Salvatore Tanino Therapy Scalp Mask Step 2 (250ml) is the rinse-off jar of the scalp comfort routine, printed Step 2 on a black jar whose green panel reads healthy scalp. No formaldehyde, no releaser and no sulfates sit on its list, and horse chestnut leaf extract is the plant it shares with the wash. It is Step 2: once the Step 1 shampoo has cleaned the roots, this jar takes over from the mid-lengths down. Cosmetic comfort for a healthy head of hair, and no claim here goes further.

Why this mask

A scalp routine is two jobs wearing one name. The skin at the root carries the oil and wants a real wash; the ends never see that oil at all. Wash daily for greasy roots and the ends pay for it by the weekend. Salvatore split the work in two: the botanical wash goes to the skin, and this jar to everything below it. We keep the pair together on the shelf for that reason.

Key ingredients

Horse chestnut leaf extract is printed on this jar and on the Step 1 bottle alike, so one plant runs through both halves of the routine. Past that, the pack is the reference: the panel sits on the jar itself, and what matters for the choice is set out here rather than copied out in full. The cream does carry animal-derived material, which rules it out for some people and we would rather say so plainly.

What to expect

Ends that comb through instead of snagging, and lengths that stay soft under a wash schedule built for oily skin. What we tell clients is plain. This is a cosmetic routine and nothing beyond one; anything sore or inflamed belongs with a doctor.

Who it is for

• Clients who wash often because the roots demand it, and whose ends suffer
• Anyone running the two-step scalp pair who needs the jar on its own
• Lengths that snag on the comb once the shampoo has been rinsed out

Who it is not for

• The skin at the root, since this jar belongs nowhere near it
• Clients who avoid animal-derived ingredients, because this one carries them
• A skin condition a doctor is already looking after, which belongs with that advice

Professional tip

The mistake we see most is a jar with the word scalp on it being rubbed into the scalp, which is the one place its own directions keep it away from. Read the pack and follow it. Comb it through with a medium comb before the clock starts, because the jar asks to be absorbed along the whole length and not to sit on the top layer. Give it the printed three to five minutes and no longer. We would rather see it used at every wash in a thin layer than once a week in a thick one. On fine hair we skip the mid-lengths and take it to the ends alone.

How to use

Run it as the second half of the routine, after the scalp shampoo, on the lengths and ends only. Rinse with cool or lukewarm water, because hot water undoes the flat cuticle the cream has just laid down.

Placement matters more than quantity. The roots make their own oil and gain nothing from a conditioning cream, so everything you put up there is weight with no return. A small amount is the printed quantity.

1. Rinse the shampoo out. Take the water out of the lengths with your hands, because the cream spreads further on damp hair than on soaking hair.
2. Take a small amount. Work it from mid-length to the ends with your hands, gloving the hair as the directions put it.
3. Comb it through the lengths. Detangle with a medium comb until the whole length has taken it up, which is what the pack asks for.
4. Leave it three to five minutes. That is the printed window, and the fibre absorbs what it can inside it.
5. Rinse thoroughly and finish as usual. Style however you like afterwards, since anything left behind dulls the hair. Keep the jar closed and out of the shower spray.

Where it fits in the range

This is the second half of the scalp pair. The Step 1 shampoo 300ml is the wash that goes before it, and the 550ml duo is both units in one order. We would send a client home with the duo and reorder the bottle first, since a daily washer empties it faster. Blond, body, colour, curl and moisture each have their own routine under Salvatore Home Care.

In short

• 250 ml of conditioning cream for the lengths, in a routine built for the roots
• One botanical runs through both halves of the pair: horse chestnut
• Three years from manufacture, 12 months once opened, kept below 40 degrees
• Cosmetic comfort only, with no dandruff, growth or hair-loss claim made

A greasy root is the problem this pair answers at home. The Salvatore home care chooser shows which set follows which service, and the aftercare guide covers the first thirty days.