REVIEW & COMPARISON ECOSTYLER GELS

I know there are thousands of reviews on the infamous ecostyler gel. But I thought I'd add my two cents on the variant properties of the majority I have tried. So folks curious about the other Eco-varieties will know how they compare...

Ecostyler is popular due to it's price per quantity, availability and efficiency (depending on what you need it to do..)

So here goes..

BLUE (HOLD 5) : Smells like men’s shower gel. You know that smell that companies feel they need to give ‘blue’ coloured sports-themed showergels/shampoos/conditioners. Yah. That one. It isn’t overpowering, so I don’t mind it.  It dries with some firmness and the slightest hint of a crunch with a light leave-in. Not sufficient enough to smooth down my edges for a pulled back style like a bun or updo. Life-span for wash & go styles is not as long as life-span for gels with greater holds of 7 -10.

 

PINK (HOLD 7): smells like tea-tree oil. I guess because it’s supposed to come with an anti-itch formula. Clearly has anti-itching agents in ingredients. So that comes through. Gives good sheen.

 

ARGAN (HOLD 10): my favourite scent of all. Sweet light “flowery-ness”. I love the scent! Gives great sheen to my hair infact gives the best sheen out of all the gels for me. Dries with a crunch for wash & go styles if layered with a light leave in.

 

CLEAR (HOLD 10): Doesn’t smell of anything that I can remember. Keeps edges down. Dries with a crunch for wash & go if used with a light leave-in.

 

OLIVE (HOLD 10): smells like men’s cologne. Gives good sheen. Keeps edges down. Dries with a crunch for wash & go if used with a light leave-in.

I haven’t tried the black version. Simply because I have no interest in it. My favourite gel is the Pink for it’s minimised hold but efficiency in dealing with my slicked back styles and Argan oil, for it’s scent.

The hold of the harder hold gels can easily be scrunched out with some oil/pomade or powder rubbed between the palms. These gels tend to give me fat clumps, which unfortunately frizz up in a couple of days for me.They are easy to rinse out in my opinion, infact I actually like the slimy feel left on my hair as it is rinsed out! Why? Because it aids in finger-detangling. I also think these gels are great for the CG method if you are trying that. They form a great gel-cast around the hair thereby protecting the hair from environmental elements.

What’s your favourite gel?

Staple Hair Products For My Coily, Kinky Type 4 Hair Easily Bought On The Ground (UK)

I was thinking of following up my initial post March favourites, but thought that maybe redundant because most of the products in my March favourites are also in my April Favourites and will most likely be around for the following months. I have a few new additions, so let me know if you would like a more in-depth review if  there isn’t one already on my blog.

 It’s fun to try new products, but it’s important to have those staples you can fall back on when you can’t be bothered to experiment/just don’t have the time, suffered adverse reactions from past product experiments, are just done with product experimenting (a phase I go through from time to time) or simply broke! Lol.

For new naturals, I understand how expensive it can be to find moderately priced products that are easy to get and effective, I've been there. So for that reason, I would like to share my staples that have been chosen for being: 

1. Effective on my hair. (You know the saying, “What works for me and so on”)
2. Possessing moderate - cheap prices.
3. Easy to pick up on the ground. (Yup no shipping, online transactions. Attainable same day!)

So from L-R; 

Schwarzkopf Gliss Oil Nutritive Shampoo Cleans effectively without stripping. Costs £1 and can be found at Poundshop/99p stores.

Tresseme Naturals Silicone Free Conditioner: Crazy Slip, conditions wonderfully leaves my hair soft during and after rinsing. Between £2.50-£5.00. Lowest during BOGOF sales at Superdrug, Boots, ASDA, Sainburys, Tescos.

Andrew Barton SOS Help Me Twice a Week Conditioning Mask: crazy slip. Effective for Dafro as a co-rinse, leave-in (combined with castor oil) and deep-conditioner. Smells like cookies/gingerbread. Found only at ASDA to my current knowledge and some smaller pharmacies with a much smaller range. Buy mine priced 2 for £6/£8 during ASDA offers

Vatika Egg Protein Hair Mask: Does a good job of strengthening my hair, without giving me hard hair. Ok slip. Suds easily so I use as a co-wash and rinse out. Buy from black hair care shops and even spotted at Superdrug. Costs between £3.50 - £4.99.

Ecostyler Pink Gel: Cheap effective styling gel. Clumps, defines, weighs down & holds my coils in place keeping tangles away during WNG styling. Smells like tea-tree oil. Gives me multiple day hair. Gives firm hold, not too hard hold like Olive/Krystal/Argan versions. Can pull back a decent bun with this unlike the Blue Ecostyler. 946ml massive tub costs £2.99 from my local black hair care shop.

Aloe vera Gel: smooths down my cuticles like no other, especially when they are quite bushy. Gives very light soft hold for WNG. Great base staple leave-in when mixed with castor oil. £4.99 from Holland & Barratt. I bag these and stock up during the BOGOF/ Penny sales.

Hawaiian Silky Curl Activator “Dry Look”: always layered with castor oil, makes my coils clump like crazy and keeps my hair moisturised for at least 2 days. Smells like candy. Costs between £3-4 for a 454g tub. Also available at my local black beauty hair shop.

Castor Oil: All round staple for it's Conditioning/Detangling/Sealing properties. I can buy this stuff from the local shop, but since the dude and myself use this from head to toe, I buy it in litres. Can be found at my local hair product shop in 250ml bottles priced at £2.99. Even spotted at some branches of Tescos in Asian food aisle. (I buy my litres off Ebay/Amazon)

Umberto Giannini Scrunching Jelly:  Lovely styling gel for my WNG. Great effective coil clumper. Gives me multiple day hair. Available from boots just under £5 for 200ml tub. A bit pricey so I stock up during 2for1 offers.

Recent additions not in pic: 1/05/2012
*Sally's Salon Services Herbal Complex Conditioner.
*Taliah Waajid's Mist Bodifier Spray as a refresher.

Wash & Go Trials On Coily Hair 5:Curl Junkie Curl Assurance Smoothing Lotion & Blue Ecostyler Gel.

I wore this wash and go for 3 days. I applied the smoothing lotion immediately after a co-wash in the shower on soaking wet hair which was sectioned into 4 quadrants. The CJ smoothing lotion is a great coil clumper for me and has great slip. I came out of the shower,sectioned the 4 quadrants into a smaller sections then globbed on the gel.  I started from the roots and then smoothed the gel down to the ends. Lightly raked/separated (not pulling down to ends) My coils were popping everywhere and any visible whiteness left by the smoothing lotion dissipated quickly within an hour on the tips! The crown as usual needed a little bit longer. This is a great combo.

For nightly maintenance, I put some butter/oil on the ends and tied up in 3 scrunchies aligned vertically like a mo-hawk. Then put on my shower-bonnet combo. In the morning I removed scrunchies, shook and fluffed.


                                                               Pictures show second day hair.

How To Wash & Go (Shingle) On Kinky Coily Type 4 Hair - A Simple Guide

Picture is my hair in a 1st day wash & go styled with Ecostyler Argan oil & Original Source Pear  & Avacado conditioner

Tools needed

1. A pair of hands with filed nails. (Chipped, rough nails are as good as a pair of scissors.)

2. Moisturising conditioner

3. Moisturising leave - in conditioner. (Whether or not you choose to use the same conditioner in (2) is up to you.)

4. Holding agent: Hair Gel/Custard/Pudding

5. Sectioning clips.

6. Spray bottle filled with water.


Optional tools

Shampoo and Deep conditioner if this current session includes clarifying.

Diffuser.

Shampoo brush.



Directions for Wash & Go on Type 4 Coily Hair

1. Section hair into four or more sections (depending on the length of your hair).





2. Apply moisturising conditioner generously to all sections, then allow this to sit. (It is at this point that I finger detangle using the shower spray)





3. Rinse conditioner from each section and immediately apply leave in (and oil included) on soaking wet hair. Ensure each section is entirely saturated from root to tip.





4. Step out of shower (or stay in if you prefer) with dripping wet hair and proceed to apply your holding agent to each section.





5. Install your part where you would prefer for your completed style now.





6. Starting with each section at a time. Select one section that you wish to start working on and part a smaller section about half an inch thick from the rest.





7. Take that 0.5inch section and spray it with more water.





8. Starting at the roots smooth on the gel and work your way up to the tips by keeping that section between your palms (for longer hair) or between two adjoining fingers (for shorter hair).





9. Keep doing this smoothing motion, until you start to see natural demarcations between the coils as they clump. Or as you start to notice the hair fall/relax (pun intended!) by itself.





10. For ultra* defined curls - On seeing the demarcations, piece apart each clump of coils from the rest of the smoothed section. (as if you were pulling a string on a guitar), smoothing that smaller section between your thumb and index finger as you do so.  
For just defined coils - Just smooth a section till it relaxes, drop it and move onto the next section.






11. Repeat (10) until all the clumps have been separated. Then proceed to the other sections.





12. When completed, do not touch so as not to disturb the coils and allow to air- dry or diffuse. Another optional step for more volume especially on the crown area would be to shake your head from side to side, and then back and front.

Examples of my wash and go's can be found here here, here and here.





With these directions I use the smoothing method, and not so much the raking method. With the smoothing method, I'm able to work with most heavier gels that stiffen up as I apply. (An additional tip, liquid styling gels applied on top of the heavier gel can add slip and even more definition if you have to rake.) I find that I am not able to rake once the gel starts to stiffen as attempting to rake through my hair leads to snaps & pops i.e. breakage.




I tend to favour heavier/ stronger gels for setting my hair. As they guarantee more longevity with the style and less tangles because they hold my coils in place in a co-ordinated fashion. If the coils are held in place then there is less likely to be tangles as the coils are not able to haphazardly mix up with other coils. It's all about keeping some kind of order. Twists or twist-out styles follows a similar logic, because the coils are kept in an organised clump.


I recommend a very good hydrating leave-in conditioner for wash & go's. Ideally it should be one that is able to coil up the ends of the hair or group the coils into clumps together immediately after applying to soaking wet hair and even better if it’s able to do this on dry hair! So test your leave-in on a small section of hair before proceeding to do the entire head. An additional layer of oil over that leave-in conditioner offers further insurance towards retaining the moisture in the hair, reducing tangles and even single strand knots.

If doing a clarifying wash. Coils may not clump as readily afterwards. I would suggest doing a deep-condition to return the moisture back to the coils and promote clumping once again. I love wash and go's and still do them currently to date.I hope to continue to do them in the foreseeable future.

How I Get Second Day Hair : Wash n Go On Coily Hair Trial 2. Ecostyler Blue &Hawaiian Silky Curl Activator.

A Pictorial Of How I Get Second Day Hair

The products I use for my wash n go usually dictate how I cover up my hair for the night. If I'm using glycerin heavy products like curl activator then I put my hair in a number of scrunchies,  wrap my hair in a shower cap,  put on a bonnet then extra scarf (xtra scarf to help keep shower cap in place, catch any potential leaks and reduce crinkling noise.) and call it a day. The next day I just spray my refresher/water (hardly necessary with curl activator) and fluff.

If the product is a butter not known to absorb readily onto my wet hair, then I just wear a bonnet after putting my hair in scrunchies. The next day I spray water/refresher and fluff into shape.

                                                                  

                                                                   1.)   Remove Scarf                                                                     

2.) Then Bonnet

3.)Take off shower cap (this is why I wear one.)

4.) To reveal hair underneath in three satin scrunchies, (1 in front and 2 behind)

5.)Remove scrunchies to reveal (shot hair and jammies!), then shake

6.)Scrunch & Fluff coils into place

7.) Great Second Day Hair! - Front

Side.

Fin.

Wash n Go Trials on Coily Hair 2 :Ecostyler Blue & Hawaiian Silky Curl Activator.

Co-washed with Hollywood beauty cholesterol. Applied the curl activator in four sections and put some castor oil on top. Smoothed on the gel in smaller sections. The castor oil made it look white initially but the whiteness mostly dissipated after after an hour and left a lot of shine as it air-dried.

Damp & White, due to castor oil & curl activator emulsion.

Almost dry, Great shine!