11 of the Very Best Hair Masks

Ingredients: Olaplex, bis-aminopropyl diglycol dimaleate | Sulfate-free: Yes | Size: 3.3 oz.

I genuinely feel you can’t go wrong with Olaplex. To echo the advice of a previous hairdresser of mine: when in doubt, slap some Olaplex on. I’ve written extensively about its line of bond-building products. Much like their shampoo — my top pick for color-treated hair — its hair mask has the same repairing treatment. No 3, the hair mask, was my first introduction to the line: I was fresh out of university and could only afford one bottle from their range. It was the right decision for my bleach-damaged, color-treated hair, which saw an improvement after just a few uses of the hair mask (sometimes for ten minutes in the shower, sometimes to marinate it overnight). “If my clients have a color service with me, I’m sending them home with Olaplex No. 3,” Ash Fritzler, master stylist at the Bird House salon says. Fritzler, like me, says she’s seen the transformation this formula can bring to her clients with just one use a week.

My hair is fine and dry, but founder of Salon deZEN Maria Elizabeth tells me it works just as well on a variety of hair types — she calls it a versatile product she recommends to anyone with hair that feels compromised (and “even pollution exposure can compromise hair integrity,” Fritzler adds). Jessica O’Keeffe, a stylist at Hawthorne Studio explains it also works on “natural textures that tend to feel coarse or dry, and even perfectly healthy hair that is seeing a seasonal change in hair health.”

Ingredients: Argan oil, shea butter, biomimetic ceramide decreases hair damage to stop ends from | Sulfate-free: Yes | Size: 4 oz.

If you have fine hair that’s also dry, you face an issue: Many of the same ingredients that will quench the dryness can leave your hair looking and feeling weighed down. That was an issue Strategist senior editor Ailbhe Malone was running into: “I have dry, fine hair — and not a lot of it — so while my hair likes the moisture a mask gives, it often looks limp afterwards.” She was happy to find, then, that this mask from Rita Ora’s hair care range is among the best she’s ever used. “Unlike the Christophe Robin or Bleach London masks I’ve used, it’s nourishing and makes my hair shiny, but not coated,” she says. “You don’t even need to leave it in for that long — I’ve had great results with just three minutes in the shower.” The ingredients list also get a big thumbs up from me: Argan oil and shea butter will hydrate both your hair and scalp, while the ceramide strengthens ends prone-to-breakage.

Ingredients: K18Peptide | Sulfate-free: Yes | Size: 1.7 oz.

Like Olaplex, K18 is another bond building product. It was once available only in salons, but since launching to consumers, it has become massively popular. So much so that it’s an item that Strategist writers Pariso, Tembe Denton-Hurst, and Strategist beauty columnist Rio Viera-Newton swear by. “Basically, K18 works by delivering a patented amino-acid chain to the inner structure of your hair, replacing missing amino acids and regenerating the bond to repair your hair,” explains Rio, who says that after using it every other week, she noticed “a big difference in the texture, softness, and general health” of her bleached hair. I’m currently in the process of testing this mask, and am keen to see how it shapes up against my Olaplex.

Ingredients: Avocado and coconut oils | Sulfate-free: Yes | Size: 6 oz.

As I mentioned before, it can be tricky to find hydrating ingredients that aren’t too heavy. But this hair mask has them; it contains avocado oil and coconut oil, both hydrating, both much lighter than ingredients like shea butter. “Faster than you can say ‘Rumpelstiltskin,’ this heavenly-scented hair mask spins strawlike hair into gold,” says Strategist contributor Cheryl Kramer Kaye. “I reach for it nearly every time I’m in the shower, and it hasn’t weighed my fairly fine curls down yet.”

Ingredients: Euterpe oleracea fruit extract, Myrciaria dubia fruit extract | Sulfate-free: Yes | Size: 8 oz.

Mirjam Bayoumi, whose namesake Upper East Side salon is known for its hair-coloring services, says that her own thick and wavy hair has damaged ends. To combat some of the damage, she uses Brazilian Blowout’s mask, which she recommends to anyone with coarse hair because it has a moisturizing formula that helps with detangling. Its ingredient list contains extracts known for being vitamin rich and possessing antioxidant properties. This is how it’s able to condition coarse hair types down to the cuticle with a boost of hydration and nourishment that will keep frizziness at bay. As far as the application goes, just as Cohen suggested with the Christophe Robin mask, Bayoumi says the Brazilian Blowout does well with heat.