I’ve always struggled with my natural hair – anytime I manage to get a decent set of curls, I walk into the wind and they immediately transform into frizz. It’s just an ongoing battle, and after a disaster a few years ago involving a pair of straighteners frying my hair so that it began to dry naturally straight, they’ve definitely not gotten any better. Recently, I wrote a post about the 9 ways I fix my frizzy curly hair, and I saw a huge increase in traffic; styling frizzy curly hair must be a common problem amongst my readers! Today I want to share with you my experience with IGK Hair, the brand that has been hyped up no end lately.
This post contains affiliate links, meaning that I will earn a small amount of profit if you choose to purchase something through my link. It will come at no extra cost to you, though, and means that I can continue to work on my blog.
IGK are a very modern brand, in that their names and packaging reflect what’s “cool” right now. Whilst this can lead to a touch of cringe – ‘InstaFamous’ shampoo, anyone? – it also makes for some sleek packaging and interesting choices. The company have heaps of products on offer for every possible issue your hair may have encountered, and you bet the majority of them have glossy reviews. They’re also all sulfate and paraben free, making them suitable for the curly girl method, and they’re of course certified cruelty-free too. I felt like it was time to put them to the ultimate test: my frizzy curly hair. Nothing ever really does much to help it – and its owner is not really that experienced in the department of hair styling – so if a brand can fix it, you know that brand works miracles!
I decided to purchase the ‘CryBaby’ anti-frizz smoothing serum, which I think is probably their most famous frizzy hair product at the moment, the ‘1995’ 2-in-1 shampoo and texturiser and the ‘Sunday Funday’ texture foam. Now, I do know what you’re thinking: Why on Earth would you buy a smoothing serum and texturising products? Don’t those two things contradict each other? I get it. But hear me out.
My hair is very flat at the top due to the weight of it, hence I want to texturise it and give it a bit of volume. Texturiser also clumps hairs into curls, I find, and foam really brings out the natural wave of my hair. It can leave it feeling kind of crunchy, though, and the frizzy hair still develops. Hence I want to use the smoothing serum to flatten down any fly-aways. Method in the madness, right?!
I’m going to review each of these individual products, and then explain how I’ve been using them to see the best results. Let’s begin!
‘1995’ 2-in-1 Shampoo and Texturiser
I purchased all my products from Space NK during their spend-£60-get-£15-off deal, and I really only added this product to get my basket total past £60. That being said, I actually like it a lot more than I thought I would. It’s a clay shampoo, but it doesn’t leave your hair feeling gritty and sticky, which is fairly uncommon. It also didn’t give me any dandruff or itchiness, an issue I’ve encountered with texturising shampoos before.
This product is supposed to be applied, left on for a couple of minutes, and then rinsed out. It does not need to be followed with conditioner – which is handy – and I also found that a little goes a long way. I definitely get through a lot of shampoo; when I’m trying to coat all of my roots I tend to have to reach for the bottle three or four times. With ‘1995’, I find one application on the top of my head and one at the bottom (above my neck) is enough to coat my hair entirely. It’s a good thing too, as the IGK products are actually fairly small in size, to the point where I was a bit surprised when I opened my parcel. There’s just 177ml in this shampoo.
The results from this product alone aren’t really anything to write home about; it left my hair very clean for a bit longer than a sulfate-free shampoo normally would, but that’s about it. My frizzy hair didn’t look much different when air dried as it does when I’ve used a different, cheaper shampoo and conditioner. I’m not really sure I noticed much difference in it’s grip, either, when I “styled” it later. (I put styled in speech marks because for me styling is putting it into a ponytail. I really suck at hair.)
Edit: After using this product a bit more I can now confirm that it actually has given me dandruff. I do have a very dry scalp naturally, though, so chances are it could be a personal sensitivity. But just know to beware!
‘Sunday Funday’ Texture Foam
‘Sunday Funday’ is a bit unusual in how it comes out of the can. It isn’t like a normal mousse, which, in my experience anyway, tends to be a massive amount of fluff which keeps its texture when rubbed between my hands before I apply it. Instead, it comes out small in volume, and as soon as your hands touch, it collapses into nothing but stickiness. Really – your hands are left ridiculously sticky. It takes a bit of getting used to, but I haven’t managed to find a way to apply this product when it’s still in mousse form – it’s more just me putting sticky hands onto my head and hoping some of the product transfers over from skin to hair.
When I first used this foam, I put it onto the ends of my hair when it was wet and scrunched it upwards in my hands. It didn’t give me the bouncy curl look I was striving for, but instead left me with a bunch of heavy, limp, crunchy waves. Not really ideal.
The next time, I just applied it to the ends of my hair when it was damp by running my hands lightly over it – not finger combing, which always destroys my forming curls into a mass of frizz once dried – and I’ve stuck to this method since. I do it haphazardly, too, in that I don’t separate it and make sure I coat every strand, I just hope for the best. Too much of this product not only leaves my hair heavy, but sticky and greasy too.
Have I managed to put you off IGK yet? It’s not my intention, I swear. When you read about the serum it might make a bit more sense.
‘Crybaby’ Anti-Frizz Smoothing Serum
As I said earlier, this is probably IGK’s most hyped up product at the moment. I’ve read about it a fair few times, and it’s sworn by for smoothing natural curls. I was a bit hesitant to try it – serums combined with my heavy hand usually ends with a a greasy mess and a last minute panic shampoo over the sink 20 minutes before I leave the house.
This frizzy hair product is meant to be applied on dry hair to smooth it into curls, and also flatten any fly aways at the roots. The packaging says it should be finger combed through hair – which, again for me, is a huge NO – to hydrate strands and reduce frizz. I personally found this to be of no use whatsoever, and my frizzy curly hair to be left just as messy looking as it did when it had just dried.
I next tried applying ‘Crybaby’ onto damp hair, and it was a game changer. My hair dried into much smoother curls than usual. There was still a lack of volume and a few fly aways, but my hair was fairly sleek and shiny, and had actually formed ringlets for the first time in a while. I also want to mention that when I straighten my hair I use this product before (it’s actually a heat protectant) and after to leave me with the shiniest, sleekest locks imaginable!
So, as I’m sure you guessed, the key to these products is using them in unison. I have to be honest and say that the shampoo probably doesn’t contribute a whole lot to the overall effect, but the results from the other two had me in shock. I think it’s important for me to mention that I’ve had products give me smooth curls before, but I’m never happy with the shape of them. Using these products left my hair looking almost as though it had been styled into messy, beachy waves – smaller ringlets that are defined and a little bit straight at the bottom, as opposed to curled upwards, so that you can see the flat edge of my hair. Does that make any sense whatsoever? I don’t know, but if my hair wasn’t straightened right now and I wasn’t planning on posting this before I next wash it, and if I also was a bit more organised, I would insert a picture for you. Oh well. I like the way it looks though, much more than I’ve ever liked my natural hair before. I even wore it out in public, not tied up, for the first time in who knows how long.
All I do is apply a small amount of the ‘Sunday Funday’ foam to my hair when it’s damp, and then the ‘Crybaby’ serum over the top. I try not to be too rough with it, but I don’t smooth and pull at it either. I basically just try to avoid disrupting my natural curls as much as possible by applying the products lightly over the top. I also don’t bother trying to coat every section evenly, as I find this weighs my hair down and makes it a appear greasy. Any serum left on my hands I use to smooth down the baby hairs that tend to curl up at my roots. and then I just leave it to dry.
My favourite thing about these products is that they actually work to refresh curls on second or third day hair. If I’ve been out, and my curls are looking a bit frizzy and fluffy, I apply the tiniest amount of both products to clump my hair back into ringlets and spruce it up again. For some reason, applying these products to dry hair works a lot better if you also applied them when it was damp.
Have you ever tried IGK Hair? If so, what do you think of it? Is there anything you’d recommend? Please let me know in the comments below – I’m interested in trying out a few more of their products, but they have so many that I’m not sure where to start! Please remember to follow my blog (you can do it at the bottom of this post) or my Instagram if you’re interested in hearing more about my experiences attempting to tame my frizzy curly hair.
Thanks for reading,
Eve
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