(Hair)

October’s Best Hair Launches Are All About Scalp Health & Serious Shine

October’s very own.

Oct. 26, 2021

REVERIE model facing away from camera, washing hair in shower

It’s been (rather famously) asked how exactly one measures a year — daylights, sunsets, midnights, and cups of coffee have all been proposed. But as great as those quantifiers are, things have to be done a little bit differently when dealing with months. In this case, TZR is measuring the time by a personal favorite metric: October’s best new hair products. Since the first of the month, there’s been a deluge of top-quality hair care products released in every imaginable category: shampoos, styling pastes, masks, brow serums, and virtually everything in between.

And if there were ever a perfect time to stock up on new hair care products, October would certainly be it. With the just-cool-enough weather free of summer’s frizz-inducing humidity and much colder temperatures ahead, it’s a sweet spot to try both the elaborate styles you’ve been screenshotting and some thick, fortifying serums and masks, too. So regardless of if you’re after a holy grail styling product to construct the braided updo of your dreams or simply looking to replace an old favorite shampoo with something more nourishing, October has a new hair care release with your name all over it. Scroll on for the hands-down best new hair products of October 2021, all in one place.

We only include products that have been independently selected by TZR's editorial team. However, we may receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

Aveda

Invati Advanced Thickening Foam

$35

As one of two fresh releases from hair care giant Aveda, this thickening foam is almost like real-life FaceTune for limp hair. After coating damp hair in the foam, just blowdry and watch strands look visibly thickened for full, voluminous styles that’ll last all day.

Aveda

Invati Brow Thickening Serum

$75

The same way its sister product helps add volume and fullness to hair, this tiny tube does the same thing for hair found a bit further south. Made from Japanese knotweed, a botanical ingredient that boosts hair’s natural keratin, the serum coats brows for a progressively fuller look.

Shaz & Kiks

Moringa Oil With Clary Sage + Vetiver

$60

Sourced straight from Tamil Nadu, India, Shaz & Kik’s sage and vetiver-infused moringa oil has been harvested and cold-pressed this year to ensure maximum freshness and efficacy. Moisturizing for both hair strands and parched scalps, the pure formula can be used as a before-shampoo treatment, mixed in with a mask, or post-shower as a regular hair oil. Plus, the jade-green bottle introduces your bathroom counter to one of fall’s most popular colors.

REVERIE

Suna Exfoliating Shampoo

$46

It’s been a major month for newly-relaunched REVERIE, and the brand is taking the opportunity to drive home a simple principle: If you need a shortcut to shiny, soft hair, the fastest route is through a healthy scalp. Free your scalp of lingering product buildup, dead cells, and general dirt with the refreshing Suna shampoo, an exfoliating wash that uses AHA-rich botanicals to leave hair feeling utterly weightless.

Bumble and bumble.

Light Defining Curl Cream

$32

As part of another double product drop, Bumble & bumble. expands its best-selling Bb.Curl line with a pair of curl-enhancing styling agents. The Light Defining Curl Cream is exactly what you would expect: a feather-light formula that shapes and forms coils, curls, and waves without ever weighing them down.

Bumble and bumble.

Curl Gel Pomade

$32

The other half of Bumble and bumble.’s new curl care expansion, this gel-based pomade delivers ultra-glossy, highly defined curls with every palmful. The shea butter and coconut oil on the ingredients list mean this pomade doesn’t just look good — it’s adding serious hydration to curls with every use.

NUELE

Hydrating Hair Mask

$68

NUELE calls this two-part hair treatment “the cleanest hair mask in beauty” — and with a powder-serum duo that requires users to mix them up personally, it just might be. All sorts of hair care workhorse ingredients are found in the power and serum, including jojoba, castor, moringa, and peppermint. Together, they hydrate and revitalize strands to spell out an entire month of great hair days.

Augustinus Bader

The Shampoo

$55

It was only a matter of time before Augustinus Bader, thought to be among the best science-first skin care brands of all time, set its sights on the world of hair care. Simultaneously launching a signature shampoo, conditioner, oil, scalp treatment, comb, and leave-in conditioner, the lineup of growth-focused products all come loaded with the brand’s (and the professor’s) proprietary Trigger Factor Complex to add strength, luster, and hydration to hair.

Augustinus Bader

The Hair Oil

$50

The entire suite of just-launched Augustinus Bader hair care products is worth investigating but if you can only go with one, make it this top-quality hair oil made from botanicals and naturally-derived oils — plus the brand’s trademark TFC8 concentrate blend. The oil leaves hair soft, frizz-free, and hydrated with just a few drops from the perfectly proportioned pipette.

Actsyl-V

Eyebrow Growth And Shape Serum

$30

Went a little hard with the tweezers back in 2009? Actsyl-V’s got a solution to overplucked brows, and it’s powered by pharmaceutical-grade peptides formulated to counteract thinning, aging brows. Just sweep the serum through brow hairs every morning and evening and give it five minutes to dry — it even doubles as a truly excellent setting gel, too.

Garnier

Garnier Fructis Pure Clean Hair Reset Scalp Serum

$5.39

It’s not quite New Year’s resolution time yet, but Garnier and Walmart’s new hair care collaboration is offering your hair (and scalp) a reset right now. As part of a complete collection of refreshing, revitalizing products all focused on deep cleaning and then restoring tired hair, this scalp serum uses peppermint oil and Garnier’s scalp cooling technology to deliver major relief and hydration for dry scalps everywhere.

Paul Mitchell

Tea Tree Hemp Multitasking Spray

$20.50

It’s arrived just in time for the upcoming holidays and the extensive (exhausting) travel that comes with it. A true multitasker, this five-in-one spray manages to simultaneously detangle and hydrate hair while prepping it for styling, mitigating frizz, and boosting some serious shine. Rather than lugging around an entire cabinet’s worth of bottles and vials from airport to airport, throw this in your checked bag and call it a day — and a good hair day at that.