Shea Moisture Cowash vs Nubian Heritage Cowash: Product Reviews

"It's been a long time I shouldn't have left you without a dope beat to step to, step to.." Hah, hah.. I love Big Daddy Kane. Some of you younger people know that line from the sample in an Aaliyah song. Anyway, I've been on a little hiatus as I've been busy with my son, who is a senior in high school. So, my apologies to my followers and those of you, who have enjoyed my musings of being a "forgotten natural".

Recently, I hopped aboard the new product train and purchased first, the Shea Moisture Co wash and then, the Nubian Heritage Indian Hemp and Tamanu Cowash. I am a BIG Shea Moisture and Nubian Heritage fan. These companies, which from my understanding are sister companies, produce some of the BEST natural products around and they are quite affordable. Now, usually I'm not an avid cowasher, but the allure of trying these products were great. Here's a breakdown on the comparison and contrast between the two.

Shea Moisture                                vs. Nubian Heritage
-silk protein and black soap                -indian hemp, tamanu, and monoi oils
-thick and creamy consistency              -creamy but not as thick
-tropical scent                                     -perfume scent
-8 fl oz bottle                                      -12 fl oz bottle
-vitamin e                                           - vitamin e, pro vitamin b-5
                                                         - garlic extract

Both products have similar ingredients including: shea butter, mango butter, willow bark extract, kaolin clay, coconut oil, neem oil, jojoba oil, grapeseed oil, aloe vera juice, etc.

In theory both of these products should work very well for my hair. After all, I've used several products from both companies with no issues. Well, with the exception of my hair's abhorrence to the Shea Moisture Raw Shea butter hair products. My hair can't stand something in that product line for some reason, but my hair does wonderfully with the Black Soap, Coconut/Hibiscus, and Yucca/Aloe hair product lines. So, imagine my dismay when I tried the Shea Moisture Coconut Hibiscus and my hair acted like I had given it something foreign. I was SO disappointed. Thinking that perhaps it was a fluke, I used Shea Moisture cowash three times over a two week period. Each time my hair was initially soft, but then became tangled and my scalp began to itch. Disappointed, I saw the Nubian Heritage cowash and decided to buy and try it, hoping for better results. Whomp, whomp, whomp.... The Nubian Heritage cowash didn't itch my scalp as badly as the Shea Moisture cowash, but my hair was temporarily moisturized and became tangled again!

Unfortunately, my final rating for both products is 1 hairball for the awesome ingredients, but not so good on performance. My scalp felt itchy and my hair was only temporarily moisturized. I will NOT be re-purchasing either cowash, because my Chagrin Valley shampoo bars cleanse my hair tremendously reducing itch and imparting shine on my hair. Although Shea Moisture and Nubian Heritage produce awesome products, these cowashes were a bust. I ended up cleansing and conditioning my hair with my shampoo bars and my hair went back to being normal, soft, and shiny. If you have sensitive scalp, then proceed with caution using either of these cowashes.