Shea butter is NOT for everyone. (kinda long)

[ChildlikeEmpress]

Just to get the essentials out of the way, I'm a natural (have been since January), and I really don't know or much care what my hair type is. I think it's a cross between 3c and 4a; lots of spirally things of varying sizes with a few straight or wavy parts thrown in for good measure. It's also super-thick and pretty coarse.

Anyway, in my final spasm of PJ-ism, I just HAD to try shea butter since I've heard such great things about it. Y'know, just in case. I got some about a week ago (ORS Shea Butter Lotion) and tried it out the next morning after my conditioner wash. After that, I put in my NTM Silk Touch Leave-in Cream and some African Essence Crystal Drops. (A.K.A. my secret anti-frizz weapon. It's pretty much the same stuff as Frizz-Ease, only much less expensive.)

First day was great. My hair felt soft and looked really nice. Decided that night that, hey, if the shea butter worked during the day, why not try it out as an overnight treatment instead of coconut oil? So, that's what I did.

Flash forward to yesterday. I noticed that I'd recently had a string of VERY bad hair days. My hair felt so frizzy dry that no amount of Crystal Drops or coconut oil could save it, and by this time, I had no curl defintion at all. (Normally, I can get a fair amount just by wetting my hair.) I was freaking out a bit; at first, I wondered if the problem was my recent attempts to take up a vegetarian diet. Then, I realized that I done *one thing* differently in my hair care routine: I was using shea butter lotion and also using less coconut oil.

That night, I went back to coconut oil, and I also used a generous amount of the stuff as a pre-poo treatment. I shampooed my hair to get rid of the shea butter build-up, and afterward, I put in a little coconut oil before using my other products (NTM, Crystal Drops) just to make sure my hair wasn't stripped.

My hair is back to normal now: shiny, soft, curly/coily, relatively frizz-free. I've learned my lesson now. First, when you find something that's really good (in my case, using coconut oil as the main staple of my hair care routine), stick with it. And regardless of how well it seems to work for every other natural out there, shea butter it NOT for everyone. /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

~Rochelle. /images/graemlins/Rose.gif

 

[hotshot]

have you tried straight up shea butter- not a shea lotion with tons of other additives? shea butter itself, or products containing a base of shea butter, like kemi shea butter pomade or carol's daughter's products, are really the type of shea products you want to get. i think the shea lotion is, well, eh.

 

[Honi]

I'm not natural but I do use shea butter on my daughters hair. It works great for her hair and I use the NTM silk leave in after I wash her hair sans the crystal drops. When you mentioned that u used the a shea butter LOTION and not the BUTTER itself which is a solid, I thought that maybe that was the reason why your hair reacted like that. Not that I don't believe that shea butter isn't for you but I wonder what else is in that lotion. /images/graemlins/perplexed.gif

 

[nurseN98]

I'm glad your hair is back to normal and you are right. Sometimes what works for most of the ladies on the board doesn't work for me either, i.e. coconut milk...it is the demon to my angelic hair.. /images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[Divastate]

Sorry but that ORS Shea butter lotion is nothing like actual shea butter. It dried my hair out something awful. I've found that the only good shea butter is extra virgin/unprocessed shea. I've been natural for 3 years and I just got my hands on the real shea butter a few months ago and its a huge difference (plus its inexpensive and goes a long way). I find that most of the shea butter lotions (both the ORS and the Kids Organics Shea Butter Lotion) have great ingredients but since they are water based they tend to dry my hair out pretty badly. Even other shea based products couldn't compare to what the pure stuff did for my hair. Coconut oil is also excellent and is now one of my staples- when you find what works just stick with it /images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[bettydavis]

That ORS lotion dried out my hair too. It's nothing like real shea butter, which has kind of a playdough texture. I mix mine with coconut oil and it really is great. I gave the ORS lotion to my sister and it dried out her hair also.

 

[ChildlikeEmpress]

[ QUOTE ]
Sorry but that ORS Shea butter lotion is nothing like actual shea butter. It dried my hair out something awful. I've found that the only good shea butter is extra virgin/unprocessed shea.

[/ QUOTE ]
...Considering how much the ORS crap cost, that sounds rather expensive. /images/graemlins/perplexed.gif

I think I'll just stick with the coconut oil from now on. No more experiementing for me with anything that costs more than a dollar.

~Rochelle. /images/graemlins/Rose.gif

 

[Guapa1]

Hi Rochelle, I think when you find something that works stick with it.
I make a mix of shea butter, cocoa butter olive oil, coconut oil and vit E. Whenever I try and add anything else to it, it's not the same, and a waste of a batch. So I stick with what works for me.

 

[soulchild]

When I see a product like that I understand it to mean Shea butter is just one of the ingredients in that prouduct.

 

[Sascha]

ugh, that qrs shea butter did a number on my hair. I think most people rave about the straight up unrefined shea butter. I use it and I love it.

 

[Sascha]

I just wanted to add that Shea butter is way cheaper than than qrs stuff and lasts a long time. And it is awesome because you can melt it down and make your own mixtures. Here are some websites that I have ordered from and didnt have any problems.

http://www.nasabb.com/

http://www.crabapplesoap.com/

Make sure its the unrefined stuff.

 

[cutebajangirl]

Shea lotion and pure shea butter sucks for me.

 

[Innocent_Kiss]

Actually the ORS Shea Butter was the first shea butter I ever tried. I hated it. It made my hair grimey and ucky feeling. I decided to try Unrefined Shea Butter and ended up not like that either lol It didn't rub on easy and it weighed my hair down. After I continued to hear raves about shea butter, I tried it for the last time and I'm IN LOVE! I just take my shea butter, add a few essential oils, and blend it with wisks. It has that cloudy whipped consistancy and my hair STAYS moisturized! Sometimes you have to just keep trying stuff. It might be what you used, what you used it with, when you used it, and a whole bunch of other factors. Good luck!

 

[AnnDriena_]

First of all Sascha, If I ever get close enough, I'm stealing that baby LOL, he is too much cuteness for one board.

Second of all I'm trying to build up a stock up essential oils and good things for my hair so I can be a little ghetto chemists and try stuff I hear about so I think I'll order that shea butter, if it doesn't work well on my hair I can always use it as a good skin conditioner.

 

[ms_kenesha]

[ QUOTE ]
I just wanted to add that Shea butter is way cheaper than than qrs stuff and lasts a long time. And it is awesome because you can melt it down and make your own mixtures. Here are some websites that I have ordered from and didnt have any problems.

http://www.nasabb.com/

http://www.crabapplesoap.com/

Make sure its the unrefined stuff.

[/ QUOTE ]

Crabapple's out of stock until 9/25 we must have hit them hard /images/graemlins/rofl.gif

Nasabb is way too expensive 4oz. for $8.00, no sir!

Cedarvale has Shea Butter Ultra Natural (Yellow) 8oz. for $5.52. I need to re-up on my shea butter! My old one is even refined and still works well. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Sascha]

@ AnnDriena: LOL thanks! The way he has been acting lately I might have to ship him to you UPS /images/graemlins/rofl.gif

@ kenesha: ugh, I didnt know Crabapple was out. I really stocked up last time. I do really like her stuff and the cocoa butter smells sooooo good to me. I've been making a shea,cocoa,coconut oil and a couple of essential oil mixture and Im in love. my hair has never felt like this. I only put in on my hair wet once a week.

 

[Sweetyb]

[ QUOTE ]
After I continued to hear raves about shea butter, I tried it for the last time and I'm IN LOVE! I just take my shea butter, add a few essential oils, and blend it with wisks. It has that cloudy whipped consistancy and my hair STAYS moisturized!

[/ QUOTE ]That's good to hear, Innocent_Kiss. I used to love ORS Shea butter until it started acting up. I've heard successes with people mixing unrefined shea butter with aloe vera gel as well.

 

[inthepink]

I use refined shea butter and I love it. I also mix my shea butter with aloe vera gel to combat the drying effects of gel. This works wonderfully!

Shea lotion products do not work for me b/c they are water-based.

 

[laketta]

Shea butter is nice but I have noticed if I used too much on my hair, it tends to clum together meaning let's say if I melt the butter to put it on my hair but when shea butter settles and hardens up, it will do the same in your hair. I did attribute it to the excessive tangles I had for the past two months. I used 100% unrefined butter.

This doesnt mean that I will stop using it, it means that I will be careful with the amount. I used it while my hair was still wet.