Style

5 Miracle Hair Masks To Combat Breakage & Split Ends

by Andrea Pyros
Bustle/Amazon

Whether your hair has become damaged from heat-styling, chemical processes, or wearing too-tight ponytails, breakage is something that almost all of us experience at some point in our lives. If you're currently dealing with damage (and by extension, hair breakage), you might want to consider incorporating one of the best hair masks for breakage into your routine. You can use them once a week, or, if you're dealing with severe damage (or simply have thick hair that doesn't get weighed down easily), you can use one in place of conditioner whenever you wash your hair.

The five hair masks on this list are full of nourishing ingredients that will make your hair look and feel its best in just a few highly efficient minutes. You'll find everything from curl-specific masks to innovative Korean formulas packed with egg yolks, and they're all just a click on Amazon away.

And while you’re at it, be sure that everything in your shower is working hard for your hair, too, including your shampoo and conditioner. Meanwhile, don't forget to take the proper steps to keep your hair healthy, and if you wear your hair up often, consider picking up a pack of hair ties to prevent breakage along with your new mask.

1The Best Anti-Breakage Mask For Most Hair Types

The Marc Anthony Grow Long Anti-Breakage Hair Mask is designed to strengthen weak, damaged hair and boost elasticity, so you can grow it out as long as you desire (sans split ends). The formula contains keratin to nourish and soften hair, as well as avocado and argan oils to replenish moisture. Other key ingredients include caffeine and ginseng, both of which are purported to help with hair growth.

Multiple reviewers have credited this mask with transforming their previously-damaged hair, especially given its affordable price point. One fan wrote, "I've used all the top brands — but I've never had results like this."

2The Best Anti-Breakage Mask For Curly Hair

Designed by a brand that caters to curly hair, the Shea Moisture Organic Yucca & Plantain Anti-Breakage Masque will help bring your curls, coils, or waves back to life in no time. (Of course, anyone can use this mask, curly-haired or not — but the brand points out that it will be especially useful for hair types 3A, 4A, 3B, 4B, 3C, and 4C.) It contains a blend of highly moisturizing oils from botanicals like yucca, plantain, jojoba, and baobab (from Africa’s “Tree of Life”), plus deeply-nourishing (organic!) shea butter, the brand's star ingredient. The formula helps repair split ends and breakage while also offering up shine-enhancing and softening benefits. Reviewers have called it "literally the best hair mask [they] have ever used" and their "hair growth hero."

3The Best Korean Hair Mask For Breakage

Love all things Korean beauty? Then the Too Cool For School Egg Remedy Hair Pack is for you. This adorably designed treatment is full of highly nutritious ingredients like egg yolks, avocado, shea butter, and honey, resulting in a formula that moisturizes, nourishes, and protects hair while enhancing softness and shine. And, despite what you might think based on its name, reviewers report that it smells amazing.

4The Best Travel-Friendly Hair Mask For Breakage

It's hard to believe that such a small amount of product can give you such big results—and at such a bargain price, too! This set includes three tiny tubes of Pantene Pro-V Rescue Shots, making it an ideal purchase for travelers looking to treat their hair on the go. Just one application will provide immediate moisturizing, softening, and damage-repairing benefits, due to a formula that contains vitamins, lipids, and glycerin. "For something so inexpensive, it is a game changer," wrote one reviewer who was dealing with damaged, over-processed hair.

5The Most Innovative Hair Mask For Breakage

The L'Oréal EverPure Intense Repair Hair Sheet Mask is another great choice for travel, since it won't take up any space in your bag. But it also wins bonus points for its uber-innovative formula, which comes packaged in a shower cap-like "sheet" that you apply on your hair after shampooing and conditioning. The hot steam of the shower helps it work more efficiently, and you only have to leave it on for five minutes to work its magic. It's a perfect choice for indulgent at-home spa days; follow it up with a great sheet mask for your face (once you step out of the shower, of course).

Bustle may receive a portion of sales from products purchased from this article, which was created independently of Bustle's editorial and sales departments.

Studies referenced:

Hair-growth Potential Of Ginseng and Its Major Metabolites: A Review on Its Molecular Mechanisms; Bu Choi - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6163201/

Role Of Caffeine in the Management Of Androgenetic Alopecia; Manish Bansal-Kajal, Manchanda-Shyam Pandey - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3500065/