I've worked in the beauty industry for more than 10 years and have seen it all when it comes to hair care. Now that I'm a mom of three, I've been trying to find effective hair care solutions that don't require hours in the bathroom. I decided to put the most popular treatments to the test!
I went on a journey to find the best hair treatment in the market. I applied a methodical approach and found the product that wins on the most important factors: performance, ingredients, ease of use, scent, texture and price.
Sometimes hair care brands are not very transparent and the most important information is hard to find. Read on to see how I scored the products I tried, discover the details behind each score, and learn from how I found these hidden nuances — so you don’t have to!
See details
Baia Hair
Treatment
4.9
K18 Molecular Repair Mask
4.3
Olaplex No.3 Hair Perfector
3.9
In a perfect world, we’d all have the time for weekly salon visits and professional treatments to keep our locks looking luscious and healthy. However, for some — like me! — life gets crazy sometimes and this becomes mission impossible; for others — like busy professionals or new parents! — let’s just say hair care often falls to the bottom of the priority list when it comes to self-care routines.
Hair treatments designed to repair damage, reduce breakage, and promote healthy growth are not meant to substitute professional care, but to provide us with a healthy hair safety net that helps us stay on track and supplement our hair care routine. They contain crucial nutrients that help bridge the gaps in our hair health: the difference between what our hair should be receiving every day and what it actually is.
Click here to jump directly to my top choice!
Even as a Former Beauty Editor with 10 years of industry experience, finding the most well-rounded, most effective and gentlest hair treatment can be a challenging task, considering the wide variety of products available on the market. To make an informed choice, several factors need to be considered:
I purchased and carefully tested 3 products (in the picture above) that passed this test and would then go through the process below:
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What I love
The best performing hair treatment
6-in-1 weekly treatment that delivers multiple benefits
Made with adaptogenic mushrooms for hair and scalp health
All natural and non-GMO
100% paraben-free, gluten-free, silicone-free
Detoxifies, hydrates, strengthens, and revitalizes hair and scalp
Shields against heat and chemical damage
Regulates oil imbalance and supports scalp microbiome
No artificial fragrances
Easy to apply
Made in the US
Third party tested
60-day money-back guarantee
Free shipping
What could be better:
Requires heat activation for best results
Only available online
Only one formula available currently
Just one note: this blog is reader-supported. When you purchase products through links on this site, I may earn a commission which helps keep the site free of ads. Baia Hair was in fact my favorite and the highest-scoring hair treatment I tried, so HairCareFinds.com is an affiliate of Baia Hair. I did try all of them myself (as you can see!) so I encourage you to read through my detailed review and find what might be best for you and your specific needs. Thank you for your support!
★ Overall Rating
My ABSOLUTE favorite! Baia checked all of my boxes:
★ What I love
OK, did I say already how good this actually performs? It was by far the best performing product I tried. I would even categorize it as transformative when you use it consistently over 2-4 weeks. The treatment really makes a difference – my hair feels lighter, and my scalp feels balanced after just a few uses. Performance wasn’t as much of a priority for me (as ingredients and ease of use were) but if you’re seriously considering making a habit out of it, this has to be a pleasant experience. So, for those who want to think of their hair health in a more preventive (vs reactive) way and have a safety net of protection in your life, Baia Hair Treatment is what I recommend after my research and testing journey. I felt really great after using it weekly for 30 days with my blow dry routine: more volume, more bounce, and I don’t know if it’s placebo, but I think I’m seeing less hair at the bottom of my shower!
★ What could be better
Baia Hair Treatment is meant to be used once every 10 days, which can be good and bad. Even though this makes it more cost-effective and fits more easily into busy schedules, it might not be intuitive for those used to daily products. Also, this product is only sold online and, if you’re not part of their subscription, it can run out quickly. As of now, the product is available on the Baia website!
★ Description
“The Health Shot for Your Hair™. Baia Hair Mushroom Hair & Scalp Treatment is a 6-in-1 weekly mask designed to detoxify, hydrate, strengthen, and revitalize hair and scalp using adaptogenic mushrooms. For fuller, stronger, more resilient hair with every use.”
★ Usage Instructions
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★ Ingredients
Baia harnesses the power of six adaptogenic mushrooms, each with their own specific benefits:
There is so much history, research and data around each of these adaptogenic mushroom ingredients and their holistic benefits to our hair health. I spent hours just studying and analyzing one of them, Wild Alaskan Chaga.
Chaga is a unique superfood mushroom (curiosity: it is believed to be one of the most antioxidant-rich natural substances on Earth!) packed with nutrients. WebMD says Chaga is an immunity-booster, an all-in-one source of nutrients including beta-glucans that help protect against oxidative stress.
Eastern Europeans have used Chaga for centuries to treat various conditions. Research ties Chaga to potential powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, stress-protective benefits, and even scalp-protective properties.
Here’s what real users are saying about Baia Hair Treatment:
Guarantee: 60-Day Happy Hair Guarantee — If you don’t see a visible difference in your hair after 60 days of use, Baia offers a full refund.
What I love
Patented peptide technology
Diverse repair benefits
Comprehensive ingredient list
Works in just 4 minutes
Color-safe formula
GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) certified
Third-party tested
Sulfate-free and silicone-free
Money-back guarantee
Subscriber welcome kit
Very nice and easy-to-use website
What could be better:
The most expensive hair treatment on the market
Not organic
Not 100% all-natural product (this is a deal breaker for me!)
Has artificial fragrance
Has alcohol
Made my hair feel very flat and heavy
Texture was too sticky
Didn’t work well with styling products
Not manufactured in the US (might be important for some)
Focuses too much on color-treated hair
Does not offer free shipping
★ What I love
At first, this is an impressive product. The marketing and high investments on a beautiful package, brand and website help build trust and the best first impression out of all the products I tried. The ingredient list is in fact quite extensive and very complete. The advertised benefits cover damage repair, color protection, strengthening and smoothing. If you’re interested in subscribing, getting the subscriber’s kit makes you feel very special and further encourages you to turn your treatment into a new regular habit.
★ What could be better
There’s a lot of hype around K18 with all their advertising and endorsements lately. This leads to the inevitable question of whether the premium is worth it and how much of this is hype. No doubt K18 is a great product and the repair benefits are there (therefore the high score of this runner up), but the $75 price (almost an extra $25 compared to my first choice, Baia) just didn’t make up for it. To be clear: it wasn’t just the price. The list of cons can’t be ignored: the product is not organic, not 100% natural (you can notice synthetic ingredients listed on the back of the tube), has artificial fragrance listed as an ingredient, it contains alcohol and it’s not manufactured in the US. I also personally didn’t like the heavy feeling, the texture (too sticky and didn’t work well with my styling products) and the flatness (exactly like my hair was weighed down by product buildup).
★ Description
“A patented peptide-powered leave-in molecular repair hair mask that works in just 4 minutes to reverse damage from bleach, color, chemical services, and heat, leaving hair softer, smoother, and more manageable.”
What I love
Bond-building technology
Patented active ingredient
GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) certified
Third-party tested
Vegan, gluten-free and nut-free
Sulfate-free
Works on all hair types
Has a really mild scent
90-day money-back guarantee
What could be better:
Not enough variety of active ingredients
Not organic
Has artificial fragrance
Left a residue on my hair
The product is a bit “slimy”
Not as easy to use properly
Not manufactured in the US
Does not offer free shipping
★ What I love
Honestly, the 90-day money-back guarantee. It’s one of the best available in the market. Hair companies usually don’t offer money-back and when they do, it comes to 30 days. The lower price of this product and the really competitive money-back guarantee really make Olaplex stand out from the competition. This is a great option for those who are looking for a product on the cheaper side. This would be my top choice of the lower end products. Both Baia (#1) and K18 (#2) are on the higher end of the premium spectrum when it comes to quality and variety of ingredients.
★ What could be better
The variety of ingredients killed it for me. It’s not a very comprehensive product and the single bond-building ingredient makes me doubt if this product is cheaper only because there’s less technological innovation in it. I also didn’t love the residue it left as much as the initial feel. It felt a bit heavy after drying, even though they don’t seem to have silicones. I didn’t like that their formula has artificial fragrance, which is a (somewhat controversial) addition to hair care. This treatment is a bit “slimy” and not as user-friendly as others, which makes it look and feel more like a mask than a treatment.
★ Description
“A pre-shampoo treatment designed to reduce breakage and visibly strengthen hair. The at-home version of Olaplex’s famous bond-building technology used in salons.”
So to recap, I was looking for a hair treatment because life gets crazy sometimes and I wanted to make sure I had a safety net of protection I could count on. To be honest, I didn’t go into this thinking I’d fall in love with any of them, let alone start a subscription and create a new morning ritual.
Baia checked all of my boxes. It has a wide range of high quality nutritious ingredients with multiple health benefits, from repair to protection to longevity, it actually performs amazingly (with more volume and bounce) and has a very competitive price.
Their ingredient list is as transparent as it can be, front and center on their site and packaging. These are all natural ingredients with high nutrient density and certified organic extracts that our hair needs to function in the best way possible. Baia also checks the box for all the main allergies with a nut, gluten, silicone, sulfate and paraben-free product.
Overall I’m thrilled that I found a hair treatment that works and feels good. I hope you found this review helpful and that you also find your hair care solution that can help make sure you’re getting what you need every day!
Check Baia Hair Treatment
Promo code HAIRDAY20 [expiring soon!] gets you an extra 20% off
My Research Links:
https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/precious-metals-and-other-important-minerals-for-health
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/10-proven-benefits-of-chaga-mushroom#TOC_TITLE_HDR_11
https://www.webmd.com/diet/chaga-mushroom-health-benefits#1
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6142667/https://www.americanscientist.org/article/natures-medicines-the-chemistry-of-adaptogenic-mushrooms