Future Icon: The hair treatment that actually DOES everything it promises

As new-to-Ireland brand Eleven Australia creeps onto bathroom shelves nationwide, I decided to road-test their hero product and see if in fact all 11 claims were true for my unruly, thin and troublesome hair…

There’s nothing I hate more than a review of a product after it’s been used for two days. How can you really know if the effects of something are just because you’re at a good time in your cycle (this particularly applies to skin, but either way), or because a different product started working optimally around the same time.

Related: How I brought my thinning hair back from the brink

TRUE REVIEW

For that reason, I wanted to give this a real go. I’ve been using one pump on my damp, sort-of towel-dried hair for the last month, and I’ve gotten very familiar with looking at the various things the product says it will do. And they didn’t stop at five or six claims, oh no. They went the ambitious route. They went to eleven (hence the name). Here’s what they say.

1. Add shine, smoothness and softness
2. Control frizz and flyaways
3. Moisturise
4. Strengthen fragile hair
5. Prevent split ends
6. Detangle and create manageability
7. Protect against heat styling
8. Enhance natural body
9. Repair dry damaged hair
10 Protect hair colour with UVA and UVB filters
11. Prevent chlorine and sun damage

Eleven Australia Miracle Hair Treatment, €18

DID IT GET 11/11?

So now, I’ll be completely honest. I’ve no measurable way to determine no.11 – I don’t bathe in chlorine that often, or swim in a pool, and I haven’t seen a jot of sun since last July, so that I cannot attest to.

• No.1 – 4, I found to be true. My hair was softer, shinier and smoother. I had fewer unruly frizzy bits, and my hair generally felt stronger. Moisturised, not so much, but I feel as though the smoothness attests to there being a level of moisture there somewhere.
• No.5 I didn’t find to be particularly miraculous, but I legitimately don’t think anything can save my split ends after 16 solid years of bleaching – save for maybe a fairly dramatic hair cut. So I forgave it that.
• No.6 – yes, absolutely. This one I found one of the best features – my hair was so much more managle and I heard far fewer audible ‘snap’ sounds when brushing my hair – I need all the hairs I can get, so that snap sound is not my friend. No.7, well, I’ll just have to trust that that’s happening, but same could be said for any heat protector really, so that’s grand.
• No.8 – No.10 I found to be true too. My hair was fuller after blow-drying, my hair felt less dry and damaged, and my colour has been sticking around what feels to be a little longer. As confirmed by my hairdresser too.

All in all, will I continue to use this? Absolutely. Even though technically I couldn’t confirm a couple of them, I trust that because most of the other claims were successful for me, the ones I can’t prove will be too. Maybe I’m naive, maybe I’m just always willing to look for the best in a product, who’s to say?