K18 has beauty fanatics going wild for its high-end hair products, from the £48 dry shampoos (Space.com) to the £65 finishing oils (Cultbeauty.co.uk). The brand’s leave-in molecular repair hair mask (£70, Spacenk.com) is hugely popular, with claims that it’s superior to Olaplex No. 3, one of the most popular choices for long-lasting damage reversal.
K18’s leave-in promises to reduce split ends, breakage and colour dulling in as little as four minutes. These claims hinge on the brand’s trademarked K18peptide, which aims to produce both instant and ongoing results.
As we all know, products that truly get the job done – whether a fine line-minimising anti-ageing cream or the do-it-all tool behind your bouncy blow-dry – can feel worth their astronomical prices (ahem, Dyson). Then again, if there were an affordable alternative that actually worked, I’ve no doubt we’d be flocking to buy it. That’s why I was so happy to find a genuine alternative.
Aussie styling brand Hairification launched in the UK in May this year and, in the months since, its H24 complex leave-in repair hair mask (£10.99, Boots.com) has caused a frenzy, with the budget formula selling out earlier this month. The two hair masks look incredibly similar, and have similar ingredients, but a huge £59 price difference. It seems like there’s no way Hairification could stand up to the luxury product, so I decided to compare the two head-to-head.
How I tested
Testing over multiple washes over two weeks, I followed the Hairification and K18 instructions for application and passed one to three pumps through freshly shampooed hair, brushing the product through my strands before blow-drying as usual. Feeling the texture of my hair both wet and dry, I tested both formulas by these criteria:
- Detangling: Given that both formulas take the place of a traditional in-shower conditioner, I looked to see how easy it was to rake my usual hair brush through my hair without tugging.
- Volume: As someone with heavy hair, nourishing conditioners can weigh down my hair, so I compared the effect the two leave-ins had on the height (any flatness or extra bounce) around my roots and mid-lengths.
- Smoothing: I don’t colour my hair and never have, but I do suffer mid-strand breakage from heat damage, so I was keen to establish which mask worked better to minimise any fluffiness.
- Shine: Everyone lusts after glossy hair, so I compared the shine between the two products.
- Split ends: One of the key components of both repair creams is their ability to restore fragile hair. Though I couldn’t speak for their performance from a dye brightening perspective, I did closely analyse the state of my split ends before and after my series of K18 and Hairification treatments.
Why you can trust IndyBest reviews
Lucy Smith is IndyBest’s beauty writer, covering everything from Olaplex dupes to the Babyliss Dyson alternative. She’s spoken to hair stylists and trichologists about the best itchy scalp treatments and is constantly on top of the latest formulas and buzzy ingredients (think: rosemary scalp oils and carb-infused leave-in conditioners). Below, she puts K18 and Hairification’s repair masks through their paces. Read her review below.
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