Start from what's bothering you, not from your hair type. All three lines are built on the same two Beppu ingredients — they differ in what they do on top of that.

Yes, and this is a common combination. Use the Scalp Care Shampoo, then the Golden Silk Hair Mask on the mid-lengths and ends only. You get scalp cleansing where you need it and repair where you need that, without the mask sitting on your roots.

No. It's a fair question — most Japanese haircare is developed with straight, fine-to-medium hair in mind and is designed to smooth rather than define. ONSENSOU differs in one important way: it starts from the scalp, and scalp skin behaves much the same whatever your hair type. Note too that the Golden Silk Repair line explicitly lists permed and curly hair among the hair types it was built for.

Start with Golden Silk Repair. It is the line built for permed and curly hair, and it is the one our customers with textured hair come back for — the feedback we hear most often is that hair feels soft and moves smoothly afterwards. It has been particularly well received among our customers in the Middle East.

Moisture KABOSU is the other line worth considering, especially if your main issue is dryness and frizz rather than damage: honey components slow moisture escaping from the hair, and three types of ceramide hold hydration in, for a soft, smooth finish.

One practical note if you avoid silicones: the Golden Silk Repair shampoo is silicone-free, but the Golden Silk Hair Mask and the Moisture KABOSU Treatment both contain silicone. If a fully silicone-free routine matters more to you than slip, build around the Scalp Care line instead — both the shampoo and its treatment are sulfate-free and silicone-free.

The Scalp Care line is the lightest in the range and the right starting point for fine or low-porosity hair. There are no silicones in it, so nothing builds up on the surface, and the cleansing is designed to leave volume at the roots rather than flatten them.

Yes. ONSENSOU is formulated by scalp condition, not by gender. If your scalp runs oily, start with the regular Scalp Care Shampoo; if it runs dry, the Mild version. Worth knowing: the Golden Silk Repair fragrance is a woody, distinctly masculine accord — sandalwood and cedarwood with lime and ginger.

Two things: the cleansing strength, and menthol.

Regular contains menthol, so it washes with a cool, fresh sensation on the scalp — if you like that feeling, this is the one. It also cleanses more thoroughly, which suits scalps where sebum and styling product build up through the day.

Mild contains no menthol and cleanses more gently. It is the one to choose for a sensitive scalp, and the one we would suggest during pregnancy, while breastfeeding, and for older skin, which tends to be drier and more easily irritated.

The onsen algae and onsen yeast content is identical in both.

Onsen algae is a beauty ingredient extracted from algae living in the hot spring sources of Beppu, Japan. "Onsen" is the Japanese word for a natural hot spring. In an ONSENSOU formula it works as a skin conditioning ingredient — its job is the scalp, helping keep the skin your hair grows from in good condition.

Most haircare ingredients are ordered from a catalogue. This one wasn't. A hot spring microbiology research institute in Beppu spent years studying the springs, identified more than 200 microorganisms living in them, and in 2012 isolated a new species among them. That's the algae. It survives in water approaching 90°C — an environment where almost nothing else lives. The composition containing extract from these algal bodies is covered by Japanese Patent No. 5676702, held by Saravio Cosmetics Co., Ltd., and ONSENSOU developed it into a cosmetic-grade ingredient together with that institute. You won't find it on a general raw-material list.

Because they do different jobs. Onsen yeast extract — also found in Beppu's springs — is the moisture half of the pair: it brings hydration to skin that tends to run dry and helps hold it there. Onsen algae conditions; onsen yeast moisturises. Every ONSENSOU formula contains both, and that pairing is the core of the brand.

It's the repair ingredient — it appears on the list as sodium dilauroyl glutamate lysine, in the Golden Silk Repair Shampoo and the Gold Mist (not in the Hair Mask). It works from inside the hair rather than coating it. It penetrates the hair shaft in about a minute and — importantly — supplier testing found it remains inside after rinsing. It works at the level of the disulfide bonds that chemical, heat and mechanical damage break down. Independent testing by the raw-material manufacturer found improvements in both the strength and the thickness of damaged hair. [Source: Sekiguchi N. et al. (2008), Fragrance Journal 36(3), 67–74]

Five of them do. Hot spring water appears on the ingredient list of all three hand creams, the Golden Silk Hair Mask and the Sakura Fragrance Soap. The Hair Mask is the only haircare product that contains it. Always check the ingredient list on the individual product page.

But it is worth saying what makes ONSENSOU different, because it isn't the water. Plenty of brands bottle mineral water. The research behind this brand looked at the microorganisms living in Beppu's springs instead — and that is where onsen algae and onsen yeast came from.

Every product is made in Japan. The brand is run by VELAS Corporation Ltd. in Tokyo; the onsen algae ingredient is developed in Beppu, Oita Prefecture — Japan's largest hot spring area, with around 2,700 sources.

Around 90% of the formula is naturally derived, built around the two Beppu extracts. The rest is what makes a shampoo work as a shampoo — a mild cleansing system, and the small amount of preservative any water-based product needs to stay safe. We'd rather say that plainly than claim 100% of anything.

Yes — no ONSENSOU product contains SLS (sodium lauryl sulfate) or SLES (sodium laureth sulfate). But "sulfate-free" has become a slippery word, so here is the actual detail, because the people who ask this question read ingredient lists.

All the shampoos, and the Scalp Care Treatment. Two products are not: the Golden Silk Hair Mask and the Moisture KABOSU Treatment both contain silicone, because that's what delivers the smoothing and shine those two are for. We'd rather tell you which is which than put "silicone-free" across the whole range.

Botanical oils and humectants. The honest trade-off: silicone gives instant, dramatic slip; this gives less on day one and more genuine condition over weeks. If you're coming off silicones, expect the first few washes to feel different while the old coating rinses away.

Yes — sulfate-free and silicone-free is the combination most colourists recommend for holding colour. The Golden Silk Repair line goes further: it's specifically formulated to help prevent colour fading and split ends after bleaching.

Yes. Sulfate-free is what most keratin treatments require, and every ONSENSOU shampoo meets that. Follow whatever waiting period your stylist gave you before the first wash.

No. No ONSENSOU product contains ingredients derived from mammals of any kind — no lanolin, no tallow, no mammalian collagen. Where collagen appears it is sourced from jellyfish and fish. The other animal-derived ingredients in the range are honey (in the Moisture KABOSU Treatment), hydrolyzed silk, and pearl or conchiolin from shell.

The shampoos, treatments and body cleansers are cosmetics and are generally used as normal during pregnancy. One exception worth flagging: the Body Milk KABOSU contains retinyl palmitate, a retinol derivative, and many people choose to avoid retinoids while pregnant or breastfeeding — please check with your doctor before using that one.

Each line has its own original fragrance, and they're genuinely different:

Daily is fine. The formula lifts dirt and excess oil without stripping the moisture your scalp needs.

Work it into a lather in your hands first, then apply. Massage the scalp with your fingertips rather than your nails, and let the lather do the work across the whole scalp before you rinse. Rinse thoroughly with warm water. On days you've used a lot of styling product, wash twice.

The Golden Silk Repair Shampoo is designed to sit for 1–3 minutes after lathering — it carries repair ingredients, and that short pause is what lets them work. For the Hair Mask, apply to damp hair after washing and leave for 3–5 minutes. If your hair is heavily bleached, there's a second method: apply a generous amount to wet hair before shampooing, leave for 10 minutes, then wash as normal.

Yes, it just works differently. Sulfates strip oil aggressively in one pass; a milder system lifts it more gradually, which is why technique matters. Rinse with warm water for a good 30 seconds first, and wash twice on heavier days. Most people who feel a sulfate-free shampoo "isn't cleaning" are doing one wash where two are needed.

Yes. Hard water flattens the lather of most shampoos, but the betaine and amide surfactants ONSENSOU is built on keep foaming richly in it — customers in hard-water regions tell us this is one of the first things they notice.

Two habits still help anywhere: rinse with warm rather than hot water, and wash twice on heavier days. In very hard water areas, a clarifying wash every few weeks stops mineral build-up making hair look dull.

The shampoo works on its own, but the pair is designed together — shampoo for the scalp, treatment for the lengths. If you're buying one, buy the shampoo: that's where the onsen algae does its work.

The Scalp Care Treatment, yes — that's deliberate. Most conditioners tell you to avoid the roots because silicone builds up there; this one is silicone-free, so you can work it into the scalp too. The Golden Silk Hair Mask and Moisture KABOSU Treatment contain silicone, so keep those to the mid-lengths and ends.

Most people notice how their scalp feels within a week or two. Give any new shampoo three to four weeks before judging it — the first few washes are usually the old product rinsing out rather than the new one showing its hand.

Some extra shedding after any product change is common, and it usually isn't what it looks like. Hair that has already detached often stays caught in the surrounding hair — especially with silicone-based products — and a change in routine releases it at once. That's shedding, not new loss. If heavier shedding continues past a month, or you see thinning at the parting or temples, see a doctor or trichologist rather than changing shampoo again.

The Scalp Care Shampoo Mild, with the Scalp Care Treatment. A dry scalp is an uncomfortable scalp, and that's the state this pair is designed for: gentle cleansing that doesn't strip, and onsen yeast extract putting moisture back afterwards. If flaking is persistent or heavy, or comes with redness or soreness, please see a doctor — that may need treating rather than a care routine.

Start with the regular Scalp Care Shampoo rather than Mild. Scalp odour usually traces to sebum and residue sitting on the skin, so thorough but gentle daily cleansing is what helps — washing twice on heavier days.

Four things, none of them mysterious. Sebum and styling residue lifted off rather than left to sit. The skin's own moisture still there after the wash, not stripped out by it. No itching or flaking that keeps coming back. No stale odour by the end of the day.

That is the whole of it, and it is what the Scalp Care line is built around: a cleansing system that does the first two at the same time, which is harder than it sounds, and onsen yeast extract to put moisture back afterwards. Betaine and amide surfactants make the lather dense enough to lift sebum without the wash itself stripping the skin.

Hair is produced in skin, so the condition of that skin is not a side issue. But "scalp environment" describes the state of the skin — it is not a promise about what will grow out of it, and a brand that slides quietly from one to the other is selling you something it cannot deliver.

This is the thing customers write to us about most, so it is worth explaining properly rather than taking the credit.

Most of the hair you lose during a wash is lost mechanically, not biologically. Wet hair is at its most fragile — the cuticle is swollen and lifted, strands tangle against each other, and every pass of your fingers drags them across one another. Hair that was already weakened snaps in that moment. It looks exactly like shedding, but it is breakage happening in your hands.

Four things work against that, and none of them are mysterious:

The lather cushions. Betaine and amide surfactants build a dense, elastic foam that sits between strands, so your fingers move through foam rather than dragging hair against hair. This is a physical effect, and it is the single biggest one.

The strands slide instead of catching. Cationic conditioning agents and, in the Golden Silk Repair Shampoo, hydrolyzed silk and hyaluronic acid reduce the friction between strands while you are still washing — not afterwards.

Weaker hair breaks less over time. The permeable gemini peptide works inside the shaft on damaged disulfide bonds, and the ceramides and amino acids help keep the cuticle sealed. Hair that holds together has less reason to snap in the first place.

And it compounds. The scalp side is not a one-wash effect. Keeping sebum and residue from building up, and keeping the skin's own moisture where it belongs, only holds if you keep doing it — which is why the Scalp Care line is designed around doing both at once, every day, rather than around a weekly treatment. Over months, hair with more body and spring at the root is hair that bends under your fingers instead of snapping. What changes in a single wash is friction. What changes over a season is the state of the skin your hair grows from, and how well each strand stands up to being handled.

There is also a plainer reason worth mentioning: if you were using silicone-heavy products before, hairs that had already detached were being held in place by the coating. Those clear out over the first few washes, and after that what you see settles at your real rate.

So what changes is the breakage, and the condition of the skin underneath — and those are genuinely the parts a shampoo can change. What we are not claiming is that we have altered what your follicles are doing, or that we treat any medical condition of the scalp. If the amount coming out has increased in a way that concerns you, that is a question for a doctor, not for a shampoo.

Partly — and it is worth being precise about which part, because two very different things both get called "hair fall."

Breakage is a strand snapping part-way along its length. You can identify it: the end is blunt or frayed rather than tapered, there is no pale bulb on it, and the hair is shorter than the rest of yours. Dryness, friction, heat and bleaching cause it. This is squarely something a cosmetic can reduce — keep the cuticle sealed and the hair supple and it has less reason to snap. A large share of what people find in the drain and the brush is this, not shedding.

Shedding is a whole hair leaving the follicle with the root attached. Fifty to a hundred a day is normal. Sustained heavier shedding is driven by things no shampoo reaches: hormones, illness, stress, iron or thyroid levels, medication, genetics.

ONSENSOU is built for the first of those, plus keeping the scalp itself clean, moisturised and comfortable. We will not tell you a shampoo reverses the second. If your shedding has genuinely increased, please see a doctor — that isn't us being cautious, it's that the treatable causes show up in blood work, not in a bottle.

We'll be straight with you: ONSENSOU is a cosmetic, not a treatment for hair loss, and we don't claim it grows hair. What it does is reduce breakage and keep the scalp clean and comfortable — and the Scalp Care line is formulated to leave volume at the roots rather than flatten them, which changes how hair looks well before anything else does. If your concern is genuine hair loss, a doctor or trichologist is the right first step. No shampoo, ours included, substitutes for that.

It's locked, not broken — Japanese pumps ship locked. Twist the pump head anticlockwise while holding the bottle; it will rise and then work normally.

Every ONSENSOU bottle carries the product name in English, so you can tell them apart by name. There is also a Japanese convention that helps in the shower: shampoo bottles carry raised ridges or notches on the side, and conditioner and treatment bottles are smooth — readable with your eyes closed. Every product page here also lists the full English name, ingredients and directions.

Use our Find ONSENSOU Near You page, which lists distributors, marketplaces and physical stores by country. If nothing is listed where you are, you can order directly from this store.