If you remember back to last month, I told you guys that I was in the process of growing out my relaxed hair. I’ve discovered some awesome things about my natural hair growing in. I’ve also had some growing pains too. My new growth was completely rebelling against every product that I’ve used for years. My hair was either way too dry or way too greasy. My scalp went from never having an issue to being dry, extremely irritated, and even worse – flaky! It was so bad I was washing my hair every two days because it looked and felt like I hadn’t washed it in months. Ugh, it left me so frustrated I wanted to just shave my hair off and starting over! After scouring the internet and reading sites like Curly Nikki religiously, I realized my hair was reacting to the many chemicals my old hair products had in them. I consulted with my awesome hairstylist and he confirmed my suspicions. I had to stay away from products that had sulfates, alcohol, petroleum, and mineral oil. Natural ingredients like olive oil, shea butter, and tea tree oil (which is wonderful for a dry scalp by the way!) are your natural hair’s best friend!
The first brand that came to mind was Carol’s Daughter. I’ve heard many great things about them, though I never gave them a try ( I was soo loyal to my Motions Shampoo). I did about a week of research online and decided to get the Black Vanilla Herbal Shampoo, leave in conditioner, and hair smoothie. I headed on over to Sephora and spent more money than I normally would on shampoos and conditioners, but me and my hair were at its wits end. And all three products fit my new hair product criteria – they don’t contain any sulfates, parabens, mineral oil, or petroleum. After using all three for over a month now, here’s what I thought!
Black Vanilla Herbal Shampoo ($12.50)
This gentle cleansing shampoo aims to help repair and moisturize damaged hair, with ingredients like Nettle, Lavendar, and Red Clover that soothes a crazy acting scalp like mine. The herbal vanilla scent of the shampoo smells awesome, yet subtle so my husband can’t smell it a mile away! After the first lather my hair was fluffy soft! I was amazed because up until then, my Motions shampoo was the only one to leave my hair like that. My hair was also very clean, only needing to shampoo twice using minimal shampoo.
Black Vanilla Hair Smoothie ($20.00)
The Hair Smoothie has ingredients such as fatty acids and creamy butters for deep conditioning, shea and cocoa butters for moisture, and oils of Olive fruit and sunflower seeds for shine. You can use it as a regular conditioner or as s deep conditioner, letting it sit on your hair for up to 15 minutes with or without heat. The conditioner is very rich, my hair feeling soft as soon as I put it on! Once it was rinsed out my hair smelled great and felt even softer than it did after the shampoo. When I want to rock a wash-n-go, I cowash with it, giving me softer and more defined curls.
Black Vanilla Leave In Conditioner (12.50)
With Lavendar, Honeysuckle, and Sage, this conditioner aims to restore hair’s natural moisture and make hair more manageable. It had the same great scent as the shampoo and my hair did feel moisturized, especially if I was letting my hair air dry. It didn’t work so great when I blowdry my hair though. It left a little white flakes of residue behind which really weren’t cute. Out of the three I use the product the least, but do see myself needing it when the summer hits and I’m not blowing out my hair as much.
Since using these products from Carol’s Daughter my hair has finally started to behave, looking healthy as ever and feeling super soft! My scalp is healthier, too (thank GOODNESS!!) and I know I have found my new hair love!
Have you ladies tried out these products from Carol’s Daughter? What did you think?
FTC Disclosure: Products used in this review were personally bought.
Photos courtesy of: Carol’s Daughter
Fierce 
Kirstin Marie
/ March 28, 2011These products sound really lovely. It’s great that you found something that works for you! 🙂
Michelle @ Radiant Brown Beauty
/ March 28, 2011Hey, I haven’t tried the hair products but I’m interested in the hair smoothie. I just don’t want to be disappointed. I got so used to using WEN that when I try something else, I’m usually not pleased.
Girl, you may have to take the big plunge in a few months and just chop off the rest of the relaxer. That’s what I did after trying to go natural twice and then relaxing because I couldn’t take those two textures. But low and behold now I’m all natural (thanks to scissors 🙂 and no more dry flaky scalp or breakage.
MJ
/ March 28, 2011That’s how I feel about Carol’s Daughter now! I’m really afraid to try anything else because I just found something that really works!
I actually have a few inches left on the crown of my head of relaxed hair so in June I’m due to chop the rest of it off! I really can’t wait! 🙂