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COMBING AND SETTING CONDITIONERS
| | These are the conditioners to comb your hair with and leave in. | Before I recommend any conditioner here, it goes through several tests. The first is that I check out all the ingredients, and research any unfamiliar ones with the most objective sources I've been able to find to date. Then I use it for at least a week. If it combs well, keeps my curls clumped, smooth and moisturized, even at the end of the week, then I recommend the conditioner for combing and leaving in.
I don’t often use the same shampoo and conditioner of a particular product line. Sometimes a company makes a great shampoo, but has a bad conditioner, or makes a wonderful conditioner yet has a harsh, drying shampoo. So I tend to mix and match to get the best products.
*Please note that though I try to be as careful as possible on these recommendations, many times the same products overseas have different ingredients than those in the states (for some reason it's often sodium chloride that's added). Also know that the ingredients in a product can change without any warning or indication on the package that it's happened. Therefore, it's always a great practice to be paranoid like me when it comes to your pretty curls, and to always check the lables of any product before purchasing.
|      Clairol's Herbal Essences conditioners such as:
break's over (coco mango & pearls) : it is nice and slippery for combing, holds the curls together nicely, is conditioning, and it smells wonderful. This is my favorite scent. dangerously straight (honeyed pear & silk): I know, it's weird this one is here. It just has an extra ingredient in it to keep hair smooth. It's great for combing our curls. totally twisted (french lavender twist & jade extracts): It works the same as the other Herbal Essence conditioners. It smells a little harsh to me. none of your frizziness (mandarin balm & pearls): This works as well as the others. It has a nice scent. hello hydration (orchid & cocnut milk): This also has one of my favorite scents. I removed it for a while because they changed the ingredients, and I wanted to make sure the new ones were okay. So far my research indicates that they are fine, so I've put it back. | 
Colored/Permed/Dry/Damaged Hair Conditioner (rose hips, vitamin E, jojoba). It always surprises me to still see this in the stores. For some reason I keep thinking this is an older model of Herbal Essences. *Note: Be cautious about the shampoos for Herbal Essences because most of them contain sodium lauryl sulfate, which can be too drying. Also, new conditioners are coming out, and some of these have ingredients like sodium hydroxide in them (just to balance the pH, I'm sure, but that makes me uncomfortable). To be safe, always check the ingredients of any of the new bottles with swirls all over them (or any product, for that matter, since manufactures will change ingredients without warning). | 
Shikai Natural Everyday Conditioner Available in most health food stores. This has hardly any scent at all. I needed to use much more of this product, but it didn't build up, and it was a very smooth comb. I wasn't expecting it to be, but it is quite effective. My curls stayed clumped and moisturized, but not greasy or heavy. | 
Paula's Choice Smooth Finish Conditioner (All Hair Types) Works surprisingly well. It makes the comb just glide through (well, relatively for my hair). This has no fragrances or dyes. It dries a bit lighter than other conditioners, so you may need to use more of it. This would be perfect if you needed to comb out mats. This would also be perfect for a child or someone with a sensitive scalp, since no sensitizing essential oils are in this. Her products are also offered in many other countries. If you follow the link, and go to her homepage, click the "International" button on the top right of the page, it will show you where else it's available. |
Naturelle Hypo-Allergenic Fragrance Free Conditioner .
This says it's a fragrance free conditioner, but it actually has fragrance oils in it, such as Geranium oil and Ylang ylang oil. These fragrance oils can be irritating to sensitive skin. However, it doesn't seem to have much of a scent (that I could tell), so there probably isn't much of them in there. This conditioner combed and clumped really well. So, my only concern is the essential oils which may be too much for very sensitive skin. Other than that concern, this conditioner worked really well. It didn't seem to be really moisturizing (but just slightly, and that could be just in my mind), so if you wanted you could put about a teaspoon of natural oil like olive oil in a full bottle and shake it really hard to make it more moisturizing. That, or you could wait for your hair to dry after using it, and smooth a bit of olive oil (or another oil of your choice) over the ends before braiding it up at night. ( I found this shampoo at a Sally's Beauty Supply store.)
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Organix Nourishing Coconut Milk Conditioner (or Smoothing Shea Butter Conditioner) : Has a nice sweet coconut scent. It's a bit light, so you might want to add a bit extra to your ends when they dry. | 
Aussie Moist Conditioner I used to use this a long time ago, but had gotten away from it. And for a while I was worried it might not be slippery enough for combing (it has Stearamidopropyl dimethylamine, as the third ingredient, so I wasn't sure if there was enough of this present to be slippery), so I must admit I wasn't quick to try it. There are few things more annoying than to step out of the shower after washing and conditioning, and then find the conditioner I just put in my hair won't let the Denman through my hair, so I have to get back in the shower and rinse it off and put in something else. But many kind people recommended it highly, so I finally broke down and tried it. To my surprise, it combed nicely, and clumped very well. Ingredient's wise, it's very similar to the relatively newly reformulated Hello Hydration. Thank you to everyone who suggested I try this.
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Giovanni 50:50 Balanced Hydrating-Calming Condtioner It's no secret that I tend to be kind of stubborn, so although I had many people recommend it, it took me a while to try out this conditioner. It was mainly because one of the ingredients, Brassicamidopropyl dimethylamine, made me wary. However, a very similar ingredient, Stearamidopropyl dimethylamine, is in many of my favorite conditioners, and my hair has been really happy with them, even up until day seven. This conditioner combed well, clumped my curls well, and kept my hair feeling soft and moisturized until it was time to wash and comb again (thank you to all the people who mentioned this one conditioner to me). | 
Frizz-Ease Care Curl Around Style-Starting Daily Conditioner: Curly This has a light, powdery scent, and did a good job of clumping my curls. It's a bit light, so you may need to smooth some more on your ends after your hair dries. | 
TRESemme Smooth & Silky for dry or damaged hair: This conditioner is a bit thicker than the others, so it doesn’t glide as easily when combing. The slight stickiness helps keep your curls clumped, but they aren’t sticky when they dry. You could also try: TRESemme's Curl Moisturizing for curly or wavy hair, Anti-Breakage Vitamin b-12 & gelatin, Moisture Rich for dry or damaged hair, or Thermal Recovery Replenishing conditioners. (I'm still checking out their shampoos). | 
Blended Beauty Curl Styling Butter: If you are very gentle, especially when you comb the ends, this works great at clumping curls. It's a bit sticky, so if your hair is matted, you wouldn't want to try to comb with it. It's also greasier than the other products, but it clumps well. | 
Freeman PureColorFresh Curl Conditioner (jasmine & violet smooth and moisture) This conditioner combed well and clumped well. It dries a bit light, so I used more when combing, and smoothed more on my ends once they dried. | 
Nature's Gate Organics Fruit Blend Fortifying Conditioner (Grapefruit & Wild Ginger) I was nervous about this one because of the "grapefruit" in it, but it did fine. It was much lighter than other conditioners, so I used lots more of it. This would be great if you didn't need as much clumping as I do. However, it didn't get gunky when I added more to the ends of my curls once they dried. In a pinch, I sometimes use this as a rinsing conditioner because of how light it is (though I never use it as both a rinser and combing conditioner at the same time). | 
Nexxus Hydra Sleek Silken Smoothing Conditioner This seemed to dry with a lighter fragrance than other conditioners. It also dries a bit light, so you may need to use more of it.
| Caution: Pantene's Relaxed & Natural for Women of Color: Argh! I just got a new bottle of this, and found out they've changed the ingredients (huge thanks to Natalia and Sanea who let me know about the change), and it now has Sodium Chloride in it! Grack. So I can no longer recommend this conditioner.  | | If you are curious about the ingredients in your products, check out the Ingredients Dictionary. Remember, the only place a product has to tell the truth is on the ingredients list. |
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