The best conditioner overall
Conditioner typically isn't one size fits all, but most hair types can benefit from a formula that nourishes strands, provides moisture, and cuts down on frizz. Silk18 Argan Oil Hair Conditioner certainly does all three.
Silk18 is the best-selling conditioner on Amazon and has a 4.3 out of 5-star rating based on more than 8,400 reviews. It's rare for people to get this amped about an everyday hair product. Sold by the brand Maple Holistics, Silk18 is made without sulfates, artificial fragrances, and dyes, so it's a great option if you're rigorous about avoiding those additives in your hair care.
What Silk18 does contain is a cocktail of good-for-you ingredients like silk amino acids to help your hair retain moisture, jojoba and argan oils for hydration, and keratin to cut down on frizz. It's safe to use on color-treated strands and is recommended for most hair and skin types, including those with dry, sensitive scalps.
Buyers are not shy about publicly proclaiming their love for Silk18. One Amazon reviewer writes, "this product changed my life and hair... from frizzy, unruly, thick mane to silky, smoother and frizz-free hair."
Over on Influenster, where the conditioner boasts a 4.8 rating, a fan says, "My hair is curly and frizzy but this conditioner has calmed the frizz down during the humid summer months and made it manageable."
Pros: All-natural ingredients, works for many hair types, reviewers say it can also be used as a leave-in conditioner
Cons: Bottle is only 8 ounces
Buy Silk18 Argan Oil Hair Conditioner on Amazon for $10The best conditioner for curly hair
I'll spend upwards of 10 minutes applying serums to my face every night, but I have no interest in putting that kind of effort into my hair.
Two things helped drastically cut down on the amount of time I spend fussing over my curls: getting haircuts with a stylist who actually understands my hair type and using DevaCurl One Condition Original Daily Cream Conditioner in the shower.
DevaCurl is pretty much the gold standard when it comes to styling curls, and the company has options tailor-made for every texture, from fine waves to course coils. I'm a fan of the original One Condition because it's hydrating, thanks to the olive oil in the formula, but not too heavy. It doesn't strip my hair of its essential moisture, but leaves my curls bouncy and well-defined while cutting down on knots and frizz.
As one Ulta reviewer puts it, "The conditioner actually moisturizes the hair shaft, instead of coating the hair in silicone giving the illusion of moisture."
I'm not a daily hair washer so I tend to use One Condition about three to four times per week, but it's certainly gentle enough to apply more often. It also has a light, lemony scent that I vastly prefer to some of the sugary sweet hair products out there. All in all, this is an ideal conditioner if your hair is recovering from years of heat-styling or, in my case, being shoved into a bun while still wet to fake a straighter texture.
Experts and shoppers agree that DevaCurl One Condition is a great option for those looking to embrace their natural waves. The conditioner was voted Favorite Daily Conditioner by Naturally Curly readers for the publication's Best of the Best Awards in 2016 and won the 2016 Editor's Choice Award for Best Multi Use Product.
Pros: Lightweight texture that's great for many curl types, cuts down on frizz and makes hair more manageable, doesn't strip hair of moisture
Cons: It might not be hydrating enough for very dry curls
Buy the 32oz DevaCurl One Condition Original Daily Cream Conditioner on Ulta for $46 (originally $44)The best leave-in conditioner
Keratin treatments have been big for a while now (though you really need to know the science behind it and make sure the salon or treatment doesn't use formaldehyde), and it turns out that you can get some of the benefits without hitting the salon, thanks to products that boast keratin as part of their formulas.
First, a little bit about how keratin works: "Your hair is made up of keratin, so the treatment is putting the protein back into the hair, which is often lost due to age and chemical services," hairstylist Andrew Sprinkle explained to InStyle. In short, keratin is reparative, so it might be a good ingredient to look out for if your hair is damaged from over-processing.
It's a 10 Miracle Leave-in Plus Keratin is one of the most popular and highly-rated leave-in conditioners, with 4.8 stars on Ulta and 4.7 on Influenster. It works to smooth, strengthen, and protect hair of all types, thanks to ingredients like panthenol, sunflower seed extract, green tea leaf extract, silk amino acids, and citric acid. You might even say it's a miracle product, eh?
As an added bonus, it can actually help extend the life of a keratin treatment, so it's a money-saver as well! It's a favorite of professional stylist Kendall Dorsey, who told Allure, "This leave-in helps to detangle dry, damaged hair, as well as adding softness. It works for any texture." And one Ulta reviewer says, "This product is fantastic for over colored, overstyled hair!"
Pros: Multi-purpose, works for a variety of hair types, helps protect strands from environmental stressors
Cons: Hefty price tag, might feel a bit too heavy on ultra-fine textures
Buy It's a 10 Miracle Leave-in Plus Keratin on Ulta for $20.58The best conditioner for color-treated hair
The reason I've never dyed my hair is two-fold, but both folds have to do with fear. Fear that I'll damage my hair with frequent appointments, and fear that the color won't stay fresh for long, rendering the endeavor a total waste of time and money. Enter: Redken Color Extend Conditioner, which is designed to help with both of those problems.
Beloved by experts and shoppers alike for its ability to preserve the vibrancy of color while keeping hair soft and frizz-free, Redken Color Extend uses the brand's "Fade Resist Complex," which claims to help hair retain color longer and "lock out color-fading aggressors," such as UV rays. Unlike some similar products, this one isn't made for a specific shade, meaning you can use it whether you're blonde, brunette, or pink-haired.
And it really works! The product was an Allure Best of Beauty winner in 2009 and 2010 and an Allure Reader's Choice Award winner in 2010 and 2012. On Ulta, it earned a 4.6 star rating out of 5.
One fan writes, "My hair started feeling really damaged when I started getting highlights. This made it feel so much better. I've used a lot of shampoos for color treated hair and nothing works as well."
Pros: Helps color-treated hair stay healthy and retain dye longer, good for all hair colors
Cons: Once again, the price tag is a little hefty for a conditioner
Buy the 33.8oz Redken Color Extend Conditioner on Ulta for $33.50The best drugstore conditioner
I'm all for fancy when it comes to beauty products: millennial pink bottles made to be photographed against marble surfaces, glass jars that give me a medicine cabinet worthy of the fancy French woman I aspire to be. But sometimes we or our bank accounts crave simplicity and affordability. That's where Pantene Pro-V Daily Moisture Renewal Conditioner comes in.
It's a basic, hydrating formula that works well on normal-to-dry hair and is fortified with "a potent blend of Pro-V nutrients and antioxidants" that will keep your strands in good fighting shape. Think of this as a tall glass of ice water for your hair.
Oh, and did I mention that it is $4 at your local drugstore? I know it's no longer original to point out when things are cheaper than your morning latte, but come on — this stuff really is cheaper than your morning latte! That's not to say that it's only good for the price tag; it's good period.
Pantene Pro-V Daily Moisture Renewal won an Allure Best of Beauty award in 2017 and is a hit on Amazon, where it earned a 4.5-star rating based on over 1,000 reviews.
Pros: Hydrating, works on most hair textures, super inexpensive
Cons: Potentially too heavy for really thin, fine hair
Buy Pantene Pro-V Daily Moisture Renewal Conditioner at Target for $4The best conditioner for instant shine
My hair is normally dry and dull (yea, it's very exciting), but once I tried the Wella Oil Reflections Luminous Instant Conditioner, it was actually shiny and soft to the touch.
The secret is in the camellia seed oil, or tea seed oil. It's oil extracted from the camellia seed flower, which is native to Japan and was beloved by Coco Chanel. It's rich in vitamins, minerals, and for lack of a better phrase, omega-9 fats, which helps moisturize and add shine. There's also a subtle floral, almost nutty, scent as well that I find really pleasant. All this is to say that camellia seed oil made my dry hair look like Rapunzel's.
At $22 a tube, it's not a steal but for how it improved the texture and shine of my hair, it was a worthwhile investment for me. It helps that a little goes a long way — and that you can cut the tube to get product trapped in the corners and edges. (No judgement here, you know you've done it before.)
I'm not the only one who wishes there was a bigger bottle for the value either, one Ulta reviewer wishes that the brand made the conditioner in a liter size. — Jada Wong
Pros: Adds shine, hydrates and softens hair, subtle scent
Cons: Pricey
Buy Wella Oil Reflections Luminous Instant Conditioner at Ulta for $22The best eco-conscious clarifying conditioner
Many things in the beauty industry are made with plastics that are hard to recycle or decades to decompose, but not the hair-care products from Love Beauty & Planet. Bottles are made with 100% post-consumer recycled plastic and the brand is trying to do the same with its caps too.
As for the formula themselves, they're all vegan and cruelty-free, and are made without nasties like sulfates, silicones, parabens, dyes, and more. All the conditioners are 97% naturally derived, ingredients are unchanged from its natural state or has at least 50% of its natural state after being processed into a stable hair-care ingredient.
That means you're getting a ton of benefits from each bottle of the Love Beauty & Planet Tea Tree Oil & Vetiver Radical Refresher Conditioner, which detoxes my strands from daily dry shampoo without giving them that squeaky-clean feeling, adds volume, and smells like fresh nature. It kind of makes me feel like I'm washing my hair in a forest, though my bathroom itself looks like the opposite.
Reviewers on Influenster, where it has a 4.8 out of 5 stars, say the formula doesn't weigh down fine hair and smells amazing, some even say that the tea tree oil provides a lovely tingling sensation that feels invigorating. — Jada Wong
Pros: Inexpensive, fresh scent, eco-friendly packaging, clean formula
Cons: Fresh scent might not be for everyone, tingling sensation might be irritating for some
Buy Love Beauty & Planet Tea Tree Oil & Vetiver Radical Refresher Conditioner at Target for $8.99