As always, I will be completely honest. I haven’t been the biggest Shea Moisture fan. Like many, I flocked to the Curl Enhancing Smoothie when I decided to get serious about my natural hair a few years ago but the smoothie left me unsatisfied and longing for more. Is this it? I thought to myself. Lots of women ranted and raved about the product for their wash and gos but ultimately I was left unfulfilled with hair that dried out by the end of the day. To my surprise, I received a jar of the Shea Moisture Jamaican Black Castor Oil Strengthen, Grow & Restore Deep Masque Treatment in a swag bag at last week’s 3 The Curl Way Event. To be truthful, I side-eyed the notion of using Shea Moisture still scarred from my previous experience with Shea Moisture. However, I’ve heard so many women praise this product as well so I figured I would give Shea Moisture a second chance.
Shea Moisture Jamaican Black Castor Oil Strengthen, Grow & Restore Treatment Masque
How I Used the Product:
As I mentioned in last week’s post, I’ve become more in tune with ingredients so the first thing I did was turn the jar around to read the label. Since castor oil is the shining star of this product, I wanted to see how far down the label castor oil ranked. The FDA requires brands to list ingredients in order of concentration and as a result, it is often said ingredients listed towards the bottom contain less than 1% of the product total. For this deep conditioner, castor oil is listed around the middle (solid enough I thought to myself, though I would have preferred it a bit higher).
Since this is the only Shea Moisture product I own, I shampooed and conditioned with different brands followed by distributing the deep conditioner evenly and pretty heavily in 4 sections. For intense conditioning I grabbed my plastic deep conditioning cap and wrapped a warm towel around my head for 15-20 mins. I didn’t have time to sit under the dryer to deep condition because I was doing things around the house. (Note to self, purchase Hot Head Deep Conditioning Cap). After rinsing the conditioner with cool water, I followed with my favorite leave in conditioner and twisting cream.
Full Ingredients:
Water (Aqua), Cetyl Alcohol, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Behentrimonium Methosulfate, Glycerin, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter*, Stearyl Alcohol, Fragrance (Essential Oil Blend), Behentrimonium Chloride, Panthenol, Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein PG-Propyl Silanetriol, Cetrimonium Chloride, Persea Gratissima (Avocado) Oil, Mangifera Indica (Mango) Seed Butter, Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil*, Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil, Hydrolyzed Keratin, Mauritia Flexuosa Fruit Oil, Yeast Extract, Macadamia Ternifolia Seed Oil, Tocopherol, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract, Vinegar, Caprylhydroxamic Acid, Caprylyl Glycol, Butylene Glycol, Acetyl Tetrapeptide-3, Niacin, Dextran, Trifolium Pratense (Clover) Flower Extract, Caramel, Mentha Piperita (Peppermint) Leaf Extract *Certified Organic Ingredient
First Impression:
Although the Shea Moisture Jamaican Black Castor Oil treatment has an unusual brown-yellowish color the smell was surprisingly pleasant in my opinion. The consistency was also moderately thick, which concerned me a little since I prefer very thick conditioners. Although thick conditioners work better for my texture, this deep conditioner applied easily throughout each section. Immediately following my hair felt extremely soft and appeared very hydrated as well. I was a happy curly girl for the moment.
Overall Opinion:
Overall, I really wanted to LOVE the Shea Moisture Jamaican Black Castor Oil Masque Treatment but by the end of the day my hair felt dry and not as moisturized as I would have liked similar to my first experience with the Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie. Nooo! Why Shea Moisture why?? What baffled me is immediately after rinsing, my hair felt amazing including the next morning when I un-raveled my twists. One could blame my use of other products in conjunction with the deep conditioner but the only change in my normal regime was this Shea Moisture Jamaican Black Castor Oil deep conditioner. I’m used to getting at the minimum one to one and a half days of moisturized hair without needing to apply additional moisturizing products. While Shea Moisture is a great brand and works well for others I’ve determined their products are not the best for my hair and texture.
What’s been your experience with Shea Moisture?
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Charlene Walton McCraney, known on social media as @TexturedTalk, is a Dallas beauty and lifestyle blogger. After years of styling her and several friends’ hair as a hobby, offering advice and tips, she decided to combine two of her favorite things…writing and talking about natural hair!
Her blog, TexturedTalk.com was created to promote healthy hair care for women of all textures and has since evolved into other beauty and lifestyle topics. Charlene loves teaching other aspiring bloggers on how to take their passion and turn it into amazing content to provide value.
When she’s not blogging she is probably crunching numbers as a Senior Financial Analyst, dancing or figuring a way to meet Beyonce in person. :)
