Design Essentials Coconut & Monoi Deep Moisture Balm 7.5oz
Monoi oil is Tahitian gardenia petals steeped in coconut oil, and it has been used on hair in the Pacific for a very long time. Design Essentials pair it with more coconut oil and shea butter to make a balm that sits at the rich end of what you can put on hair.
The 7.5oz jar is scoop-and-melt rather than pour. It is built for coily, kinky and afro textures that go dry within hours of being moisturised, and it works particularly well as the cream or oil stage of a LOC or LCO routine. Coconut oil does the deeper conditioning, monoi handles the softening and the scent, and shea butter seals everything down at the surface so the water you put in during the wash has somewhere to stay. On dense, tightly coiled hair that combination is the difference between a style that lasts two days and one that lasts a week.
What it does:
- Puts lasting moisture into severely dry lengths
- Softens tightly coiled hair enough to detangle it
- Smooths frizz and flyaways for a cleaner finish
- Adds sheen without a greasy film
- Reduces breakage on ends that keep splitting
Type 3 and Type 4 hair are where this belongs. On anything looser it will be too much unless you keep it to the ends.
Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter, Mangifera Indica (Mango) Seed Butter, Cocos Nucifera (Monoi) Oil (and) Gardenia Tahitensis Flower Extract, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Glycerin, Cetyl Alcohol, Stearyl Alcohol, Behentrimonium Methosulfate, Tocopherol (Vitamin E), Panthenol (Pro-Vitamin B5), Hydrolyzed Keratin, Fragrance (Parfum), Phenoxyethanol, Caprylyl Glycol
- 24-hour delivery
- Every brand we carry ships within 24 hours, not just the hero lines. Order before 2pm and it leaves the same working day.
- Free over £40
- UK delivery is free on orders over £40. Below that it is a flat rate, shown at checkout before you pay.
- Tracking
- You get a tracking link by email the moment it is picked up.
- 30 days
- Send anything unopened back within 30 days for a full refund. No explanation needed.
- Opened it and it is wrong for your hair?
- Tell us what happened. Curl products are hard to judge from a photo, and we would rather swap it than have you stuck with it.
- We price match
- Find it cheaper somewhere else and we will match the price.
Application tips
Scoop with the back of a fingernail rather than digging in, and warm it between your palms until it turns to oil before it touches the hair.
Best used as the last step in the LOC or LCO order, over a leave-in and a cream, sealing damp hair from mid-length down. On very dry ends it also works on its own overnight. Keep it away from the roots unless the scalp is dry.
Results
Coily hair that has gone hard and dry turns pliable again within seconds of the balm melting into it. The change is immediate and you feel it in the section you are working on.
Softness lasts several days rather than a morning. Ends look less ragged, frizz lies down, and the sheen it leaves is healthy rather than heavy, even on thick type 4 hair.
Composition
- Coconut
- Puts moisture deep into hair that has gone dry and stiff
- Monoi
- Softens coily texture and leaves a sheen without the grease
Full ingredients list
Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter, Mangifera Indica (Mango) Seed Butter, Cocos Nucifera (Monoi) Oil (and) Gardenia Tahitensis Flower Extract, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Glycerin, Cetyl Alcohol, Stearyl Alcohol, Behentrimonium Methosulfate, Tocopherol (Vitamin E), Panthenol (Pro-Vitamin B5), Hydrolyzed Keratin, Fragrance (Parfum), Phenoxyethanol, Caprylyl Glycol
