Finding the best hair care is a process. At 7 years old, I sat in my mother’s kitchen in Virginia with a Just For Me Relaxer burning my scalp and harming my tight, coily hair. Before then, my natural hair was thick and puffy; usually shampooed with products from L’Oreal Kids and braided with multi-colored ballies at the end. Finding a hair care routine to hydrate and detangle my high-porosity, coarse hair has been full of trial and error– a process filled with testing products like Motions shampoo and Avlon’s Texture Release.
That was the case until I started going to the hair salon the following year, at 8 years old. From relaxers and braids, to a transition back to natural hair, my hairstylist of over 15 years has seen me through it all. Additionally, for as long as I can remember, she had a salon partnership with Avlon and she introduced their KeraCare brand to my hair care routine. I would request a conditioning treatment and trim, and leave the chair with a weightless, thick blow out. Since then, I have exclusively used KeraCare for my hair when I go to the salon.
When I moved to New York a few years ago, I longed for how my hair felt after an appointment at her salon. When I turned 24 years old, I had hopes of achieving the professional hair care experience from my apartment’s bathroom. I had difficulty finding a hair care routine, specifically shampoo, for my thick, short hair. In the past, most had left my curls feeling dry and weak. And, with all the products on the market, I never knew what to look for in hair care, and wanted to commit to a single brand for my full routine.
After all these years, I decided to look up the products my hairstylist used to treat my hair growing up. I looked through all six of the KeraCare collections– from CurlEssence to Professional– to find a shampoo to hydrate and detangle my knot-prone hair. I stocked my cart with the full KeraCare Professional collection: everything from the Hydrating Detangling Shampoo, to the Humecto Creme Conditioner and Leave In.
Now, the Hydrating Detangling Shampoo is the only shampoo I use. The sulfate-free product is a bath for the hair that gently detangles and softens my hair with a rich, conditioning lather. I shampoo my hair every two weeks and it leaves my curls feeling hydrated, repaired, and strong, thanks to rich emollients and pH balancing ingredients like wheat protein and citric acid. That said? I’m never looking back.