Qhemet vs Shea Moisture

**NubianPrize** · 03-31-2012, 12:07 AM

Which do you like best for your hair, Qhemet or Shea Moisture?
I like Qhemet A LOT & after using it all winter decided to try SM Curl smoothie & Deep treatment masque last week after hearing such good reviews & seeing that line in Target & Walgreens. Wasn't impressed with the masque after applying it post shampoo & leaving it on for about 15" with a plastic cap on. Didn't seem to really penetrate my hair & after rinse out it didn't feel conditioned or softened. Afterwards I used the smoothie. It was better but I had to use a lot to get it to soften my hair.Again,it didn't feel like it had penetrated enough. I used it & put my damp hair in twists & in the morning my hair felt dry/oily & a bit crinkly so I sprayed it with water & reapplied it & it came out nice & soft. As for the masque I decided to use it like the smoothie & do a spritz & twist instead of a DC. Came out very nice. I do notice that I have to reapply them & spritz almost nightly because my hair dries out during the day, and it feels like buildup is forming. Don't really have that with Qhemet. Maybe it's the protein & the fact that my hair is fine. Anyhoo I do like the SM I tried but feel there's a learning curve & some tweaking involved here so I can't make a clear decision yet. How do those of you who've used both compare them?

**Akomas_Angel** · 03-31-2012, 01:06 AM

I've only tried the shampoo and the smoothie. I had a slight allergic reaction to the shampoo due to my eczema but beyond that my hair did not feel overly dry after use.

I've been using the smoothie until I can re-up my QB stash and it is descent. It definitely creates build up. It definitely does not penetrate as well as QB products does and over time my hair feels dry. I have had to experiment with mixing it with other products in order to avoid having dry, crunchy hair.

But, for the price point and the amount you get for the price, it serves it's purpose. I'm a QB baby all the way.

**Batyah** · 03-31-2012, 04:04 AM

I've been using Qhemet Biologics products for about 6 years now. It's my staple hair products line when it comes to conditioning and styling my hair. Then last year, I started using Shea Moisture products and fell in love with the gold label shampoo and conditioner, elixir and the Coconut & Hibiscus Moisture Mist (pink label). The shampoo and conditioner both soften my hair which helps with detangling when I use my QB Moringa Tree Conditioning Ghee. So for me, both product lines produce excellent results when grooming my hair and maintaining my styles. It's hard for me to say which one I like the best because they both work so well.

**gilroygal** · 03-31-2012, 04:13 AM

I think they are both great product lines. I was exclusively using the gold label rpoducts and they worked extremely well, but I ended up disliking the shampoo because it affected my scalp. I DO think Qhemet smells better, but she uses citrus oils, so I can't use them either. They were AWESOME for my hair as well, but I have so many scalp issues. The Moringa Ghee was nice, but my favorite product from them was the Amla and Olive Heavy cream.

**OHR** · 03-31-2012, 06:35 AM

The only product I"ve used from the SM line is the black soap shampoo. I like it ok, but I find that it strips a bit.

I will never stop using QB's AOHC. I don't need much to get the results I want.

**CCmomof5** · 03-31-2012, 03:14 PM

While I really like SM, I recently had to accept that the smoothie does build up on me, and the protein in it causes my hair to get crunchy after a while. It's been a while since I used Qhemet's Alma & Olive Heavy Cream, but from what I remember, it did not cause the build up that the SM smoothie has. However, for now, I am only buying products that I can get in local stores (not willing to pay higher prices AND shipping costs), so Qhemet's is not an option. My next experiment will be to see if adding oil to the SM deep treatment masque can give me results similar to Qhemet's heavy cream. If it does, it will be SM gold & black label products all the way for me.

**GalaxyGirl2012** · 03-31-2012, 08:30 PM

i voted qhemet.

my hair doesnt like shea butter, so qhem is about the only natural product line i can use since it seems so many mixers are lumping shea into just about everything.

i do use the curling souffle from shea moistures and i's OK for wash n goes

**youwillrise** · 03-31-2012, 09:43 PM

ive only tried one qhemet product and it was some years back...i forget which one it was, might have been the burdock root whatchamacallit. i didnt like it back then...i havent tried anything else since then.

i tried the original shea moisture leave in that everyone raved about years back and my hair hated that.

i have tried some of the newer shea moisture products lately and i love them. the coconut & hibiscus curl & style cream...as well as the deep treatment masque.

the moisture i get from these is actually incomparable to anything ive tried over the years...ive only been using the products for about 2 weeks, but so far so great. for a long time i thought my hair hated shea butter because it always seemed like any product i tried with it, didnt agree with my hair...but these have been working well for me.

**NubianPrize** · 04-02-2012, 02:44 AM

Originally Posted by CCmomof5

While I really like SM, I recently had to accept that the smoothie does build up on me, and the protein in it causes my hair to get crunchy after a while. It's been a while since I used Qhemet's Alma & Olive Heavy Cream, but from what I remember, it did not cause the build up that the SM smoothie has. However, for now, I am only buying products that I can get in local stores (not willing to pay higher prices AND shipping costs), so Qhemet's is not an option. My next experiment will be to see if adding oil to the SM deep treatment masque can give me results similar to Qhemet's heavy cream. If it does, it will be SM gold & black label products all the way for me.

I guess these products are just not right for my hair. I'm gonna have to just stick with Qhemet , Carol's Daughter, & KCCC. Yesterday I gave SM another try, this time just washing ,using a little Giovanni leave in & then twisting with the DT masque instead of the smoothie. My hair came out soft but stiff & a bit dry;felt like buildup,which made it difficult to put in 2 rows; felt like straw.So today I used the Cd Tui line: shampoo,
smoothie, hair elixir & twisted with hair butter. My hair is 99% dry now & the twists are nice & soft & "floppy", not stiff & straw like. I guess there's some combo in SM my hair doesn't like even tho I've used most of the ingredients in other products.