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 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 contain research-backed ingredients for improving hair quality? Do they contain any unhealthy ingredients? What's the founder's hair care routine? And is Hairitage better or worse than popular hair brands like Pura D'Or?

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) to give our take on whether or not they're effectively formulated.

We'll also feature a video from the company's founder sharing her hair care routine, and compare Hairitage to other popular hair care brands, in terms of formulation quality, to pick our winners (and losers).

Key takeaways:

• Both products analyzed contain at least one ingredient we consider unhealthy
• Questionable and uncited health claims on brand's website
• We do not currently recommend Hairitage

Lazy Day Dry Shampoo Ingredient Analysis

The ingredients in Hairitage Lazy Day Dry Shampoo are shown below:

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.

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:

Hairitage Conditioner Ingredient Analysis

The ingredients in Hairitage Light As A Feather Leave-In Conditioner are shown below:

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 consider it a better formulation than the dry shampoo.

Hairitage vs. Popular Hair Care

Here's how Hairitage compares to other popular hair care brands in terms of formulation quality, in our opinion:

Pura D'Or

Contains many naturally-derived, research-backed active ingredients like Red Korean seaweed extract, which is clinically shown to be effective against hair loss.

This brand's Gold Label Shampoo was free of any unhealthy ingredients upon our most recent analysis.

Winner: Pura D'Or

Native Shampoo

Some Native products contain fragrance, as we documented in our Native Shampoo reviews article.

There are two inactive ingredients in the Native formulations we reviewed that we consider highly questionable, compared to only one in Hairitage, so we give Hairitage the edge from a health perspective.

Winner: Hairitage

SheaMoisture Shampoo

Some formulations contain ingredients we consider unhealthy, but the brand's Intensive Hydration hair mask was free of any unhealthy ingredients.

Neither of the Hairitage formulations we reviewed were free of unhealthy additives, so we give SheaMoisture the advantage in terms of health.

Winner: SheaMoisture Shampoo

Our Clean Hair Care Picks

Acure Vivacious Volume Shampoo is our top shampoo pick.

It contains argan oil which is clinically shown to help protect hair from damage.

Ritual HyaCera is our top hair growth supplement.

This supplement contains wheat oil extract, and a 2024 clinical trial reported that a wheat lipid complex had "a reducing effect on hair shedding and a stimulating effect on hair reappearance and growth."

Both of the products recommended in this section are free of ingredients we consider to be unhealthy.

Hairitage Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Highly affordable
• Aesthetic branding
• 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.

We consider Hairitage to be a healthier option than Native Shampoo, but less healthy than Pura D'Or and SheaMoisture.