Product Review: Shea Moisture Kids Extra-Moisturising Detangler

I was gifted this product by Amadiva Salon on Riverside Drive and I was really eager to try it because: 1) The Child's hair is extra extra tangle prone. 2) Despite the fact that 90% of Shea Moisture's Coconut & Hibiscus range doesn't work for me, I still like their products because they have good ingredients.

What's in it:

- Deionized water 

- Cocos Nucifera Oil (Coconut) 

- Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter) 

- Silk Protein 

- Citrus Medica Limonum (lemon)

- Citrus Aurantifolia (lime)

- Jasminium Officinale (jasmin)

- Slippery Elm Extract 

- Essential Oil Blend 

- Melia Azadirachta Seed Oil (Neem) 

- Algae extract 

- Hyssopus Officinalis Extract (hyssop - herb)

- Salvia Officinalis Leaf (sage)

- Equisetum Arvense Extract (horsetail - herb) 

- Althaea Officinalis Extract (marshmallow)

- Tocopherol (Vitamin E) 

- Hibiscus Flower Extra

So if I use Natural Haven's rule and ignore the extracts, this product has: water, coconut oil, shea and silk protein. It also has essential oils, neem seed oil and a preservative (vit e) although these are in very small quantities. 

How does it look:

It comes in a spray bottle and looks like cloudy water. Has a sweet, almost medicinal scent, like children's medicine, but it's not strong enough to be unpleasant. It doesn't feel or look oily at all, despite coconut oil and shea being the third and fourth ingredients.

What does it promise:

To detangle, define and tame thick, wavy or unruly hair without greasiness. It also restores luster to dry, dull hair while conditioning. 

The Verdict:

I call this a WTF product. Because I have no idea WTF it's supposed to do. 

My daughter's hair is neither thick nor wavy. It's fine and curly. But it is definitely unruly and prone to dryness. So this product should still work right? 

Wrong!

The instructions are very simple. Apply to wet or dry hair. Do not rinse. 

The first time I tried it on her hair dry, straight after she woke up. It sort of just.. sat there.  I had to spray loads then work it in and let it sit a little so it could absorb. Once it had absorbed enough, I tried gently finger detangling. And I couldn't. It had no slip whatsoever. It didn't soften her hair any more than spraying water on it would have and her hair felt a little sticky to the touch, which is the exact opposite of what you want when you're detangling. I gave up and used Kinky Curly Knot Today over it to finish the job. 

Second time I tried it on wet hair, in the bath, before a cowash. I saturated the hair with water then sprayed the detangler liberally. The detangling effort was marginally better but I still felt I was tearing through her hair with no slip whatsoever. Not a good feeling, especially on such fine hair. Once again I gave in and used my cowash conditioner to finish the job. 

After that, it was relegated to a shelf and left to gather dust until a few weeks ago I was going on holiday and decided, what the heck, I'll give it another whirl. The morning we were travelling, I had no time to cowash her hair so when we got to the airport, I sprayed her mad-woman bed-head with the detangler. More like misted actually because I was running after her running after another little girl with equally crazy hair and only about half of what I was spraying actually landed on her hair. No chance whatsoever she would allow me to detangle or even work it in so it just sat there, beaded on her hair. 

Surprise, surprise! An hour later when it was time to board, the product had absorbed in and her tangles had melted away. Just disappeared. However! There was definitely no defining going on. In fact, there were no curls at all; it was like I had taken a rat-tail comb and picked them out. Her hair also felt sticky to the touch. Not much but definitely there. And it looked dull, although this could have been because of the lack of definition.

The remainder of the holiday, it came in handy for those moments when she just wouldn't let us touch her tangles.

Cost: 

1500/- KES at Amadiva or, for comparison sake, $11.99 at Target (x90 for currency conversion)

Would I buy it again:

Definitely not. Surprisingly, it has quite good reviews online, with only one or two people talking about the stickiness. I don't get it. Yes it detangled but no better than my DIY homemade detangling spray. This product is a big fail for me. 

My Big Fat Afro's DIY Homemade Detangling  Spray:

I spray this on my daughter's fine hair on the days we have no time to cowash or if she just needs a refresher eg. after a ride in her car seat. We also use it about an hour before a cowash or shampoo if she has particularly tangled hair, to loosen the tangles. Remember to only make enough to last a week or so so it doesn't go off. 

- 1/3 cup water

- 1 tablespoon Kinky Curly Knot Today

You can add a teaspoon of an oil of your choice but my daughter's hair does best without oil. 

For a thicker consistency, use less water.