I’ve been using this $6 L’Oreal hair mask for 4 years— here’s my honest review

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If there’s one thing about my beauty routine that’s worth mentioning, it’s that I’m obsessed with haircare. While my makeup skills are nothing to write home about, I’ve always prided myself on maintaining strong and healthy curls.

And while much of that has to do with the fact that I’ve never coloured or highlighted my hair, I also like to think that my weekly self-care ritual plays an important role in my overall hair health.

For the past four years, the L’Oreal Paris Hair Expertise Extraordinary Oil 1001 Uses Hair Mask has become a fixture in my beauty routine, and the best part about it is — it’s only $6.

$6 at Amazon

What is it

The L’Oreal Paris Hair Expertise Extraordinary Oil 1001 Uses Hair Mask is a multi-use hair mask designed to hydrate dry and damaged hair.

It’s infused with extra-fine coconut oil to add shine and moisture to your strands while nourishing the scalp with vitamins, fatty acids and proteins. The L’Oreal mask melts into your mane without weighing it down and leaves your strands feeling incredibly soft and shiny (and with a beach vacation-like smell to boot).

First impressions

If I’m being honest, I don’t remember my first impressions of the hair mask, but considering that I’ve used it almost weekly for the past four years, I would gamble that they were positive.

The Extraordinary Oil hair mask smells like a seaside holiday without being overly coconutty and the formula is, in my opinion, the perfect consistency. It leaves your strands feeling hydrated, soft, and smooth and takes care of any frizz or flyaways you may otherwise have.

You’ll find that a generous dollop goes a long way and that the container will last you for months, even with regular use.

Story continues

While L’Oreal touts “1,0001” ways to use the mask, I typically apply it as a pre-shower treatment. After brushing my hair, I’ll generously finger the mask through from root to tip, tie it up in a bun, and leave it to sit for 15-30 minutes.

Since it’s so nourishing, I usually skip my post-shampoo conditioner but will apply the tiniest amount of the mask on my tips before blow-drying my hair.

In addition to how it makes my hair look and feel, one of the reasons I keep on coming back to the L’Oreal mask is that I find it gives you the most bang for your buck. While I’m sure boutique brand hair masks deliver on results, I can’t bring myself to spend $40+ on a product when I know how far this $6 mask will go.

What people are saying

With an average customer rating of 4.6 stars, Amazon shoppers agree that the L’Oreal mask leaves your strands feeling “soft and manageable.”

It makes your hair feel “insanely soft” and look “more defined,” writes one shopper. Plus, it “smells SO good.”

For dry and damaged strands, “this is the stuff,” says another reviewer, adding that it’s “transforming my hair.” Since using the mask, they said their hair is “in the best condition ever.”

It makes your hair feel “silky smooth like butter,” remarks a third user. “I recommend!”

Despite the mask earning a 4.5-star rating or higher for scent, softness and moisturizing ability, some shoppers find the coconut scent to be “too strong.”

It has an “amazing coconutty smell,” but it may be “too powerful” for “the sensitive nose.”

“Great for thick hair,” however, I find it “too perfumed.”

The verdict

At $6, the L’Oreal Paris Hair Expertise Extraordinary Oil 1001 Uses Hair Mask is one of my go-to beauty buys and has been for the past several years. While some Amazon reviewers find the scent overly coconutty, I’ve always enjoyed it, especially considering the mask has always given me the beach vacation hair of my dreams.

The reviews quoted above reflect the most recent versions at the time of publication.

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