Nioxin Diaboost review

I've been trialling Nioxin Diaboost for the past couple of months for Savvy Circle. The name doesn't give you any idea of what the product is - in fact, the rather scary, scientific-sounding name is quite off-putting to me so they could definitely do with a more memorable and seductive rebrand ! - but the big box that it came in gives you a clue. It reminds me of Willow Smith warbling "I whip my hair back and forth, I whip my hair back and forth ..." ! So have you guessed what it's all about yet?!

Well, in a nutshell, it's a leave-in hair thickening treatment that has been scientifically proven to increase the thickness of every single strand of hair, giving you an instant volumising effect. According to the project handbook, it  increases the diameter of each existing hair strand; penetrates right to the core of the hair, making it manageable and fuller looking; strengthens the hair's resilience against breakages; delivers beautiful, thick looking hair; shows noticeable results from the very first use. That's a lot of claims so I was keen to get testing and see what we'd think.

If you're wondering about the science behind it, it contains a trio of active ingredients : caffeine to hydrate the scalp, resulting in a thicker, healthier Stratum Corneum, which is the outermost layer of skin; Panthenol to penetrate deep into core of the hair, strengthening and moisturising from root to tip; and Niacinimide which is used in skincare to improve skin texture, skin tone and improve the natural moisture-barrier function.

It's dead easy to use. You just spray 4-6 pumps on to wet or dry hair at the roots, massage it into your scalp and through to the tips, then comb through and blow dry if your hair is wet. It has a fresh, clean, slightly minty, unisex fragrance that I really like and I was impressed to see that it didn't leave hair feeling stiff or greasy. I already have very thick hair so I tried it on Juliette, who has much finer hair. On dry hair, it did give an instant, albeit subtle, thickening effect. The effect was more noticeable on wet hair that I then blowdried, but as I usually let it dry naturally, I'm not sure how much of that was due to the blowdrying ! 

What I did notice was that Juliette's hair seemed glossier and in better conditioner, so even without wanting thicker hair, I've been using it from time to time to add extra sheen and manageability to my hair. Having seen the price of the bottle, I wouldn't buy it just as a conditioning treatment though.

I've been talking to work colleagues and other mums at the school gates and there is definitely a market out there. Middle aged women and guys in their twenties and thirties whose hair is starting to thin and who aren't ready to give up the fight just yet seem to be the most enthusiastic. It's not something we'll be buying at the moment, but give it a few years and I may come back to it !

star rating : 4/5

RRP : £40 for 100ml

Disclosure : As a member of Savvy Circle, I received the product in order to spread the word and collect and share honest feedback.

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