Rihanna never has a hair out of place, so I had high expectations for The Controlling Type Edge Control. The brand promises that the formula will lay, lock, and smooth edges with no flaking, but sadly, it fell flat for me. I’ll give props to the cute peach-colored, accessible packaging—I love popping open the lid instead of twisting off the whole thing—but as for the actual gel, I found the texture to be a bit too dry and not super flexible.
When smoothed over my edges, the gel didn’t give my hair the sleek and shiny hold I prefer. My baby hairs were still wispy, and after only a few minutes, my hair looked like I didn’t even have that much product in it, despite having used about a dime-size dollop. I do love that Fenty created an edge brush along with the gel, but the small size of the brush left a bit to be desired in comparison to my favorite tool, the Baby Tress Edge Styler, which has a bigger brush, making it easier and faster to style my edges.
All this to say, I’m excited to try the other products in the line and hopefully find my Fenty Hair match.
Talia Gutierrez, associate manager, special projects
Hair Type: Curly and thick
Products tried: The Rich One Moisture Repair Shampoo, The Rich One Moisture Repair Conditioner, The Homecurl Curl-Defining Cream, and The Gelly Type Strong Hold Gel
I‘ve lost count of the amount of blowouts I’ve gotten so far this year, but as temperatures keep rising, I prefer to style my wavy, thick hair naturally. No matter how I style it, though, I always struggle with product buildup on my scalp—so I’m always in need of a double shampoo every time I wash my hair. That’s why I was surprised I only needed one round of The Rich One Moisture Repair Shampoo.
With two pumps of product, I was able to get a good lather going, which allowed me to thoroughly cleanse my scalp in just one take. Something else I noticed while washing was the shampoo’s sweet but strong floral scent. Thankfully, it didn’t irritate my skin, but the fragrance was a little too potent for me.
Next, I used three pumps of The Rich One Moisture Repair Conditioner, which was plenty to allow me to brush through my waves in the shower without any tugs or yanks, leaving me a soft and smooth base for stylers post-shower.