This is my final week using both the Onion Juice Treatment and the Curl Harmony Products exclusively. It’s been an interesting month and i’ll give you my verdict in just a little while.
My onion juice treatment was exactly the same as last week. My onions were a little on the small side so i used one and a half onions this time to make sure i had enough juice. I again used the bentonite clay, ACV and essential oils. My head was extremely tingly. Not in an irritated way but in a more cooling way. I left it on for quite a while this time as i had a lot to do. My head emitted a lot of heat but it was fine.
Curl Harmony Review
I rinsed, cleansed and detangled my hair using the Cleansing Conditioner one section at a time before DC’ing with the Intensive Repair Deep Conditioner, honey and olive oil. There wasn’t enough of the Deep Conditioner left to make a full batch so i added in some of the Hydrating Conditioner. I applied it a section at a time, covered my hair and left it on, again for a while.
I rinsed thoroughly with cool water, towel dried, added leave-in conditioner and Shea Butter Mix and cornrowed my hair into six cornrows, as i was trying out a hairstyle.
Onion Juice Rating
PRO’S
- Easy to get. Onions are very common and so it’s easy to make this treatment.
- Cheap. Onions are very cheap as they are plentiful.
- It seems to work. Feeling my nape area, it has grown and gotten bushier over the four weeks. A long term commitment to onion juice might see some dramatic results.
CON’S
- The smell! Let’s face it. It’s a VERY SMELLY treatment. Even when you’ve rinsed it out you can smell it on your scalp. Even when i added essential oils to it, you could still smell it. Nothing will mask that smell completely even the essential oils did not help. I even felt slightly nauseous when washing my hair the second week. It was that lingering pong that just did it for me. That’s why i added the oils in the third week to try and make it more bearable.
- Onions make me cry. Juicing the onions was a feet. Not the juicing itself but trying to see what i was doing through stinging and teary eyes. And it doesn’t just stop there. You have to mix it and put it on your scalp and walk around with it for at least half an hour. All whilst your eyes are stinging and teary. You can’t run away from it or open a window to get rid of it. IT’S ON YOUR HEAD. Maybe i’m overly sensitive to onions but this was my plight.
Verdict
The onion juice treatment is a very effective treatment for aiding in scalp stimulation and hair growth. The results i have seen within these short four weeks are very encouraging. I have read that you need to do it for at least six months before you start seeing real results.
Maybe mine was noticeable because of the other things i have done and am doing. For example, i did the cayenne and neem treatment for four weeks which stimulated the scalp and killed any harmful bacteria and fungus lurking on my scalp. So the onion juice had a good base to work from. I’m also taking some supplements: Kelp, Spirulina and Beauty Complex which is a multivitamin and mineral tablet that includes silica and biotin.
I think my hair loss and the continuous battle for it to grow is associated with a hormonal imbalance, my thyroid gland has not worked well for a number of years and having children must have tipped it over the edge, that’s why i’m taking Kelp as this has a great deal of iodine in it to help the thyroid function better and therefore correct my imbalance.
So… If you can tolerate the smell and burning eyes i say go ahead, it’s definitely worth a try. 9/10 – It’s not the perfect solution (it’s stinky and tear jerking) but it works.
Curl Harmony Rating
Curl Harmony products are made for wavy, curly and afro hair types. It’s supposed to be specially formulated to work with curly hair and bring out the best in it. I have to admit i agree. I’ll break this down by product as i used four out of their range.
Shampoo
- It is pH balanced. I tested it with my pH strips and it measured a 5.
- It kept my hair very soft and not overly stripped and dry. Even when i used minimal conditioner over it my hair felt good.
- It’s the best shampoo i’ve used to date. For me, in terms of performance – cleansing my hair and yet leaving it soft, it beat Aubrey’s and Ikove hands down.
- The consistency is the major downfall of an otherwise excellent product. It’s just too watery and that makes it uneconomical. You waste a lot of it as it slips through your fingers. I had to try and move quickly once i pumped some into my hands.
- The smell is neither here nor there. It doesn’t smell of much and it would be nice for it to smell of something.
Cleansing Conditioner
- Nice, thick and creamy conditioner
- Coats the strands well for an easy detangling session
- Leaves hair feeling extremely soft and ‘fluffy’.
- Not entirely sure how cleansing it is. It seemed like a thicker version of the Hydrating Conditioner. It didn’t froth up at all. not even slightly, so it’s just more of a conditioner then a cleansing one.
- Again the smell is not really present so it smells like plain old conditioner base.
Hydrating Conditioner
- Didn’t really like it at first as i thought the cleansing conditioner was better. But when i didn’t scrimp with it, it worked very well – detangling easily and conditioning my demanding 4b/a tresses.
- The consistency is not as thick as the Cleansing Conditioner so it didn’t coat the strands as well. I needed a fair amount to get the best results and again that can be costly
- This has the strongest smell out of all the products i used. It’s a strange smell, quite sweet and spicy, like cinnamon even. It’s unusual but not unpleasant.
Intensive Repair Deep Conditioner
- Is very thick. You can hold the tub upside down and it wont fall out. In consistency, it reminds me of the Jason’s 84% Aloe Vera Conditioner, that too is super thick.
- It is an OK DC. I wasn’t blown away by it but it worked well enough. Because the shampoo is soft on the hair and hydrating and cleansing conditioners work so well, it’s not required to do much. Even so i would have like a more intense conditioning from it. The honey and olive oil i used with it helped it along.
- I wouldn’t recommend using it without add-ins. It needs a little kick to get the best out of it.
- Again the smell is very subtle. It smells nice but not strong enough for me.
Verdict
All in all it is a great system. They all work well and make curly coily hair very soft, tangle free and conditioned. The shampoo is the best i’ve used so far and the conditioners are the best no-‘cone’ conditioners i’ve used to date.
Overall i’m very pleased with how my hair feels. 7/10 is my rating for these products. A few points being deducted for the smell, consistency and the cost, which brings me to my next point.
Do i like this system? Yes. Will i be repurchasing them? No. Let me explain why.
As i’ve said already, i’m very impressed with the performance of the products but the price is very high and the bottles… small. The cheapest of the four products was £9.95 (the Hydrating Conditioner), the most expensive being £13.95 which was the Deep Conditioner. It all cost over £40 for just those four products alone. That is why i was scrimping like crazy. The shampoo is good value i think, but the Cleansing conditioner is just too expensive for me also at £9.95 for 250ml of conditioner. I go through much conditioner when i co-wash and to use that consistently like i would want to will really add-up. I also like to DC every week and that little tub of DC just barely survived a month and that was with me only using 2 teaspoons at a time and stretching it out with honey and oil.
If in the future my circumstances change then i will definitely revisit these products and even make them a staple.
What i’m going to do next.
Right now my budget is quite tight and i just can’t afford to keep this up so i’ve decided to go back to my old faithfuls.
For co-washing i’m going back to Herbal Essences Hello Hydration. It’s much cheaper and works fantastically for my hair.
For DC’ing i’m going back to JASON’s 84% Aloe Vera Conditioner. Again much cheaper at only £5.99 for 475ml. Great for when you’re on a budget.
I will continue to use the Curl Harmony Shampoo for a mild shampooing.
I’m going back to my Bentonite Clay Treatment and my Indian Herb Cleanses (My hair misses them greatly). They are so cheap and last very long. A very effective and economical way cleansing and nourishing the hair and scalp.
My New (or old) Regime
Week 1 –
- ACV rinse, Bentonite Clay Treatment & DC
- Mid-week Co-wash
Week 2 -
- Shampoo & DC
- Mid-week Co-wash
Week 3 -
- Indian Herb Treatment & DC
- Mid-week Co-wash
Week 4 -
- Shampoo & DC
- Mid-week Co-wash
That’s all for now. I’m giving my scalp a rest now and going back to my Aloe Vera Gel on the scalp and oil on the hair as my pre-poo treatment before cleansing.
Twists from washing
Twists from washing – side
My hair after towel drying and re-twisting in slightly smaller sections allowing it to dry faster
My Quick dry twists from the side
After about an hour and a half i carefully undone the twists and continued to let it dry for another hour or so.
Here’s what it looks like from the side
After the hour or so drying time my hair was practically dry. Just slightly damp at the root.
Dry hair from the side.
Nearly APL (arm pit length)
My finished twists
From the side.
