We love products here.

I mean, we REALLY love products. Sometimes though, you just have to give a few manufacturing details the ol’ side eye…not because we’re BITTER, or naturally ragey (I mean, I definitely am, but I can’t speak for my coworkers”>, but because we ultimately want the hair maintenance and styling world to be better for everyone! That said, even the more level heads here have to vent eventually. Here’s what everyone had to rant about.

Gerilyn

“FOR THE LOVE OF CURLS, I absolutely cannot stand it when super thick conditioners are packaged in bottles that do not allow for the product to easily dispense. PUT IT IN A JAR, MAN!!! Like… WTHeck were you thinking? And don’t even think about the pump dispensing bottles; waiting for the pump to come back up for a second pea-sized drop of conditioner is actual hell on Earth. Stupid.”

Cristina had more to say on the subject

“I’m bummed Gerilyn beat me to it, but that is my exact pet peeve. I hate getting a hand cramp in the shower because I’ve been pumping a molasses-like conditioner for 8 minutes and all I have to show for it is an edamame sized dollop. If I really love the product, I just unscrew the top and dump it into my hand, otherwise those products get the boot. My second most hated pet peeve is products in spray bottles in which the product sprays in one steady stream. Why do they do this to me? I’m not trying to moisturize or style just one square millimeter of my hair, and I’m pretty sure you aren’t either.”

Well, it definitely bears repeating. And both of these mini-rants are great reminders that I need other green vegetables than just the leafy ones!

Alexandra

“One of my biggest pet peeves is when brands make spray bottles that spray out one direct spray vs a mist! Ugh! Why though? Do you know how long it will take to spray my hair down with one single shot and that’s if it doesn’t shoot me in the eye first?”

Now we know that’s real. Whatever happened to safety first?

“STOP ACCOSTING US, MANUFACTURERS!!!” –Gerilyn Hayes

Kiana

“My Pet peeve is brands that have a conditioner and a form of cleanser that belong together, but the cleanser is bigger. I go through conditioner at two maybe three x the rate that I go through a cleanser. So I always have half finished shampoos laying around my shower that I never seem to finish. The conditioner bottle should ALWAYS be bigger. IMO.”

With all the jokes, memes, and now this article about the rate of conditioner to shampoo use, you’d think more brands would catch on….

So what are MY pressed buttons?

As you might expect, I have…a lot.

Liquidy products in jars.

It’s the opposite of G and Cristina’s issue, but it’s still important. I’m gonna need brands to hold up, slow down, and realize that CALLING something a cream/creme doesn’t actually MAKE it one. If I can turn the jar 20 degrees and have it spill out like hastily-made jello, you need to put it in a pump bottle. For the love of my carpet and bedspread, PLEASE.

Slippery Detangling Tools

Do you know how many different kinds of plastic there are? Issa lot. Many of them are formulated for food safety, anti-microbial properties, and other cool things! And besides that, you can mold them into nearly any texture your heart desires! So why is it that most products DESIGNED for detangling want to be seal-covered-in-vegetable-oil levels of slippery? I need people to realize that we need products that add slip into our hair to detangle safely, and those products need to work in CONJUNCTION with the brushes and combs, not send them flying across the room. It CAN be done, I have proof!

Oil blends that only put the name of one oil on the front

I’ve said this a few times actually, but consider this the March remix of an April classic. I will BUY an oil blend. They’re great. They have their places in everyone’s hair routine! But I can’t STAND brands edging around the truth of what their product is. I don’t want to see ‘CHIA SEED OIL!’ in a mega font on the front of the bottle, and find out it’s chia, grapeseed, and sunflower when I look at the back. Because I DO. Look. At the back. And what’s so offensive to me as an ad geek is that the deception isn’t even necessary! You can get creative with it! If you’re cutting argan oil with olive and almond to lessen the expense, play up the other complementary ingredients and call it the Mediterranean Mix! YOU’RE WELCOME.

Samey designs on very different products

Y’all see how I need corrective lenses, right? On that same front, I need brands to help me in my visually impairedness, and put some variance in their products’ packaging. If the mask looks like the shampoo which also looks like the gel, I’m going to have…ISSUES. Meet me at least halfway and do some LARGE PRINT at least? And also learn the difference between large print and a big font, because tall skinny letters are ILLEGIBLE without 20/20 vision? Sigh. Rant over. Make sure you’re subscribed to our YouTube channel to hear the tale of how I accidentally used conditioner as a leave in during one of our product junkie challenges…and it WORKED.

Le Sigh…

April B a black woman with braids and thick blue eyeliner, facepalms and rolls her eyes in annoyance

We must really hate these manufacturers then, right?

Ummmm, wrong. Just because we may need a little rant time now and again, doesn’t mean we don’t love our stuff! It just means that we want to see the curly landscape continue to improve…no matter HOW fun it is for me to see people in the office get riled up like I usually am. Teehee.

Curlies, do you have any product quirks that just tick off your texture? Unburden yourselves in the comments section!

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