Reader’s Review: Aunt Jackie’s In Control “Anti-Poof” Moisturizing & Softening Conditioner

Hey Beauts!

So today, we have a review sent in by one of our awesome readers to share with you. I hope you enjoy and learn from it as much as we did.

Source: naturallycurly.com

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I want to talk about the Aunt Jackie’s In Control “Anti-poof” Moisturizing & Softening Conditioner, and I’ll be sort of comparing it to other conditioners that I’ve used so far.

Saturday, October 4

I bought Aunt Jackie’s yesterday (€3.95 for 250ml), because I saw a shop in my city that sells hair products mainly targeted at black people. So they have weaves, natural hair products, etc. I walked in to see if there were any cheapish products that I could try, because I had run out of my normal Herbal Essences Hello Hydration conditioner, and I thought, “well, let’s see if there’s something else that’s also nice”.

My staple products are Tresemme Naturals conditioner (~€4.00 for 750ml) and Herbal Essences Hello Hydration conditioner, (€2.99 for 250ml).

I started buying HH because it’s nice and can easily be found and I can’t find Tresemme in this country (except, as I discovered recently, I order from the British Expat online store).

Also, I think my hair had gotten a bit too used to Tresemme and so it was beginning to ‘go rogue’ on me. So I started buying HH, and my second bottle has just run out. HH just melts my hair as soon as I put it in, it’s such a nice feeling, and I think that’s what conditioners should do. Tresemme and Aussie Moist do the same, but HH goes one step further, it sort of arranges my coils such that they pop. And the hair smells and feels great after I wash out the conditioner.

So, as you can imagine, I assumed Aunt Jackie’s would ‘melt’ my hair as soon as I put it in. Nope. It was as if I was rubbing my hair with bar soap.

What was my response? I added more and more product, but mba. I read the instructions, and they say to cover it with a plastic cap for 10 minutes. I didn’t follow that instruction, because that day was not deep conditioning day, and what I do on non-deep-conditioning days is I put the conditioner in and leave it, but I don’t cover it, and I don’t detangle afterwards.

Also, my hair was shedding as I was applying the conditioner. Maybe it was just already-shed hair, but because of the (I don’t know, cognitive dissonance) I had with respect to this conditioner, I felt like it was the cause of this shedding. Anyway, after 5-10 minutes, some parts of my hair started feeling soft, but my hair was still looking frizzy – and the jar says ‘anti poof’ on it! HH doesn’t make any such claims (or maybe it does, can’t read what’s on the bottle, it’s written in Dutch/German), but it eliminates my frizz, regardless.

After typing that last sentence, I stood up and went to look in the mirror and touch my hair, and it had softened but still looked like wool. So apparently this conditioner needs time to work.

Okay. But then that means I can’t use it as a normal cowash as is claimed on the jar, because if I do, I’d have to wait a while for the hair to soften, right?

Okay, so after washing out, my hair felt really really soft, but essentially looked like wool. Oh well. I went out (at 13:00) with my slightly wet hair, sans product, and stayed out till around 00:30, and it was still soft. When I got home, I was too tired to rub in my Cantu Leave-in, so I went to bed. But it was fine.

Wednesday, October 8

It’s sad, but I have to toss this product. I have some products which I do not deem necessary, but I keep them around because they don’t make me feel negative things the way this one does.

Today, I did an ACV rinse on my hair before I used Aunt Jackie’s, and then I tried to use Aunt Jackie’s as a cowash. Of course it didn’t work, so I changed course and left it on my hair as a deep conditioner. 1 hour later, I took off my hair cover, expecting my hair to be soft (because on Saturday, it was soft after a while). Nope. Straw.

I was in a hurry so I detangled as best I could, while apologizing to my hair for this poor treatment. Then I stepped into the shower, washed off this conditioner, and applied what was left of my HH. My hair was still pissed though, so it didn’t immediately melt. I took a shower, and then towards the end of my shower, rinsed off the HH. There was a teeny weeny bit of softness, at this point. Oh and, my coils were back to popping!

I scrunched the hair with a tee and went my way, as usual, then returned at night to use my Cantu Leave In. More importantly, I stopped at the drugstore and got myself a bottle of Herbal Essences Hello Hydration conditioner for €2.99.

I’m not experimenting again. I have behaved like a person who has the most beautiful/smart/everything spouse, but still wonders and tries to find out what’s out there. I still wonder, but I’m not* going to try to find out again. (Maybe I will, but only if I receive samples or something. I won’t pay to find out.) I wish I could meet someone who’s willing to take this product or do a product swap. Meh.

Thursday, October 9

My hair seems to have forgiven me. Coils are still popping. Fin.

Wait. I might need to experiment with shampoos. Do you know anything? I still have my bottle of Aussie Moist that I got on sale last year, but I’m looking for something a bit more moisturizing. I use Marseille soap right now but that’s really neither here nor there. It may be more drying, even. But I don’t really mind, because my hair isn’t complaining, and that’s because I only use it on my scalp. I’m looking for something that I won’t be afraid to use on both hair and scalp.

There you have it, beauts. Princess (@ms_denaro) has talked about many many things in this review, one of which was experimenting with products when you already have a staple or staples that work very well for you. What are your thought on this? Anyone tried this product and had their hair ‘melt’? Anyone tried this product and agree with Princess?

Hold up! Before you run away…

NATURAL IN PARADISE IS HAPPENING THIS SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18TH 2014!!!

If this is the first time you are hearing about it, then slap your forehead. If you will be in Calabar this weekend, then you have no excuse. Go to Bay’s Bar & Lounge on Felix Nsemo Drive, Diamond Hill. It’s gonna be a deadly day!

Mee-Mee

xx