Several months ago, I decided I wanted to try for a little bit of a looser curl. I played around with a few different gels and products before I landed on Aunt Jackie’s Don’t Shrink Curl Elongating Gel.
Obviously, I was going for an elongated curl, so the idea that this gel would do just that was incredibly appealing.
This review will cover the pros and cons of this gel, how I use I use it, and my bottom line impression.
Keep in mind, I can only speak from my experience with my 3a/3b hair. My hope is that this review will be a good guide for all the curly girls out there, but your results may be very different from mine.
Side note: This page does contain affiliate links, which means if you purchase something using the product links on this page, I may get a small commission. This comes at no extra cost to you and helps keep this site running. Thank you!
Also, I follow the simplified version of the Curly Girl Method most directly derived from the Curly Girl Handbook. This means the only ingredients I look to avoid are sulfates, silicones, and drying alcohols. If you have more ingredients that you look to avoid, it would be a good idea to check the ingredients for yourself before making a purchase.
The Pros
It does what it says it will
My curls were absolutely more elongated when I used Aunt Jackie’s Don’t Shrink gel compared to when I used my “regular” Biotera gel (check out my review of that here.)
So, mission accomplished! My curls were looser, but still pretty well defined.
Smell
I’m pretty terrible at picking up on and describing scents when they’re not written on the label, but this gel smells good.
I think the best way to describe it would be clean.
It’s not fruity or minty, and it’s also not overpowering.
Like a lot of products, it’s strongest when it’s first applied, but it seems to fade as my hair dries.
If you’re a fan of light fresh scents, I think you’ll like this.
Hold
The hold on this gel is serious.
It’s a thick gel, but spreads easily enough and does a great job holding the curl pattern for days.
It’s a hard hold gel that, if you ask me, does exactly what a hard hold gel should do.
Cost
If you’ve spent any time around this blog, you know I’m all about affordable hair products, and this one absolutely fits the bill!
At the time of writing this review, one fifteen ounce jar of this gel is less than ten dollars. I used this as my day-to-day gel for two or three months and found I used about half the jar. So on average, I would expect one jar to last me at least four months, washing and apply every three days.
You can check out the current price for yourself here.
The Cons
Build up
Typically, I try to clarify my hair once a month, but often times, I’ll forget and it tends to happen every other months or more. Really, it’s whenever the product build up gets obvious to me.
When I used this gel, I found it built up a lot faster than my regular Biotera gel, and even compared to other gels I’ve used in the past.
Maybe I was using too much gel, but I found when I tried to use less, I didn’t get enough hold or frizz control.
Frizz control (compared to my regular gel)
The frizz control with this gel isn’t necessarily bad. I used this gel for months and I wouldn’t have if was truly frizzy. But I did notice less frizz control when I used this gel compared to when I used my Biotera gel.
However, this also wasn’t totally surprising to me, and may be (in part) a Me Problem.
As I’ve mentioned before on this blog, I often find with hard hold gels that I have to scrunch my hair a fair amount to break up the heavier gel cast.
When I to do, it seems that my hair is almost always a little frizzier as a result.
Refresh-ability
I found when I refreshed my hair with this gel, it didn’t look quite as good as it did when I used other gels.
Again, it wasn’t terrible, and I still regularly refreshed and wore my hair down when I went out. But there were more stray strands and fly-aways (likely in part because my hair was already a little frizzier to start with).
But I’ve definitely had better results with other gels.
How I used this gel
I would scoop this gel out of the jar with my finger tips and usually end up with an amount that fell around my first finger joint.
Then I coat my hands with it and use the praying hands technique to smooth the gel over my hair. Then I scrunch to spread the gel throughout, and encourage the curl.
You can see this approach discussed in my wash day post!
The bottom line
Overall, I liked this gel a lot for elongated curls. It gave me the results I wanted and kept my hair in pretty decent shape.
I ultimately went back to my Biotera gel for a couple of reasons. First being that I just decided I liked the tighter curls. Second, my hair just feels better when the Biotera.
The product build up with Aunt Jackie’s Don’t Shrink isn’t terrible, but it was more than I was used to and more than I liked. I could always feel the build up a couple weeks after clarifying and I ultimately decided I didn’t like how that felt.
This may not be my number one everyday gel, but I’m definitely holding on it for the next time I want a longer, loose curl.
You can get Aunt Jackie’s Curl Elongating Gel here!
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Looking for more guidance on your curly hair journey?
For beginners
If you’re new to curly hair care and looking for some help, you should check out the No-Stress Guide to Curly Hair Care!
After spending two years learning and caring for my curly hair, I wanted to create my own, in-depth guide to help fellow curlies create incredible curls in the easiest way possible.
It took me a while, but I eventually found an approach that helped me create a curly hair routine that fits into my life in the simplest way possible. And now I want to help you do the same!
For more intermediate/advanced guidance
If you’ve been on your curly hair journey for a while but still have some struggles, check out Curly Hair Problems!
After spending hours scouring the internet looking for solutions to my own curly hair problems, I found myself wishing for an easier, more comprehensive guide to the most common problems.
So that’s what I created!
Curly Hair Problems offers you 78 total solutions to the five most common curly hair care problems, including frizz, curl clumps, limp curls, product issues, and scalp issues.
Sound off: Have you tried Aunt Jackie’s Don’t Shrink gel? Tell us about your experience! Be sure to tell us a little about your hair type too!