REVIEW: Shea Moisture Bamboo Charcoal Pre-Shampoo Scalp Scrub

This is the Bamboo Charcoal Pre-Shampoo Scalp Scrub from Shea Moisture. It retails on their website for $13.96 CAD (although you may have to pick it up at a local beauty supply store or wherever you get your natural hair products since the website doesn’t ship to Canada). It is said to be an invigorating pre-shampoo to help stimulate the scalp and unclog pores, excess oil, and flaky build-up. The active ingredients in this formula are African Black Soap, Bamboo Charcoal, Tea Tree Oil and Willow Bark Extract (a great exfoliator). It also has oat extract and organic shea butter for moisture.

First Impressions

At first glance, the product has very nice packaging. My coily 4c hair is often hard to move out of the way to get to the roots for any type of treatment. I love that the applicator has a brush-like tip, with the product coming out from the center, which makes it easy to apply. Upon further inspection, because it is in a squeeze-tube, and it stands upside down, I find the product runs out if you store it right side up. I keep mine in my shower upside down wedged in my shower caddy.

The scent is a light earthy, tea tree scent, which is a given because it is made with the essential oil in it. It is a light brown liquid /gel with fine charcoal powder/beads that dissolve so its not stuck in your hair. It’s not too runny so it doesn’t drip everywhere, but it is not too thick so it’s not hard to spread.

My Experience

The tube comes with 113 g of product which seems like a lot until you start using it. I was only able to get 4 uses out of it. I wash my hair once a week so I have used this for 1 month. Prior to using this, my scalp was super flaky and dry and I suppose it has something to do with the Vitamin A and Zinc tablets I had been taking for 3 months. It dried out my skin which is why I wanted to use this to exfoliate my scalp. It feels very cooling and after washing it out your scalp feels refreshed.

Before using the pre-poo

For the first 4 days after washing, my scalp was still a bit itchy and when I refreshed my hair (and scratched my scalp lightly with my comb, then LCO method) there were still quite a few flakes that came out. By the second week, I didn’t feel very much itchiness on refresh day.

After using the pre-poo

After 4 weeks of pre-washing, I still find my scalp to be very flaky. Reduced yes, but still very dry. I don’t feel as though it exfoliated my scalp enough while I was using it. It felt great for the first few days but then went right back to being dry and flaky again. Personally, I think there are better products that can be used to curb dryness and flakes and fix the problem not the symptom. If you’re looking for itch relief, then sure this will help since it is very cooling and that is what truly went away. As far as exfoliation goes, you’re going to need something stronger for true scalp exfoliation which is what I need so I won’t be repurchasing this product in the future.