If shampooing your hair has you in a lather — ahem — you might want to consider a milder alternative, especially if you have hair that tends to be curly, kinky or frizzy — no matter if you’re black or white or any color in between.
The Shea Moisture line is a great way to start, at middle-of-the-road prices. (They usually retail for $9.99 at Target and Walgreens.) The brand has organic products for curly hair, dry hair, fine hair, and thick hair, as well as baby products, soaps, scrubs, lotions and some styling products.
I’ve used five of their products — so far — and I am impressed with what I’ve tried.
Personally, I’m a white girl with hair on the wavy-curly side with a tendency to frizz, and it’s very fine. Unhappy with the products I had been using, I ventured over to the “ethnic” hair care aisle and decided to start with the Raw Shea Butter Moisture Retention Shampoo — which has no sulfates (which lather and can lead to dryness) and a slew of organic goodies like sea kelp and (of course) shea butter. (Actually the whole Shea Moisture product line seems to be absent of sulfates, parabens, phthalates, and other increasingly frowned-upon additives. It’s also not tested on animals, and it’s made with sustainable materials.) But, back to the shampoo’s performance: It cleanses wonderfully, making a kind of happy-squishy sound, and following with the accompanying conditioner, my hair was in for a treat.
After conditioning, I followed the advice in Lorraine Massey’s Curl Girl: The Handbook (see my review here) by blotting the water gently with a paper towel, and my hair dried with pretty, soft ringlet-y waves, and the frizz was considerably tamed. Before using the Shea Moisture products, I noticed a lot of breakage around the hairline, experiencing that hated frizz halo effect, but a month later it’s practically nonexistent.
Wanting more, I purchased the Organic Yucca & Baobab Thickening Shampoo, with accompanying conditioner and the Organic Yucca & Aloe Thickening Growth Milk, a protective cream that can also be used as a styling product. Using the thickening products, my hair feels a bit stronger and healthier. The shampoo and conditioner feel ultra pleasant on the hair and do help control the frizz, and the growth milk makes a nice add-in to damp hair or as a touch-up later in the day to freshen a ‘do.
It should be noted, the products do have a stronger floral scent — which I worried I would be annoyed with, especially if it turned out I could smell it all day — but the scent quickly fades away.
What I’m most happy about, however, is since using the Shea Moisture products, I’m a lot more content with my hair. Before using the brand, I had a lot more hat days and even occasionally — and seriously — entertained the thought of shaving it all off, it was that annoying to deal with the fried frizz. Now I feel like I’m on much friendlier terms with my locks.
