It’s almost Spring and I’m sooo looking forward to it 🙂 I’m over winter! It has never been my favorite season. But I digress since this blog isn’t about that. In this blog you will find my review of a recent product that has been released to the hair community.
As I approach four years of no relaxer, I still often find myself looking for things that my scalp likes. Plus, I get bored! So last week I discovered that The Mane Choice came out with something new, called Hair Type 4 Leaf Clover Collection, and it is exclusively sold at Sally Beauty Supply. I thought it looked cool, and I was convinced to buy them after looking at several YouTube videos of ladies trying it out on their own hair. I also notice one video where it didn’t work for their hair after buying the product. I immediately looked at the comment section and someone mentioned that they (the YouTuber) must be glycerin sensitive. I didn’t know what it meant to be glycerin sensitive, but didn’t want to ignore the comment since I have sensitive skin… and I recently discovered that my scalp doesn’t like Jamaican Black Castor Oil very much (yea girl, I know). So I kept the thought of glycerin sensitivity in the back of my mind and continued on trying out the product.
Out of the entire collection I bought the Manageability and Softening Remedy Shampoo, Conditioner, and Styling Cream. Before washing, my initial thought was that it smells really good and I love products that smell good. (Yes, there are some products that don’t smell too good to me.)
For the sake of me not typing out a novel, I will list the benefits of each product that I got from the Sally Beauty Supply website, and give my thoughts:
Manageability and Softening Remedy Shampoo
- Gently cleanses and reveals hair’s natural luster – My hair was super dull before I began washing it. Afterwards it was very shiny! It did clean my scalp well.
- Improves texture & helps maintain healthy pH – I’m not sure about the pH balance, or anything like that, but I will say that my curls were POPPING! We’re only on the shampoo tho!
- Strengthens & nourishes to minimize hair loss – I definitely loss less hair than my normal wash & detangle day!
- Revitalizes the scalp & helps promote growth – Well… my scalp is clean *lol* I’m not too sure about the revitalizing part… I’ll get into this part a little later…
- Removes tangles & minimizes shedding – It did help with detangling my hair and minimized shedding.
- Helps to balance and restore moisture – My hair was super moisturized!
Okay?! I loved the way my hair felt after shampooing. My scalp felt clean and my hair felt moisturized. After using the shampoo I thought so far, so good… and then we went into the conditioner…
Manageability and Softening Remedy Conditioner
- Strengthens & nourishes to minimize breakage – I still didn’t lose a lot of hair when I combed my hair with a wide-tooth comb (with the product still on of course).
- Improves texture & helps maintain healthy pH – Again, I’m not sure of the pH balance, but my kinks, curls, and coils were still super defined.
- Moisturizes & restores dry, brittle, coarse hair – My hair wasn’t brittle, but my hair was SUPER moisturized after using the conditioner. A bit too moisturized.
- Restores and revitalizes dry, coarse hair – My hair was dry and it was SUPER moisturized afterwards. Weird combo. So I think my hair was somewhat restored 🙂
- Softens & seals in lasting moisture – My hair was soft afterwards, but my hair was super-di-duper moisturized…
- Helps to detangle & remove knots – Now I thought my hair would already be detangled since I detangled my hair during shampooing. However, it wasn’t too bad to get a comb through my hair with the conditioner still in it.
Okay… my hair felt pretty good and looked healthy after the conditioner. I loved it! Honestly I could’ve stopped after the shampoo and conditioner. My hair looked super moisturized and my curls super defined as if I put a curling custard or cream in it. Again, I thought so far, so good. However… here’s where it gets interesting…
Manageability and Softening Remedy Moisturizing Styling Cream
- Provides touchable hold & definition to all hairstyles – My hair felt different… clay-like texture in your hair… not a texture that I liked in my hair.
- Provides lasting moisture, body, & frizz-free results – My hair was frizz-free, it had body, and felt moisturized.
- Delivers flexible hold for style longevity – This one is hard for me to give my thoughts on because my hair took almost a WHOLE day to dry, which was abnormal for my hair. It normally takes about half of a day to fully dry.
- Restores & revitalizes dry, coarse hair – My hair was already super moisturized prior to putting this in my hair *lol*
- Minimizes shedding & breakage – Yep, still little-to-no breakage and shedding
- Boosts natural luster & shine – Yep, definitely for my hair.
It could be because of the moisture that is already in my hair from the shampoo and conditioner, but I didn’t really like the styling cream for my hair. It felt like I already had too much moisture and my strands had a clay-like texture afterwards. So the moisture in my hair went into overdrive.
Here’s what my hair looked like during this experience:
Dry Time:
Unfortunately, I didn’t think to take a picture of my hair after it was dry. Sorry!
I’ve already mentioned earlier that it took almost a WHOLE day for my hair to dry, and I washed my hair in the morning time. So while it was drying I noticed a very similar feeling I received I my scalp after trying Shea Moisture’s Jamaican Black Castor Oil Collection. My scalp began to have a tingly sensation… and it didn’t feel good. It felt like almost a very mild case of scratching your hair a day before getting a relaxer. That turned into a headache for the rest of the day.
The next day… my hair felt dry, yet moisturized, and my hair was somewhat soft… weird, right? I soon remembered the comment under the YouTube video about the glycerin. So I looked it up and found this:
Glycerin is heavy in humectants, which are made to pull moisture into the hair and retain it. However, it also works the other way. Erica Douglas, AKA cosmetic chemist Sister Scientist explained the dangers to me. “If the environment around the hair is drier than the hair, it is possible for humectants to push moisture from the hair to the dry air to help balance the moisture in the atmosphere. So be aware of your surrounding climate because glycerin can work against you when the air is not humid enough by releasing moisture back into air! (I got this from an Essence article.)
Since it’s technically still the winter time, there is a lot less moisture than the summertime. Since the products have a form of glycerin in it (i.e., Glycol Distearate, Glycerin, Propylene Glycol, etc.), and the winter air doesn’t have a lot of moisture, I think that’s why my hair turned out a bit dry. And then my scalp wasn’t happy with me (practically crying and cussing me out). Yep, my low-porosity hair and sensitive scalp realized that my hair is sensitive to glycerin.
Besides that, my hair didn’t look bad. It didn’t look stiff when I shook my hair and my kinks, curls, and coils were still defined! But my hair felt dry, moisturized, and soft… yea I know – weird combo.
Final Thoughts: What did I learn from this?
Similar to sensitive skin (i.e., face, neck, and arms), having natural hair with a sensitive scalp can be frustrating. You wanna try products that will work for both your hair and make your scalp happy. However, I think that’s a part of the journey. Trying new products can be a hit or miss, but that’s okay! That’s what return policies are for 😉 It’s in those moments that you begin to do your research on what is inside of hair care products as well as your hair type. You’ll find your go-to product before you know it and you won’t have to look anymore!
From the beginning of my journey to now, I learned that I have low porosity hair, my hair is pretty dense, and my scalp is sensitive to Jamaican Black Castor Oil, rose hemp oil (I think)… and now I can add that my hair doesn’t like a lot of glycerin in the wintertime either *lol*
I reeaaallllyyyyy wanted this product to work for my hair 🙁 But that’s okay! I wonder what my hair would’ve felt like if I only used the curling cream… but I already returned them all *lol*
~Live Laugh Love~