frau

i'd use this product. it's not specifically for kinky nappy hair, but if i had to choose from kenra products this is one i would most likely use:
they have a platinum reconstructor that is made for thick coarse hair and it contains shea butter.

as another poster has already mentioned, these are the ingredients. shea and cocoa butter are key moisturizers. i guess i can't escape the smell if this is the hair type i have.

Zinnia

some companies use deodorized cocoa butter and shea butter...so, frau, don't give up!

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~Ghost Poster~

It's an odor that I have only noticed on black men--both my brother (adopted--no blood relation to me) and my son have it, and it's very strong. If my son doesn't keep his room aired out and clean, you can smell it all over my house. It's an odor that returns shortly after showering and is not directly related to hygiene, but gets stronger if good hygiene is not practiced regularly. I noticed it immediately on my son when he was a newborn.

ETA: I'm not claiming that all black men have this scent. In fact, my son's dad didn't have it, and I don't have it, so it's a little strange that my son would have it.

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iara

What does it smell like? I have never smelled anything on black men before.

I once knew a Puerto Rican man who had a weird odor. So weird I did not want to be around him. It wasn't body odor but it was repulsive if I got too close. Both of his parents were mostly white (one was from Mexico). I wonder if it is the same odor.

It has been so long I cannot describe it.

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frau

it's called funk, lol.

i read a little excerpt from a book once. it was from a guy who worked on a ship and he worked with a lot of different groups of people (black, whites, indians). i think he was from south africa and i think excerpt was from the 1700's.

anyway he was a white guy and he noticed that black men in general had an oniony smell whenever they sweat while whites had i think a sour smell...i can't remember.

back to ghost poster's point:
once again, i think it's the oily smell. it's in the darn products i tell you. black men don't wash their hair as much as we do even though they may shower once or twice a day, but the stuff they put in their hair and those that wear do-rags, they get that not fresh old oily smell to them. also, we lotion ourselves more than white people and what does our lotion contain??? COCOA!!!! SHEA!!! VITAMIN E! it's like i'm forced to smell consistently in one way. i don't like it.

(oh no...this is going to become a racial thread...must find a way back...must not cause a swarm of attackers...must find quote to quell angry curlies....)

rudeechick

That is actually interesting, from a scientific perspective! And fret not frau, we can discuss race without making it one of "those" race threads!

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webjockey

hear hear
I love the moisture repair creme from miss jessies but the funk. OMG it's wretched!

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rainshower

i don't like most commercial hair products, black or nonblack alike, because the majority of the black hair products smell like cocoa butter, coconut oil, watermelon or some other sickly sweet fruity aroma, or an old-school cloying hair grease. none of which i want wafting from my hair or clinging to my pillowcases or lingering in my car.

most of the nonblack hair products share a similar aroma of a highly perfumey fruit salady aroma, which is nauseating. suave, vos, white rain, pantene, aussie, herbal essences, garnier, etc. different companies and fragrance descriptions, but they all smell the same. i mean, really, with all the product line competition, how original can a manufacturer be with a fragrance? they all smell similar to me.

i enjoy herbal aromas that have a more green and crisp fresh aroma.

i've been using earthly delight shampoo from whole foods. it's costly, but lasting and effective. it's a liquid wheat germ soap shampoo with herbs that are good for itchy, dry scalp, which i've been experiencing lately. there are no artificial fragrances.

once rinsed away, my hair smells fresh and clean. not like fruit. not like chocolate. not like coconut. not like refined shea butter or mango or kiwi or watermelon or ultrasheen hair grease formulas.

frau, i understand your frustration about black hair care products, however, i don't think that nonblacks have better smelling hair, not if they are using the products that i listed above. there is a white woman at my job who smells like sweet coconut everytime she passes me. i don't know if it's her hair or body lotion or what. but it makes me want to gag.

fragrance residue in my hair is so important to me that it ranks high on my list of properties that i look for in a shampoo. it can be wonderful for my scalp, but if it stinks like the products above, i'll give it away.

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scrills

ok, i just read most of the thread and I have to agree with Frau. I think Carol's daughter is the worst of them all. Since most of my products aren't "black" products, I don't have to deal with it as much

Frau, you can always add a couple drops of essential oils into your products

*Marah*

When I am in the store, I HAVE to smell the product before I buy it. Yep.. I will unscrew the cap right in the store and smell it.. that's if it is something new that I haven't tried before. It saves a lot of trouble. I've gotten funny looks before but once people see what I am doing they seem to be like, "Ohhhhh okay.. your checking for smell.. LOL".

Suave gel stinks to me.. bleh. I bought it once really fast and didn't smell it.. Thank goodness it was only like a buck. I had to toss it. It smelled like underarm sweat! ROFL!

And I don't even touch most products in the AA section..even before I became a CG'er. I didn't use them because I don't like mineral oils and petrolum..but mainly for the smells. I don't understand why someone doesn't come up with a great smelling product for AA's with a good FRESH scent instead of what smells like some cheap dollar store cologne! UGH!

I ordered Carol's Daughter products before because I heard all this buzz about it and I saw her on HSN, in magazines, etc. I was excited to get the products UNTIL I opened them. WHOA! I think some of her products work nicely but I wish she could scale back the smell like about a thousand. The smells gave me headaches and made me nauseous. I ended up tossing them before I used them all.

I tried hard too to keep using them because of the expense and it KILLED me to toss them, but I just couldn't take it. Even my little son said my hair smelled strange after using them. Well he said, "Your hair smells very funny mommy!" With a very distorted look on his face. And my husband was like... "Err.. babe.. I didn't want to say anything.. buuuuuut." LOL!

I am not trying to turn this into any racial issue between any of us here on the forum cause I know we all are smart and know this is NOT our fault. It's these silly companies thinking all of us want to smell so strong and for the life of me I can't understand why! They need to do some kind of focus group tests about smell or something!

Most people of color that I know like that, "I just got out of the shower...I'm so fresh and so clean" smell. LOL! Wish I had the funds and know how to do it. I would makes a line that smells fresh, doesn't have cheap fillers, and doesn't look at AA's as an afterthought while still trying not to market it as a "black" product so other people can feel like they can use it too!!! Plus I would try hard to make the darn price points reasonable. It's ridiculous how much money some products from certain companies are that cater to people with "ethnic" hair. *Sigh*

Well at least I have my Suave Naturals Fresh Mountain Strawberry Conditioner!!! The guys (my husband and son) like how that smells a lot and most of all.. so do I. But then again.. heck I like pretty mostly all the scents from Suave Naturals Conditioners.

Oh and I like the smells of Burt Bees wax products..especially the Pomegrante kinds!

And I have no clue why.. but I like the scent of Shea Butter.. I know.. I know.. I am weird. But raw shea butter smells good to me... but the stuff in the store that says, "Shea Butter" never smells actually like the real shea butter..at least not to me.

Oprah recently said she met Jay-Z and he gave her a hug..she said he smelled so so so good and fresh. She said after their meeting she could still smell him on her and she absolutely loved it! She didn't even want to wash because his smell would be gone!

HEY JAY-Z, bottle your scent and make us some hair products, MMMMMAN!!!!! Beyonce AND Solange could be your spokesmodels!!!

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The New Black

I have wondered about this topic myself. Just recently.

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sew and sew

You're right about breast cancer in general. According to a recent study, young black women are more likely than other women to get a particularly lethal form.

Reading this article on msnbc about it, this sorta alarms me:

Makes me wonder if the hair product thing could actually be a factor.

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Speckla

My hair has a neutral smell. I don't like an overly perfume smell from shampoo or products.

RedCatWaves

Product smells don't seem to stay in my hair for long...or maybe I just get used to it and don't smell it after a while.

I do know that if I don't wash my hair at least every 2 days, my hair STINKS. Like dirty hair. I'm a Sweaty McSweatster. I smell stink-hair on other people all the time, even people who claim not to sweat/stink, so maybe I'm just particularly sensitive to it.

SCG

I always get compliments on the way my hair smells for some reason! I can't really smell it, to be honest, unless it's right after I've done my hair. But other people always comment on it.

My friend and I were talking about this today though... We both said that we pretty much buy hair products based on scent!

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frau

rcw, lol @ sweaty mcsweatster.
scg, do tell what products do you use?
wcc, probably all the relaxers and crap we start putting on our heads at such an early age.

KinkyKeeper

I don't think it's inherited, I think it's more environment and part of that environment if little Black girls getting their first relaxers and other such as early as age 2, and there is very little research out there done on what relaxers do to the body. I read an article that said there is a link between aggressive forms of breast cancer later in life and how early a woman started menstruating. And currently I believe Black American girls are starting menstruating about a year earlier than White American girls.

And then further there are people who say there are chemicals we're using in our environment that are mimicing hormones in our body. So I wouldn't be surprised if relaxers and the rest of the body and hair care products that Black girls use more often than White girls is having an affect on our bodies and later in life what cancers we get.

[The younger girls are when they get their first periods, the greater their risk of breast cancer later in life. In fact, first menstruation (menarche) before age 12 raises breast cancer risk by 50 percent compared to menarche at age 16.
Like breast cancer, early puberty is caused by a combination of factors. The interactions among these factors can be quite complex. As an example: We know that endocrine disrupting chemicals are a possible cause of early puberty but we also know that exposure to these chemicals in utero or early in life can also lead to low birth weight and obesity, which are themselves possible causes of early puberty. See below to explore more of these connections.
Overweight and Obesity – Obesity itself disrupts the endocrine system and chubbier girls do tend to reach puberty earlier. But obesity is a consequence of early puberty as well as a possible contributor, adding to the complexity of studying this phenomenon.
Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals – Exposures to endocrine-disrupting chemicals we come into contact with regularly are also playing a role in accelerating puberty in girls. These include chemicals we are commonly exposed to in cosmetics, shampoos, cleaning products, baby bottles and children’s teething toys.
Premature Birth and Low Birth Weight – Both premature birth and low birth weight alter endocrine function and therefore raise the risk of early pubarche. In addition to other factors, a pregnant woman’s chemical exposures (another direct contributing factor, see above) can directly affect her developing child, in some cases leading to premature birth and low birth weight.
Psychosocial Stressors – These stressors, including the absence of a father in the home and family dysfunction, also disrupt the endocrine system and are possible contributing factors to early puberty. The mechanisms behind these psychosocial stressors are not yet clear.
Formula Feeding – Breastfeeding appears to protect against early puberty in two ways: by contributing fewer calories than formula and by offering hormones and other growth factors that may protect against early puberty. Further study is needed to clarify the role of breastmilk in pubertal development.
Physical Inactivity – Leanness and exercise together appear to protect against early puberty. While it is difficult to sort these two factors out in studies, there is enough evidence for us take preventive action now.
Television Viewing and Media Use – Little is known about the effects of sexualized media content on pubertal timing in girls. But, increased time in front of the television or a computer can lead to obesity and physical inactivity, both factors directly contributing to early puberty (see above). Additional research is needed to explore the mechanisms by which chemical signals in the brain may disrupt pubertal processes.]

It's not really a good thing to start puberty early though. It has been linked to aggressive forms of breast cancer later in life.
[The younger girls are when they get their first periods, the greater their risk of breast cancer later in life. In fact, first menstruation (menarche) before age 12 raises breast cancer risk by 50 percent compared to menarche at age 16.

In recent years, there have been cases highlighted in the media of children entering puberty as young as age 5. The onset of puberty—for both black and white girls—shows signs of a continuing decline as measured by the appearance of breasts (thelarche) and pubic hair (pubarche)3,4. For example, in 1970, the average age of thelarche was 11.5 years. Thirty years later, it had fallen to just under 10 years for U.S. white girls and just under 9 years for black girls, with a significant portion starting breast development before age 8.

Studies have shown that the earlier girls enter puberty, the more likely they are to experience negative physical and mental health consequences. However, it should be noted that some girls who mature earlier do not experience any of these negative outcomes.
Early puberty has been shown to raise the risk of:
• Breast cancer
• Polycystic ovary syndrome
• High-risk behaviors in later adolescence like smoking, drinking, drugs, crime and unprotected sex
• Violent victimization
• Psychopathologies like depression and anxiety
• Conduct disorders and delinquency
• Lower academic education]

http://www.breastcancerfund.org/site/pp.asp?c=kwKXLdPaE&b=3266509

Okay end guano.

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My Fotki

SCG

At the moment, I'm using a mish mash! Garnier Fructis Sleek and Shine shampoo, Aussie Moist Conditioner, Suave Mousse, and Aussie Sprunch Spray. Definitely not CG, but it smells good! (And it works for me)

__________________

"And death is at your doorstep
And it will steal your innocence
But it will not steal your substance
But you are not alone in this"

“My ability to turn good news into anxiety is rivaled only by my ability to turn anxiety into chin acne.” - Tina Fey

Hakim Nuraldin

LMAOOOOO!!!!!

Layali

I use devacurl onecondish (rinse and leave-in), chs curl keeper, and kccc. I always get compliments on how my hair smells. It's been described as citrusy-sweet.

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