Function of Beauty is a personalized beauty line that offers made-to-order products with customized formulas. The brand was founded by Zahir Dossa, Hien Nguyen Kaplan, and Josh Maciejewski – data nerds at heart, who wanted to use their chemistry and engineering backgrounds to empower consumers by putting the customer in charge. Products are not one-size-fits all, but instead tailored to your skincare or haircare goals.  

Read more: Behind-the-Brand with Function of Beauty Founder and CEO, Zahir Dossa

How Function of Beauty Works

The Function of Beauty experience starts with a quiz that is used to determine which products are best for your needs. First, you submit information about your hair profile — in my case I selected straight, medium, and dry. Next, you submit your hair goals —for me this was to rejuvenate, deep condition, hydrate, nourish, and soothe the scalp. Finally, you get to choose the fragrance and color of the products. I chose fragrance-free and dye-free. 

The latter choices excited me, as I am always looking for fragrance and dye-free products since I don’t like fragrance in my hair. Until now, I had yet to find a shampoo and conditioner without fragrance that didn’t dry out my hair. 

My First Impressions

When the unbleached cardboard box holding my products came, along with a sheet of stickers for me to decorate my bottles, I couldn’t wait to see what they smelled like. I was pleased to find that my Function of Beauty shampoo and conditioner set did not have the usual chemical smell that other fragrance-free shampoos I’ve tried emit. The products smelled of nothing –which I found really pleasant. 

When I used the products, they didn’t overpower my senses unlike the majority of products on the market. The shampoo lathered up a lot, which I liked, and the conditioner glided smoothly, so I didn’t have to use a lot of the product to cover my hair. 

After I dried my hair with a hairdryer, I was pleased to see that my hair remained smooth and straight with very little frizz. I find almost all shampoos I try strip the natural oil off my hair, and leave it frizzed up and tangled despite having simple straight hair. I was very pleased with the results of the Function of Beauty products. In fact, I have to admit that Function of Beauty may be the best cruelty free, vegan, sulfate-free, shampoo and conditioner I have tried. I loved having fragrance-free hair. 

I was also given a hair mask to try, a custom formula designed for deep-conditioning hair. I put the product on the bottom two-thirds of my hair, leaving my scalp untouched. After using it, my hair was even more smooth, and was easier to brush with nearly zero fizz.

Why I Now Use Function of Beauty Regularly

Overall, I am very impressed by this hair care line and even switched to this product for my regular personal use. After using this shampoo for a while, I used my old shampoo for a few washes and I could see the difference. Since using the hair mask, my frizz has been greatly reduced, including at the ends.

Function of Beauty’s Values and Ingredients

Function of Beauty shares that they are sustainably-minded and they are taking steps to reflect this. The brand reduces their carbon footprint by using 100% recycled plastic (that is also recyclable) for all their shampoo and conditioner bottles. They are endorsed by Peta and Sustainable Forestry Initiative. While the brand does use palm oil, it is also endorsed by Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), a non-profit organization that helps develop and implement global standards for sustainable palm oil.

Function of Beauty products are vegan, cruelty-free, sulfate-free, and paraben-free. Priority is given to high-performing naturally-derived ingredients. The brand strives to become more Earth-friendly and boxes are sent in 100% recyclable kraft packaging made with 30% post-consumer recycled materials.

Yan Sham-Shackleton is a writer and speaker from Hong Kong, currently living in Los Angeles. Her fiction and essays have appeared in Chicago Quarterly Review, Cultural Weekly, Litro, Great Weather for Media. Website: yanshams.com