My hair with KCCC
Surprisingly enough, I still remember mine like it was yesterday – and I wasn’t even natural yet! I was trying to find a way to stop blow drying and flat ironing my hair during May of 2009, when the DMV starts to get VERY humid and walking from the metro to my job wasn’t working out for my hair at all. I posed this question to my friend, who then told me that she used Miss Jessie’s Curly Pudding to keep her curls “poppin.” Granted, she had a weave, but she had my ear.
I Googled Miss Jessie’s for reviews and found several threads on Naturally Curly (the first curly hair site I ever joined) discussing the ingredients and well, bashing it for the use of mineral oil in the product. Since they had the science to back up their claims, I thought, “Oh. Ew, yea…I don’t want to use that!” You know, the whole thing about mineral oil blocking moisture from your hair and not being nourishing to your strands, being hard to wash out, etc. As an ingredients newbie, I was instantly convinced that mineral oil was something I no longer wanted to put in my hair (and I still feel that way for the most part).
On NC, they were also praising an alternative to Miss Jessie’s Curly Pudding – enter Kinky Curly Curling Custard, also known as KCCC. Now these ingredients I could get down with. Aloe vera? Check. No silicones or mineral oil? Check. And even better, I did some additional research and found that it was at Whole Foods! Unfortunately it wasn’t at the one by my apartment at the time, but joy, it was at the store in DC by my job. During my lunch break, I walked to Whole Foods and paid around $17 for my first 8oz of KCCC, soon to be followed by many more for years and upgrading to the 16oz size. Even though I had relaxed hair, I thought this product made a wash and go “doable,” meaning my hair didn’t look weighed down and greasy with product.
I’ve used hundreds of products since first using KCCC, and don’t really use it anymore because my hair is longer – the issue I now have is that sticky gels irk me to the high heavens because my hair is all over my back while it’s drying, and sticky gels tend to leave a residue that require me to shower again (i.e. not able to get dressed until my hair dries some). But it will always hold a special place in my heart, because it made me think, “Hey, I think I can do this natural thing.” And the rest is history.
Do you remember the first natural hair product you ever used?
questfortheperfectcurl.com 
KCCC was my first natural product, too, and it left my TWA harder than an Egyptian tomb. But I had definition and this on little squiggly curl fell over my forehead like Superman’s.
My first product I used and thought was the bomb.com, was KeraCare True Naturals leave-in and hair butter. Then I started using Oyin Handmade products (honey hemp, hair dew and the pomade) and Prissy fell in love, she was actually moisturized and stayed that way for several days.
The first product I remember using was the original Carol’s Daughters products back in the late 1990s. I think my mother ordered it from a back of a magazine. As a lifelong natural, we didn’t have anything in the 1980s and 1990s – until the natural hair rush came. :). I remember using the Healthy Hair Butter and Mimosa Hair Honey. People give shade to CD but she saved us at a time when there were no other options.
CD was my first Natural Hair product too! I was living in NYC and a friend invited me to accompany her to Lisa Price’s brownstone (in a living room/front room converted into a showroom) where she was selling her hair and body products and homemade candles. I believe I even got a glimpse of Ms. Price’s Mother, who greeted my friend and I at the entrance! I bought the Hair Mimosa and the Pomade (that smelled like Pears) and got a free sample of a Pumpkin Pie body butter. When CD opened its first store in downtown Brooklyn, it was within walking distance of where I was working at the time so every now and then I’d drop in and try a hair and body oil and the Rosemary Mint shampoo was probably my first sulfate free hair cleanser.
I can remember being disappointed when one of my fellow co-workers complained that she thought CD was too expensive and she was sticking to her Blue Magic because it was cheap and worked just as well (she’d never even tried CD’s products). And this lady was in charge of Community Relations at the organization where I worked in a predominately Afro-Am community!
I’ve moved on to other brands as well as DIY but I will always fondly remember my introduction into handmade natural hair care brands.
yup, kccc and kckt. i remember reading about them on a curlyhairforum and running to whole foods in 2008. seems like eons ago. i don’t use the custard anymore for the reasons you noted. occasionally will try knot today again, ALWAYS hoping it will be more moisturizing, but it never is.i keep hope alive, tho lol i was new to the internet natural hair shadow community. was so green. elle, i recall watching your early videos, back when you had much shorter hair. the video picture was kinda dark and you’d sit on your sofa with a mic. i was new to watching youtube and natural hair videos, and i accidentally thumbed down your video. i was mortified!!! I kept clicking around trying to UN-thumbs down. I think i sent a note explaining it was an accident. you were so cool. lol i recall you cracked a joke about it, saying something along the lines of not really expecting anyone to watch, anyway. now, look at you and your many subscribers. 😀
Lol I remember that! I thought it was cute and sincere that you wrote me a note about it 🙂 And I would have had no idea otherwise!
Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie and Eco StylerGel, Olive Oil formula.