As the new year rolls in, it brings with it the promise of fresh beginnings and the hope for a day when your hair looks flawless without the aid of an Instagram filter.

Crafting a haircare routine that truly caters to your individual needs—unlike the routine of your neighbor, favorite influencer, or best friend—is a quest many embark on. That’s where Prose comes in, a brand with the belief that every head of hair is unique, and they might just be onto something.

Prose isn’t about grabbing a one-size-fits-all product off the shelf and crossing your fingers. Instead, they specialize in creating happiness for your hair with personalized shampoos, conditioners, styling products, and treatments—all meticulously crafted to suit your specific hair type.

What makes Prose different

What sets Prose apart from other haircare brands is its commitment to crafting made-to-order formulas. These are expertly tailored to your hair type, personal goals, lifestyle, environment, and even the climate where you live, as opposed to offering generic solutions.

Marie Mignon, the chief scientific officer at Prose, explained to Post Wanted, “Prose provides genuinely custom hair and skincare solutions. Each product is crafted based on the outcomes of an online consultation and is designed to meet the unique needs, goals, and environments of individuals. Instead of choosing from a limited range of formulas, Prose dynamically assembles the ideal ingredients to create personalized blends tailored to each client’s specific requirements.”

Through a detailed online consultation that considers dozens of factors, Prose’s proprietary process selects from a wide library of clean, natural ingredients to craft custom shampoos, conditioners, serums and treatments — and the formulas can be altered with each order, as your hair needs change.

“Progress is built into every Prose formula,” Mignon added. “Customers continuously share feedback on their products, enabling formulations to be automatically refined and updated over time as needs evolve. Both formulas and routines adapt dynamically to changes in environment, lifestyle and life stages, ensuring that each product remains aligned with the individual’s current hair and skin needs.”

Its products are made fresh to order, free of many common harsh chemicals, and built around sustainable, ethical sourcing as part of the brand’s broader clean and environmentally responsible mission, which includes being a Certified B Corporation and Climate Neutral brand.

How Prose works

Getting started is delightfully high-tech but totally approachable: you take an online quiz that feels more like a chat with a hair specialist than a survey. Prose asks about your texture, scalp needs, styling habits, environmental factors — basically everything short of your favorite pizza topping. Then, its system crafts a custom batch of products designed to tackle your hair woes.

Even though I test and review beauty products around the clock, I thought it would be a good idea to have others join the Prose testing party with me. Multiple members of the Post Wanted team with different hair types — curly, straight, fine, thick, dry, color-treated — all took the plunge to see how good the brand actually is when it comes to delivering results specific to an individual’s hair concerns.

In the paragraphs ahead, we’ll dish all the details: did Prose live up to the hype? Could their custom formulas really tame our various hair dramas? And most importantly, is this the kind of new-year haircare ritual that actually makes you excited to step out of the shower? Spoiler: we’re not just reviewing products, we’re sharing the full hair journey — tangles, triumphs, and everything in between.

Our Prose review

Victoria’s review

Prose immediately stood out to me because the experience starts with a thoughtful, in-depth quiz that actually feels personal rather than gimmicky. After answering the questions, I received a full suite of customized haircare products delivered straight to my door.

Everything arrived clearly labeled and beautifully packaged, which made the whole process feel premium and intentional from the start.

Out of the full Prose lineup, I quickly fell in love with the shampoo, conditioner, hair mask and leave-in treatment; they became my absolute favorites. From the very first wash, I could tell these formulas were different from anything I’d tried before. The shampoo cleansed thoroughly without stripping my hair, while the conditioner delivered noticeable softness and slip without weighing it down.

What really impressed me was how well Prose enhanced my naturally wavy hair. My waves looked more defined, balanced, and healthy, with far less frizz and dryness than usual. Instead of fighting my natural texture, the products worked with it, helping my waves fall into a more consistent, effortless pattern that looked styled even when I air-dried.

The mask added an extra layer of nourishment, leaving my hair feeling deeply hydrated and noticeably stronger after each use. Meanwhile, the leave-in treatment became a non-negotiable part of my routine; it smoothed my waves, boosted shine, and made my hair feel incredibly soft and touchable without any greasy residue.

Oh, I need to talk about the Meleni scent that feels like a citrusy treat each time I shower. I also love the transparency that Prose provides. It helped me learn more about my hair type and understand how my hair reacts to my environment.

“Hair needs vary significantly between individuals, and a single, standardized routine cannot effectively address multiple, concurrent concerns,” Mignon shared. “In a double-blind, dermatologist-supervised clinical study with over 200 participants, custom Prose routines demonstrated superior performance compared to non-custom routines from leading prestige brands, after one month of use. The results show that as hair needs become more complex, personalized routines are more effective than off-the-shelf solutions.”

Overall, Prose delivered results that felt truly customized to my hair rather than generic promises. My hair feels healthier, lighter, and more manageable, and my natural waves look better than they have in a long time. If you’re looking for haircare that adapts to you and genuinely improves how your hair looks and feels, Prose is absolutely worth the hype.

Holly’s review

Holly J Coley, commerce deputy editor, has also been reviewing Prose.

“I don’t spend a lot on haircare, so I was skeptical about Prose and whether it was worth the cost. I love the premise behind it, because everyone does have different hair needs and concerns,” she shared. “Mine, specifically, is that I have fine, curly hair that happens to be shedding like crazy when I first took the Prose quiz. I have Telogen effluvium, which means my hair falls out whenever I’m stressed or go through something traumatic, which seems like every other week.”

Note: the hair quiz you need to take to have your hair regimen customized is long. “Too long, in my opinion, but I appreciate that the company is being thorough, and I loved that I was able to specify multiple hair issues, as well as wants — mainly to make my hair healthier, less dry, thicker…all the things,” Coley said. “Once I was through, I was given a bunch of scent options, with the one recommended by the brand, but I went with something more herbaceous.”

Coley was impressed with the overall packaging of each product tand she loved that everything came personalized with her name. “Before sampling, I checked out each product’s texture, just to get a sense of whether Prose actually knew that people with fine, curly hair don’t really benefit from thick, oil-based products, even if their hair is dry,” she explained. “I was fairly impressed by what I saw, but obviously, I still needed to test it all out to see if it worked.”

The shampoo lathered well and left Coley’s scalp feeling clean but hydrated. “I literally wish I could get a candle in its scent,” Coley said. “Think rosemary, mint and other fragrant herbs. The conditioner was lightweight but not so much so that I felt like I had to double condition. I left it in for a few minutes while doing the rest of my routine. It rinsed out really easily.”

Since Coley’s hair is curly and dry — like the Sahara Desert dry — she only washes her hair up to three times a week, and that’s if she’s leaving it curly. “Typically, I blow it out, which explains why it’s so fried,” Coley added. “Knowing this, it makes me less wary of reordering because I know I won’t go through the products fast.”

Prose also sent Coley the leave-in conditioner, curl cream (which she used when blowing out her hair), plus a hair mask (thick but not too thick) and hair growth supplements.

“I started using the products in December and I recently noticed that I’m experiencing way less shedding, which is amazing,” Coley highlighted. “Before, my hair was feeling so thin that I actually felt anxious brushing and washing it, but since starting with Prose, it’s stronger. I’ve also noticed that my split ends are not as noticeable, and when I blow out my hair, there are fewer flyaways.”

Overall, Coley loved her experience and results enough that she intends to order the products again.

“Is it pricey? Yes, but since I don’t wash my hair often, I know the products will last me a long time,” Coley offered. “I do want to note that I do use minoxidil, especially whenever my Telogen effluvium acts up, but that won’t really help the quality of your hair, so I’m attributing my hair’s appearance to Prose.”

It feels splurge-worthy but in the end, it’s really just a sound beauty investment.

Emma’s review

To begin, Emma Sutton-Williams, commerce reporter, filled out the questionnaire. It takes about 3 minutes, but it is very helpful for nailing the right mix for your strand type and texture.

You can even choose what type of fragrance you’d prefer smelling each day. “It’s a small thing, but now that I use this daily, I am in love with how my two-day unwashed hair smells using Prose’s Custom Dry Shampoo,” she shared.

The entire newsroom knows she’s growing out my hair, and Sutton-Williams has tried various products to do so, but the biggest recommendation she received came from a friend who noticed that her hair had grown several inches. When asked what helped, she proclaimed, “Prose.”

“Now that I’ve tried it, I understand the hype,” Sutton-Williams shared. “The shampoo and conditioner leave a healthy shine, while the hair mask makes every strand feel noticeably stronger. My nightly ritual involves the scalp serum and Custom Hair Oil to seal the cuticle, giving my hair the fighting chance it needs to keep growing.”

Angela’s review

Angela Tricarico, commerce streaming reporter, has been using Prose — and she’s a firm believer that the system is transforming her hair.

“I have definitely seen a major difference,” she shared. “My hair is a lot less frizzy and I’ve noticed I can go longer between washes because my hair doesn’t get as oily.”

One of Tricarico’s favorite features of Prose is how you can continue to customize it and change your formulas to address new concerns as they pop up. For example, if you move from New York to California, all you have to do is update your profile, and your formula may be updated to better suit your living conditions.

Overall, the Post Wanted team gives their individual stamps of approval. Prose is truly a service we’d buy individually (once we pump out the last bit of shampoo — and use up other co-mingling formulas, too).

Is it worth it? The verdict is in

After testing Prose custom haircare, we can honestly say that it feels genuinely worth it — not just in theory but in how our hair responded over time.

The core advantage is that the formulas are tailored to your unique hair profile, accounting for things most off-the-shelf products totally ignore — like your hair goals, local climate and even water hardness — so it doesn’t feel like just another “one size fits all” shampoo and conditioner. This level of personalization leads to noticeably softer, cleaner-looking hair with improved manageability and shine compared to generic products we’ve tried before.

Plus, Prose’s commitment to clean, sulfate- and paraben-free formulations gives confidence that you’re not regularly exposing your hair and scalp to harsher chemicals that can strip, dry or irritate.

With regular use, we found the investment felt justified because the personalized blend worked in harmony with our routines and genuinely felt higher quality than many mainstream shampoo lines. The scent, texture and overall feel in the shower also made the daily routine feel a bit more luxurious, which shouldn’t be underestimated if you care about the “experience” of self-care.

While the price is higher than drugstore haircare, for many people the boost in hair health and confidence factor outweighs the cost, particularly if you’ve already spent money chasing better products that didn’t deliver.

Prose is best for anyone who wants to customize their haircare experience. Instead of merely picking up a shampoo bottle at the store, you can sit down, assess your hair type and hold something in your hands that’s tailored to your needs.

How We Tested

Ahead, here’s how we tested Prose:

• Personalization accuracy: We evaluated how well the Prose quiz and custom formulation captured individual hair type, goals and environmental factors to deliver a uniquely tailored product.
• Cleansing and conditioning performance: The shampoo and conditioner were assessed for effective cleansing without stripping natural oils and conditioning that improves softness and manageability.
• Hair and scalp outcomes: We tracked improvements in overall hair condition, such as reduced frizz, hydration, shine and scalp comfort over the test period (about a month).
• User experience and ease of use: This measured how intuitive the application process, product textures, scents, instructions and routine integration felt during everyday use.
• Customer service and practical logistics: We considered factors like ordering, shipping times, subscription management and responsiveness from support, since these can impact satisfaction long before product performance.

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This article was written by Victoria McDonnell, New York Post Commerce Journalist & Content Strategist, who has spent countless hours researching, testing hundreds of products and comparing the latest makeup, skincare, hair and beauty items and trends to determine what’s truly worth your hard-earned cash. She evaluates formulas, textures, ingredients and more, in addition to consulting medical and industry experts. Some of Victoria’s latest conquests include testing the best sheet masks on the market, and a rinse-and-repeat review of the best shampoos for all hair types and budgets. Victoria, who received a beauty industry essentials certification from the Fashion Institute of Technology, has been creating shopping guides for the New York Post since 2021 and previously held positions at Insider Reviews and CNN Underscored.

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