I haven't done this in a very long time, but I just wanted to post reviews for products that are my current HGs. All of them leave my hair very soft with nice defined coils or fluffy defined coils (depending on what product/technique I'm using).
RAVES:
Pantene Relaxed & Natural Intensive Moisturizing Conditioner - I LOVE THIS! I use it as a detangler AND leave-in. I leave like 90% in, then lightly towel dry (or use paper towels) to soak up excess water by gently squeezing out the excess water. Then I might airdry the rest of the way or use a diffuser (depends on my mood). My hair is ALWAYS soft and fluffy. I don't care about frizz too much when I do this, because I want my hair too look big. It contains cyclopentasiloxane, but for some reason it doesn't bother my hair. It's the only drugstore conditioner I've found that works almost as well as the more expensive ones I like. It's only $5, so if you're on a budget it can't hurt.
Pantene Relaxed & Natural Deep Conditioning Mask - This is a very good deep conditioner. Thanks to the ladies of LHCF for recommending it. I was under the impression that it would only work for relaxed heads, but that's not true. It's wonderful! Leaves the hair soft and detangles beautifully.
Devacare Loo Poo Shampoo - Excellent sulfate-free shampoo. My hair feels clean and moisturized at the same time. HG status. Just wish it was cheaper.
Devacare One Condition - The BEST conditioner ANYWHERE!! This is 100x's better than Devacurl One Condition. Way more moisturizing, detangles beautifully and is EXCELLENT leave-in. I can use this with or without gel. I love how my hair looks when it dries. It's fluffy and has sheen. An HG forever. :-D
Devacurl Arc Angell - LOVE THIS GEL now that I know how to use it. You are left with beautifully, defined, shiney (not sheeny), frizz-free coils. It MUST be used in conjunction with some kind of moisturizing leave-in though. It's best to use either Devacare One Condition or Devacurl One Condition. I tried using the gel by itself and with another leave-in from another company, but results weren't the same.
Devacurl Set Me Up - I bought this due to Afrobella's review on her site when she discussed it being used by her stylist. The only problem was that she didn't go into detail on what he did. So I called Devachuan to find out the best way to use it. I wanted something that would break up the "crispness" of my curls and allow it to have more "bounce". I thought was something you used after your hair dried, but the stylist said to mix it with the Devacare Arc Angell for best results. This way was the right way. I liked how my hair turned out. Second day hair was a different story. Didn't like it, so I did my usual routine of making several big twists and adding pomade to them for sheen and stretchage. I'll probaby get another two days of decent hair with this method.
Note: Set Me Up used on DRY hair will make it feel somewhat hard or should I say "firm". It's weird. Hair doesn't look bad, but you know it needs something extra.
Note 2: I've also noticed that Devacare products seem to work very well with EACH OTHER. When you use them in conjunction with other brands it results might not be consistent.
V05 KIWI & LIME SQUEEZE CLARIFYING CONDITIONER - I have to give a shout out to Jazzi and Spiral for recommending this as a conditioner wash, because it does get the hair clean. I was also surprised at how good of a detangler it was. If I felt like "washing" my hair back to back this was perfect and only when I don't use styling products like butters/pomades. This calls for shampoo.
Back to Basics Coconut Mango Rich Moisture Shampoo and Conditioner (for thick, coarse hair) - Simply awesome. I like to alternate it with my other stuff.
Enjoy Hair Mask - Wonderfully moisturizing hair mask. Smells like strawberries. It's also supposed to repair hair and make it stronger. My hair does look smoother after I use it. 8 oz tube is only $23, which I think is a great price for this line. HG status.
Carols Daughter Healthy Hair Butter, Hair Milk and Mimosa Hair Honey - These are the only types of butter/pomade type products my hair likes. Don't know why, it just does. I just wish she'd experiment with different scents, because I really don't like the woodsy/incensey smells the butter and milk has, but I deal with it. I've tried the "others", but these will forever be apart of my hair arsenal until she goes out of business (which I hope is never LOL!).
Lastly, Qhemet Biologics. These products will leave your hair feeling super soft and looking sheeny, especially the Amla Heavy Cream. It smells good, but I preferred it in wet/damp hair. Yes, I got shrinkage and fuzz, but my hair did look healthy and it dried sheeny. Curl Junkie is great too. Loved everything. My only problem with these two companies is that they are not available locally and I don't do the shipping thing anymore. Also, to be honest, it costs too much for the small amount natural products offer. I just don't have it in my budget to do it right now, but if I did I would continue to stock up from these companies.
RANT:
Trader Joe's Nourish Spa Conditioner - Okay, I really, really, really WANTED to like this and it DOES work. It detangles and moisturizes my hair like it's supposed to, but...it contains SOY PROTEIN. Proteins, unless they're in a DEEP CONDITIONER does not agree with my hair. I've learned this over the years. Luckily, it only cost me $3. Garbage.
Trader Joe's Nourish Spa Shampoo - Not only did this NOT clean my hair, but left it feeling DRY AND PARCHED!! Like WTF???!!! Supposedly contains no sulfates and a bunch of herbs, but um, no. Garbage.
Devacurl Heaven in Hair - Did not like this. Don't know if it's a protein treatment, but my hair felt far from being in "heaven". It was not moisturizing or anything. Even called Devachan to find out how it was supposed to be used and all I was told was that it was a "treatment" for the hair. Maybe my hair doesn't like these butters: Cupuacu, Murumuru and Cocoa seed butter. I don't know. All I know is that I gave it two chances, then gave it away to a curly at my job. Hopefully, she can get some use out of it.
Miss Jessies Rapid Recovery Treatment - Thank goodness I didn't pay full price for this. This is another product that I really wanted to work too. Maybe it's better for texturized folks, but for MY hair, it wasn't what I thought it was. I literally had to RE-WASH my hair to get it to look how it normally does after I wash it. Also, I expect my hair to look EVEN BETTER after a deep condition. Not so with this. Thumbs down (wayyyyyy down).
Miss Jessies Curly Merengue - No. Luckily, I didn't pay full price for this either. My hair looked stringy and ugly. Smelled good though.
Miss Jessies Baby Buttercreme - Did NOT like this. Felt it just sat on my hair. Wet or dry, it just did not work. Thankfully, I was able to give it away. Smelled nice though.
Pantene Relaxed & Natural Daily Oil Creme Moisturizer - Garbage. Enough said. Returned this back to CVS and got me another conditioner in its place. I was hoping this would just "soak" into my hair, but it's just grease in a squeeze out bottle. Yuck.
Mixed Chicks, Kinky Curly, Curls & Blended Beauty - these products do NOT work for MY hair. Hair is just plain fuzzy with extreme shrinkage. I guess it's due to the butters these products contain. Butters and oils in styling products make my hair shrink and look dull. Kinky Curly gives me a jerri-curl look. I also tried different ways to make this work (more leave-in, less product, etc.) and it was just a no-go. Hair just looked greasy.
=================================================================
Okay, that's it. Just wanted to point out that all of my raves leaves my hair feeling very soft, moisturized and sheeny, which is what all naturals want. If there's one thing I can't stand is dusty, dry looking natural hair. There's no reason for it to be this way, especially with the various hairboards on the internet.
Hope it helps! :-D
RAVES:
Pantene Relaxed & Natural Intensive Moisturizing Conditioner - I LOVE THIS! I use it as a detangler AND leave-in. I leave like 90% in, then lightly towel dry (or use paper towels) to soak up excess water by gently squeezing out the excess water. Then I might airdry the rest of the way or use a diffuser (depends on my mood). My hair is ALWAYS soft and fluffy. I don't care about frizz too much when I do this, because I want my hair too look big. It contains cyclopentasiloxane, but for some reason it doesn't bother my hair. It's the only drugstore conditioner I've found that works almost as well as the more expensive ones I like. It's only $5, so if you're on a budget it can't hurt.
Pantene Relaxed & Natural Deep Conditioning Mask - This is a very good deep conditioner. Thanks to the ladies of LHCF for recommending it. I was under the impression that it would only work for relaxed heads, but that's not true. It's wonderful! Leaves the hair soft and detangles beautifully.
Devacare Loo Poo Shampoo - Excellent sulfate-free shampoo. My hair feels clean and moisturized at the same time. HG status. Just wish it was cheaper.
Devacare One Condition - The BEST conditioner ANYWHERE!! This is 100x's better than Devacurl One Condition. Way more moisturizing, detangles beautifully and is EXCELLENT leave-in. I can use this with or without gel. I love how my hair looks when it dries. It's fluffy and has sheen. An HG forever. :-D
Devacurl Arc Angell - LOVE THIS GEL now that I know how to use it. You are left with beautifully, defined, shiney (not sheeny), frizz-free coils. It MUST be used in conjunction with some kind of moisturizing leave-in though. It's best to use either Devacare One Condition or Devacurl One Condition. I tried using the gel by itself and with another leave-in from another company, but results weren't the same.
Devacurl Set Me Up - I bought this due to Afrobella's review on her site when she discussed it being used by her stylist. The only problem was that she didn't go into detail on what he did. So I called Devachuan to find out the best way to use it. I wanted something that would break up the "crispness" of my curls and allow it to have more "bounce". I thought was something you used after your hair dried, but the stylist said to mix it with the Devacare Arc Angell for best results. This way was the right way. I liked how my hair turned out. Second day hair was a different story. Didn't like it, so I did my usual routine of making several big twists and adding pomade to them for sheen and stretchage. I'll probaby get another two days of decent hair with this method.
Note: Set Me Up used on DRY hair will make it feel somewhat hard or should I say "firm". It's weird. Hair doesn't look bad, but you know it needs something extra.
Note 2: I've also noticed that Devacare products seem to work very well with EACH OTHER. When you use them in conjunction with other brands it results might not be consistent.
V05 KIWI & LIME SQUEEZE CLARIFYING CONDITIONER - I have to give a shout out to Jazzi and Spiral for recommending this as a conditioner wash, because it does get the hair clean. I was also surprised at how good of a detangler it was. If I felt like "washing" my hair back to back this was perfect and only when I don't use styling products like butters/pomades. This calls for shampoo.
Back to Basics Coconut Mango Rich Moisture Shampoo and Conditioner (for thick, coarse hair) - Simply awesome. I like to alternate it with my other stuff.
Enjoy Hair Mask - Wonderfully moisturizing hair mask. Smells like strawberries. It's also supposed to repair hair and make it stronger. My hair does look smoother after I use it. 8 oz tube is only $23, which I think is a great price for this line. HG status.
Carols Daughter Healthy Hair Butter, Hair Milk and Mimosa Hair Honey - These are the only types of butter/pomade type products my hair likes. Don't know why, it just does. I just wish she'd experiment with different scents, because I really don't like the woodsy/incensey smells the butter and milk has, but I deal with it. I've tried the "others", but these will forever be apart of my hair arsenal until she goes out of business (which I hope is never LOL!).
Lastly, Qhemet Biologics. These products will leave your hair feeling super soft and looking sheeny, especially the Amla Heavy Cream. It smells good, but I preferred it in wet/damp hair. Yes, I got shrinkage and fuzz, but my hair did look healthy and it dried sheeny. Curl Junkie is great too. Loved everything. My only problem with these two companies is that they are not available locally and I don't do the shipping thing anymore. Also, to be honest, it costs too much for the small amount natural products offer. I just don't have it in my budget to do it right now, but if I did I would continue to stock up from these companies.
RANT:
Trader Joe's Nourish Spa Conditioner - Okay, I really, really, really WANTED to like this and it DOES work. It detangles and moisturizes my hair like it's supposed to, but...it contains SOY PROTEIN. Proteins, unless they're in a DEEP CONDITIONER does not agree with my hair. I've learned this over the years. Luckily, it only cost me $3. Garbage.
Trader Joe's Nourish Spa Shampoo - Not only did this NOT clean my hair, but left it feeling DRY AND PARCHED!! Like WTF???!!! Supposedly contains no sulfates and a bunch of herbs, but um, no. Garbage.
Devacurl Heaven in Hair - Did not like this. Don't know if it's a protein treatment, but my hair felt far from being in "heaven". It was not moisturizing or anything. Even called Devachan to find out how it was supposed to be used and all I was told was that it was a "treatment" for the hair. Maybe my hair doesn't like these butters: Cupuacu, Murumuru and Cocoa seed butter. I don't know. All I know is that I gave it two chances, then gave it away to a curly at my job. Hopefully, she can get some use out of it.
Miss Jessies Rapid Recovery Treatment - Thank goodness I didn't pay full price for this. This is another product that I really wanted to work too. Maybe it's better for texturized folks, but for MY hair, it wasn't what I thought it was. I literally had to RE-WASH my hair to get it to look how it normally does after I wash it. Also, I expect my hair to look EVEN BETTER after a deep condition. Not so with this. Thumbs down (wayyyyyy down).
Miss Jessies Curly Merengue - No. Luckily, I didn't pay full price for this either. My hair looked stringy and ugly. Smelled good though.
Miss Jessies Baby Buttercreme - Did NOT like this. Felt it just sat on my hair. Wet or dry, it just did not work. Thankfully, I was able to give it away. Smelled nice though.
Pantene Relaxed & Natural Daily Oil Creme Moisturizer - Garbage. Enough said. Returned this back to CVS and got me another conditioner in its place. I was hoping this would just "soak" into my hair, but it's just grease in a squeeze out bottle. Yuck.
Mixed Chicks, Kinky Curly, Curls & Blended Beauty - these products do NOT work for MY hair. Hair is just plain fuzzy with extreme shrinkage. I guess it's due to the butters these products contain. Butters and oils in styling products make my hair shrink and look dull. Kinky Curly gives me a jerri-curl look. I also tried different ways to make this work (more leave-in, less product, etc.) and it was just a no-go. Hair just looked greasy.
=================================================================
Okay, that's it. Just wanted to point out that all of my raves leaves my hair feeling very soft, moisturized and sheeny, which is what all naturals want. If there's one thing I can't stand is dusty, dry looking natural hair. There's no reason for it to be this way, especially with the various hairboards on the internet.
Hope it helps! :-D
Guess it works for some, just not for me... 
