Hair. It's something I get asked about frequently, yet have no answers, mainly because all I use on my hair is shampoo and not to mention the fact that I don't even own a hairbrush. But recently I've noticed that my hair has started to look and feel a little on the dry side. I tried just the regular conditioners but most tend to leave my hair greasy, heavy or gave me dandruff.
Recently I've been trying out a hair mask from the brand Maui Moisture. Their 'Heal & Hydrate Shea Butter hair mask for dry damaged hair' (shop here) is a 340g tub of goodness which retails for R199.95 at Clicks (they're having a 3 for 2 at the moment on this brand, your girl has your back!). It has a thick creamy texture and smells like a tropical island vacation, yup, COCONUT! It has ingredients like shea butter (duh), coconut and macadamia oil which claims to all work together to 'help deeply quench, nourish, and soften strands to get your hair back to looking healthy'. It also states on their website that you can add a little to extra dried out hair when wet (like your ends) for a deeper condition.
So in the shower, after shampooing with my favorite, The Body Shop 'Ginger Shampoo' (I'm on my 4th bottle, shop here). I then go in with my small change sized amount of the mask and apply the bulk of that to my ends and then up until around 3/4's of the way north (avoiding my scalp). I let it sit for about 3 minutes to let the steam help move the deep conditioning process along and then rinse out as much product as I can followed shortly thereafter with just a comb through using my fingers. I always let my hair chill in a cotton T instead of a towel just to cut back on the frizz (yeah you guys know those little magazine tips & tricks we'd all read as teens and then roll our eyes into an alternative universe? Yeah this one just happens to work like a bomb!). Personally the pros and cons of this product balance each other out. The first pro would have to be the price point, it's really affordable especially for the amount provided and the amount you need. As you guys probably know or may not, I have very thick long hair and yet all I need is about a R5 sized amount. Another pro would have to be how soft it makes my hair feel and how shiny it leaves it. Another HUGE pro for me would have to be that it does not make my hair feel or look greasy at all. When I first tried it out I allowed my hair to air dry (which is what I usually do) and my hair felt great it was so soft and my waves did look a little more defined than usual. The second time I tried it out I decided to blow dry, just to see how it reacted if I turned up the heat. At first I could feel the greasiness starting to build and let me just take a second to preach about how heavy my hair felt. But, I didn't want to rule it out just yet. I let my hair sit for a little while, and believe it or not, my hair felt amazing! It was soft and airy as well as super clean, even after straightening and curling, the results were up to scratch.
The cons to this product are unfortunately just as many. Firstly the scent is really over powering (I can't stand tropical scented things, especially coconut!!) so it definitely does kill my vibe. Secondly, it doesn't really do much for my extremely damaged ends. The rest of my hair feels really soft, and I'm unfortunately not seeing the desired results on my ends. Next, another biggie for me would have to be the fact that I lose a lot of hair in the shower after I comb through it with my fingers once I've rinsed out the product, like I'm standing there with a spare weave on hand, literally. Lastly, whenever I use the mask, my hair takes ages to air dry which really bums me out because I prefer to let my hair dry naturally rather than use yet another hot tool. It's kinda all just one big contradiction because I'm using the mask to heal up my damaged hair yet it takes a hot minute to air dry so I'm forced to hit it up with a drier (you guys see the dilemma?).
So all in all I'm left with just your average run at the mill hair mask. I am pleasantly surprised with how it reacts to heat and how soft my hair feels but that's just about it. I do quite like it and it has been the best hair mask I've tried so far, although I feel as though there's room for growth (intentional pun). I would repurchase, but only to use whilst on the hunt for its replacement. I hope you guys enjoyed this post, I know it's a bit on the lengthy side but I honestly did not want to skip out on any of the details. As always thank you so much for giving my 2c a read I cannot express my gratitude, have a great week folks.
- courts xx
