Now, some of you may be surprised to see a L’Oreal product here on my blog since I’ve gone cruelty-free, but I got so suckered in by rave reviews of the new L’Oreal 8 Second Wonder Water, that I’d forgotten my hatred for L’Oreal and ordered it without really thinking. And I’ve made a donation to an animal charity to make up for losing my morals temporarily. However, I’m not going to bash L’Oreal and just want to give you my thoughts on whether the L’Oreal Wonder Water is in fact living up to it’s expectation.
L’Oreal, even when I did use it was never really my favourite for haircare – however there were a few stand out products I liked from the Elvive range, however, I really did not like the Dream Lengths range that the 8 Second Wonder Water comes from, so I was intrigued as to whether this would work for me well or not.
L’Oreal owns Kerastase, and there’s a product in the Kerastase line called K Water, which is a Lamellar Conditioner at a much higher price point. Like with other dupes that L’Oreal comes out with from more expensive makeup brands – you can bet the same technology that they take from their high-end brands ends up in their lower price point. At full price, the 8 Second Wonder Water still isn’t cheap at £9.95 for a 200ml bottle – which feels up there for L’Oreal, but come in cheaper than the Kerastase K Water which is £52.00 for 400ml.
What is a Lamellar Conditioner?
So if you’re wondering “what is a Lamellar Conditioner” – don’t worry I have you covered. Lamellar Conditioners are a water-like consistency which deposit shine and hydrating into the damaged parts of your hair. In the case of L’Oreal 8 Second Wonder Water one it promises to help detangle, feel 10 times smoother and is silicone-free. You apply to the hair whilst wet after shampooing and massage in for 8 seconds before rinsing off. You can apply a conditioner after if desired too, and I’ve been trialling this in multiple different ways.
At this point my hair is 15 months since it’s last haircut and is beyond the bra-strap on my back, I’ve given it the odd little trim to tidy up some of the worst split ends and bleach damage over the past few months, but it’s really ready for a cut and shape going back into it at the hands of a professional when salons reopen.
The application of this is pretty easy and there is guidance on the bottle for how much each “dose” is, although this is impossible to see when you’re liberally squeezing over your head as 20ml really doesn’t feel like that much. After shampooing I squeeze out the excess water on my hair and use the twist pipe nozzle which is really easy to apply precisely and I started at the roots and let it start dripping down my hair and apply a bit more to the mid-lengths and ends before massaging in. 8 seconds would be too quick for me to feel like I was massaging it all in well and making sure my hair got coated – but it really didn’t take that long at all and every time I rinsed it off pretty quickly (within 20 seconds or so).
L’Oreal 8 Second Wonder Water – First Application
My first try of this I applied it on half my head to see and compare how it worked and left my hair to air dry. My hair is very long at the moment, and naturally very knotty – no matter what length it is, my hair has a tendency to tangle quickly, and the half which had this applied my hair glided though compared to the side which had none, although I should note – I would normally apply some kind of product to help with this and I was comparing the effects of the L’Oreal Wonder Water vs hair which had simply used conditioner and no other styling products. When my hair dried it looked and felt nice, I can’t say that I really felt like my hair was the shiny mirror that I was expecting it to be. The shot below is after my first try with this and you can see I used around 30ml on half of my head.
Second Application
I decided to go full steam a second time and applied it to my full head, using around 40ml ish of product this time all over I used less proportionately than I did the first time. Again, brushing through my hair I found it really quite pain-free to do and this time I decided to dry my hair with a hairdryer and just use a paddle brush to brush it out. Holy Moses, this time I did notice the shine, my hair looked super healthy and felt really soft and had the real shininess that I was after. I couldn’t stop looking at my hair all afternoon in the mirror it looked like it had that fresh colour glossiness to it and it was given by this product alone.
Day 2 I felt like my ends felt a little drier than they would do if I’d used a regular conditioner, however, I’m also considering that the normal leave-in conditioner type products I’d put in were not applied either on my third application I added a little leave-in conditioner to my ends and it helped with the day-two hair.
L’Oreal 8 Second Wonder Water Applied
No other styling products added – this is just with shampoo and conditioner
In addition to my hair looking good, I’ve noticed that I seem to be able to go longer between washes as my hair doesn’t seem to get as oily as quick. Overall, I’m really impressed with the results of this and it’s absolutely worth the hype. This is listed for those with long and damaged hair, but I think if your hair is dull, brittle or lacking in shine this is likely to work for you too. If you have naturally glossy hair – then I’d say this one isn’t likely to do much.
However, there are drawbacks – In 3 washes I’ve used an almost complete bottle of this and whilst when I bought it initially it was half price – for those of us with long hair you really are going to run through this quite quickly. The effects of this aren’t like a “use once and it’ll last 3 washes” – it needs using every time, so it’s more of a “special occasion” or once a week treat for me I think.
If like me you aren’t keen on L’Oreal as a whole and would prefer shopping Cruelty Free – there are other options on the market.
- Kerastase K Water 400ml – Can not find anywhere to link £52.00 RRP
Not Cruelty Free - Matrix High Shine Lamellar Conditioner 250ml – £15.95 Beauty Bay 250ml / £12.75 (On Offer as I Write) Look Fantastic
Cruelty Free - L’Oreal 8 Second Wonder Water 200ml – £9.95 Boots
Not Cruelty Free - Redken Extreme Bleach Recovery 200ml – £21.70 Look Fantastic
Not Cruelty Free
I’ll be trying out the Matrix one next as I’ve been loving their haircare recently anyway, I have hopes that that one will be as good and with the Cruelty-Free status I desire!
Have you tried the L’Oreal 8 Second Wonder Water? What did you think let me know!
Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Pinterest | Tumblr
Email: helplesswhilstdrying@gmail.com
This does sound nice and your hair looks really lovely in these photos! I find hair products and styling hair such a faff haha, 95% of the time I wash, let it air dry and that’s it, I don’t really mind. Sometimes if I’m in the mood I’ll straighten or curl my hair for an occasion but most of the time I really can’t be bothered. Going to the hairdresser can be a chore too as I never know what I want done so stick to a trim and getting my hair thinned out. I’d love to get better at styling my hair and knowing how to make it look good in a few easy steps and products like this do sound easy to use but like you my hair is really long and I’d go through the bottle quickly. Do you put normal conditioner on as well as this?
Author
So the instructions say that you can use normal conditioner after – I tried that today and feel like my hair feels better condition but it wasn’t as shiny as it was before, so I may try my last dose using conditioner before then this. But my hair didn’t feel particularly dry before, but I have notice it’s full of alcohol so it’s probably not great for super dry hair.
I can let my hair airdry and tend to do that more in summer but I tend to quickly blast it off a bit more with a hairdryer if I’m not styling it. I do love styling my hair, but I did start training to be a hairdresser when I was younger!
It’s interesting that there’s different ways to use a product and what may work better for one won’t work for another and everyone has their own little ways they like to use something, that’s what makes beauty so fun! Do you think you’d repurchase this again?
Author
If it was on offer yes – the full price of it here is £10, I snagged it for half price – I ran through it far too quickly for £10 even as a more irregular treatment as I was using it more than I usually would for the review!