My hair is textured but I always thought of it as thin and wispy. It turns out, according to my trichologist, it’s just fine (yes, hair can be Afro textured and fine). It also doesn’t hold moisture, so products will just sit on top of my curls and create a white cast. Unless I apply heat through a cap or dryer, nothing gets into the flat hair shaft, causing product to just build up on my scalp and hair.
So when Dove announced the launch of Amplified Textures, a new line of hair care and styling products made with our Black girl curls in mind, I was excited. I’m always up for trying something new in hopes that it will perform on my low porosity 4B hair. And with ingredients such as honey, aloe and coconut oil, the line had promise. I went through all the products in the collection, and here’s what I discovered.
The shampoo and conditioner smell amazing. And I loved that they were rich enough that I didn’t need to use a lot to get a good lather and get to all my strands. The slip was great, and I detangled with no issues.
I’m not a huge hair mask girl, because it just feels like an extra step in my wash day process that I’m not sure I’m seeing results from. I gave the Recovery Mask a go anyway, as the label says that it penetrates the hair shaft to strengthen from within. But I can’t really say if it did much for my thirsty curls. It might be a while before I see the benefits.
I used the leave-in conditioner and shaping butter cream for a wash-and-go. This is where things really got interesting. My hair has never been the best at keeping this style, mainly because the product doesn’t get in properly to be effective.
I did the shingling method with the shaping butter and I loved the way it brought out the definition of my curls. I sprayed it with a light hold to try to keep the curls throughout the day, but they shrank and poofed out a few hours later. I was actually surprised that the curls stayed stretched for as long as they did.
For a twist-out, I combined the shaping butter with the finishing gel. The mix of the butter and gel allowed the style to stay in for days until I rinsed and combed it out. I was so impressed. It looked great.
I recently had some hair loss, so my hair looks sparse in certain styles, but once I picked out the roots it didn’t matter. The twist-out probably looked more like most women’s wash-and-go’s, but I didn’t care; I really liked it. Even my fiancé asked what I had used in my hair because he thought my curls looked “cute.” He also loved the smell of my hair when he got closer.
I did have flaking at the roots from product buildup, as I typically do with any products not formulated for low porosity hair. But I tied a silk scarf around my crown, put in a little hair oil to work out the dry product and rocked that twist-out proudly for two whole days.
It wasn’t perfect, and if you have low porosity hair you’ll need to do a little more work to avoid the flaking and leave-in dust that comes along with most hair products.
Next time I try this twist-out, I’ll do a deep conditioning heat treatment beforehand. But if your hair is normal porosity you’re going to have a lot of fun playing with this new collection for your curls and coils.