I have heard tell of the wonders of Carol’s Daughter’s products on ethnic hair, but thought it was all hype.  I mean not hype overall, but hype in the sense that because Jada Pinkett-Smith was one of the spokespersons, and most of the models that I’ve seen looking either bi-racial or of the “good hair”/celebrity variety.  So understandably, I was really skeptical of exactly how it would work with my hair type.  Keep in mind, I haven’t known what my hair grade was since I was about twelve years old, and being mired in misconceptions about black hair, I was sure my tresses were the consistency of steel wool when it wasn’t “tamed” by chemicals.

Even after I started transitioning and knew my hair type a bit more intimately, I was unsure about how my hair would react under the care of Carol’s Daughter.  From what I’ve read, the products are all “au naturale”, made without a lot of the additives and preservatives of other commercial products (ie. petroleum, mineral oil and all the “cones” natural hair enthusiasts warn you about), and I was convinced it would take a more industrial type product to keep my hair healthy and looking its best (even if all I did to it was wrapped it up, for the most part), especially since I suffer dry scalp issues.  But the more I got to learn about my hair, and the more I heard praises of Lisa Price‘s brainchild — not to mention finding out Shawn Corey Carter is one of CD‘s investors — I decided I would give the line a try.  Only problem was… I had no clue where to find CD products in the metro Detroit area.  Selena, a long time user of the Hair Milk, let me know Sephora carried the line, but the only Sephora store I knew of was three to four cities away from my house.  Now as much I am loving my hair, and as adamant as I am about maintaining proper care of my tresses… there was no way I was going on a multi-city trip to by a $18 bottle of hair product.  My momma could have made it and I still weren’t gonna do it.  Well lucky for me, after an excursion to buy a new digi cam (a multi-city trip in itself but… it was for a camera which is totally different *lol*), I just so happened to drop into Macy’s in Oakland Mall and right across the aisle from the Godiva Chocolatier section was a Carol’s Daughter kiosk!  How cool is that?  So I swagger walked on over to check out the haps, and with the assistance of Henrietta I acquired a bottle of the highly coveted Hair Milk, aaaaaaaaand a container of Healthy Hair Butter!  An over $40 purchase combined, but considering the price of beauty and manageability for me is often steep I was not at all adverse to forking over the duckets… especially if the products did what they promised.

So I carted my treasures home, hopeful — yet still still skeptical — and eager to step into the Journey Test Kitchen.  The day after, I washed and conditioned my hair as normal with Garnier Fructis Fortifying Shampoo + Conditioner (Anti-Drandruff) , a process that involves lathering up the tresses then combing through them with a wide tooth comb (I make it a point to NEVER disturbed the natural growth pattern of my hair by rubbing the shampoo throughout my hair in a willy nilly fashion), rinsing with tepid water, then clarifying with my ACV/rosemary elixir.  Once my hair was clean, I gently squoze my hair dry in order to leave it dampened, then — as per the suggested directions — added a generous amount of Hair Milk to the roots, shaft and ends of my hair.  I am not sure what I initially expected the result to be, but I can tell you… they were better than I could have ever hoped!!!

My hair remained soft and virtually tangle free.  As you can see, my natural curls were defined in wonderfully soft “poofs” that haloed my head, beautifully!  There was no “greasy” after-feel like I’d experienced with other products, and although my hair drank the milk in, it was still moist and soft to the touch!  Its light in consistency, smells absosmurfly divine, and this magic potion even seems to have conquered an issue that is common to Nappies the world over — SHRINKAGE!!!  Not that it prevents it, because there is nothing curly hair knows to do better than curl and “shrink” lengthwise.  But the milk works with the shrinkage factor, preventing my curly ends from curling up on each other and causing kinks and snarls.  So one product down, with stellar results… one more to go.

The day after the usage of the Hair Milk — because I don’t regularly practice the art of tying my hair up at night — I noticed I needed something to “pump” my hair back up after a night of laying on it.  The moisture from the milk was still there, but the wash out was matted.  Although I know some who use the milk whether their hair is wet or dry, I wanted to see what good the Healthy Hair Butter could do.  So I applied an ample amount to my hair, finger combing it through and BOOYAH:

The fluffy tufts were back in effect with the same manageability as the day before!

Now, I had used the butter on my edges the same day that I used the milk (Henrietta stated that for some, if one product doesn’t work it is perfectly fine to combine the products since they work together harmoniously) to keep them soft and “laying down” without using alcohol laden hair gel which would dry them out, but I was really impressed with how it did not weigh the rest of my hair down like other moisturizing products I’d used (ie. the oils I’d been using).  My scalp didn’t feel oily, and after dressing my hair my fingers did not come away as if I’d eaten six pieces of Church’s/Popeye’s chicken!  Again, there’s a delicious aroma to the butter that’s not too flowery or “herbal”, just clean lemongrass, which is a staple in my bath potions so I’m good with it.

Needless to say, both the Hair Milk and Healthy Hair Butter, will be staples in my hair care regimen from here on out.  Because I know any health and beauty care line works best with corresponding products from the same line, I would love to try the Rosemary Mint Shampoo and the Black Vanilla Leave-in Conditioner for my cleansing and conditioning needs, but as the “single” mother of four it might not be in my budget at the moment ($11.50 for 8 oz. of conditioner is a lil bit outta my league).  But for now, the milk and butter do me just fine and have served a wonderful introductions for me to the Carol’s Daughter line.

Healthy Hair Wishes,