Neutrlab Cocoa Curls and Pop n Curls

At the beginning of my transition back to natural, I was interested in trying out different products for the times when I do not wear my hair straightened. I was doing my routine window shopping at the beauty supply store and I saw these cute brightly colored products. I had never seen them before but before buying I decided to look on the internet about them. I found pretty much nothing and on top of that, the official website was defunct.(it sadly still is) So I decided to just try them out for myself!

Neutrlab is a relatively new brand that just launched in the last few years. Their products, previously sold at hair shows and the like, just started being spotted in beauty supply stores all over the country. I really like their packaging and logo! You can see that the bottles are simple yet eye catching and the products themselves appeal to the current hair trends.

The first product I tried was the Cocoa Curl curl cleansing conditioner. I was looking for a gentler alternative to shampoo and this had a nice light chocolatey scent that drew me in. I also liked the idea that a conditioner could cleanse my hair instead of a stripping shampoo.

I initially thought this product was good but after quite a few uses I noticed didn’t actually cleanse my hair at all. It was really nice and thick butt here wasn’t enough slip to get through my hair.This meant I had to detangle my hair again after washing. One day I had gel in my hair and used this to cleanse and had one of the most horrible wash days ever.(thick cottage cheese clumps everywhere!) I had even pre rinsed to get rid of most of the gel so I was surprised this happened. Once this product was done I chucked the bottle and never looked back!

I bought the second two products while I was still wearing rose colored glasses with the conditioner. I tried the high definition gel first because I thought it would be a moisturizing replacement to the current gel I was using. It smelled nice and chocolatey like the conditioner and it looked like it would be just like other curl activating gel I’ve tried.

The texture of this products was really gooey and it left a heavy oily residue. I first used it on a test section and I noticed I needed to use a copious amount of it for it to actually define my curl. It took ages for it to actually dry and when it did it was extremely oily to the touch. It was disgusting and I hated the results. I put it in the back of my stash and forgot about it.

One day I was in a rush as I was called to work early. I had no other thing to do but slick my hair into a bun. I had already used gel in my hair but it was hard. I didn’t have anything else to soften it so i had the bright idea to use this gel on top to balance out the crunch of my preferred gel. I have done this before many times with other gel combinations so I didn’t even think anything weird would happen.

I had never seen a gel-gel reaction quite like this. It curdled so horribly it was worse than mixing a gel and a regular conditioner together. I had a thick,sticky,slimy,white clumpy mess beautifully distributed on the top of my head with only 10 minutes to get to work. I thought would just quickly wash it out and be ok but this was a doozy.It would NOT come out. It didnt help that I was using a sulfate free shampoo at the time. The shampoo pretty much did nothing in this situation. (this is why it is always good to have a sulfate shampoo as backup!) I couldn’t just leave it there or wear a hat because of my job so I had to fix it ASAP! I ended up using body wash,yes, BODY WASH, 3 times to remove it. By then my hair was so hard and tangled. I had to just snatch it back and call it a day.

Worst wash day ever.

I haven’t touched is since then but its still in my stash because I cant bear to throw it away for some reason.

The light at the end of the tunnel was the last product I tried from this line. The pop n curls is a styler that is supposed to define your curls and keeps them soft and moist at the same time. Being very disappointed at the other two products, I was pleasantly surprised when this product greatly exceeded my expectations.

This is one of the best stylers have come across. No mixing or tweaking is necessary. You just slap it on and it makes your hair turn into soft, shiny, curl popping ball of awesome. I mainly used it to slick my hair back and my waves were soft,smooth and defined. Even after a long day my hair looked neat and shiny. I could not believe I was actually getting the results I was getting with a creamy product.

It did leave my hair with a little bit of oily residue when I touched it but it was minor it wasn’t that noticeable. I don’t have a problem with it at all actually because of the softness,shine and hold I was getting.

I did stop using the product and it was only for one reason:

The smell.

I thought the smell was slightly nauseating. It wasn’t the kind of scent that hits you first but the one that gets you feeling sick after you keep smelling it all day and night when its in your hair. I am sensitive to smells though so things like that bother me. If they had just made this apart of the Cocoa curls line and gave it the light chocolate smell this would have been PERFECT. I may revisit this product again when I grow my curls out and just add a better smelling product along with it.

Overall, my Neutrlab experience was a mixed bag. Some things I liked and some I didn’t. I really love the packaging though and I just wish they would get their website up to see what else they have to offer.

Have you tried these products? What did you think?

Thanks for Reading! <3