Manika-Nia D.
Not for curlies
Of course when we see the creator’s hair along with testimonials of other “students,” we have high hopes. I joined the 14-day challenge with belly button length hair and hoped I could learn how to get it waist length. There were some valuable things I learned, for sure, and I do think this company believes that they are helping women. But I also think they won’t easily admit that there is a larger money making ethos about them. The entire challenge, regardless of what their follow up comments say, are to introduce themselves to sell the advanced challenge at 500, 1k or more. Hey, most people are out here making a living so I can’t knock the hustle, but it’s definitely not something that aligns with my values in trusting a brand. Additionally, as someone with curly hair, I didn’t find that this programme helped me nor was I convinced that the advanced challenge would be any more beneficial. It’s tempting to believe that something can catapult your hair to a new level and I wanted to believe, but honestly my gut led me away. There’s so many scams and marketing gimmicks these days and when my instinct makes me question, even slightly, I trust it. That being said, I believe this company will fight tooth and nail to present a different viewpoint. Still, this is certainly my take and experience. I feel they gave just enough information to get you through the 14 days but it was all to lead to their advanced programme. If they had started the 14 day challenge and on day 1 said this is an intro, you will get some info that we feel will benefit you but if you really want change then the advanced class is best for you, I’d respect them more. But they didn’t do that which certainly makes me feel that there is money motivation as opposed to what they say their aim is: to help empower women. We all know that many “smart marketers” use video courses that are all to get us to buy more and I’m not convinced this is something different. Also many examples that they showed were for non-textured hair…I saw one or two with curly or textured hair and I don’t remember them with particularly long hair as was the case with straight and wavy examples. That matters to someone with my hair type. I found the shampoo mix and ph info helpful. Also knowledge of supplements that conflict with one another was great to know. A different perspective on sulphates and silicones was appreciated. But there was a lot of: you need to know your exact hair profile and that won’t be covered in this 14-day challenge. Maybe a smarter tactic for them is to give the 14-day free or for $5 then people might feel more positive to join what I suspect they really want people to join (their advanced program). There was this whole: win the advanced by commenting and comment on social media or review (here) for more points to be in the running. Again, I don’t knock the hustle, but take that as you will, because I took it as market-y as opposed to legit proof in the pudding. Not saying this company is a scam, scam. I’m sure many have benefited from what they offer, but I’m also not saying that they are one of those companies where the customer is bigger than the money. Those are rare these days, anyway. They also had a deal for the conditioner when I joined and something happened on my end where the add on didn’t add. I asked customer service if it could be added. They said yes, at full price. I explained there was an issue on my end but they wouldn’t allow me the original discount. Not saying they were obligated to, but those things stand out to a customer and I think it says a lot about them and how they value their customers. Biggest advice: look at the 14-day as just a bit of info, with some things that you can likely find for free, and join advanced if you have the funds and aren’t fussed about spending. And if you are a curly or have textured hair, I’d say: nah girl, try something more suited to us x.
Response from HairqareNov 12, 2025
Thank you so much for taking the time to write such a thoughtful and honest review. I can feel how much care you put into this, and it really means a lot that you shared your experience so openly. I want to respond with that same level of honesty and care. First of all, if your gut told you this wasn't right for you, you absolutely made the right decision. Please trust that instinct. Not everyone needs Haircare Lab, and that's completely okay. You're totally right about the curly and textured hair representation, and I'm genuinely glad you brought this up. Most of our transformation examples are curl types 2a-3b because that's been our historical majority, but that's a gap we're actively working to improve. If the Challenge didn't feel relevant to your textured hair type, I completely understand why you'd question whether the full program would be either. I understand the frustration when you sense there's a sales motivation behind something, especially when you're hoping for pure education and empowerment. The Challenge is designed to give real value (which it sounds like you did get from the pH info, supplement conflicts, and sulfate/silicone perspective), AND it introduces women to Hairqare Lab so they can decide if they want more. However, the content of the challenge is enough to make a big difference for many women and not every woman needs Hairqare Lab. Regarding the "money making ethos", you're not wrong that we need to make money. We do. Let me share what it actually takes to run our Hairqare school: - A team of 12+ people - experts, medical professionals, research staff, customer support, community moderators, operations, marketing - all with salaries and benefits - Server and hosting costs for 100,000+ members accessing our platform daily - Development and ongoing maintenance of our diagnostic and assessment tools - Expert consultations and continuous research to keep our content current - Platform infrastructure that runs 24/7, plus email service providers, payment processors, and more - Customer support available across multiple time zones Our monthly operational costs exceed $70,000. That's not money I get to take home as profit. That's money that goes straight out every single month just to keep the doors open and continue serving people well. The reality is that we genuinely, deeply want to help women understand their hair. That mission is real - I promise you that. AND we need to charge for our services to sustain the expertise and infrastructure required to actually deliver that help. If we gave everything away for free, we wouldn't be able to pay our team members. Eventually, we'd burn through our savings and have to shut down. And then we'd help no one. We make money so we CAN keep helping women - not the other way around. Our business activities enable us to fund our mission and improve the program so it can make a bigger impact. I know that doesn't erase the tension you feel between "mission-driven" and "money-making." I understand why those can feel at odds. All I can tell you is that we're doing our very best to hold both of those things with integrity. About the conditioner discount issue: I'm genuinely sorry about that experience. You're absolutely right that honoring the original discount would have been better customer service, especially given the technical issue on your end. We're actively working to improve our processes with the team so situations like this are handled with more care and flexibility. I'm truly sorry the experience didn't align with your values or meet your needs and I'm grateful you took the time to share all of this so thoughtfully so we can do better. We're not perfect but we're learning every day how to serve our customers better. We're giving our best effort to this work, and your feedback helps us do that more effectively. Wishing you all the best with your hair journey. ❤️ Sarah




