This is Nature's Gate's Aloe Vera Moisturizing Conditioner.
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| Bottle, picture from the Nature's Gate website |
-The Lowdown-
I've tried some of Nature's Gate products in the past. My first trial was their chamomile shampoo and conditioner. I liked it, since it was gentle for my hair, but I wasn't really wowed by it and it didn't compel me to buy their products again.
Until one day when I was in my local grocery store, I spotted this conditioner, advertised as moisturizing for normal/dry hair. Well! I do love things that are moisturizing, and it smelled pretty good in the bottle, so I figured I'd give it a try.
-The Ingredients-
Water, Glycerin (Vegetable Derived), Stearyl Alcohol (Vegetable Derived), Cetyl Alcohol (Vegetable Derived), Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride (Vegetable Derived), Benzyl Alcohol, Stearalkonium Chloride (Vegetable Derived), Panthenol, Hydrolyzed Soy Protein, Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Borago Officinalis (Borage) Seed Oil, Tocopherol Vitamin E), Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Aloe Barbadensis (Aloe Vera) Leaf Juice, Hordeum Vulgare (Barley) Extract, Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Flower Extract, Persea Gratissima (Avocado) Fruit Extract, Viola Tricolor (Pansy) Extract, Sesamum Indicum (Sesame) Seed Oil, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Hydroxyethylcellulose (Plant Derived), Potassium Sorbate, Citric Acid, Fragrance*.
(Taken from their website)
-How to Use-
This is a thick, creamy conditioner. I use it daily as part of whatever washing routine I choose to do. For CWC, that's a light coating of this conditioner prior to shampooing, then a liberal amount afterwards.
Right now, I CO-wash with Suave Naturals Wild Cherry Blossom conditioner as my initial cleansing/detangling conditioner, and then follow it up with this as my final conditioner and leave some in on the bottom portion of my hair after rinsing. I am careful not to leave too much in, however. On my fine/medium hair, too much can make it look stringy and clumped together.
I do not like to use it alone as my only CO-wash conditioner. If you have drier hair, then you might be able to use it as your only step in a CO-wash routine. I find that using it alone causes my scalp to become slightly greasy, so I avoid that by using my other conditioner first.
This stuff works really well- it does definitely do what it promises for my hair. It also smells really, really good. It is my go-to conditioner for my daily conditioning needs, and my preferred conditioner for herbal mixes, deep conditioning treatments like SMT, and leave-ins. It's my little hair multitasker!! I've completely switched from my Ice Shine to this stuff because I like it much more.
My results have been wonderful. My hair is very shiny- the shine is sort of like what I get when I use a coney conditioner, just minus the buildup potential. I do not find that I have issues with the proteins in this conditioner- they do not seem to make my hair dry or tangly. I have been using it daily for probably the last 6 months.
The drawbacks- it is kind of expensive. It's about $7.75 per 18 oz bottle at my local store, but you can save some money if you buy it in bulk off Amazon, which is what I do. This stuff is so versatile and is really great, so I'm okay with spending a little be of extra money on it. However, the price point could make this prohibitively expensive if you wanted to CO-wash exclusively with it, or if you have very long hair. My hair is not even BSL and I go through a couple of bottles a month. I also do not really like it as my only conditioner in a CO-wash routine. It goes along great with my "cleansing" conditioner, however.
In short, it's a wonderful conditioner. It's great if your hair needs lots of moisture and it smells amazing! I highly recommend it. :)
Here are some links to check out:
Aloe Vera Moisturizing Conditioner at Nature's Gate website
Buy on Amazon
Thanks for reading!! :)
