I have been curious about Carol’s Daughter hair products for awhile, so I finally decided to try one. Carol’s Daughter products are typically for ethnic hair, however I have read on many beauty sites that most of the products are great for all types of hair. And when you read the ingredients – at least for the Mimosa Hair Honey – you can see that they are great, natural ingredients:

Zea Mays (Corn) Oil, Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender), Salvia Officinalis (Sage) Leaf,Trifolium Pratense (Red Clover), Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary), Rosa Damascena (Rose-petal Red), Malva Moschata (Malva-Blue), Urtica Diocia (Nettle), Beeswax, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter) Fruit, Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Seed Butter, Fragrance, Alkana Tinctoria Root, Annatto Seed.

This product has no water in it so it is actually free of preservatives, which is a bonus!

I was looking for something quick and easy to use after drying my hair to soften the ends and add a little shine. I didn’t want anything that had silicone or other icky ingredients – I wanted something natural. So my search led me to Hair Mimosa Honey – it is designed to reduce frizz and add shine.

Well, as you can see, there is certainly a lot of oil in the product. I had read on some review sites that you only need a little – and that is absolutely true. A tiny bit goes a very long way. If you use too much, you can quickly make your hair look like it needs to be washed again. So literally I lightly run my finger across the top of the product (which has the consistency of a thick salve). Then I rub that in my hands then onto the ends of my hair and then through the rest of my hair.

So what do I think? I would say it is pretty good for a natural styling product. I’d give it maybe 3 of 5 stars. Not amazing, but definitely not bad. But the thing is, I have very thick, coarse hair. I’m thinking that this would not work well on fine or thin hair – it’s pretty oily and I would guess that this would make thin hair look greasy.

I’d say that I would recommend it if you have thick, coarse and/or dry hair and you’re looking for something to make it softer and silkier after you style it. But I’ll still be on the lookout for something that I don’t have to be so careful using.

On a side note, I was disappointed in seeing that they use fragrance which I’m guessing isn’t phthalate-free. I actually find the scent a little strong. It’s supposed to be citrus-y but it seems like citrus mixed with a perfume-y scent – not really my thing…

I have been trying for a couple of years now to find hair care products that are free of my “no-no’s” – parabens, sulfates and phthalates (so I look for products without perfume or fragrance). There certainly is no lack of products out there. Just go to the personal care aisle at Whole Foods.

The reason I started Garden Girl was that I couldn’t find skin care and bath & body products that were natural and worked as well. I knew there must be a way to have products that were natural and effective – and we’ve done it.

Now I’m finding that I can’t seem to find any hair care products that really WORK. But so far – I am finding that natural hair care products just don’t work. I’m not asking for much, either. I just need the products to leave my hair soft, and my scalp clean (my hair is generally normal or a tiny bit dry). But I seem to find natural shampoos and conditioners either leave my hair feeling dry and frizzy, or my scalp itchy or flaky. Not what I’m looking for!

So recently I decided to try Alba Plumera Replenishing hair wash. According to the label, there is only a “botanical fragrance” however I am skeptical that they didn’t use fragrance as well. It’s too strong for just essential oils. The scent was nice and the ingredients list was impressive. But unfortunately, this shampoo falls into that category of looks good, smells good but doesn’t do the trick. It didn’t give a nice lather, and my hair felt dry after using it.

The other product I tried recently was Kiss My Face Whenever Conditioner – Green Tea & Lime. Again, this is a product that has a great list of ingredients with much of them being organic. But this just never felt like it was absorbing in. My hair didn’t feel moisturized after using the conditioner. Instead it felt somewhat dry.

While both of these products met the criteria of being free of parabens, sulfates and phthalates – neither of them did the trick.

Meantime, I will continue my pursuit of good natural haircare. Fingers crossed!