Shea Moisture Fruit Fusion Coconut Water - REVIEW

I've been searching for the "perfect product" for 24 years now and I think I've finally found it in Shea Moisture's Fruit Fusion Coconut Water line. 

First off, about my hair type:

I'm biracial (Black and Japanese), with tight circular curls: mostly 3C but some 4A at the back of my head; low porosity and fine strands with normal density. My hair has more of the kinky African-American qualities so it's very prone to dryness and breakage - frizz is a constant battle - and it grows relatively slowly. 

The main things I need from my hair product are

1. Moisture, moisture, moisture!
2. Curl Definition
3. Frizz Prevention

Seems easy right? I never thought I was asking for that much, but it's been a literal journey trying to find sulfate and silicone-free products (essential for low porosity - in my experience) that can provide those three things. 

An uncharacteristically good hair day. My hair never looks the same way twice

The Product Search: Trial and Error (but mostly error)

Ever an optimist: my eyes would light up when I saw the usual "Silicone-free, paraben-free, sulfate-free" etc. etc. but almost always, optimism would turn into disappointment when I was met with frizzy, brittle, lackluster curls that were dry and soon as I rinsed the product out. 

A bit of a product junkie (understatement #1), here are the products I've tried over the years with some degree of success, in no particular order:

• Trader Joe's Tea Tree Tingle Shampoo & Conditioner

• Mane N Tail Shampoo & Conditioner 

• L'Oreal Paris Advanced Hair Care Extraordinary Oil Curls Shampoo & Conditioner 

• Deva Curl Original NoPoo & Conditioner

• Shea Moisture Jamaican Black Castor Oil Leave-In Conditioner

• Garnier Fructis Damage Eraser Conditioner

While these products kinda did the job...they didn't wow me. I've definitely tried worse, but there was still a lot that my hair was lacking and so my hunt for the perfect product went on. 

A few months ago, I randomly came across an "all-natural" (deceptive brands have turned me into a skeptic) conditioner by Maui Moisture at Ross Dress For Less. The main ingredients: Aloe Vera (cue the chorus of angels) and coconut water. I had never seen an ingredient list like that before and I was intrigued.  

I brought it home and then TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT IT. I got wrapped up in some hype about Deva Curl and doled out the near $70 for the big bottles. I thought I had found "it", considering how pricey the products were and all the rave reviews I'd seen, I figured this had to work. So I tried it. And it wasn't bad. But...for the high price point, it didn't impress me with the results. I found that I needed too much of the conditioner to actually saturate my hair (I used the entire bottle in nearly a week!). Super duper disappointed and looking for products at a lower price point, I remembered that I had the Maui Moisture Thicken & Restore + Bamboo Fibers Conditioner sitting in my box of products.

Maui Moisture (from Ross)

Love at First Lather

The effects were immediate. Instead of frothy white clumps in my hair, my hair had absorbed all the conditioner and felt hydrated and not just 'wet'. It had great slip and finger combing was a breeze (bonus: it smelled AMAZING). The directions said to leave in my hair which I was very happy to oblige (rinsing out a good conditioner seems like such a waste, right?). GIRL. My curls were SO poppin! My hair usually has a good 2-5 minutes where it's still pretty from when I get out the shower but once the water dries, that all goes to heck and my hair poofs up. It looked promising so far, but the true test of time would really determine whether this product would cut it.

Instead of shrinking up to my shoulders nearly an hour later, my hair was still hydrated and you could tell that my hair was mid-back length. The beautiful waves I had when I stepped out of the shower were drying into springy little spirals with bounce and shine. As the day went on, it did eventually dry and came up a little below my shoulders, but my coworker commented that I had great definition and volume today. 

I was sold.  

Having found the one for me (sorry boyfriend), I came home with the intention of buying every single bottle I could find. To my horror, upon going to the Maui Moisture website, I realized that what I had used in my hair was an old formula that they no longer produced. I hit up a couple more Ross Dress For Less' but I had no luck. If this love affair was to continue, I'd have to bite the bullet and try their new formula. 

Long story short: no bueno. The new formula contained alcohol. ALCOHOL! Not the friendly fatty alcohols like cetyl or stearyl, but straight up alcohol. At the least, this formula did absolutely nothing for my hair - if not drying it further - so I had to abandon this brand altogether. The good thing was, that with the success of the aloe and coconut water, I knew that was a winning combination for my hair and that I had to find something with similar ingredients, a far better strategy then me purchasing every single thing with an exotic sounding oil or fruit. 

The new bottle - stay away!

Cut to me browsing through TJ Maxx and seeing a whole bunch of the Shea Moisture Fruit Fusion collection on the shelves. I had a brief stint with the Curl Mousse a few years back which had decent results, but I had never considered trying the actual conditioner and shampoo. A semi-loyal fan to the brand, I checked out the ingredients and was blown away: 

Ingredients: Water, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Fruit Juice, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter*, Stearyl Alcohol, Cetyl Alcohol, Behentrimonium Chloride, Glyceryl Caprylate, Panthenol, Fragrance (Essential Oil Blend), Litchi Chinensis (Lychee) Fruit Extract, Hylocereus Undatus (Dragon) Fruit Extract, Pyrus Malus (Apple) Fruit Extract, Garcinia Livingstonei (African Mangosteen) Seed Oil, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil, Hydrolyzed Rice Protein, Glycerin, Psidium Guajava Fruit Extract, Citrus Grandis (Grapefruit) Fruit Extract, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Capric/Caprylic Triglycerides, Tocopherol, Sodium Benzoate, Myrciaria Dubia Fruit Extract, Cetrimonium Chloride, Glyceryl Undecylenate 

I had never given this product a second glance but it had been under my nose the whole time! The Creme Rinse was everything I had hoped for and my curls responded to it enthusiastically. I used about 8 pumps to completely saturate my hair with it. And although the directions said to rinse out, I left it in my hair and the white spots eventually absorbed into my hair with no problem. Without the use of any gels or sealing oils, my curls were light and bouncy with noticeable definition. It was also crazy humid outside because it's been a rainy week in Miami, and I was able to last to day 5 hair with no application of another product.

If anyone else out there hasn't had luck with any of the regular or mainstream products out there, please give this Shea Moisture collection a try! Let me know how it works for you, and if you're in the Miami area and can't find any bottles at TJ Maxx, that's probably because of me ;) Toodles!

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