Reach for These Hydrating Conditioners to Revive Your Super-Dry, Frizzy Hair (2025)

Much like your skin, fall and winter don't do your dry hair any favors. Quite the opposite: Unless you actively condition your strands, the chilly, windy environment will zap even more moisture from your hair, leading to damage, frizz, and overall dullness.

Beyond environmental aggressors, there are several factors that can contribute to dry hair. One top culprit? Coloring your hair, particularly when you go lighter, can lead to damage that’s difficult to bounce back from.

“Going blonde is hard on the hair and strips it. Bleaching raises your hairs’ outer cuticle, allowing the bleaching agent to fully penetrate and in turn, makes hair drier and less healthy,” says Debra Jaliman, M.D., a New York City-based board-certified dermatologist and the author of Skin Rules. Heat styling tools, washing hair with hard water, and daily shampooing can also wreak havoc on your hair, she says.

That’s where the right hydrating product comes in. “Conditioners coat the hair and help smooth and soften it,” says Dr. Jaliman. Shampooing naturally steals some moisture, but your conditioner helps replenish what’s been lost, she says.

How to choose the best moisturizing conditioner for dry hair

Search for silicones: Read the ingredient label—does it list silicones and oils in the mix? Those are the two ingredients that Dr. Jaliman recommends when it comes to conditioning dry hair. (General rule: Silicones end in -icone, as in “dimethicone.”) One warning if you have defined curls: “Silicones flatten out the hair cuticle and make your hair smooth, but if you use it often, you might get buildup,” she says. In that case, occasionally washing with a clarifying shampoo suited for your hair type can help freshen things up.

Scan for buzzwords: Like most beauty products, your conditioner will have a few keywords on the label. Look for those that say they’re “hydrating,” “moisturizing,” “smoothing,” or “anti-frizz,” says Fran Cook-Bolden, M.D., a dermatologist affiliated with Mount Sinai Beth Israel in New York. Key hydrators to look for include plant oils like coconut, argan, or jojoba, shea butter, and glycerin.

Try curly hair formulas: Even if you don’t have curly hair, a conditioner that caters to coils will boost hydration. “Generally, conditioners for curly hair are more moisturizing. If you have straight hair, the natural oils from your scalp can easily run down the hair shaft. But, if coarse and curly, it’s harder for these oils to do so, and therefore, hair tends to be drier,” says Dr. Cook-Bolden.

Because of that, conditioners designed for curly hair have to pick up the slack by ramping up their moisturizing potential with hydrating butters and oils. These formulas may actually omit silicones to prevent weighing down natural texture, so it may take some trial and error to find a formula that plays nice with your strands.

Now that you have the basics down, you can start trying out some hydrating game-changers. Here, the best conditioners to revive dry, dull, and frizzy hair.

With moisturizing kukui nut oil and silicones, “if your hair is very dry, this conditioner will help it look smooth,” says Dr. Jaliman. It also locks out humidity to fight frizz, which leaves strands sleek.

If the source of dryness mainly comes from damage, this conditioner addresses that with keratin actives that nourish parched and fragile hair. The best part? It’s wallet-friendly at under $5 a pop.

Los Angeles-based celebrity hair stylist Josh Miramontes likes this conditioner because it’s packed with proteins that repair and rebuild the hair cuticle, while antioxidants offer top-notch protection against environmental assaults that suck moisture from strands.

Argan oil is the star hydrator here, and silicones play supporting roles. Keratin protein is added to the mix to strengthen hair against heat and styling damage.

Hair that’s fine and dry is tough to treat. Luckily, this miceller water conditioner—which ispumped with cucumber water, orange flower extract, and tea—is hydrating enough to infuse moisture while being so lightweight it won’t weigh hair down.

This is a great conditioner for quenching hair of any texture. Wheat and keratin amino acids fortify, provitamin B5 softens, and floral, fruit, algae, and aloe extracts nourish. It’s especially great for curly hair, since it detangles, encourages tight curl formation, and hydrates without the heaviness.

If you’re dealing with some serious split ends, meet your new go-to. This cult-favorite conditioner works to repair bonds within hair to address damage. Oils like avocado, grapeseed, and soybean, plus multiple silicones infuse softness. Rave reviewers note the conditioner has transformed their hair by chasing away frizz, amping up shine, and leaving it appearing healthier than ever.

A sulfate-free shampoo is gentle on color-treated and highlighted hair, as it won’t strip color and cause fading. This conditioner is free of those sulfates and adds serious moisture to medium-thick hair with jojoba and shea butter.

This conditioner’suplifting lavender and mint scent is seriously invigorating.Even better: The paraben-free, vegan, and color-safe formula saturates strands with silicones, glycerin, stearic acid, and vitamin B5, making it a great detangling product.

This conditioning treatmentis just right for squeezing out a generous amount of product to smooth on and revive straw-like strands. Keratin works to fortify the hair fiber, while sweet almond oil replenishes moisture.

Almond and coconut oildon't just make for a divine-smelling conditioner, but they alsomake hair silky enough to run a comb through quickly.This brand is also paraben- and sulfate-free. In fact, the ingredient list is short, so it’s easy to remember exactly what's in the bottle.

Suitable for straight to coily hair textures, this conditioner boasts hydrating glycerin, silicone, and soybean oil. Moringa flower and red algae extract safeguard strands against damage. Testers rave about the lightweight formula that helps hair maintain volume. Plus, the scent is pretty amazing.

Skin sensitivity can also be a thing on your scalp, making it extra tricky to commit to a conditioner. Cue: This fragrance-free, hypoallergenic formula is madewith soothing ingredients like oat milk, green tea, andaloe to protect hair and prevent scalp irritation in one go.

If detangling hair is more like a fight with your comb, look for a hydrating conditioner packed withfatty alcohols designed to protect your strands and make them soft from root to tip. This conditioner boasts long-chain alcohols like lauryl alcohol, cetearyl alcohol, and myristyl alcohol, which act as a lubricant to retain moisture.

Ideal forcurly and textured strands, this fan-favorite from SheaMoisture coats coilswith peppermint andJamaican black castor oil, believed topromote hairgrowth and strengthen brittle tresses.Combined with nourishing shea butter, this soothes the scalp by hydrating the skin (no more flakes!) and moisturizes damaged hair for an extra dose of protection.

This moisturizing conditioner makes luscious and soft hair possible with the help of vitamin-richgreen caviar (a.k.a. sea grapes). They replenish hair with nutrientsand elastin protein, anchoring strandsto the scalp and preventing excessive hair loss. The combo soothes and hydrates dry hair for a healthy shine.