Natural Hair Clays: Angel vs Nature's Zero Matte Clay

While there seems to be an absent echo of men reading my blog, hopefully, some of you have a boyfriend, husband, father or brothers you may try to convert to a greener living, so this post doesn’t end up too irrelevant. While my man jumps on whatever I’m using and has the luxury of someone whipping up a personalized moisturizer for him, his hair demands extend to daily styling with the help of a hair clay. With the conscious choices we’ve made so far, he decided to find an equally good hair clay to replace his favorite conventional styling product but with natural ingredients. With that said, while hair clays may be more of a man’s hair product, both of these brands offer another type of wax for styling your hair, that may be worth looking up!

First of all, the market for natural hair clays is quite small, it was easier to find a hair wax amongst green hair care brands than to find a proper hair clay – usually, the only natural in those products are the clay itself. What we looked for was a product that kept the same great hold without flaking or grainy-ness as his conventional product, and kept the same price range.

What’s The difference between Clays and Wax?

In general, both works the same, though waxes give off a more shiny/wet look, while clays leave your hair matte and have a stronger and longer hold.

*The ★-ratings are my boyfriend’s, but the reviews are written by me.

Angel Verbena 3D Stereo Styling Clay 100g €16

★★★☆☆

The first one that we found and tried was this styling clay from Angel. It has a fresh smell of bergamot and has a relatively great hold with a matte finish. What’s also awesome about this one is that it’s water soluble and washes right off with the contact of water.

Though we later found Angel products, including this hair clay, at a discontinued price and bought a few to stock, it’s not my boyfriends favorite because of one reason: it flakes and feels grainy.
He’s even checked to see if the flakiness could be caused by him getting an old product, but it wasn’t like that.

This hair clay is also very hard to come by and isn’t sold in very many places. It will usually also be out of stock, which makes you wonder if they’re discontinuing the product completely, and maybe this review is a waste of time?

All in all, we did buy a bulk of this product, my boyfriend considers it okay for use, but not extraordinary awesome.

WHERE TO BUY
Nordicfeel | Eleven | Lyko

INGREDIENTS: Aqua, Kaolin, Beeswax, Tanakura Clay, PVP, Carnauba Acid Wax, Copaifera Officinalis (Balsam copaiba) resin, Verbena Officinalis Extract, Citrus Aurantium Bergamia (Bergamot) Fruit Extract, Parfum, Phenoxyethanol.

Nature’s Zero | Matte Clay 115g $15

★★★★★

As my boyfriend wasn’t completely satisfied with the Verbena-clay, we tried searching for something new. We didn’t find much… During the same time, I had become somewhat accustomed to Etsy and told him to look there. Didn’t take long until he found Nature’s Zero and made an order on the Matte Clay after reading the comments and seeing the “No-Flake”-sign.

My boyfriend was really impressed by how this could compare so well to the conventional product he once used, if not even better! It has great hold and flexibility that stays throughout the day and feels natural, and most importantly, it does not flake or feel grainy at all!
It smells of spearmint and peppermint, and while I personally like the bergamot scent better, it’s nothing that’s overpowering to grade this down a point.

I also like that the products of Nature’s Zero are handmade and made-to-order, which makes it feel somewhat special. There’s also a pomade and styling wax, as well as something called “Black Clay” to look up.

My man is happily content now, and won’t be looking further, he’s found something that works.

EDIT 2017: My boyfriend still uses this wax and is on his 5th or 6th jar now. He’s tried others, but finds Nature’s Zero to be the best that he’s found!
Unfortunately, Nature’s Zero has stopped shipping their products outside the US.