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Showing posts with label SheaMoisture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SheaMoisture. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

**REVIEW** Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie

I've been tough on a lot of hair products in the past. Miss Jessie's and Shea Moisture are two of the brands that have disappointed me more than once. Both brands are very expensive for the average working class consumer so I think they should be held to a high standard. I've only found one Miss Jessie's product that I would rate as so-so (which is better than my usual Thumbs Down). Recently, I came across a Shea Moisture product that I actually like quite a lot.




That's the Coconut & Hibiscus Curl Enhancing Smoothie from the Shea Moisture label. It self-touts that it will moisturize and "curl define" thick, curly hair. I know I should be thrilled about all the things the product claims to be free of:

  • Sulfates
  • Parabens
  • Phthalates
  • Propylene Glycol
  • Mineral Oil
  • Animal testing
Oh - and it's also color safe and carries the Allure seal. I should care about all that and I do, kind of. What I care most about though is whether or not the stuff works. That's the bottom line for me. After all, a lot of products make the same above claims, but if they don't work, none of it does me a bit of good.

So. Does this "smoothie" define curls and moisturize the hair? I have to admit that it did both for me. Also, the price works. I think I paid around $8 for the 6oz jar at Sally Beauty Supply. That's probably the cheapest Shea Moisture product I've ever seen.

Here are the other Pros:
  • The cream smells amazing. I'm not sure that I smell much of the coconut fragrance and I'm not sure I recall what hibiscus smells like, but the cream smells very fresh and slightly floral. It's not a heavy scent, but it's nice.
  • It doesn't take a lot of the product to moisturize my hair even after washing and drying (when it's at its driest), and it really does add definition to the curl pattern.
  • The cream also provides a bit of "stretch". This is important right after I have washed and dried my hair because that's when I get a lot of shrinkage.
  • I love that the cream is not "heavy" or oily.I can touch my hair without worrying about transferring residue to anything else I touch.
  • The moisturizing and defining effects generally last a few days. There's no need for me to twist or coil my hair to get the definition I like. I can literally do the sleep-and-go thing for up to three to three and a half days before I need to remoisturize.
I think my favorite thing is that, because of the lasting effects, I can get so much use out of this one jar. I'm glad for the affordable price and think it would still be a good bargain if I had to pay a couple more dollars.

Now is when I will go ahead and admit that I am pretty hooked on this stuff. It's all I've been using since I got this jar. 

I think I mentioned recently that, since I've changed my eating habits to keto, I've seen an improvement in the health and growth of my hair. Usually, when I get hair growth, I have problems keeping it styled well. My curl pattern gets crazy with any changes in length. This curl smoothie has been wonderful. I love being able to finger style my hair - instead of having to twist or coil it every few days. And the moisture! It's so nice to get some curl without the crunch!

(The photo is one I took for another post, but you get the idea.)

This one product has made me want to take a look at some other SheaMoisture items. Not the hair stuff because I think the smoothie is all I need for my hair. What I'm talking about is the line of makeup by SheaMoisture. I'd heard about them before but, because I was on an anti-SM groove, I refused to even think about trying something else from them. Now, maybe-maybe. If I do try the makeup, you'll hear all about it!

Peace
--Free 

Thursday, February 04, 2016

**REVIEW(s)** KeraCare, Marc Anthony, and SheaMoisture

No matter what type of hair we have - kinky, curly, coily, straight, fine, thick, short, or long - we know how frustrating it can be to find products that suit our individual hair care needs.

Speaking for myself, I get to try a lot of products in exchange for doing these reviews, but I also go out hunting on my own sometimes. And I also bag something... One day, I spent a gift card on 8 different hair care products from a local store. Curling creams, styling gels, polishers, conditioners... I ended up taking every last one of them back. Not one of them worked. 

By the way, my name is Trudy, and I am a product junkie.


Naturals be like:
Credit to Elle & Necie at Natural Hair Daily

That might be a bit harsh, actually. I'm not the kind to just try different products out of a bad habit. I just have trouble finding things that work, so I have to do the buy-and-return thing. Often. And, believe me, I have no trouble returning a product that doesn't work for me. (This is why I am starting to be way more careful about ordering things online if I don't already know the brand. More on that later.)

This review is for 3 different products I have recently tried. I have a few different goals when I'm looking at hair products. Since my hair is coarse and damaged, and I wear it relaxer-free, I have problems with moisture retention and breakage. For styling, I like having a gel or curl cream for twisting my hair at night (either bantu-style twists or corn-row twists), so that I have more curl definition during the day. Finally, I like good cleansing and rinse-out conditioners. I will alternate fully shampooing my hair with just massaging in then rinsing out a good conditioner, which is called "co-washing" the hair.

natural hair problems.. funny but true:
Credit to Natural Hair Problems

So far, I have a good shampoo that works well to clean my hair without stripping it. I use J,R. Liggett Moisturizing Shampoo Bar. The only thing I don't like about it is that, if any gets in my eyes, it burns like hellfire. I'd love to find a bar that works as well and doesn't have that kind of effect on the eyes. For conditioning, I have a few different favorites. I like Aussie Moist 3-Minute Miracle Moist for deep conditioning after a shampoo. For co-washing, I use Aussie Moist 7-in-1 conditioner. For deep conditioning with heat, I prefer Elasta QP Ultra Hydration or Cream Cholesteral (by Proclaim) because they are both extremely affordable and effective. The QP comes in such a huge size that I rarely have to stock up. With the Proclaim, I add water and shake the container to thin it out because less works better, plus this gives me a higher yeild of product.

With the cleaning and conditioning covered, what I still needed was somthing to use as 1) a daily leave-in conditioner and, 2) a moisturizing, non-sticky, non-greasy feeling cream for doing my twists. I was hoping for products that would be both affordable and effective, but I was willing to pay more depending on quality.

Recently, I tried out 3 products and am only unhappy with one. Let me back up and say that I am extremely happy with 2 of the products and supremely unhappy with 1 product. (On top of being unhappy with it, I'm irritated at the process required to return it. But, again, more on that in a moment.)

Let's start with the positive.

I found a wonderful daily leave-in conditioner that works even on my dangerously dry hair. It's this one by KeraCare:


The photo from the BeautyClicks page is better than mine...

 
I love this stuff. It's light, but very, very moisturizing. I only have to use the smallest amount. What I like to do is apply it to the roots of my hair just before I take down my twists. Once I have the twists down, I apply a little more of the KeraCare to any dry spots.

The thing is, KeraCare products are not cheap. This 4oz bottle is around $16. OUCH!!! But - and here is what it took me a minute to figure out - in the long run, it is much cheaper than a higher priced 16oz product I tried. And that is the one product that I loathe...


That right there is from SheaMoisture. Let me say now that SheaMoisture is one of those brands that seems to get a lot of undeserved (IMO) positive hype. Anytime I read something about natural hair, I hear "SheaMoisture is the stuff!" Bullcrap. I think the brand just has great marketing.

That leave-in by SheaMoisture was horrible. It was sticky going on and, after it dried, it felt slighty tacky to the touch. My hair might have been less dry, but I couldn't tell. The worst thing is that the price is crazy expensive for such lackluster results. (To be fair, a lot of folks seem to love SheaMoisture products. This is the second thing I've tried from them and I was underwhelmed both times. The other thing I tried was a small foil pack sample of some curl cream. Yuck. At least I didn't pay for that mess.)

I'm sending the SheaMoisture back (even though that means printing out a return label and praying I didn't toss the box it came in... ~sigh~)

I hate SheaMoisture so much that I don't want to spend anymore time discussing it. So, back to the positive.

The next product is one that I tried for the first time a long while back. I think I got the mostly empty bottle from a family member. There was only a little bit left and I loved it, but had to search for the bottle to get the brand name. It's Curl Envy 24-hour Moisture from the Marc Anthony Strictly Curls line.  At $7.99 for a 4.5oz bottle, this is super affordable. (Side mention: My dumb self, I thought that the singer Marc Anthony owned the line! "Tell me, baby girl, coz I need to know..."



What I love, love, love about this leave-in is that it's perfect for doing my twists at night. Before finding this, I was just spritzing my hair with water at night. That worked great for styling my hair, but it didn't really boost the moisture throughout the night and after I took down the twists. When I use this moisturizer, I have a lot less dryness in the morning. My routine now is to spritz my hair with water, add a little bit of this product, then do my twists. I can really feel the difference in the elasticity of my hair when I'm doing the twists. There so much less breakage and pulling. LOVE it. 

                                                 28 of Our Favorite Natural Hair Memes | Black Girl with Long Hair:

While I also love the KeraCare, I have to say that I think that the results are a bit similar with the Curl Envy. The KeraCare moisture lasts longer, but... At the price, I can always afford more Curl Envy.

So that's the rundown on a few products I've been trying out. I will try to come back and update this when I've used the KeraCare and Curl Envy for a longer period of time. Also, a friend of mine saw a leave-in by Dr. Miracle when she was at WalMart. She said she thought it would be something good for me to review so she picked up a bottle to give me. Isn't that sweet? Anyway, I will do a review of it when I've tested these other products for a while. 

Peace
--Free