Over the weekend, I attended the Champagne & Cupcakes event at Karen’s Body Beautiful in Brooklyn, my old neighbourhood!!! I am amazed at how the area has changed for the better. Lots of cute shops, restaurants etc. But I digress….
This was the bash celebrating the brand’s total makeover: the new packaging, the opening of the spa, the website relaunch, the store redesign. I appreciate what Karen has done as a minority business owner, especially in this economy. I like her products and I think she aims to bring out a quality, natural, handmade product that caters for people with naturally curly/kinky hair (even though anyone can use her products).
Anyway, I got there pretty late, but the place was still jumping…
Just a quick note: Jane Carter Solution hair care products are now available in Trinidad at Body Beautiful On D’Avenue.
Image courtesy of Jane Carter Solution
Jane Carter is one the the first natural haircare lines that I tried and it is great for all hair types, especially those with natural hair, locs and relaxed hair. I am particularly partial to the Nourish & Shine, which helps seals in moisture and smells amazing!! I also really like the Hair Nourishing Serum. I need to check out the Scalp Renew and the Scalp Nourishing Serum as we all know that part of healthy hair is a clean and healthy scalp!!! This brand is definitely worth checking out!
So, as I previously mentioned, I visited Target last week and bought a new hair product. Today’s review is going to focus on the SheaMoisture’s Organic Raw Shea Butter Deep Treatment Masque.
It is advertised to have Sea Kelp, Argan Oil and Shea Butter and it’s to heal, grow and strengthen dry, damaged hair.
First, a little history about SheaMoisture….
As per the packaging:
“Sofi Tucker started selling Shea Nuts at the village market in Bonthe, Sierra Leone in 1912. By age 19, the widowed mother of four was selling Shea Butter, Black Soap and her homemade hair and skin preparations all over the countryside. Sofi Tucker was our grandmother and SheaMoisture is her legacy.”
So this is basically a family business that has blossomed over the last almost 100 years!!!!!
Now back to the product…..
The thing that caught my eye is that the product contains no parabens, no phthalates, no paraffin, no gluten, no propylene glycol, no mineral oil, no sulphates, no synthetic fragrances, no PABA, no DEA, no synthetic colours, no animal ingredients and they conduct no animal testing. Therefore this product is also cruelty-free and made with ethically traded ingredients. This just has ‘great’ written all over it and as you know I am always looking for all natural/organic minority-owned businesses to support.
What this product does contain are some wonderful ingredients. In general, you want to make sure that the ingredients advertised are the first 5-6 products on the label and this one certainly follows that rule! Three of those first ingredients are:
Shea Butter – deeply moisturizes, and repairs damage to hair and scalp
Argan Oil – restores shine and rebuilds hair elasticity
Sea Kelp – trace minerals detoxify hair follicles of impurities and residue
The verdict: This product lives up its claims. It has a rich, creamy texture which coated my hair and instantly made my hair supa soft! This has a lot of slip and I left this in for about 1 hour with a plastic cap. I could feel the slip from the oil and shea butter, but I was not left with a greasy residue. My hair was real easy to detangle and, again, my hair was super smooth and soft.
This is a must keep for me!!! I love this product and it’s affordable price and great ingredients will keep this in my hair regime for a while!!!!!
Overall Rating: A!
This product is available from select Target locations and for the Trinis, this may be available from Beauty on D’Avenue in the coming months!
FTC Disclosure: Product was bought by me. For more information, please see my Disclosure Policy.
So I’m browsing through Target the other day and and to my surprise, there is a section designated for natural/organic hair care products. Now I know that they just started selling Miss Jessie’s products, but there is a whole end display with four different natural lines specifically geared towards people with natural curly, kinky, coily, wavy hair. So you know my heart started racing!!!!!!!
Target now sells Miss Jessie’s, Jane Carter Solution, Curls (for Target) and Shea Moisture. I quickly bypassed Miss Jessie’s as they are not really natural products (although they work quite well), and I have already tried both the Jane Carter (when I was relaxed) and Curls and headed straight for the Shea Moisture line.
Shea Moisture for Target, Image courtesy of SheaMoisture.com
Now this is a line that I have seen being sold on 125th Street in Harlem as well as black owned establishments, but I have never tried them. It seems that they have created a new line of all-natural and organic certified products specially for Target. They revamped the packaging, became cruelty-free and incorporated some delicious ingredients found on the Mother Land, like Argan Oil (!) and Shea Butter. This is straight…up…my…alley!
All of these products are available online at Target.com, but they will not be available at all Target locations. I visited the Target on Atlantic Avenue. Check the Target website for availability. I can’t wait to try out what I bought! Review comin’!!!!
Note to my Trinbagonians: I know that Beauty on D’Avenue sells Shea Moisture and that they are looking to expand on their offerings of that line. I know that they are also interested interested in bringing down Jane Carter Solution. So check them out!!!
I finally decided to take the plunge and purchase one of the natural girl’s favourites, Kinky Curly Knot Today. I’ve heard a lot about this product and this line. I currently use their Come Clean cleanser, which works great as it cleanses without drying my hair out. A lot of people use this product as a deep conditioner and a moisturizing detangler.
Here’s what the product says:
“… This creamy herbal conditioner is enriched with botanical extracts and is designed to smooth the cuticle and to remove knots, snarls and tangles from thick curly hair.”
This is a cruelty-free, organic, nourishing concoction in a bottle!!! I love this product. I think it runs neck and neck with my all time favourite, Oyin’s Honey Hemp Conditioner. The ingredients list reads like a who’s who of wholesome, natural hair products:
Organic mango fruit extract – naturally occurring,used for conditioning properties
Organic slippery elm – slippery!! great detangling agent
Organic marshmallow root – conditioner and detangler
Organic lemongrass – adds shine to hair and anti-microbial
cetyl alcohol – it’s an alcohol, but it’s among other things, an emollient, which softens and smoothes hair and skin
Behentrimonium methosulphate – very mild compound which has superior detangling properties
citric acid – natural preservative
phenoxyethanol – organic antibacterial
natural fragrance
This product is worth the $$$$, it made detangling with a wide-tooth comb a breeze and added moisture to my hair. My hair was super smooth afterwards. Another good thing about this product, it’s also a leave-in conditioner. So after washing with the Come Clean and detangling with the Knot Today, I rinsed and added a little bit of the Knot Today again. This product helped keep my coils defined.
The only downside, is the price. At about $12 for an 8 oz. bottle, it’s pricey, but for me it’s worth it.
This will be in rotation, but I think I’ll use it every 2 weeks and use my Aubrey Organics in between for moisture.
Overall Grade: A!
Knot Today is sold at Body Beautiful on D’Avenue in Trinidad & at Ricky’s in New York and Whole Foods.
