Product Review: Alaffia Shea and Coconut Daily Hydrating Conditioner

By: Meg
Cost: 10.00

 I am, apparently, cuckoo for coconut. I wish that I could smell like a coconut farm everyday. Unfortunately, I think that it's more of a seasonal smell and it seems a little out of place to smell like a coconut farm when you are not at the beach (just like smelling like cinnamon in a heat wave might be a little weird). Many natural products smell like coconut because it is a natural scent and coconut oil is used in a lot of these products. Since it's winter right now, I try to keep the coconut smell subtle even though I love it. One product that lets me do just that is Alaffia Coconut and Shea Daily Hydrating Conditioner.
 I found this at Whole Foods and remembered it being recommended on the No More Dirty Looks website, so I picked it up. That said, when I saw the bottle I wanted to toss it back right away. It did not appeal to my standard of beauty aesthetic at all. The bottle is a pink color with a busy multicolored label with clashing orange writing. The lid is a painted gold which looks very gaudy (not all bottles come with the gold top). It was so ugly but I remembered my new resolve to give products a chance based on ingredients. Turns out, Mom was right, its about inner beauty after all. I also thought that perhaps they had used cheaper packaging (and a cheap designer?) to reduce the price to the consumer. I can't argue with that!
 The conditioner leaves my hair very soft and not too weighed down. The shea and coconut moisturize like crazy. I do recommend blow-drying if you have flat or naturally heavy hair because, while it doesn't weigh it down much, it doesn't really add volume either. My hair was nice and shiny when I used this and I did not have a lot of flyways. I styled my hair and it seemed to hold very well. I was worried it would be very greasy and not be able to hold curl but it was not at all. The thing I love most is the smell though. The whole day after using this I would catch little whiffs of coconut when my hair moved around. It's almost like aroma therapy for me.
 Do your best to get past the front of your beauty products and to the back label. The more you understand what is actually going onto your skin and hair the better!