So my sister’s Instagram, marina.dove, is so popping with make-up and skincare that every now and then she’ll get PR. Recently, she received a massive box from a company called Amika with tons of hair care products. Among those items, she received two under the line Curl Corps, a Defining Cream and an Enhancing Gel. Unfortunately, she doesn’t have curly hair, so these won’t do much for her. That’s why she’s got me to pass these on to and test out!
Before moving on, please be sure to click the above link to my sister’s Instagram for her thoughts on the rest of Amika’s products and other spectacular items, and give her a follow! Your support means a lot!
Amika is a sulfate-free, cruelty-free, and vegetarian-friendly brand which creates professional hair care products and tools with individuality in mind. Delivered in some fun and cute packaging, Amika has a massive variety of shampoos, conditioners, stylers, and more to promote self-expression over conformity. Every single one of their products contains sea buckthorn berry which is chock-full of essential vitamins and nutrients to moisturize the strands, prevent hair loss, give a healthy shine, and promote the production of collagen.
Unfortunately, some of their products here and there contain silicons, so you really have to be sure to read the ingredients before buying if you’re still aiming to avoid silicons. Another one to watch out for is fragrance. I’m usually indifferent to it since I try to buy products with more subdued scents, but I, for the life of me, cannot tell if the fragrance here is natural or not. The first whiff always feels like I snorted the entire Macy’s perfume department. Although the fragrance doesn’t linger after you put the products in, the scents are still super powerful at first, and for some, that just may not be your cup of tea.
Thankfully, Curl Corps is at least silicone-free, so it’s still safe on that front. You can find these two products online only either on Amika’s official website (loveamika.com) or Sephora.com. The Defining Cream contains tapioca starch, oat peptide, hydrolyzed jojoba protein, hydrolyzed wheat protein, and hydrolyzed wheat starch. The Enhancing Gel contains oat peptide, soybean protein, hydrolyzed wheat protein, and PEG-40 hydrogenated castor oil. Both products have incredibly light consistencies and spread pretty damn far. The Cream’s texture is identical to Shea Moisture’s Curl Enhancing Smoothie, and the Gel is kinda watery, almost like a lubricant (which by no means is a bad thing; it’s just lighter than I’m used to with most gels).
A little goes a long way, so you definitely get your money’s worth. And don’t let the light consistencies fool you, cause the hold for the first three days is quite strong. That’s the beauty of the castor oil, starches and proteins. However, those are the kind of ingredients which your hair will either love or hate. For some hair types, it may be too much moisturizing, and it will result in frizz. Since my hair is in that weird midway of wavy and curly, it’s often a roll of the dice in what it likes at any given week.
The first week test was good at holding curls for about three days before it became troublesome. But thankfully, detangling spray gave an easy fix to preserve the curls a little longer. Week 2, however, was a freaking nightmare of frizz which just wouldn’t go away, and my hair was weighed down and grimy to the touch. I even co-washed, and nothing would alleviate that gross feeling. But thankfully on Week 3, everything bounced back to normal. The hold wasn’t as strong as the first week test, no thanks to windy summer days, but again, some detangling spray brought the curls back to life. And below are the week 3 results!
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Maybe not the absolute best results, but Curls Corps gets the job done for wavy curls. I noticed you have to be extra cautious with the products in the rest of your routine, so if your usual go-tos are heavy oils and conditioners, you might wanna switch it up when testing Curl Corps. This also won’t be a good time to half-ass shampooing, so definitely make sure your scalp is 100 percent clean of any product build-up from your last wash day.
I think these would work better for me in the fall and winter when my hair is more dry and not oily and sweaty like it is every other week now. I’m not ready to give up on these bad boys, so I’ll test out a few different cocktails in the near future to find the right combination of products to agree with Curl Corps. I hope to find more curly hair friendly products from this brand just in case I have the need to splurge in the near future. And if you have the extra money to throw down for a new cream and gel, then let Amika give you the fix your hair needs.
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