This year marks my two year decision to transition to my natural hair — and what a journey it has been. For those familiar with the transition from relaxed to natural hair, it’s a lot of trial and error, which products work for you, how much porosity your hair has, and which hairstyles you can rock.
The hairstyles have probably been the hardest for me. Braidouts and twist outs have been my go-to and although I had good techniques for both, I couldn’t find a product that “wow’d” my dry, thick, coily, hair. That is, until CurlsDynasty changed the game for me.
CurlsDynasty is what I like to call the “lowkey” brands. They don’t have a huge presence in the natural hair care world like cult-favorites Shea Moisture or Carol’s Daughter — but CurlsDynasty is small, yet mighty. Founded by Nickie Nougaisse in 2014, CurlsDynasty products are formulated with natural ingredients, no harsh chemicals, preservatives, or dyes or fragrances — and there’s a huge emphasis on hydrating hair.
Me rocking one of my favorite half-up half-down twist out styles, thanks to CurlsDynasty.
Featured Ingredients
CurlsDynasty loves moisture – and the ingredients in their products speak to that. Aloe Juice, shea butter, castor seed oil, and avocado oil — all great hydrators — can be found in many of their products, along with Organic Marshmallow root in one of their products. It sounds tasty, but Marshmallow root is a powerful herb that’s been used for thousands of years for things like coughs and colds to skin health to cleansing kidneys.
In terms of your hair, it aids in treating ailments like psoriasis, dry scalp, and eczema, while giving hair a good “slip”, meaning the slipperiness of the product can help easily remove tangles and knots — which sounds like my type of ingredient.
First Impressions: Packaging and Scent
I don’t have a sensitivity to scents, but if you do, CurlsDynasty’s styling products almost get the label of being scent-free. There’s a smell to it, but not overpowering like many styling products on the market. The collection’s washing and conditioning set, however, does have a strong smell, particularly their Cocoa Mint Moisture Rich Shampoo, which smells like a Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookie. Sounds delicious, right?
In terms of the packaging, it’s colorful and cute and definitely stands out in my never ending collection of hair products. The floral design makes it even cuter.
This is a first day twistout using both CurlsDynasty’s Organic Oil Blend and the Twisted Definition twisting creme. My hair left so soft!
Products
Here are the CurlsDynasty products I tried:
- Shampoo: This sounds bad, but I don’t put much thought into my shampoos — I really just want something that gets all the yuckies out my hair so I can focus on moisture retention during my conditioning and styling process. The Cocoa Mint Moisture Rich Shampoo is sulfate-free and, to my surprise, does a good job at not only cleansing, but moisturizing as well. Normally, my hair feels stripped after I use shampoo (hence why I’m big on moisture”>, but after washing it twice, my hair felt very soft. Plus, the mint gave my scalp a nice invigorating cleanse, which is always an A+ in my book.
- Conditioner: The conditioner, when used generously, can provide you with a close to intense hydration for your curls. On its own, I don’t think I’d use it to co-wash or as a deep conditioner, but with the shampoo, I think it did its job. I did notice my hair wasn’t as tangled as it normally is after I shampoo and condition, which gave me (and my arms”> a nice break when I had to start detangling.
- Organic Oil Blend: This is where I start to get excited. Remember when I mentioned earlier I had a problem with dryness? CurlsDynasty’s Organic Oil Blend worked wonders for my dry curls. I immediately put the oil on my hair after I rinsed out the conditioner, and before I put in a leave-in conditioner. It left my hair feeling soft and moisturized, and not frizzy and dry like how it normally is when I t-shirt dry it.The ingredients in the Organic Oil Blend are a moisture-lovers dream — Olive, Coconut, Jojoba, Grapeseed, Safflower, Avocado, Black Castor, Vitamin E, Sweet Almond Oils, and Essential Oil Blend. It’s brilliant. I realized later on that the Organic Oil Blend also is great to use for the LOC method and scalp massages, or when you’re restyling your hair and it needs a little shine. I wish they made this in a Costco sized bottle, because I don’t think I’ll find anything better than this blend.
- Twisting Cream: This is a holy grail product of mine now. It takes a lot for a product to become a holy grail of mine, especially hair products. But the Twisted Definition Twisting Cream changed the game for me and then some. The first thing is the hydration I got from this product. Many stylers I’ve used only have focused on the styling aspect and not so much retaining the moisture of the styles. This product has Aloe Juice and Shea Butter, which made my hair feel soft when I unraveled my twists — and kept my hair feeling soft the entire day. The second thing is the definition I got from the cream. To put it plainly, my twist outs were poppin’.
Final Thoughts
CurlsDynasty stayed true to their mission to create hydrating products — every product I tried gave me some kind of moisture and gave my curls what they needed. My favorites were the Organic Oil Blend and the Twisted Definition Creme, because of how good my twist outs (and braidouts”> looked in the end. The shampoo comes in third because of how nice it felt on my scalp. Last is the conditioner — it wasn’t terrible, but it didn’t knock my socks off.
This is my my hair on a second day twist out. You still see some definition, but the hydration was still there!
I’ll definitely continue to use all of the four products until they run out, but the oil blend and twist cream is going to be restocked to my collection.
You can find the entire CurlsDynasty collection on SHOP NaturallyCurly.
Have you tried any of the products in the CurlsDynasty Collection? How did they work for you? Let us know in the comments below!
