I Tried the Babe Original Hair Serum. Is It Worth Its $49 Price Tag?

• Efficacy: 19/20
• Ease of Application: 20/20
• Scent: 20/20
• Aesthetic: 19/20
• Value: 16/20

Total: 94/100

As someone with fine and thin hair, I’m always looking for ways to literally cover up my scalp. Sometimes that’s a thickening hairstyle or an updo. Other times it’s slathering on heat protectant so I don’t fry the few strands I do have. While I’m not in the market to pursue hair extensions, my general rule is if I can easily apply it to my hair without damage, I’ll try it. Enter hair growth serums. I’ve tried them in the past to good results, so when I saw that the Babe Original hair serum ($49) was trending in Google search, I knew I had to try it. Below are my thoughts and results after eight weeks of testing—including if it outperformed my $15 standby.

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Babe Original’s Hair Densifying Serum claims to encourage fuller, healthier hair by balancing the scalp microbiome and replenishing hair follicles. Key ingredients include familiar players like keratin, biotin, rosemary extract, redensyl and baicapil, which are often found in hair products to promote growth, health and circulation. In a survey conducted by the brand, 90 percent of respondents said that their hair appeared denser, longer and softer after six weeks.

Though Babe Original says that 12 weeks of consistent use will yield the best results, I tested for eight weeks, abstaining from other hair-growth products. I applied the serum every night, following the directions to parcel a full dropper over my entire scalp. At the start, my longest hair measured 18 and 13/16 inches. On average, human scalp hair grows 0.41 inches per month. My hair grows very slowly—about 0.25 inches per month—without product. During testing, I wanted to see if the serum would help me at least get to the average, or in the best case scenario, surpass it. I evaluated it on the PureWow100, scoring the serum on efficacy, ease of application, scent, aesthetic and value for a total of 100 points.

At $49 for 1.76 ounces, Babe Original’s hair serum isn’t a budget buy. I was curious to see if it would outperform The Ordinary’s Multi-Peptide Serum for Hair Density, which comes in at $15 for 1 ounce.

Last year, I tested The Ordinary in the same timeframe, eight weeks, and had a total growth of about 1.75 inches, or 0.89 inches per month.

With Babe Original, my total hair growth was just over 2 inches for an average of 1 inch per month. The difference was a quarter of an inch more of growth in the span of eight weeks.

If it’s in your budget, you like scented products and the quicker results are important to you, the Babe Original hair serum a good buy. Otherwise, you can achieve similar results, albeit at a slower pace, with different brands. I scored the serum a total of 94/100 points on the PureWow100 scale, finding it was effective, easy to use and yielded fast results.