Review: it Haircare 12-in-One Amazing Leave In Treatment

Purchased by Me 

A drugstore dupe for It's a 10 Miracle Leave-In? That's exactly what I asked myself about a month ago when I spotted this new it Haircare product sitting on the shelf at my local Rite Aid. So naturally, it went home with me, and I've been using it regularly for over four weeks now. So let's take a closer look, shall we?

 it Haircare 12-in-One Amazing Leave In Treatment

(retail: $8.99 at Rite Aid, 5.1 oz)

Keep reading for my full review...

it Haircare is probably best know for Freeze It, which is a line of affordable styling products that you can find at most major drugstores, grocery stores, etc. (by the way, I just noticed that it Haircare brought back the original Freeze Hairspray due to customer demand). This new leave-in treatment is not part of the Freeze It line and as you're probably aware, the bottle looks similar to the much-loved It's a 10 Miracle Leave-In. 

In addition to this new leave-in treatment, there are some other new products on the it Haircare website, including a new lash serum, surf spray, and more. But back to this new product:

Made in USA

Let's compare the ingredients to It's a 10 Miracle Leave-In (from drugstore.com):

Water (Purified), Cetearyl Alcohol, Behentrimonium Chloride, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Propylene Glycol, Panthenol, Cyclomethicone, Silk Amino Acid, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Extract (Sunflower), Camellia Sinensis (Green Tea) Leaf Extract, Quaternium 80, Fragrance, Eugenol 3, Coumarin 3, Cinnamal 3, Linalool, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone

Both product contain water, 'cones, propylene glycol, panthenol. silk amino acids, sunflower seed extract and a few other common ingredients. The it Haircare product is paraben-free (It's a 10 contains two forms) and the it Haircare product contains abyssinian oil and argan oil, while It's a 10 does not contain either (it does contain green tea leaf extract though). 

Based on this info alone, this is clearly not a dupe for It's a 10. But since they do share common ingredients, I was still curious if they might perform in similar ways. 

spray nozzle

Before I get into how this product performs for me, I want to mention the most surprising thing that I discovered about this product. The texture is definitely not what I expected:

This product is not a liquid--it's a solid! Well, I should say it's more lotion-like, but it's definitely more solid than it is liquid. It's a 10 Miracle Leave-In is a liquid and I was fully expecting THIS product to be. But when I first used it I was very surprised to see that it comes out of the nozzle exactly like a spray lotion. 

At first I thought, "Well maybe it needs to be warmer, sort of like coconut oil." But no. I used this on a few 90-degree days and it still maintained its solid form. It's not difficult to dispense, but I do wish the little pin-hole opening on the nozzle was tiny bit larger.

But as you can see, once you rub it between your hands, it breaks down easily and the texture is more like a leave-in lotion type of styling product. It's not thick, goopy, sticky or weird. It's very light and easy to disperse through the hair, although I do suggest spraying it into your palm, rubbing it between your hands and working it in to your hair that way. For me, it just doesn't work when I try to apply it straight from the bottle (sprayed directly onto my hair). 

After over four weeks of using this product, I can tell you that it is definitely not a dupe for It's a 10 Miracle Leave-In, but you know what? I find myself loving it. It doesn't have the instant detangling power that It's a 10 Miracle Leave-In has, but I'm extremely pleased with how this leaves my hair feeling and looking.

If you're new to this blog, I have long, naturally wavy hair that's fine in texture (but I have a lot of it). My roots are very oily and my ends are very dry, and my hair is color-treated. Basically, my hair can be a giant frizz ball if left to its own devices, but if I use heavy styling products, my hair can easily get weighed down. I love to air-dry my hair and allow my natural waves to look beachy (loose ringlets), so I'm always looking for a good treatment that can help eliminate frizz, make my hair feel soft without weighing it down, and also give my waves some uniformity. 

This product helps do everything I just listed above. It makes my hair feel softer without weighing it down, it helps control frizz and it makes my waves a bit more springy and uniform. In a nutshell, this is doing everything I wanted it to do. I love the way It's a 10 Miracle Leave-In instantly detangles my hair (my hair is very prone to tangles) and I'm a little bummed that I don't get that here, but for $8.99, I'm willing to overlook that.

I also love that I don't need much per application (your mileage may vary, of course). As with any styling product, you'll need to experiment with different amounts until you find that magic combination, and for me I find that two pumps from the bottle is perfect since I only apply this from my ears down. I've been using this about every day for 4+ weeks and I'm not even close to hitting the halfway mark, which means I definitely won't blow through a bottle as quickly as I have blown through bottles of It's a 10.

I also love the scent of this product. To me, it smells like a bowl of sangria that's sitting next to a vase of gardenias. That's the best way I can describe it! I get citrus and red berries and a rich red-wine note here (I LOVE red-wine scented anything, so this is a major plus for me), but I also get a lovely whiff of sweet gardenia. Overall, it's an extremely pleasant fragrance, but it's not super strong. I can definitely smell it during application, and for a little while after application, but it's not the type of fragrance that stays with me all day (but oh how I wish it were). For some weird reason, I can't exactly remember the scent of It's a 10 Miracle Leave-In, and I ran out of my last bottle quite a while ago. So I'm sorry I can't tell you exactly how the two fragrances compare, but I'm pretty certain they're not identical.

In the 4+ weeks that I've been using this product, I haven't noticed any build-up. I normally use a clarifying shampoo about once a week, but I skipped it for two weeks to see if I had any noticeable build-up and nope. Nothing. Also, since I have very oily roots, and I know a lot of you do too, I want to mention that this product does not accelerate my oiliness. After 24 hours, my hair is not any oilier than usual.

FINAL VERDICT: If your hair is fine, oily, prone to frizz or all of the above, I think this might be a great little product for you to consider, even though it's definitely not a dupe for It's a 10 Miracle Leave-In. I can't say that it would deliver enough hydration and control for those of you with dry and/or coarse hair, but for the rest of this, I think this one's a little gem. Plus, it smells fantastic and it's fun to dispense from the nozzle. I've been reaching for it after every washing and I will certainly repurchase when I run out. 

Are you a fan it Haircare (Freeze It products or any of their other products)? Think you'll give this one a shot?

The products featured in this post were purchased with personal funds. For more information, click here.