This is part one of my hair recap to show you how my hair responded to different styling products throughout the years.
The Camille Rose Naturals Curl Maker was the second botanical gel I tried after my second big chop in 2015. I was doing the Maximum Hydration Method and went through a hair detox leaving all my old hair care habits alone. The regular hair washes and the use of botanical products really opened my eyes in the way I saw my hair. My hair was able to clump with ease. Many are associating baking soda with the Maximum Hydration Method only, without realising it to be a natural hair detox. Good Shampoos can be easily substitute with baking soda. And that’s what I’ve been doing for 7 years.
What was my first botanical gel? It was the Kinky Curly Curling Custard. Natural hair care products weren’t still easily available in Germany around 2015. So I was very happy to find out about Camille Rose Curl Maker. It was a slightly cheaper alternative that I happily embraced. Now in year 2021 and 2022 Uncle Funky’s Curly Magic Curl Stimulator has become very popular among us tight curly girls. A botanical gel that was also suggested in the Maximum Hydration Method online forums, but I never got the chance to order it to Germany. Even until today this gel is not available in German online hair care shops. You can either order it in UK, Netherlands or USA. I ordered it from a Dutch curl shop last year for the first time. And can only give positive feedback when it comes to how it responds to my 4c hair.
To be real honest, I’ve had a love & hate relationship with the Camille Rose Curl Maker. It now keeps my hair moisturised thanks to the humectant ingredients, but in the past I haven’t really achieved a maximum curl stretch. When I used too much, it kind of gets sticky inside my hair with possible flakes. When I used less, my hair just dried into a frizzy curly fro.
I truly wish Camille Rose Naturals would make a stronger gel or give us more options, so that tight coily haired ladies like me can have more fun. The Curl Maker isn’t their only curl defining products, but I rarely see type 4c hair ladies doing reviews about them. I’m not sure how it performs when it’s paired with their own mousse or different gels. This is what I would love to find out this year and will definitely keep you updated in the future.
How did I do washngos in the past?
I would apply their leave-in on damp hair first. Then I would try work the Curl Maker into small sections and smooth everything down until I see clumped hair strands. Often it wasn’t easy to find the right product ratio. One dollop of the leave-in could already mean flakes when it dried. Looser curly hair types don’t even seem to have these issues.
Sometimes I would also layer it with their Camille Rose Almond Jai Twisting Butter on top of the leave-in. I feel like it gave me better overall results. But still I wouldn’t be able to achieve a proper curl stretch. So hair clumping wasn’t really an issue, but keeping it all together, without having an oily residue was the thing.
Will I do something different with my future wash and gos with it?
Yes, definitely! The Curl Maker will be used as my base or simply leave-in gel and I will try and experiment with their other custards and mousses. Just to see what will give me the final hold. I was never a fan of leave-in conditioners, because they never clumped my hair strands. Many of them make my hair more frizzy when it comes to wash and gos. I will continue to use gels with many humectant ingredients as a base or as a leave-in. Two gel combinations or one moisturising gel paired with a mousse is giving me the best definition so far and I will just keep on styling my hair like this.