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Bear has super curly hair. I mean, super curly hair. It gets tangled a lot and I spend more time than I would care to detangling his hair. Sometimes, it’s been as little as 10 minutes and sometimes it’s been as much as an hour. It takes a no-brainer to figure out I would rather prefer the former than the latter.
Because Bear has super curly hair, his hair gets washed and styled rather frequently. He usually gets pretty big hair when it doesn’t and why it’s a rather charming hairstyle on him, it’s hell on earth for me to get through it.
Type 3 hair is defined as curly hair. It can be big curls or tight curls and it ranges from 3A, 3B, and 3C. Bear’s hair is somewhere between 3A and 3B. A ton of loos curls and he rocks it very well.
The good folks over at Design Essentials recently gifted me a box of sample products to try on both me and Bear’s hair. Because I’m doing a hair challenge of my own this year – the three products only challenge – I couldn’t use all of the products they gave me other than the shampoo and conditioner.
I was, however, able to use all of the products on Bear’s hair. After a month of using the products, I feel I’m able to give an honest and thorough review of this. I was not paid for these products. I am an affiliate for Design Essentials and I did tell them I will give them an honest review, good or bad.
That being said, let’s go!
Okay, let’s start with the line itself – The Almond and Avocado line is rather delightful. I love how it smells and how product was packaged. It was easy to use and squeeze out without extra wrapping or a product being too thick. In fact, I did a YouTube video on just this!
The bottles are very sturdy and I should know because I’m clumsy, lmaoooo. But nah for real, when in the shower, things can suddenly drop and shatter if they hit the floor hard enough. These DE bottles are very tough! I love how sturdy and strong they are! I think every company should follow their lead.
But you’re not going to buy shampoo and conditioner based on the strength of their bottles, right? You want to know how well does the actual product work? Let’s get to it!
The Almond and Avocado shampoo
The one thing I loved about this shampoo was that I didn’t have to use a whole lot to cleanse my hair and for that, I think that’s one of the biggest selling points of this particular line from Design Essentials. It cleansed very well and it smelled great at the same time. 10/10.
The Almond and Avocado conditioner
This is something I’m still a little iffy about. I don’t think it had a lot of slip and I felt I had to use more to detangle and soften Bear’s hair than I should’ve. As with most conditioners, I’m usually out of the conditioner well before the shampoo bottle but I found the shampoo and conditioner to be neck and neck, which was kinda weird for me. I’m still not sure how to make of it. Unlike the shampoo, I don’t know if I would be in a hurry to purchase the conditioner again. 5/10.
The Almond and Avocado leave-in conditioner.
Now, this is funny because I have issues with the rinse-out conditioner but not necessarily with the leave-in conditioner. I think the leave-in conditioner conditioned very well and kept Bear’s hair very moisturized (his hair gets dry very quickly). So, I don’t know…maybe the magic they made with the leave-in they can use with the rinse-out. The reason I’m scoring the leave-in conditioner so low is because of the number of ingredients in it. 7/10
The Almond and Avocado Curl Enhancing Smoothie
This product is to make your curls pop and bounce. I feel this would be more suited for Type 3 hair types, despite the product promising to be for all curl types. Because I haven’t used it on my hair, I can’t say how my hair reacted to it. I did use it on Bear’s hair, however, and I can say his hair responded very well as by the pictures below. 10/10
This is the finished hair of all the products given and listed. As you can see, his curls are well-defined and full of life and bounce. The process to wash, detangle, style, and dry (air, not heat) usually takes around 30 minutes, which is not a bad shake at all since my hair can often take an hour or so to do the whole process.
So, now that I boasted about Design Essentials and what it did for mine and Bear’s hair, let’s review our findings:
Pros:
Not expensive. While I got this for free, the retail price is around $15/bottle and it does last about a month or so with regular washing. Not bad at all!
The leave-in smells great. The shampoo cleanses very well.
I did see an improvement in both mine and Bear’s hair after a month of use.
Cons:
I don’t think the curl smoothie is for Type 4 hair. I think it’s geared more towards Type 3 hair.
Paying $15/bottle can stretch or exceed your budget so it might be for everyone.
Some women online have complained about the leave-in conditioner for their Type 4 hair.
End game:
I do recommend Design Essentials but I also know results may vary. While I loved all of the products on Bear’s hair, I didn’t like the rinse-out conditioner very much. Still, I do think this would be a nice splurge every once in a while.
If you’re interested in trying Design Essentials, just click the banner below!
