Is DesignMe Any Good? A UK Salon's Honest Review
Thomas StrangwoodShare
If you've come across DesignMe and you're wondering whether it actually lives up to the buzz, you're in exactly the right place. We've just launched the brand at Revive Hair Artists, and although it's new on our shelves, it's not new to us. We've used it on clients, we've watched the cult products fly off the shelf in other salons for years, and the original Puff.Me Volumizing Powder used to be one of our personal best sellers. It was absolutely incredible. Everybody loved it. Stylists raved about it, brides asked for it by name, and clients who'd tried it once kept coming back for more.
So when we say DesignMe is good, we mean it. But like every professional haircare brand, the range is broad and certain products genuinely shine more than others. Let's go through it properly.
What is DesignMe?
DesignMe is a Canadian professional haircare brand that launched in 2016, and it's one of those rare brands that genuinely changed something in the industry. Their original Puff.Me Volumizing Powder was the very first volumizing powder ever sold in a pump format. Before DesignMe, root powders were messy little tubs you had to dab on with your fingers, hoping not to end up with a chalky cast everywhere. Puff.Me solved that overnight. Pump, puff, lift. It's the kind of clever product idea that makes you wonder why nobody had done it before.
Since then the brand has expanded into a full professional range covering volume, curls, hydration, hold, dry shampoo and leave-in care. Every product in the lineup is sulfate-free, paraben-free, gluten-free, salt-free, and cruelty-free. The full range is also safe on colour-treated and chemically treated hair, including keratin and Brazilian smoothing treatments, which makes it one of the easiest professional brands to recommend to almost anyone walking through the salon door.
The naming convention is also genuinely useful. Each "Me" range targets a specific hair concern, and once you've learned the system you can build a complete routine without having to decode a complicated product hierarchy. Puff.Me for volume. Bounce.Me for curls. Gloss.Me for hydration. Hold.Me for finishing. Quickie.Me for refreshing. Fab.Me for everything in one. It's the haircare equivalent of a well-organised toolbox.
Is DesignMe Puff.Me any good?
This is where DesignMe earns its reputation. If you've got fine, flat, limp hair, or hair that just refuses to hold a blowout past lunchtime, the Puff.Me range is the reason the brand has the cult following it does.
The hero product remains the talc-free root-lifting powder we mentioned earlier. A few spritzes at the roots and you've got instant lift, grip, and texture without any of the white residue or mess you get from traditional powder products. It's been a go-to in our kit for updos, bridal hair, and editorial work for years, and the verdict from clients has always been the same. They want to know what it is, and they want to take some home with them. The lighter version, the Puff.Me Light Volumizing Powder, is the one we'd recommend if you've got fine or thin hair, while the original is better suited to medium and coarse textures.
The wider Puff.Me family is genuinely strong though. The Puff.Me Volumizing Shampoo and matching Puff.Me Volumizing Conditioner are both enriched with sunflower seed oil to plump fine strands without weighing them down. They're a properly good sulphate-free daily wash for anyone whose hair just needs more body. The Puff.Me Volumizing Mousse won Allure's 2022 Best of Beauty Award for volume mousse, and it's easy to see why. It delivers proper bounce without any of the stiffness or crunch you get from cheaper mousses, and it's got built-in heat protection up to 400°F and humidity resistance baked in. If you've been let down by mousses in the past, this is the one to retry the category with. You can find it alongside our other hair mousse and foam products.
The Puff.Me Dry Texture Spray is the one for that lived-in, undone look that's been the dominant aesthetic for the last few years. We use it on second-day and third-day hair to refresh and add grit, and it's a stylist favourite for finishing modern beachy looks. There's also an in-shower Puff.Me Volumizing Treatment Whip infused with rosemary and bamboo extract that gives a noticeable plumping effect from root to tip. Genuinely a clever product for anyone who feels their hair has gone flat after years of heat styling.
Is DesignMe Bounce.Me good for curly hair?
Yes, and that's not something we say lightly about curl ranges. There are a lot of curl-targeted brands on the market and many of them either over-promise on definition while delivering crunch, or they're so hydrating they leave curls limp and weighed down.
The Bounce.Me range threads that needle properly. It starts with the Bounce.Me Curl Shampoo and Bounce.Me Curl Conditioner, both sulfate-free and gentle enough for daily use without stripping curl pattern or natural oils. They're a solid foundation for any curly routine, especially for clients who've been overwashing with harsher products and lost some of their natural curl shape.
For styling, the Bounce.Me Curl Mousse delivers definition with a soft, brushable feel, while the Bounce.Me Spray Gel gives a lightweight medium hold without any product weight. The Bounce.Me Curl Balm is the one we'd point most clients towards as a starter product. It's a multi-tasking curl cream enriched with argan oil that hydrates, tames frizz, defines shape, and offers heat protection up to 400°F all at once. You can browse it alongside our other hair creams. The Bounce.Me Curl Enhancer Spray works beautifully for second-day curl refresh, so you can stretch out your curl wash days without losing definition.
Whether you're a 2A wave who just wants a bit of definition or a 4C coil that needs serious hydration, there's a Bounce.Me combination that will work. We genuinely think it's one of the most user-friendly curl ranges on the UK market right now.
Is DesignMe Gloss.Me good for dry or damaged hair?
If you've been bleaching, heat-styling, or just neglecting your hair for a while, Gloss.Me is the rescue range. The standout product is the Gloss.Me Hydrating Treatment Mask, which is a properly nourishing weekly treatment that smooths the cuticle and restores the kind of glossy finish you usually only see walking out of a salon. We've used it on bleach-fried clients in the chair and the visible difference after one application is something they always comment on.
The Gloss.Me Hydrating Shampoo and Gloss.Me Hydrating Conditioner form the daily backbone of the range. Gentle enough for everyday use while delivering moisture where it's needed most. They're also a great alternative if you've been looking at our other shampoo for dry hair options and want something with a cleaner ingredient list.
The Gloss.Me Hair Serum is the finishing piece of the range. A lightweight oil that controls flyaways, adds shine, and tames frizz without leaving hair greasy. We rate it very highly alongside our other hair serums, especially as a daily piece for anyone who wants their hair to look polished without using a heavy oil.
Is DesignMe hairspray good?
The Hold.Me range centres on a genuinely clever product. The Hold.Me Three Ways Hairspray delivers light, medium, or strong hold from a single can depending on how you use it. One product instead of three. It's flexible enough for soft, touchable styles and strong enough to lock in updos and event hair, and we genuinely love that it streamlines a kit that usually has half-used hairspray cans of three different strengths floating around.
It sits very well alongside our wider hairspray selection, and we think it's one of the most stylist-friendly hairsprays on the UK market. There's also a Hold.Me Styling Cream for soft, natural finishes and a Hold.Me Hair Styling Stick that's a clever little finishing tool for taming flyaways and edges.
Is DesignMe dry shampoo good?
The Quickie.Me range nails something that a lot of brands still get wrong. The Quickie.Me Dry Shampoo for Light Tones is properly thoughtful for blondes, platinums, and pastels who've been let down by dry shampoos that leave a chalky cast on lighter shades. There's also a Quickie.Me Dry Shampoo for Dark Tones for brunettes, blacks, and reds, which is something we wish more brands offered as standard.
Both are powered by rice starch, absorb oil and odour cleanly, and add proper volume rather than just masking the issue. They sit well alongside our wider dry shampoo range, and we think they're particularly worth a look for anyone whose previous dry shampoo has been letting them down on the colour cast front.
The Fab.Me leave-in is the one to start with
If we had to recommend just one DesignMe product to a brand new customer, it would be the Fab.Me Multi-Benefit Leave-In Hair Treatment. It's the most universally loved product in the entire range, with a 4.9 out of 5 star rating from thousands of users on the brand's own site, and once you understand what it does, the rating makes complete sense.
It's a single lightweight mist that delivers detangling, frizz control, reduced blow dry time, heat protection up to 400°F, UV protection, colour fade prevention, split end repair, breakage protection, and porosity control. That sounds like marketing nonsense until you actually use it. We've genuinely seen clients replace three or four leave-in products with this one bottle.
The formula is powered by mango fruit extract (a natural source of vitamins A and E), sunflower seed oil, panthenol, and vitamin E. It works on all hair types and can be applied to damp hair after washing or to dry hair between washes for a hydrating refresh. There's also a Fab.Me Purple Shampoo for blondes who want to neutralise brassy tones while strengthening fragile lightened hair, which fits nicely alongside our wider purple shampoo selection.
The ingredients that make DesignMe work
What sets DesignMe apart from a lot of other "clean" haircare brands is that the formulas don't sacrifice performance for the sake of a tidy ingredient list. The actives are well-chosen and they actually deliver. Sunflower seed oil shows up across the range as a lightweight hydrator rich in antioxidants and fatty acids. Panthenol (vitamin B5) penetrates the hair cortex to lock in moisture and improve elasticity. Vitamin E provides antioxidant protection. Mango fruit extract delivers vitamins A and E for conditioning without weight. The detangling work is handled by ingredients like cetrimonium chloride, which doesn't have the static-charged buildup of cheaper conditioning agents.
And because the entire range is sulfate-free, paraben-free, gluten-free, salt-free, and cruelty-free, it's a brand we can recommend to almost any client without having to ask twenty questions about their colour, treatment history, or scalp sensitivity first.
Who DesignMe is for
The genuine strength of DesignMe is how broadly it works.
If you've got fine, flat, or limp hair, the Puff.Me range will give you proper volume and lift without the weight that most volumising products end up adding. If you've got curly, wavy, or coily hair, Bounce.Me delivers the definition and hydration without crunch or stickiness. If your hair is dry, damaged, or chemically processed, Gloss.Me and Fab.Me will rebuild softness and shine without weighing things down. If you're a blonde or have colour-treated hair, the Fab.Me Purple and the Quickie.Me Light Tones are both genuinely useful additions to your routine. And if you just want one really good leave-in to do everything, the Fab.Me Multi-Benefit is the simplest, most universal product in the lineup.
It also works equally well for professional stylists and at-home users, and that matters. A lot of brands either look impressive in a salon kit but underperform at home, or they're built for retail and never quite stand up to professional use. DesignMe is one of the few that genuinely works in both worlds.
Why we're stocking DesignMe at Revive Hair Artists
We choose every brand on our shelves carefully, and DesignMe earns its place because it consistently delivers professional results without harsh chemistry. The ingredient lists are clean, the performance is genuine, and the range covers enough territory that almost every client can find something that works for them.
Whether you're picking up the original Puff.Me powder for fine hair that needs lift, a Bounce.Me Curl Balm for natural curls that crave definition, the Gloss.Me Treatment Mask for damaged ends, or the universally loved Fab.Me leave-in for daily heat and frizz protection, you're getting salon-quality formulas that have been tested and approved by professional stylists across the world.
You can browse the full DesignMe collection on our website, or come and see the range in person at the salon. We're always happy to talk you through what would work best for your hair.
And of course, all DesignMe products come with free UK delivery.
