Okay, full disclosure, my hair was in a weird place when I tried the NYMN Blue Sea Kale and Coconut Water Shampoo & Conditioner the first time. That said, I’ve got a pretty good first impression of the products, with pictures to share with you all. I had to try the shampoo/conditioner alone before the mousse , but I have a first impression of all three items within this post (including pictures) as well as the refresh days. Prior to my first use, my week had consisted of Co-washing on Tuesday, Co-washing on Friday, Clarifying and Deep Conditioning on Saturday. This is NOT normal for me. Considering I had a previously established routine of low-poo and condition every 4 days (click here for that wash and go routine), it’s safe to say my hair and scalp were FREAKING OUT. That said, I was too excited not to try these out. So I washed the evening I bought them! I’ll make sure to do an additional review once I’ve got more solidified results. Real quick, I purchased all products myself from Walmart (shampoo/conditioner) and Ulta (the mousse). These products are not consistently at Walmart stores. They are available at Walgreens (link!) if you need a drugstore.
What Made me Buy the NYMN Blue Sea Kale and Coconut Water Shampoo and Conditioner
My true first impression was in the store. I was at Walmart and pursuing the selection of curly girl products because my hair was looking horrendous. As mentioned above, it was quite the week for my hair. I came upon the Not Your Mother’s Naturals and this packaging caught my eye. I have used the “NYMN Pink” Conditioner and wasn’t pleased, but something about this said, “Open me!” Maybe it’s fate because Kale is in the name, or maybe it’s because I love coconut water, but I decided to at least smell the stuff. After all, my biggest complaint (after the price) about Devacurl Low Poo Original is the smell. WOW. Just WOW. Amazing! This smells tropical but not in a fruity way, and is strong but not perfume-y. The coconut scent was much lighter than many other coconut products. I couldn’t say I smelled the blue sea kale, but who knows. Does anyone actually know what “blue sea kale” smells like?
Anyways, even my toddler went “Ohh, smells nice Mommy!” Fun fact, while many would disagree, I don’t like the smell of the other “Naturals” lines. None of them. I don’t necessarily dislike them, but the blue sea kale and coconut water line is the only one that has me impressed with the scent. Another reason I picked this up is that I was itching to try a full “line” of products. The last “line” I used all together was Devacurl. Not only does it make me happy to have matching bottles, but I do think formulas are developed to work together. So I picked up both the shampoo and conditioner for a total of about $17. Actually, as I write this, I have since picked up the Weightless Mousse
which I will add into this review once I have tried it.
First Impression of the NYMN Blue Sea Kale and Coconut Water Shampoo (Low-Poo)
This is a low-poo, so there are cleansing properties but the product is sulfate free. First thing, I squirted into my hand what I’d typically use for my first round of DevaCurl Low Poo Original. BIG MISTAKE. This was way too much! This shampoo gave me almost as much lather as a normal sulfate shampoo would. OR maybe it’s because I used 4x what I needed too. Who knows. I used so much I had handfuls on handfuls of extra lather. It was pretty funny actually. It also makes me really happy because I have to use so much of the Devacurl Low Poo. Clearly, I will be able to get away with using far less, and that makes me happy. The NYMN Blue Sea Kale and Coconut Water Shampoo is 1/3 of the price of my tried and true Devacurl Low Poo Original, and I probably need to use 1/2 the amount per wash. That’s an insane savings! As mentioned before I even tried the products,the smell was divine. My whole showe
r smelled like a vacation. Again, with all of that extra, of course it did! This low poo rinsed out clean but still left my hair feeling soft and moisturized. For me, low-poo takes time to see if it will work with my hair. The first use is often great, but if it’s drying I won’t know it for a several washes. So time will tell, and I’ll be sure to update!
First Impression of the NYMN Blue Sea Kale and Coconut Water Conditioner
I’m going to start off with a quick description of why I didn’t like “NYMN Pink” conditioner…it was REALLY thick, yet offered very little slip to my hair for detangling. Also, it didn’t rinse out well and left my hair feeling very weighed down, especially for days 2/3/4. Quick update: I did find a way to use the NYMN Pink Conditioner…as a deep treatment! Click here to read about that. When I got the first pump out of the dark blue, the consistency was similar to the Pink, and that made me nervous. In use, it did feel a bit thinner in consistency, but overall was still quite thick compared to other conditioners I’ve used. That said, the NYMN blue sea kale and coconut water conditioner seemed to work much better for detangling! The slip was good. Not great, but better than the Pink one for sure. The bottle says “weightless hydration” so hopefully longer term this proves true. With my 2A/2B waves, I need the hydration but without the build up and weight!
How I Styled After Washing/Conditioning:
Immediately After
A little homemade flax seed gel to enhance curls and topped it with DevaCurl B’Leave in. I’ll be honest I was on the fence about using B’Leave in Or Aussie Instant Freeze Gel. But I used the B’Leave in and immediately plopped my soaking hair in a tshirt. I went to sleep about an hour after this shower and micraculously my hair stayed plopped all night.
The Next Morning
Woke up – I took my hair out of my plop and “uh oh” was my instant reaction to the NYMN Blue Sea Kale line air dried. My hair was 95% dry and frizz was clearly about to happen. I clipped my bangs up and hoped for the best, but once I got to work headed straight for the bathroom. My hair was really frizzy. To be fair, I’m 32 weeks pregnant and I toss and turn ALL night. I also didn’t use a strong hold gel or anything.
At Work….
Once I realized my hair looked how it did, I carefully wet my hands and lightly smoothed down the frizzy sections. I then added in Tresseme Tres Mousse by lightly scrunching it into the newly dampened sections. I keep a little travel size of this stuff at my desk and it’s been a lifesaver! This time was no exception. My hair dried MUCH better after this and looked pretty good!
After a Long Day
Time will tell if these results are consistent, but my hair looks a bit….stringy? There are bits that have good definition, but it isn’t my favorite look. I desparately need a haircut but after my last experience (read about that here, it was ROUGH!) I’m holding out until I can get to a wavy/curly hair expert. The body was pretty good with my hair. My roots are flat but that’s because I plopped and don’t diffuse. To me the time is more worth it than voluminous roots. The stringyness is what concerns me, because that’s often a sign that my hair is going to look weighed down from product the following day. But we will see!
Day 2 Refresh Results
I went to bed without doing anything protective for my hair. I just went to sleep and tossed all night as most 32 week pregnant women do. So when I woke up and went to grab my makeup, I as pleasantly surprised to see my hair. Don’t get me wrong, it’s total behead, but the frizz could’ve been much worse and my hair still had decent definition. Woo! I refreshed by spritzing water and lightly adding in Aussie Headstrong Volume Mousse (at this time I hadn’t purchased the NYMN mousse). I tend to use as little mousse as possible because I continue to add more with each day. Once I added this I let it all air dry, and the results were good! Better than my day 1 hair in my opinion, which is typical for me. I think my hair likes mousse, so I was super excited to try out the NYMN Blue Sea Kale Coconut Water Weightless Mousse. This definition lasted throughout the day. No complaints. My hair looks just as good as when I use DevaCurl products.
Day 3 Refresh
I woke up and forgot to take a bedhead picture because I had to wash my face (I normally use micellar water but I had an overnigth mask on) and left it up in a bun. Again overnight I didn’t do anything protective. Once I was ready to do my hair I again spritzed with water and added the aussie mousse where needed. My hair looks a bit flatter today but again this is typical. I have no complaints. My routine is pretty low maintenance for wavy hair. I don’t diffuse, I dair dry, and I don’t sleep with my hair any particular way. Could I get better hair results if I did the above? probably. In fact I did order the Xtava Black Orchid Diffuser a couple of days ago. But really, my hair just isn’t a priority right now. I want to look decent. don’t get me wrong. But I’m 32 weeks pregnant, I have a toddler and a puppy (and a loving husband!), am working 50+hour work weeks and take online grad school classes. Having perfect hair comes way after all of those aforementioned things.
First Impression of the NYMN Blue Sea Kale and Coconut Water Weightless Mousse
Okay so quick little “2nd impression” of the Shampoo and Conditioner is that I feel the same about what I originally wrote, except I knew how much shampoo to use this time. Again, I showered at night. I went ahead and flipped my head over and did a final rinse of cool water. Then I immediately scrunched mousse into my very wet clumps of waves. The bottle directions say to “use 2-3 pumps in hair, then style as desired.” I probably used 5 pumps on my wet hair and even then was pretty sure it wasn’t enough. My hair did not stay clumped and already appeared to have ”flyaways” even though soaking wet. This is not typical for my hair I use other stylers. I decided to let it go and deal with any issues in the morning. Then, I plopped my soaking hair in a cotton shirt. I kept this plopped overnight.
In the Morning and Refresh Days
I took my hair out of the plop and was a bit surprised, the mousse had given me a bit more hold than expected! My hair was 90% dry and frizz was on the horizon, though less than anticipated. I went ahead and lightly scrunched in a little water on any “frizz” prone sections (mainly the crown of my head) and added in a few more pumps of the mousse. I allowed my hair to air dry more, and added in a bit more mousse as needed. The result looks pretty great. I have definition to my waves from near the roots down through the lengths and it does not appear weighed down. The issues though? This product seems a bit drying and I had to use a lot. Probably around 15 pumps total to get this desired effect. It felt like I used ⅕ of the bottle in one style, and I will still need to refresh in the coming days! Here are the photos of Day 1/2/3 using the full line and water + NYMN mousse to refresh.
Other Thoughts on the Mousse
I still have to chuckle at the directions. “2-3 pumps” might work if you have a pixie cut or very short style. I also think it’s a bit odd that the directions then say “style as desired.” Are they referring to heat styling, or are they acknowledging that you won’t get enough hold to use this alone? It’s not really clear. Finally, while my hair does look good I think this would quickly dry out my hair. My hands actually feel dry from scrunching this into my hair, like they do after using hand sanitizer. This even more so makes me want to be sure I add in moisture before further use.
OVERALL FIRST IMPRESSION OF THE NYMN BLUE SEA KALE AND COCONUT WATER LINE
My first impression is ⅔ of this line is great! The shampoo and conditioner are awesome. My results are good and it’s an affordable option that works well with our extremely hard water and smells amazing. I can’t ask for much more, and I’m excited to continue to use these up. The mousse seems a bit drying and a lot is needed.
As of now the mousse doesn’t quite seem worth it, but I’d like to give it a fair shot before I really say that. At this point, I think I get more out of my Aussie Headstrong Volume Mousse (which is less than 1/2 the price of the NYMN Blue Sea Kale and Coconut Water Mousse). Time will tell!
Have YOU tried the NYMN Blue Sea Kale and Coconut Water line? Let me know your thoughts!
-Rachel
Related: EASY homemade Flax Seed Gel. No Nylons required.
Purchase the Products:
Click here to see/purchase the Low Poo
Hey Rachel,
I just stumbled upon your blog. I wanted to share, I have hair similar to you and I love the Not Your Mother’s Natural Coconut Milk and Marula Oil shampoo and conditioner. I use these products with the LA looks extreme sport gel. 🙂 Thanks for blogging about wavy/curl hair!
Thanks so much for the recommendation! I haven’t tried that NYMN line yet. I’ll check it out 🙂 and of course! -Rachel