comparison review: macadamia natural oil vs. hair chemist

hi all! i mentioned a LONG while back that i'd do a comparison review of these products for you. i'd been using macadamia natural oil deep repair masque and healing oil treatment for a while and decided to try out this cheaper alternative from sally's by hair chemist. enjoy! ~Lin-chan ^.~

macadamia natural oil (mno) deep repair masque (8.5oz) $28 healing oil treatment (4.2oz.) $36

hair chemist (hc)           deep repair masque (8oz.) $11.99 regular/$10.89 with sally's card           hair serum (4oz.) $11.99 regular/$10.89 with sally's card

scent: it's really hard to describe their scents. both oils seem to have a more oily smell to them..which makes sense......like if you were to take a whiff of olive oil or something like that; that oily feel/smell. i like the smell of the mno products more than that hc ones, but they're both pleasant and unoffensive--i think.

hair masques:

• mno: scent lingers for a little while then fades after a couple hours. hair feels great and moisturized, soft
• hc: scent completely disappears within half an hour after using it. it feels ok. like, i do feel that it moisturizes my hair but texture-wise but it doesn't feel any different than if i wasn't using it.
• ps, the jar is a lie. lol. the interior's actually a perfect cylinder-shape, it's not rounded as it appears on the outside.
• packaging: sometimes difficult to open when your hands are wet, possibility of cutting yourself along the inner edge of the lid when trying to open mno's...i have cut myself trying to open it...
• i think that both are sold in 1oz sampler-type packettes if you want to buy them to try first.

 

mno, hc

hair oils:

• used after their respective hair masks, it doesn't feel any more moisturized exactly, so you could skip if you'd like. using these after the masks does help the scent last longer.
• used on a daily basis, after regular shampooing and conditioning
• mno: feels great, soft and moisturized, and the scent lasts several hours; amber colored
• hc: scent lasts for maybe an hour..or less. again, it feels ok. like i do feel that it moisturizes my hair but texture-wise it's not really softer or noticeable. clear.
• packaging:
• no major issues with mno's, the pump does not lock
• hc's is weird, i think there's poor ventilation inside the bottle and it creates a vacuum as you continually dispense the product. as a result, it leaks oil from the twist closure--when it's not in use. wasteful. i have a kleenex rubber-banded to the bottle so that it's not greasy whenever i go to pick it up. hc's pump locks.
• mno packages them in bottles of varying size, hc only has the one size.

the verdict:
macadamia natural oil all the way. when i first decided to explore the brand, i bought a 1oz packette of the repair masque from ulta as well as a .34oz bottle of the healing oil treatment for 2 reward points. i immediately fell in love. i know it's super expensive, but it's so much better than the hair chemist, in my opinion. the hair chemist products are a cheaper alternative, but they're just an alternative. not a replacement.


random tidbits: for my birthday this year, my hair stylist gave me mystic divine nourishing oil treatment (has argan and monoi oils). i love the scent of it of it! >w< on a trip to sally's a few months ago, i discovered they make a hair masque too! picked it up to try. [haven't stated using it yet though.]