I was being curious on my iPhone one day and decided to look and see if there were apps for natural hair. I mean, they should have an app for everything right?
By golly I found some! By the way all of these apps are free. There were a number of paid ones I may review in the future.
Naturally Me
Overall thoughts:
Brands itself as the first app for natural hair. I don't know how true this claim it. It was a so-so app. Great pics of hairstyles. Some sections did not work well.
Features:
Pics of hair styles:
First off this app has TONS of hairstyles. From what I see users can go to the website and upload pics for them to be placed on the app (I uploaded a few myself). It has different catergories such as wash n go's, frohawks, locs, and more. I was looking for a headwrap category but did not see one. Maybe they can work on that for the future.
Beauty Supply Locator
Did not work very well...
I don't know what the criteria for being a beauty supplier was. When I told it to find a store for me it said that there was one about 13 miles from my house. I tried to find the one it located on Google but the search came up with nothing.
Also there are lots of "black beauty supply" stores that are around me. Black meaning they are geared towards black hair and sell weaves, relaxers, gels, and the occassional clothing and huge hoop earrings. Like I said, I dont really know what was meant by black beauty supply...maybe they meant one owned by black people. I will never know.
Shopping for products
When I clicked on the "Vendors" icon a list of brands that are marketed toward natural hair such as Shae Moisture, CURLS, and Pura Body Naturals. If you select a brand it takes you to an online store in which you could buy a product online. I thought that was pretty convienent.
Social Networking
Also there is a social network type section called "Curlfriends City". I don't know much about this b/c I did not want to create a profile. The also have a blog.
Events
"'Fro Fashion Week" info section... apparently it is Sept 24-30 in ATL. Who knew? It appears that this event is hosted by the makers of the app so I assume other events won't be advertised but maybe they will.
Real Life Use:
I would use the app for hairstyles and nothing else. Maybe if I did not have access to a computer and I moved into the wilderness where I could not purchase any natural hair care products I would use it for shopping.
Curls On the Go
Overall:
This app was very cute! Had lots of cute features. For example under the icon it said "curl power". I enjoyed browsing it. Lots of information on your hair type and what products you should use.
Features:
Select Your Hair Type
The first thing you need to do when using this app is the select your hair type. They range from typical white folks hair to the nappiest of nappy black folk hair. I selected 4a based of the definition...though I really don't get into hair typing.
Frizz Factor
The feature gives you a forecast of how much your hair will frizz based off the weather for your location. How great is that! for example tomorrw it says my hair will have lovely, tight kinks. It also gives you some recommend products you can use if you want a humectant, to moisturize, and protect from the sun. It recommended Miss Jessie's Curly Buttercreme as a humectant which I happen to loathe.
Products
This section has a list of products that you can use for your haircare and it includes reviews. For shampoo the app recommends brands such as Jessicurl, Kinky Curly Come Clean, and Shea Moisture. It has sulfate free, clarifying, and dry shampoo options. In addition to shampoo it recommends conditioners, styling products, coloring options, keratin treatments, and tools/appliances. For tools it said I should use Curlformers, silk scarfs, and the Tangle Teezer. I have to admit, all products I have viewed are dead on for what others have recommended for my hair type. These people have done their research. This section is one of the most informative in the app.
Salon Finder
I was very skeptial about this section. As you may know, black folk don't let just anybody do our hair and this especially applies to natural haired black folk. I have a couple of horror stories in which someone at a salon has jacked my hair up.
I Googled some of the salons recommend. Most of them were geared towards white folk hair. Now, I can not confirm nor deny that they have Keisha in the back and she may be able to do some bomb @ss natural hair....but still, I would not go to many of the salons recommend. I know of several natural salons in Nashville and only one was on the app.
Favorites
You have an option to tag sections of the app to your favorites so you can acces them quickly.
Real life use
I would use this app in real life to find hair care products if I am out at a store trying to decide what to buy. If it was a special event I wanted to look cute for, I would look at the frizz factor forecast. I wish it had pics but I guess you can't have everything.
Black Hair Styles
Overall
Great for pics and not much else.
Features
Photos
Best part of the app. Users are invited to upload a pic and the app says it may be used. Has option for natural hair, long (straight) hair, short (straight) hair, wild styles (some of which were pretty cool, but again, for straight hair kids hair (straight of course), and wedding styles. I had seen some of the natural hair photos before. It seemed like a Google image search.
Events
Listed one event. Maybe more will be added as they come.
YouTube
Featured YouTube vids most of which seemed to be natural.
Real Life Use
This app was pretty sucky. I could see if you were trying to find a hairstyle it may be helpful. But I would rather use Google image search or my YouTube app. This was taking up much need megabytes on my phone so it was deleted.
By golly I found some! By the way all of these apps are free. There were a number of paid ones I may review in the future.
Overall thoughts:
Brands itself as the first app for natural hair. I don't know how true this claim it. It was a so-so app. Great pics of hairstyles. Some sections did not work well.
Features:
Pics of hair styles:
First off this app has TONS of hairstyles. From what I see users can go to the website and upload pics for them to be placed on the app (I uploaded a few myself). It has different catergories such as wash n go's, frohawks, locs, and more. I was looking for a headwrap category but did not see one. Maybe they can work on that for the future.
Beauty Supply Locator
Did not work very well...
I don't know what the criteria for being a beauty supplier was. When I told it to find a store for me it said that there was one about 13 miles from my house. I tried to find the one it located on Google but the search came up with nothing.
Also there are lots of "black beauty supply" stores that are around me. Black meaning they are geared towards black hair and sell weaves, relaxers, gels, and the occassional clothing and huge hoop earrings. Like I said, I dont really know what was meant by black beauty supply...maybe they meant one owned by black people. I will never know.
Shopping for products
When I clicked on the "Vendors" icon a list of brands that are marketed toward natural hair such as Shae Moisture, CURLS, and Pura Body Naturals. If you select a brand it takes you to an online store in which you could buy a product online. I thought that was pretty convienent.
Social Networking
Also there is a social network type section called "Curlfriends City". I don't know much about this b/c I did not want to create a profile. The also have a blog.
Events
"'Fro Fashion Week" info section... apparently it is Sept 24-30 in ATL. Who knew? It appears that this event is hosted by the makers of the app so I assume other events won't be advertised but maybe they will.
Real Life Use:
I would use the app for hairstyles and nothing else. Maybe if I did not have access to a computer and I moved into the wilderness where I could not purchase any natural hair care products I would use it for shopping.
Overall:
This app was very cute! Had lots of cute features. For example under the icon it said "curl power". I enjoyed browsing it. Lots of information on your hair type and what products you should use.
Features:
Select Your Hair Type
The first thing you need to do when using this app is the select your hair type. They range from typical white folks hair to the nappiest of nappy black folk hair. I selected 4a based of the definition...though I really don't get into hair typing.
Frizz Factor
The feature gives you a forecast of how much your hair will frizz based off the weather for your location. How great is that! for example tomorrw it says my hair will have lovely, tight kinks. It also gives you some recommend products you can use if you want a humectant, to moisturize, and protect from the sun. It recommended Miss Jessie's Curly Buttercreme as a humectant which I happen to loathe.
Products
This section has a list of products that you can use for your haircare and it includes reviews. For shampoo the app recommends brands such as Jessicurl, Kinky Curly Come Clean, and Shea Moisture. It has sulfate free, clarifying, and dry shampoo options. In addition to shampoo it recommends conditioners, styling products, coloring options, keratin treatments, and tools/appliances. For tools it said I should use Curlformers, silk scarfs, and the Tangle Teezer. I have to admit, all products I have viewed are dead on for what others have recommended for my hair type. These people have done their research. This section is one of the most informative in the app.
Salon Finder
I was very skeptial about this section. As you may know, black folk don't let just anybody do our hair and this especially applies to natural haired black folk. I have a couple of horror stories in which someone at a salon has jacked my hair up.
I Googled some of the salons recommend. Most of them were geared towards white folk hair. Now, I can not confirm nor deny that they have Keisha in the back and she may be able to do some bomb @ss natural hair....but still, I would not go to many of the salons recommend. I know of several natural salons in Nashville and only one was on the app.
Favorites
You have an option to tag sections of the app to your favorites so you can acces them quickly.
Real life use
I would use this app in real life to find hair care products if I am out at a store trying to decide what to buy. If it was a special event I wanted to look cute for, I would look at the frizz factor forecast. I wish it had pics but I guess you can't have everything.
Black Hair Styles
Great for pics and not much else.
Features
Photos
Best part of the app. Users are invited to upload a pic and the app says it may be used. Has option for natural hair, long (straight) hair, short (straight) hair, wild styles (some of which were pretty cool, but again, for straight hair kids hair (straight of course), and wedding styles. I had seen some of the natural hair photos before. It seemed like a Google image search.
Events
Listed one event. Maybe more will be added as they come.
YouTube
Featured YouTube vids most of which seemed to be natural.
Real Life Use
This app was pretty sucky. I could see if you were trying to find a hairstyle it may be helpful. But I would rather use Google image search or my YouTube app. This was taking up much need megabytes on my phone so it was deleted.
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