An At-Home Keratin Treatment for Natural Black Hair

HKI loves it when readers chime in on their fave and not so fave products with a lowdown of what they really feel about the beauty products marketed to them.

The moment  ($9.99, drugstore.com) – an at-home keratin treatment for natural Black hair – was mentioned on our Facebook fan page fan Keisha W. jumped onboard to try what she thought was an interesting concept – an at-home keratin treatment to tame your curls. This keratin treatment was apparently the answer to Keisha’s transitioning to natural hair prayers. She said…

“LOVE IT!! I’m currently transitioning without the big chop. I’m almost 8 months no relaxer. I applied it to my entire head. Not bone straight like a relaxer but close to it. Now I have to figure out how I’m going to sleep, I don’t think you are supposed to wrap it for at least 48 hrs. I’ve gotten a lot of positive feed back on how good [my hair] looks and how soft it is. I’m going to keep doing these [treatments] until I’m 100% no relaxer.”

Thanks, Keisha!

But there’s another new product on the scene for women who are already natural but who don’t want to pay a lot to look like they spent a lot – it’s Cantu Shea Butter Coconut Curling Cream – Naturals Collection ($7.99, walgreens.com). HKI tapped on the shoulder of stunning New York City graphics designer Yvelisse to give her opinion on two of the products (six in the entire line) – she tried the Curling Cream & the Cantu Shea Butter Creamy Hair Lotion ($7.99, walgreens.com).

Of the curling cream Yvelisse said…

“As soon as I got them I tried the Coconut Creme in the jar. Wow It smelled so delectable! Mind you, my hair was dry at the end of the day…so I went upstairs and worked some of it into large sections and I really liked how it brought life back into my curl and moisture. [My hair] was touchable and I liked it, [but] there was no shine. I gotta say that I stepped back out to buy some groceries and when I got back my doorman stopped me and asked what the hell smelled so good on me!

On Saturday, I washed my hair and tried the [Creamy Hair] lotion on my towel dried hair without any conditioner. I got ringlets, took quite a while to dry, and still no shine. So once it was dry I applied some oil for shine. [I] did the same process on Sunday with the Coconut Cream again on damp hair and I did not like it as much. No ringlets, my hair kind of stuck together and it had a [strange] reaction because my hair felt a little like straw….so I like it much better on dry hair! I [do] think the product is very good though. I actually think [both products] would work really well on virgin natural hair.  My hair [right now] is extremely dry and even though it’s natural, it’s severely damaged from the peroxide and permanent hair color I use.

I want to see how [both products work] on my daughter’s hair. I’d like her to embrace her natural curl…maybe these might work really well on her [hair] since it’s still in good health.”