Beauty In The Cactus Garden — Christophe Robin Regenerating Mask With Rare Prickly Pear Seed Oil

Don’t let its name fool you — the purplish red fruit known as “prickly pear” (and the vital ingredient in the Christophe Robin Regenerating Mask) actually grows atop the rounded pads of the Opuntia cactus indigenous to the Mexico rather than dangling from the branches of leafy trees like the Bartlett, Bosc, and Anjou pears harvested in the orchards of Washington state. In Mexico, the cactus pads (referred to as “nopales”) and their fruit (or “tunas” in Spanish) have been incorporated into countless dishes. “Nopales rellenos,” for instance, is a dish that involves boiling the pouch-like leaves, stuffing them with jam and cheese, and breading the stuffed “pockets” before flash frying them; while the fruit itself often appears in fresh salads and refreshing lemonade-like drinks. Often touted for their nutritious value (they’re believed to balance glucose and cholesterol levels), prickly pears also have a long history in the realms of natural beauty and homeopathic medicine. For centuries, women in Mexico have used the oil extracted from the fruit’s seeds to create facial toners and hydrating hair masks. In fact, Salma Hayek’s Nuance beauty line includes a Prickly Pear Hydrating Body Gel that the Frida star says was inspired by a generations-old skincare “recipe” passed down to her via her maternal grandmother. In North Africa, meanwhile, where the Opuntia cactus has been cultivated for three centuries (after being imported from Mexico), women have used prickly pear seed oil to nourish and soften their skin, treat wounds, and replenish dehydrates strands.

It was during a trip to Morocco that famed colorist Christophe Robin discovered prickly pear seed oil and learned of its regenerative properties. The more Robin researched the ingredient, the more enthusiastic he became regarding its promise as a nourishing and protective hair treatment. After all, while the ingredient is still relatively unknown within the American and European beauty markets, indigenous women in two very distant parts of the world (Mexico and North Africa) have sworn by its healing properties. Moreover, scientists have discovered that the oil, which is extracted from the seeds of the fruit through a labor-intensive and time-consuming process, is extraordinarily high in essential fatty acids (over 80%), with omega-6 fatty acids accounting for 62% of this quantity and omega-9 fatty acids accounting for 20% of the total. These fatty acids nourish the scalp, fortify distressed strands prone to breakage, soften hair, and promote the growth of stronger hair at the roots. In addition to omega-6 and omega-9, prickly pear seed oil boasts an astoundingly high concentration of vitamin E, with nearly 1000 milligrams of the antioxidant present in each kilogram of oil — almost twice the amount found in a similar quantity of argan oil.

Determined to introduce his clients to this natural treasure, Robin worked with his team to create the Christophe Robin Regenerating Mask With Rare Prickly Pear Oil ($71 at Sephora.com, Christophe-Robin.com, and SaksFifthAvenue.com. In addition to the seed oil, the creamy hair mask also incorporates prickly pear oil extract, which is obtained by macerating the fruit itself and which is also rich in vitamin C and essential fatty acids that keep the hair’s cuticle layer healthy and smooth, thereby preventing moisture and protein loss. These, in turn, are complemented by another natural wonder often used in Robin’s formulas: inula flower extract. Part of the daisy family, the yellow  inula flower thrives in various coastal areas in England. Its oil is said to preserve the vibrancy of both natural and dyed hair pigments, thereby reinvigorating one’s hair color.

The paraben- and silicone-free hair mask has a rich and indulgent consistency — slightly reminiscent of  churned butter or vanilla custard. Because of its density, only a small amount of product is needed. After shampooing hair, you can apply the mask onto clean and damp strands, starting at the roots and massaging the product down to the ends, then leave it in for 5 to 10 minutes before rinsing off. Unlike the majority of repair-promising hair masks, it doesn’t involve long waiting periods (think of the multitude of treatments that require washing hair, massaging in product, waiting for 25-30 minutes and applying heat, then jumping back in the shower to rinse off), a huge selling point for those of us who don’t have a lot of extra time to spare. My hair is on the finer side, rather dry (often to a fault), wavy, and extensively color-treated, and I have seen great results after just a few uses. For one, my hair is left tangle-free and soft to the touch. Second, my strands look bouncier and my waves seem to have sprung back to life, with some of the tighter curls that I hadn’t seen in years (due to extensive damage) reappearing (the latter felt like a reunion of old friends). And third, my hair color is as vibrant as when I left the salon nearly six weeks ago, whereas it usually would’ve been starting to turn a bit brassy. That said, if you have really coarse and curly hair, you might need to leave the mask on for longer periods of time during each treatment so that those vital nutrients can reach all the crevices of your spiraling strands.

My only gripe with this hair mask is its smell. Now, I’ll take this over a DIY mayonnaise and egg concoction any day of the week, but it hardly has the most appealing scent. Initially, I found the scent pungent but, as I continued using the mask, I developed more of an appreciation — or, at the very least, a tolerance — for it. Still, the mask won’t provide an olfactory treat — it doesn’t have the comforting appeal of a shea-based treatment, the calming floral nuances of a lavender or rosemary mask, or the tropical allure of a coconut oil or tiare flower concoction. At the same time, it’s not an overtly earthy, woody, or musky scent that might appeal to nature lovers who gravitate towards scents reminiscent of rainforests and marshlands. So what exactly does it smell like? It reminds me of a mixture of wet clay, moss, and daisies. It’s a weird scent, hard to even pinpoint, and it will likely prove divisive among many consumers, with some finding it perfectly tolerable and other recoiling in disgust.

I’d also normally flag the high price point as a gripe, but I do think that, in this case, the cost is merited given just how much work extracting prickly pear seed oil entails. Each tiny seed contains only 5-10% concentration of oil, so producing a liter of oil involves acquiring one ton of fruit. In this case, then, the price isn’t overly inflated nor is it meant to make consumers think it’s automatically a luxurious formulation — it’s actually a reflection of the oil’s rarity. If you’re wondering why the Nuance Salma Hayek Prickly Pear Hydrating Body Cleansing Gel only costs $9.99, then let me clarify: the cleanser only incorporates prickly pear fruit extract and not prickly pear seed oil which, again, is the truly nutritious and regenerative (not to mention precious) substance that makes the Christophe Robin hair mask so effective.