I thought about writing this review or not because Sebastian Professional is not a cruelty free brand and I don’t want to support their products on my blog, but on the other hand, I don’t want to be a hypocrite you know? I got the products in my Lookfantastic January box and I used them because I don’t think it’s helping anyone if I just throw stuff away that I already own.

So, this review contains just my honest opinions on the products, but know that I do not support them and I will not purchase any other Sebastian Professional products in the future.

Now, a few things about the brand, since I wasn’t familiar with it before and maybe there are others like me. Sebastian Professional was founded in the 1970s by two stylists from LA, John Sebastian and Geri Cusenza. They didn’t start with hair care products at first, but with a hair tool, which was a crimping iron used on Barbara Streisand for one of her album covers. However, they quickly began to create hair care and hair coloring products. They are now a brand owned by Wella, as far as I can tell by looking on their website.

Now that we got that out of the way, let’s take a look at the products.

Packaging:

The shampoo and conditioner come in two black plastic bottles, which are very similar except for the color of the cap and this threw me off a bit when using them because I was afraid I would mix them up. I only got two sample sizes, so I don’t know about the packaging of the full size products. Hopefully they have a pump or some sort of better packaging than these samples. The bottles contained 50 ml each and lasted me for 3 washes (shoulder-length, fine hair).

Texture:

The shampoo is clear and it has a gel-like consistency, while the conditioner is white and it has the usual texture of a hair conditioner (like a thick cream).

Ingredients:

For the shampoo:

Cyclopentasiloxane,Dimethiconol, Isododecane, Parfum/Fragrance, EthylhexylMethoxycinnamate, Argania Spinosa Kernel Oil, Hexyl Cinnamal,Coumarin, Limonene, Citronellol, Linalool, Eugenol, Geraniol

For the conditioner:

Aqua/Water/Eau, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Chloride, Parfum/ Fragrance, Panthenol, Citric Acid, Sodium Benzoate, Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose, PEG-35 Castor Oil, Salicylic Acid, Tetrasodium EDTA, Sodium Hydroxide, Hexyl Cinnamal, Methylparaben, Coumarin, Citronellol, Linalool, Argania Spinosa Kernel Oil, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Sodium Citrate, Sodium Xylenesulfonate

I see some oils in there (hence the name of the products) like argan oil and jojoba oil and also the salicylic acid is good for the scalp so I’m surprised it’s included in the conditioner and not in the shampoo.

Price and accessibility:

You can find these products in Romania only in some hair salons and in online shops, so it’s a bit of a hassle to make sure you can stock up on them if you like them. They are quite expensive in my opinion. Just the shampoo alone is around 150 lei (more than 30 euros) so I would definitely not pay that much for it, no matter how big the bottle.

My overall opinion:

Look, I would like to say that the products are not that good and yadda yadda, but to be honest I like the effects they had on my hair. I have greasy hair and a dry scalp, a bad combination in general, but the shampoo and conditioner made my hair look silky and smooth and I didn’t have any flakiness or dry patches on my scalp. The scent is something you either hate or you just don’t mind because it’s a sweet scent combined with a musky note, but it doesn’t linger in your hair. however, I do not see these as any game changers so you would have to pay the expensive price tag to include them in your hair care routine.

To sum everything up, if the products were at least a little less expensive and if they were cruelty free, I would purchase them in full size. However, since neither of these conditions apply, I will have to pass on further exploring the Sebastian Professional brand.