Is there such a thing as having hair that looks too voluminous or too healthy? We think not, and over six weeks, tested 15 popular hair masks for hair growth in search of the very best. We judged each one on the immediate and long-term benefits and visible results they delivered directly to our strands: Improved hydration and hair strength, healthy hair that feels touchable and soft, and most importantly if our hair was noticeably thicker, fuller, healthier at the end of the six-week test. These are the 10 hair masks, and their newfound bouncy ‘90s supermodel hair—loved the most.
1.Briogeo Avocado + Kiwi Mega Moisture Superfood Mask
Key Ingredients: Avocado oil, kiwi extract, chia seed oil, spinach | Sulfate-Free: No | Usage: 1x per week | Size: 8 oz
What We Love: This vegan, cruelty-free mask doubles as a deep conditioning treatment.
What We Don’t Love: It does very little to combat frizz.
Made with Briogeo’s proprietary Nova Complex, specifically designed to support healthy hair, this vegan and 96 percent naturally derived mask earned our highest marks. It’s formulated with avocado and chia seed oils to supercharge hair’s hydration levels, along with a who’s who of hair strengtheners, like amino acids and minerals, to promote all-over hair health.
Within three weeks, our hair looked significantly fuller, and it only got better. At six weeks, we saw new hair growth, while also noticing we had fewer split ends and stronger, more hydrated hair overall.
We loved the thick creamy formula and were surprised at how fast such a rich mask melted into our hair. And we saw results straight from the jump—after our first treatment, our curls looked shiny, vibrant, and super defined, even without using any styling gels or oils. Although the brand recommends letting the mask soak into your hair for 30 minutes, we tapped out around 20 minutes just because we ran out of time, but the sweet, fruity scent made the entire experience feel so lovely.
2.Mielle Organics Rosemary Mint Strengthening Hair Masque
Key Ingredients: Rosemary, mentha oil, honey, coconut oil | Sulfate-Free: Yes | Usage: 1x per week | Size: 12 oz
What We Love: It spreads easily and melts quickly into hair, then washes out quickly and easily.
What We Don’t Love: You might need a little (or a lot) more product than the instructions suggest.
Protective styles are invaluable for promoting hair growth by shielding hair from physical damage, heat, and humidity, but taking hair down from a protective style can leave it in desperate need of deep conditioning. Enter: Mielle Organics Rosemary Mint Strengthening Hair Masque.
This drugstore favorite zhuzhed our formerly dry strands, fresh out of a protective style, and left them feeling full and strong. Our blow-outs appeared softer and smoother with hardly any flyaways, and even better, we noticed a lot less shedding than we usually see right after a protective hairstyle.
This biotin-infused mask is thick, but it spreads easily and melts quickly into our hair. After a few uses, we found that rubbing some product in our hands first before applying gave it a flexible paste-like texture for more slip and easier distribution.
Its application was also unique—you sandwich it between the shampoo and conditioning steps to restore some of the hydration from the shampoo. A unique perk of this mask is that it also benefits the scalp, as rosemary helps stimulate and improve circulation and honey acts as a moisturizer.
3.Amika The Kure Intense Bond Repair Mask
Key Ingredients: Sea buckthorn, borage oil, shea butter, mango butter | Sulfate-Free: Yes | Usage: 1x per week | Size: 8.4 oz
What We Love: This gluten-free formula reduces shedding and has a perfume-like scent that sticks around long after you’ve rinsed out the product.
What We Don’t Love: Its thick, creamy texture may be too heavy for thin and fine hair.
Trying to hydrate our dry hair or reverse the scraggly damage on our brittle strands can be as slow-going as watching paint dry, but with this Amika mask, we never have to suffer slow results ever again. Our first impression was that it looked like an intense body butter, although it didn’t feel excessively oily, and the texture actually transformed into a much lighter texture as we massaged it into our hair. Then we thought that such an intensely hydrating mask would be a slog to rinse out fully, but again, we were wrong; in fact, it washed off faster than some lighter masks we tried.
At the end of six weeks, our thick and hopelessly dry hair (formerly, that is), felt significantly stronger, softer, and much more hydrated. Not only did our revamped hair feel stronger and healthier, but the mask helped to control our annoyingly stubborn frizz—a battle we thought we lost long ago—leaving us with hair that looked far smoother, softer, and shinier than it had in years.
Given its intensity, this mask is likely too rich for thin or fine hair. As a bonus, we also noticed less shedding in both the shower and daily brushing.
4.K18 Biomimetic Hairscience Molecular Repair Hair Mask
Key Ingredients: Peptides, citric acid | Sulfate-Free: Yes | Usage: 1-2x per week| Size: 50 mL
What We Love: This color-safe mask only needs to sit for four minutes before styling and replaces the conditioner step in your hair care routine.
What We Don’t Love: It can take several uses to see dramatic results on exceptionally damaged hair.
Achieving thicker, fuller hair often begins with repairing damage for optimal hair health, and K18’s Leave-In Molecular Repair Mask is as effective as it is time-saving. We found that just a little bit of this lightweight leave-in cream goes a long way, and within just four minutes, we were done—no rinsing, no stickiness, just damp hair that felt exactly the same as our regular wet hair, ready for styling. The brand’s proprietary K18 Peptide is clinically proven to restore hair damage due to chemical treatments, dye, and too much heat styling—and we watched it transform our dull, frizzy strands, riddled with split ends, to fuller, smoother, and healthier-looking hair in six weeks.
We’re always nervous that leave-ins will make the hair feel greasy or leave a film behind, but this mask absorbs quickly and makes hair-washing a much easier process. Plus, it’s formulated for all hair types, and it’s vegan, cruelty-free, and color-safe.
5.Vegamour Moisture Repair Mask
Key Ingredients: Karmatin, marula oil, moringa seed oil, milk thistle | Sulfate-Free: Yes | Usage: 1x per week | Size: 5 oz
What We Love: This vegan and cruelty-free moisturizing mask dramatically reduces frizz without a hint of residue.
What We Don’t Love: Applying it near the roots makes our hair look greasier.
Formulated with Karmatin, Vegamour’s proprietary vegan silk alternative to keratin, we can absolutely say that this mask is essentially a moisturizing, smoothing hair makeover in a jar. With a rich, creamy consistency, this formula is exactly what you’d imagine a deeply hydrating mask would be.
We must say that it felt kind of weird to scoop out of the tub—it reminded us of the slime we played with as kids—but the gel formula paid dividends in the form of instantly silky, soft hair the minute we rinsed out. And unlike so many other deep conditioning treatments with shine-boosting properties, it didn’t leave a weird film over our hair, or any hint of residue at all.
We can’t exactly say we noticed our hair growing any faster by the end of six weeks, deeply hydrating masks like this one strengthen hair overall, which encourages new growth.
6.Kérastase Genesis Masque Reconstituant Hair Mask
Key Ingredients: Ginger root, edelweiss native cells, arginine | Sulfate-Free: No | Usage: 1x per week or as needed | Size: 200 mL
What We Love: It washes out quickly, leaving a natural, fresh, and clean scent.
What We Don’t Love: It has to be applied to towel-dried hair, then rinsed, meaning you either have to get back into the shower or rinse your hair over the sink after your shower.
Thinning hair has many causes, some of which are biological, and some that are the result of breaking and brushing already weakened hair. Kérastase’s Genesis Strengthening Hair Mask is formulated to help with the latter, reducing hair fall by nourishing and hydrating the mid-lengths and ends. Its silky, thick texture does require you to really work it into the hair, but it washes out quickly and even acts as a detangler.
We started to see results around week three, as our hair began to look more vibrant and feel touchably soft. At four weeks, we were blown away by how much bounce and body it had post blow-dry. Even while continuing to use heat on it, we saw less breakage and damage and far fewer split ends.
7.Davines Nounou Hair Mask
Key Ingredients: Fiaschetto tomato extract, jojoba oil, olive fruit oil | Sulfate-Free: No | Usage: 1-2x per week | Size: 250 mL
What We Love: This nourishing mask is formulated with natural active ingredients and smells delicious.
What We Don’t Love: It takes a little bit of elbow grease to work the product into the hair.
Curly hair needs a little more TLC than other hair types, and the Nounou mask delivers all of the hydration that we crave without compromising volume. Its primary active ingredient is Fiaschetto tomato extract, which is chock-full of antioxidants and vitamin C to protect the hair while stimulating growth.
It also made the formula smell delicious. The only downside is the time investment—it needs to sit on hair for 10 to 15 minutes, which felt like forever, and if we didn’t wait, we didn’t see massive results. There are no shortcuts with this one.
Once we started strategizing our shower time, the results were plentiful and gave us the momentum to stand around in the shower without complaint. Our thin, curly hair felt nourished from root to tip, and our hair was visibly longer after six weeks, with way less frizz.
8.Curls Blueberry Bliss Reparative Hair Mask
Key Ingredients: Blueberry extract, aloe leaf juice, chamomile extract | Sulfate-Free: Yes | Usage: 1x per week | Size: 8 oz
What We Love: Its extra rich, thick formula isn’t oily or greasy and washes out without leaving behind any residue.
What We Don’t Love: We wish there was an option for those with straight or fine hair.
Curly hair tends to need a little extra care to bring out its best, and if curly hair is colored or chemically processed? You’ll need to double your investment. As we tested this mask developed specifically for curly hair like ours in mind, we watched as our curls bounced back and our hair became thicker, fuller, and noticeably longer, thanks to the right combination of protein and hydrating ingredients.
Though the mask feels thick, it isn’t oily or greasy, and our dry hair soaked it right up. It washes out just as easily without leaving any residue behind. and after each use, our hair was tangle-free, shiny, soft, and smelled divine. After six weeks, those results were tenfold, as we saw significant hair growth, improved thickness, and restored health to our brittle curls. It’s not as fragrance-free as marketed due to the infusion of blueberries, but the scent is quite subtle.
9.Shu Uemura Ultimate Reset Hair Mask
Key Ingredients: Japanese-sourced rice extract, safflower oil, vitamin E | Sulfate-Free: Yes | Usage: 3x per week | Size: 6 oz
What We Love: It left our hair hydrated and tangle-free for a pain-free, easy breezy brush-out.
What We Don’t Love: Its scent is rather strong, so sensitive notes may want to skip.
Formulated with Japanese-sourced rice extract, this mask upholds the centuries-old practice of using a mighty rice grain to repair, protect, and hydrate hair. We must admit that we underestimated the power of rice, but right away, we noticed significantly less frizz, especially around our mid-shaft, and our hair only continued to improve over the next few weeks. At the end of the test, our before and after photos were night and day, leaving us with touchably soft, shiny, and bouncy hair.
Our fine, thin hair tends to get oily pretty fast, especially with heavier styling creams, but we threw caution to the wind and tried it anyway, and we’re so happy we didn’t sleep on this conditioning mask. And because it rinsed out with ease, without leaving any residue or weighty feeling, the oil-slicked hair we dreaded never materialized.
Instead, its moisturizing properties helped detangle our perpetually knotty hair, which also prevented future split or scraggly ends. We were impressed by how much healthier our hair looked and felt, but this is a mask for patient people, as it takes its time to show results.
