21-05-2025
From Coconut Curling Cream to the new Weightless range – the 10 best Cantu products for type 3 and 4 hair
When it comes to washday, Cantu is a brand that has become completely synonymous with many of our routines. As a beauty journalist, there are very few brands that my non-industry friends and family (who have lives that don't revolve around beauty 24/7) will rave about, but Cantu is one of them. With products like the Coconut Curling Cream and Shea Butter deep treatment mask, they have become a staple in the Black community but I have to admit, as a straight natural, I always worried that their products are were too heavy for me and the way I like to style my hair. So, bar using their Deep Treatment Masque and Edge Control gel for sleeked back buns, I didn't incorporate Cantu as regularly into my weekly routine.
But, after some feedback, the brand has slowly been reformulating their range to make products less heavy and more suitable for all curls, coils and wave types. So, we decided to put an array of the products to the test to give our honest verdict on how we rate Cantu for our washday routines. Here, Cosmo's Beauty Director Keeks is joined by Black Beauty Hub tester Shyvonne to try out the best Cantu hair products.
Keeks and Shyvonne were sent an extensive range of Cantu products to try and picked the ones most suited to their hair type and styling needs. Both tested the products and tools over weeks, spanning multiple washdays to see how they worked amongst their regular routines and to see how their hair felt in comparison to before they tested the products.
Hair type: Type 3 fine curls
Hair story: I used to wage war against my thick curls – my straighteners in one hand, and my soft brush in another – all to 'tame' my curls (they used to break hair brushes) and live up to the poker straight hair trends of the noughties. Years later, and with lots of heat damage and thinning, I regret not loving and caring for my naturally curly 3B hair.
I've been through loads of products trying to find the ones that work for my hair and Cantu's latest line for curly hair has exceeded my expectations.
Avocado is meant to be great for hair due to its dense nutritional ingredients such as Biotin, healthy fats and oils – which my hair is crying out for. The shampoo is infused with Avocado oil and Shea Butter and is super silky and smooth when pouring it out of the bottle. It lathers up in an instant and is probably one of the first shampoos that hasn't left my hair feeling as rough as straw after washing. It helps that it smells amazing too.
A conditioner without the nasties – there are no SLS/SLES sulphates, silicones or mineral oils which can strip moisture from the hair leading to frizz, breakage and dry hair.
The thick conditioner needs some arm strength and plenty of shaking and tapping to get it out of the bottle which can be difficult when your head is tipped upside-down. But, after applying a generous amount, working it from my ends towards the roots of my hair, and letting it sit for a few minutes before detangling it, I could see the difference it was making.
I then rinsed it off with cool water (a step that is also mentioned on the back of the bottle), and the conditioner left my hair feeling soft, smooth and silky. As a bonus I could also see my curls starting to form. This is definitely going to be my go-to conditioner.
I absolutely hate detangling my hair (hence the years of straightening), but as part of the new, curly-haired me, I'm going to have to find a way to do it that's manageable. The flexible detangling brush was a dream to use. While the conditioner sat in my hair, I worked my way from the tips to the roots with the brush which practically glided through the hair and didn't put stress on the other strands with it's anti-snagging skills.
I even used it on my toddler's corkscrew 3C hair, and it was super gentle in her hair which meaning we finally had a good hair brushing experience – she wasn't pulling and screaming at me due to the pulling, and I wasn't trying to rush through because of her screaming and pulling at me. Win win.
Cantu snapped with this curl cream – when they said weightless, they meant weightless. Curl creams usually leave my hair weighed down, flat and lifeless, which is not the one when your hairs already as thin as paper, but this curl cream is a game-changer.
I applied the cream to my sectioned, damp hair working it upwards towards the roots, before using Cantu's Curl Definer Brush, (because my hair re-tangles easily) to help detangle, separate and define the curls.
After some scrunching and a little diffusing on a cool setting I was able to get loose, bouncy curls that were featherlight.
The weightless formula is also free from drying alcohol, mineral oils, silicones, paraffin and parabens and also contains organic blue agave which, according to the bottle, is 'known to help promote stringer, smoother, healthier-looking hair'.
Cantu's Curl Sculptor is a tool to help to create curls like you would with a regular brush. I found it quite fiddly to work with and although I followed the instructions to insert the hair, roll and hold and then slide the tool out, due to my hair's thinness and new-found silkiness. it would just slide right out during the 'roll and hold' step. The instructions still tell you to scrunch the hair and I felt that just going straight to scrunching was a better step for me.
I think if you have long, thick curly hair, this tool will help save a lot of time, but it's just not one for me.
My dry curls are ready for some styling. Using the Updo brush I smoothed the top half of my hair into my half-up, half-down style. The brush done its job gathering and smoothing the hair into my hair tie. My only critique is that it's quite dense and the bristles were a little rough for my head which I found irritating on my scalp. I would love to see this brush in more bristle types as I prefer a softer brush.
Hair type: Type 4 medium density coils
Hair story: I have very dense natural hair but it's actually not thick. So, while there are many strands on my head, they get weighed down easily with heavy, greasy products. While my hair is natural textured, I'm a straight natural that blow-dries every washday and gets a Texture Release twice a year, so for me, my hair products need to hydrate but able to somewhat repair.
This is an excellent shampoo for just getting rid of build up and grim, and because it's lightweight, everyone can use it; from fine hair to super thick.
Essentially, if you need a clarifying shampoo without any of the dryness that traditional ones can leave, you need to add this to you basket, stat. I found that a double cleanse was the sweet spot for me but if you don't use a lot of oils or gels then a single cleanse once a week with this is excellent.
This teamed with my Weightless Shampoo was really a dynamic duo. My hair really cannot stand a heavy conditioner. Whew, if my hair is gone-with-the-wind Kenya Moore, then a heavy conditioner is Phaedra Parks, chile.
So, beside an infrequent hydrating treatment, I stick to lightweight conditioners like this. It contains organic agave and shea butter to smooth and moisturise hair, so it gives a nice, natural slip. If you're used to silicone-based conditioners you might find this doesn't feel as smooth but I promise it's just because you're used to a synthetic feel but the softness is real.
While the active part of my washdays (the bit in the shower) are pretty quick, I always start my care the night before with a scalp treatment. This one is for the hair and scalp but I preferred using it just as a scalp treatment that I wash out in the morning.
I apply it generously to my scalp and then use the pads of my fingertips to massage it in, before plaiting my hair and going to bed. It has such a lovely herbaceous scent and soothing feel and while I can't comment on it's ability to help with hair growth (as there are too many variable factors in my routine right now) it helped with my scalp dryness and soothing itchiness in abundance.
When I do wear my hair out with so of its natural texture this is my go-to cream. The brand has recently reformulated it (and changed the packaging) and I think it's better, as it feels lighter which means I don't feel like I want to wash it out the next day. I like to use this cream for braid-outs so I rewet my hair after blowdrying so it's slightly damp and then apply a little of this, about a grape-sized amount and then cornrow my hair into four, letting it dry overnight. My hair feels so smooth and soft the next day, which I love, but if you want more hold you can cocktail this with a gel to help it set better.
Keeks Reid is the Beauty Director at Cosmopolitan UK. While she loves all things beauty, Keeks is a hair fanatic through and through. She started her career in beauty journalism in 2013 as editorial assistant at Blackhair and Hair magazines working her way to Acting Editor of Blackhair magazine at 23 years old. She spent much of her career working in trade hairdressing media at Hairdressers Journal, Salon International and the British Hairdressing Awards. Which is why she is a regular contributor to Cosmo's Curl Up franchise. Now, alongside her Cosmo work, she presents, creates content on social media and works with a range of beauty companies; from magazines and websites to beauty brands and salons.
