Fight Frizzy, Unruly Hair With These 4 Leave-In Conditioners

When I was at the cusp of puberty my sophomore year of high school (I was a late bloomer, OK?), my hair went though what could only be called a hellish, cursed metamorphosis — and it happened overnight. READ: Help! I Have a Bad Haircut In my possibly unreliable memory, I went to bed with luscious, virgin hair that was equal parts silky and shiny — it was the long, wavy brown kind you’d see glistening in slow motion in shampoo commercials — and then I woke up with my mom’s hair. I’m not totally sure how I can describe my mom’s hair without offending anyone (namely her), but it’s not exactly the object of envy: It’s naturally frizzy and unmanageable, but because it’s thick, she can douse her hair in leave-in-conditioner and walk out the door with perfect hair, and her co-workers are none the wiser. I followed suit, spritzing Pantene’s Original Leave-In Formula all over my head just like she does, and I ended up looking like a wet dog. If only the slicked-back look was "in" then. Now, after a decade and a half of testing every formula out there, I’ve finally found a combination of products that work with my majorly damaged, flat-on-the-top-but-frizzy-on-the-bottom hair — but there’s no universal cult-favorite leave-in conditioner for a reason: While thin, limp hair often recoils at the sight of moisture, those with thick hair need a super-hydrating formula to curb its propensity for dryness. And if your hair is damaged? Forget it. READ: 6 Ways to Fight Hair Frizz To take out the guesswork (and to be sure nobody else has to look like a wet dog, ever), we broke down the four best leave-in conditioners for every hair type: