When I was transitioning from relaxed to natural hair, Youtube, was my best friend in figuring out just what I could do with my hair. One of the YouTubers whose videos I watched religiously was Naptural85, aka Whitney White, whose viewer count on her Youtube Channel has reached over 103 million views, thanks to her hundreds of videos on how to care for type 4 hair.
Image Source: @melaninhaircare
In 2015, Whitney took her love of natural hair and co-founded Melanin Haircare, a natural hair product line that uses natural and safe ingredients that are non-toxic and synthetic-safe that helps your hair and scalp stay healthy and moisturized. According to their website, Melanin Haircare’s products are formulated without silicones, parabens, mineral oil, sulfates, petroleums, phthalates, and formaldehyde, and are super transparent about what’s in their products, so you can see how your coils are being protected.
I tried The Multi-Use Pure Oil Blend and The Twist Elongating Style Cream. As someone who is twisting or braiding their hair 3-4 times a week, I’m always on the hunt for products I can incorporate into my LOC method. Keep reading as I share my thoughts on Melanin Haircare and how it worked on my coily hair!
Image Source: @melaninhaircare
The Multi-Use Pure Oil Blend:
My 4b hair tends to get pretty dry year-round, so you can guarantee I’m using some sort of oil to seal in moisture when styling my hair. I love how brands have started creating oil blends, where a variety of oils are mixed together to target your strands in different ways. So when I saw Melanin Haircare had an oil blend, I was automatically intrigued. The product includes baobab oil, argan oil, sweet almond oil, jojoba oil, sage oil, geranium oil and vitamin E, which are meant to penetrate the hair shaft and promote growth.
I decided to apply the product onto my damp hair, after I had washed and conditioned it, and added leave-in conditioner. The oil was very lightweight in my hair and my hair didn’t feel weighed down when I applied it. After adding the oil to my hair, I let it sit for awhile for adding the next product. After 20 minutes, my hair already felt soft — and it felt like the oil had penetrated my hair shaft, rather than just sitting on top of my hair.
After twisting my hair with the The Twist Elongating Style Cream (I’ll get to that later”> and slept overnight, I put some of the oil blend on my fingers and undid my twists — and they were incredibly moisturized! Bonus points go to the cap of the bottle, which makes it easy to not only control how much you’re using, but also allows you to easily oil your scalp as well.
Image Source: @melaninhaircare
The Twist Elongating Style Cream:
I have a love/hate relationship with styling creams. While I like the definition styling creams give my twist out and braid outs, my hair sometimes can feel weighed down due to the heaviness of the product. According to Melanin Haircare, their Twist Elongating Style Cream is not only meant to moisturise your hair, but also help detangle and reduce knots with ingredients like shea and mango butter, along with avocado and sweet almond oil. What I like about this product is that it’s specifically targeted for thick, coarse hair — but despite that, the product was still very lightweight.
I sectioned my hair and did eight twists around my head, putting a dime sized amount of product in each section. After sleeping overnight with the twists in, I took the twists down, and like the day before, my hair felt super soft! My twists were still a little damp when I took them down (oops!”>, but I like how it looks like a wash-n-go.
Overall, the two products worked extremely well together, and I liked how my hair remained soft and not weighed down like other products! Melanin Haircare does a good job over targeting type 4 hair, which is rare to find amidst all of the curly hair products on the market. The oil blend will most definitely be incorporated in my daily routine!
Have you tried Melanin Haircare? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.