Shoppers with Damaged Hair Swear by This $18 Strengthening Conditioner

Scrolling through post after post of beauty influencer recommendations and ads for high-end brands can make you feel like dropping hundreds of dollars is the only way to fix your hair struggles. As harmful as the internet can be to our bank accounts (and TBH, our self-esteem), it also has the power to uncover affordable alternatives that actually work.

Take the $7 Elizavecca Milky Piggy Collagen Coating Protein Ion Injection, for instance. The formula shot to fame on TikTok back in 2021 for its frizz-taming and breakage-mending abilities, results that many compared to those of $30 formulas. Predictably, the K-beauty brand behind this internet sensation offers dozens of other treatments for weak, over-processed strands, like the Elizavecca CER-100 Collagen Coating Hair Muscle Treatment Rinse. 

Like the famous serum, this strengthening conditioner centers on protein, a nutrient that “will help to rebuild bonds and keep hair from breaking,” hair-care educator Dana Hodges previously told Shape. For added moisture, which Hodges notes will keep locks “from feeling and looking overly dry,” this rinse contains softening seed oils and hydration-retaining ceramides. (Pssst: Shoppers with thinning hair call this growth serum “a little miracle worker” — and it's 50 percent off.)

Buy It: Elizavecca CER-100 Collagen Coating Hair Muscle Treatment Rinse, $18, amazon.com

With consistent use of this conditioner, so many Amazon shoppers saw improvement to their damaged mane. This “outperforms even the most expensive salon conditioner,” wrote one reviewer with “super fine” strands. Another saw a “complete transformation” of their “brittle” hair, and even advised leaving the conditioner on for 20 minutes before rinsing it out. A third user with damaged, bleach-treated locks wrote that their hair “definitely looks fuller,” is “frizz-free,” and feels “very smooth” after incorporating this rinse in their routine. 

Topically applied protein can give your hair the help it needs to heal, but too much of this star-ingredient can have an inverse effect, making your strands stiffer and more vulnerable to breaking. With this in mind, adding this strengthening conditioner to your shower regimen once or twice a week will provide the perfect amount of strengthening nutrients for fuller body and silkier texture. Shop a bottle for yourself for $18 from Amazon.