[review] oyin handmade juices & berries nourishing herbal leave-in

ingredients:  purified water infused with horsetail, lavender, nettle, roses, and chamomile; organic flaxseeds; aloe vera juice; vegetable glycerine; essences of lavender, sweet orange, ylang ylang; grapefruit seed extract; citric acid

i've had this product for maybe a year now; maybe even before i went natural. i gave my first bottle away to a natural friend who was in love with the smell (and subsequently encouraged me to taste it). a few months ago, i went to their bottling party and picked up another bottle, looking for something quick&dirty to moisturize my slowly-sprouting fade. i got maybe three uses before i stopped using this and stored it away. i decided to revisit my nearly-full bottle and now i'm ready to bang out this review.

you get a very generous 8 oz bottle for only $11, which i think is an excellent price. oyin very recently introduced sample bottles, so you can try out 2 ounces of this for $3.50. i love the idea of cute, portable size products! how cool is it to have something called juices&berries in your purse, ready to whip out in the face of sudden dryness. what i thought was especially cool was that you can buy the sample sizes of all three leave-ins as a set for ten bucks. not bad at all. i am big on options and variety, so this is very nice.

the bottle is a gorgeous deep, cobalt blue, which plays nicely with the juicy reds of the berries on the label. i really enjoy oyin's labels for their clean font. they utilize the entire space and the thick, stylized "juices & berries" just screams of this playful, retro afro-chic that is representative of the oyin brand and their fun, lovable staff.

the scent is very succinctly described in the name - juices and berries. this is a lush, sweet scent that is very natural. it smells like (and tastes like) juice. the berries temper the sweetness just enough with a hint of tartness. the staying power on this is amazing too. you can smell it fill the air when you spritz it. thank goodness the smell is delicious. you can walk around smelling like a smorgasbord of yummy berries all day.

despite all these positive things, the performance left much to be desired.

one thing immediately noticed was how it left my hands feeling. my hands felt sticky and coated and sure enough, my hair felt the same. my ears and neck where the spritz hit felt dirty, like i needed a good washing. i stopped using this when i had my fade because i didn't want a scalp that felt like that. the benefits weren't great enough (if there were any at all) to make me keep using.

i revisited again today, deciding to dampen my hair first then follow up with the spritz. i will say, i really liked how it styled my hair. it caused a bit more shrinkage than usual, but i didn't mind. my hair looked shiny and lush and i was glad that i didn't have to slather more avocado butter in my hair to make it look presentable.

but it took my hair forever to dry. my hair feels fine now, four hours later, but i couldn't help but notice how much my hair dripped. i hate the drippies with a passion, but i have been getting better at minimizing. maybe i just sprayed too much water this morning, i don't know, but having the juices & berries drip all over my face and neck and leave me sticky was not fun. i've noticed that i've had the same experience on dry hair. i don't feel as though the product sinks in quickly at all; 30 minutes later my hair is either still damp or sticky, neither of which i enjoy, nor do i feel i should have to experience.

perhaps this is all user error, seeing as how so many people seem to absolutely love this spray. regardless, i don't feel as though i should have to work with a product but so much to get the desired results, especially when there are already so many minuses. i could dilute it, but i don't feel as though i should have to. i'm not sure what i'm going to do with this product. maybe i'll try diluting it, just to say i did work with it, but if i can't make it work by the time i get to half of the bottle, it's being gifted to my roommate (who is always snooping through my hair goodies anyway).

obviously, i won't be repurchasing this. maybe the other sprays aren't as sticky. i feel as though i kind of set myself up with this one - after all, juice is sticky, so why wouldn't this be? (i know i'm reaching here, lol).

and yes, i did spray some of this into my mouth. it was all natural, so i figured why not. and yes, it do taste like juices and berries (but it has a very weird after-taste). would i do it again... probably.

ftc disclaimer: i am in no way affiliated with this company. i was not paid for this review and the product was purchased with my own monies. :)