Product Review: Cantu for Natural Hair Define & Shine Custard

Hey y'all!

I'm back again for another product review! This week, I will be telling y'all about the Cantu for Natural Hair Define & Shine Custard. I bought this product at Walmart for $6. The reason I decided to try it was because I really like the Cantu for Natural Hair line. I have tried their Hair Lotion as well as their Coconut Oil Shine & Hold Mist and both have become staples of mine. I definitely trust the health of my hair to this line. The Cantu for Natural Hair line does not have any sulfate, silicone, parabens, or mineral oil in their formulas. These products that I've used so far are very light. They do a wonderful job of moisturizing and hydrating my hair, they don't result in a lot of build-up, they work well with with other hair care brands, and as an added bonus, they smell like coconuts! Like I said, I definitely trust the health of my hair to this line because it has not yet given me a reason why I shouldn't.

Originally, I went to the hair care aisle to get the Shea Moisture Coconut and Hibiscus Curling Gel Souffle. I have tried this product numerous times in the past, but I could never seem to find an effective or good way to use it. Despite frustrations with the product, I decided I would give it another shot. However, when I got to Walmart, I saw that they didn't have any of the Souffle, but what they did have was the Cantu for Natural Hair Define & Shine Custard. I opened the lid of the jar and saw that the consistency of it was pretty close to the Souffle and that the two products offered similar results. The Cantu product was also about half the price as the Souffle, so I figured it was a win-win. Also, like I mentioned before, I trust this brand, so I had no problem venturing off to buy it instead of waiting and picking up a jar of the Souffle from Target at the next opportunity. If the custard was made by another company that I don't really use, such as Carol's Daughter or Kinky-Curly, but it still was only $6, I can't say that I would have purchased it. I'm not saying that these brands are bad or that they are not brands to trust. I'm saying that I am not as familiar with their products as I am with Cantu. So for me, the ability for me to try this product stemmed from the trust I already had with the brand.

The Cantu for Natural Hair Define & Shine Custard is a product that helps elogate curls while providing a hold strong enough to make styles last. It is filled with moisturizing ingredients that quench the thirst of dry curls and adds definition as well. Some of the ingredients include shea butter, coconut oil, aloe vera, jojoba oil, avocado oil, and mango seed butter.

I used this product for two different styles:
1.) Wash-and-go
2.) Twist-out

Here is what I did to achieve both styles:

Wash-and-go:
I co-washed my hair using TRESemme Naturals Radiant Volume Conditioner. After I rinsed it out, I sectioned my hair into four parts and detangled. Then, I applied a little grapeseed oil to each section and also made sure to focus a little more oil onto the ends of my hair. The directions of the product say that you need to apply the custard to soaking wet hair, so after the oil was applied to each section of hair, I used a spray bottle filled with cold water to spritz my hair so it would be wet again. I do not spray my hair with the nozzle being on the stream spray. I only ever mist my hair because it allows for better coverage of the area. Also, I only sprayed the section that I was working on at that moment. I didn't re-wet my entire head at once. I took one section, took out a smaller section of hair, spritzed that smaller section with water, and then detangled a little more so that I could bring out my curl pattern. I then took a little bit of the custard and smoothed it through my hair. The hardest part of doing this was having to remind myself not to rake my fingers through my hair, but to just smooth the custard through. Because I had already detangled, there was no need to rake my fingers through. I did slip up at times out of habit and raked, but for the most part, I did do a good job of not raking. I took into account that my hair would be rubbing up against my clothes and it would probably end up causing frizzy ends, so I added a little extra custard to the ends of my hair so I could create a stronger barrier between my hair and my cotton dress. I followed these same steps all over the area of my head that needed it. Because I was doing a half up bun-half down style, I did not use the product on my entire head. On the section of my hair that was going into the bun, I used my Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie as my styler and to seal in the grapeseed oil. I also used some of my Eco Styler Protein Gel to slick my hair up into a bun.

I was satisfied using this product for a wash-and-go. It was easy to apply, and a little bit went a VERY long way! My hair was very shiny and I could tell that it was beyond hydrated! This product has a lot of slip because is has that silky, jelly type of feel, so I didn't need to use a lot of product for my styling. Though satisfied with the product I noticed some major differences between my day one curls and my day two curls:

Day 1: When my hair was still wet, my curls were elongated. However, once it fully dried, I had no elogation and a whole lot of shrinkage. I did not see any kind of curl elongation in the end result on the first day. I also had a layer of crunch on my hair, which I wasn't too fond of. Also, because my hair shrunk up so much, scrunching out the crunch wouldn't have done anything as far as making my curls loosen or anything. It still would have been that kind of fluffy fro. Part of this could have been due to the fact that I raked the product through accidentally, so my curls separated, making them smaller and tighter, which resulted in my fluffy slight-afro. So I'll take some of the blame on that one!
Day 2: I slept with a satin bonnet on my head and kept the back part of my hair in a loose pony tail. When I took my hair down the next day, by hair was SUPER full, soft, fluffy, and still very moisturized. I still didn't have much elongation, but because I had so much fullness, I didn't at all mind it.

In summary, I liked the results of my day two curls much better than my day one curls. What I'll do in the future is probably style my hair with the custard on Sunday afternoon so that I can wear it super cute on Monday and Tuesday! I didn't mind my day one curls too much and I can't say that I'll ever use this product again as a legitimate wash-and-go, but I wasn't a huge fan of the crunch and the shrinkage. However, next time I will try using a little less of the custard to see if that makes a difference in the amount of crunch.

Twist-out:
I followed the same steps I did when doing my wash-and-go up until applying the product. After I re-wet the smaller section of hair that I got from one of the four larger sections I made, I sprayed some of my Cantu for Natural Hair Coconut Oil Shine & Hold Mist onto my scalp and the small section of hair. I combed it through for even distribution, applied a little bit of the custard and then proceeded to put in a two strand twist. I did about 5 or 6 twists in each of the four sections of hair. I like to do chunkier twists for twist-outs because the style comes out less defined and much fuller, as opposed to doing smaller twists and getting a more defined, yet not as full, twist-out. Because the front of my hair has a much looser curl pattern and my two strand twists don't normally hold, I did two flat twists in the front. I allowed my hair to dry fully before I went to sleep. When I woke up the next morning, I separated my twists, and fluffed my roots.

I was in loooooooove with the results I got from my twist-out! My hair was so flowy, my curls were actually elongated, my hair was full, shiny, and wasn't at all weighed down. I LOVED it! The only flaw was that the product did flake. It was quite annoying because you could see white streaks of flaky product in my hair, and no mater how many times I would try to shake it out, it didn't really make a huge impact. Once again, I blame myself for this occurrence haha! While twisting my hair, I got super lazy towards the end and started using more of the custard than I know I should have. I stopped eyeballing the amount I was using and just used whatever I happened to scoop up. But I know now what will result from that, so I will be more careful. And I know this was the cause because it only flaked on the top of my hair, which was the last area I did. So minus the flaking, I absolutely loved the results I got using the custard for a twist-out!

 :)

Overall, I have to say that I definitely loved this product! I can't say that I am content with just using this and have lost my desire to try the Shea Moisture Curling Gel Souffle again. From what I remember, the Souffle has more of an oily jelly feel to it, so I think that it would solve the issue of flaking that I had with using the Cantu. But I was still happy with the product and would easily buy it again!

As always, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to leave them here and I will respond!

*image from Google Images