Haul and First Impression: Cantu Natural Hair Leave-In Conditioner and Cantu Natural Hair Curl-Enhancing Cream (and General Wavy/Curly Hair Rant)

I have been researching curly hair routines for the last few weeks, and on Monday walked a couple of blocks in the rain to the neighboring Walgreens, which I almost never go to anymore, unless don’t feel like driving to the much newer CVS or Walmart or something.  Anyway, I did some searching for how to style wavy to curly hair, and the Curly Girl method website, blogs, and videos helping to explain it came up.  I had gotten the Curly Girl’s Hair Guide book for my best friend back for her birthday in December.  According to the book, she has combination corkscrew and spiral curls (like Botticelli angels), or corkicelli, with very fine hair.  The past few months (even before I got her the book), she has been taking a more active interest in her curls, and has told me how she styles them.  It pretty much comes down to conditioner for her, and lots of it. 

Now, the conditioner you use shouldn’t be expensive, because if you have wavy to curly hair, you understand that these hair types are often dry, and dry hair craves conditioner.  Many people recommend the Suave Naturals line (less than $2!), particularly the coconut, as I believe it has coconut oil in it, a wonderful addition to any hair care routine, no matter the hair type.  I also saw many people commenting on the Shea Moisture Line, but it was a little expensive for what I wanted it for (lots of conditioner for both deep conditioning treatment once or twice a week, and as a leave-in after a shower before adding curl products).  I then discovered the Cantu line.

My impression of these two Cantu products (Cantu Leave-In Conditioner and Cantu Natural Hair Curl-Enhancing Cream)  is positive, they are full of conditioning oils, smell light and tropical, and appear to do what they describe, for half the price of the Shea Moisture products of the similar type and same size.
 

I don’t think my hair is particularly dry, but as I do get the frizzies around my crown, and often get exhausted with my curls and brush them out into what turns into waves if I’m lucky, and poof if I’m not.  I have a love-hate relationship with my texture, and usually prefer the brushed out waves to the semi-curls I get when I air-dry with no brushing.  According to the Curly-Girl book and website, I have between 2b and 3a type hair, which is medium textured hair, with medium to heavy wave some days to light curl other days.  The first thing I did a couple of months ago was to change my shampoo regimen to sulphate-free shampoo (I have so far only tried the OGX line in the coconut milk), and to deep condition my hair overnight.  I have now deep-conditioned my hair overnight twice with the Cantu Leave-In Conditioner, and in the morning I wash it (focusing on the roots) with the OGX shampoo, then condition.  On these washing days I then blot my hair until it is dampish-wet, and add more Leave-in Conditioner and comb it through.  I then use my fingers to disperse a dime-sized glob of the Cantu Curl-Defining Cream, and start to scrunch.  Some days I use a tee-shirt as a hair wrap and plopping method to define the curls (there are YouTube videos to explain this technique), or let it air dry while scrunching upside-down.  Other wash days I have been trying gel or my favorite mousse (Tresemme Humidity-Control), and scrunch until mostly dry.

What I’ve noticed I do differently than some people is I don’t over-use products.  I don’t like to have too much of anything in my hair unless it’s a mask, as I like my hair to have natural movement.  I don’t like my hair to look too defined, or too messy.  It really takes trial and error, and so far I am enjoying these two new additions to my changing routine.

(I bought these products on my own, and am not being paid to review.)