Best Conditioner for Dry Hair

The best conditioner for dry hair puts back the moisture and slip your hair is missing without weighing it down. Which one suits you comes down to two things: why your hair is dry, and how thick it is. Work those out and the choice gets much shorter.

Dry or dehydrated?

Dry hair is short on oil. It feels rough, looks dull and frizzes easily. Dehydrated hair is short on water. It can look healthy at the roots but feels brittle and straw-like through the lengths. Plenty of people have a bit of both.

If yours is mostly dehydrated, the best conditioner for dehydrated hair is usually a lighter hydrating formula with ingredients like glycerin or aloe that hold water in the hair. If it's mostly dry, a richer formula with oils or butters does more of the work. Not sure? Use the richer one on your ends and keep it light through the mid-lengths.

Match the formula to your hair

• Fine hair: go light. A heavy cream will flatten it fast. You'll find the lighter formulas grouped on our best conditioner for fine hair page.
• Medium hair: a hydrating formula you're happy to use every wash is all most people need.
• Thick or coarse hair: this is where richer creams earn their place. Coarse hair can take more product before it feels heavy.
• Curly hair: curls tend to run drier because the scalp's natural oils struggle to travel down the bends. Start with our best conditioner for curly hair.
• Coloured, bleached or heat-styled hair: dryness here usually comes with damage, so you want repair as well as moisture. See the best conditioner for dry damaged hair.

One honest note: if your hair is fine and only dry on the very ends, you may not need a heavy conditioner at all. A light one through the lengths and a little leave-in on the ends often does the job better.

Dry hair or dry scalp?

A tight, flaky scalp is a different problem from dry lengths. A conditioner for dry hair goes on from the mid-lengths to the ends, not on the scalp. If it's the scalp that feels dry, look at conditioner for dry scalp instead.

How to get more out of it

• Squeeze the water out of your hair first, so the conditioner isn't watered down.
• Work it through the mid-lengths and ends, where hair is oldest and driest.
• Leave it on for a couple of minutes, then comb through with a wide-tooth comb before you rinse.
• Swap it for a mask once a week if your hair needs more than conditioner alone can give.

Pair it with the right shampoo

Conditioner can only do so much if your shampoo strips the hair first. A gentle shampoo for dry hair keeps more moisture in from the start, so your conditioner isn't playing catch-up. If you'd rather buy a matched pair, compare the best shampoo and conditioner for dry hair.

We stock salon and professional brands side by side, so you can compare formulas in one place. For masks, leave-ins and everything else for dryness, browse our dry hair products. Or, if you want to see the full range, shop all conditioner.

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