Hairitage, also called Hairitage by Mindy, is a hair care brand founded by influencer Mindy McKnight who has over 5 million YouTube subscribers. The brand sells everything from shampoo to functional accessories, and claims to be “the first hair care brand that truly encompasses the needs of every hair type and texture.”

But do Hairitage by Mindy’s products actually contain research-backed ingredients for improving hair quality, or are these just marketing claims? Do they contain any questionable additive ingredients? What retailer sells them for the best price? And how do real users rate and describe the effects of Hairitage products?

In this article we’ll answer all of these questions and more as we analyze the ingredients in two of the most popular Hairitage products (Lazy Day Dry Shampoo and Light As A Feather Leave-In Conditioner) based on medical studies to give our take on whether they’re likely to improve the look and health of your hair, or if they’re a waste of money.

We’ll also provide a cost breakdown featuring which retailer sells Hairitage for the best prices, and highlight real, unsponsored user reviews of the brand.

Lazy Day Dry Shampoo Ingredient Analysis

The ingredients in Hairitage Lazy Day Dry Shampoo are shown above.

Panthenol is the only active ingredient in this formulation that we can find research backing for.

A medical review published in the Journal of Cosmetic Science found that panthenol helps to moisturize the skin when applied topically, which suggests that it may improve scalp health and appearance.

Fragrance is an ingredient we consider questionable from a health perspective. As we documented in our K18 reviews article on another hair brand containing this ingredient, a medical review concluded that fragranced consumer products may “impose serious risks to human health.”

There are a number of questionable health and beauty claims about the ingredients in this product on Hairitage’s website, as shown below:

The brand claims that rice starch can “promote the appearance of long, strong healthy hair growth,” however we cannot find any clinical evidence of this, nor does the brand provide any proof of this claim.

Hairitage also claims that arctic root (which is a term they’re using to describe Rhodiola rosea) “helps to slow down the appearance of dry, damaged strands:”

Again, we cannot find one single clinical trial proving this, nor does the brand cite any research proving it.

Overall we consider Lazy Day Dry Shampoo potentially effective for improving hair quality due to the inclusion of panethnol, but it’s one of the worst shampoo formulations we’ve reviewed on Illuminate Health, and we don’t recommend it due to the inclusion of fragrance.

But before we move on to the ingredient analysis of the brand’s conditioner, we’ll highlight some real user reviews of Hairitage products.

Real, Unsponsored Hairitage User Reviews

A YouTube video from popular beauty influencer Abbey Yung has over 140,000 views and reviews many Hairitage products including live product demos to show color and consistency:

A YouTube creator named Olivia Wilson used only Hairitage products for a month and shared her thoughts on how her hair was affected:

Hairitage Conditioner Ingredient Analysis

The ingredients in Hairitage Light As A Feather Leave-In Conditioner are shown above.

Polyquaternium-16, polyquaternium-44 and polyquaternium-55 are members of a class of compounds called polyquaterniums, which were shown in a clinical trial published in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology to naturally add volume to hair.

Glycerin is clinically shown to improve scalp health, as we referenced in our Odele Shampoo review article on another hair brand using this ingredient.

While this product contains more active ingredients that we could find research backing for than the shampoo, it also contains a few questionable additives.

Fragrance is included, and we discussed the potential health downsides of this ingredient in the previous ingredient analysis section.

Phenoxyethanol and benzyl alcohol are synthetic preservatives, the former of which was shown in a 2020 clinical trial to be toxic to human cells.

Overall, we consider Hairitage Light As A Feather Leave-In Conditioner likely to improve hair quality and texture due to its multiple research-backed active ingredients.

We don’t currently recommend this product due to the fragrance and preservative ingredients, but we do consider it a better formulation than the dry shampoo.

But what retailer sells Hairitage for the best price? We’ll review in the next section.

Where to Buy Hairitage for the Best Price

Hairitage products are sold at a variety of online retailers. Here’s a price breakdown at the time of publishing this article:

Hairitage Dry Shampoo

Brand website: N/A

Amazon: N/A

Walmart: $8.94 (link)

Hairitage Leave-In Conditioner

Brand website: N/A

EveryMarket: $27.58

Amazon: $17.49 (third-party seller, link)

Walmart: $8.94 (link)

Hairitage products are significantly cheaper on Walmart than on other retail platforms (up to 68% cheaper in the case of the conditioner). This makes sense given that Hairitage advertises Walmart as their exclusive distributor on the brand’s website.

Hairitage Founder Shares Hair Care Routine

Mindy McKnight, who’s the founder of Hairitage, shares her hair care routine that includes Hairitage products in a YouTube video with over 250,000 views:

Real Customers Review Hairitage

Walmart is a better resource for honest customer reviews than a brand’s website in our opinion.

Hairitage Dry Shampoo has been reviewed over 450 times on Walmart, with an average review rating of 4.3 out of 5 stars.

The top positive review from a verified purchaser is written by a user named “Sarah” who claims it offers a better experience than other dry shampoo products:

“I love this stuff! It soaks up the oil but doesn’t leave a white residue like most other brands. The only bad thing is the nozzle is really hard to press, but that’s not a big deal.”

The top negative review from a verified purchaser comes from a user named “Leah” who claims that the product caused side effects:

“...when I use this my scalp gets VERY itchy and irritated. The itch is so bad I had to completely stop using it and once I did it went away. I don’t know if they changed the formula, but I cannot use this anymore and it makes me so sad.”

Our Clean Hair Care Picks

Ingreendients Daily Shampoo is our top shampoo pick, because it's formulated 100% from plants and contains research-backed active ingredients like acetic acid, derived from apple cider vinegar (ACV), which researchers suggest "can condition hair making it softer, silkier, shinier."

Happy Head Topical is our top hair growth solution.

This formulation uses FDA-approved hair loss ingredients like minoxidil which is clinically shown to increase hair count by 11%.

The brand also publishes the percentage concentration of each active ingredient, which is a sign of quality and transparency.

Pros and Cons of Hairitage

Here are the pros and cons of Hairitage as a brand in our opinion:

Pros:

• Highly affordable
• Aesthetic branding
• Available in-store at Walmart
• Conditioner contains multiple research-backed ingredients

Cons:

• Both products reviewed contain fragrance
• Some formulations contain synthetic preservatives
• Neither formulation appears clinically tested
• Brand makes questionable claims of ingredient efficacy
• Not available for purchase on brand website

Conclusion

Hairitage is one of the more underwhelming hair care brands that we’ve reviewed on Illuminate Health.

We don’t currently recommend either the dry shampoo or the leave-in conditioner sold by the brand due to some of the inactive ingredients like fragrance.

We do consider both products somewhat likely to be effective, but we were only able to identify one active ingredient in the dry shampoo with indirect clinical backing.

Hairitage makes strange and uncited ingredient claims on their website, including that rice starch supports hair growth, without providing any proof of such claim.

Most online customer reviews of Hairitage that we came across while researching this article were favorable, and for consumers intent on purchasing from this brand, Walmart currently has the best prices by far.