During the Sephora sale (during which I ended up buying nothing), I discovered new K18 Biomimetic Hairscience Leave-in Molecular Repair Hair Mask. That name is a mouthful.
The owner of K18 Biomimetic Hairscience is Aquis, the manufacturer of the fabulous hair towels. I’ve had my Aquis turban for about 10 years and my Aquis towel for more than 20 years. I believe in the brand, so once I noticed that Aquis is behind new K18, I thought it would be worth trying.
Since K18 Leave-in Molecular Repair Hair Mask is on the pricey side, I planned to try out the travel size. But when I discovered that I lost my VIB status, I decided buying it at Sephora for a crummy 10% off just wasn’t worth it. Instead, I went home and found it online at Lovelyskin where I had a gift card.
K18 Leave-in Molecular Repair Hair Mask
I decided that it did make sense to try the travel size for the first time.
K18 Leave-in Molecular Repair Hair Mask is a progressive treatment, showing better results with time. You use K18 for 6 consecutive shampoos. After that, you switch to a maintenance plan, using K18 Leave-in Molecular Repair Hair Mask every 3-4 shampoos.
You use Leave-in Molecular Repair Hair Mask in a somewhat unusual way. You wash your hair like you usually do and then skip the conditioner. Instead, you towel try your hair, and then apply about 3 pumps (or more, if needed) of K18 Leave-in Molecular Repair Hair Mask. Wait 4 minutes, comb it through, and dry and style as usual.
This is a treatment product, as I’m sure you’ve gathered from the product name. Leave-in Molecular Repair Hair Mask:
- Heals hair damage with K18Peptide™
- Restores bounce, elasticity and hydration to damaged hair
- Clarifies, detangles, moisturizes, reconstructs, smooths, volumizes
- Ideal after bleaching and chemical services
- pH balance of 5.0-6.0
- Doesn’t wash away with shampoo, leaves lasting results over time
- Color-safe (sulfate-free), fragrance-free, vegan, and cruelty-free
- Ideal for all hair types
Here’s what K18 says about the treatment:
In just four minutes, this professional, salon-grade hair treatment from K18 Biomimetic Hairscience heals damage from bleach, color treatments, styling heat and chemical services. Formulated with a first of it’s kind, patented oligopeptide, also known as K18Peptide™, this bioactive treatment reduces split ends, breakage and color fade, while restoring elasticity, bounce, softness and strength. Unlike conditioning treatments that hydrate the outer layer of hair and bonding treatments that wash out over time, this K18 hair product actually heals hair from the inside out and produces results that won’t wash away.
Key Mode of Repair
The specific K18 peptide sequence that scientists developed for K18 Leave-in Molecular Hair Repair was found to have “just the right composition of cysteines, the structure, the adjacency, and the length” to fit between the keratin chains in damaged hair. Once inside, it binds itself with the chains while helping to repair the disulfide bonds, a key feature of hair/keratin.
People have speculated about which is better K18 or Olaplex? It seems that the fact that K18’s peptide sequence that mimics the structure of keratin (“biomimetic”) is able to penetrate hair to repair from the inside out gives K18 the edge.
My Experience with K18 Leave-in Molecular Hair Repair
To be honest, it has taken me a while to get used to skipping the conditioner. I have a lot of thick, coarse hair, and after shampooing, it’s a tangled mess. So skipping the thing that instantly detangles it is hard for me.
But skip the conditioner I did in order to use K18 Leave-in. I towel dry my hair with my Aquis turban that removes a ton of the water. Then I applied 3+ pumps full of the K18 translucent gel by running my fingers through my hair to the best of my ability. I left the Leave-in sitting on my hair for 4 minutes, and then I used my Unbrush to detangle my hair. I won’t lie, some hair definitely ended up on the Unbrush, but that’s instead of ending up clogging the drain of my shower. Then I dried and styled my hair.
After the first two or three times using K18, I didn’t really notice a big difference. To begin with, I used Olaplex shampoo and I had been using JOICO K-PAK Luster Lock Instant Repair Treatment before starting out with K18 so my hair was in decent shape. Plus, I had been using MASAMI Mekabu Shine Serum drops for more softness and shine. So in the beginning of using K18, it didn’t feel as soft or detangled. After the fact, I ended up applying a few drops of MASAMI Shine Serum so it would feel better.
But after the 4th treatment, my hair noticeably improved and changed for the better. Today, I was my 5th treatment, and my hair is very soft, silky, smooth, with great volume, and manageability. Here I am at the end of the day after gardening and walking with no makeup.
I have one more treatment to go, and I think that will use up my travel size bottle. Now, I’m trying to decide whether to buy another travel size or a full size bottle. Lovelyskin.com has 20% off for Memorial Weekend, so the full size bottle that is regularly $75 for 1.7 fl. oz./50 ml becomes $60 on sale. (Lovelyskin is also including a free mini size of Skinceutical HA Intensifier Serum, a $15 value, with the purchase.) The travel size is regularly $29 for 0.5 fl. oz./15 ml and it becomes about $23. Buying the full size is certainly a better deal, and I guess it will last me a looooong time if I go on to the every 3-4 shampoo schedule since I only wash my hair about every 5-6 days. Wow, I just went back to check the travel size, and it must have just sold out. It now says “this product is no longer available”, and it had been about an hour ago. Guess that makes my decision easier!
You can also buy K18 Leave-in Molecular Repair Hair Mask on the K18 website and at Sephora.
So if your hair is damaged from chemical processes or from using heat to dry and style it, you might consider trying K18 Leave-in Molecular Repair Hair Mask and see if it works for you.
I absolutely love this picture. Your hair looks incredible. It’s so nice to see that you had such great results. I’ll consider a travel size.
Thank you so much, Marcia xoxo Although my hair wasn’t damaged beforehand, I wanted to see if K18 Multi-Peptide would make a difference. And with the 4th and 5th usage occasions, it definitely feels improved. I have one more to go, and then I will return to my JOICO K-PAK Luster Lock Treatment. I will try using K18 about once a month and see if it continues to keep my hair in good shape.
I have been using K 18 mask for almost 2 yrs now; I love it. It does cost a bit but I only use it once a month. Highly recommend it for those that have chemically treated hair!
I absolutely agree with you, Tonda. I just finished using it 6 times now and my hair is so smooth and silky! I am going to switch to the “maintenance plan” of every 3-4 shampoos. I will probably buy another travel size since it will last me several months on the maintenance plan.