Design Essentials Almond & Avacado Detangling Leave-In

I will be honest Design Essentials is not one of the first brands that comes to my mind when I think of product lines designed to assist women with taking care of their natural strands. This is partly to do with the fact that my former hair stylist used this product line on my hair back in my relaxed days. In my mind any products that I used before going natural must be given the cold shoulder and treated like an ex-boyfriend. However I decided to put my skepticism on the shelf and give Design Essentials another try. I must also mention that one of the main reasons I decided to use this product is because it was in a goodie bag I received from a natural hair event held for International Natural Hair Meet-Up Day, and it was a full size product…it would be so wrong of me to be wasteful right? I will confess that the past two weeks I have been a lazy natural. I skipped wash day…insert a disappointed sigh here… and due to this fact my hair was in need of some TLC. I knew, like so many other naturalistas, my hair was going to be a pain to wash. So I grabbed the Design Essentials Almond & Avocado Moisturizing and Detangling Conditioner, a spray bottle and said a quick prayer. Here’s my review.



I parted my hair into four sections. I then (starting with my first section) spritz my hair with water until my hair was very damp. I ran my hands over the section, with my hands in the “praying hands” formation, just to loosen any shed hairs that hadn’t quite fallen out yet. After that, I separated that section into three smaller sections for efficient detangling. I then took a quarter sized amount of product and worked it through one of the smaller sections. I finger detangled initially and then followed that up with my wide tooth comb. I repeated this process on all four sections of my hair. Your detangling process may be different, do what works for you.



Texture Consistency & Product Smell:
The detangling conditioner looked like most conditioners you would purchase in any store. It was a milky white color. The consistency was also similar to most conditioners with a silky creaminess. The almond
scent was most prominent. The scent does disappear after you rinse out the conditioner. I was a little disappointed to see that the almond butter and avocado butter ingredients were further down on the ingredients list.



The Verdict:
The product claims to “Save Up To 30 Minutes Detangling Time”. I can’t say that it did that for me. Was I able to detangle my hair? Yes. However, it didn’t do a better job than any other store bought conditioner, like Tresseme Naturals or Herbal Essence Hello Hydration for example. It didn’t seem to have anything significant about it when it came to detangling my type 4 natural hair. The product wasn’t bad but it wasn’t anything to rave about either.



Final Thoughts:
I would not purchase this item. It didn’t do anything of significance that would set it apart from other conditioners, especially for the price. I will admit that I will probably use it again for a detangling aid but only to be frugal and not feel bad for throwing away something that I can use. If you are a Design Essentials fan then it may be a product for you to try but don’t feel bad if you skip this one.
Thanks for reading my review. I hope you found it helpful.

Keshia Whitelaw
www.colormyfootsteps.com