To put it frankly, I think I have pretty weird hair. It used to be fine — good, even — but once I entered my 20s, that quickly ended. My blonde color darkened, the texture felt dry and damaged, and I suddenly had a weird, unexplainable waxy feeling on the back part of my hair that I couldn't get rid of. I've always just chalked it up to age and probably some heat and color damage, too, although I haven't had much of either if I'm being honest. But whatever the case, I promptly gave up on trying to fix anything after a few sad attempts and products that failed miserably at helping solve any of my qualms. Until one day, I discovered the hair game-changer I never knew I needed: Christophe Robin's Purifying Scrub.
When Emily Weiss wrote on Into The Gloss in 2014 that she was "head-over-heels in love" with this scrub, I was like "LOL, no." A scrub? For your head? How would that even work? Then I clicked into the video of Christophe Robin giving someone a head massage with the product, thought it seemed interesting, realized it was not even remotely in my college budget, and promptly exited all pages concerning the product.
But, since I will literally buy anything Emily Weiss tells me is good, I couldn't stop thinking about it. So when Sephora picked up the brand, I finally decided to try it. Of course, Emily Weiss was right, and I, too, fell head-over-heels in love.
Like I said: My hair is pretty weird. Not only do I have all of the aforementioned issues, but my scalp is frequently dry while somehow my hair is incredibly oily. And since it's mind-bogglingly thick, that makes for quite a sad, limp mess on most days. As promised, though, this scrub addressed all of those issues with the first use.
Using its star ingredient, sea salt, the scrub works to purify, hydrate, and soothe all at the same time — and it consistently leaves me with bouncy, shiny hair — no limp strands or oily patches in sight. Now, I use it once or twice a week in place of regular shampoo, and follow with conditioner on my ends — and I'm pretty much convinced I'll never have to use anything but this product again.
If you've never used a scalp scrub before, it's surprisingly much easier than it seems like it would be. While I was definitely doubtful about my ability to apply it correctly before my first time, it's really just like using shampoo — only it's grainy, and it requires a tiny bit more work (that's well worth it).
The directions suggest you take a tablespoon-sized amount and work it into damp hair, massaging the scalp gently. Then, you just add water and lather. This is exactly what I do, and my only other suggestion would be to make sure you really rinse everything out afterward — I have been left with some sea salt crystals in my hair before because I didn't do this well enough, which I didn't love.
Thankfully, Christophe Robin's scrub spurred the creation of many others, so now there are plenty of choices on the market to choose from so you can discover the wonders of scalp scrubs for yourself. Ahead, my personal favorite, along with five others that have garnered rave reviews, too.
