Cantu

Cantu Strengthening Styling Gel with Jamaican Black Castor Oil for Defined Curls & Healthy Hair 524 g/18.48 oz

£4.99
✦
24-hour delivery
Every brand we stock, not just the hero lines. Order before 2pm and it leaves today. Learn more
Free UK shipping
Orders over £40
99% match accuracy
AI curl analyser
30-day returns
On unopened pieces
24-hour delivery
On every brand we carry

The pot is 524 g, which is a lot of gel by any standard, and it is the reason this one keeps turning up in bathroom cupboards. If you wash and style weekly, it lasts months. Cantu sells it as a strengthening gel, and the size is part of that pitch: this is meant to be the gel you reach for every week, not a treatment you ration.

Cantu built it around Jamaican black castor oil, so it conditions as it holds. The hold is firm enough for a defined wash-and-go and soft enough that you can break the cast without the whole style collapsing. Frizz stays down, shine comes up, and there is no white flaking as it dries.

  • Holds wash-and-gos, twist-outs and braid-outs through the week
  • Defines curls and coils without setting hard
  • Conditions with castor oil rather than drying hair out
  • Reduces the breakage that comes with daily restyling

It is a wet-styling gel, which matters more than it sounds. Applied to half-dry hair it goes patchy and you lose most of the definition it is capable of, so work in sections on hair that is still dripping, smooth it down the length, then leave it alone until it is fully dry.

Made for type 3b to 4c hair. 524 g / 18.48 oz.

Application tips

Wet hair, and wet means wet. Take a scoop per section, smooth it down, then rake and scrunch. Work fast so the hair does not start drying mid-application.

Air dry or diffuse without touching it, then break the cast with a little oil once it is completely dry. Applying it to damp hair gives you half the definition.

Results

Curls hold for the week without going hard. The cast breaks easily and what is underneath stays defined rather than collapsing, which is the test a cheap gel fails.

Frizz stays down, shine comes up, and there is no white flaking as it dries. Hair feels conditioned inside the hold instead of dry and squeaky by day three.

Composition

Jamaican Black Castor Oil
Conditions the strand while the gel holds, so hair stays soft
Full ingredients list

Water (Aqua), Carbomer, Glycerin, Polysorbate 20, Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil, Phenoxyethanol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Fragrance (Parfum), Tetrasodium EDTA, Sodium Hydroxide, Caramel, Limonene, Benzyl Benzoate, Linalool, Hexyl Cinnamal, Citral

Reviews