Masks are good products used badly more often than most. The specific failure — over-conditioning — is worth recognising, because the instinct when it happens is to add more.
The signs of over-conditioned hair
- Limp and lifeless, with no body
- Slippery or coated to the touch
- Will not hold a style, however you dry it
- Flat at the roots regardless of technique
- Looks greasy sooner after washing
- Feels heavy when dry
People experiencing this usually conclude their hair needs more moisture, buy a richer product, and make it worse.
What causes it
- Using a mask every wash instead of weekly
- Mask and conditioner in the same wash
- Applying at the roots
- Under-rinsing
- Leave-in products layered on top of everything else
- Rich products on fine hair, which cannot carry them
Fixing it
- Stop the mask for two to three weeks. Conditioner only, ends only
- One clarifying wash to strip accumulated residue and reset
- Rinse more thoroughly than you think necessary
- Reintroduce the mask once a fortnight, then weekly if hair takes it
- Never mask and condition in the same wash
Most people see the difference within two washes.
Getting the frequency right
Once or twice weekly for damaged, coloured or coarse hair.
Once a fortnight for hair that is only mildly dry.
Rarely or never for fine, healthy, undamaged hair — which genuinely does not need a mask, whatever the routine videos suggest.
Using it properly
Squeeze water out first. Lengths and ends only. Comb through with a wide-toothed comb. Leave the stated time — not longer, since nothing more is absorbed. Rinse thoroughly, cool finish.
Instead of conditioner, not in addition.
Repair and moisture
The two address different problems — damage is a roughened cuticle, dehydration is a lack of water. A combined product covers the common case of hair that is both, which is most chemically treated hair.
The full composition is in the Faberlic catalogue. For the distinctions, see the haircare section.