&honey Deep Moist vs. Melty: Which Japanese Shampoo to Buy at Ulta

• Japanese haircare brand &honey is now sold at Ulta Beauty: online since Sept. 9 and in about 600 stores since Sept. 20, at $23 a bottle.
• Ulta carries two lines, Deep Moist for dry hair and Melty Moist Repair for dry, frizz-prone hair, each with a shampoo, a treatment and a hair oil.
• Both blend three honeys. Melty swaps one of them and adds keratin, which the brand uses for frizz.

&honey, the Japanese haircare brand built around honey, has arrived at Ulta Beauty. Its shampoo, treatment and hair oil went on sale on Ulta’s website on Sept. 9 and reached about 600 Ulta stores nationwide on Sept. 20. Every bottle is $23.

Ulta is carrying two of the brand’s collections, Deep Moist and Melty Moist Repair, and they look almost alike on the shelf. Here’s what separates them and how the three-step routine works.

What is &honey?

&honey is a Japanese brand whose whole line is built on honey: all six products at Ulta list honey among their key ingredients. The brand says it pairs honey with “a distinctly Japanese perspective on haircare,” and it sells washing as a three-step ritual of shampoo, treatment and oil.

Why honey? It’s a humectant, meaning it pulls in water and holds on to it, which is why it turns up in moisturizing formulas. Hyaluronic acid, in four of the six products, works the same way. Argan oil helps smooth the hair and add shine, according to Ulta’s listings.

&honey Deep Moist vs. Melty: which one is for your hair?

Deep Moist is the brand’s moisture line, for dry hair. It blends three honeys, manuka honey from New Zealand, acacia honey from Hungary and raw honey from Japan, with argan oil and hyaluronic acid. The shampoo is sulfate-free, and the line has a flower honey scent.

Melty Moist Repair is for dry, frizz-prone and hard-to-manage hair. It keeps the manuka and the Japanese raw honey but swaps the acacia for rose honey from Bulgaria, and adds keratin, which the brand says helps smooth the hair’s surface. Its shampoo is sulfate-free too, and the scent is rose honey.

Going by how the brand positions them: if dryness is the main problem, Deep Moist is the line for it. If you also fight frizz and flyaways, Melty is the one built for that. The oils differ as well: both have ceramides, but only Deep Moist’s has hyaluronic acid, and only Melty’s has keratin.

How do you use &honey shampoo, treatment and hair oil?

The steps are numbered on the bottles: 1.0 is the shampoo, 2.0 the treatment and 3.0 the oil. The treatment is what most U.S. brands would call a conditioner, and it’s the answer if you’re searching for “&honey conditioner.”

Massage the shampoo into wet hair and scalp until it lathers, then rinse. For the treatment, squeeze out the excess water, apply it from mid-lengths to ends, leave it on for one to two minutes and rinse.

The oil goes on towel-dried hair, again on mid-lengths and ends, before you blow-dry as usual. The brand suggests half a pump for short to medium hair and one pump for long hair.

Does it work? It’s too early for a U.S. verdict: the lines are brand-new at Ulta, and the Deep Moist Shampoo had one customer review there as of Sept. 27. The brand’s promise for the full three steps is hair that feels softer and smoother and looks hydrated.

Where to buy &honey at Ulta

All six products are $23 each at Ulta, online and in about 600 stores, so a full three-step set of one line comes to $69.

Deep Moist

Melty Moist Repair

More hair care: how the Capillus red-light headband works, and the types of wigs, from lace front to glueless. For makeup, here’s how to apply mascara without smudging. More in Beauty.

— Bruno Monteiro

Sources: &honey announcement (PR Newswire, Sept. 25, 2026); Ulta Beauty product listings for the six &honey products (ingredients, directions and prices checked Sept. 27, 2026). Photos: courtesy of &honey.