It seems that the only hair care products I
ever review on my blog are intensive conditioners but to be honest, they are
the only haircare product I frequently use and finish on a monthly basis. As I
have started become more and more product ingredient focused, I’ve been
checking the product list of EVERYTHING I use and choosing more products that
are either natural or have natural ingredients in them. Just before the
Christmas break; I received the Intense
Repair Deep Conditioner (RRP £14.50 for 250ml) from Curl Harmony to test
out.
Curl Harmony is a haircare brand that
promotes natural products or naturally derived products that are paraben and
formaldehyde free with just a small amount of fragrance oils to revitalize and
moisturize wavy, curly or afro hair. I really love what this brand is about because
they are focused on creating products that don’t include ingredients which are
particularly drying for the ladies on the curlier side of life (which just
also happens to be the dry-hair side of life).
To really give you and honest view of what
this product is like. I am going to be posting mine and my sister’s (aka Bunny)
results and opinions on this product. Though we both have the same curl type,
my hair is relaxed and in Brazilian hair extensions while my sister has a
cropped-relaxed, pixie cut, so I thought it would be a much more honest review
to get two opinions on this product as we are both looking for different
results.
Smell
You guys know that I am big on smell, more
so than Bunny is but both of us were in agreement that the Intensive Repair
Deep Conditioner smells like an afro-hair relaxer. It’s not super overpowering smell
but it does have that distinct chemical smell which did confuse us at one point
(and I
receive a lot of ‘Annie, Are you sure this is hair conditioner??’ comments).
Ingredients
The Intense Repair Conditioner is infused
with Shea butter, Jojoba oil and Coconut Oil, which are some of the most
enriched ingredients known to haircare so I felt very positive seeing this.
With a mixture of oils (coconut, jojoba) fatty acids and protein (wheat) this will definitely rich in terms of moisture. It also contains Behentrimonium Methosulphate which is one of the gentlest detanglers on the market (it is so good it can be used on kids), which made me just love this product even more.
This product does contain Phenoxyethanol which is a synthetic produced organic compound used as an alternative to Formaldehyde and Parabens. This is a bit higher up in the product ingredient list than I would have liked but considering how short the ingredient list is for this conditioner, it is not something I am overly worried about.
This product does contain Phenoxyethanol which is a synthetic produced organic compound used as an alternative to Formaldehyde and Parabens. This is a bit higher up in the product ingredient list than I would have liked but considering how short the ingredient list is for this conditioner, it is not something I am overly worried about.
Application
Repeat after me . . .
‘This conditioner is THICK!!!’
While I normally welcome a thick
conditioner into my routine, I found that I used a lot of product on my
extensions and when applying it to my Bunny’s hair than I would normally use .
. .though this might say more about my technique than anything else (as Bunny says
I am very heavy handed). I did make sure to coat the hair evenly so
it would be very obvious what the effects were but we both felt that the
effects were not amazing.
Bunny said her hair did not feel as soft or
as shiny as when she normally washes her hair while my extensions felt a lot
lighter than when I use my normal conditioner (which honestly is a plus), I
did feel my extensions were a bit dryer than normal but once I added a leave in
conditioner and my Aveda Hair Polisher, the effects from using this conditioner
really shone through.
Comments
Neither one of us were really blown away by
this product. While I loved the ingredient list and was very happy at the
natural alternative for my hair, Bunny; who is not ingredient-conscious, did
not feel that this product was anything special and she didn’t get any amazing
results, which would make her switch products.
I think the Curl Harmony Intense Repair
Deep Conditioner is a good product for all my natural haircare lovers. Those
who are specifically looking for the best conditioner with the simplest
ingredient list, which gives them the same effect as their favourite deep
conditioner but without the gallons of silicones and preservatives. The Intense
Repair Deep Conditioner is basically for the ladies who know a bit better (and this is
not a wise crack, with me saying I know better than my sister . . .although I
do).
So
there you have it. Two different opinions over the same product, what do you
guys think? What are you after when choosing your haircare products?