Shiseido Fino Premium Touch Hair Mask: Brutally Honest Review

I tried the viral Japanese hair mask so you don’t have to!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWtCUGEKvME

Haircare online has been getting… dramatic. If you’ve been on Instagram/TikTok lately, you’ve probably seen the same product everywhere: Shiseido Fino Premium Touch Hair Mask.

I kept seeing people claim it makes your hair “shine like glass,” and I’ll admit it got me. This is not sponsored. I bought it myself.

First impressions:

The packaging is super simple. Classic Japanese drugstore vibes.

The texture is the main reason this thing went viral: thick, dense, creamy, slightly jelly-ish, the kind of mask that immediately feels like it’s going to coat your hair (in a good way).

Smell-wise: clean salon, not fruity, not sugary. More fresh + soft + slightly floral. If you like that “just left the salon” scent, you’ll probably enjoy it.

What it claims vs what hair masks actually do

Online, people talk about it like it can undo years of damage in one wash. Reality check: hair isn’t skin. Hair is basically dead fiber once it grows out. So when a product says “repair,” it usually means it makes your hair feel smoother, softer, look shinier. Not that it’s rebuilding your hair permanently.

And that’s exactly what Fino is built for: a lot of conditioning + smoothing agents (especially silicones) that reduce friction, help detangle, and make hair look shinier because the surface gets smoother. (If you’ve ever used a “slip” conditioner and thought “wow,” it’s that vibe.)

Ingredient-wise, you’ll see things like silicones (like dimethicone) and conditioning agents, plus extras often marketed as “repairing,” like royal jelly extract and squalane.

How I used it

After shampoo, I squeezed out as much water as possible, applied it mostly mid-length to ends, left it for a few minutes, then rinsed. Most guides recommend 5–10 minutes if you want the full “treatment” effect.

The test

I tried it on 4-day-old, unwashed hair (because honestly that’s when my hair needs help the most).

After washing:

• Did it make my hair look like literal glass? No.

• Did it make it noticeably shinier, bouncier, and softer? Yes.

• Detangling was easier, and it gave that “freshly conditioned” smoothness.

The negatives

• It made my roots feel flatter.

• It felt a bit heavy on my hair.

• It looked great… but the effect didn’t really last past the next day for me.

So yeah: nice. Just not life-changing.

Who I think will love it (and who won’t)

You’ll probably love it if:

• your hair is dry, frizzy, bleached, colored, heat-styled

• your ends feel rough

• you want shine + slip + softness fast

  
  

You might not like it if:

• your hair is very fine

• you hate anything that feels heavy

• your scalp gets oily easily

  
  

My honest rating

So… did it work?

Yeah! It worked in the way a heavy-duty conditioning mask works.

It’s not a miracle repair product. It’s a strong “make hair behave” product. If you go in expecting that, it’s easy to see why it’s popular (and why Japan has treated it like a reliable drugstore staple for years).

My rating: 8/10.