Can We Trust Big Beauty Brands With New All Natural Lines?

This is a fair question to ask because just a few years ago you could barely find any products tailored to curly or natural hair but now you can walk into any store and see several products calling themselves ‘natural’, ‘organic’ or ‘made for curls’. They are aesthetically pleasing with pictures of oils* and butters* on the covers in a big attempt to get you to pick them up and throw them in your basket.

It gives you a warm feeling when seeing so many items catered to us, but should we be jumping for joy for being recognized as a valued consumer at last, or should be cautious and leery of their products?

Let’s take a trip down memory lane, shall we? When I first went natural almost 9 years ago, I had no clue what to use in my hair nor did I know how to take care of it. After three years of sheer neglect, my hair began to balk at me for just using whatever I had available while I sported wigs*, weaves* and braids.

Under the pressure, I finally stepped away from the added hair and took on a more nurturing role with my tresses but as I shopped the big stores and beauty supply stores I was stumped on what to buy to add moisture to my thirsty strands.

Some of the items from a few lines that claimed to help curly hair were drying, some created flakes and others were virtually useless. I was drowning in self-doubt and debt as I tried to find anything that would give my curls life.

I became a product junkie because there wasn’t anything out there on the ground that truly could help my hair and I was searching high and low for anything to assist. It wasn’t until I hit the web and found some knowledge and products online that things really started to turn around.

Fast forward to today things have really made a 360 turn around and I can just drive to my local Target, CVS or Ulta and find just about anything I want in order to feed my hair the nutrients and hydration it needs to stay healthy.

Most of the brands that were only available to me through the web are now within an arm’s reach and so many more new and exciting brands have popped up to give me variety and lower prices. My dollars are going further as I can stay closer to my home not pay shipping and the best thing about this equation is that many of these brands are black and women owned product lines.

With this new wave of convenience and popularity for these new and interesting brands there have also been some well-known relaxer brands pushing out new product lines for naturals which, to be frank looks a tad bit suspect. What is this? What are these lines doing changing the colors of their bottles to look aesthetically pleasing to naturals with neutral colors and designs with plants and oils*?

These brands never even USED the words natural, organic or essential just a few years ago and now they are jumping on the bandwagon and trying to sell all natural products? Tsk Tsk

Of course this is to be expected, after all the natural hair movement has all but revolutionized how big beauty brands have been producing products. Shampoos are now sulfate free, there is bound to be a line dedicated to curly hair that was once non existent for most brands all in an effort of capitalizing on new trends.

Here is the thing I am far from stupid, I get it, the natural hair thing is a gold mine and relaxer sales have seen a huge decline. Some manufactures may be trying to conform in hopes of riding high again in their profits but honestly, are they to be trusted? Clearly they did not have concern for shoving natural or organic products or services to me prior to my enlightenment, I am not so sure things have changed.

We all know that these companies have the resources to produce products much cheaper with huge marketing campaigns in comparison to our smaller healthier brands . One of my main concerns is that the strength of the big brands will somehow drown out the smaller ones and in the end I will be back where I started.

I’m not too fond of seeing these products on the shelves sitting so smugly right next to the smaller yet much loved brands, they just seem out of place. Another thing I think about is the fact that as a veteran I am very aware of the old practices of these companies and while I know the history a newer natural who is much younger might not.

Sad to say but they just don’t know these big brands are just trying to compete and may not have your natural tresses in mind but rather just green dollars. I think the best advice I can give a new natural when trying to make product choices is to focus less on the brand and more on the ingredient list. Ensure that what the product is advertising can be achieved based on the ingredients on the back.

We have to use common sense too, there are product lines that have indicated that they can naturally stretch out our curls and reduce shrinkage. The question is, how? How will your product stop my strand from collecting water and how can you reduce shrinkage and add moisture at the same time?

It is highly unlikely that bigger beauty brands will have my trust to give me what the smaller brands have been giving me the past six years. I am always leery of getting a great product for an amazingly low price so I’m watchful of their ingredients and motives.

It is still early in the game to see if the smaller brands will retain their footing in the natural hair product industry but I will be keeping a close watch with my fingers and toes crossed because bigger is not always better and an old leopard with new spots is sometimes just the same old leopard.

Have you noticed this transformation and are you trusting or as leery as I am*?