Using Shea Moisture, Sundial Brand Shea Butter for Dry Hair

There's a Parnevu hair oil treatment I like that's hard to find, so when I can't purchase it, I usually purchase cocoa butter, shea butter or coconut oil products to moisturize my hair. However, none of the ones I saw in an Evanston Target near Chicago's north side impressed me. Then I glanced at Shea Moisture Organic Raw Shea Butter, a Deep Treatment Masque for dry, damaged hair. I'd never heard of the product. The price for the hair treatment is $9.99, and my initial reaction was, "I'm not paying all that for a brand I've never heard of."

However, when I opened it to smell the mix of sea kelp, argan oil and shea butter, I knew I wasn't leaving this hair moisturizer behind. Shea Moisture smell and look like yellow cake batter. According to the container, sea kelp is used to trace minerals and detoxify hair follicles of impurities and residue. Argan oil restores shine and rebuilds hair elasticity. Shea butter, which I'm very familiar with, moisturizes and repairs damaged hair and the scalp.

Although the product feels light, it's not recommended to use it as a moisturizer before blow-drying hair. It is really heavy on wet hair and will pull. The instructions specify putting the product on hair for 5-30 minutes and then washing it out. Or, leave Shea Moisture on hair and use as a frizz-free moisturizing styling cream. I tested all three ways, although the instructions say nothing about wet hair. The product smells excellent on my hair. While rinsing the product out, the product leaves soapy water similar to shampoo. After drying my hair, I patted a small amount lightly around the edges of my hair because after blow-drying, the outer scalp area usually has a dry film. Shea Moisture is easy to brush in, and it left my hair pillow soft.

As a vegetarian, products that aren't tested on animals always outrank those that do, as long as they're effective, and Shea Moisture does not test on animals and doesn't have animal ingredients. Shea Moisture has no synthetic color, no parabens, no paraffin, no propylene glycol and no synthetic fragrance. According to the product wrap, Shea Moisture was originally created by a woman named Sofi Tucker, who would sell shea nuts "at the village market in Bonthe, Sierra Leone in 1912. By age 19, the widowed mother of four was selling shea butter, black soap and homemade hair and skin preparations all over the countryside."

I checked that story out on SheaMoisture.com to find out more about how the company progressed. According to the site, the product company owners, Sundial Creations, is 100 percent minority-owned. The owners are Richelieu Dennis and Nyema Tubman, and Dennis-the grandson of Tucker-learned about making family recipes and soaps from her. Click here to read more about how Sundial Creations came about after the owners left Liberia and formed their brand on 125th Street in New York City.

As previously stated, the product is expensive. However, the site explains why. Sundial Creations buys ingredients from women cooperatives and indigenous farmers in Africa; works closely with local and international organizations, such as ECOSERVE and Africare; partners with organizations like The Liberian Education Fund and Todee Mission; and is working on improving education in Africa.

For more info:

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Shea Moisture products

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