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10 December 2009

[review] caramocal joy: thickums castor cream, shea-co smoothing custard, vitamin e pudding

i'm sorry to say that this will be a visually unappealing review, as there are no pictures on the website (link) and the jars aren't that pretty to be taking pictures of, so i hope you guys don't mind bearing with me. even though i'm fitting three products into one review, this should be short & sweet.


i heard about this company through a poster on lhcf (again) and decided to order because they were having a christmas sale. i was happy to find out that the company offered smaller sizes at affordable prices and even had free shipping over twenty dollars. i think i ordered on a tuesday or wednesday and got my goodies saturday - so really good turn around. but take that with a grain of salt, because i live about 15 minutes away from where the products are made.


thickums castor cream
castor oil, shea butter, jojoba oil, almond oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, grapeseed oil, glycerin.

i'll start with my first impression of this: they may have issues with quality control. i got one scented and that was whipped very well - it came very thick, heavy, and creamy. i also got an unscented one, but this was not as clean as the other one. it was whipped, but it wasn't as smooth or creamy. i don't really mind, but this is a problem that needs to be worked out.

the scented version i ordered was vanilla buttercream, but it was more like a cheap, garish imitation and almost too sweet.

i used this on my scalp one night before going to sleep. it was weird, because even going on, i didn't feel as though it would do anything amazing to my hair. i went to sleep, in fact, and when i woke up my hair didn't feel moisturized at all, and this was coupled with the shea-co smoothing custard.

would i repurchase? no.


shea-co smoothing custard
shea butter, coconut oil, jojoba oil, avocado oil, glycerin.

i used this twice, and very thoroughly. i applied it as though i were shingling. now, since this had shea butter in it and was a heavy, thick cream i was sure i'd like it. i was sad to report that i felt no great moisture being imparted.

it smells like a better version of shea butter, but then turned a bit bitter, almost like the scent had a bite to it. it was a thick consistency with a bit of "wetness" to it, which i've never experienced before.

would i repurchase? no.


vitamin e pudding
grapseed oil, almond oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, jojoba oil, vegetable oil, glycerin.

i was the most excited about this when i first purchased. it was an oil/liquid, however, and not of a pudding consistency at all, so it would've been better suited for a bottle than a jar. i really liked the smell of this one: light, sweet, subtly fruity, and warm almost like vanilla. however, after several days, the sweet scent stopped being so enjoyable. not that it's bad at all, but i just got tired of it.

i used this on my hair as a sealant several times and i feel as though it just sat there instead of really absorbing.

would i repurchase? no.


final thoughts. i've never been so underwhelmed by a product line. the website needs pictures, the packaging needs improving, and the scents most definitely need tweaking. there's little variety to these products and the ingredients are so simple, anyone could mix them up in their own home. but what's really weird is that these are all good hair care ingredients, but none of the products agreed with me or my hair. i will say that the owner may need to rethink adding glycerine to everything. i know that is an ingredient with a lot varied results for a lot of people, and i know it has some kind of reaction in the winter. i think it's a humectant, which you want to avoid in the dry winter air.

despite this, customer service was excellent! i sent a few emails and would have a response just a few hours later. a definite plus.



i am not affiliated in any way with caramocal joy. i was not paid for this review and all items were purchased with my own funds.

3 comments:

Kimberly said...

Hi!! Sure wish that I had reviewed your post before purchasing! I ordered several things (my first order to any home hair care product) I will not be ordering again. First, I ordered on the 27th, I did not get it until the 12th of Dec.-website says shipping is faster than that. I asked for the buttercream smell and none it smelled like that, in fact one smelled like chocolate and the rest had no scent. One jar was not labeled at all. To soon to see if they actually work in my hair but I will not be ordering again :(
Oh, and I did not have great customer service-I had to email more than once to get a response-I know it's a busy season but still...

Kim
(i am on the haircare boards-but more lurker mode, lol)

Melyssa said...

wow, that is really terrible service! the products are really nothing special, but i'm sad you had to chalk this one up to a loss. and i agree on the scents - they don't seem to have very good quality control when it comes to that aspect.

i'm sorry this had to be your first purchase of that kind too! if you want quality handmade stuff, try etsy for sure! they have a lot of great, professional merchants!

thanks for chiming in with your experiences. i do appreciate it. i won't be ordering again either.

Kimberly said...

thanks girl!! I will try someone else at some point as I like to support the small business folks :) Oh well, I am going to try to use some of it for the skin since a lot of what I ordered has shea butter and its the winter so it should at least relieve some dry skin patches, lol