Greetings! In this post, I discuss the 5 (yes, 5!) holy grail hair products/tools that I have discovered so far in my natural hair journey. When useful, I compare and contrast them to other like products and share video or photos. The HG products/tools are:
- Bronner Brothers Firm Hold Curling Gel,
- KareCo Tangle Buster Brush,
- 22nd Century Natural Shampoo,
- Shea Moisture High Porosity Moisture-Seal Masque (as a predetangler), and
- DevaCurl Decadence One Condition.
I hope you enjoy this post. I’d love to learn of your holy grail hair products and tools, so please post about them in the comments! Many blessings!
Bronner Brothers Firm Hold Curling Gel for Wash and Go’s and Twist Outs: Holy Grail Styler!
Undoubtedly Bronner Brothers Firm Hold Curling Gel will not work on every head, but I can honestly state that this product has ELEVATED my whole hair life. I’m saved you guys, I’m saved! LOL. I only recently discovered it, and it was the non-typical ingredients list that prompted me to give it a try.
WHAT THE BIG DEAL IS: One day after doing a wash-and-go with the BB gel, I looked at my hair and had a moment: I thought, “Wow, I love my hair!” THAT IS HUGE, because I have struggled emotionally the past few years with adjusting to having cottony, high-shrinkage hair after having worn long and relaxed, non-tangling hair for over 3 decades. I’m one of those naturals who missed viewable length and ease of detangling and swing and lack of bulkiness. So the fact that this BB gel allows me to get a wash and go that has me looking in the mirror in love with the decreased bulkiness and hang and elongation and movement of my hair is really saying something. (NOTE: For the wash and go above, I detangled and cowashed with Shea Moisture High Porosity Moisture-Seal Masque, left in Shea Moisture Manuka Honey leave-in milk, shingled Bronner Brother’s Firm Hold Curling Gel, and later tension blow dried my hair in sections on the setting of warm .)
If I don’t work against this gel’s strong hold with a creamy leave-in (with the exception of Shea Moisture’s Manuka Honey milk), but instead use it over a liquid leave-in, this gel freezes my curls so that they can’t tangle. The hold is so strong that my wash and go’s last days and days. (The last few days I typically wear a pretty ponytail.)
Gaaaaaaaame chaaaaaangeeeeerrrr!
I can even use the BB gel for a twist out. Upon take down, I do get “snowing.” That is, as I untwist and separate, “dust” from the gel falls onto my shirt. But after take-down I experience no additional snowing.
In a nutshell: This gel is holy grail for me because it holds my hair so strongly that it prevents tangles and knots–the very reason that people vilify wash-and-go’s–and it has me in love with my hair. So far this is is the ONLY gel that gives me the elongation you see in the photo above. 😀 This gel is a keeper, and I prayer Bronner Brothers just leaves the formula alone. Forever. 🙂
So Should You Try This Gel? What Other Gels Have I Tried?
So what gels (on my hair) does the Bronner Brothers Firm Hold Curling Gel outperform? And how is “outperform” defined? That information might help you to decide whether this gel is worth trialing on your hair. Well, I’ve tried quite a few gels. I’ve tried . . .
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Good Gels I’ve Tried |
Why I Prefer Bronner Brothers (BB) Firm Hold Curling Gel |
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Camille Rose Naturals Curl Maker |
Curl Maker gives me ALMOST everything: Shine, elongation, moisture, slip, and a wonderful guava-y scent. But it will not give me hold no matter what I do. If this gel gave me a super duper strong hold like the Bronner Brothers gel–the type of hold that keeps tangles and knots at bay–then it would be my holy grail gel and I would never purchase anything else. As it is, with Curl Maker I get knots and tangles in my hipo, fine hair because the hold isn’t strong enough. So for me, if I want to put the health and retention of my hair above shine and scent, then I won’t reach for this gel. |
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Black Castor and Flaxseed Oil Eco Style Gel |
This gel performs pretty well on my hair if I layer it over nothing but water or over a liquid leave-in. This gel gives me good definition and hold and elongation, but nowhere near the hold I get with the Bronner Brothers gel. As with most gels, on my hair the BB gel’s hold blows the Eco Style gel’s hold out of the water. No comparison, really. Also, comparing the ingredients list, the Eco Style gel contains more questionable ingredients (in terms of healthiness) than does the BB gel. |
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Curly Dew (aka Earthtones Naturals) |
To be honest, I need to trial this gel again: A doctor and trichologist created it, and that’s compelling for me along with this gel’s reviews. Quite awhile ago I tried the gel over this line’s butter–as recommended–and it performed well. I remember thinking, “Wow! My hair is pretty!” However, the reviews for this gel are stellar, and to be honest, I was expecting a little more. I think I know what happened: I later discovered that on my hair gel performs MUCH BETTER WITHOUT a butter or cream to interfere with the performance. I didn’t know that when trialing the Curly Dew (Earthtones Naturals) gel. So I need to try this gel again. It may be incredible. |
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Uncle Funky’s Daughter Curly Magic |
A stylist used UFD Curly Magic on my hair one day, and family and friends and random strangers COULD NOT STOP COMPLIMENTING my hair and asking me about my hair. I wrote down everything the stylist did in great detail (LOL), and still, I have not been able to replicate her results. When I use it, I get dry-feeling, dull-looking hair. When she uses it, she gets shiny, elongated, defined, gorgeous hair. It doesn’t even look like my hair. It looks like a whole different curl pattern. Until I personally can replicate her results at home (and believe me, I’ve tried and tried), Bronner Brothers surpasses this gel. |
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Curl Prep Curl Crush Around the Way Curl |
I like this gel’s different consistency and spread-ability. I probably need to trial this gel a few more times, without the line’s butter underneath. As of now, however, I don’t believe I get a strong hold from this gel. I am pretty sure, though, that this gel could perform amazingly for those who don’t need a strong hold gel. |
I’ve tried many other gels, but the gels above are the ones that performed best.
KareCo Tangle Buster Brush: Holy, Hooooooooooly Grail Detangling Tool!
I purchased the KareCo Tangle Buster Brush for about $12, based on two people’s reviews. This brush honestly has changed my life. Whenever I describe this brush, I usually say, “It’s like the Felicia Leatherwood brush and the Wet Brush had a baby” (see video demo below).
No longer do I need to find 3 hours in a given day to detangle. The fear that I will ever inadvertently have my hair dread up on me . . . because, say, a few weeks passed before I was able to schedule a 3-hour detangling session . . . has completely disappeared. In fact, because of this brush, my entire wash-and-style day can almost be completed in 3-4 hours, which is great for me and my family and my peace of mind. Yessss. 😀
Here’s the thing: With the KareCo Tangle Buster Brush, tool detangling takes way less time. That means I can spend more time doing upfront predetangling (softening, elongating, separating, de-webbing, etc.) and finger detangling. And because I can spend more time on predetangling and finger detangling, I experience less breakage and retain more length once I DO introduce a detangling tool–the KareCo Tangle Buster. Finally, even aside from the upfront predetangling and finger detangling, just all by itself the KareCo Tangle Buster Brush yields less breakage than any other brush I’ve used. When I combine all of this together–I gotta have this brush, lol.
Disclaimer: There is a slight learning curve with this brush. With my 4a coils, I cannot just instantly drag the brush from root to tip. Instead, I take a section of hair, start at the ends, use a gentle flicking motion to clear the tangles at the end like I would a pick, and then work my way up until I can THEN drag the brush from root to tip.
In the video below at time stamp 2:10 you can see the KareCo Tangle Buster Brush in action. My hair is too long, fine, and dense to be able to use it the way this YouTube does (I must use it as described above), but the video still provides a good look at the brush. 😀
22nd Century Natural Shampoo Bar: Holy Grail Detangling Cleanser!
This shampoo bar, available at moorket.com, is special. Special. Unique. Just different.
Once your hair is detoxed from chemical-laden products (as the shampoo bar’s creator advises), nothing performs like this shampoo bar. What I’m amazed about is how my hair behaves when sudsed up with this shampoo bar. It’s hard to describe, but the suds are super slippery and hold my hair section elongated and stretched out. This enables relatively easy detangling and helps shed hair just slide right out. It’s something you gotta experience.
I can without a doubt say that this shampoo bar enables me to retain way more hair than I otherwise would. This shampoo bar’s creator knows what she is doing: She has grown her and her daughters’ hair to VERY, VERY, VERY long lengths. (You have to see it to believe it.) I have heard ONE complaint about this shampoo bar: Someone with LOW POROSITY hair told me that the bar leaves a residue on her strands instead of rinsing clean.
Shea Moisture High Porosity Moisture-Seal Masque: Holy Grail Predetangler!
For my fine, dense, naturally highly porous hair, one of the BEST things I can do for it on wash day is to soften and predetangle my hair with Shea Moisture’s High Porosity Moisture-Seal Masque (now Moisture-Correct Masque) as step ONE.
For a couple of reasons I have tried to bypass this: First, I thought I might be able to save time and skip that step were I to use a detangling shampoo. Also, I thought it might be best to postpone handling (detangling) my hair until AFTER my hair was strengthened via deep conditioning.
I have compared and contrasted the three methods, that is, using solely a detangling shampoo . . . OR waiting to detangle until after using a strengthening deep conditioner . . . OR starting out my wash day predetangling with Shea Moisture High Porosity Moisture-Seal Masque. Even though I want the FIRST OPTION (detangling with a shampoo) to work best, I have to admit that if I prepoo and predetangle and detangle with the masque, my hair is in great shape for the remainder of wash day. I lose less hair overall and the rest of wash day is easier and faster.
Summary: I have tried using this masque as a deep conditioner, and it’s just so-so on my hair for that purpose. But as a prepoo and predetangler, this masque instantly softens my hair and facilitates detangling in the best way. It’s a holy grail product for sure.
DevaCurl Decadence One Condition: Holy Grail Coil Definer and Multi-Use Product!
I don’t know how or why it’s able to do so, but DevaCurl Decadence One Condition is the only product I’ve found to date that DEFINES my hair from root to tip. (Someone told me it’s probably the protein in it, but I’ve used other products with the same proteins that don’t define my coils. There is SOMETHING about this formula.) Normally my hair is undefined at the root and super coily everywhere else. But if I want my roots coily for a wash and go, DevaCurl Decadence One Condition gets the job done and never disappoints.
The big deal, though: Because I can use it as a deep conditioner, a leave-in, a cowash, a moisturizer, and a curl definer, this product has holy grail status.
And You? Your Holy Grail Products or Tools?
Have you discovered any holy grail hair products or tools for your hair? If so, please tell me about them and your hair (porosity, density, strand width [i.e., whether fine or coarse]) in the comments. As always, MANY BLESSINGS!
Yvette
The Blossoming, Fit Natural 