Say hello to silky-smooth hair à la Olaplex and Gisou.
It’s downright annoying how easy it is to damage your own hair. Thankfully, the best hair masks can help counteract concerns like brittleness, dry texture, you name it. Color-treating hair, heat-styling, and even the type of pillowcase you’re resting your head on can eventually lead to dry, dull strands, and prone to breakage. Take it from Allure editors who have dyed their hair every color of the rainbow — the longer you wait to treat hair damage like that, the harder it gets to repair and style without cutting it all off.
Thankfully, plenty of deep conditioning treatments out there with nourishing ingredients will prevent you from needing to bust out the scissors. Whether you’ve just got a few split ends from intense tangles and straightening your hair every few days or need a complete overhaul from years of bleach and color treatments, there’s a hair-care mask to help you treat the consequent damage — and give your hair the TLC it deserves.
These are Allure editors’ and some of our favorite hair experts’ favorite contenders for best hair mask. No matter your hair type, price point, and level of damage, we guarantee you’ll find an impressive pick that’ll leave your hair feeling smoother and silkier than ever. Below, you’ll find the best masks from brands like Olaplex, Kérastase, and K18 that are more than worthy of a spot in your hair-care routine.
Best Overall: Olaplex No.8 Bond Intense Moisture Mask
The Olaplex No.8 Bond Intense Moisture Mask features the same strengthening bis-aminopropyl diglycol dimaleate that is in all of the brand’s products, but this mask features two secret weapons that are actually two skin-care hero ingredients known for their moisture-replenishing properties, emollient ceramides and humectant hyaluronic acid.
The former strengthens and maintains your hair’s natural barrier to retain moisture while the latter hydrates your hair by holding up to 1,000 times its weight in water, leaving you with a glossy head of hair that feels as great as it looks.
Best for Hair and Scalp: Guerlain Abeille Royale Double R Radiance & Repair Mask
If you’ve been dealing with dry hair and a flaky scalp, Allure commerce writer Jennifer Hussein says the Guerlain Abeille Royale Double R Radiance & Repair Mask is perfect for addressing all-around dryness. “Every time I use this lightweight mask my usually-frizzy hair feels smoother and my scalp is way less irritated,” she says.
The beauty of this luxury pick is that it features two honey-based formulas (a lightweight gel and a custardy cream) in one tube. The combination of two hydrating hair masks provides a surge of moisture to the hair shaft and scalp while soothing irritation in the process. The results: smooth-as-butter hair and a scalp that’s free of flakes and itchiness.
Best for Color-Treated Hair: Gisou Honey-Infused Hair Mask
For color-treated hair types, bicoastal hair colorist Tylor Johnson recommends the Gisou Honey-Infused Hair Mask. “I love that it leaves my hair feeling soft, hydrated and fluffy without feeling heavy,” she says. “It’s a great addition to your routine if you have hair that has been colored and feels dry or brittle.” As its name suggests, this mask’s star ingredient is hydrating honey, which smooths and softens hair texture to minimize frizz, flyaways, and breakage.
Best for Dry Hair: Kérastase Nutritive Masquintense
Niacinamide is usually an ingredient found in skin-care products, but you’ll also spot the star antioxidant in the Kérastase Nutritive Masquintense. Like most molecules that fall under the antioxidant umbrella, niacinamide (also known as vitamin B3) neutralizes the effect of environmental aggressors that can damage the hair cuticle and lead to dryness and breakage. This antioxidant also replenishes moisture without weighing hair down or making it look greasy, which is why we recommend it for all dry hair types, no matter how thick or thin your hair may be.
Drugstore Favorite: SheaMoisture Jamaican Black Castor Oil Strengthen & Restore Masque
SheaMoisture’s Jamaican Black Castor Oil Strengthen & Restore Masque is a great drugstore option for natural hair (or chemically-treated hair) in need of some deep moisture. Just apply the thick castor oil-based formula to the ends of your hair and let it sit for at least 10 minutes (or up to an hour, depending on how dry your hair is), rinse it out, and your hair will feel silky-soft. The main ingredient is castor oil, but a quick scan of its ingredient list will point out a few more hair saviors like moisturizing shea butter and shine-boosting apple cider vinegar.
Expert-Endorsed: Amika The Kure Intense Bond Hair Repair Mask
Amika’s The Kure Intense Bond Hair Repair Mask has been a go-to of hairstylist Mia Santiago’s for years. “This one is great for heat damaged or overly processed hair,” she says. The formula is made up of conditioning oils derived from mango, shea butter, and borage alongside antioxidant-rich sea buckthorn that work together to intensively smooth and soften dry or damaged hair.
Four-Minute Wonder: K18 Leave-In Molecular Repair Hair Mask
There’s a reason K18 is so popular. According to market editor Angela Trakoshis Leave-In Molecular Repair Hair Mask can repair any damage done to hair and leave it looking like you just walked out of a salon (no matter how dead it is).
This is thanks to the brand’s patented peptide formula, which works to reverse damage in only four minutes. Yeah, you read that right: four minutes.
The Frizz Solution: Naturelab. Tokyo Repair Treatment Masque
This lightweight, mint-green cream tames frizz and flyaways while you shower. Naturelab. Tokyo’s Repair Treatment Mask spreads easily through straight, wavy, or curly hair in the shower and instantly makes it feel softer and easy to detangle. It treats hair from scalp to ends, without weighing down fine roots, with a mix of hair-strengthening keratin and bamboo extract, antioxidant prickly pear oil, and moisturizing argan oil.
Lightweight Formula: Dae Monsoon Moisture Mask
Moisturizing masks can sometimes weigh down fine hair or make it look greasy, but Allure associate features director Dianna Mazzone says the Dae Monsoon Moisture Mask provides all the elasticity-boosting and softening powers she desires in her hair products without feeling too rich on her thinner strands. “One too many hydrating masks have left my ultra-fine hair totally limp and deflated, but this nourishing mask is in a league of its own,” she says. “With prickly pear seed oil and cactus flower extract, it revives my parched ends without weighing down my delicate strands.”
Best for Fine Hair: Ouai Fine To Medium Hair Treatment Masque
Ouai’s Fine To Medium Hair Treatment Masque is made with shea butter, panthenol, and hydrolyzed keratin to hydrate, repair damage, and add shine and a silky touch to the hair. Plus, it smells like an expensive bouquet of roses, which makes it divine to apply.
Fastest-Acting Formula: Aussie 3-Minute Miracle Moist Deep Conditioner
We senior news editor Nicola Dall’Asen started using Aussie’s deep conditioner when she was in college and had dry, brittle, bleached hair — she hasn’t put it down since. “3-Minute Miracle Moist was already great when it first came out, but it’s somehow managed to get even better over the years,” she says. “Even when my hair is at my worst, letting this product sit on my hair for a few minutes per week revives all the moisture, shine, and bounce in my hair.”
Best for Damaged Hair: Voir A Walk in the Sun Masque
We’d say the Voir A Walk in the Sun Masque is magic, but its blend of keratin, algae, coconut oil, and shea butter is rooted in science. The mix of tried-and-true reparative and hydrating ingredients helps revive hair that’s been blow-dried, flatironed, or bleached. After living with green (and blue and pink) hair for five years, imagine former beauty editor and tester Alaina Demopoulos’s surprise when this really did soothe her stressed-out hair.
Ultra-Rich Texture: L’Oréal Professionel Metal Detox Mask
When Talia Gutierrez, associate manager of special projects, wants a buildup-removing cleanse for her thick hair that won’t compromise its softness and shine, she slathers on L’Oréal Professionel’s Metal Detox Mask. “After a quick wash and rinse with the line’s shampoo and conditioner, I’ll rake this rich and creamy mask throughout my wet strands of hair, which boosts hydration for revitalized, soft-to-the-touch hair,” she says.
Readers’ Choice Award Winner: Briogeo Don’t Despair, Repair Deep Conditioning Mask
Readers have declared Briogeo’s damage-repairing mask a three-time Readers’ Choice Award winner, which isn’t all that surprising when you take its nourishing B vitamins, rosehip oil, and almond oil into account. Include Don’t Despair, Repair in your regimen if your hair needs an intense boost of moisture whether you have straight, curly, or coiled hair.
Brittle-Be-Gone: Verb Hydrating Mask
“My constantly-bleached, brittle hair has definitely seen better days, so this sulfate-free Verb mask is key in making my hair look and feel as soft, smooth, and undamaged as possible,” says commerce editor Sarah Han. “I typically use this in lieu of a regular conditioner because my hair is that parched.”
Moisture Surge: Curls So So Moist Vitamin C Curl Mask
“I’ll be honest, I’m a natural who doesn’t regularly deep condition, but when I do deep condition I like to grab the So So Moist Vitamin C Curl Mask,” associate news editor Gabi Thorne says of this curl mask, which is packed with glycerin and a plethora of reparative vitamins. “This thick creamy mask infuses my parched curls full of moisture.”
Best for Curly Har: Fekkai Shea Butter Intense Mask
According to Santiago, the Fekkai Shea Butter Intense Mask is where it’s at for curly-haired folks. “Hydration is key for curls and this mask is super moisturizing and leaves curls shiny and bouncy all while taming frizz,” she says. To thank for all of this nourishment is the blend of shea butter and monoi oil in the formula.