Fino Hair Mask: I Tried The Viral Product from Japan for a Year And Here’s My Honest Review
If you’re planning a trip to Japan or if you’re already in Japan and you’ve no idea what to add to your shopping list, you’re going to thank me for this article. Only someone who’s been living under a rock wouldn’t have heard about the life-changing (trust me, I’ve tried it) Fino Hair Mask. While you can probably purchase them in your home country, it’s ten times cheaper to buy it in Japan and there’s no risk of winding up with a fake product.
Here’s a bonus tip to begin with: Buy a tub of the Fino Premium Touch Hair Mask and bring it back to your hotel, try it out throughout your trip and then buy more of them before you leave. I’m pretty sure you’ll decide to buy a whole year’s supply along with a few extra tubs as souvenirs for your loved ones. Now, if you don’t want to wait until your trip to test it out, you can always purchase it from Amazon directly from the brand Shiseido.
Now that I’ve boasted about the Fino Hair Mask for long enough, let me tell you what are the benefits of the hair mask I’ve noticed after using it for a good 8 months!
What is Fino Hair Mask Good for?
Dryness
I’ve always dealt with dull, dry hair that tend to break easily after styling. This kept me away from heat styling, even blow drying my hair for years. No amount of heat protectant or expensive repair creams really made my hair look healthy. From the very first use, I found the texture of my hair changing with the Fino Hair Mask. With regular use, I realized it wasn’t just another Japanese mask that people were just using because of a TikTok fad. My hair became softer and looked a lot healthier and voluminous in just a few weeks of using the Fino Hair Mask.
Dullness
Though it’s a mask, it works wonderfully as a hair gloss, bringing shine from within the strands by tackling damage and the dullness that came with it. Unlike regular hair glosses that would just sit outside and die off with a new wash, this mask felt like it worked on a deeper level. The shine that it gave my hair is unbelievable! I’ve used multiple hair masks over the years from a lot of international brands, but none of them did better than the Fino Hair Mask.
Chemically-treated Hair
My hair goes through treatments like smoothening, botox, nanoplastia and coloring at least twice a year. While this may be one of the reasons for my dry and dull hair, it was always the better choice when compared to regular heat styling. High maintenance to be low maintenance makes great sense when you want to have great hair everyday but cannot afford hours every morning fixing it. Fino Premium Touch Hair Mask supports your beauty goals if you’ve got chemically-treated hair too!
Less Hair Fall
When your hair becomes healthier, shinier, and softer, it means your hair is healing and getting stronger. This prevents hair fall that is a result of breakage due to prolonged damage.
Affordable
The Fino Hair Mask costs about $13-14 online for an 8 ounce tub online but you can find it on sale very often. If you’re planning to buy them in Japan, you’ll easily find combo packs with good discounts along with huge refill tubes for this hair mask.
A little goes a long way
The formulation of this Japanese hair mask is so thick and creamy that you will not need a lot even if you have long hair. Talk about value-for-money!
It’s extremely important to know how to use a new product the right way before judging it. Otherwise, you may not be able to fully enjoy all the benefits of the product and you’ll end up getting rid of it. Just to make sure you give it a fair chance, here’s you should be trying this one out:
How To Use the Fino Hair Mask
Just like your shampoo and conditioner habits, there’s no one way to use the Shiseido Fino Hair Mask. Here are a few tried and tested methods from which you can choose what would work the best for you.
Masking in the Shower:
Just swap your conditioner for the Fino Hair Mask and apply it to freshly shampooed wet hair. Clip your hair up and put a shower cap over it while you go ahead with the rest of your shower/bath. This is the time I usually brush my teeth, wash my face or even shave my legs. Keep the product on for 10-15 minutes and wash off in cool water.
Full-blown Hair Spa:
Shampoo your hair as usual and get out of the shower, apply the Fino Hair Mask on your wet hair and scalp and massage gently. Massage for about 10-15 minutes and clip your hair up. For the next step, you can either use a hair steamer or just a bath towel dipped in hot water and wringed until light. Cover your hair and scalp for another 15 minutes and then wash the mask off in plain cool water.
Masking First:
While I’ve seen a lot of people do this, I’m honestly not a fan. However, it may work for you and is definitely worth a mention. In this method, you apply the Shiseido Fino Hair Mask on your unwashed, dry hair and leave it on for 30 minutes or more. Then you wash it off with a shampoo, followed by a conditioner. This may benefit people who get sick pretty fast when the hair is left wet for a long time. Even so, if you ask me, I’d suggest shampooing the day before, drying out the hair without a conditioner and then using this mask the next day and washing it off with plain water.
Common Doubts From Users
If you’re going to try out the Fino Premium Touch Hair Mask for the first time, you’d also have a lot of questions in your mind like I did. Here are some of the most common queries netizens have about this Japanese hair mask:
Do I apply a Fino hair mask on my roots?
Patch test and see if your scalp is okay with the formula. If it is, you can apply the mask on your scalp so that the part of your hair strands closer to your roots will also get covered. However, remember that the formulation of the mask is thick, so you’ll need to put extra effort to make sure it’s fully washed off. You don’t want product build up and dandruff. Also, if you have an extremely oily scalp, it’s best to avoid applying the Fino Hair Mask to your scalp so it might make your hair look oily faster.
Can I use the Fino Hair Mask everyday?
While there may be no harm in using the Fino Hair Mask every day, it may not be necessary. It’s always a good practice to shampoo and mask your hair not more than thrice a week. Overwashing will result in a sensitive scalp and unnaturally dry hair since you’ll be ripping them off the natural oils produced by your skin. That said, if you really have to wash your hair every day, alternate between a lighter conditioner and the Fino Hair Mask for best results.
How long to leave the Fino hair mask in for?
If you have dry and damaged hair, leave the Fino Hair Mask on for at least 20-30 minutes. On the other hand, if you have an oily scalp with hair that’s not too dry, 10-15 minutes would be enough. You can try the above methods I’ve mentioned and see what works best for your hair concerns.
Is there keratin in a Fino Hair Mask?
Yes, one of the major ingredients of the Fino Hair Mask is hydrolyzed organic keratin. It helps revitalize the hair and help it recover from heat damage, chemical treatments like smoothening, coloring etc. to give you healthier, glossier, and stronger hair.
How to know if Fino Hair Mask is original vs fake?
The key is to purchase this viral Japanese hair mask from reputed sellers both offline and online. Since it’s a widely popular product, there are multiple counterfeit items available online. Compare the labels online, and buy one item first to test out the consistency of the mask. It should be off white, thick but translucent, and smell fruity. Think of a really thick petroleum jelly which smells great.
Shiseido Fino Premium Touch Hair Mask- Key Ingredients & Functions
1. Potent Hydrating Agents:
The hair mask contains Water, Butylene Glycol, and Sorbitol to add moisture into your hair shaft to avoid dryness and to maintain a soft and smooth hair texture.
2. Key Nutrients:
The formula of Fino Hair Mask includes Royal Jelly Extract, Squalane, and PCA (Pyrrolidone Carboxylic Acid) which focus on replenishing the lost nutrients in your hair strands as well as scalp. To maintain vitality, these ingredients supply the hair with essential vitamins and amino acids. Moreover, they also hep add a natural shine without making your hair greasy.
3. Repair and Rescue Agents
The two superheroes, Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein and Lipidure EX work at a much deeper level and help reinforce the structure of your strands. This makes them stronger and reduces breakage and hairfall. These ingredients also improve your hair’s resilience, elasticity, and moisture retention capacity.
4. Ingredients to Condition
Even though silicones are painted to be unhealthy and risky ingredients, there’s no scientific proof to back up this claim. In fact, ingredients like dimethicone and aminopropyl dimethicone which are present in the Fino Hair Mask smooths out the hair cuticles and seals them to retain moisture. They also protect your hair from pollution, heat and other external troublemakers. Behentrimonium Chloride is another conditioning agent in the mask that reduces static and improves manageability of your hair.
