more than clean your hair when you don’t have time to shower or suffer from second-day hair flatness, it makes it look thicker and fuller. Women love, love dry shampoo because it can make hair seem thicker. They’ll use it as a styling tool, and you can too. Try using Odele’s dry shampoo as a secondary styling agent. After you’ve used the styling product of your choice, and your hair is dry, sprinkle on dry shampoo and re-style it. You’ll see that your hair looks fuller and thicker. Odele’s dry shampoo has the same clean marine scent as all their other products, so your hair will smell awesome too.
2. Odele Clarifying Shampoo
The first product I tried was their clarifying shampoo. Odele’s clarifying shampoo is different from the other clarifying shampoos on the market because it doesn’t dry out your hair while getting rid of excess oil, product buildup, or sweat. That’s a biggie if you’re a guy who’s added a couple of highlights or switched their hair color recently. The last thing anyone needs if they’ve done something to their hair, and that includes straightening it, is a product that damages already fragile strands. This stuff feeds your follicles, so the result is hair that’s clean, shiny, healthy-looking and soft to the touch. While Odele doesn’t use sulfates or any of that junk, the shampoo does give you lots of suds and rinses easily. Add this to your grooming repertoire as a once-a-week shampoo if you’re working out every day, have oily hair or use a lot of product. If you’re an occasional athlete or don’t use products daily, try it twice a month.
3. Odele Leave-In Detangling Tonic
Okay, say you use a conditioner in the shower, why should you use a leave-in conditioner afterward? Well, by the very nature of a leave-in conditioner, it’s a protectant that coats follicles from drying out and getting frizzy from indoor heat and outdoor conditions, sort of like a barrier against environmental damage. Odele’s Leave-In Detangling Tonic is a gentle leave-in conditioner and detangler that can be used on any hair length. The tonic contains chia seed oil to feed hair cuticles and keeps hair knot-free. Simply spritz Odele’s milky formula on your hair, and then comb (gently) through from scalp to ends, and that solves the issue without any breakage.
Odele’s leave-in also contains amino acids and proteins which aid in creating (and keeping) a healthy head of hair. It’s so lightweight that if your hair has curls or a tendency to wave, it’ll promote that without the additional weird wiry feeling. When you come down to it, you can think of Odele’s Leave-In Conditioner as a product that lets your hair be its best self.
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