Curly hair is a hassle. It takes anywhere between 45 minutes to over an hour of time to actually do your hair when it’s curly. Any girl with curly hair that says “I did this in 15 minutes” is lying. The only thing we can do quickly and still have it look semi-decent is a top knot or a ponytail. As of late, the season has changed and my curls are not liking it. They are knotting at the ends and drying out. There’s a large amount of breakage going on right now and it hurts. My curl pattern is also on the fritz but that’s for multiple reasons. My curls are ringlets on top and waves underneath for some reason and thick but also soft to the touch, unless it knots. I brush and comb my hair twice a day and it still knots; it’s just part of being a lioness. As of late, I’ve been seeing hair masks everywhere. You can’t miss them. To all my fellow lionesses out there who want to know how hair masks work in curly hair, listen up. I want to preface this by saying that I know there are different curl patterns and textures out there in the curly world, but I hope to use my hair as a baseboard for you to think upon. I experimented with three of Garnier’s new 1-minute hair masks, and here’s what happened.
1. Garnier Damage Repairing 1 Minute Hair Mask with Papaya extract
I used this mask in my hair as just simply a hair mask. This smells absolutely amazing! What you do is shampoo your hair and while it is damp, apply the mask from root to tip and let it sit for a full minute. Then rinse it out.
The directions don’t say whether or not to use conditioner afterward, but in my case, I did. I styled my hair as usual and let it air dry because added heat can cause breakage to the hair strands. I put a towel over my pillow and went to sleep. When I woke up the next morning my curls were soft and shiny. They were more blown out than tight and ringletty but the tightness of my curls changes daily. The best thing was, that day, my hair didn’t knot up at the ends. It smelled good all the way up until the next wash day and stayed shiny the whole time.
2. Garnier Nourishing Treat 1- Minute Hair Mask with Coconut extract
I used this one as a conditioner. I tend to use coconut oil/extract based hair products because I’m Hispanic and was taught that coconut oil is a miracle treatment for EVERYTHING. But, I used this one as a conditioner to see how much it resembled a normal conditioner. First, you shampoo your hair as usual and when your hair is damp, apply the mask from root to tip. There’s no specified time for how long you keep it in but I deep condition often so I left it in for a while and then rinsed it out.
I’m used to the coconut smell in my hair but still, it smelled really good and continued to be shiny. Sometimes my curls look dull because they are so dense and dark, you can’t tell if there’s a shine but with this one, I got a few compliments on my curls.
3. Garnier Smoothing Treat 1- Minute Hair Mask with Avocado extract
I used this one earlier this week and I have been getting so many compliments on my curls since. This one made my hair extra ringletty, which I prefer more than my blowout looks.
I used this as a leave in conditioner and I will 100% do it again. You shampoo your hair as usual and then do your normal shower routine. When you step out, with damp hair, apply the mask from root to tip. I did not put any other hair products in along with it. I just applied it and then combed and brushed it. That’s it. Nothing else. I let it air dry and had to restrain myself from touching it. The plus side, other than the fact that my curls have been on point ever since is that my boyfriend could not stop smelling my hair. It’s boyfriend approved.
Overall, I would use all of these hair masks again and try them more like leave-in conditioners because I liked the outcome more when I did it that way. They worked in all three ways, but just because of the texture of my hair and how I like it to curl, the leave-in conditioner worked the best for me. But all three did wonders for my curls and I will continue to use them.