How does product seeding with Kurli work?

You enquire and name the product and the hair type it targets, the scope is agreed in writing, you ship a full-size product, it is used on that hair type over a real period, you are shown the finding before publication, and the review publishes on The Kurl with a line saying the product was supplied.

Do I get to approve the review before it publishes?

You see it before it goes live and you can correct a factual error, such as a wrong price or a misdescribed formula. You do not get approval over the verdict or the wording.

Will Kurli publish a negative review of a product I sent?

Yes. If the product does not perform on the hair type it targets, the review says so. You are told what it says first, but the finding stands.

What does seeding cost?

You cover the product and shipping. Whether there is any fee beyond that depends on the scope and is agreed in writing before anything is published.

Is a seeded review disclosed to readers?

Yes, at the top of the review, before the verdict. That follows the FTC endorsement guides, which treat a free product as a material connection that must be disclosed clearly and conspicuously. Google's structured data policies also warn against undisclosed incentivised reviews.

Can I pay for a positive review?

No. If you want a commercial slot, buy paid placement, which is labelled as paid so nobody is misled about what they are reading. A paid verdict dressed up as a test is not something we will do.

Do you send a sample size or a full size?

Full size. A sachet cannot answer whether a product still works after three weeks, which is usually the question that matters.

How long does a review take?

Long enough for the claim to be testable, which usually means weeks rather than days. If you need something live this month, placement is the faster option.

What happens to the review after it publishes?

It stays on The Kurl and is linked from the matching hair-type guides, so it keeps being found long after the week it went live. We will update it if the formula changes and you tell us.

Why is an honest review better for my brand than a glowing one?

A review full of nothing but praise is recognisable quickly and readers discount it, as increasingly do AI assistants summarising product opinions. A review that names who the product suits and who it does not sends better-matched buyers to you and makes the positive parts believable.

Send the product, get an honest review

How it works, step by step

You enquire and name the product, the hair type it is formulated for, and what you believe it does better than the alternatives. That last part matters, because a review that fails to test the actual claim is a waste of everyone's time.

We agree scope in writing. What is being tested, on what hair, over what period, and whether there is any fee beyond the product. Nothing starts before that exists.

You ship the product. Full size, not a sachet, because a sachet cannot answer whether something works over three weeks.

It gets used properly. On the texture it targets, following your own instructions rather than a shortcut version, over a period long enough for the claim to be testable.

You see the finding before publication. Including a negative one. You get to correct a factual error, for example if we described the formula or the price wrongly. You do not get to change the verdict.

It publishes on the blog, with a line at the top saying the product was supplied by the brand, and gets linked from the matching texture guides.

What we will and will not write

We will write that a product did not perform. If a butter leaves a grey cast on 4C hair, or a mousse does nothing on 2A, that goes in.

We will write what it is good for even when that is narrower than your marketing. A product that works beautifully on high porosity coils and poorly on low porosity ones is a useful review, and it usually sells better to the right buyer than a vague positive one does.

We will not write a review that only contains positives. We will not repeat a performance claim we cannot test, so a shampoo advertised as regrowing hair will be reviewed on how it cleans and feels, and the regrowth claim will be described as the brand's claim rather than repeated as fact.

And we will not take payment for a positive verdict. If that is what you want, buy paid placement instead, where the commercial nature is labelled and nobody is being misled about what they are reading.

Disclosure on a seeded review

Every review of a supplied product says so at the top, before the verdict.

This is what the FTC's endorsement guides require. A free product is a material connection: it is a benefit from the seller that a reader would not necessarily assume, and it could reasonably affect how much weight they give the review. The rule is disclosure that is clear and conspicuous, which in practice means at the top of the review and not in a footer.

Google's structured data policies point the same way, telling publishers not to include undisclosed incentivised reviews on a page or in its markup. So a seeded review is disclosed in the visible copy and treated honestly in any review markup, rather than being dressed up as an unprompted independent test.

Why an honest review is worth more to you than a positive one

This is the part brands push back on, so here is the argument.

A review that only says good things is recognisable within two paragraphs. Readers discount it, and increasingly so do the AI assistants that summarise product opinions, because a page of undifferentiated praise carries almost no information.

A review that says this works well on high porosity 4B hair and disappoints on fine 2A hair is genuinely useful, and it does two things for you. It sends the right buyer to you with realistic expectations, which is the cheapest return-rate reduction available. And it makes the positive parts believable, because they sit next to a criticism.

The brands that do best out of seeding are the ones confident enough to be described accurately.

What seeding suits, and what it does not

Seeding suits a product with a real point of difference that needs explaining, a formula aimed at a specific porosity or curl range, and any product in the type 4 space where shoppers read reviews closely before buying.

It suits you less if your product is undifferentiated, because an honest review of an average product reads as an average review. It also suits you less if you need results this month, since a proper test takes weeks.

If what you want is speed and position rather than depth, paid placement does that job. If what you want is volume with no fee up front, start with affiliate.