What should I buy from.....IHERB.COM?

In honor of Spring I decided to blog about my recommendations for products to buy at various places. I thought I'd start with http://www.iherb.com/  --  because I get asked frequently what people should buy from there. I also have a coupon code you can use for $5 off your first order (it's at the top of my blog) if you haven't ordered before. I love ordering from iherb because they ship super fast and I always get my stuff in a day or two. I've never had a mixed up order and they responded to an email I sent very quickly. Excellent service!

So ....  you've got some money earmarked for product and decide to go shopping on iherb--what are some good options?

Shampoo's and Conditioners brands:

EO  -- There are several types. My favorite is the Sweet Orange but others like the Chamomile and Honey.

Giovanni  -- we love the 50/50 shampoo and the Tea Tree shampoo/conditioner. I like the Root 66 volume conditioner as well. We were not overly fond of the Smooth as Silk shampoo (has cones) or the condish (didn't work all that great).

Beauty without Cruelty -- LOVE the Leave In. It has great slip (but not too much for me) and works wonderfully underneath almost any styler. A little goes a long way. Not too fond of the smell but it doesn't linger. Have not tried the poo or condish (if you have leave a comment below!)

Aubrey Organics -- Of course you simply *must* try the Honeysuckle Rose Conditioner. Many like it (we thought it conditioned o.k. but T had a problem with waxy type build up). GPB is the only Aubrey condish we still have and we use it occasionally. I did not like the Aubrey shampoo's. Their liquid curl activator had the most horrendous smell (see other blog article on that!). We also tried the Island Naturals conditioners and were not fond of the smell. The trend seems to be that we don't like the smell of their products. Another product I strongly recommend you pick up is the Mandarin Magic -- this stuff is great to use to add to a gel to help it spread and as an all around moisturizing gel you can add with a curl jelly or as a leave in. This is, by far, my favorite Aubrey product! I tried the B5 Design gel and hated it--left my curls droopy and sad.

Avalon Organics -- You have to read the labels on these as some contain cones. I really like the Olive and Grape Seed (thanks Solidgold for turning me onto these!) poo and condish. I haven't tried the others.

Jason Natural -- my two favorite products are the Thin to Thick conditioner and the Curl Defining Cream.  Although the condish does not smell great (see previous blog posts) it does work well. The Curl Cream is really fabulous! It works wonders for me!

I am planning another iherb order for some Alba Botanical Gel and Leave in as well as Desert Essence shampoo and conditioner along with a few other products. Once I get them I'll review and post!

OnGround Conditioners

I suspect this will be a long post. I'm including all the conditioners that we have and use that are available on ground. As always your location may have all, some, or none of them. You may also find them cheaper online. However I think the majority can be found in a city and thus are good choices for either someone new to the CG method, someone on a budget or someone that goes through a LOT of product (like my daughter!)

These are NOT listed in order of preference.

Garnier Fructis: We LOVE the Triple Nutrition Fortifying Cream Conditioner (GFTN) and the Sleek and Shine Fortifying Cream Conditioner (GFSS). Both do an oustanding job of moisturizing my daughter's very very dry hair that is thick and picky. The GFTN has more oils and provides more slip for her in the shower. It is a bit thinner and has a more yellow color to it. The GFSS is thicker and white and does provide slip but not as much as its sister GFTN. We use both as a leave-in frequently. They do an excellent job with getting her hair to be not frizzy and not flyaway. They're relatively cheap (especially since there are often sales at the stores for these!) and you can get a big size for under $6-7 or so. VERY highly recommended!

If you prefer a bit higher end product (used to be available only in Salon's but now most major drugstores and chain's carry it including grocery stores) I can recommend Tigi Catwalk Oatmeal & Honey Conditioner for fine or medium haired peeps who like protein. It smells delicious like cake batter or sugar cookies. The Tigi Moisture Maniac conditioner works well for those folks who don't want protein but do require some slip. It is citrus like in smell and a bit thinner than the Catwalk one. Both of these we found to be very moisturizing. Neither work well for us as leave-in's so they are relegated to the rinse out category only. I do not think they would work well for co-wash conditioners and they are quite expensive to wash down the drain but you could sure try :)

Loreal Vive Pro Nutri Gloss for Medium to Long Hair that's Curly/Wavy. This is the only one I know of without cones in it. This is getting pretty hard to find although I can find it at Ulta and Rite-Aid here in CA. MANY like this conditioner. It does have some protein. For my family we were not overly fond of it. I could not stand the smell. Now I use it for my henna and amla treatments because the scent is SO STRONG it will get that natural herb smell out of your hair very well.

V05 conditioners: We use these exclusively for co-washing only. They are cheap and work excellently for cowashing. The smells are fine. Cheap. They are thinner than Suave so they work better than Suave for my daughters cowash as her hair is so thick it's hard to get all the way down to her scalp.

Suave Naturals: SOME of these worked very well for co-wash conditioners. The Strawberry and the Coconut one were fine for us. The Tangerine one is awful. These are the base cheap conditioners that most CG'ers use for cowashing. I do not find them anything special but they do the job. I myself did not find that these had enough good conditioning power to use as a rinse out. And did I mention they are cheap?

Inecto Coconut Conditioner: This smells really good. It's a bit thinner in consistency. It does a good job on our hair. It's not my favorite but it is one of the more inexpensive condish's that is available at Ulta.

Aura Cherry Almond Bark Conditioner: This one is available at Sally's. It is moisturizing. It has a strong smell that you will either love or hate. It doesn't have protein so is a good option for the more medium to coarse haired wavies whose hair cannot handle the daily protein shots in most conditioners. Sally often has sales for the product 2 for $10. It comes in a tube which is great for getting it out and easy to use in the shower.


Giovanni makes several conditioners most all of which we've tried and several of which we love. In particular we love the Tea Tree conditioner. I like the Root 66 Volume conditioner as well. We did not love the Smooth as Silk or 50/50 as much as the aforementioned two. All are good for rinse out and can be left in. The Tea Tree is great is your hair is at all oily or you have an itchy scalp. I'm not sure the Root 66 condish gave me more volume--although it does smell really good. All are widely available and a great option for when you are a week or two into CG and starting to explore your product options. Watch or BOGO sales. I will say the ONLY thing I HATE about these conditioners are the bottles. Whoever designed these should be shot. You ALWAYS have to shake the conditioner to get it out and then it goes flying all over the place since the cover isn't strong enough. Terrible form and function. Great conditioners.

Although not widely know some of the BEST on ground conditioners are the Yes To products. The Yes To Carrots has a cone and is not CG but both the Yes To Cucumbers (condish and leave in) as well as the Yes To Tomatoes do not have cones. ALL are moisturizing. The YTT is a bit smelly--like old grandma smelly--and it does linger a bit. The YT Cukes has a better smell IMHO and does not linger. You can sometimes find them on sale. Neither has protein so for those who don't want protein these would be my top picks. They are full of vegetable's--which seems odd to me--but they work very well as a daily rinse out. I found the YT Tomatoes to be more moisturizing than the YT Cukes. They are really thick.

Gels you can get OnGround

This post is dedicated to onground gels!

There are really a wide variety of gels you can find at your local discount, grocery, or drugstore. Many will perform very well for you. I must confess that my favorite gels in this category are Biosilk Rock Hard Gelee affectionately known as BRHG and ABBA Pure Finish Gel. BRHG is one of the hardest holding gel's I've ever used and it never fails me! If you are looking for outstanding hold for all day curls and waves you owe it to yourself to pick this up. Yes yes I know it's not exactly cheap but you don't need a ton and it is well worth the cost. The ABBA Gel is almost as hard a hold and it works just as well and the benefit is that it does not leave your hair producty. I generally use the BRHG when I'm using products that do NOT contain a lot of aloe and I'll pick up and use the ABBA if the product has a lot of aloe vera in it. It might be my imagination but I actually think products that have alot of aloe vera in them (like Duchess of Curls) seem to work better with ABBA instead of BRHG. I also weigh in what I've used as a leave-in because BRHG can be producty looking and feeling with some leave-in's and curl enhancers whereas the ABBA tends to make my hair stringier if I have not used leave-in. Lately I've been using the ABBA more often even though it has a cone--because that residue (you know the one you have to pick off when you open BRHG and haven't used it for a while) plastic shell thing is gross.

Next on the list would be LA Looks Sport Gel also known as LALSG. This is a very respectable gel that has a pretty hard hold. It's ultra cheap and widely available. Also, according to both my kids, the smell is out of this world good--me myself I don't think it's anything special but they LOVE it. It is sticky going on. The smell doesn't linger. For a new CG'er I recommend try this product first--if it works you are set!

If you have an Ulta near you I recommend (highly!) checking out Artec Texturline Volumizing Gel. It's more of a medium hold gel and it's very liquidy. Can't say I love the smell and it does linger. It mixes very well with other things and is perfect when you've used a curl creme or enhancer that has some hold where a harder holding gel would just be too much. It's light and does not weigh down fine and thin hair. A top pick!

Those with a CVS or Whole Food or natural foods store may be able to pick up a couple of the Giovanni gels: More Body Hair Thickener and LA Natural Styling gel. Of the two the LA Natural has way more hold--I use the More Body one more as a curl enhancer (and it does enhance them a bit for me). The LA Natural does not have as hard a hold as BRHG but it's got more than enough for most hair unless your hair falls easily.

Moving along if neither of the above works for you I recommend checking out the Got2B Spiked Up Gel. It's also blue (sidenote: what is IT with blue gel's?). This is very hard holding like BRHG and LALSG. The smell is fine--bit plasticky. The reason this one doesn't rate higher for me is that it is picky--it is producty if you use too much. And it's noticeable--it doesn't just "feel" icky it LOOKS icky. It's cheap and you can find it on BOGO occasionally at places like Walgreens and CVS.

EcoStyler Krystal Gel and Proclaim Crystal Ice performed the exact same way in my hair. Good. A bit producty. Of the two the ecostyler weighed my hair down way more--I ended up with barely wavy hair. I've observed the Ecostyler works very well for my co-workers that have medium to coarse and thick hair. The Proclaim (available at Sally's) seems to work better for fine hair. The smell on the Proclaim is VERY Grandma like--which is why it's at the bottom of the list for me. Sorry for no pic of the Ecostyler--I gave it to the thick and medium/coarse wavy in my office and it works good for her!

Lastly you have the Aura Rosemary Mint. Just Ugh. Very little hold and smells herbally. If you like a very light hold you might want to try this--I picked it up on clearance at our local BSS for about $2