Earth Supplied Textured Haircare Review
I love the overwhelming gamut of hair products available on the shelves today, but I don’t always love the price. It seems that just a few years ago, you could buy a decent hair regimen for under $20. Today, not so much. By the time you buy a $10 shampoo, and $10 conditioner, plus a deep conditioner, leave-in, and any kind of moisturizers or stylers you may need, you could be out of $75-$100. Sure, we must account for inflation and improvements in research and ingredients, but not everyone can afford it. In these economic conditions, the cost can be a barrier to healthy hair. The saying goes that you get what you pay for, but Earth Supplied Textured Haircare is bucking the establishment. At most retailers, none of the products in this brand exceed $8! Butare they any good? Let’s find out.
Earth Supplied Texured Haircare Products
Earth Supplied’s products harness the power of globally sourced butters and oils to help treat the needs of kinky coily hair.
The Earth Supplied product offering is divided into two collections:
Moisture & Repair – designed to repair and soften hair and reduce tangles through intense hydration
- Sulfate-Free Shampoo
- Butter Rich Deep Treatment Masque
- Silicone Free Rinse Out Conditioner
- Leave-In Conditioner
- Curl-Poppin’ Activator
- Creamy Defining Gell-O
- Shine & Hold Mist
- Coconut Curl Cream – new at Family Dollar
Strength & Length – designed to promote long and strong hair via moisture and antioxidants
- Hair Slip Conditioning Detangler
- Night-Night Lay Me Down
- Strong-Strands Protein Masque
- Retention Oil Serum
- Anti-Break Shine Oil
The brand’s emphasis on ingredients is very clear throughout the line. The percentage of the featured oils and butters is prominently displayed on the packaging whenever they are present above 5%. In the case of the Moisture & Repair collection, shea butter is the major player; in the case of Strength & Length, Castor Oil and Bamboo seem to be the stars.
The brand takes equally as much pride in the ingredients NOT present in their products:
- Sulfates
- Silicones
- Parabens
- Mineral oil
- Petrolatum
- Paraffin
- Propylene Glycol
- Phthalates
- Gluten
- PABA
- DEA
Earth Supplied Wash Day Review
To start, I chose products mainly from the Moisture & Repair line because it contained the shampoo and conditioner. I also initially purchased the deep conditioner from the Strength & Length line. In testing these products, I followed my wash-day process in the order below.
Earth Supplied Sulfate-Free Shampoo
13 oz. – $6.29, sallybeauty.com
The shampoo has the silky pearlescent look and feel of most moisturizing shampoos, but it left my hair squeaky clean. Although we look to conditioner to help us detangle hair, I am partial to a shampoo that has “slip.” The last thing I want to do after detangling my hair is to undo that work with shampoo that tangles my hair. The Earth Supplied shampoo does not do that. Furthermore, it cleans without stripping.
Verdict: Mighty Fine
Earth Supplied Strong Strands Protein Masque
12 oz. – $6.29, sallybeauty.com
I bought this deep conditioner because it was the first one available to me, and it did not disappoint. As part of the Strength & Length collection, it claims to hydrate, reconstruct, and improve elasticity, among other things. It has a whipped, gelly-cream texture (similar to the Keracare Curlessence Leave-in), that makes it easy to apply. While rinsing out this product, I immediately noticed that my shedding was reduced. My most recent use was immediately after blow-drying and curling my hair. I had used lots of heat protectant but I was still concerned about reversion. My hair usually turns back, but the curls aren’t always “springy” for the first couple of washes. This masque helped return the elasticity to my hair after the first wash.
Verdict: High and Mighty
Earth Supplied Butter Rich Deep Treatment Masque
1.75 oz. – $2.50, familydollar.com
After I had used the Earth Supplied Line for a month, I put my hair up in twists for another 4 weeks. I chose to try the Butter Rich Deep Treatment Masque to deep condition my hair after the takedown. This deep conditioner comes plentiful in its package. I don’t have the longest hair, but it is thick, and I only used half the packet for one application. At first squeeze, the texture is very firm – it is in no way watered down. After leaving it to work for about 30 minutes, my hair did feel quite a bit more “lively,” but it had very little slip. This concerned me a bit, but after trusting the process, I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome. The expectation of a deep conditioner is that it provides results lasting longer than its rinse-out counterparts. My hair stayed moisturized for almost a week without much intervention.
Verdict: Mighty Fine
Earth Supplied Silicone Free Rinse Out Conditioner
13 oz. – $6.29, sallybeauty.com
Unlike a deep conditioner, I have an expectation that my rinse-out conditioner provides slip – it’s non-negotiable. The Silicone Free Rinse Out Conditioner did a pretty good job of that. I have used it after my deep conditioner to help further detangle my hair, and I have used it immediately after my shampoo for a wash and go. It doesn’t necessarily leave the slippery coating I’ve grown accustomed to, and I am growing to appreciate that (more on that in a moment). I do wish it assisted more in detangling, though.
Verdict: OK
Earth Supplied Leave-In Conditioner
12 oz. – $6.29, sallybeauty.com
I mentioned above that I’m kind of happy that my rinse-out, surface conditioner doesn’t leave a lot of film or residue. Why? Because this leave-in is RICH, rich. I’ve used spray leave-ins, creamy, jelly-like leave-ins, and I’ve used custards. I think this may be the heaviest leave-in conditioner I’ve ever used. This product has the texture of a stiff whipped shea butter, which is unsurprising – it boasts containing 20% shea butter. As a leave-in conditioner it does do the job of sealing in moisture and helping the hair become manageable for further styling. I would just recommend using it sparingly to start – a little goes a long way.
Verdict: Mighty Fine
Earth Supplied Curl-Poppin Activator
13 oz. – $6.29, sallybeauty.com
Last but not least, I used the Curl Poppin’ Activator to style my hair. I used this product both to do my twist-outs and shingled it for a wash and go. When I think of curl activators, I think of liquid sprays. I’ve had marginal success with those in the past, but never enough to keep using them. I didn’t know what to expect from a cream curl-activator, but for my tight 4a/4b/4c curls, this product did exactly what the name suggested. This styler produced well-defined, elongated curls. Although the product doesn’t claim to add hold, the weight of the butter helped set and maintain the pattern a bit. For my twist-out, I was able to get second- and third-day hair without retwisting.
Verdict: Mighty Fine
Wash Day Results
I was very impressed with the results of my twistouts. On my most recent wash day, the first two or three nights after I took it down, I just slapped a bonnet on it and kept it moving. On day 4 or 5, I went ahead and retwisted my hair. I was able to do so without much, if any, additional product, and my retwisted hair was soft, fluffy, and voluminous. My hair was still nicely moisturized from my wash day.
On the wash and go, my natural hair was defined, but I was quickly reminded why I don’t do this style anymore – it took FOREVER to dry. This is not unusual, but not as forgiving in a product that is heavier and white. Like the leave-in conditioner, I would err on the side of “less is more” and be prepared to diffuse or sit under the dryer.
A Note About Beards
My husband, Casper, now wears his hair bald and beautiful, but he balances his coif (or lack thereof) with a full beard. Casper has dense type 4 hair like mine, but it’s a bit more coarse and less porous. He has often wanted to wear his beard more stretched but hasn’t had much success in the past. He’s tried many beard butters, potions, and lotions to no avail. I hypothesized that one day a product I had in my stash would work on kinky facial hair.
One day while traveling, I casually put some of the Earth Supplied Leave-in in his beard before bed. Here’s what he had to say:
As a follow-up, he allowed me to service his beard from shampoo to leave-in, much like I’d do my own hair. He, too, reported softer, more manageable hair for a longer period of time.
Final Verdict
High and Mighty!!
Earth Supplied delivers on its promise of “more butter, less bull.” All the products I’ve used so far have worked very well for my highly textured hair, improving the moisture, strength, and elasticity. Also, I must note that my experience with customer service has been positive. In doing research for this review, I emailed the company a product question on a Sunday evening, thinking a response would be a longshot. On Monday morning, I had a thorough, pleasant answer.
Since beginning this test, I have also gone back and purchased the Retention Oil Serum, and I intend to try other products in the future. Although, I had a small few drawbacks to point out, the line on a whole is stellar. Where the individual products have shortcomings, they work in concert together to fill in any gaps. The fact that the brand is available at such an affordable price at common retailers is also promising, in terms of making natural haircare accessible to everyone. In this short time, Earth Supplied has become one of my favorite lines, and I forsee it becoming a staple in my collection.
