The Secret of a Great Hair Mask
Posted by Claudie Jasper on April 29, 2009 in How to use a hair mask
Between visits to the salon, pamper yourself and revitalize your hair without leaving home.
Dry and over-processed hair cries out for the nourishing properties of a good hair mask, but all hair types can benefit from a treatment.
Here’s how to get the most out of your hair mask.
- Find the mask that addresses your haircare needs: nourishing, repairing etc… Your stylist knows best when it comes to recommending a quality product.
- Shampoo and rinse your hair. Skip your usual conditioner when you’re planning on applying a mask.
- Squeeze out the excess water from you hair and apply the mask with your fingertips, working it generously into your hair.
- If you have combination hair, concentrate the product on the lower half of the length of your hair and not on the roots. If your hair is damaged or dry, apply the mask generously to the entire hair shaft, roots and all.
- For a weekly application, leave the mask in for between 3 and 5 minutes.
More intensive masks to treat damaged or very dry hair require longer “sit times”.
Wrap you hair up in a towel while the mask works its wonders. A plus: wrap your head up in a warm towel, which amplifies the mask’s effect, and feels great too! - Once your hair has gotten its fill, rinse thoroughly with warm water. A good mask will take longer to rinse out than a shampoo or conditioner, so give it the time it needs. To give your hair more shine, finish off with a spray of cool water.
- Masks should be applied often if your hair is being exposed to chlorine, seawater or excessive sun, as well as frequent coloring.
Claudie’s personal touch: “If I need to give a more in-depth treatment to address very dry or over-processed hair, I double the dose, using my fingers to penetrate the product into the hair. I never use a comb as it cuts down on the amount of product that penetrates into the hair. Using twice the usual dose doubles the effect of the mask.”
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Love this, my hair is booy-ful. Im a swimmer so i always get chlorine and sun in my hair, so this really helps me apply my cortex reparing mask
This is great :) love it :)
I use herbal essences ‘dazzling shine- light reflecting intensive mask’ but it didn’t have much instructions on the tub, so i googled it, and this website helped me a LOT!
Brilliant effect!
I bought a hair mask a while ago when i had long hair. But now ive had it cut much shorter, even though the majority of the dried hair was cut off i still want to use the mask,do you think its a bad idea? with my hair being short? Or does it not matter how short the hair is? thanks.
Hi Kelly, a hair mask is for also used on short hair, especially during the summer. Nourish them!
Thanks for the compliment Sarah!
I bought a jar of EMERGENCIA INTENCIVE HAIR MASK, there was no direction on how to use. Thanks to your website I now know how to use a hair mask. Thanks again.
I’ve be suffering from excessive hair loss from the past 3-4months…. I got a hair mask & wasn’t sure as to how to use it….. But now I do…. THANKS SOOO MUCH!
Thanks for this article! I live in Japan and I can’t read Japanese. Luckily the trendiness of English here means the product names and subtitles are sometimes in in English – but not the instructions!
Hi! Thks for the tips! They were rly useful. I m new to hair mask, n recently bought sunsilk advanced reconstruction hair spa mask. May I ask, after shampoo and applying mask, do I wear a shower cap, and use a hair dryer for 15mins, before rinsing off? And do I need to use conditioner after that? Thk u so much!:) ps I’m an Asian with black, wavy and dry hair
Hi there, sorry I can’t tell you how to use Sunsilk’s mask as it is not ours.
If you are using our Beauty ID mask, you may use a shower cap for a few minutes but don’t use the hairdryer to heat and no need to use a conditioner after the mask. Hope that helps!
I am confused, there is nothing in the Japanese language on our products or packaging…