I can remember the days (not so long ago) where I couldn’t shop for hair care on the high street at all. If I wanted a good product haul for my wash-day, then I had to take my butt to the nearest Black hair shop or grab pro products at the hairdressers – if I was willing to splash out.
The brands stocked in my local high street stores weren’t tailored to my hair type and Afro hair didn’t get a look in on the most popular beauty e-tailers – thinking about it now, it feels like pre-historic times.
You see, I was always told that my hair type needed special products. Ever since I was a teenager with relaxed hair, through to growing out my chemical straightener, I was told that Afro hair required more moisture and less sulphates in order to thrive. Along with not seeing Black women represented in campaign imagery for well-known high street brands, and looking at the formulas, if I was to believe everything that I was told about what my hair ‘needed’, these white-washed brands also didn’t provide enough moisture and were laden with too many harsh ingredients for my hair to thrive while using them.
However, as formulas develop, ranges expand and beauty becomes more accessible in general, there are so many more options on the high street at affordable price points. Finally, brands are offering products that work for multiple hair types. Not all Afro hair is the same and of course the way you style your hair the length and whether or not you have any chemical treatments or colour will make product choice more unique, but overall, these are the best high street ranges for Afro hair.
L’Oreal Elvive Extraordinary Oil
As much as I’m tired of constantly being told that Afro hair is dry hair, the truth is that it is more prone to dryness than other hair types. So, if you’re going to use a range that hasn’t necessarily been formulated with textured hair in mind, picking a product that is specifically for ‘dry hair’ means that it’s less likely to make your hair feel straw-like after washing. The SLS (the stuff that makes old-school shampoo foamy) can strip hair though so I opt for this range for when I have a lot of product build-up to clarify my curls, kind of like resetting it and starting from scratch. I do a foamy clarifying wash every so often, especially when I’m straightening my hair, I find it gives my style more movement not being ladened down with build-up.
L'ORÉAL PARIS L'Oréal Paris Elvive Extraordinary Oil for All Hair Types 100ml
L'ORÉAL PARIS L'Oréal Paris Elvive Extraordinary Oil Shampoo for Dry Hair 500ml
L'ORÉAL PARIS L'Oréal Paris Elvive Extraordinary Oil Conditioner for Dry Hair 500ml
L'ORÉAL PARIS L'Oréal Paris Elvive Extraordinary Oil Hair Mask Pot for Dry Hair 300ml
Pantene Gold Series
Ok, maybe this is a little bit of a cheat because this is a range is aimed at Afro-textured hair by Pantene. However, I’m including it because when I was younger, Pantene was solely marketed to European hair types so this is a reminder that this range exists and it’s really, really good for the price point. It’s a streamlined range of a shampoo, conditioner, leave-in and oil– everything you need for a simple washday routine. All the products contain a dose of argan oil, which is excellent for locking in nutrients.
pantene Pantene Gold Series Intense Hydrating Hair Oil 95ml
OGX Coconut Miracle Oil Range
I’m a big fan of OGX– my intro to the brand was the Argan Oil Shampoo and Conditioner which is also great for curly and coily hair– but the Coconut Miracle Oil range goes that step further. If your hair is Afro-textured but delicate and fine it’s time to stock up asap. Products geared towards Afro hair are often heavier and aim to work on thick hair but as we know just like straight hair can be thick or fine, so can curly and coily hair. This range promotes strength and stops frizz too. If you’ve been going a bit crazy with straightening and styling pop the Miracle Oil Mask into your next haul– it only needs 5 mins on the lengths of your hair to protect, strengthen and smooth.
OGX Coconut Miracle Oil Hair Mask
The Ordinary
Yes, your fave no-nonsense skincare brand is doing haircare and yes, you can use it if you have Afro hair. Again, I would describe the shampoo as a clarifying cleanse and I wouldn’t advise using it if you dye your hair, as it’ll lift the colour quicker. But, if you use a lot of gels, pomades or butters in your routine, this shampoo is a no-frills way of effectively buffing off anything from your strands for the best base to style from scratch.
The Ordinary 4% Sulphate Cleanser for Body and Hair
The Ordinary Behentrimonium Chloride 2% Conditioner
The Ordinary Multi-Peptide Serum for Hair Density 60ml
The Ordinary 100% Organic Cold-Pressed Moroccan Argan Oil
Garnier Ultimate Blends
garnier Garnier Ultimate Blends Cocoa Butter 3-in-1
garnier Garnier Ultimate Blends Cocoa Butter 3-in-1
Who doesn’t love an affordable multi-tasking product? These Garnier hair masks are something that I always recommend in a pinch and the three different ways you can use it essentially work for different hair thicknesses. The latest addition to this range is the Cocoa Butter formula which is aimed at, you guessed it, dry hair. But jokes aside, this formula is like a post-workout smoothie for the hair– restorative and thirst-quenching. I love using it as a pre-wash treatment to prep my hair for cleansing it can also be used post-wash and as a leave-in which is especially good for thicker, curly hair.
Umberto Giannini Banana Butter
This is one of the brands that I turned to when I started really getting to know my texture in lockdown 1.0. The Curly Jelly is still my go-to product to set my twist-out for hold without a crunch but recently I explored more of the Banana Butter range and I’m so impressed. Just to warn you though, if you don’t like the smell of bananas, you’ll want to give one a miss– the scent is not at all subtle. But if you like the idea of basking in the scent of a smoothie in the shower then you’ll definitely reap the benefits of these highly-nourishing products. Like bananas, the whole range is rich in potassium along with vitamins A, B and C.
Umberto Giannini Banana Butter Nourishing Superfood Shampoo
Umberto Giannini Banana Butter Nourishing Conditioner
Umberto Giannini Banana Butter Superfood Co-Wash
Umberto Giannini Banana Butter Leave-In-Conditioner
Palmers Olive Oil Formula
This range in summer is *chef’s kiss*. It’s light enough to not weigh down any hair thickness or texture but thanks to the Jamaican black castor oil is packed with nutrients. The leave-in spray is excellent for protective styling if you get a dry, tight-feeling scalp when your hair is in braids. I’ll spray on my roots and then pop my headscarf on before I go to sleep and when I wake up my scalp feels way more hydrated.
Revolution Haircare Plex products
Don’t tell anyone but this range is such an unreal Olaplex dupe. It doesn’t use the same bond-building technology as the real deal but the triple molecular weight protein strengthens the bonds in your hair and smooths each strand from the cortex inside to the outer cuticle. If you do any chemical treatments on your Afro hair this a great protecting range on a tight budget.
Revolution Haircare Plex 3 Bond Restore Treatment
Revolution Haircare Plex 4 Bond Plex Shampoo 400ml
Revolution Haircare RevolutionHaircare Plex 5 Bond Plex Conditioner 400ml
