Shea, Aloe, Shealoe, or....

Yeah, they use refined shea butter. I'm seriously leaning on the side of "buying".

Thanks, everyone!

(but Please don't stop posting about your experiences!)

I use unrefined shea butter and aloe vera gel.  The shea butter is a bit heavy for me so I mostly just use it for my ends.  I use it as a facial moisturizer also and I really love it for that too. 

Aloe vera gel dosen't give me any moisture, just a nice hold for when I wear my hair curly.

I found a website where they sell shea and shealoe, and the shealoe (9.25 a pound) lookes SO CREAMY and beautiful that it MUST do something! I'm thinking of trying it and adding Vitamin E oil.

I found a store that sells the Cantu products...and I was disappointed with how the oil moisturizer lotion looks....it looks so thin and watery.

Renee, did the shealoe REMAIN heavy for days, or was it just heavy the first day? It's been my experience that if something's heavy on my hair, my hair usually absorbs it by the next day (except for Pink Oil, which I hate). Also...did you put it on wet or dry hair?

Also, I'm looking for something that, if I flat iron my hair, will sink into my hair via the heat and get sealed inside each strand.

Well, if anyone else has any suggestions or can tell me your experience with shea, aloe, shealoe, or hair lotions/moisturizers, feel free to chime in!

BTW, I don't know if it matters, but I have long strong hair, coarse hair that holds heat when I flat iron it. I know and have also been told by my stylist that it takes a lot of heat to do anything to my hair, and my hair is so heavy that it doesn't hold a curl unless it's from a wet set. So, this may make a difference as to what moisturizers may be good for me.

Yep me - although I'm still experimenting.

To begin with I mixed pure refined shea butter with aloe vera gel, coconut oil, jojoba, vitamin E and rosemary and I was really impressed with the moisture it gave to my hair, especially after it has been washed.  It just gives it a soft, moisture sealed, strong feeling - hard to describe but I haven't seen the same effect with commercial creams.

I've found some unrefined shea butter cheap from someone who imports it into Australia from Africa and plan to mix it with mango butter next time.  A lot of people say unrefined is better but still the results from the refined were great for me.

The trick with shea butter is to melt it down in a double boiler (or a saucepan with boiling water and put the shea in a glass dish over the saucepan so that it melts gently) and once it has melted to keep it on the heat for 20 minutes.  that way it won't get gritty.  I then add the oils and heat for a bit longer before adding aloe vera and then let it set overnight in the refrigerator.

It does work out cheaper for me because being in Australia I can get the ingredients locally and cheaply whereas using commercial creams for Afro hair is expensive since they are imported.  Not sure how it would be for you.