The Poo Review by Solidgold

ATTENTION!! The Wavy Tales is excited to announce a series of posts on low-poo (non sulfate shampoo') by Solidgold from naturallycurly.com

All you wavies or curlies that use a low-poo read on to find reviews on some of the available low poo options.

So without further ado TW Tales presents THE POO REVIEW by Solidgold!

Since starting the Curly Girl (CG) method in May 2009, I’ve been searching for a low poo that does great things for my hair at a low price. Before going CG, I would only wash my hair about once a week because it was so dry. Of course, this was due to years of sulfate-silicone cycle of washing and styling. To take better care of my hair, I tried conditioner-only washing, but my hair didn’t “feel” clean and tended to get weighed down, and being a “wavy”, I felt like I needed a low poo to get that clean feeling. In June, I bought small sizes of Jessicurl’s Hair Cleansing Cream (HCC) and Gentle Lather Shampoo (GLS) to test out the CG gentler cleansers (available at jessicurl.com and naturallycurly.com’s Curl Mart). This review is not about them, but these cleansers are the standards to which I compare all other CG cleansers. The search has been ongoing ever since to find the low poo that meets my criteria of 1) reasonable cost, 2) easy availability, and 3) providing the best results for my hair (thick, medium/fine texture, normal porosity).

I recently discovered that the panthenol, a moisturizing ingredient (also known as B5) found in many beauty products, may contribute to over conditioning and limpness in my hair. Jessicurl’s GLS contains panthenol, but GLS remains one of my favorite cleansers. I will review some low poos with panthenol in it, but I am searching for a low poo comparable to GLS without panthenol.

Curl Junkie Curl Assurance Shampoo

Ingredients: Water, Sodium Methyl Cocoyl Taurate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Lauryl Glucose Carboxylate, Glycerin, Lauryl Glucoside, PE G-150 Pentaerythrityl tetrastearate, PE G-6 Capric/Caprylic Glycerides, Laureth 4,Hydroxypropyltrimonium Honey, Panthenol, Matricaria Recuitita (Chamomile) Flower Camellia Sinensis (Green Tea) Leaf Extract, Sambucus Nigra (Elder) Flower Water, Quaternium-79 Hydrolyzed Silk Protein, Sodium Chloride (Dead Sea Salt), Anthemis Nobilis (Chamomile) Oil, Citrus Aurantium (Neroli) Oil, Citrus Aurantium (Petitgrain) Oil, Brown Rice (Oryza Sativa) Powder, Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Phenoxyethanol, Caprylyl Glycol, Disodium EDTA,Tocopheryl Acetate.

$18 for 8oz

This low poo was very runny. It looks like water as it came out of the container, which made it difficult to hold in my hand as I applied it to my hair. On the positive side, I thought is smelled like a classic strong shampoo, which was pleasing to me as it evoked positive hair memories. It lathered lightly, but it made my hair squeak as I washed and rinsed, which made me think it stripped my hair of essential moisture. Even after conditioning, rinsing, applying styling products, and plopping, my hair still squeaked. I gave this low poo three tries, and I don’t think it is worth the cost for the mediocre impression it left. It is also only available online, so when you factor in shipping, it really doesn’ meet any of my criteria mentioned above.

EO Hydrating Chamomile & Honey Shampoo
Ingredients: Water (Purified), Cocamidopropyl Hydroxysultaine, Vegetable Glycerin, Sodium Coco Sulfate, Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate, Sodium Lauroamphoacetate, Sodium Methyl Cocoyl Taurate, Sodium Myristoyl Sarcosinate, Caprylyl/Capryl Glucoside, Panthenol, Hibiscus Extract, Gotu Kola Extract, Lime Fruit Extract (Dry Hair Complex), Avocado Fruit Extract (Dry Hair Complex), Fig Fruit Extract (Dry Hair Complex), Fenugreek Seed Extract (Dry Hair Complex), Hydrolyzed Quinoa Protein, Aloe Vera (EO Organic Herb Blend), Chamomile Extract (EO Organic Herb Blend), Calendula Extract (EO Organic Herb Blend), White Tea Leaf Extract (EO Organic Herb Blend), Stearyl Dihydroxypropyldimonium Oligosaccharides, Lavender Essential Oil (EO Essential Oil Blend), Orange Essential Oil (EO Essential Oil Blend), Chamomile Essential Oil (EO Essential Oil Blend), Honey, Retinyl Palmitate (Vitamin A), Citric Acid, Sodium Phytate, Sodium Chloride, Phenoxyethanol, Benzyl Alcohol, Potassium Sorbate

About $8 for 8oz

This low poo was difficult to squeeze out of the bottle. It seemed thicker than regular low poo, reminding me a little of aloe vera gel: jiggly. It had a light lather and pleasant shampoo scent, but I could hear a little squeaking after rinsing. I gave this product two tries. I felt my hair was a little limp after styling, which I attribute to the panthenol in it. The price is reasonable, and this product is available on the ground, so I would recommend it based on price, but I didn’t love it enough to buy more.

Jessicurl Stylers

Rockin' Ringlet's and Confident Coils Styling Solution

These two products confound me. The first two times I used them I got amazing curls--it turned my wavy hair to curly hair and held all day. I used a different brand conditioner as a rinse out both of those times. I then used them after using Jessicurl Gentle Lather Shampoo and Aloeba Daily conditioner and they were a dismal failure--my hair was all stringlets that were oily and producty and weighed down.

So I went back to the other shampoo and conditioner and have yet to be able to recreate the love I originally had. It may be that the oils in the product are too heavy or it may be my hair reacting to the mag sulfate. I'm not really sure. Or my hair could have changed or possibly the weather. The latter is less likely as I'm in SoCal and our weather is incredibly consistent.

I have tried each one alone--and found they are better that way for me now than together. Still my hair tends to be very stringy and if I do not watch the amount of product it looks very oily--the wet look and feel is not a good look for my fine and thin hair.

I cannot use these on my daughter due to the mag sulfate. Her hair is too dry to handle that amount of this ingredient. I'm going to be trying them over Christmas break to see if I can determine amounts, combo's, and so on. Since I make my own FSG (Flax Seed Gel) and that works great I suspect I can get the RR to work for me if I try it in different pairings. The Confident Coils Styling Solution I'm not too sure about--there is not enough hold for me and I'm not sure how much curl enhancing I get.

So for now the jury's out on these two. I'm hanging on to them to see if I can play around a bit more.

Jessicurl Conditioners

Aloeba, Weekly Deep Treatment, and Too Shea!

I LOVE THEM ALL!

Each one of Jessicurl's conditioners are huge winners in our house.

Aloeba is more of a daily conditioner IMHO--in the Island Fantasy the scent lingers just a little all day--enough to smell when you turn your head. It was very conditioning to me and provided plenty of moisture. It goes on very smoothly and you'll have no problems squeezing it out of the bottle. It's a medium texture product.

Too Shea! Is a much heavier duty conditioner. It comes in a jar and not a bottle--which is good in some ways and not in others. I find that I love jar's as I can get the last of the product out and I can see how much I have left (plus) but sometimes in the shower unscrewing the cover and scooping product out is not the most convenient thing (cons). A little goes a long way with this conditioner--and it has worked very well on both my daughter's fine to coarse textured hair that is very thick and dry as well as my much finer and thinner hair that is normal and not excessively dry.

Weekly Deep Treatment is exactly what it says--for use weekly as a DT--preferably with heat. I actually find the Too Shea to be as moisturizing as this one but either works fine. It's properties are much like Too Shea except it is a *little* thicker. As far as slip we found it sufficient to detangle my daughter's hair. We like to leave this in her hair overnight or for several hours with a towel wrapped around for the best benefit.

Again the scent's are up to you and we love the Island Fantasy one. You can see that the difference between the WDT (left pic above) and Too Shea! (right pic above) is very slight--with the WDT looking a bit thicker. They act almost the same on our hair.

Huge thumbs up for these conditioners! They are worth your time to order online!

Jessicurl Shampoo and Cleansing Cream

Jessicurl was one of the first products I tried that was exclusively online after I went Curly Girl (CG). I started with the styling products which were one hit wonders for me. I should have started with the cleansers and conditioners.

Gentle Lather Shampoo: Not only do I ADORE the Island Fantasy scent but this shampoo is a winner! It cleans well, has some lather, takes only a small amount to do my whole head, and does not make my hair feel dry/hard or stripped. It rinses clean and does not leave residue.

Hair Cleansing Cream: Here is another product I adore. It is very cleansing but more of the conditioner-cleansing type. HCC does not lather at all for me so the only downside is sometimes it's hard to figure out how much you should use. The scent again is a big plus for this product--I especially like that I can get all my products from this line in one scent. Sometimes lines that have multiple scents can be problematic if they don't work well together.

This would be an excellent low-poo for someone who didn't need the strength of a shampoo closer to an SLS one. It was very successful in getting all product out of my hair and this also did not leave a residue. I did find this one took a little longer to rinse out than the Gentle Lather Shampoo--but to compensate for that I think the HCC gives me a head start on conditioning as my hair feels soft after I use it.

Both of these are very high quality products that are worth your product dollar. Although I prefer the Island Fantasy scent Jessicurl products also come in Citrus Lavendar and unscented. The unscented is particularly nice for those who have sensitivities to fragrance oils or sensitive schnozzes...you can also buy smaller trial versions of these so you don't need to invest in full size products right away. That is always a plus for me.

As far as shipping it was very prompt. I ordered from the Jessicurl website and Curlmart and both sent products quickly. My preference is the Jessicurl website itself as you can order another sample with your order and you can order the trial size versions individually. The above pictures show regular 8 oz size and the smaller 2oz trial size you can order.

A great product line and one I reccomend you try out!