Posh Product Review: Shea Radiance Hair

I’ve been hearing/seeing lots of great things about Shea Radiance (a company that I also posted about here) around the social media sphere, so when I noted on their Twitter page that they were having an ‘Aha Moment’ contest, where the prizing was full sized bottles of their natural hair products, I promptly wrote a lovely little tale about my natural hair journey and crossed my fingers that I’d win the goods. I did!

The Goods
(According to the Shea Radiance Site)

Maximum Moisture Conditioner - Conditioning that works well, even on dry, brittle hair. It strengthens the hair shaft, prevents breakage and repairs damaged hair. Our conditioner blends wheat protein, keratin and castor, avocado and coconut oils with shea butter to stimulate growth & smooth the hair cuticle.

Thermal Protection Smoothie - Shield hair shaft and eliminate breakage from heat-inflicted damage. This Thermal Protection Smoothie is strong enough to stand up to the intensive heat damage that comes from blowouts, flat irons, wands, and hot combs. Shea butter and hemp seed oil restore the natural beauty of your hair, however you choose to style it.

Moisture Rich Hair Butter (sample) - Give dry or damaged hair a luscious, nutrient-rich treatment. Our Moisture Rich Hair Butter combines high concentrations of pure unrefined shea butter with a host of healing and essential oils. Decreases signs of damage and great for twists and locs.

My Experience

I generally refrain from caring for my own hair in the colder months, opting instead to head to the salon for a blow out and straighten. But the arrival of goodies was enough to make me carve out three hours on a week night to try them out. I was not at all disappointed. Not even a little bit. Here’s why:

I used my own shampoo since that wasn’t one of the items I received from the contest. Then moved on to the conditioner, which has the yummiest lemony scent. It has the consistency of lotion, and didn’t produce a ton of lather--which initially freaked me out because I’m used to seeing a fluffy, soapy lather appear. As I generally detangle wet hair with conditioner, I needed to be able to comb through it. I was—the conditioner began to make my hair softer as soon as it was applied, and I was still able to comb through extremely easily.

After rinsing my hair clean, and patting dry with a towel, I sprayed on the smoothie to help protect my hair from the heat of blow drying and straightening. (I skipped the leave in conditioner, which I also won, because any product left on my wet hair after rinsing makes it sticky when I straighten it. I’ll have to try that when I’m planning to wear my hair curly.) The smoothie has a sweet candy scent, and sprays in a very light mist. It isn’t heavy and didn’t make it difficult to blow dry. I usually use Infusium which does still create a slight bit of stickiness that I had accepted as normal—now I know better, because the smoothie wasn't sticky at all. After blow drying, my hair was SUPER soft! Even though it still looked a little frizzy, it was very soft to the touch. Straightening intensified the softness and my hair ended up full and flowy with lots of movement.

My apologies for the bb camera pics, but you get the idea

After curling, I used a minimal amount of the hair butter for finishing. It was great at smoothing and adding shine, but not at all heavy and didn’t weigh my hair down. It is also great at protecting against humidity! On the second day after I styled my hair, I wore it bone straight, and it was raining. My hair never got frizzy or bushy at all. It stayed smooth and straight all day! I generally use Organic Root Stimulator clear gloss, which also works well for smoothing, but doesn’t protect from humidity and my hair will still swell if there is any moisture in the air.

I wish you could reach out and touch my hair through the screen, in order to fully appreciate how great it felt. This might be a little self-involved, but I couldn’t stop touching it for days! On the 9th day after styling my hair, T hugged me and said "your hair is so soft!" And it was! Even when my hair started to get a little dirty it retained the same feel. I will definitely continue to use my Shea Radiance products, and am so ordering a full sized jar of the hair butter!

Have you tried any of Shea Radiance’s hair products? Did you love them?