I bought Little Penguins Ella Jelly, along with quite a few other things, on my big post-Thanksgiving sale shopping spree. I've been using it ever since. On myself. I didn't really buy it for myself, but I thought I could try it once or twice. Once or twice led to every single day. I kept it in the girls' bathroom for a long time, until I realized how dumb it is to tiptoe past sleeping girls to get to their bathroom so I can put product in my hair each morning.
Ella Jelly is a soft hold styling aid. In consistency, it's more jelly than gel. It's scented with lemon and vanilla and I think it smells like a fresh lemon-filled donut. Mmmm. Ella Jelly contains: distilled water, aloe vera juice, organic raw brazillian honey,vegetable source glycerin, natural raw shea butter, golden jojoba oil, fractionated coconut oil, scletotium gum, marshmallow extract, comfrey extract, horsetail extract, seaweed extract, radish ferment (leuconostoc), essential oils of lemon and bourbon vanilla. It is $8 for 4 ounces and available on the Little Penguins website.
I have used this on the girls. As I styling aid for twists or braids, I have to say I wasn't too impressed. It does provide some hold, but it isn't a ton and it absolutely requires a strong leave-in underneath. Since I have already have a rock star of a moisturizing styling aid and I want lots of hold for my longer term protective styles, I didn't bother to test it over and over for those types of styles.
I think Ella Jelly's real strength is as a curl definer for those who have some curls that could use a little encouragement. Namely, mine. That isn't to say it isn't a good curl definer for curls that curl just fine on their own. It works nicely on them as well, but my curls need the help, so the Ella Jelly finally migrated to its home on my bathroom counter.
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| I scoop a little out, rub it between my palms and add it to my hair. The consistency and method used to put it in makes for pretty even distribution in the hair. |
It can be used on damp or wet hair, over a leave-in. I appreciate that Ella Jelly is easy to use and dries without looking crunchy, wet or otherwise odd. On the rare occasion when I make an effort with my hair, adding Ella Jelly and pinning a few curls for a couple of minutes, the results are really great. And I smell delicious.
While preparing this little review, I noticed that the Ella Jelly ingredients listed on the website are different from those on my jar. Sigh. I was so happy with this product, I don't know if I want to try a new version or just back to my old curl definer (which was very nice too). What would you do?
Scratch that last paragraph. I've had an update from Little Penguins (see comments on this post). The product ingredients on the Little Penguins web site were not in formulation order. The product has not changed at all. This makes me really happy. I'll be buying Ella Jelly for myself again.






