L'Oréal 8 Second Wonder Water REVIEW

Was I willing to risk it all on a £4 haircare product from Amazon? Yes. Yes, I was.

Firstly, I’m going to preface this review with a big fat disclaimer — my tresses haven’t met the hands of a hairdresser since the halcyon days of early 2020. (Wow, remember a time when a haircut didn’t constitute a federal crime.) My hair is long, it’s unpredictable, it’s wily. It has the mind of a blunt cut bob, and the finesse of a Maine Coon on acid. While I’m not speed-dialling any bootleg hairdressers (just yet), I guess any verdict must be taken with a generous pinch of bath salt.

Marketed as a so-called “miracle” water — as if it’s some kind of religious holy water, and us long-haired ladies are its disciples — L'Oréal's Elvive 8 Second Wonder Water is the Vogue-approved rinse-out hair treatment everyone is talking about.

It's essentially a liquid conditioner that you apply to the mid-lengths/ends of your hair post-shampoo and rinse out after 8 seconds. Most importantly, it’s affordable with a RRP of £9.99 — you can also find it online for half-price.

So what’s the buzz about? Well, this is the the first drugstore haircare product to utilise revolutionary ‘lamellar’ technology (patent-pending). Kérastase (which is owned by L'Oréal) first introduced it in their salons with their 'K Water treatment' in 2019, but this is the only at-home product on the market. Whether L’Oréal knew we’d be entering a global pandemic when they started developing this product for home use remains to be seen — but the timing is fortuitous, to say the least.

So I hotfooted it online to snap some up. Have I just been played by capitalism? Or is it really worth the hype, the proverbial answer to all our lockdown hair woes? Let’s explore…

Application… aka GO time: I mean, the task of getting precisely 20ml of the solution from the squeezy bottle feels ambitious. Insert Ivanka Trump in the lab meme:

The bottle contains markers but once you flip it upside down, North is your South, South is your North. So I’d advise putting the solution directly onto your palm — no corrosive burns to report yet, so I’m assuming this is okay? Lol. It’s also transparent, as the product name would imply, so it’s very hard to see what’s actually gone on. Wing and a prayer, I guess.

It's suitable for all hair types, but you may need to double or triple up the dosage depending on your hair texture. When it first whooshes out the bottle, prepare yourself for an overpowering scent. The fact such an aroma could exude from such a small volume of liquid, quite frankly, defies the laws of chemistry. In fact, the scent still lingers once the hair is dry which is one drawback. The bottle also cautions that you may feel ‘a warming sensation’ once the product activates — sounds ominous! — but nothing to report on this front, happily.

In basic terms, ‘lamellar’ technology deposits ultra lightweight molecules onto the hair which are 10x smaller than regular conditioners or masks. These molecules create a glossy, silky, light reflecting top coat on your tresses — leaving them shiny and smooth with an almost weightless feel.

So is it worth the hype? Yes! My locks felt smoother than ever and super lightweight — almost giving Glass hair vibes. There’s not a doubt in my mind that it’s actually done what it claims on the bottle. It did require a small amount of straightening, but not to the usual extent.

This is probably the closest thing you’re going to get to a Brazilian Blowout a su casa. While the scent did fade after 24hrs, it was probably the only negative of the whole experience. And frankly, I count that as a win. Let me know if you’ve tried it and your thoughts!

TLDR:

Ease: 10/10

Smooth: 9/10

Weightless: 8/10

Silky: 9/10

Scent: 2/10

L'Oréal's Elvive 8 Second Wonder Water — shop here (RRP £9.99)

ON INSTAGRAM:

RE=COMB transform waste plastic into colourful, marble-effect hair combs. As a sustainable beauty brand, they’re striving for a more circular approach. Each comb is made from 100% recycled polypropylene, and totally unique 💘 this one’s got her work cut out with the detangling, though…