Redken All Soft vs Extreme NZ: Dry Hair or Damaged Hair?

All Soft and Extreme are Redken's two most popular care ranges, and people buy the wrong one all the time. The choice comes down to one question: is your hair dry, or is it damaged? They are not the same thing, and they need opposite fixes.

This is the single most useful thing I can explain at the basin, so here it is plainly.

Dry hair vs damaged hair

Dry hair is missing moisture and oil. It feels rough, looks dull and is hard to manage, but the actual structure is intact. The fix is moisture.

Damaged hair has a broken internal structure — from bleach, heat or chemical processing. It feels weak, stretchy when wet, snaps when you brush it, and frays into split ends. The fix is strength and protein, not just moisture. In fact piling moisture onto badly damaged hair can make it feel mushy and break more.

So: All Soft or Extreme?

• Choose All Soft if your hair is dry, rough, dull or frizzy but isn't snapping. Argan-6 Oil softens and adds slip and shine. This is most people, most of the time.
• Choose Extreme if your hair is breaking, fragile, over-processed or full of split ends. Anti-Snap, the CAT protein treatment and the Extreme wash rebuild resilience so hair stops snapping.

Quick self-test

Take a shed strand, wet it, and gently stretch it. Healthy hair stretches a little and springs back. If it stretches a lot and stays limp or snaps, it's damaged — go Extreme. If it feels normal but the hair overall is dry and rough, go All Soft.

The "both" case

Plenty of hair is dry and damaged — long-time blondes especially. The move is to lead with Extreme to rebuild strength, then alternate in All Soft (or its Argan-6 Oil) for softness, so you get protein and moisture in balance without overloading either. Too much protein gets brittle; too much moisture gets mushy. Alternating is how stylists keep compromised hair healthy.

If the damage is from colour or bond-breakage specifically, also look at Redken Acidic Bonding Concentrate and our bond-building guide. Still unsure which is you? Message us — we'll point you to the right one.

11% off your first UKIYO order with code WELCOME11. Free NZ shipping over $75. Genuine salon Redken, shipped from our Wānaka studio — online pricing matched to and 10c under the big retailers.