After almost three years of not straightening my curly hair, I have a confession to make. While I always remember the natural haircare basics (e.g. putting on a bonnet at bedtime and using the right hair oils), I still can’t do two-strand twists.
Okay, so it’s not that I can’t do them, but for some reason I can never achieve the perfect curl pattern with my twist-outs. As I stare at the many curly-haired girls on the subway who have flawless bends and curves in their long hair, I’m often fuming at the fact that I had to pin back my strands because they got all puffy.
While hiding in the depths of frizzy-hair shame, senior beauty editor Dana Oliver dropped a product on my desk that we both looked at with skepticism. It was the Karen’s Body Beautiful Hold It Hair Gel with Argan Oil. And from the looks of it, I didn’t think it was actually a gel. So before I even put it in my hair, we decided that it had to be some sort of putty for styling twists.
Karen's Body Beautiful Hold It Hair Gel, $16, Target.com
Two days later, it’s me and this jar, vowing to actually make my hair look somewhat presentable. But three twists deep, I got really sick of the sticky consistency and realized that the product was indeed a hair gel. And even after that, I kept going with it although my hair began to slightly harden. It smelled really nice (priorities, right?).
Despite the icky texture, I noticed that my curls didn’t shrink (as they tend to do) and I marveled at the length my hair maintained. The next morning, I struggled a little to complete the twist-out, but in the end, I almost cried with glee. For the first time in my life, I had a decent twist-out!
As a happy camper, I used the gel just a bit differently the next time I did my hair. I used less product per twist, so it still had hold without the stifness. Also, I added coconut oil to the mix so I could have a shiny and hydrated finish.
Rating: 4 out of 5. Sure, it needs more moisture, but this hair gel got me compliments people. Compliments.
*Karen's Body Beautiful provided a sample of this product for review purposes.
It's good to know that celebs have bad hair days, too:
Celebrity Bad Hair Days
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