Again with the mouthfuls!!  Well, I decided to be a guinea pig for you guys and try out the Shea Moisture Raw Shea Butter Moisture Retention Shampoo. Mind you, this is despite the fact that I haven’t been having much success with deviating from my DevaCare No Poo (In one of my senseless PJ attacks, I picked this up a couple a months ago and it’s been sitting under the sink yet to be used, until Sunday morning.),

Ingredients: De-ionized water, Decyl Glucoside (sugar beets), African Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea butter) (denotes certified organic ingredients), aloe vera leaf juice, Argan Oil, Panthenol (pro-vitamin B-5, rosemary extract, sea kelp extract, vitamin E, Lonicera Caprifolium (honeysuckle) flower and Lonicera Japonica (Japanese honeysuckle) flower extract.

Claim: “Our gentle, all-natural shampoo will help soften, moisturize and repair damaged, over-processed hair.”

So, wash weekend began with a pre-poo with Dabur Vatika Hair Fall Control Styling Cream (with JBCO on the ends) that I applied Friday night. As usual, I lightly finger-detangled my hair while applying the cream and created four twists. I didn’t have time to wash, DC and style on Saturday, so I wore a Banana Clip Bun on my pre-pood hair. On Sunday, around noon, I proceeded with my wash day rituals. I hopped in the shower after a sweaty hot yoga practice and saturated my hair with water. Then, I applied a little Herbal Essences Hello Hydration (HE HH) to the lower half of my hair. Next, I applied the SM shampoo and felt it immediately form a thick, foamy lather. It felt very rich and I liked that. I looked at the bottle again to check the ingredients as I was amazed at the lather generated without any SLS/SLEs!! But nope, no sulfates!! I used my little shampoo brush to massage the shampoo into my scalp and rinsed, allowing the lather to run down the length of my hair. That’s when the good times ended.

I applied HE HH to my hair and commenced finger detangling. It was not fun. I had to keep adding conditioner and going under the shower stream to try to get through some rough tangles, most of which were at the roots. Finally, I decided to loosely twist my still tangled hair and don a plastic cap to allow the conditioner to “marinate” while I washed my body. About 8 minutes later, I removed the plastic cap, applied more conditioner, went under the shower stream and continued my detangling efforts. I repeated.  Then I repeated again. Guys, seriously, I haven’t had a labor intensive detangling session since I stopped re-wetting my WnGs with water and started using leave-in conditioner. In fact, my detangling sessions have been like cake since January because I always stretch my hair with TnCs. So, this experience was not pleasant. There was this one knot on top that made me have a flashback to this time that I spent an hour trying to release a horrible tangle and finally had to cut it out with tears in my eyes!! However, it didn’t get that bad. I was really scared I was going to end of shredding the hair though. I was able to ease the hair up and down until the tangle released without causing any damage, it seemed.

So, I finally finished finger detangling. That’s when I usually rinse. However, I was concerned that there might still be some residual tangles, so I broke out the big gun: the Ouidad Double Detangler. That thing usually sits on the tub sill collecting soap scum. Not today. I raked my fingers through my hair under the Detangler to make sure there weren’t any knots that would snare the comb and rip my hair. All was well. I then twisted my hair into four sections, rinsed and then applied the SM Raw Shea Butter Restorative Treatment Hair Masque. As I indicated in my review of that product, although it has minimal slip, I find it very moisturizing and curl enhancing. I feel like it strengthens my hair and improves its elasticity. The slip issue I’m able to overcome by thoroughly detangling my hair with the daily conditioner and applying the DC on very wet hair.

In conclusion, the SM Moisture Retention Shampoo had a great lather and felt very rich. However, it either stripped my hair or raised the cuticle too much, resulting in excessive tangling. I may give it one more try on a small section without the shampoo brush to see if it makes a difference in the tangles. But, I make no promises. Seems there are still no contenders to replace my DevaCare No Poo, which leaves my hair feeling clean and as close to tangle free as any shampoo I’ve tried.

(p.s. I’m sitting with the DC in my hair as I write this. I’m going to style a TnC with the SM Milk & Smoothie combo over the Kimmaytube Leave-In. An updated review of that combo with results pics later this week.)

Have you tried the SM Raw Shea Butter Moisture Retention Shampoo?  What’s your experience?