This $12 Conditioner Lets Me Stretch My Time Between Haircuts

I haven’t had a haircut in 18 months. I have whisper-thin, curly strands that are perpetually damaged, and though I know stylists need to cut off half of my hair to get down to the healthy bits, in the past they’ve gone too far. I end up with a round, fluffy ’fro that makes me look juvenile, like a Black, brown-haired Annie.

All of this is to say that it’s been too long, and my hair is extremely dry. Even just a day post wash-and-style, my curls start to get crunchy and deathly tangled. They’re twisting all over themselves — with lots of fairy knots. So until I work up the nerve to try yet another haircut, I’ve been looking for conditioners to help me muddle through this difficult time.

The best I’ve found so far is Odele’s Moisture Mask. It was an accident: While running out the door to the gym, I grabbed it from the queue of hair products I need to test. Its squeeze-bottle packaging was more convenient for a YMCA shower-stall setup than scooping conditioner out of my usual jar. I wasn’t expecting much because I didn’t know anything about the brand except that it’s sold at Target. Though I’m not at all a product snob, I have found over the years that drugstore-brand conditioners generally aren’t hardy enough to do anything special for curls.

During that first wash session, I immediately noticed a few things. The slip was very good. It had more viscosity than my go-to Harklinikken hair mask, so it made finger detangling quick and generally less annoying; I didn’t have to work as hard to separate the curls that were entwined and locked. All in all, Moisture Mask cut my detangling time down to about 15 minutes. The scent was really subtle and appealing — botanical and light. After my hair dried, it was bouncy and soft, down to its sad little ends.

I was so impressed that I checked out the ingredients when I got home. Turns out the Moisture Mask is a blend of reliably good hair hydrators like glycerin and jojoba-seed oil, along with emollients for that great slip. I decided to give the product a proper test, and over the past month, I’ve used it exclusively to condition my hair twice a week. In about eight conditioning sessions, give or take, I’ve gone through an entire tube (I use a lot of this stuff while I’m detangling my hair). But at $12 a bottle, I feel comfortable with that pace. Over the past month, I’ve seen some subtle, longer-lasting improvements to my hair, too. It’s not as tangled, which means I spend even less time detangling in the shower; it’s much less crunchy on the ends; and I can get a full three days post–wash-and-style before my hair starts to go feral.

There’s only so much a conditioner can do for hair that hasn’t seen a pair of scissors in over a year, but the Odele Moisture Mask is maxing out on that doing. The texture of my hair has actually improved in a month. And at that Target price, I really can’t see any downside. But don’t worry: I do have a haircut scheduled for next week. I realized that part of my fear of going was knowing I’ll get the “Please do better” talk from whichever stylist I end up seeing. Hopefully, a quick pre-appointment condition with the Moisture Mask will save me that lecture. Fingers crossed.

Are there other products that you want our intrepid team of beauty writers to test, or trends that you want them to fact-check? Send us an email at strategistbeautybrief@nymag.com with your thoughts and questions.