Hair care has the same problem skincare does: it’s easy to keep adding products until the shelf is full and the routine quietly stops happening. When we built the hair side of CapyOnsen, we asked the question we’d asked on the skincare side. What’s the smallest ritual that still does the real job?
For hair, the answer was two steps, not a five-product range padded out to look more serious than it needs to be. If you’re switching from a different shampoo entirely, read what happens in the first few washes.
Why stop at two
Hair needs two things done well, every wash: get properly clean, and come out smooth and manageable rather than tangled and rough. Masks, oils, leave-in treatments and heat protectants can all be useful. But they solve narrower, situational problems, not what most hair needs on an ordinary Tuesday.
A hair mask used twice and then left in the shower to gather dust helps nobody. So instead of a range that looks impressive on a shelf, we built two products designed to earn their place in every wash.
The two steps
The ritual opens with our Moisturising Shampoo, a gentle, certified natural formula built around aloe leaf juice, sea kale, ginkgo and burdock root extract. It’s designed to cleanse without stripping, so hair comes out soft rather than squeaky. It’s COSMOS Natural certified, 99% natural origin, vegan, gluten-free and nut-free, made in the EU.
It isn’t fragrance-free. It carries a warm, fruity-woody scent, and we’d rather tell you now than have you discover it after the bottle arrives. Our piece on what makes a moisturising shampoo different explains what makes this formula moisturising rather than just labelled that way.
It closes with the Moisturising Conditioner, a richer formula built around aloe leaf juice, ginkgo and burdock root extract, designed to smooth dry, difficult ends without weighing down the roots. You apply it through the mid-lengths and ends and leave it on for 2 to 5 minutes. Its job is to smooth and condition the hair the shampoo just cleaned, not to clean it again.
It’s COSMOS Natural certified and nut-free, made in the EU. Unlike the shampoo, it isn’t vegan (it contains a small amount of honey), and it isn’t fragrance-free or gluten-free either. We list the exceptions plainly rather than let “certified natural” imply a longer list of claims than the formula supports. Placement and timing matter here too; conditioner, in the right order covers the technique.
Both formulas carry COSMOS Natural certification, a real, independently audited standard. COSMOS Certified: what the label means breaks down what that covers.
Why two, not more, and who it’s for
We had formulas on the table for a weekly hair mask and a leave-in treatment and left both out of this launch pair. They’re fine ideas, but optional additions for specific concerns, not default essentials for most people. Anything beyond the two-step core should be a deliberate addition for a specific reason.
It’s built for people who want a straightforward hair routine they’ll keep up wash after wash, who care about certified natural formulation, and who’d rather use two products that each earn their place than ten that mostly don’t.
It’s not built for anyone managing a diagnosed scalp condition, which is a conversation for a pharmacist or dermatologist. And if a fully vegan routine matters to you, we’d rather be exact: the shampoo qualifies on its own, but the pair doesn’t, because of the honey in the conditioner.
How to use it
Shampoo through wet hair and scalp, rinse thoroughly, then apply the conditioner through the mid-lengths and ends and rinse again. That’s the whole ritual, about thirty seconds of effort. No five-step regimen to keep up with, no drawer of half-used masks waiting for a free weekend that doesn’t arrive.
The shampoo is €20.90 on its own and the place to start either way: see the full formula and how to use it. Two steps covers most weeks. The one stretch that asks more of a routine is a swimming holiday, so read what salt, chlorine and sun do, and the habits that help most before you pack.
