Times are tense and there’s plenty of disagreements to go around, but wanting strong, shiny and healthy hair is something we can all agree on.
There’s a million at-home hair treatments on the market but there’s only one that has been breaking the internet for more than a year: L’Oreal Elvive 8-Second Wonder Water.
This product has five-star reviews all around and it’s frequently recommended in the beauty Facebook groups I’m in. My BFF loves and I’ve heard it mentioned on three separate beauty podcasts. Refinery29, Cosmopolitan and Allure are just a few of the dozen publications to rave about this product. Beauty pro and legend Caroline Hirons just professed her love for it and its brilliance on her most recent Instagram live.
I’ve mentioned the product in round-ups before and I’ve personally recommended it to friends and to readers who have reached out to me. It’s time Wonder Water gets a whole post dedicated to its power.
According to the label, the treatment makes hair exponentially smoother and shinier without weighing strands down or making hair appear oily. True to its name, it is the consistency of water and loaded with amino acids for strength and shine. It doesn’t include heavy silicones, which are usually found in most conditioning products like these.
Instead, it includes star ingredient propylene glycol, which is a clear synthetic liquid that absorbs moisture and helps hair feel soft, hydrated and manageable. Wonder Water also is made with lamellar technology, which is smart enough to nourish the damaged parts of the hair without weighing down the rest.
This is a drugstore product and costs under $10. (It seems to be $8.99 at Target and on Amazon.com and $9.99 at Ulta.)
And don’t worry about when to fit it in your routine; it only needs eight seconds to get to work before it’s rinsed out. You can definitely leave it on longer than eight seconds but you don’t have to wait a minimum of 10 minutes like you do with most hair masks and treatments. There are two versions, the original and a Dream Lengths one, though the only difference between the two is the fragrance. Dream Lengths is a tropical scent while the original version smells like fresh apples.
My bottled blonde needs extra love but my hair is baby-fine and I need something that will provide moisture without weighing it down or making it feel waxy. Wonder Water fills that void. I use this between shampoo and conditioner about once or every other week. I shake it up and follow the directions on the bottle for how much to apply. Then, I squeeze the bottle right on my hair, from mid-lengths to ends, wait about a minute or two and, then, rinse it out. I follow with a little bit of conditioner, but most days, my hair feels soft enough to skip conditioner altogether.
I try a lot of different hair treatments and masks, from prestige products to most affordable choices, and I am so impressed with this miracle-in-a-bottle.
Gia Mazur is an award-winning staff writer and beauty obsessive who joined The Times-Tribune’s Lifestyles department in 2015. She’s a product enthusiast who can’t live without an eyelash curler. A proud Virgo, Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution Lipstick in Pillow Talk is her go-to. Contact: gmazur@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9127; @gmazurTT
