Say you’re looking to improve the look and feel of your hair: Going down the rabbit hole of finding the best hair mask will do you well. While the name might conjure scents of that DIY elixir someone you know whipped up in their kitchen (see avocado and olive oil for damage or coconut oil and yogurt for dryness), there are plenty of effective hair treatments you can add to your routine, making it easier than ever to achieve your dream mane. You might be wondering, what’s the secret to picking out the right hair mask for you? The answer lies in looking at your hair texture and concerns holistically—which we’ve started to do for you by asking celebrity hairstylists and Vogue editors which the best hair masks are. Let’s get into it, below.
Our Top Picks
In This Story
Best Overall: Briogeo Don’t Despair, Repair! Deep Conditioning Hair Mask
- Why We Love It: Briogeo’s Don’t Despair, Repair! mask is one of those formulas that, once you start using, you find yourself hooked on. Celebrity hairstylist Bridget Brager describes it as “a great deep-conditioning mask that works to lock in moisture and improve shine.” Free of sulfates, silicones, and parabens, this seeks to repair signs of damage across all hair types and textures. Rosehip oil, algae extract, almond oil, and biotin are the stars here, which come together to promote stronger, shinier tresses. Plus, it has a great smell.
- Key Ingredients: Rosehip oil, algae extract, almond oil, biotin, avocado oil, hydrolyzed corn and soy protein
- Best for: Damage, dryness, dullness
- Size: 2 oz, 8 oz, 12 oz, 32 oz
Best Quick Treatment: Dove 10-in-1 Bond Strength Serum Mask
- Why We Love It: Dove’s new 10-in-1 Bond Strength Serum Mask proves that achieving the hair of your dreams doesn’t have to take a while, or break the bank. Ringing in at just $11 for a sizable amount of treatment, this mask works to improve 10 hair concerns (think: detangling, reduced split ends, boost shine, and prevent future hair damage) in just 60 seconds. Not to mention, it’s full of nourishing ingredients like peptides and proteins to leave hair bouncy and luscious as ever.
- Key Ingredients: Bio-Protein Care (hydrolyzed soy, pea, and vegetable protein), peptides, glycerin, coconut oil
- Best for: Split ends, breakage, detangling, dullness, dryness
- Size: 9.2 fl oz
Best for Dry Hair: Amika Soulfood Nourishing Hair Mask
- Why We Love It: Dry, brittle strands don’t stand a chance against Amika’s Soulfood Nourishing Hair Mask. Not only is it whipped into a rich cream, but it also features a host of moisturizing salves like jojoba-seed oil and sea buckthorn to deliver all the vitamins and nutrients your strands crave.
- Key Ingredients: Jojoba-seed oil, sea buckthorn
- Best for: Dryness
- Size: 3.3 oz, 8 oz, 16 oz
Best for Damage: K18 Leave-In Molecular Repair Hair Mask
- Why We Love It: One of 2023’s top trending products on TikTok, the K18 hair mask is a social media find that proves just as effective IRL. A leading bond-repair treatment, this uses the brand’s biotech-developed peptide to reconnect hair’s broken bonds as a result of bleaching, color, chemical treatments, and heat. Aesthetically, this leaves hair stronger, smoother, and bouncier. What’s more, the mask works in just four minutes.
- Key Ingredients: K18Peptide, hydrolyzed wheat protein and wheat starch
- Best for: Damage, breakage, frizz, color-treated hair
- Size: 0.5 oz, 1.7 oz
Best Nourishing: Moroccanoil Intense Hydrating Hair Mask
- Why We Love It: “One of my favorites is Moroccan Oil Intense Hydrating Mask, infused with nourishing hair-loving ingredients that leave strands stronger and shining with each use,” details celebrity hairstylist Dimitris Giannetos, the pro behind Amal Clooney’s luscious mane. “The smell is great too, with scents of coconut and avocado oil.” Aside from moisturizing agents (think argan oil, glycerin, and linseed extract), the formula features behentrimonium chloride to limit frizz.
- Key Ingredients: Argan oil, behentrimonium chloride, glycerin, linseed extract
- Best for: Dryness, breakage, dullness
- Size: 1 oz, 2.5 oz, 8.5 oz
Best Overnight Hair Mask: R+Co Bleu Sleep Masque Night Repair Serum
- Why We Love It: An overnight mask is your best bet for dry, damaged hair that needs extra care. The best part of R+Co’s overnight treatment is its serum-like texture, meaning you apply it to clean damp hair, get your beauty sleep, and style your hair as you normally would the next day—no extra rinse in the morning required. A powerful blend of green caviar (vegans fear not: it’s a type of algae, not sea critter), ceramides, and vitamins work to seal cuticles of damaged hair and give it extra moisture.
- Key Ingredients: Green caviar (seaweed), glycerin, shea butter, hydrogenated castor oil, avocado oil, sunflower seed oil
- Best for: Damaged hair, breakage, frizz, split ends
- Size: 2 oz
Best for Fine Hair: Ouai Treatment Mask for Fine and Medium Hair
- Why We Love It: Ask someone with fine hair what their hair mask of choice is, and they’ll probably proclaim a penchant for this Ouai treatment. What makes it perfect for fine-to-medium strands is that it smooths, hydrates, and alleviates damage without weighing hair down. A quarter-size dollop applied from ends to roots is all you need.
- Key Ingredients: Hydrolyzed keratin, panthenol, shea butter, coconut water, ginger-root extract
- Best for: Fine hair, dryness
- Size: 8 oz
Best for Coily Hair: Adwoa Beauty Blue Tansy Reparative Mask
- Why We Love It: Curly and coily hair types require careful care to keep strands in tip-top shape. Aside from maintaining optimal moisture levels, one must ensure hair is properly detangled to prevent frizz and breakage. Luckily, this Adwoa Beauty mask tackles all these concerns with Moroccan laval clay, blue-tansy-flower oil, and spirulina extract, to name just a few of its restorative, strengthening, and conditioning ingredients.
- Key Ingredients: Moroccan lava clay, blue-tansy-flower oil, spirulina extract, glycerine, baobab-seed oil, shea butter, castor-seed oil
- Best for: Curly and coily hair, dryness, breakage
- Size: 16 oz
Best for All Hair Types: Vegamour HYDR-8 Deep Moisture Repair Mask
- Why We Love It: Vegamour, one of the brands leading the hair growth charge, delivers a deeply nourishing hair mask that’s a worthwhile addition to anyone’s regimen. Whether you’re tackling hair loss or not, all hair can come to appreciate this elixir’s blend of Karmatin (a vegan silk bonder, dubbed by Vegamour as a keratin alternative), milk thistle, marula and moringa seed oils, which come together to instantly moisturize dry, thirsty hair and strengthen over time. Plus, it boasts frizz smoothing and vibrancy benefits allowing hair to look as if you just stepped out of a salon after each use.
- Key Ingredients: Karmatin, milk thistle, marula and moringa seed oils, amino acids
- Best for: Dryness, frizz, dullness
- Size: 5 oz
Best for Breakage: Oribe Hair Alchemy Strengthening Masque
- Why We Love It: Anyone seeking to promote longer hair will have to address fragile, brittle strands. Remember: You want to stave off breakage as much as possible! In any case, one foolproof salve is Oribe’s strengthening masque, which utilizes strenghteners like edelweiss flower, chia seed, and plant-based protein to reinfornce the cuticle and protect against environmental stressors.
- Key Ingredients: Watermelon, lychee, edelweiss, plant-based protein, chia seed, bio-fermented bamboo, castor-seed oil, yacón-root juice, green tea, plant polysaccharides, shea butter
- Best for: Breakage, split ends, fragile hair
- Size: 5 oz
Best for Split Ends: Christophe Robin Regenerating Mask With Prickly Pear Oil
- Why We Love It: “I’m convinced it’s the only reason my hair grew so lusciously during COVID,” Sofia Richie spilled over TikTok, detailing the secrets behind her signature slicked-back bun. Lead by the restorative properties of prickly pear oil, this rich mask helps restore the hair shaft, improve split ends, and achieve overall healthier hair.
- Key Ingredients: Prickly pear oil, vitamin F, glycerin, ceramides
- Best for: Split ends, breakage, damage
- Size: 2.5 oz, 8.44 oz
Best for Curly Hair: Pattern Transition Mask
- Why We Love It: Testing Pattern’s Transition Mask was truly love at first try. Whipped into a rich gel that resembles honey, the mask pairs manuka honey with white tea for a nourishing salve designed to boost moisture levels, prevent shedding, and restore curls to their full potential.
- Key Ingredients: Manuka honey, white tea, castor oil, cellulose
- Best for: Curly and coily hair
- Size: 15 oz
Best Drugstore Buy: Shea Moisture Manuka Honey & Mafura Oil Intensive Hydration Hair Masque
- Why We Love It: Consider Shea Moisture’s Intensive Hydration Hair Masque a beauty-cabinet staple. Led by botanical oils and the healing properties of honey, this mask provides hair with much-needed moisture while smoothing and strengthening processed, damaged, and color-treated hair types.
- Key Ingredients: Shea butter, honey, mafura oil, baobab oil, coconut oil, mafura-seed butter, soybean oil
- Best for: Dryness, dullness, frizz, damage
- Size: 12 oz
Best for Blonde Hair: Kérastase Blond Absolu Strengthening Hair Mask
- Why We Love It: In maintaining color-treated hair, experts recommend avoiding sulfates and prioritizing nourishing formulas and weekly hair masks to prevent damage and dullness. For the blondes reading this, look no further than the Kérastase Blond Absolu Masque Cicaextreme Hair Mask, designed to reduce breakage of lightened, bleached, and highlighted tresses.
- Key Ingredients: Hyaluronic acid, edelweiss flower
- Best for: Blonde hair
- Size: 6.8 oz
Best for Scalp: Nutrafol Build-Up Blocker Scalp Exfoliating Hair Mask
- Why We Love It: A healthy scalp is an essential precursor to healthy hair, so give yours some TLC with this Nutrafol mask. Through a physician-formulated blend of AHAs, jojoba esters, and Australian wild berries, this gently removes product buildup and limits excess scalp oils to soothe and nourish your scalp after each use.
- Key Ingredients: AHA fruit acids, jojoba esters, Australian wild berries, glycerin
- Best for: Scalp health, dryness, flakiness, oiliness
- Size: 4 fl oz
Best Bond Repair: Epres Bond Repair Treatment Starter Kit
- Why We Love It: “Epres is a bond-repair technology that leaves the hair stronger, shiny, and healthier, similar to a traditional mask without the heaviness or fear of buildup or overuse,” Leake explains. “It allows me to still push the envelope as a colorist without affecting the processing time and while protecting the integrity of my guests’ hair.” The brand’s 100% vegan Bond Repair Treatment can be used overnight to repair chenical, mechanical, and environmental damage, even once rinsed out.
- Key Ingredients: Diethylhexyl maleate, oleyl alcohol, denatured alcohol, etearamidopropyl dimethylamine
- Best for: Bond repair, damage
- Size: 5.07 oz
Best Custom: Prose Custom Hair Mask
- Why We Love It: For those who don’t want to experiment with different hair masks, Prose will create one that specifically targets your particular hair texture and concerns. The baseline promise of each mask is to boost moisture and reduce breakage by taking a personalized approach—simply fill out the hair assessment on the brand’s website to determine your needs. From there, Prose will tailor a formula of clean ingredients. For best results, the brand recommends applying the hair mask before washing.
- Key Ingredients: Ingredients vary per customized formula and concerns. Prose draws from a catalogue of hundreds of clean ingredients, all sustainably sourced. Fragrance and silicone free options are also available.
- Best for: All hair types, including color- and keratin-treated hair
- Size: 8.5 fl oz
Best for Frizz: Gisou Honey Gloss Ceramide Therapy Hair Mask
- Why We Love It: For those unfamiliar with cult-favorite haircare brand Gisou, its hair products are all made with honey that’s sustainably sourced from the founder Negin Mirsalehi’s own bee garden. Honey naturally contains vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and potent antioxidants. As a result, this honey-based hair mask provides maximum hydration and a glossy shine once absorbed. It’s also formulated with mixed molecular weight hyaluronic acid to deliver moisture deeply into the hair follicles for extra nourishment.
- Key Ingredients: Mirsalehi honey, Mirsalehi oil blend, ceramides, mixed molecular weight hyaluronic acid
- Best for: Dry hair, dull hair, heat-damaged hair
- Size: 7.8 fl oz.
Best for High-Shine: Color Wow Money Masque
- Why We Love It: Celebrity hair stylist Chris Appleton has a studded roster of A-list clientele, from Christina Aguilera to Ariana Grande to Kim Kardashian. Appleton teamed up with Color Wow to create a hair mask that emulates the ultra shiny hair he’s known for creating on his starlet clients. Unlike other deep conditioning masks, this one features a weightless, gel-like texture that won’t weigh down hair follicles. A powerful blend of blue sea kale, kelp, algae, and a hydrolyzed vegetable protein complex work together here to nourish for even the most chemically processed hair.
- Key Ingredients: Blue sea kale, sea kelp, algae, hydrolyzed vegetable protein complex
- Best for: All hair types, gloss-like finish, damaged hair
- Size: 7.5 oz
What is a hair mask?
Think of a hair mask as a supercharged deep conditioner, designed for application post-shampoo and left on the hair for roughly 15 minutes then rinsed out. “A hair mask is an intense hydrating conditioner that is focused on providing moisture and nourishment to ultimately aid in improving and repairing not only the lengths of your hair but your scalp too,” explains hairstylist Bridget Brager.
Hairstylist to the stars Andrew Fitzsimons agrees, noting the truly endless benefits of using them: “They add hydration to your hair, help to prevent breakage and split ends, improve scalp health, and even, in some cases, help stimulate hair growth.” Then there’s bond repair. “While traditional hair masks are great for targeting dry brittle strands, bond repair is the new modern deep-conditioning treatment everyone’s talking about!” notes celebrity hairstylist Bradley Leake. (In our roundup of the best bond-repair treatments, we found that the difference between bond repair and other hair care solutions is that the former focuses on actually rebuilding the broken bonds rather than masking the problem.)
“Another benefit of a mask is that you can maximize your time by applying the mask, getting out of the shower to save water, and getting an errand done before needing to rinse it out,” says hairstylist Christin Brown. “Multitasking is the name of the game.”
How should you select the best hair mask for your hair type?
That being said, the hair mask you choose depends both on your desired results and hair type, or as Fitzsimons puts it, your hair’s natural state. “Look for thicker, hydrating masks with ingredients such as ceramides or coconut water for dry or curlier hair types, and opt for lighter weight volumizing options with ingredients such as caffeine for thinner hair types,” he says. If you’re not sure, Leake recommends asking your trusted hairstylist.
How often should someone use a hair mask?
“Depending on your hair needs and the concerns you want to address, I recommend using a hair mask once or twice a week,” Fitzsimons says. “Using a hair mask too frequently can do more harm than good to the hair, causing excess product buildup, which can make the hair feel oily or brittle.”
What Ingredients to Look for in a Hair Mask
As you can tell, there are many great hair masks to choose from, so you’ll likely want a bit of guidance on what ingredients are most effective for your hair type. So we asked our team of experts to weigh in.
Read the full article here
