Diffar is a new hair fragrance oil brand hailing from Japan.
‘Different experiences take you far. The impression you get from the same thing can differ from day to day, according to your approach. This is the idea behind the coined word Diffar,’ says Makoto Arii, its 38-year-old founder. With its completely natural composition of essential oils and plant extracts, developed and produced at its laboratory at the foot of Mount Fuji, Diffar not only smells great but nourishes the hair, too.
Diffar
Crafted in collaboration with Tokyo-based hair salon Scent, Diffar’s products are light in texture, including a blend of argan, jojoba, camellia and evening primrose oil, combined with shea butter. In addition, rapeseed helps to repair the cuticle and pressed rice oil protects hair from UV damage. The brand’s first collection offers six fragrances: ‘Tokyo Balance’, ‘Woody Earthy’, ‘Herbal Floral’, ‘Japanese Citrus’, ‘Spicy Wood’ and ‘Floral Floral’. ‘Tokyo Balance’ is inspired by the atmosphere of the city on a rainy day and accentuated by vetiver, while the others can be guessed from their names.
Arii had travelled throughout Japan, to source the key ingredients from specific places: Hinoki from Yoshino, Hiba from Aomori, Yuzu from Shimanto and Sansho (Japanese pepper) from Wakayama. These were blended with other precious ingredients from all over the world, such as galbanum from the Middle East, wild armoire from Morocco and agarwood from India. (A single Diffar scent contains a blend of 15 to 18 ingredients).
‘When extracted during the first 15 minutes of distillation, ylang-ylang offers a surprisingly fresh smell, compared to its usual heady note’, Arii explains, of a discovery he made during Diffar’s meticulous development process. (His background in scientific research, including on natural phenomena such as tsunamis and icebergs, dictates a methodical way of working). This is also demonstrated on the last three digits marked on each Diffar bottle, which indicate the number of samples before the finalisation of the notes. For ‘Spicy Wood’, perhaps the most complex accord composed of agarwood, sandalwood, nutmeg, patchouli and oakwood, the sample was renewed 823 times until Arii finally said: ‘That’s it!’
But where does Arii’s sensitivity to the subtlety of nature’s subtle scents originate? The answer comes from his childhood. ‘Born and raised in Minami Alps City near Mount Fuji, which is thriving with agriculture, I always breathed the smell of freshly harvested ripe fruit, straight from farmers’ hands,’ he recalls. ‘When I moved to Tokyo as a university student, I bought plastic-wrapped fruits in a supermarket for the first time and was so shocked by the absence of smell. It was then I realised the effect of smell on our body and mind is so huge.’
This particular experience led him to persistently research until he tracked down the best food preservation company in Japan, resulting in the launch of Fruitest, a pre-cursor to Diffar, a brand of semi-dried ripe fruit which remains soft, juicy and smells incredibly fresh, which he launched with his creative brand development agency Unsungs&web. (He is also currently working on a new flavoured tea collection).
Diffar’s strong visual identity was developed alongside Arii’s partner in crime, the art director Kenzo Shibata. The minimal design of its bottles becomes a canvas for colour blocking. At the same time, they evoke the colours seen in traditional kimonos. But, they also feel decidedly contemporary.
For the brand’s campaign imagery, he collaborated with London-based photographer Yuichiro Noda. In a nod to the complexity and deepness of each scent, Noda, who was born in Japan, photographed core ingredients in their original form before layering them together in a single black-and-white image, contrasting with the brightly coloured bottles. In addition, he shot six black-and-white portraits of people with various hairstyles, using long exposure.
Alongside the hair oil being used and sold at the Scent salon in Tokyo, Diffar has been showcased over the past year at various collaborative pop-up stores, such as the Shibuya-based flower shop Voice and independent store Fujin Tree 355, in Taipei. It made its debut in Europe earlier this year (September 2024) in Paris at the art gallery Galerie 3m2, which is nestled beside the Serge Lutens store in the Palais Royal Gardens.
We look forward to seeing where Arii will travel with the brand in 2025.
