I had a friend who’d been using Carol’s Daughter Hair Balm for awhile. She kept raving about what a great product it was and told me I had to try it. And I’d also read on the Carol’s Daughter website how Jada Pinkett attributes her long locks to it. So even though I don’t have Jada’s or my friends texture I got curious about the Carol’s Daughter Balm and decided to buy a 4oz bottle of it for $12 from Sephora.
The balm is yellow and it looks like Vaseline that’s been blended into a thick balmy liquid. But the balm doesn’t contain petroleum or mineral oil. It’s a mixture of soybean, corn, and sweet almond oil along with cocoa butter, beeswax, coconut oil, shea butter, fragrance, palm kernel and wheat germ oil.
Carol’s Daughter website claims that the Balm “produces shine, moisture, and manageability without build-up. The rich blend of protein, nourishing B vitamins and minerals are specifically formulated to prevent breakage and promote healthy hair growth.” And that it’s “highly concentrated with natural oils so all you need is a dime-sized application.
The Balm is unique, it smells sweet but also heavy and oily it feels heavy too but once you apply it it’s actually quite smooth, light, and it isn’t greasy at all.
I was quickly disappointed though when I followed the instructions on the bottle and applied a small amount of it to my dry strands. I have a kinky and coarse texture that always seems to be thirsty for moisture. So the day that I used the Carol’s Daughter Balm my hair was somewhat dry and I just felt like it did absolutely nothing for it. My strands didn’t feel smooth or moisturized, nor did they look glossy.
My hair kind of drank it up but was still left thirsty for more hydration. So the following week I just decided to use it right after conditioning because my hair reacts better to most products when it’s wet. I had better results with the Carol’s Daughter Balm then.
I used it along with the Carol’s Daughter Healthy Hair Butter and found that the balm coated my hair and sealed in moisture. It made my strands feel more moisturized and manageable. It was a lot easier to comb through tangles with the balm it was like using a rich leave-in conditioner. I styled my hair in twists when using the Hair Balm and found that they had more hold and less frizz than it normally would.
I’ve also used it when I’ve worn my hair loose and I found that while the Balm makes my hair more manageable while wet, it prevents me from adding more moisture to my hair the following day or so once it dries. Because it seals each strand it creates a barrier that won’t let any more oils penetrate it.
In the End…
I have had decent results with Carol’s Daughter Hair Balm. It’s not my mainstay product from Carol’s Daughter but I’ll use it occasionally on my wet hair when I feel like it wants to be soothed and smoothed or if I have some gnarly tangles and knots to deal with it.
I have also found that the Balm does add additional smoothness and soft manageability to dry strands if they are already well moisturized and hydrated before you use it. So I like to use it now to finger style a twist-out or to pull out sections of an Afro. But if my tresses are as thirsty for moisture like when I first used the Balm I’ll skip it and use a moisturizer on them instead.
I think that if you have a silkier hair texture like Jada Pinkett then the Hair Balm would probably be a life changing hair product for you, but on coarser strands like mines the Balm is a nice addition to a styling regimen but not an essential one. I give it 3 out of 5 stars.
