Bondi Boost HG Shampoo Review: Does It Really Work?

I have been using Bondi Boost HG Shampoo for years. It’s a bit on the expensive side but I find myself going back to it time and time again. This is why.

I bought Bondi Boost HG (hair growth) shampoo on a whim one day, on my lunch break, because I saw a pharmacy and couldn’t find a reason not to get it. I had been wanting to try it for a while but kept putting it off because the bottles are kind of pricey for the size. That day at the pharmacy, I caved. It was a moment of weakness, but I’m actually really glad I did.

I have fine hair that errs on the side of dry, but my hair usually also needs a product that foams. Without that, my scalp just doesn’t feel clean and my hair doesn’t sit right on my head. Honestly, day two hair starts looking like day four hair. It’s a real pain. So I’m cautious about what products I use. The issue with that is, a lot of shampoo that lathers has sulphate in it. And we don’t like that because it strips your hair of natural oils. We’re after hydrated curls and waves and a fresh scalp. Bondi Boost shampoo is good because, not only is it vegan and cruelty-free, it’s sulphate-free but somehow it actually foams and cleans your hair without drying out your hair completely. That’s a win, in my books.

Part of the selling point for this product is that it promotes hair growth. That’s not why I bought it, but it’s a bonus if it works.

Before

Before I started with Bondi Boost, I was mostly using Shea Moisture Castor Oil shampoo, which was great but my hair gets sick of products quite quickly, so I need a few on rotation. If I keep using the same one, my hair ends up looking knotty and generally terrible. So I like to try new ones. My hair was getting really tired of Shea Moisture (which is nothing on the brand, I love their products) so Bondi Boost seemed to be a good alternative to test out.

Review

The instructions say to use a small amount on wet hair, lather and rinse, so that’s what’s I did. The first thing I noticed was that the product is almost transparent and smells like overwhelmingly peppermint — a unique choice for shampoo, but I rolled with it.

As per the directions on the bottle, I rubbed a small amount between my fingers and worked it into my scalp only. It lathered immediately. A little went a long way.

I used a bit more for the back of my scalp, made sure it was properly dispersed — it was really easy to work into my scalp — then rinsed it out. It came out easily and I didn’t notice any residue leftover. My hair felt clean, but not squeaky clean, and smelled mildly of peppermint.

I followed up with conditioner, but that’s for another review. Watch this space!

Result

My hair felt clean, my scalp felt cleansed, and my hair sat pretty well on my head. That is to say, it didn’t feel oily or part in weird places like it does on day four, for example. It didn’t tangle more easily than usual, and it didn’t create extra frizz. My hair looked hydrated and voluminous.

My hair also didn’t get sick of Bondi Boost for a while. I would actually say it took a few weeks before my hair decided it had enough, which is a pretty good run. It’s now a permanent feature in my rotation of shampoos, and I find myself going back to it time and time again. I feel like it really cleans my scalp in a way a lot of natural shampoos don’t — they often leave residue, or an oily sheen because they don’t have sulphate, so Bondi Boost is a good reset and removes build-up.

One thing I will say is that it can make my hair feel quite dry if I use it for too long. It doesn’t have sulphate, but whatever else they put in it to make it lather the way it does is a little drying. Having said that, I do rotate shampoos so it’s not a huge problem for me.

verdict

On the whole, Bondi Boost is pretty expensive. At $34 for 250ml, it’s a lot for the average person to drop on a single product. However, a little does go a long way and I had my bottle for months before it ran out. I have repurchased this one, and I’ll probably do it again once my current one runs out.

I did not notice more hair growth. That’s honestly not why I bought it so I wasn’t paying too much attention to that, but I would have noticed if my hair grew faster than usual and it didn’t.

Have you tried Bondi Boost? Let me know in the comments below!

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Hairstory New Wash Review: Is it worth the hype?

Wondering whether to splash out and try New Wash by Hairstory? I tried it out so you don’t have to. Here’s what happened.

I’ve become a bit of a sucker for Instagram ads. Some are ridiculous, but others…well, I feel seen. So when I saw a woman on Instagram with very long and curly hair started talking about how New Wash was the best thing she’s ever tried, I watched that ad until the end. She said her whole family has swapped out their shampoos, conditioners, and styling products for this all-in-one miracle. Of course it’s an ad so I took it with a few grains of salt, but then I looked it up and there were thousands of really good, genuine reviews. I was sold.

My concern with every new product is that my hair will hate it, or my hair will feel amazing after the first wash and then decide it hates it from the second wash onward. It’s a constant battle, but I’ll always try something new hoping it’ll be my new holy grail. Cue: New Wash.

I was hesitant to give it a crack because, at $70 for an 8oz package — which the smallest package available — it’s really expensive. I subscribed to get the cost down by 10%, and because it came with free shipping and a free silicone scalp massager which I had never used before. It seemed like a good deal, all things considered. For that price, I wanted phenomenal results.

New Wash: A Review

According to the New Wash website, it’s not a co-wash because it has cleansing properties, but it has the consistency of a conditioner and you use it like you would co-wash. It’s supposed to replace all your normal products — it cleanses, conditions, and works as a styler. It’s also formulated without detergents or foams which can damage your hair. It’s eco-friendly and cruelty-free.

There are three versions — ‘original’ for all hair types, ‘rich’ for dry hair, and ‘deep’ for oily hair. I have a lot of hair but it’s very fine, wavy on top with coils at the bottom, and about forearm-length. It’s prone to dryness at the ends and tangles easily. I use a hair mask as my regular conditioner, but I can’t use products that are too conditioning because my hair gets over-conditioned and falls flat there’s no volume at all. That’s one of the reasons I don’t use co-washes, another is that I find they don’t cleanse my hair properly at the root and my hair feels oily and doesn’t fall right beyond day one.

For all those reasons, I was a bit skeptical about New Wash and really wanted to make sure I tried to right version. I had thought I might go with ‘original’ because any deeper conditioner at the roots could mean my hair was over-moisturised and flat. On the flip side, my hair could end up a dry mess if ‘original’ wasn’t conditioning enough. The struggle was real. Luckily, there was a very helpful quiz on the Hairstory website which helped me work out that I should probably get ‘rich’.

(Ingredients: Rich, deep, original)

Wash

New Wash comes in a bag, rather than a bottle, and smells like lavender. The product is thick and white and the instructions say to use as much of it as you would normally use of shampoo and conditioner combined. So that’s what I did.

As someone who doesn’t use co-wash, it felt pretty strange putting this thick product all over my scalp and raking it down my hair — it felt counterintuitive, really, but I stuck with it. I focused on my scalp to begin with and used the silicone scalp massager to make sure my head was cleansed. I then used a bit more product and applied it to the length, as I would with conditioner.

I was able to detangle my hair with relative ease with my fingers, before I finished it off with a brush. I then scrunched the product into my hair, like I normally would, but that step didn’t feel necessary. My hair was completely saturated with product — to the point where I probably used too much product. It felt quite heavy in my hair — a bit stiff, even, and I hoped that would go away once it was all washed out.

Some of the reviews I read suggested the product was quite difficult to wash out, and even the instructions on the packaging said to wash it out really, really well. So that’s what I did. I used the scalp massager to make sure it was all off my head, before I used my hards to really squeeze it out of my hair. Personally, I didn’t find it difficult to wash out.

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Styling

I would normally apply a styling cream immediately after washing my hair, but I wanted to see if — like the woman in the ad — I could get away without additional products. She insisted that New Wash meant her hair was in perfect coils every morning. I was very skeptical, but gave it a shot.

I flipped my soaking-wet hair upside-down, as normal, and gently ran a comb through it to detangle. It was a bit harder without additional product in it for more slip, but I managed. I scrunched it and plopped with a microfibre towel. My hair still had the heavy and stiff texture that it had before I washed the product out.

I took the towel off about ten minutes later, shook my hair a bit and parted it like I normally would (I realise not everyone parts their hair after washing it, but mine doesn’t sit right if I don’t). The ease with which I can part my hair after washing is usually a pretty good indicator of how cleansed my hair is. If it’s not cleansed properly, it’s pretty difficult to part and clumps together. If it’s properly clean, this doesn’t happen and it separates at the part very easily. I didn’t find parting my hair difficult after New Wash. I scrunched my hair again, it still felt a bit heavy but I ignored it and got on with my day.

drying

My hair usually takes a few hours to air dry completely. I found plopping as usual after New Wash didn’t completely get the drip out of my hair, it really held on to the water, so my shoulders were a bit damp by the time I got to work. I find that can happen with thicker products. The smell of lavender was also quite strong when my hair was wet, but it disappeared once dry.

It probably took an extra hour to dry completely, which I didn’t really mind.

Result

The first time round, I was pretty happy with the result. That stiff and heavy feeling did disappear once my hair dried, which was a relief. My hair felt soft and mousturised, my scalp felt clean, and my hair still had volume. I wasn’t sure what to expect in the volume department so I was pretty impressed with that.

What I didn’t like was that my hair looked a bit frizzy at the ends, which I put down to not using a styling product. As a whole, I would say my hair did look a bit curlier than usual, and I think it held its curl for a bit longer than usual — into the next day. It looked okay on day two and three, but nothing amazing. It looked as I would normally expect day two and three hair to look, with a bit more curl on day two. For a product that replaced shampoo and conditioner, I was relatively pleased.

Second and third wash

This is where things went downhill. Sometimes, my hair likes a product one day and hates it the next. This is basically what happened with New Wash.

For the second go, I used less product than I did the first time and my hair detangled as easily as it had before. It still had that stiff feeling, but I knew it would go away so I wasn’t concerned. I did add a curl cream this time, and that really helped stop the frizz at the ends. My hair looked fine on day one, but it wouldn’t sit right on my scalp the following day, or the day after that. It felt a bit heavy, it lost some of its curls and waves and looked quite flat by the time I had to wash it again.

Nevertheless, I persisted and used New Wash again for a third time. Attempt three was a bit of a disaster. I repeated the process, using styling cream, and my hair did not like it. My hair wouldn’t sit on my scalp properly — it wouldn’t sit right along the crown in the way oily hair doesn’t sit right, but my hair wasn’t oily at all in this instance. The curls fell flat by day two and no amount of zhooshing would fix the way it sat on my scalp. The ends were tangled like steel wool and the knots started quite high up. Basically, I had to wash it again on day two because it looked and felt terrible. I washed it with shampoo and my usual Shea Moisture conditioner and the problem went away.

Verdict

I didn’t try it again after attempt three because I don’t want that to happen again. I probably will use it here and there, but only because I don’t want to waste it, and not on consecutive washes. Just because this did not work for me in the end, doesn’t mean it won’t work for you — it does have thousands of great reviews. My hair is very temperamental and I think that is partly to blame.

However, what I really struggle to understand is the cost.

Without the 10% subscription discount, the 8oz package costs AU$69, the 20oz package costs $155, and the 32oz package costs $236. I imagine it’s priced that way because it’s supposed to replace two other products — maybe that’s the amount you’d spend on shampoo, conditioner and stylers combined. But if the cost works out to be the same, what’s the point in replacing three products with one? Unless, of course, New Wash really worked for you and the results were significantly better than the products you would normally use.

I just feel, for that price, you’d want it to work miracles on your hair, walk the dog and do the dishes. If you had long and thick hair that required a lot of product, you’d spend a fortune.

I should say, there is is a $20 trial kit that I couldn’t access because I’m in Australia. I tested out a few countries on the website, including New Zealand, Canada, the UK, and various places in Europe and it appears this very affordable trial kit is only available for US customers…even though Hairstory ships to 34 other countries. If the trial was available to me, I definitely would have chosen it rather than a full-size package.

Have you tried New Wash? Let me know in the comments below!

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Why Function of Beauty Are Amazing Curly Girl Method Products: A Review

If you’ve googled hair care products within the last year, you’ve probably come across Function of Beauty - the customizable shampoo and conditioner range that claims to help your hair live its best life. But is it worth it?

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, Function of Beauty offer shampoos and conditioners that are formulated to suit your unique locks. You jump online, take a two-minute quiz about your hair and your hair goals and BOOM, out pops hair care products designed for your head alone. It’s even got your name on it.

It stood out to me because, along with being vegan and cruelty-free, the products are free of sulfates (which curly hair tends to hate) and parabens, and everyone under the sun seemed to be talking about how amazing the products are.

(Click here to read my Function of Beauty skin care review!)

Initially, it sounded gimmicky and unreal. How could a company mass produce that much product while formulating each bottle for every customer, based on a short multiple choice questionnaire? It sounded a bit like a scam.

I was also skeptical because, when I first looked into it, silicones were included in the conditioners and that’s just one giant ‘no’ for anyone with curly hair. I even reached out to Function of Beauty to ask whether they offered any options without silicones and the response I got back was all about how silicones are actually good for your hair, etc, etc. To their credit, it was a personalised response written by a human that addressed my specific questions, and not an automated bot response. But even so, it remained a giant ‘no’ for a while longer for that reason.

I remained skeptical until Function of Beauty offered a conditioner without silicones.

I decided to give it a shot and, in a dramatic and unforseen turn of events, they became my favourite curly girl method products. Here’s how it went down.

Note: I’ve included a photo of the ingredients list below, but keep in mind it’s specifically for the selections I made. The ingredients will be different for you, depending on what selections you make.

Before

Before using Function of Beauty, I had been using curly girl-friendly Bondi Boost shampoo, and alternating between Shea Moisture Black Castor Oil deep conditioner and Garnier Hair Food deep conditioner. I liked the Bondi Boost shampoo because it seemed to clean my hair in a way that a lot of other sulfate-free shampoos didn’t, but I did feel like it was drying my hair out a bit.

I alternated between the two deep conditioners in place of regular conditioner because the Bondi Boost conditioner was nowhere near hydrating enough and my hair would tangle up again really easily. While both deep conditioners did an okay job, I wasn’t overwhelmingly impressed with either. I had to use relatively large scoops of each to properly detangle my hair I alternated between them because each one would periodically make my hair dry, and I was at the point where neither product was doing a wonderful job.

Queue Function of Beauty.

Function of Beauty: A Review

Upon heading to the Function of Beauty website and hitting ‘Take The Quiz’, I was met with three questions asking me all about my hair type and structure, complete with visual aids to help me understand what the questions were asking.

I have fine, curly hair that errs on the side of dry, so that’s what I selected.

On the next page I was asked what my ‘hair goals’ were. Because my hair is dry, it’s very prone to splitting, so I opted to fix split ends, hydrate and strengthen. I also like more volume in my hair with defined curls, so I chose those options. I clicked ‘no silicones’ and was hit with a warning asking me if that’s really what I wanted. I found that pretty strange - it read as though they were trying to convince me I needed silicones, but I’ve had really bad experiences with them in the past, along with basically everyone else with curly hair, so I ignored it and continued on with my hair journey.

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The next step was all about how I wanted the shampoo and conditioner to look and smell. There are a bunch of fun smells and colours to choose from, but when it comes down to it, keeping things as natural as possible keeps your hair and scalp looking it’s very best. It didn’t say whether the dyes were derived from natural ingredients, and scents are a huge cause of scalp irritation for people in general, so I opted for no dyes and the eucalyptus scent because it says that one is 100% natural. Lavender is the other natural scent, or you can choose the fragrance-free option.

You can also choose the strength of your fragrance, so I guess the option to smell like a full-blown eucalyptus tree or lavender bush is available for willing participants, however, I chose the ‘light’ option.

Finally, I got to whack my name on the bottle. Another fun part is that you don’t necessarily have to put down your name. You could choose to have it say ‘function of - sexy beast’ if you so desired ;)

I then chose the size of the bottles I wanted and had the option to add hair masks and such. I opted for the smallest bottles and no hair masks since I’d never tried it before and, at $69 for both, omgosh it’s expensive.

I felt confident with my selections throughout the process because the site is so visual, and at no point was I confused.

Because I live in Australia it took about a month to arrive, but shipping was only $5 soooo I can’t really complain.

The Products

The shampoo and conditioner bottles came packed in a personalised box that had my name on it. It also came with a info pamphlet which also contained the product ingredients - something that isn’t available on the site. Each bottle was sealed to prevent leakage, and the pump lids were included separately in the box. It also came with some stickers that I think you can use to decorate the bottles with.

Because I chose no colour, the products were both a nice pearly shade of white and they did indeed smell like eucalyptus, but not like a whole tree. Winner.

I was a little surprised at how small the bottles were. I chose 8 oz, but we measure things in litres on my side of the planet so I didn’t know how much I was selecting. It’s really quite small for the price and, given that my hair often needs more conditioner than the average human, I wondered how far it would all actually go.

Wash

The directions are pretty basic and I did nothing different or fancy before piling it in my hair. It had been about four or five days since my last wash and it was tangled as all hell.

When my hair was completely saturated under the shower, I used one pump of the shampoo and used it on my roots. Since the product has no sulfates in it, I didn’t think it would lather properly and expected to have to use more of the product to work it through my hair, but that’s not what happened at all.

It foamed like crazy. One pump was almost enough to cover my entire scalp.

Quick note - I only ever wash my roots with shampoo and let it sink through the length when I rinse it out. I’ve always found it to be an effective washing method that still leaves my hair feeling fresh and clean, and that’s what I did with the Function of Beauty shampoo.

After washing it out, I moved on to the conditioner. Function of Beauty suggest starting with the conditioner on your roots and moving down through the length. I never put conditioner up past my ears because I find my hair goes really flat on top and doesn’t sit right when it’s dry, so I didn’t put it on my roots here either.

Again, I expected to have to use more product because my hair can be so dry and hard to detangle.

Wrong.

With one pump of the Function of Beauty conditioner, I began to detangle the length with my fingers and managed to do most of it using that small amount. I grabbed a little more to squish into the ends. I was super surprised at how little I needed to use. When I couldn’t detangle any more with my fingers, I used one of those detangling brushes to do that rest. Again, it was really, really easy to do.

The instructions say to leave the conditioner in for a few minutes before rinsing it out, so that’s what I did.

Drying

Once all the conditioner was out, I tipped my head upside down, brushed it again (gently), scrunched the excess water out with my hands to create curls and put it up with a microfibre towel for 20 mins.

Then I took it out, scrunched the excess water out again, parted it and let it air dry.

The result

The first thing I noticed was how soft my hair felt. It didn’t tangle up easily, it felt stronger and smoother, and the volume was 100% more impressive than any other curly girl-friendly products I’d used.

The second thing I noticed was that my curly were basically gone. It was voluminous and healthy and shiny, buuuuut the ‘curl definition’ selection I’d chosen in my hair goals didn’t seem to do anything.

I know I said Function of Beauty is an amazing curly girl method product - sit tight - I’m getting to it.

Having said that, I don’t really put products in my hair to keep it curly, and my hair felt so good after using Function of Beauty that I thought I’d try out a new product to see if I could get some curls back post-wash.

Wash, Take 2

I washed and conditioned my hair the exact same way about five days later, but instead of putting it up in a towel once I was done brushing it in the shower, I scrunched Not Your Mother’s Kinky Moves Curl Defining Hair Cream through the ends. I put it up in a microfibre towel again, left it for 20 mins, took it out, scrunched with the towel a couple of times, then parted it and let it air dry.

Result, take 2

Curls for days!

I was so, so impressed at how curly using a small amount of Not Your Mother’s made my hair. I’m usually a bit wary of leave-in products because my hair is really sensitive to too much moisture. It doesn’t really absorb products unless it’s wet, and often it just goes stringy.

Not this time.

The combination of Function of Beauty shampoo and conditioners and Not Your Mother’s Kinky Moves Curl Defining Hair Cream made my curls defined, hydrated, and knot-free.

Pros

I used to really struggle detangling my hair in the shower - even though my hair is fine, it took me a really long time to get all the knots out without breaking the ends off. After using Function of Beauty, I literally wash my hair every five days, even though I workout every day, and it’s about 80% less tangled. The amount of hair that falls with each wash has also significantly reduced.

Cons

No matter how you look at it, the products are expensive. One of my main concerns was that the small bottles would empty really quickly, based on the amount of product I’m used to using, but I honestly only use about one pump of each with every wash. Given that I wash my hair about once every five days, it should last quite a long time.

From the bizarre caution I got when opting not to use silicones to the lack of ingredients on the website, it’s pretty clear that Function of Beauty isn’t really designed for people who follow the curly girl method, but they are still amazing curly girl method-friendly products by default.

The Verdict

Even though my hair wasn’t curly just using Function of Beauty products, it moisturised and strengthened my hair more than anything else ever has. Since it’s not specifically a curly hair company, I don’t mind that my hair wasn’t curly without using additional products - it’s so hydrated and healthy-feeling that I do feel it’s worth it.

My hair feels smoother and less tangled for about double the time it used to and I’m losing far less hair than I was before. I also have a moderately sensitive scalp, but I haven’t had any adverse reaction to this one.

Function of Beauty is very pricey, but I also think it’s a fair price considering the company are genuinely formulating each bottle to order. Not only that, but it works. That’s pretty impressive. If you have the cash to spare, I would say it’s definitely worth trying it out.

Have you tried Function of Beauty? Let me know in the comments below!

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Shea Moisture Shampoo Review: Does it work?

Is Shea Moisture shampoo and conditioner worth the hype? I tested it out so you don’t have to.

As someone who travels a lot, my hair has been through some things I kind of wish it hadn’t. Chlorinated water, being washed in countries with undrinkable tap water, extreme heat and humidity, snow and frost, extreme amounts of sunshine, and all the things I did to it in between, like bleach, box dyes, and heat tools – you name it! So when I discovered DevaCurl, I thought I’d found the answer to all my curly hair problems. My hair was detangled, shiny, and curlier than ever before – why buy anything else?

That is, until it stopped working.

(read my DevaCurl review)

You know when you find a new moisturiser or cleanser and your skin feels the best it has ever felt and you think ‘hells yes I’ll use this forever’, and then it seems to stop working and your skin looks less than average again? That’s what happened to my hair with DevaCurl.

The search for something new resumed.

I’d heard about Shea Moisture, but I have fine hair that gets weighed down really easily, so I figured anything with shea butter in it would be too heavy. If you’ve ever held a block of raw shea butter, you’ll understand. It’s dense. It wasn’t until I tried Maui Moisture for a few weeks and my hair dried out like sand on a hot day that I realised I needed something else.

So my dry, tangled hair and I wandered into Priceline, found Shea Moisture Jamaican Black Castor Oil shampoo and conditioner on special, and found myself at the checkout, debit card in-hand. Long-story-short, Shea Moisture was the bomb. I was actually shocked, and wondered how and why I avoided this product for so long.

On another note, it’s also cruelty-free, vegan, curly girl-friendly, and Jamaican black castor oil promotes hair growth. Win! 

Shea Moisture: A Review

First of all, the shampoo looks, smells feels really unappealing. It’s a dark shade of brown – kind of like lice shampoo, without the really acrid smell – and feels thin. A far cry from the thick, white and creamy consistency of DevaCurl. Having said that, a core ingredient is Jamaican black castor oil so, you know, the colour and consistency is to be expected. 

On my head it went. It does foam a bit, but it’s not like anything with sulfate in it – just enough so that you feel like your head will be clean. I also didn’t need to use too much – two pumps, each around the size of a bottle top.

I should mention the instructions basically say to douse all your hair in it – from roots to ends – but that seemed a little extreme for me so I only went scalp, and everything was fine.

It washed out easily, and I moved on to the conditioner. Unlike the shampoo, the Shea Moisture Jamaican Black Castor Oil conditioner is thick, creamy, and a light caramel colour. After using around two pumps to start with, I raked it through my hair to see how easily it detangled.

It didn’t make my hair feel silky as soon as I used it like some other products do, so I was surprised at how easily the knots came out. It wasn’t a miracle product by any means - my hair didn’t magically fall flat and knot-free on my shoulders, but it was easier than usual to rake it through.

I washed it out, wrapped it in a microfibre towel for 20 minutes, styled with a bit of DevaCurl Wave Maker and let it air dry.

The Result

After it dried, I noticed the difference.

As much as I loved DevaCurl, it did weigh my hair down and took quite a lot of fluffing to bring the volume back. With Shea Moisture, it barely took any effort at all.

I was pretty concerned the mixture of shea butter and black castor oil would make my hair feel oily, stringy, and heavy, but it was nothing like that. My hair felt lighter, the curls were bouncier, and only once it dried could I feel how soft the conditioner made my hair.

I’ve now been using it for a few months and I’m still really happy with it. It also never irritates my skin, doesn’t leave a weird smell in my hair, and when it is feeling dryer because of external factors like weather and humidity, I use the DevaCurl Deep Sea Repair and it fixes it right up.

The Verdict

Shea Moisture doesn’t give you that huge boost of moisture you get with DevaCurl so it might not be great for people with high-porosity hair, thick or course hair that requires a heap and heaps of moisture, but it is a really good alternative a lot of other products out there (like Maui Moisture, for example – do not recommend. At all.), and they do have a few deep conditioners that are apparently worth a try! I haven’t tried them because it’s serious overkill for my hair - way too heavy - but I’ve only heard good things.

They also have a huge range for you to choose from that’s suited to all kind of hair types, which is something DevaCurl doesn’t really have, so it would be easy to shop around and figure out what works best for your hair. 

Shea Moisture is also a great option if you’re finding DevaCurl too expensive. It’s priced comparatively well, so it’s easier to justify buying spending the money on it before you know whether it’s going to work for you.  

All in all, I’ve had great results with Shea Moisture so I absolutely recommend it to anyone.

Do you have a miracle hair product that’s done wonders for your hair? Let me know in the comments below!

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I Tried Lush Henna and Rainbow Henna. Here's What Happened.

I put Lush Henna and Rainbow Henna to the test. Here’s what happened.

Lush Henna and Rainbow Henna are probably the most popular natural dyes on the market. They both come in a few colours, they’re widely available and promise to have your hair looking amazing after use.

As I said in my Lush Henna review, I was blessed with grey hair from the ripe old age of 24, my hair is naturally very dark, and have been looking for a natural alternative to cover it up because my hair hates chemicals.

The problem is, henna isn’t really designed for hair that has different shades. It’s more of a natural stain that colours the hair in the same way that beetroot stains your skin when you touch it, but henna is more permanent.

Grey strands stain lighter than dark strands, so we’re looking for the one with the best coverage.

If you haven’t read my Lush Henna review, check it out!

(For a full list of pros and cons, scroll right to the end)

rainbow henna Review

Pick a colour - there are loads! If you have really long or thick hair, you might want two pots just in case. My hair is long and I have a lot of it, but the strands are fine so I only needed 3/4 of a pot.

You’ll also need a plastic or glass bowl, a plastic or wooden spoon for mixing (metal does something weird to the dye so don’t use an ordinary spoon), a dying brush or comb with a pointy but on the end, gloves so you don’t stain your hands, something to cover the floor with, and some kind of oil or petroleum jelly to put on your face and neck so the henna easily comes off your skin. As with all henna, it’s a little messy.

Preparation

As with Lush Henna, you’ll need to mix Rainbow Henna with water to make it into a paste. Rainbow Henna comes in powder form is astronomically easier to dissolve than Lush Henna.

If you’re covering greys with a dark colour, you will need:

A pot of hot brewed coffee (not instant) and apple cider vinegar. The coffee takes the red shades out of the dye and the apple cider vinegar helps the greys latch on to the colour.

In the glass or plastic bowl, put in as much henna as you think you’ll need and gradually add the coffee. You’re looking for pancake batter consistency. Gloopy, but not too thick. Add about a tablespoon of vinegar and mix it in.

I put my glass bowl in a saucepan with a small amount of boiling water in the bottom to keep the dye warm. Like you’d do if melting chocolate.

Application

The directions say you can apply it to wet or dry hair, but I chose dry. I felt like the colour might not stain as much if the hair was wet, but it’s entirely up to you. It also says to apply on clean hair, but I think this is to ensure there are no styling products that would get in the way. I think it had been about two days since I washed it, but don’t really use gels or anything in my hair so I figured it was fine.

If you’ve got someone to apply it for you, use them. I have done it myself and had someone else do it, and it will save you loads of time and cleaning up if someone else does it.

Either way, start with the roots and move on to the length once all the roots are completely covered. The best way to do that is with a dye brush, but if you’re on your own that might be hard so use your fingers as best you can. It still works without a brush.

You want to do the roots first because henna is thick. It’s so thick that if you cover the length and the root at the same time, you’ll have a lot of trouble moving the length out of the way to get to the parts that haven’t been coloured. You’ll thank me later.

When you feel like it’s done, your hair should look all thick and ropey - like Tarzan’s hair.

Lift it up and twist it in to a high bun on top of your head. Smooth it down and it’ll stay there on its own. If it doesn’t, fashion a headband out of a piece of cloth and tie it up. A hair elastic probably won’t fit around it.

WASHING IT OUT

Getting this stuff out is an effort. Don’t bother trying to do it in the sink, you will need to have a full shower. But I did notice it wasn’t nearly as messy as getting Lush Henna out - the shower looked significantly cleaner after.

Rinse and rinse until the water runs clear.

You’re not supposed to use shampoo for about 48 hours after putting henna in your hair to give the dye the best chance of staining your hair. This will be hard because it will feel gritty, but put some non-silicone conditioner in, rope it through, and rinse again until there’s no grit left.

Dry it as you normally would.

You’ll need to wait about 48 hours before the henna has finished developing. If you feel like the greys are still there after you rinse it all out, wait a few days then make your mind up.

The Result

I noticed an immediate improvement.

My hair was dark like I wanted and there was no red or copper tinge. On top of that, the greys were more or less the same colour as the rest of my hair. This is a huge change from Lush Henna, which left the greys all coppery. not a huge problem because I guess they weren’t grey anymore, but not ideal. Rainbow Henna literally covered them all. I was shocked.

While my hair did feel ridiculously gritty for a few days until I was able to use shampoo again, the colour is pretty much exactly what I wanted.

Lush Henna vs Rainbow Henna

Rainbow Henna was about 100% better for so many reasons.

1. Time. To get your hair a darker colour, Lush Henna requires two separate applications. One takes two hours and the other takes four. And that’s just the developing time, not the preparation. Rainbow Henna took about 2.5 hours from beginning to end.

2. Preparation. Lush Henna comes in big blocks that have to be cut up really finely. Rainbow Henna comes in powder form so most of the work has already been done. Again, this saves a heap of time and washing - you don’t need a knife or chopping board.

3. Ingredients. Lush Henna is full of shea butter and Rainbow Henna is not. This makes a huge difference when you rinse it all out. Shea butter makes my hair look really greasy and I literally can’t not shampoo it out, but on the other hand it does make your hair feel nice afterwards than Rainbow Henna, which feels gritty after.

4. Cost. Lush Henna is about $25 per block. Seeing as I use red and mix brown and black, it costs me about $75 in total. Rainbow Henna costs $10 for a pot that covers my whole head in one go.

5. Result. Rainbow Henna coloured my hair in a way that Lush Henna never did, even though Lush stayed in my hair for twice as long. Ultimately, it covered all my greys and basically made them the same colour as the rest of my head. That’s all I was after, so Rainbow Henna wins hands-down.
   

Do you prefer Lush Henna or Rainbow Henna? Let me know in the comments below!

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Lush Henna Review: Does Henna Cover Grey Hair?

Short answer: Yes. Lush Henna makes your hair darker and covers grey hair, but there is a right way to do it. Here’s what you need to know.

As someone with naturally very dark hair who was blessed with varying amounts of grey hair from the age of 24, covering it up has been on my mind for a while, but I didn’t know how to do it without causing damage.

My hair hates chemicals. And I mean, hates chemicals.

Having used a vast array of chemical dyes over the years (red, black, bleach, blue – you name it) and it turning in to a matted and unhealthy disaster almost every time, I wasn’t sure if it was possible to colour my long mop of curly hair without destroying it.

Then I found out about henna.

In my mind, henna was red. It’s a plant and it is red in its natural form, but the world of henna hair dye has evolved to include other plants that can make your hair dark, such as indigo which supposedly does just that.

I was skeptical. I did not want red hair. But after reading a range of reviews and asking the people at Lush, I realised it was probably possible to use henna without looking like an apple, and decided to give it a shot. Here’s what happened.

How to cover grey hair with henna

The first thing you need to do is clear a whole day – this is a slow process and you will need time.

Lush henna comes in big blocks. The number of blocks and colours you need will depending on what colour you’re going for. But either way, if you’re trying to cover greys, you will need to start with a big block of red.

As with regular chemical hair dye, it’s difficult to get black to take to blonde, grey, or white hair – it needs a bit of red in it for the dye to work. It’s the same with henna.

If your hair is predominately your natural colour with greys here and there and you try to use a darker henna without using red first, the greys will be very highlighted, especially if you go straight for black. It kind of defeats the purpose, so best to get it red first.

Depending on the colour you want, prepare to get a few different blocks.

• For red hair: Caca Rouge

• For brown or chestnut hair: Caca Rouge and Caca Brun

• For very dark brown hair: Caca Rouge, Caca Brun, and Caca Noir

• For black hair: Caca Rogue and Caca Noir

Since my hair is dark brown and I want to keep it that way, I went with option three and got three blocks.

before

The amount you need really depends on the thickness of your hair. The longest pieces of my hair stretches to the small of my back, and I have a lot of hair, but it isn’t thick so I found about 80% of a block was enough. If you’re unsure, opt for more instead of less. If it’s too much, use less next time.

To make sure your skin is protected and you don’t end up looking like an orange, put on clothes you don’t care about and douse exposed skin in some kind of balm. I used pawpaw ointment because that’s what I had on-hand, but Vaseline or some kind of petroleum jelly will do fine.

Put it all over your face and neck, any parts of your chest, shoulders, arms, legs, and feet left exposed – henna goes everywhere. Line the floor and the sink and any surfaces you’re using with cardboard or plastic, and have rubber gloves ready. It’s messy stuff.

Preparation

Start with red.

Some websites will tell you to chop the block as finely as possible before whacking it in a bowl, but that’s unnecessary – it melts down.

I chopped it until each piece was roughly the size of a chocolate square and put it in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Add boiling water from a kettle gradually, stirring, until the henna reaches the consistency of pancake batter, not crepe batter. It should slowly run off a spoon on its own, but not too easily. If it’s really thick and gloopy, it’ll be hard to run through your hair.

It takes a bit to melt, so I used a whisk in the end to make sure all the chunks were gone.

Once you’re done melting it, keep it over the saucepan of hot water and take it to your workstation.

Application

Apply it on clean, dry, brushed hair.

A dye brush would probably be easier, I used my hands and it was fine, but I will say having something to divide your hair in to sections is definitely worthwhile. I used the pointy end of a make up brush, but you could use the pointy end of a comb.

Starting in the middle, take a section of hair and start applying henna to the roots. I found it easier to do the roots first because it means wet pieces aren’t hanging over your face as you try and divide and colour each section. And the henna is heavy, so it is an effort to flick between dry hair and henna-covered hair. Doing the roots first is much easier.

The back is a little tricky, so I covered my hands in the stuff and rubbed it on to the back of my scalp like I would with shampoo. When I felt sure that was all coated, I started on the length.

When you have long hair like I do, it can take a while to ensure every strand is covered because the henna is so thick and gritty. I spent time pulling chunks of my hair apart and rubbing more of the stuff in. When I thought it was all coated, I put more through the roots and the ends to make sure.

When you feel like it’s done, your hair should look all thick and ropey - like Tarzan’s hair.

Lift it up and twist it in to a high bun on top of your head. Smooth it down and it’ll stay there on its own.

For henna to develop red, it needs heat. I tied a bag over my hair and left it for two hours to keep the heat in.

Washing it out

Getting this stuff out is an effort. Don’t bother trying to do it in the sink, you will need to have a full shower. And your shower will end up looking like a kid ran through new turf with a sprinkler.

Rinse and rinse until the water runs clear. Put some non-silicone conditioner in, rope it through, and rinse again until there’s no grit left.

Dry it as you normally would.

If you’re going for red and the greys are lighter than the rest and you hate it, you can always go over those bits again. The great thing about henna is you can go over it as many times as you like without damaging your hair, so go for it!

Brun and Noir Application

When your hair is totally dry, prepare the henna exactly as you did with the red.

Douse yourself in petroleum jelly again, make sure surfaces are covered, and chop the blocks.

I wanted dark hair, so I used 50:50 Brun and Noir. It was pretty dark, so I’d probably go for 60:40 next time.

Mix them together over the saucepan and start the process again.

The only real difference here is the developing time. Dark henna needs time to develop. At least four hours, in fact.

It’ a little difficult because the henna is heavy on your head after all that time and you can’t rest your head on anything, so be warned.

Since you shouldn’t cover this one with a bag unless you want to bring out the red tones, you’ll need to make sure you’re sitting somewhere without carpet – pieces will crumble and fall during those four hours, and you don’t want it staining anything.

You also want it to dry hard on your head, and a bag would slow the process down.

Once you’ve made it through four hours, you’ll be pretty keen to get it out.

Some people say not to use shampoo for a few days after you rinse henna out, but Lush henna is infused with shea butter, which is super moisturising so it’s handy to know how your hair reacts to shea butter beforehand.

Since my hair is fine, it ends up looking and feeling like I dipped it in a bowl of grease when I use shea butter, so I shampooed my scalp.

If you’re only rinsing it, make sure you take the time to get all the product off your scalp – the grit will stick around otherwise and it will look and feel weird, and probably stain your bed sheets.

I then ran conditioner through it to smooth it out, and dried it as normal.

The result

I noticed a difference immediately. My hair was dark like I wanted, and greys were more or less covered. The down side is that they were lighter than the rest - coppery - but it didn’t really look like I’d dyed grey hair – they just looked like vague natural highlight.

My hair felt thicker, fuller, and healthier. I have fewer knots, it’s conditioned, and the henna doesn’t seem to be fading.

In fact, it takes a few days for henna to fully develop, so if your greys are lighter than you want, wait a couple of days before going over it again.

I wasn’t 100% in love with the colour at first, but it beats chemically damaged hair by 1000%

Pictured below are a before and after - you can definitely tell my hair is darker on the right.

Verdict

While extremely time-consuming, I would use Lush henna again.

Henna is one of the most permanent dyes you can get, so you’d only theoretically need to dye the roots every month or so. That’s what I plan to do, which automatically takes a lot of the time out of the equation.

While each block does cost around $25, if you’re only dying the roots every month, one block will go a long way, so it’s not too pricey when you look at it that way.

Things to note

While hair dye is essentially not natural, henna is different to regular dye. Where chemical dyes break down the structure of the hair and inject it with colour, henna acts as a varnish and coats the hair while maintaining structural integrity. When you have fine hair like me, that makes a huge difference. But even if you have thicker hair, chemical dyes will break your hair down over years of use, so it’s worth considering no matter what your hair type is.

The other thing is that once you use henna, you won’t be able to use any regular hair dye with bleach in it. The chemicals do not react well and your hair could break off, so make sure this is what you want.

Have you tried Lush Henna? Let me know in the comments below!

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Vegan Hair Dye Review: Biokap vs Clairol Natural Instincts

Looking for a vegan hair dye that causes minimal damage to your hair? I compared Clairol and Biokap. Here’s what I found.

I’ve been avoiding dying my hair with box dye for a loooong time, but with Henna taking upwards of two hours per month and not lasting a super long time, I needed to find an alternative that wouldn’t damage my very sensitive hair.

I know there are a lot of extra dyes that you can import from other countries, but when I look for a hair dye, I want something I can quickly grab off the shelf. I don’t want to have to plan my order months in advance, or worry that I don’t have any left for an event, or pay $50 in delivery fees. Don’t get me wrong, I would love to try some of the box dyes from other nations that are supposed to be amazing for your hair, but they cost a lot, shipping always takes forever, and they’re just not accessible for everyone. I want something affordable, that everyone can have a crack at. I got mine from Priceline.

After trying to research the hair dye brands available in Australia (options were limited, as always) and trying to find the vegan brands that were least likely to destroy my dye-sensitive hair (that aren’t henna - you can read my henna reviews here and here) I narrowed it down to two - Clairol Natural Instincts and Biokap.

Ingredients

Biokap is a small company that also makes cosmetics, and everything is vegan and cruelty-free. They use a lot of natural botanicals and proteins that strengthen your hair.

Clairol Natural Instincts is vegan, but being from a massive company that also makes non-vegan products, I don’t think they can call themselves cruelty-free. I also didn’t quite trust Clairol because it’s a very mainstream company, and - it felt like they were trying to turn a profit just by having a vegan range. I also didn’t trust them not to put terrible things in the product because they don’t hesitate with their non-vegan range - terrible things can still be vegan.

Both dyes are ammonia-free. Ammonia is toxic, and it’s the component in normal hair dyes that burns your eyes. It breaks the hair cuticle apart to allow color in. So on one hand you end up with a more vibrant result if you use ammonia, but if your hair is fine like mine, it will end up in terrible condition. Even if your hair is in good condition and takes hair dye well, ammonia will damage it over time. So that was a win for both products.

Clairol Natural Instincts comes with globes, developer, colour and conditioner

Biokap comes with gloves, developer, colour, conditioner and a cape

Sustainability

Biopkap is owned by Bios Line - a company founded in Italy in the ‘80s - dedicated to the creation of natural and environmentally-friendly products.

Biokap has a fleshed-out an environmental commitment on its website. The company brand is part of a zero impact scheme, aims to use recyclable packaging, uses solar panels to generate energy to power its factories, uses papers and cardboards from environmentally sustainable and certified plantations, pledges to never test on animals and supports a FRAME - a company developing alternatives to animal testing, with the goal of eliminating it in the cosmetics industry entirely.

Clairol is owned by Coty - an international company, founded in Germany in the early 1900s, that specializes in beauty products from big brands, including Burberry, Adidas, Calvin Klein, Rimmel…you get the idea. There is a sustainability statement on its website that basically says it has some 10-year goals going all the way to 2031. Which is great, but I also think big companies are expected to have an environmental statement these days to show they’re not behind the times. Nevertheless, the statement does say the company is trying to reduce emissions by 30% and energy consumption by 25% by 2030, along with switching to 100% renewable energy within that same time period. Considering how large the company is, those goals are fairly substantial.

The Clairol website is missing an environmental statement. The only mention of anything along that vein is the vegan hair dye range, which literally just says ‘vegan’.

Coty has some impressive goals and I don’t want to diminish the effort, but Bios Line was founded with goal towards sustainability so is has the upper hand in that department.

Are they Curly Girl-Friendly?

Strictly speaking, hair dye in general isn’t CG-friendly, but there are things you can do to ensure your dye isn’t going to kill off your curls.

I couldn’t find much online about whether Biokap and Clairol Natural Insticts are curly girl friendly, so I did my own research and punched the ingredients of both into Curlsbot - literally a bot that will analyze the ingredients in your favorite hair products and let you know what will dry your hair out, what is curly girl approved (click here if you don’t know what I’m talking about) and what harsh chemicals you should avoid entirely.

The screenshots below are pretty revealing.

Curlsbot results for Clairol Natural Instincts

Clairol Natural Instincts had red flags all over it. Along with weird silicones and sulfates, it had five different kinds of alcohol (they’re not drying alcohols, but five at once? Really?) and a tongue-twister mineral that stops your hair from absorbing moisture. Curlsbot ultimately recommended against Clairol.

Curlsbot results for Biokap

The Biokap ingredients were inconclusive because there was only one alcohol the bot couldn’t determine - phenetyl alcohol. From my own research, it’s an alcohol that occurs naturally in plants and has a rose-like scent. It can cause skin irritation, but it’s been tested on humans and a reaction is unlikely. If in doubt, test the dye on a small patch of skin first. It does exist in other cosmetics from other companies that are also deemed clean and vegan. That doesn’t mean it is, of course, but there were no red flags that I could see.

Aside from the one unknown, there were three approved alcohols, one approved cleaner and no red flags in Biokap.

Coverage

Henna does not have coverage that lasts a long time. This is because it’s a stain and doesn’t actually dye the star and - it coats it. Since I was supremely unlucky and started getting grey hair quite early (24, to be exact), I really wanted something to cover it up. I don’t have an issue with grey hair at all, but I my hair is naturally very dark and I just don’t think light colors suit my skin. I will probably embrace the grey when I’m older, but for now, I plan to cover it up.

I think most dyes these days have pretty decent coverage, but grey is the hardest color to cover because it has no pigment. Clairol claims to cover greys and, according to the review, it does a pretty good job.

Biokap also has good reviews in the coverage department so the competition there was fairly even.

Price

For box dyes, the difference is pretty substantial. Clairol is about $11 and Biokap is $25 - when you have to re-apply every six weeks, the costs do add up, but going to a salon every six weeks would be significantly more expensive. About $250 more, per session. Salon dyes are supposed to be better quality than box dyes, and I would say they are 9 times out of 10, but you still never really know - you basically have to trust whatever the colorist tells you.

I also believe you get what you pay for. I don’t want to spend $300 and three hours of my life in a salon chair every six weeks, but I would much rather pay an extra $14 for the box dye with better ingredients every six weeks if it mean’s my hair will be healthier in the long run.

Verdict

Unless you’re using henna, hair dye will damage your hair at the end of the day. The best thing you can do is avoid dye entirely, but there are steps you can take to ensure your hair doesn’t get as damaged as it could.

I ended up going with Biokap for a range of reasons - the main one being that Clairol has a bunch of harmful ingredients in it. I didn’t spend so long testing out henna to ruin my hair with one cheap box dye, so Biokap really won the competition on that front.

And (SPOILERS!) I did try out Biokap and my hair does feel a little different, but it doesn’t feel damaged so I do think I made the right choice.

Want to read my tried and tested Biokap review? Watch this space!

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Olaplex Review: Does it really fix dry and damaged hair?

I’ve struggled with dry and damaged curly hair for years, so when I heard Olaplex could potentially fix my hair, I ordered a bottle immediately and gave it a go. Here’s what happened.

I’ve tried a lot of different products to help nourish my dry and damaged hair, but the only thing that actually worked was switching to the curly girl method. As I’ve said in previous posts, my hair was damaged from poor nutrition when I was younger, box dyes, bleach, hard water in different countries, and travel in general. It was a borderline nightmare for a long, long time.

But in all honesty, following the curly girl method (CG) and getting rid of sulphates, silicones, drying alcohols, and parabens did wonders for my hair, to the point where the only issue I really come up against now is the intense amount of time it takes to detangle my hair every 4-5 days in the shower. Oh my gosh it takes so long.

So when I heard about Olaplex, I decided to give it a shot.

Olaplex is supposed to temporarily fix broken bonds in your hair. While Olaplex’s main draw card is that it can help repair bleached hair, broken bonds can happen through excessive heat styling, poor nutrition, and regular dying as well. Basically, if you have damaged hair, Olaplex can supposedly help with that.

Olaplex 3: A Review

While Olaplex has been touted as a salon product and you can only access to most of the products through a professional, Olaplex 3 is available to everyone, and it’s the only CG-friendly product in the line at this point in time.

The Process

My hair was its usual tangled self when I woke up on hair-washing day. But instead of washing and conditioning the crap out of it like I usually would, I reached for the Olaplex 3 bottle.

The instructions say to apply the product it all over wet, towel-dried hair. I’ve always been confused by the term ‘towel-dried’ anyway (what does that even mean? Is it meant to be damp or not?), so I put my head under the shower, absorbed the excess water with a microfibre towel, then squeezed a 10 cent coin-sized (quarter-sized or dollar-sized, depending on where you live) amount of Olaplex in my palm, and applied it to the ends of my hair, detangling and working up.

The product has a decent amount of slip (‘slip’ means it detangled easily) so, to my surprise, it wasn’t super painful or stressful trying to detangle it without ripping. Since the instructions say to put it all over your hair, I used a few more coin-sized amounts of products and made sure my hair was coated, before combing it through with a wide-tooth comb.

The instructions also say to leave it in for 10 minutes. I did some research beforehand and found a range of results. Some people swear 10 minutes does the trick while others leave it in for an hour, and some all-or-nothing Olaplex enthusiasts leave it in overnight. Feeling as though 10 minutes wasn’t quite enough, I tied it up for an hour.

I noticed a difference immediately when I started rinsing it out. My hair felt lighter, smoother, and since it was already detangled, the washing process took a fraction of the time. I washed and conditioned as normal, used a microfibre towel to absorb the excess water, then skipped styling product (I wanted to see what happened when left to its own devices) and let is air dry.

The Results

Not only did my hair feel lighter and bouncier after washing, the feeling continued on all week. It was kind of amazing.

My hair looked shinier, felt smoother, and wasn’t as tangled by day four. There was also less hair in the comb after washing it again that week, and instead of drying out towards wash day, it retained moisture and stayed smooth.

The best part was I didn’t have to use it weekly. While the instructions suggest using it on a weekly basis, my hair isn’t bleached or dyed, so I found I only needed to use the product once every two weeks or so – whenever it started feeling dry again.

The Verdict

Overall, I was pretty happy with how Olaplex 3 changed my hair. It’s been a while since I started using it, and I still have less tangled and dryness. It’s kind of been a miracle.

One downside is it’s a little expensive, but it does last a while.

I read that you only need to use a little bit each time – one coin-sized amount…but…well…I definitely used more than that. About three times more than that. But the bottle is still more than three-quarters full.

I also tend to think if something is going to improve the overall health of my hair then it’s worth the cost, but that’s just me – it’s very individual and entirely up to you.

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The other downside? Pretty sure I’m allergic to it 😂

The first time I used it my scalp was mildly irritated, but that happens to me sometimes when seasons change, so I put it down to that. The second time was a bit more of a disaster. My hair felt great, but my scalp felt so uncomfortable.

Super. Freaking. Itchy.

Oh. My gosh.

I don’t know what ingredient it was, and I don’t know why it happened, but it was so bad it started stinging after a while.

So obviously I had to stop using it for a while, but as a testament to Olaplex, my hair didn’t immediately revert back to its dry ways so, as insane as it sounds, I still stand by it.

Olaplex is vegan, cruelty-free, and paraben, sulphate, and silicone-free, so by all accounts, it’s pretty rare to have a reaction to it. I’ve only managed to find one other person on the internet who seemed to be in the same situation as me, so odds are it won’t happen to you!

Have you tried any miracle products to help dry and damaged hair? Let me know in the comments below!

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I Tried DevaCurl to Fix Damaged Curly Hair. Here's What Happened.

Struggling to manage your curly hair? You’re not alone! My curly hair was so dry, frizzy, and knotted after years of travel and chemical damage, so I tried the holy grail of curly hair products to see if it’s really worth the hype. Here’s my DevaCurl review.

UPDATE: DevaCurl has recently been accused of putting a bunch of nasty chemicals in their products. You can find out more about it here. I am not affiliated with DevaCurl - this is an authentic review with my honest opinion but, if the accusations end up being true, I will stop endorsing them. I haven’t used them for a while because, well, given the allegations I’m a bit concerned. But if you’re interested in reading my original review, I’ve left it below.

Endorsed by a slew of Instagram and YouTube Curly Girl Method devotees, DevaCurl is said to be the cream of the crop when it comes to curly hair.

Based on the theory that curly hair is more porous than straight hair, the Curly Girl (CG) Method states that washing your hair with regular shampoos is akin to washing your hair with dish soap. And when you look at the ingredients of each, they’re scarily similar.

Both contain an ingredient called ‘sodium laureth sulfate’ – a harsh detergent that strips away the oil on a fry pan, just as it strips away the natural oils on your head. You may wash your hair because it looks too oily, but you do need some oils to stick around – just like the natural oils on your skin, natural hair oils act as a natural moisturiser that your scalp and hair need to be healthy. Removing them completely strips your hair of its natural vitality and shine.

To combat the damage caused by the sulfates, generic conditioners contain silicone, which is kind of like plastic. There are all sorts of silicones in conditioners, and they’re used to coat your hair give it the illusion of shine, but in actual fact silicone is coating your hair your hair so it’s impenetrable by anything except sulfate. This means your hair looks shiny, but can’t absorb any moisture.

As you’ve probably guessed, DevaCurl is completely void of all those chemicals, along with most alcohols and parabens. Instead, it contains natural oils and botanicals that supposedly leave your hair moisturised and healthy, while encouraging your natural waves or curls to spring in to shape.

As someone with a head of moderately traumatised curls induced by travel, bleach, box dye, a lack of nutrition, cheap products, and intense brushing, DevaCurl looked like the holy grail and the solution to all my problems.

(Note: There are some affiliate links in this post, but clicking on them won’t cost you anything extra, and you’ll just get some extra karmic points :) This is not sponsored, and all opinions are my own. Read more about that here.)

DevaCurl: A Review

Before

I have a lot of hair with natural volume, but the strands themselves are quite thin (I believe the technical word is fine). It tends to be quite curly underneath and, when it’s healthy, the curls are more ringlety. Before starting my curly hair journey, it was so, so dry and damaged, with weird straight bits that weren’t straight when I was younger.

Poor nutrition, years of dumping chemical-riddled box dyes in my hair, and two rounds of bleach bleach killed my natural curls, leaving a dry and stringy mess after every wash.

On top of that, my hair freaks out every time it’s introduced to a new climate. It really, really didn’t like the hard and highly-chlorinated water in England, just as it hated the cold in Canada. My curls were gone.

No amount of keratin treatments or deep conditioners made a difference, and I felt at a loss. As a last resort, I took to Google, stumbled across the Curly Girl Method, and decided I had nothing to lose.

After gawping at the cost of each product on devacurl.com, I jumped on Amazon and ordered the DevaCurl Miracle Workers kit, which included:

No-Poo Original
(moisturizing, non-lathering formula that stimulates and cleans the scalp without stripping your hair)

One Condition Original
(rich, creamy conditioner that delivers softness and hydration)

Buildup Buster
(powerful cleanser using micellar technology to gently remove buildup from the hair and scalp without stripping)

Melt In To Moisture Mask
(nourishing mask that melts weightlessly into every strand, infusing hair with moisturizing matcha green tea butter, vitamin-packed sweet almond oil and protective beet root extract)

Deep Sea Repair Mask
(reviving mask that transforms damaged hair with restorative seaweed, a strengthening blend of rice, soy and wheat proteins, as well as moisturizing sea lavender)

I was so excited I couldn’t move.

Pre-wash

The first thing you need to do is remove all the silicone from your hair so it can absorb moisture again. As silicone is not water-soluble, the only thing that will get it out is sulfate, or a good clarifier.

This means you can use a regular shampoo with sulfates before moving on to a CG-friendly conditioner, but I didn’t want to risk doing even more damage to my hair, so I opted for Buildup Buster. According to DevaCurl, Buildup Buster is a strong enough clarifier to remove silicone.

The difference between CG-friendly shampoos and regular shampoos is, because CG products don’t contain sulfates, they usually don’t foam up. The Buildup Buster was a little like using regular shampoo, but of course it didn’t foam. It actually didn’t feel like it was doing anything, but I scrubbed it all over my head hoped for the best, before moving on to the No-Poo.

Wash 1

After clarifying with Buildup Buster, I squeezed a pile of No Poo in to my hand, and the first thing I noticed was how thick it was. It has the consistency of conditioner, which isn’t really something you expect from a shampoo.

DevaCurl recommend using your fingertips to rub the No-Poo into your scalp, rather than lathering all your hair in to a giant ball like you would with a regular shampoo, so that’s what I did. It’s pretty weird using something that doesn’t lather and I did wonder whether it was actually cleaning my scalp, buuut hundreds of reviews suggested it was, so I stopped thinking about it and pressed on.

I could feel my hair start to detangle immediately. It was kind of amazing, and it literally smelled like a bunch of flowers.

After rinsing, I coated the ends in One Condition and detangled with my fingers, which was surprisingly easy. My fingers slipped through my damaged hair more effortlessly than they had in years. left it in for a few minutes, then rinsed it out.

Using a microfibre sports towel (also recommended by the CG method), I scrunched the water out of my hair, then wrapped it up and left it in the towel for 15 minutes.

Drying

After taking my hair out of the town and letting it fall naturally, I immediately noticed a difference.

Even when it was wet, my hair was 1000-times curlier than it had been in years. As it dried, the curls only enhanced. It actually felt mousturised rather dry, limp, and lifeless, and retained it’s shape. Even the bleached ends had twisted up in to tight coils, bouncing when I pulled them, and looking shinier and healthier than ever.

I was kind of floored.

Result

The end result of my DevaCurl experiment was pretty surprising.

The curls were defined, bouncy, and felt healthier than they had been in years. It really highlighted for me why my hair had been such a disaster for so long – sulfates make a massive difference to the overall health of your hair, drying it out of the course of years.

The ends of my hair were so damaged (the lighter/coppery parts in the photo above) that I found the One Condition wasn’t quite enough, so I alternated between different deep conditioners every time I washed it. Melt In To Moisture was a go-to because, according to the directions, it doesn’t need to be in your hair for as long, but ultimately I found the Deep Sea Repair was better.

Even though keeping the Deep Sea Repair in for 20-mins is recommended, I found it made a difference almost on contact. My fingers were literally gliding through my hair when I used this products, and I could feel the difference in my hair afterwards. It took longer to get knotty, and held it’s curl for much longer.

Ultimately, you can’t ‘heal’ chemical-damaged hair – you just have to chop it off – but if you’re like me and want to avoid having super-short hair, DevaCurl helps you maintain your hair until it’s long enough to chop. The ends always looked rubbish again the day after wash day (dry, stringy, lifeless), but no product could have fixed that in the long-term so, all things considered, DevaCurl did a pretty remarkable job at keeping the damage at bay.

After the first week I decided I would 100% buy it again.

Pros

After finally chopping all the damage off, I noticed a huge difference in the overall health of my hair.

For the first time ever (including when was a teenager with healthy hair), I had no split ends whatsoever. The curls held their shape for days, I could get away with not washing it for a week and it didn’t get all knotty and dry, and it looked about 1000-times better.

The Deep Sea Repair also acts as a protein treatment, which is a huge bonus, and the products are cruelty-free, vegan, very high-quality, and actually enhance your curls. It’s kind of incredible. The No Poo is also so moisturising that you could probably get away with only using it as an all-in-one product, without conditioner.

Cons

DevaCurl is pricey.

You can get it a little cheaper on Amazon and at some online retailers, but it’s still around $25-35 per bottle, and they don’t ship to Australia. BIG thumbs down.

The only other issue I have with DevaCurl is it’s very heavy and weighs my hair down enormously.

Since it’s largely developed for people with African-style curls that can handle a lot of extra moisture, my fine hair couldn’t really deal with the No Poo or Low Poo (the lighter alternative for wavy hair). It ended up feeling greasy, all my natural volume was gone, and it took an additional three hours (five hours in total) to dry due to the extra moisture. Not a deal-breaker, but I did look in to alternative shampoo options.

The Verdict

Despite the price and the fact that the shampoo is too heavy for my hair, I would absolutely recommend DevaCurl to anyone struggling with their curls or waves, while travelling or in every day life.

It adds an incredible amount of moisture and shine, and really does help your hair maintain its curl for much longer.

On top of that, the ingredients are great for your hair! DevaCurl doesn’t contain any sulfates or drying alcohols, and you really can tell the difference. This whole process taught me to look at what’s in hair products and think about what I’m putting in my hair, and even though DevaCurl shampoos are too heavy, I still use the One Condition and Deep Sea Repair because they make such a difference to the overall health of my hair. It’s kind of amazing.

While it’s not carry-on friendly for travellers, it’s still worth a shot if you’re really looking to improve the heath of your curls or waves. Having said that, there are sulfate-free carry-on options if that’s what you’re in to, and you can check them out here.

Interested in trying DevaCurl? You can get it on Amazon or NaturallyCurly, and let me know how it goes in the comments!

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Aveda Damage Remedy Review: How I fixed dry and damaged curly hair

I never used thick or leave-in conditioners because I thought they’d weigh my hair down and flatten my curls…until I discovered Aveda’s conditioner range. Now, I honestly don’t know what I’d do without it. This is why.

I’ve struggled to find the balance between hydration and flat curls. I have really fine hair that goes limp easily if it’s overloaded with conditioner, but also knots easily and takes forever to detangle. During my last cut, the hairdresser said, ‘these ends! I comb them and they instantly turn to knots’. She then suggested sending me home with some leave-in conditioner. I was resistant because my hair does flatten really easily with heavy products, but she convinced me the one she was recommending (Baby Got Bounce, by Evo) was really light but effective.

She was right — it was light and it really did stop my hair from turning into a giant, tangled mess after a couple of days. I was more than surprised.

Life = changed.

Why did I resist this for so long? The downside was that Evo isn’t curly girl-friendly — full of silicones which would eventually leave my hair brittle and dry. I liked the results so much that I kept using it, but resolved to find a decent leave-in that was CG-friendly before too long.

Then I found Aveda — a range of natural, cruelty-free, organic hair products that my hair LOVES.

Aveda Damage Remedy Restructuring Conditioner

After cleansing my scalp with Curlsmith Core Strength Shampoo, I reached for Aveda for the first time. The reviews said it was really hydrating, but that it would weigh hair down if it went too close to the scalp. I never put conditioner near my scalp anyway, but — to me — this meant it was a really heavy product with a tendency to flatten curls. I was hesitant, but the moment I started smoothing it through my hair, I was hooked.

I detangle with my fingers before using a detangling brush to make sure my hair is completely smooth and knot-free. It’s significantly more time-consuming than just going in with a brush, but it stops a lot of breakage because you can feel the resistance with your fingers. If you’re only using a brush, you can’t feel that resistance and will likely brush right through the knot — breaking strands as you go. What I look for in a conditioner is how easily I can detangle the majority of my hair using only my fingers.

Aveda passed the test with flying colours.

It detangled So. Easily.

Totally floored.

What usually takes me 20 very painful minutes in the shower took me 10 — Aveda saved me half the time detangling my unruly tendrils. Pretty sure I almost cried with relief. I used a fair bit, but I didn’t care — I could feel my hair softening as I raked the thick and creamy product through.

I left it in for a few minutes, before rinsing it out.

Aveda botanical repair strengthening leave-in treatment

Once the conditioner was rinsed out, I reached for the leave-in. Again, super resistant because I knew I’d just conditioned with a really thick and hydrating product — surely a leave-in from the same brand would stretch out my curls and leave everything in one flat mess…?

Needless to say, that did not happen.

I used a smaller amount of this one because my hair was already tangle-free — probably the size of a bottle top, used my fingers to rake it through the ends of my hair, before using a detangling brush to make sure it was evening distributed. It felt smooth on my hair and brushed through really easily.

I followed with Sashapure curl cream and a gel, wrapped it in a microfibre towel for about 15 minutes, scrunched it, then let it air dry.

The results

My hair hasn’t felt that hydrated for a really, really long time. The curls are thick, full, and hang really nicely around my shoulders. Normally the ends are a tangle of frizz my day two, but that doesn’t happen with Aveda. My hair holds on to the moisture for days and feels soft for days. It’s incredible. And something I honestly didn’t think was possible.

I’ve been using these two products together for about two months now, and I’ve just bought my second bottle of conditioner.

price

The only downside is the price point is quite high. Both products cost between $48 and $52 each, and they’re not large bottles. I find I need to use a fair bit of the conditioner, which means I go through it really quickly, but it’s honestly worth it for me — I save so much time, and my hair feels so much healthier. But I do think these are luxury products and not everyone will be able to budget for them. If that’s the situation you’re in, check out my Shea Moisture review :)

Have you tried Aveda, or is there another brand you use? Let me know in the comments below!

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