There are endless ways to style kinkier hair textures. Aside from letting your natural hair flow freely, braids twists and locs are just some of the way to style natural hair. As with any hair texture, there are a variety of products on the market claiming to have marked results. Finding the right hair product is just like finding the right pair of jeans. It takes time, patience and, in this case, money to find the perfect fit. Online hair forums offer some help. Several forum members have tested out different products and often times report the results. Unfortunately, not every product will work the same on every head of hair so you may still be left to the daunting task of trying out several products. I heard about the Taliah Waajid products on a few hair forums as well as from one of my favorite Youtubers Summyr1988. Though I was curious to see how it the products would work on my hair, I was in no rush to make a purchase until recently.
I bought the product from my local beauty supply store for around $7. The first thing that I noticed about Taliah Waajid’s Lock It Up was the fact that it contains natural ingredients. The container says that the product is made of water, carbomer, triethanolomine, Vp dampa/acrlate copolymer, Indian hemp, seed oil, yarrow roots oil, rosemary, nettle oil, DMDM hydantion, and fragrance. I had never used a product with these ingredients so I was curious to see what kind of results I would get.
The first thing that I did when I purchased the Lock it up was give it a big whiff! If it is going to be sitting in my hair, I have to be ok with the smell. The product did not smell fantastic but the vague coconut like scent was not unpleasant. The product was brown in color and is the same consistency of a gel. Though it reminded me of gels I have used before, this product seemed as though it would be more nourishing because I could almost feel the oils infused within it. Taliah waajid’s Lock It Up does market to those with locs and twists but it also markets to naturals like me as well. While I do two-strand my hair often, my original intent for this product was to use it for my wet flexi rod set as I had seen someone on YouTube do with a similar product. The directions vary depending on the style you are trying to achieve. I followed the directions for using as a styling gel which meant I applied to damp or dry natural hair. I applied it to damp hair.
Because the product was a gel, I was fearful at first of using it to do my flexi rod set. Most gels provide a dry flaky hold but the Lock It Up advertised no flakes because it does not contain alcohol. Still a bit skeptical I proceeded. After applying my leave in conditioners to wet hair, I applied a bit of this product to small sections of soaking wet hair before setting my hair on the flexi rods. Because of laziness, I used a hand held blow drier instead of a hooded dryer to dry my hair. When I took down my flexi rods I was in amazement. I absolutely loved my results. My hair not only had excellent hold, but it was so smooth and moisturized. Another perk was that my hair was free of flakes and frizz. Needless to say, I was thrilled with my results. Days later, my hair was still holding up well with minimal frizz which was most likely due to my rough handling. If you are looking for a natural product to help style, hold and set your hair, I definitely recommend Taliah Waajid’s Lock It Up!