Best Wrap Lotion For Relaxed Hair 2020 [Our Reviews and Comparisons]

The idea of relaxed hair seems wonderful at first. Smooth, silky hair without the need of a hot comb. But when it comes to caring for your hair, you may be in for a surprise. You can’t buy just any products because the packaging looks nice or because they smell good. You have to take into account that your tresses are stressed from all the chemicals and need products that will protect and nourish them.

Comparison Table

PRODUCT	FEATURES	LATEST PRICE
1. Influance Honey Almond Foam	Sulfate, paraben, and gluten-free Weightless with medium hold No buildup No flaking	Check Price
2. Nairobi Wrapp-It Shine Foaming Lotion	Adds volume and body to hair Does not flake Dries quickly	Check Price
3. Isoplus Foaming Wrap/Set Lotion	Fast-drying but contains no alcohol Exceptional holding power	Check Price
4. Dr. Miracles Healing Wrapping & Setting Lotion	Soothing peppermint oil Promotes hair growth Moisturizes dry, lifeless hair	Check Price
5. Motions Foam Styling Lotion	Includes wheat protein to thicken and volumize hair Does not contain sulfates, parabens, or aluminum	Check Price
6. Design Essentials Foaming Wrap Lotion	Contains coconut oil and wheat proteins Great for molding, wrapping, and setting	Check Price
7. KeraCare Foam Wrap-Set Lotion	Protects hair from heat damage Nourishes and conditions with glycerin Non-flaking and leaves no residue	Check Price
8. Lotta Body Setting Lotion	Brilliant shine and body Tames frizz and flyaways Excellent moisture and hold	Check Price
9. Silk Elements Styling Lotion	Infused with coconut oil Alcohol-free Adds body and shine	Check Price
10. GroHealthy Milk Protein Olive Oil Foam Wrap Lotion	All-day soft hold Natural ingredients (milk protein, olive oil, omega 3) Nourishes and moisturizes scalp	Check Price

Chances are you’ll likely be using wrap lotion for a lot of your styles. Did you know that even your wrap and setting lotion needs to be protective and nourishing? Unfortunately, you can’t just leave the job of hydration in your conditioner’s hands.
We understand how daunting it can be to find products to keep your relaxed hair healthy, especially when it comes to wrapping lotions. So, we compiled a list of the ten best wrap lotions for relaxed hair to help you make the best decision for your hair care needs.

Our Best Wrap Lotion For Relaxed Hair Reviews and Comparisons

1. Nairobi Wrapp-It Shine Foaming Lotion

Product Highlights

This wrap lotion gives incredible shine and provides tons of moisture. It’s perfect for relaxed hair that’s prone to breakage because it helps prevent excessive drying of the hair. It’ll leave your hair feeling soft with a luxurious sheen.

Features

• Adds volume and body to hair
• Does not flake
• Dries quickly

What We Like About Nairobi Wrapp-It Shine Foaming Lotion

Relaxed hair can often be stiff and flat. Well, this wrap lotion takes care of that! By adding moisture without being greasy, Nairobi’s wrap lotion ensures that your hair will have a body and shine. It also won’t be left crunchy. So, if you plan to flat iron your hair, it’ll be a smooth process.

Even though this product won’t weigh your hair down, it is heavy enough to lay down short hair too. You’ll feel confident rocking that pixie cut without the flyaways.

What We Don’t Like About Nairobi Wrapp-It Shine Foaming Lotion

The bottle and the blue dye sum up the negatives of Nairobi’s wrap lotion. The bottle sometimes leaks from the top, making storage difficult. You could keep it in a plastic bag, but you’re still wasting product. The blue dye is also a bit irritating to sensitive scalps. The company also doesn’t list its ingredients, so you never know what other irritants you’re coming in contact with.

2. Influance Honey Almond Foam

Product Highlights

Influance Honey Almond Foam will give you body, shine, volume, and a medium hold all while being 82% allergen-free. It’s incredibly weightless and non-sticky but still molds hair exceptionally well.

Features

• Sulfate, paraben, and gluten-free
• Weightless with medium hold
• No buildup
• No flaking

What We Like About Influance Honey Almond Foam

This product smells absolutely amazing. It’s a mixture of lavender and honey that will have you not wanting to reach for those wrap strips. It smooths the hair well so that you’ll think your hair is natural and pressed. Not only does it smooth the hair, but it does so without being greasy or sticky. It’s also great for molding short hair or used with a rod set.

What We Don’t Like About Influance Honey Almond Foam

It’s so expensive! It’s almost three times the amount as all the other wrap lotions for relaxed hair. It also may leak during shipping, so that’s money down the drain…or in the box.

3. Isoplus Foaming Wrap/Set Lotion

Product Highlights

Isoplus foaming wrap/set lotion is designed for a firm hold for wraps, roller sets, and finger waves while still being incredibly affordable.

Features

• Fast-drying but contains no alcohol
• Exceptional holding power

What We Like About Isoplus Foaming Wrap/Set Lotion

You can get a molded hairstyle at such an affordable price! We love that the additional conditioners add extra shine and body, leaving your hair feeling moisturized and voluminous. We also like that this product dries quickly, which is especially helpful for roller sets.

What We Don’t Like About Isoplus Foaming Wrap/Set Lotion

We’re surprised to see that this product leaves your hair crunchy since it doesn’t have any alcohol. And this may be a bit nitpicky, but the packaging looks like we’re back in the 90s.

4. Dr. Miracles Healing Wrapping & Setting Lotion

Product Highlights

This wrapping lotion softens and conditions hair while providing fabulous wraps and blow-dry styles. It has peppermint oil to promote hair growth and offers amazing manageability and detangling. It’s also great for preventing split ends and breakage.

Features

• Soothing peppermint oil
• Promotes hair growth
• Moisturizes dry, lifeless hair

What We Like About Dr. Miracles Healing Wrapping & Setting Lotion

We love the tingly feeling of peppermint oil on our scalp. It feels a lot like menthol and makes the wrapping process feel like a trip to the spa. We also like how well this wrap lotion softens out hair and adds shine and body. It’s great for blow dry styles too!

What We Don’t Like About Dr. Miracles Healing Wrapping & Setting Lotion

Yes, the peppermint FEELING is amazing. But the smell can be a bit overwhelming after a while. It’s not like shampoo that you can just rinse out, and the moisturizes make it denser, intensifying the smell. It’s also not the best product we’ve ever tried. It gets the job done, but there isn’t anything special about it besides the peppermint oil.

5. Motions Foam Styling Lotion

Product Highlights

This wrap lotion provides a light hold and amazing penetrative oils. These include macadamia, almond, argan, and coconut oil. It also has shea butter for intense shine and soft touch. It gives you all the sheen with none of the weight, leaving you with voluminous sparkling hair.

Features

• Includes wheat protein to thicken and volumize hair
• Does not contain sulfates, parabens, or aluminum

What We Like About Motions Foam Styling Lotion

This foaming lotion is great for relaxed hair because it’s lightweight. You don’t want your relaxed hair getting too weight down because it’ll just look flat and lifeless. The multitude of oils is also fantastic. Relaxed hair gets dry from all the chemicals, and this foaming lotion will add tons of moisture to your wrap.

What We Don’t Like About Motions Foam Styling Lotion

Because this product is so light on the hair, it isn’t really great for molding short styles. It isn’t ideal for holding roller sets either. So, you’re pretty limited on what hairstyles you can do with this wrap lotion.

6. Design Essentials Foaming Wrap Lotion

Product Highlights

This wrap lotion provides a nice, pliable hold while protecting and strengthening the hair cuticles. Design Essentials Foaming Wrap Lotion is ideal for all hair types and great for many different styles.

Features

• Contains coconut oil and wheat proteins
• Great for molding, wrapping, and setting
• Super quick drying time
• Pliable hold

What We Like About Design Essentials Foaming Wrap Lotion

This wrap lotion is super nourishing with its coconut oil and wheat protein. It nurses chemically treated hair back to health with every use. This lotion dries quickly and leaves you with fuller and shinier hair. You won’t have to worry about split ends and breakage with this wheat protein-infused lotion.

What We Don’t Like About Design Essentials Foaming Wrap Lotion

This isn’t suitable for those with gluten allergies due to the wheat proteins. After this product dries, it can be sticky if you put too much, but it’s so lightweight it’s hard to gauge how much is too much. It also tends to be quite flakey.

7. KeraCare Foam Wrap-Set Lotion

Product Highlights

This wrap lotion is great for relaxed hair because it deeply conditions hair for blow-drying and heat styling. The natural lubricants give hair the protection it needs from heat, so you don’t have to use another heat protectant if you don’t want to.

Features

• Protects hair from heat damage
• Nourishes and conditions with glycerin
• Non-flaking and leaves no residue

What We Like About KeraCare Foam Wrap-Set Lotion

We love, love, love the fact that you can use this in place of heat protectant. The glycerin in this lotion moisturizes your hair, but it also protects it when using hot tools like a blow dryer or flat iron. You won’t experience any flaking or residue and will experience shine and lots of body.

What We Don’t Like About KeraCare Foam Wrap-Set Lotion

This wrap lotion has a cap that easily falls off and doesn’t close tightly. This makes for extra leakage, more cleanup, and money wasted. It’s also hard to store this product because it leaks all over the bottle and gets sticky and messy. KeraCare Lotion also seemed quite watered down for the price. It isn’t good for styles that need more hold.

8. Lotta Body Setting Lotion

Product Highlights

Lotta body setting lotion lives up to the name by adding body and shine to relaxed hair. It also tames frizz, which is common with chemically treated hair, and dries exceptionally quick.

Features

• Brilliant shine and body
• Tames frizz and flyaways
• Excellent moisture and hold

What We Like About Lotta Body Setting Lotion

We are super impressed by the versatility of this product. It works with wraps, sets, and roller sets due to its flexible hold. It doesn’t get too heavy on the hair, but the moisturizing formula hydrates each strand beautifully. This gives you impeccable shine. It works well with all hair densities too!

What We Don’t Like About Lotta Body Setting Lotion

This lotion has parabens! With all the new information coming about how harmful those are, we were sad to see such a great product contain something so damaging. They also don’t package their bottles with a foil seal under the lid, causing leaks.

9. Silk Elements Styling Lotion

Product Highlights

This lotion is lightweight, alcohol-free, and provides great hold. It is non-flaky and adds body and volume to the hair while giving it beautiful shine. Infused with silky coconut oil, Silk Elements Styling Lotion moisturizes and hydrates relaxed hair effortlessly.

Features

• Infused with coconut oil
• Alcohol-free
• Adds body and shine

What We Like About Silk Elements Styling Lotion

The coconut oil infusion gives this wrap lotion a smooth, silky feeling on the hair. It’ll leave the hair soft, bouncy, and full of body. It’s free of alcohol so it doesn’t dry out vulnerable relaxed hair and offers moisture and hydration from the oils.

What We Don’t Like About Silk Elements Styling Lotion

This wrap lotion has a bit of a mousse-like texture and is a bit too watery. The high water content also doesn’t help keep relaxed hair from getting frizzy and sometimes may even be the cause. Silk Elements Styling Lotion doesn’t offer much hold.

10. GroHealthy Milk Protein Olive Oil Foam Wrap Lotion

Product Highlights

Providing an all-day soft hold, this wrap lotion is prepared with natural ingredients to nourish and moisturize the scalp. It is free of alcohol which helps keep flakes at bay and keeps relaxed hair full of body.

Features

• All-day soft hold
• Natural ingredients (milk protein, olive oil, omega 3)
• Nourishes and moisturizes scalp

What We Like About GroHealthy Milk Protein Olive Oil Foam Wrap Lotion

This wrap lotion will make your hair so soft thanks to the milk and olive oil duo. The milk protein also shields hair from breakage and split ends which are essential for weak relaxed hair strands. The olive oil adds a glistening shine while keeping hair light and bouncy.

What We Don’t Like About GroHealthy Milk Protein Olive Oil Foam Wrap Lotion

This is another product with a mousse-like texture. It isn’t very thick so it wouldn’t be ideal for thicker, coarser hair. It’s very runny and watery which makes the drying time take a while, especially if you’re air-drying your hair and not sitting underneath the dryer.

Final Verdict

We think the best wrap lotion for relaxed hair is Influence Honey Almond Foam! It’s great for those who have scalp sensitivities and gluten allergies. It doesn’t contain harmful sulfates and parabens and provides excellent shine. It has a medium hold, so it isn’t too stiff like some of its competitors.

Even though it’s on the pricier side, it’s worth it to get a product that will satisfy all your hair care needs and while smelling like a field of lavender.

BUYER’S GUIDE

Wrap lotions pretty much all promise the same thing but do they really do the same thing? No, not at all. Knowing the information below will help you identify products that will benefit your hair and not just waste your money and time.

Best Oils for Relaxed Hair

Coconut oil is hands down the best oil for your relaxed hair. You might know by now how moisturizing it can be as it penetrates the hair shaft. But did you know that it can prevent protein loss?

Relaxers and perms open up the hair shaft and leave your hair prone to breakage and split ends. Protein treatments help keep your hair healthy and strong. By choosing a wrap lotion with coconut oil, you’re ensuring that the strength of your hair.

Another oil to look out for is olive oil. Olive oil penetrates the hair shaft and helps other moisturizers to hydrate your hair. This is why it’s best mixed with other oils like coconut oil, castor oil, or jojoba oil because it really helps them get deep into your hair shaft.

Why You Should Avoid Sulfates

Using shampoos with sulfates occasionally to clarify the hair is completely acceptable. But use them too often, and you Irish stripping the hair of moisture and proteins. Using a wrap lotion with sulfates means you probably aren’t putting any more conditioner in your hair as you would after shampooing.

This leaves your already weak hair strands open and susceptible to intense damage or frizz, at the very least. Opt for a sulfate-free wrap lotion to make sure your tresses are smooth and healthy.

Determining Which Hold Is Best For You

Use a light hold wrap lotion when you are wearing your hair straight. This is also ideal when you’ll be using heat tools after your hair has dried. You don’t want heavy products in your hair if you decide to straighten it because your hair will be limp and flat since it is so weighed down. Light hold wrap lotions are also the product of choice for fine and thin hair.

Use a medium hold wrap lotion if you’ll be curling your hair with heat tools or if you have hair of medium coarseness. When curling your hair with a curling iron, using a medium hold wrap lotion may eliminate the need for hairspray without leaving your hair crispy.

Use a firm hold wrap lotion for molding short hair, roller sets, and finger waves. Short hair tends to spike up easily, so a lotion with a firm hold will help keep those flyaways down. You want your hair to actually take a curl with roller sets, so instead of using a gel that may be harmful to your hair, choose a firm hold wrap lotion with moisturizers like coconut oils. And to keep finger waves fresh for longer, a wrap lotion with a firm hold is ideal.

Also, choose a firm hold wrap lotion for thick hair. Coarse hair responds well to being weight down a little to ensure a smooth wrap.

The Use of Peppermint Oil In Wrap Lotions

Some wrap lotions for relaxed hair will contain small amounts of peppermint oil. This oil has been known to promote hair growth by working as a vasodilator and increasing blood circulation to your scalp. Peppermint oil combined with warm water gives your scalp a cooling, tingling sensation that you might find quite soothing.

Peppermint oil does have a very intense smell, however. You should take this into consideration when purchasing a wrap lotion that has this oil since wrap lotions are meant to stay in your hair, not rinsed out. And if you are using a hairdryer to set your style, the heat can intensify the smell.

Isopropyl Alcohol VS Stearyl and Cetearyl Alcohol

You want to look for wrap lotion that is alcohol-free. This means it won’t contain any isopropyl alcohol that is extremely drying for the hair. But why is there still stearyl or Cetearyl alcohol? Won’t they dry the hair out too? Quite the opposite.

These alcohols moisturize, protect, and hydrate the hair. This is why you’ll see them in a lot of conditioners and a lot of wrap lotions. They are referred to as “long-chain” alcohols and work specifically to lock moisture into the hair. “Short-chain” alcohols, on the other hand, evaporate quickly, sucking all the moisture out of the hair.

So, don’t be afraid if you find out your wrap lotion isn’t completely alcohol-free. Check to make sure that it doesn’t contain isopropyl, and you’re good to go.

FAQ

Do I need to dilute my wrap lotion?

Sometimes you will need to dilute your wrap lotion. In these cases, the manufacturer will provide dilution instructions printed on the bottle, box, or separate pamphlet. Only dilute the product if it says to do so, or you run the risk of compromising the quality of your wrap lotion.

Do I have to sit underneath the dryer every time I use wrap lotion?

No, it isn’t mandatory that you sit underneath the dryer, but it is recommended. Using heat allows the hair shaft to be penetrated better by the wrap lotion. It also allows the moisturizers in the product to hydrate your hair better. But if you prefer to let your hair air-dry, you can still enjoy the benefits of moisturized hair.

Can I use wrap lotion on color-treated hair?

Yes, you definitely can, but you need to consider a few things. If your hair is colored why you are relaxed, it’s safe to assume it isn’t permanent hair color but temporary dye. In this case, make sure you choose a wrap lotion that doesn’t contain any isopropyl alcohol. This alcohol will strip your hair of the color and its moisture.

Will wrap lotion still work on transitioning hair?

Yes, but you need to make sure you get the right one. Opt for a medium to firm hold to make sure your roots are laid down. You can even mix and match and use a firm hold on the roots and a medium hold on the rest of the hair shaft.

Is wrap lotion the same thing as mousse?

No, wrap lotion is not the same thing as mousse. Mousse tends to be more drying and can make the hair crunchy with its super firm hold. Mousse is not ideal for relaxed hair because it usually doesn’t contain any oils that chemically treated hair needs to be strong and healthy.

Can’t I just use hairspray instead of wrap lotion?

Using hair spray in the same way you use wrap lotion is terrible for your hair. Hairsprays often contain alcohol and other drying ingredients that will damage your delicate hair strands. It also won’t work like wrap lotion because it won’t penetrate the hair strands and smooth them down.