Shea Moisture Coconut & Hibiscus Curling Control Shampoo: Shea What?

Dixie

A good hair cleanser is the foundation of a good hair day. The curly-haired gal or guy needs a shampoo that not only gently cleanses the hair of oil, dirt, and hair product but they will need one suited to their hair type. I'm a big fan of the Shea Moisture brand, so when I saw a gift set with the Coconut & Hibiscus products on clearance at Target earlier this year, I snatched it up.

Before going any further, I must stress the importance of knowing your hair type before trying a new hair product. If you don't know off the top of your head what the porosity, texture, elasticity, and density of your hair strands are, go right now to Live Curly Live Free or Naturally Curly, read, and come back. Got it? Hokay.


I bought the Shea Moisture Coconut & Hibiscus Curling Control Shampoo knowing that it's most likely not right for my hair. The silk protein in the formula is excellent since I have fine hair and it needs adequate protein to retain the strength of each strand. However, nut butters such as shea butter are typically more appropriate for coarse hair as they are too heavy for fine hair. I wanted to give the shampoo a chance anyway since it was new and shiny, and on sale.

Despite the shea butter in the formula, this is an excellent shampoo. The coconut and neem oil give my hair an appropriate amount of moisture and the coconut-derived surfactant cleanses my hair without drying it out. Panthenol, the humectant in the formula, is far enough down the list that my medium-porous hair doesn't take in air moisture and do its poodle impersonation in the Florida humidity. Most importantly, though, all of these ingredients add up to keep my hair moisturized and treated with protein so it dries into healthy, shiny curls. I can forgive the fact that the shea butter weighs my hair down a bit since I knew going into my trial that it probably would. As with any shampoo, if you use it too much, more than a couple times a week, your hair will dry out and you will need to use a lot of conditioner and moisturizing products to restore the quality of your curls.

All of this is really to say that this is a great shampoo, if you have the right type of hair. My recommendation is that if you have medium to coarse textured hair, then this is probably going to be a good product for you. Shea butter is a wonderful moisturizer, but not if you have fine hair. As for recommendations regarding porosity, I'm afraid you're left with trial and error. Either the panthenol will be just right for you, or it will be too much.

Rating? I give the Shea Moisture Coconut & Hibiscus Curling Control Shampoo an 6/8 tentacles, only because shea butter is not right for my hair. I urge you, reader, to try this shampoo if you think it might be suited to your hair. You can find it at most drugstores and Target for around $10 for a 12-ounce bottle.

Rating: 6/8 tentacles