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Curl Smith vs. Bounce Curl? Which One?

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If you’ve spent any amount of time looking for curly hair tutorials on youtube or Instagram, you’ve probably seen both Curl Smith and Bounce Curl Floating around.

Today I’m sharing Curl Smith vs. Bounce Curl? Which One? To give you an inside, non-biased look into the products.

There is nothing more annoying than spending good money on a product that ends up sucking.

So I developed a 4-step system for choosing the right curly hair products and I compiled it into a downloadable file as a quick guide to help you make an informed decision when purchasing products.

You can print this download or save it to your phone as a quick reference. 

Click here to get the 4-step cheat sheet for choosing products

Product Guide

Click here to get the 4-step cheat sheet for choosing products

When I decided to start wearing my hair curly again, the first thing I did was find other curly girls that had similar hair to mine. 

I wanted to know exactly what they were using and why they were using it. 

After finding several girls on Instagram that had very similar hair to mine, I started seeing multiple posts about two different brands. 

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I spent the first 6 months of my curly journey using primarily drugstore products mainly because I wanted to….

  1. Experiment on my curls with affordable products
  2. Know if there truly was a difference between drugstore and high-end products

Important note: If you are new to the curly girl method or just started to wear your hair curly, I highly recommend starting with drugstore products. 

There is a level of experimenting when it comes to curly hair and it’s better to experiment with an affordable product so you don’t waste money.

And when it comes to having great curls, the secret is found in how you are caring for your curls daily. 

Products are great, but they are only as good as the user. 

That’s why I always recommend keeping a detailed log of your curly girl journey for the first 6 months. 

This will enable you to look back on your wash day and see what is working and what isn’t.

You can certainly keep track of your curly journey with a paper and pencil. 

But if you want to get fancy, you can get this daily curl tracker that I designed specifically for the curly girl. 

About my hair

When recommending or reviewing products, I like to give a baseline of my hair type and texture to give you a better idea of whether the products I use will work for your curls. 

My hair is made up of 2c-3a curls, is medium density, and medium porosity. If that doesn’t make sense to you then check out the two posts below. 

After straightening, over-processing, and experiencing postpartum hair loss, I decided that it was time to start embracing my curls. Read more about my story here. 

It’s been an interesting journey filled with many failed washday days and money wasted on products that didn’t work, but I am so glad to say that my hair is more healthy now than it’s ever been and I have truly learned to love and accept my curls. 

My whole curly journey has been focused on regrowth (due to my postpartum hair loss) and simply repairing my hair. 

So I have spent a lot of time doing different hair masques and treatments to help rebuild the hair shaft.

Curl Smith vs. Bounce Curl? Which One?

Note: This post may contain affiliate links. Meaning that at no cost to you, I may make a small commission off anything you purchase through my link. But don’t worry, I never promote products that I don’t believe in or truly love <3 

Curl Smith vs. Bounce Curl? Which One?

One of the first products I kept seeing used by curl girl with similar hair to mine was Bounce Curl. 

I read many blog posts and watched countless reviews on both product lines and finally decided to order and test both. 

Below is my detailed review of both product lines. 

Bounce Curl

Bounce curl is a female-owned and the products were created by a gorgeous woman who struggled to care for curly hair. I love that she openly relates to the curly girl struggle. You can read here story here

Pros

  • Clean according to the think dirty app

The majority of bounce curl products are a 2 on the think dirty app which is what I use to tell if a product is clean or has toxic ingredients. 

The lower the number, the cleaner the product according to how to think dirty rates products. 

I’m not afraid to use a product here or there that isn’t completely clean but I do try to choose cleaner products and try to stay informed about what products I’m using.  

  • Lightweight but moisturizing 

One of my favorite featured of bounce curl products is that they were the perfect amount of moisture and protein for my specific hair type. 

All of the products I used did a great job of moisturizing my hair without weighing it down or making it stringy. 

  • The best curl cream ever 

Out of all the products I’ve used, bounce curl hold my holy grail. The bounce curl clump and define cream has been a game-changer in styling and refreshing my curls. 

There is something about that product that gives my curls bounce, definition and hold without build-up. 

I love it and will probably always keep it on hand. 

>>>>>Get curl smith clump and define curl cream here

Cons

  • No deep conditioner 

This was a little confusing to me. Bounce curl has three different levels of moisture but they don’t have a legit deep conditioner. 

I got the bounce curl hydra-drench which was an awesome conditioner, but I still felt like my hair needed an extra boost of moisture. 

So I am a little disappointed they don’t carry a deep conditioning product.

Price

Affordable. Bounce curl is not a drugstore product so you could get cheaper products off a shelf. But for a product with high quality, I think it’s priced well. 

What I used and my overall results

I had great results using Bounce curl. I would venture to say that I experienced some of my absolute best wash days when I was using the full line. 

These are the products I used

Because Bounce Curl doesn’t carry what I consider a deep conditioner, I paired the above products with curl smith’s curl quencher deep conditioner and it was the perfect match. 

Curl Smith vs. Bounce Curl? Which One?

Curl Smith

Curl smith products were created by a whole bunch of hair specialists. The idea was to created legit products from all the popular DIY hair products. 

I love that because you all know I am die-hard rice water and apple cider vinegar fan. You can read Curl Smith’s whole story here.

Pros

  • Tons of products for regrowth

As I mentioned before, regrowth has been a big goal for my hair since I struggled with postpartum hair loss.

One of curl smith’s priorities is to create products that promote hair growth and maintain your hair health. 

And since a lot of curly girls would love to see more hair growth, curl Smith can help. They even have a three-step system to fuller curls which I use and love.

  • Heavyweight – More oily than moisturizing 

This could be considered a pro or a con. Curl smith is very moisturizing and tends to be fairly heavy. 

If you have wavy curls, it may not be the best fit for you. 

Cons

  • Clean? Not so much 

Curl smith products were rated on think dirty as an 8 which is a little higher than I’d like. So if using clean products is important to you, this may not be the best fit.

  • It’s confusing to choose products because they have non-traditional titles

Because curl smith considers itself “gourmet products” they have renamed traditional products like “gel” to “shower fixer”.

From a marketing standpoint, I love the brand and catchy names, but from a user standpoint, i found it a little overwhelming to figure out exactly what I needed. 

Price

A little bit pricey but If it’s a good fit for your hair I consider it worth the money. The product is of high quality and delivers. You can read more about choosing high-end products here

What I used and my overall results

Good. It took some experimenting but I was able to make the products work for my hair. Mainly by diluting products or adding heavy moisture products to a deep conditioning treatment. If you are not sure how to experiment and make products work for you, check out this post.

I purchased the full moisture line but I had to be creative in figuring how to get them to work for my curls. 

Curl Smith vs. Bounce Curl? Which One?

In conclusion

When it comes to Curl Smith vs. Bounce Curl? Which one? That all depends…..

Like everything with curly hair, there is no simple answer. 

So many factors go into determining whether or not a product will work for your hair. 

If I were to generalize, I would say that if you have wavy to slightly curly hair, bounce curly may be a good fit for you. But I would add the curl quencher fro Curl Smith. 

Likewise, if your curls are primarily made up of coiled or kinky curls, curl smith may be a better fit.

As always, you will need to test and experiment with what works best for your specific curls. And always keep track of how your curls are reacting to new products and techniques.

Xoxo

Colleen 

P.S>>>>>>Click here to get the 4-step cheat sheet for choosing products

Note: If you found value in this post, It would mean so much to me if you would pin it on Pinterest and/or share it with a friend. 

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Curl Smith vs. Bounce Curl? Which One?

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