Fekkai: The Best Products and Brand Review

Before everyone turned their personal identity into a branded stream of content (thank you, social media), there were only a handful of well-known and revered namesake brands in the haircare space, and Fekkai was one of them. I still remember the first time I purchased a Fekkai product. It was the infamous Brilliant Glossing Creme that I splurged on at a department store in college, and immediately I felt so mature and grown-up by swapping my Herbal Essences tendencies for such a luxurious item. And once I really saw how one product could make a difference in my hair type and experienced the boost of confidence it provided me, I was hooked.

Frederic Fekkai was a hair icon of the ’90s, responsible for the tresses of supermodels and celebrities such as Claudia Schiffer, Kim Basinger, and Renée Zellweger. When Bergdorf Goodman approached him in the early ’90s and asked him to create a luxury salon in the store, he wound up conceptualizing an experience of beauty hospitality that has since become a standard. The Provence-born, Paris-trained stylist has since continued to revolutionize the industry’s standards with his namesake brand’s high-performance products. The company was sold in 2008, but when Fekkai felt the need to buy it back in 2018, he didn’t do so without making some seriously impactful changes to his line.

Fekkai

Founded: Frédéric Fekkai in 1995

Based In: New York City

Pricing: $$

Best Known For: Salon-performance products that prioritize clean formulations and sustainable environmental impact

Most Popular Product: Brilliant Gloss Multi-Tasker Perfecting Creme, Shea Butter Intense Mask

Fun Fact: Fekkai quit law school to pursue a career in hairdressing and “never looked back.”

Other Brands You’ll Love: Aveda, Davines

“As my way of life has changed in the past few years for a better, cleaner, sustainable environment at home, when I got the opportunity to buy Fekkai back, I was very excited to re-create formulas that would use safe, nontoxic ingredients, while still being performant,” says Fekkai. But it wasn’t just the formulations that got a major upgrade. “Of course, I wanted to innovate the packaging and make sustainability an important pillar of the brand,” he tells us, “so our bottles are made out of 95 percent recycled plastic.” Without compromising the performance or efficiency of the products he first set out to create, Fekkai has managed to adapt and refine the company’s focus for a more lasting, sustainable future. Few of the other original namesake brands from his era have managed to remain as relevant and dare we say, revolutionary, which is why we’re confident that what Fekkai has created is nothing short of a true and lasting legacy (and we have the A-list quality tresses to prove it).

Check out a list of our must-try Fekkai products below.

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Brilliant Gloss Multi-Tasker Perfecting Crème

Fekkai
Shea Butter Intense Oil
$28.00

Last but certainly not least is this hair-and-body product hero. The Fekkai Shea Butter collection hits us with a must-have yet again. The reason we have this oil on our list of favorite Fekkai products is simply due to its versatility (aside, of course, from all the other many reasons we love the Shea Butter collection, as previously mentioned). When it comes to haircare, this oil will serve you whether you need some extra hydration to soothe your scalp, some extra moisture to braid into an overnight treatment for your dried-out tresses, or simply when needing to add some luster to those drab and lifeless ends that are overdue for a trim.

As for body care, this silicone-free formula will help aid parched skin, relax sore muscles, de-stress, and give off an effortless summer glow. Having a clean, multipurpose oil like this can provide so much TLC, we can’t think of a reason not to include it in our self-care rituals.