Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I've been wearing my hair natural for 2 years. Honestly, my hair is not that bad....its just a pain in the butt. Its frizzy, tangles and can be hard to manage. I CAN wash & go my hair but the shrinkage is crazy and it knots a bit throughout. So...I chose to use a texturizer after a lot of back and forth between my friends. Cons - 1. I can't say my hair is natural anymore. (If that matters to you...don't use this product). 2. I really need to be diligent about moisturizing because my hair is color treated (it could begin to break off...but I have some great deep conditioners and I'm not afraid to use them). Pros - 1. My hair looks exactly the same as it did natural, but now I can comb through it easier. 2. The shrinkage isn't as bad....though there is still some. So here's what I did differently than the instructions: 1. I only used about 2/3 of the activator. 2. Total processing time including application was 6 minutes, start to finish. I'm extremely pleased with the results, my hair looks great. I will post an update about breakage (as I stated before my hair is color treated with Dark N Lovely Golden Bronze hair color...which is light). It should be noted that I had not colored my hair in 6 months or so at the time of application so I have about 4 - 5 inches of black/gray root (I'm only 43 but about 15% gray). **One week update** I omitted in my original review something I think was important, so I'm adding that here. In addition to the two things I mentioned that I did differently than the instructions, I did another thing! #3. Instead of using the deep conditioner they provided, I used Miss Jessie's Rapid Recovery Treatment for 45 minutes. And now for the update - One week since I did my texturizer. No breakage thus far. My hair is shiny and curly BUT there is more shrinkage one week in. I conditioned it twice during the week with Miss Jessie's Curly Conditioning Creme as a leave-in. I also added some organic coconut oil and Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie to style. I slept with it wrapped in a silk scarf each night. I love it! Future notes: I will do a touch-up in about 6 months, I COULD use more activator than I did...but I will not...instead, I will increase processing time to 7 minutes to see if that helps with the shrinkage. I recommend this product! **Two week update** - I recolored my hair today. I had about 4 inches of black root. It is now golden bronze all over. After two weeks with the texturizer my hair is still awesome! Its soft, bouncy, and shiny. After I recolored the roots I treated my entire head with the Miss Jessies Rapid Recovery Treatment again for 45 minutes. After I rinsed that out, I applied organic pressed coconut oil (all over), Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie, and Shea Moisture Coconut Hibiscus Curl & Style Milk. I wrap it in a scarf so it can dry. When I remove the scarf, I fluff, and scrunch it. It looks amazing!!! **2 Month Update* Its been about 2 months since I first applied the texturizer. No breakage and my hair is truly looking the best it ever has. I deep condition once per week and wash it 3 times a week. Sometimes I can get 3 days out of my curls but for the most part I wash it and wrap it at night and typically wear those curls for 2 days before I have to wet it again. I will definitely use this again for touch-ups. ***Touch-up Update*** Ok, so at about the 5-month mark I touched up. As I stated before, my hair is color treated, which is precisely why I had to touch-up now (I'm going to a big conference and I didn't want 4 inches of black root). Here is how I did it and maintained my curl. I colored my hair immediately after the first application, therefore all of the black root was virgin hair. I applied the texturizer to the virgin hair only (with clumsy overlap) with the same recipe I used above (2/3 of the activator). I would start from the back (or wherever your hair is most coarse) and work my way to the front because its tougher with such a small application to not straighten the hair out more. I left on for about 6 minutes total again. My hair grew 4 - 5 inches during that time and i really couldnt tell until after the texturizer reduced the shrinkage. Hair looks DIVINE! I will say a few things: ~ My hair no longer looks natural (in my opinion). As an African American woman its atypical to have the same hair as someone who is, lets say, biracial. However, that's what my hair looks like. If that's your cup-of-tea you will like this product. It works for me because I want my hair to grow and without the texturizer my natural hair likes to knot-up and then it breaks when I try to comb them out. ~ I will only touch-up twice a year. I could have waited another month easily but I wanted to recolor prior to a conference. ~ Hair is healthy and growing while color-treated. No breakage. I would say you CAN use this product with color treated hair with the right precautions (I used a protein deep conditioner in lieu of the conditioner they provided, I use a leave-in conditioner on my hair 4 nights per week and always air-dry (NO heat), I don't use regular shampoo (Im using the As I am Coconut Co-wash and Joico K-pak protein treatment once per week). Hope this helps you decide! ***One Year Update*** My hair has gotten quite long. I'm finally able to grow it out while curly because I dont have to worry about those small knots. I noticed that I can't use regular shampoo anymore. I can only use co-washes because regular shampoo dries my hair out too much and it is unmanageable. Also, I have to comb it out every time I condition or my hair or it starts to dread. Typical stuff for curly hair. It is still color treated and looks amazing! I will use this product indefinitely.