Hair Mask vs Hair Conditioner: Know the Difference
Most people often tend to use conditioners and masks interchangeably. However, when it comes to hair care, both these products play a distinct and crucial role in your regimen. While both are intended to moisturise your lengths, their purpose and manner of functioning are quite different. Hence, it’s important to understand the difference between conditioner and mask to use the right product at the right time, well-suited to your hair type.
What is a Hair Conditioner?
Conditioners are creamy, lightweight, moisturising products filled with humectants emollients, proteins, or natural oils. A conditioner comes in after the shampoo, to soften your hair and close your cuticles. Conditioners also help you get rid of friction to give you smoother hair. The ones with repairing formulas, like Acidic Bonding Concentrate conditioners, can even repair damaged lengths caused by color treatments, chemical treatments, heat styling, or hard water. When it comes to hair mask vs hair conditioner, the latter is designed for regular use and should be followed after every wash, as it seldom weighs your hair down.
What is a Hair Mask?
Although hair masks have been around for a while, they have picked up like never before in recent times. And for all the right reasons! Delivering intense nourishment, masks penetrate your hair shaft and moisturise it from within. If you’ve been tallying hair mask vs hair conditioner, remember that masks are heavy, deeply hydrating hair care essentials. A hair mask is often used as a deep treatment that sits on your lengths from 10 - 20 minutes before rinsing. This allows your length to fully absorb the product with its ingredients like oils, proteins, and vitamins that penetrate deep into the hair shaft. If you wonder which is better, hair mask or conditioner, the answer lies in understanding their separate functions.
Hair Mask vs Hair Conditioner
- Formulation
- Purpose
- Frequency of Use
- Damage Repair
- Application Time
Thickness is the primary factor that sets apart hair masks vs hair conditioners. Typically, hair masks are more rich, heavy, concentrated, and a thicker formulation. Conditioners, on the other hand, are formulated with moisturising ingredients as well as some water, to keep the texture lightweight and easygoing. This makes conditioners the right choice for frequent use, especially if you have thin, very fine hair. Using deep conditioning products like masks may weigh down your hair and make it appear flat. Try to limit your use of hair masks to once every three washes.
The important thing you should know early on about mask vs conditioner is that one cannot replace the other. A conditioner should be used regularly, to hydrate and smooth your hair while reducing any friction or breakage. Using conditioner after every shampoo wash is vital to close off your cuticles. On the other hand, think of masks as troubleshooters. When the weekly styling, tying, brushing, and travelling gets a lot for your lengths, bring in the hair masks. These are heavy-duty nourishers that go within your lengths and replenish them from within. Their main job is to revive your hair every few days.
Unlike conditioners, masks cannot be used every day owing to their heavy formula. Using hair masks far too often may lead to build-up that makes your hair fall flat. Depending On your hair type, you can use masks once every week after shampooing to intensely nourish your hair. Conditioners, with their breezy formulas, are non-negotiable for your daily washes. A repairing conditioner keeps your hair protected from the daily wear and tear, preventing damage.
Think of conditioners as the agent of damage control while masks work for damage repair. When it comes to severe and recurring hair concerns, like frizz or extreme damage, only a conditioner may not do. Every once in a while, you will have to weave in a frizz dismiss mask or an extreme strength builder mask to bring back life to your lengths. Make sure you’re using a conditioner after every wash either way to prevent the damage from worsening. Understanding hair masks vs hair conditioners is especially necessary when you have colored hair. A sulphate-free conditioner keeps your hair color from fading while a color extend hair mask increases your color life between salon visits.
Set apart by their purposes, masks and conditioners naturally have different application times too. A conditioner is typically left on for 1 to 3 minutes before it’s rinsed off. Hair masks sit on your lengths anywhere between 5 to 20 minutes to fully penetrate your lengths and provide its benefits.
With a proper understanding of hair mask vs hair conditioner, it's time to invest in the right products. Check out Redken’s vast range of hair conditioners and hair masks and build a suited regimen for every hair concern. Step closer towards chic, voluminous, and damage-free hair with more tips and how-tos by Redken India.