Edge Naturale Follicle Enhancer – Real Deal Review

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Disclosure: I was sent this product by Edge Naturale to try and review. Below are my actual results and my honest opinion.

Baby hairs, kitchens, swoops. There are few hotter topics in the culture of black hair than laying edges. Each day millions of women spend their mornings taming their hairline into submission. We gel them, brush them, and marinate them under scarves. But at what cost? Thinning and baldness. That’s where Edge Naturale Follicle Enhancer comes in to save the day…and your edges!

Earlier this year, I quit my corporate job to redefine my career and reclaim my life. In addition to tending to my mental and physical health, I set out to reclaim the health of my hair. One sign that it was time to go was that I had begun pulling my hair again as a stress habit. The first time I dealt with the problem, I broke a palm-sized patch on the left side of my crown. The more it broke, the more self-conscious I became. The more aware I was the more I caught myself pulling and stretching the surrounding area to cover it up. I cut my hair twice into a tapered look and spent about year in quick weaves, wigs, and sew-ins to grow it back.

My hair grew back bountifully, and I managed to maintain it for a few years. This time, I was aware enough to stop myself from pulling the hair in my crown, but I moved on to my eyebrows and edges. I was already beginning to see deep thinness and breakage at my nape from protective styling, so yanking the rest out wasn’t terribly helpful. So I set out to make some changes:

1. I started wearing my hair out consistently to eliminate tension
2. I quit my job (for many reasons), eliminating my primary stressor
3. I restored my hair care regimen to promote healthy hair growth.

The last step is where Edge Naturale Follicle Enhancer came in to play.

A Word About Alopecia

Alopecia is the scientific term for baldness or hair loss. There are several different types of alopecia, like androgenic alopecia (think George Jefferson’s hairline), alopecia areata (autoimmune skin disease causing patchy hair loss), and postpartum alopecia (hair loss due to shifting hormones after pregnancy), to name a few.

Picture this: You’re holding on to the edge of a building (your hairline) with your hands and the building across the street (your ponytail holder) with your feet. Your body wasn’t made to do that. It might be cool at first, but eventually, either your hands or feet will give way. This, my friends, is a metaphor for traction alopecia.

Traction alopecia is hair loss and thinning caused by aggressive tension. What do you do when you’re short on time or having a tough hair day? Put that hair in a ponytail! Are you growing out your hair and looking to put it away for a while? Get braids or a sew-in! Traction alopecia especially affects Black women because styles like cornrows, sew-ins, heavy locs, and laid edges are baked into the fabric of our culture. Furthermore, in trying to make our natural hair sleek, we are asking it to do something it isn’t naturally built to do.

There is nothing inherently wrong with any of these styles, but some of our protective styles do more harm than good. When we pull our hair too tight in the name of neatness or wear these styles too long or too often, it can make our hairline very sad.

The Lowdown on Edge Naturale

Edge Naturale Follicle Enhancer for Natural Edges claims to revive edges, restore follicles and help edges look fuller. Edge Naturale uses a formula that is cruelty-free, gluten-free, and made in the USA.

The Edge Naturale Follicle Enhancer retails for $29.99 for a 30 day supply (2 oz.) and $59.90 for a 60 day supply (4 oz.).

The product calls for applying a small amount once or twice daily to a clean hairline, free and clear of oils. For this trial I applied the product *almost* every day for a month, applying it at night after rinsing my edges with warm water.

This was my first impression:

Edge Naturale Ingredients -Moisture, Moisture, Moisture!

The ingredients are as follows:

Water, Carbomer, Stearic Acid, Petrolatum, Glyceryl Stearate, Glycerin, Cetyl Alcohol, Mineral Oil, Peppermint Oil, Argan Pil, Avocado Oil, Niacin, Castor Oil, Jojoba Oil, Coconut Milk Extract, Phenoxyethanol (and) Ethylhexylglycerin

Let’s start with the not so good: Petrolatum and Mineral Oil. These two ingredients get a bad wrap for causing build up and blocking moisture from getting into the strands. This may be especially inconvenient for those that use sulfate free shampoo exclusively, as the water insolubility necessitates a surfactant for removal.

The very good: The Follicle Enhancer is packed with glycerin and oils that are emollient (moisturizing). The one alcohol present is a fatty one, not a drying one. I also love that there are no silicones – my hair doesn’t like cones very much.

The Verdict on Edge Naturale Follicle Enhancer

At first use, I noticed that the Follicle Enhancer smells very nice and invigorating. The peppermint oil further asserts itself as a star of the show when you apply the cream, as there is that light familiar tingling sensation we expect from products that stimulate our scalp.

As I mentioned above there are plenty of ingredients that have conditioning and moisturizing properties. The Follicle Enhancer performs as expected in these areas. I believe these benefits are the unsung heroes, as they encourage retention of the growth you get.

Over the course of the month, I have noticed that my temples are noticeably fuller. I went from having to treat those short edges like baby hair to having to pull them back toward my pony puffs. My nape is still a work in progress, but it is progress nonetheless. (Note: In talking with my mother, I may have a hereditary dispensation to a thinning nape. I’ll be interested to see what continued use will do.)

Bonus points: This product is white, but it didn’t interfere with my other hair products and cause the dreaded gray cast. So lay those edges (responsibly) to your heart’s content!

Value wise, $30 does seem to very pricey for a 2 oz. jar, BUT I forsee it taking a while to hit the bottom of the jar. And as much and as long as I have struggled with my edges, they are worth the investment.

The Bottom Line

The Edge Naturale Follicle Enhancer does exactly what it claims in a sea of other edge reviving products that absolutely do not. I’m looking forward to continuing to use the Follicle Enhancer for greater results – and trying it on my crown.

Verdict: Migh-T Fine

The edge struggle is real for a lot of us! Have you been working on your edges? Have you tried Edge Naturale’s Follicle Enhance yet? Let us know your thoughts!