Mekabu Hydrating Shine Serum
Finisher / Serum, glossing
- Finisher
- serum
- Sulfate-free
- Protein-free
Add it to your products. We’ll tell you if it’s ever recalled.
Scent:
Reviewers describe it as fresh, sweet.
Manufacturer page: lovemasami.com
Personal fit
Is this right for you?
Complete the consultation to see how well this product fits your hair and your goals. With 6,000+ products in our library, we can match you to the right ones.
- About 20 minutes, and your answers save as you go.
- Every product matched against your hair across the 23 factors we check.
- A personalized routine built around your schedule, styling habits, and local weather.
- Find products that do the same job at a lower cost.
- Your goals, scalp, damage history, water, budget, and scent preferences all shape your plan.
$49 with 60 days of follow-up questions and plan updates
$99 with 12 months. Pay once; the year renews only if you choose.
Show all 23 factors we check
The rest of what your plan weighs on this product.
The consultation builds your hair profile, checks every factor in this table against it, and tells you where this product fits or what to use instead.
Start your consultation$49 once, with 60 days of follow-up questions and plan updates. Nothing renews, and you never have to buy a product.
Your avoid-list
Priced above most serums
$20.00/oz at 1.7 oz, more than 87% of the 136 serums , which mostly run $3.94–14.80/oz.
Great for
Maybe skip if
What the formula actually does
Read from the label, not the marketing
Each row says where it comes from: F means we derived it from this product’s own ingredient list, S means it is a claim the brand makes that the formula neither confirms nor contradicts.
A silicone or oil blend does the shine work here.
Middle of the range: noticeable on fine hair, light on coarse hair.
No oils or butters in the list.
Water-insoluble silicones or waxes: a detergent wash is what removes them.
No fast-drying alcohol in the list.
Fragrance is in the first eight ingredients, so it makes up a larger share of the formula.
Ingredients that matter
The ingredients that change a decision
The workhorse ingredients, plus anything lower down that changes a decision. The chips name what an ingredient does. They are not safety scores, and no ingredient here is rated good or bad on its own.
| Ingredient | What it does | Why it matters | Chip |
|---|---|---|---|
| CyclopentasiloxaneCyclomethicone | silicone | The shine system | Buildup |
| Dimethicone | silicone | The shine system | Buildup |
| C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate | light ester | Light slip without much weight | Shine |
| Undaria Pinnatifida PowderUndaria Pinnatifida (Mekabu) Powder | absorbent | — | Stabilizes |
| Macrocystis Pyrifera (Kelp) Extract | botanical extract | A plant extract, there as much for marketing as for function | Neutral |
| Fragrance | fragrance | The scent | Fragrance |
Full ingredient list (6)
In the US, ingredients above 1% are listed from most to least. Below 1% they can appear in any order. Each note keeps three things apart: what the ingredient generally does, its role in this type of product, and what its position can tell you.
-
1
Cyclopentasiloxane
· Cyclomethicone
General function
A light, fast-evaporating silicone that spreads other ingredients then leaves. It gives serums their weightless glide.
Leading ingredientListed in the first three ingredients, it is likely a structural part of this formula.
PubChemMay suitBuild-up-sensitive routinesIt leaves the hair by evaporating rather than by being washed off, so it is not part of what accumulates.
May suitClimate-sensitive or frizz-prone hairA surface film slows how quickly humidity reaches the cortex, which is what limits swelling-driven frizz in damp air.
May suitFine or easily flattened hairA cyclic silicone evaporates after it has spread the formula, so it carries the other ingredients without leaving weight behind.
- silicone
- emollient
-
2
Dimethicone
General function
The most common conditioning silicone. It coats the strand for shine, slip, and frizz control, and needs a detergent (not just water) to wash out.
Leading ingredientListed in the first three ingredients, it is likely a structural part of this formula.
May suitClimate-sensitive or frizz-prone hairA surface film slows how quickly humidity reaches the cortex, which is what limits swelling-driven frizz in damp air.
May suitFrizz-prone, damaged, or high-friction hairLays a smooth film along the cuticle, which lowers combing friction and flattens the surface irregularities that read as frizz.
May not suitBuild-up-sensitive routinesDimethicone does not disperse in water. On a routine that skips detergent it stays on the hair and accumulates wash after wash.
- silicone
- emollient
- conditioning agent
-
3
C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate
General function
A dry-feeling ester used for a silky, non-greasy finish - a common silicone substitute.
Leading ingredientListed in the first three ingredients, it is likely a structural part of this formula.
May suitFine or easily flattened hairA light emollient: it softens the surface with noticeably less weight than an oil or a butter.
May suitFrizz-prone, damaged, or high-friction hairSpreads thin and lowers friction between strands without the heaviness of a fixed oil.
- light ester
- emollient
-
4
Undaria Pinnatifida Powder
· Undaria Pinnatifida (Mekabu) Powder
- absorbent
- binder
- powder
- thickener
-
5
Macrocystis Pyrifera (Kelp) Extract
General function
A seaweed extract used at low levels for moisture and mineral claims.
Supporting ingredientListed in positions 4–8, it likely makes a meaningful contribution alongside the formula's main ingredients.
- botanical extract
- ▾Below about here, the order stops meaning much. These are usually used at 1% or less.
-
6
Fragrance
General function
An undisclosed blend of scent ingredients. Regulations let it stay unlisted, so a fragrance-free product is the only way to be certain what is not in it.
Estimated lower-concentration zoneIt appears around or below the estimated 1% line, where label order no longer indicates relative amount; its role may be minor or technical.
May not suitFragrance-sensitive routinesDeclared fragrance. On a fragrance-sensitive routine this is the line that decides it, wherever it sits on the label.
- fragrance
- declared fragrance
What the whole list adds up to
- 3 emollients
- 2 silicones
- 1 conditioning agent
- 1 light ester
- 1 absorbent
- 1 binder
- 1 powder
- 1 thickener
- 1 botanical extract
- 1 fragrance
- 1 declared fragrance
Ingredient list captured 2026-08-27. Formulas change, so check the package in your hand when an ingredient matters to you.
Price · 1.7 oz
Priced above the products that do the same job. Stores sell it above the $10 line; products that do this job typically go for about $21 at this size.
Show the price ladder
Where we’ve seen it1 listing · 1 store
-
Brand website
$34.001.7 oz · $20.00/ozAug 27Lowest per oz
Sorted by price per ounce. Dated observations from our research, not live prices. Direct store pages, no affiliate links. We don’t sell this product.
How we work this out
- 1.7 oz is the size stores list most often; every comparison on this page is made at it. Other sizes are shown in the Sizes row and the store list.
- Seen at $34 is the price we have observed for the 1.7 oz. We need three stores before we call a price commonly seen.
- Good value under $10 comes from the 5 products we score as doing the same job as this one. A quarter of them cost less than $5.67/oz; at 1.7 oz that is $10. Under that line you are paying less than most of them.
- About $21 is what those same products typically cost at this size: the midpoint of their prices per ounce, scaled to 1.7 oz.
Formula
Above the range for serums per ounce for a complete formula, with no close, lower-priced match in our library.
How the score is counted
- Nothing in our library does the same job for less
- Costs more per ounce than 87% of the 136 serums we’ve priced
- Covers 4 of the 6 things a serum should do
- Reviewers mention 2 things they like about how it performs
- A shine systemThe silicone, oil, or ester that produces gloss.3 pts
- A weightless carrierDelivers the shine without leaving grease.2 pts
- Oils or butters in the working zoneSoftens the strand rather than just coating it.2 pts
- An antioxidantKeeps the oils in the bottle from going off.1 pt
- No drying alcohol in the first threeFast drying without leading on alcohol.1 pt
- Fragrance kept out of the top eightScent as a finishing touch, not a major share.1 pt
The formula score measures completeness for the job: a weighted share of the systems this product type is usually built around that we find in this list. It does not rate how well the product works or its quality, and it never compares across product types.
Does the same job
Formulas that do the same things (cleanse, condition, coat or hold) for less per ounce. Scent, texture and where you buy them can still differ.
- Shine
- Alcohol-free
- No aerosol
- Function
- Also
- Heat protect
- Protein-free
- Alcohol-free
- Function
- Also
- Heat protect
- Protein-free
- Alcohol-free
- Function
- Also
See more alternatives in the product library
These products do a similar job. We haven’t matched them to you. Find the one that fits your hair, routine and budget
Final decision
Should you buy it?
An above-range pick for the hair it suitsHair that stiffens on protein who want a protein-free formula and shine
Worth skipping for anyone sensitive to fragrance, curly-method routines, or people shopping on a budget
Nothing in our library matches it closely at a lower price.
We do not sell products or take placement fees. This page states what the formula and the prices show; the consultation is what matches it to a person.
Reviewers
What people report
Themes that come up again and again in sourced reviews, written by our researchers in their own words. We don’t store or scrape star ratings.
Effective at breaking a product cast on curls, fresh-sweet scent
curly hairMakes hair feel soft without greasiness
Shine boost described as subtle rather than dramatic
How this page was made
- Everything above comes from our researched product record: identity, the ingredient list as printed, the brand's own claims, dated prices and review themes our researchers wrote in their own words. No part of this page is written by hand for one product.
- The value band is a fixed label over two stored numbers: this product’s cost per ounce as a percentile of every product of this type we have priced, each at the size it is most often sold in, and how many products we score as doing the same job cost at least a quarter less per ounce.
- Both scores out of ten are defined on this page. The formula score is completeness for the job, computed from a fixed per-format checklist shown beneath the gauge; the price score is cost per ounce against every product of this type we have priced.
- The "Is this right for you?" panel reads only your own consultation answers, and it applies exactly the filters our recommendation engine applies. It is computed when you load the page and is never stored on it.
- 2 sources consulted for this product (1 manufacturer or regulatory, 0 retailer, 1 editorial), last checked 2026-09-04.
- Ingredient references are linked for 1 of 4 product-aware annotations on this page. Fit notes are general formulation guidance. They aren’t a verdict on the finished product or on you.
- We haven’t tested this product in a lab, and we don’t physically test your hair. Formula readings come from the ingredient list. Claims about how it behaves are labelled as the brand's.
- Ingredient order tells you relative amount only above roughly 1%. Prices are what we saw on the dates shown and can change.
- Ingredient names link to our ingredient library, where each entry shows what it does, which product types use it, and where it usually sits on a label across everything we have researched.
- This is cosmetic information, not medical advice, and nothing here diagnoses or treats a health condition.
- Formula readings: derivation v23. Record last updated 2026-11-01.
