You leave the salon with hair like glass — smooth, luminous, frizz-free — and thirty minutes into the Manila air it has begun to lift and dull. A good hair oil is how you keep the salon result past the salon door. Kérastase makes several, and they are not the same product in different bottles: an oil built for shine and frizz is formulated differently from a color-preserving oil, and a serum that treats hair overnight or shields it from heat is a different job again. This guide sorts them by what your hair actually needs.
What Makes Kérastase Hair Oils & Serums Different?
Two things set them apart: the ingredient technology, and the format. Kérastase formulates each around named, credible ingredients — the enhanced L'Huile Originale formula in Elixir Ultime, hyaluronic and glycolic acids with wild rose oil in Gloss Absolu, Centella Asiatica in Chroma Absolu — so each finish is engineered, not generic.
The format distinction is the one that saves you from buying the wrong thing. Oils — Elixir Ultime, Gloss Absolu Glaze Drops, Chroma Absolu, Chronologiste, and the Discipline Oléo-Relax — are finishers, applied to dry or towel-dried lengths for shine, frizz control, and softness. Serums — the Nutritive 8-Hour Magic Night Serum and the Blond Absolu Cicaplasme — are targeted leave-in treatments: one nourishes dry hair overnight while you sleep, the other fortifies lightened hair and protects it from heat before you style. One seals the result; the other treats the hair between salon visits. Keep that difference in mind and the rest of this guide falls into place. Within the oils, there is a second axis worth knowing: generalist versus specialist. Elixir Ultime is the all-rounder — shine and softness for almost any hair. The others are tuned to a job: Gloss Absolu for mirror-shine on frizz-prone hair, Chroma Absolu for protecting color, Oléo-Relax for taming frizzy, coarse hair, Chronologiste for a refined finishing touch. Match the format to your routine first, then the formula to your hair, and you won't over-buy.
Browse the full Kérastase collection as you read.
Elixir Ultime — The All-Hair Classic
Elixir Ultime is the original, and still the one to reach for when you want shine and softness without committing to a single hair concern. Its enhanced L'Huile Originale formula is deliberately lightweight and non-greasy — which matters here, where the fear of a heavy oil turning limp and oily in humidity keeps many people away from oils entirely. This is the one that answers that fear.
It does several things at once: it adds shine, smooths frizz, helps strengthen the hair, and protects against heat up to 450°F — so it earns its place before a hot tool as well as after styling. Apply it to dry or towel-dried lengths and ends; a question worth answering plainly, since it's so often asked, is whether it goes on wet or dry hair, and the answer is either, so long as you keep it off a soaking scalp. One more clarification that prevents disappointment: Elixir Ultime is a conditioning, shine oil — not a protein treatment. It seals and protects; it does not rebuild bonds, so hair recovering from heavy bleaching needs a bond-builder alongside it, not this in its place.
That versatility is the reason it endures. It is the one oil you can hand to almost anyone — fine or thick, straight or wavy, treated or virgin — and trust to add shine and tame frizz without overthinking the match. For a household where everyone's hair is different, or as a first oil before you commit to a specialist, it is the sensible place to start.
A modern touch elevates it: the refillable 75ml bottle (₱3,300) lets you keep the bottle and replace only the oil with a 75ml refill — or take the Refill Duo (₱6,150) to have both at once. And it wears a genuine fragrance, Pierre de Lune — mandarin, heliotrope, and sandalwood — so the ritual feels like one. Explore the Kérastase Elixir Ultime collection for the full range of sizes.
Gloss Absolu — For Frizz-Prone Hair That Wants Mirror Shine
Gloss Absolu is the newest and fastest-growing line of the oils here, and a HairMNL bestseller for a clear reason: it delivers a glass-like shine without weight. Its formula leans on credible, named ingredients — hyaluronic acid to hydrate the hair shaft, glycolic acid to smooth the cuticle, and wild rose oil — a smart choice for hair that resists heavy, waxy finishes.
The oil to know is the Glaze Drops (45ml, ₱2,350): a precision dropper you apply to dry or damp hair for high gloss with zero greasy residue — gloss exactly where you place it, nowhere you don't. It works as the finishing step over your usual blow-dry, or pressed into day-two hair to revive shine without a wash.
It also has the loyalty that bestsellers earn. As verified buyer Romeo Duyag wrote in June 2026, simply: "I have been using this product since 2022." That is the kind of endorsement no marketing line buys. Browse the Kérastase Gloss Absolu range for the matching wash-day ritual.
Chroma Absolu & Chronologiste Oils — For Colored and Refined Hair
Where Elixir Ultime is the generalist, these two are specialists — each built for a particular hair, and worth knowing by name.
The Chroma Absolu Radiance Hair Oil (30ml, ₱1,750) is for color-treated hair: it adds radiance while helping preserve the vibrancy of your color between salon visits — the natural choice for balayage, ombré, or permanent color you'd rather not see fade early. It's formulated with Centella Asiatica, the same soothing plant extract the skincare world knows as "cica," and it carries a considered scent of cardamom, tuberose, and orange blossom.
The Chronologiste Parfum Hair Oil (30ml, ₱1,850) sits at the most refined end of the range. It is a finishing perfume oil with an oleo-extract of myrrh, applied after styling as a final touch rather than as a treatment — and its fragrance, a composition of tea rose, light woods, and musk, was created by Alberto Morillas, one of the most celebrated perfumers working today. It is the oil you reach for when the result you want is as much about how the hair feels and smells as how it shines.
Discipline Oléo-Relax — The Finishing Oil for Frizzy, Coarse Hair
If your frizz is the coarse, voluminous, rebellious kind — the hair that expands the moment you step outside — the Discipline Oléo-Relax Hair Oil (75ml refillable, ₱3,300) is the specialist built for it. It is a control-in-motion finishing oil for voluminous and unruly hair: a few drops deliver less frizz, more manageability, and more smoothness, without stiffness.
Use it the way the format intends — as a finisher, on the lengths only, never at the roots. Pressed into dry or towel-dried mid-lengths and ends after styling, it keeps coarse hair settled through a humid day; it also layers naturally over the Oléo-Relax wash ritual for hair that fights every blow-dry.
The True Serums — Overnight Nourishment & Blonde Rescue
Two products in this guide are not oils at all but true leave-in serums — treatments with a job beyond shine, and the reason "serums" belongs in this guide's title.
The Nutritive 8-Hour Magic Night Serum (90ml, ₱3,680) works while you sleep: an overnight leave-in that gives a nourishing boost to all dry hair types, infused with Iris Root extract and a blend of five vitamins. Hair is primed to absorb nutrients overnight, and this serum is built for exactly that window — apply it to dry hair before bed, sleep on it, and style as usual in the morning. No rinse, no pillow grease, just softer hair by breakfast. Find it within the Kérastase Hair Serums collection.
The Blond Absolu Cicaplasme Serum (150ml, ₱2,700) is the blonde's bodyguard: a universal fortifying, heat-protecting leave-in for sensitized blonde, lightened, highlighted, and grey hair. Enriched with hyaluronic acid and Edelweiss flower, it seals split ends and smooths the fiber — apply it to towel-dried hair before blow-drying or ironing, and it doubles as the heat shield your lightened hair should never be styled without. Browse the Kérastase Blond Absolu range for the matching care.
How to Choose the Right Kérastase Oil or Serum for Your Hair
| Your hair or goal | The right choice |
|---|---|
| Frizzy, coarse, or unruly hair | Discipline Oléo-Relax Hair Oil — the control finishing oil |
| Frizz-prone hair wanting mirror shine | Gloss Absolu Glaze Drops to finish |
| Rebonded or straightened, wanting shine | Elixir Ultime — lightweight, heat-protecting |
| Color-treated (balayage, permanent) | Chroma Absolu Radiance Oil |
| Fine hair, wary of greasiness | Elixir Ultime or Glaze Drops, dose controlled |
| Dry hair that wakes up rough | Nutritive 8-Hour Magic Night Serum, overnight |
| Blonde, lightened, or grey hair that meets hot tools | Blond Absolu Cicaplasme — fortifies and heat-protects |
| A finishing touch with fragrance | Chronologiste Parfum Oil, after styling |
A note on formats worth knowing before you choose a size: four of the five oils in this guide — Elixir Ultime, Chroma Absolu, Chronologiste, and Oléo-Relax — now come as refillable 75ml bottles with a 75ml refill to match, so the bottle you buy once is the bottle you keep (the Glaze Drops stays a 45ml dropper). Elixir Ultime, Chroma Absolu, and Chronologiste also come in 30ml travel sizes — the easy way to trial a formula, or to keep the salon finish in your carry-on. All formats live in the Kérastase Hair Oils collection.
A word on the question every oil buyer asks — wet or dry hair? The finishing oils (Elixir Ultime, Glaze Drops, Chroma, Chronologiste, Oléo-Relax) go on dry or towel-dried lengths; the serums keep their own rhythm — Cicaplasme on towel-dried hair before heat, the 8-Hour Night Serum on dry hair at bedtime. And the single most important rule for anyone who has ever found an oil "too much": two to three drops is enough for medium-length hair. The greasy feeling people fear is almost always a dosage problem, not a product one. It is worth saying plainly, because it keeps so many people away from oils: the heavy, greasy result they remember is nearly always too much product, or product placed at the roots where it doesn't belong. Kept to the lengths and ends, in the right few-drop dose, a professional oil seals and shines without weight — even in humidity, even on fine hair. There is a climate-specific corollary too: an oil applied to damp hair as you head outdoors can feel heavier than the same oil pressed into dry ends indoors, so where and when you apply it changes the result as much as how much you use. The fix for "oils don't work on my hair" is usually technique, not a different product.
How to Use Kérastase Hair Oil, Step by Step
For the finishing oils — Elixir Ultime, Glaze Drops, Chroma, Chronologiste, Oléo-Relax — warm two to three drops between your palms, then press them into the mid-lengths and ends of dry hair, keeping clear of the roots. For the serums: work Cicaplasme section by section through towel-dried hair before blow-drying or ironing; apply the 8-Hour Night Serum to dry hair before bed and let the night do the work — no rinse needed.
One tip our climate rewards: apply your oil as you leave an air-conditioned room, not in the moment before you step out into the humidity — heat and moisture will re-activate frizz on freshly oiled hair, so let it seal as you air-dry or blow-dry. And wipe your hands after applying, so the oil meant for your ends doesn't transfer to your scalp and build up there. The technique is small; the difference it makes is not.
The difference between salon-smooth hair and the frizz that arrives an hour later is, often, a few drops of the right oil. Match the format to your routine — a serum for the treatment, an oil for the finish — and the product to your hair, whether that's everyday shine, coarse-frizz control, color care, overnight nourishment, or the finishing flourish. Keep the dosage light, and the salon result becomes something you can carry with you. A few drops, placed well, is all it takes to keep the glass finish past the salon door.
