I was preparing for my first henna treatment and needed a good deep conditioner to use after the application, so I stopped at Target and found Shea Moisture’s Manuka Honey & Mafura Oil Intensive Hydration Hair Masque.
I had never seen this product before but since I’ve used other products from Shea Moisture, I decided to give it a try. I had no idea that this product was released the day I purchased it!
Following my henna treatment, I co-washed with Herbal Essences (HE) Hello Hydration (blue bottle) conditioner and experienced burning to my scalp. I knew it couldn’t be the henna since I had the henna on my hair for nine hours. I assumed the chemicals in the (HE) product, and there were plenty, caused the burning. After rinsing out the conditioner, the burning subsided.
I followed up with the Shea Moisture Hydration Hair Masque and oddly enough, the burning started back up again. I captured the actual product use and first impressions on my henna experience video here. I was perplexed about the burning, yet continued to attribute it to the Herbal Essences conditioner.
My Video Review:
Within the month following my henna treatment, I co-washed (conditioner only wash) my hair a couple of times and knew it was time to shampoo. When I shampoo, I follow with a deep conditioner, so I decided to use the Shea Moisture Manuka Honey & Mafura Oil Intensive Hydration Hair Masque again. To my surprise, after applying the product, my scalp experienced a burning sensation yet again. This time there was no Herbal Essences to blame for the burning. I was in shock. Evidently, both products, which I had never used prior to my henna treatment, had caused burning to my scalp.
I searched online for anything I could find out about this product, although it’s usually what you should do before purchasing, and could only find a few glowing reviews. No one seemed to have a similar experience. So at this point, I’ll share with you my experience in hopes you will never have the same.
For the record, prior to my henna treatment, I primarily used homemade or natural products in my hair and steered away from those with too many chemicals. I only purchased these products on a whim since I had tried products from their respective lines before.
Honestly, there’s really no way to know how a product will affect your hair unless you try it yourself. In my case, I did try it, and I can’t really recommend Shea Moisuture Manuka Honey & Mafura Oil Intensive Hydration Hair Masque in good faith following the experience that I had, be it isolated or not.
I also have to add that nowhere could I find the actual list of ingredients to ease the search for the culprit. The print on the jar is super small, so I had to put on some magnifying glasses to read the ingredients list and have listed them here in the event someone else would like to actually SEE them, 🙂
Ingredients for Shea Moisture Manuka Honey & Mafura Oil Intensive Hydration Hair Masque:
- Water (Aqua)
- Cetyl Alcohol
- Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil
- Behentrimonium Methosulfate
- butyrospermum parkii (Shea Butter)
- Glycerin (Vegetable)
- Stearyl Alcohol
- Behentrimonium Chloride
- Pathenol
- Trichilia Emetica (Mafura) Seed Oil
- Honey
- Hydrolyzed Rice Protein
- Fragrance (Essential Oil Blend)
- Adansonia Digitata (Baobab) Seed Oil
- Cetrimonium Chloride
- Persea Gratissima (Avocado) Oil
- Ficus Carica (Fig) Extract
- Mangifer Indica (Mango) Seed Butter
- Tocopherol
- Aloe Barbodensis Leaf Extract
- Caprylhydroxamic Acid
- Caprylyl Glycol
- Butylene Glycol
As a disclaimer, Shea Moisture lists on the jar, after the organic ingredient declaration, ‘if irritation occurs, discontinue use’ o-O umm okay…I suppose I will.