Shea Moisture continues to delight with product after quality product, and the newest expansion (a least it’s new for me) of the Jamaican Black Castor Oil Strengthen, Grow & Restore line because I was really feeling the leave-in conditioner and the styling lotion, and I reported on it here. Imagine my surprise when I saw that there’s a clarifying shampoo and treatment mask, sold at ULTA of all places.

Clarifying shampoos can be tricky. Sometimes they’re so harsh they strip everything from the hair, leaving your hair brittle and thirsty. But not this one. It contains shea butter and apple cider vinegar (which is great for shine and healthy pH levels on the scalp). The label claims that the shea butter and vinegar work to aid with growth, but I’m skeptical on that–yes; it made my hair feel amazing, smelled like vanilla, and had a great lather, but I’m not sure applying those ingredients will stimulate my hair follicles. What it might do is loosen the tangles to reduce mechanical breakage, which would lead to maintaining length but that’s as far as I go in endorsing those claims.

Afterward I applied the Treatment Mask, which also contains shea butter, peppermint and keratin. I left the conditioner on for one hour under a plastic cap, and…*cue the angels* my hair was buttery soft and it did feel really strong. However, I felt absolutely no tingle from the peppermint, but I didn’t really care about that. If you want to stimulate hair follicles by encouraging blood flow with massage and essential oils, you can do that separately. I don’t apply conditioner to my scalp anyway–just my hair.

After all of that, my hair feels soft, strong and easy to style.

In other beauty news, MAC has a new line of concealers…

The Conceal & Correct collection in its permanent line-up. The customizable color collection delivers a lightweight feel to the skin with a highly concentrated formula to conceal dark circles, blemishes, moles, tattoos and birthmarks. The range features MAC STUDIO FINISH CONCEALER DUO in six color combinations ($25); MAC STUDIO FINISH CONCEAL AND CORRECT DUO ($30) in four color combinations; MAC STUDIO CHROMAGRAPHIC PENCIL ($16) in three shades; and the 195 Concealer and 217 Blending Brushes ($24).

Finally, You Tube is full of beauty gurus, but it’s sometimes hard to find a hub that has everything. I’m mildly intrigued by the announcement of Beauty TV. Lots of good makeup and skin care tips, but I didn’t see much on black hair care. But I like that it has good basic information, like how to fill in your eyebrows and how to create a classic smokey eye.