Wash Day Reviews: Bee Mine Bee-U-Ti-ful Conditioner

My Hair Situation

So for years I've used Aubrey Honeysuckle Rose conditioner as my go-to for moisturising. Whether I was natural or relaxed, this easily accessible natural health store find was my staple. I first heard about it on longhaircareforum.com and even now it still seems to be the holy grail item of the decade.

 The problem is--it does nothing for my hair.

I've pre-pooed with it, instant conditioned with it, used heat for 20 minutes post wash and used no heat for an hour. No matter what--it does nothing for my hair. The best it's ever worked was when I mixed it in equal amounts with Giovanni 50:50 Balanced Conditioner and a bit of honey. Taking that mixture and going under my dome dryer for 30 minutes seemed to do the trick. Until I realised--why should I have to go through this much trouble for it to work?? Even now, I still wonder why I keep using it. If it weren't for it being natural, I probably would have given up long ago.

The final straw came when I looked at the ingredients and noticed Alcohol Denat there. Now, apparently there's some controversy over this ingredient and Aubrey's "revised" ingredient list. Either way, I decided I need to find alternatives to this potentially drying and obviously useless product.

That's when I decided to try Bee Mine Bee-U-Ti-ful Conditioner. The beauty of this deep conditioner is that it is protein-free and contains BTMS which is supposed to be a great aid in moisturising/detangling hair.  I bought this in a sample size to try out. By this stage I was already two-weeks post relaxer with chronically dry hair.

Why This Product

I wanted to try Henna Sooq's Hair Nourisher as well as Darcy's Botanicals new Cocoa Bean Moisturising Hair Whip. Both products are accessible in Canada, but ridiculously expensive. Since I don't know how they would perform in my hair I didn't want to take a chance on them. Bee Mine on the other hand had some of the same ingredients and many naturals raved about this conditioner. So I took the dive because they actually offered an affordable sample size.

How I Used It

So I made sure my hair was made completely fresh and Ph-balanced by chelating my hair with Organic Root Stimulator neutralizing shampoo. I followed with SLS-free, more natural Shea All Naturals Shea Butter shampoo. I then applied my generic Joico-Kpak (from American Sally's) and left it on for 3 minutes. Although my hair has a bit of a protein overload issue, I wanted to make sure post-relaxer that my newly relaxed roots had an extra "boost".

I then followed up with the Bee Mine. It smells a lot like some sort of dessert, but is not overpowering.

The texture is hard to describe exactly because although it is creamy, it feels light and goes on very smooth rather than globby (I'm looking at you Aubrey). You can also feel it sinking into your hair and you know it will do something. If you have used Nexxus Humectress, I would say the texture is comparable to that, but richer.

Though the instructions say to use a generous amount (and I am generous, believe me) it does seem like the texture allows you to use a lot less than you think you would need.

The instructions also say to leave it on for 10 minutes with your hair under a plastic cap. Well, I left it on for an hour and a half. I was busy. ;)

Results

I rinsed my hair and I noticed that while it was damp/wet it didn't feel that soft. I was a bit worried that it didn't work. Then--once it dried (I usually air-dry) it felt great! This was how I think my hair should have felt a long time ago.

Final Thoughts

I wish this wasn't so freaking expensive! Because this product comes from an on-line retailer and only in the States, shipping alone makes this product difficult to invest in. Furthermore, though my 2-oz sample is less than $6, the full-sized one is near $20!

Since this is a wash-day (first trial) review, I really can't say decisively if this is a staple or if I recommend it or not. It definitely worked better than plain Aubrey on its first try. I also can't say if the amount of time I left it on my hair made the difference versus the product actually being that good. Plus, I would love to see how this holds up after an intensive protein or henna treatment.

For now I will say although I do love this deep conditioner, I need to try it more to see if it's worth the price. Worst case scenario, I might simply alternate this with something else and save it for emergencies.

Stay tuned for a future follow-up.