Friday, November 28, 2014
2014 Black Friday Aftermath
Hey, beautiful people!
Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your loved ones. I hung out with my close family, including my
newest addition, and probably ate way too much.
I also stayed up a little later to finish off my Black Friday shopping
online. In addition to my prior Curlmart purchase and my Jane Carter purchase,
here are the other things I bought to stock up for next year:
Curlmart - $74.46 ($69.46 + $5 shipping)
- Camille Rose Naturals Almond Jai Twisting Butter
- Oyin Handmade Hair Dew x 3
- Curl Junkie Repair Me! Reconstructive Hair Treatment
Bonbons Cheveux Boutique - $36.70 ($32 + $4.70 shipping)
- Satin Scrunchies x 4
- Elastic Satin Bonnet
HairVeda - $60.15 ($53.20 + $6.95 shipping)
- Whipped Creme Hair Moisturizer
- Whipped Clouds
- Red Satin Tea Moisturizer
- Acai Phyto Berry Conditioner x 4
- Red Tea Hair Ends Serum (free gift with purchase)
Oyin Handmade - $43.48 (free shipping)
- Whipped Shea in Rich Almond Scent x 2
- Snack Pack for Body
The Obsessed Crocheter - $44.63 (free shipping)
- Satin Lined Chunky Basket Weave Beanie
What did you buy? Did you do better, worse or the same as last year?
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Finalizing The Black Friday Shopping List
Hey, beautiful people! As I mentioned in a previous post, I started my black friday shopping early this year. Thus far, I did a mini shopping spree at Curlmart and then picked up a couple jars of my favorite twist defining cream during the Jane Carter 40% off sale that I mentioned on Twitter. I also just bought a satin lined beanie because winter came a little early this year, and I haven't been able to find my satin lined hooded scarf since the move. I'll do a review of the beanie once it arrives and I've had a chance to wear it.
Now, I'm trying to narrow down on what is left for my list without going overboard. The list has changed several times, so here is my current plan:
- Oyin Hair Dew (1 liter)
- Oyin Whipped Shea (rich almond scent)
- Oyin body snack pack
- Hairveda Acai Berry Phyto Conditioner
- Satin elastic bonnet
- Satin scrunchies
I took Purabody off my list only because I'm trying to shrink my list of staples, and I want to see if I can stick to just Oyin. I'm really hoping that Oyin has a Black Friday sale, but I haven't heard anything so far. If they don't have a sale, my list may change yet again...
For those of you still formulating your hair shopping lists, here are a few websites that have catalogued the sales:
- Confessions of a Blog Vixen (My Go-to Site for Sale Listings)
- Long Hair Care Forum (My Second Favorite)
- Black Girl Long Hair
Yes, I am an enabler.
Happy Shopping!!!
Monday, November 24, 2014
Updates 11-24-2014: New Baby And New Styles
Hey beautiful people! If you don't follow me on Instagram, you may not know that my baby is here! The newest naturalista to the family.
Life has been kind of a whirlwind since she got here. Each day, I look up at around 3 p.m. and wonder where the day went. Needless to say, I haven't had much time for my hair. In a previous post, I mentioned that I was going to try to do spring twists. I bought Nafy Collection Nubian Twist hair for the style, but it was an epic fail. The hair was too silky and kept sliding while I twisted. Plus, the twists that I did get in did not have much "spring" to them. They just sort of hung. I tried twisting in both directions and got the same result. About 3 twists in, I gave up. Thankfully, my sister was here and she helped me put in two strand twists without synthetic hair.
This style was a lifesaver! I was able to put my hair up and not worry about it. I just spritzed it with my oil/water mix and sealed with Oyin Hair Dew to keep it moisturized. The style lasted about 3 weeks. Now that the twists are out, I am back to bunning and, occasionally, my tried and true two crown braids.
(The top pics are the twists right before I took them out,
the bottom is after I removed them. Shrinkage is a trip.)
Sunday, November 16, 2014
Ingredient Investigation: Limonene
Hey, beautiful people!
As I mentioned in a previous post, I picked up some As I Am products
during an early sale. While looking through the ingredients, I
noticed that a lot of them have Limonene listed as the last ingredient, which I
assumed was a preservative. However, I
decided to dig a little deeper.
Limonene is made from citrus fruits (d-limonene), pine trees and certain mint plants (l-limonene). For cosmetic purposes, it is usually used as
a fragrance. It is also used in medicines,
botanical insecticides,
household and other cleaners as a solvent,
and water-free hand cleansers.
In terms of risk, while some research indicates that
limonene can be used to treat cancer, other research indicates that it could promote
the growth of tumors. The biggest issue,
however, is that limonene can be a contact allergen. In other words, it can cause skin irritation or respiratory irritation in some people. Additionally,
it can enhance side effects of other skin irritants, such as alcohol. As a result of the limonene’s irritant aspects,
the European Union has put certain restrictions on its use in cosmetics. It is one of the contact allergens found in
fragrances that must be listed if it exceeds 0.001% in leave-in products and
0.01% in rinse-off products. However,
just because limonene is listed in an ingredient list, doesn’t mean it meets
this threshold amount. Some consumer-conscious
companies list it as an ingredient to notify their customers that they may have
a potential allergic reaction.
Additionally, just because a product doesn’t list limonene doesn't mean
that the product doesn’t contain limonene, especially if there is a generic
reference to “fragrance” and the product has a lemon or orange scent.
Based on what I’ve read, I’m fine with using products with limonene because I don’t seem to have an allergic reaction to it. I use a lot of products with lemon or orange
oil, which are high in limonene, and I haven’t had an issue. I’ve also used As I Am products without
issue.
As a final note, limonene should not be confused
with Lemonene (also known as Biphenyl), which comes from coal tar, crude oil, and natural gas,
and is used as a preservative to preserve citrus fruits during transport. Lemonene is mildly toxic.
Saturday, November 1, 2014
Product Review: Silk Dreams Chocolate Bliss (The Deep Conditioner Files #9)
Promise: From
the jar -- Chocolate Bliss is decadent and indulgent and guilt free. The Spa Silk line is all about treating
yourself and taking time for you, so indulge in a little chocolate bliss.; From the website -- When asked by a fellow
hair board diva to describe Chocolate Bliss, this was my response: It is almost
as moisturizing as Vanilla Silk, but with no protein. It's not a treatment like
Vanilla Silk, so it can be used more often without worry of over-moisturizing.
Scent: Strong
Chocolate
Consistency: Thick
chocolate pudding
Results:
I really wanted to like this product because I love the Vanilla Silk Deep
Conditioner and I love the company. Silk
Dreams makes reasonably priced, quality products (despite the name similarity,
there is no relation). Unfortunately, this
product just did not work for me. I
tried it two ways. First, I tried it
using my normal routine (overnight pre-poo).
This did not work. There was a
film on my hair when I rinsed it out, and my hair felt dry and hard. Thinking that perhaps the film might be
because of something else, the next time, I washed my hair with diluted African Black Soap first, then I put this conditioner on and left it for 24 hours. It never really sunk into my hair. Also, my hair still had a slight film on it
when I rinsed the conditioner off. Plus,
my hair was still hard and dry (i.e., not moisturized). I think this is just too thick and heavy for
my low porosity strands. It could also
be the coconut oil, which is in the first five ingredients and has never worked
all that great on my hair.Wednesday, October 22, 2014
11 Essential Tools For Your Hair Toolbox Part 2
As promised, here is part 2 of my essential tools list:
- Spray Bottle - I have several of different sizes and misting capabilities, but you probably only need 1-2 spray bottles. I use them mainly for my oil/water mix and just plain water.
- Trimming shears - You should have a pair of hair shears to get rid of split ends and single strand knots, even if you don’t trim your hair regularly. I have a pair of Conair shears that I love. Do not use these shears for anything but your hair, and replace them as soon as they start to become dull.
- Disposable Shower Caps or Plastic Shopping Bags - If you deep condition, which you should, or if you do the green house method, then plastic caps or shopping bags are essential. Personally, shower caps are so cheap that I just buy them. I do re-use each one a few times before throwing it away.
- Mircofiber Towel or T-shirts - If you haven’t heard by now, let me be the first to tell you that you should not be using regular towels to dry your hair. Regular towels rough up your strands and create frizz. Use a microfiber towel or old T-shirts. I do both. The microfiber towel does a better job of jump starting the drying process for my low porosity hair, but the T-shirt works well too.
- Satin Hair Coverings - I have satin straight scarves, a large satin hooded scarf, a satin wrap to keep my buns neat for days, satin pillowcases, and a satin bonnet. You do not need all of these things, but you do need at least one method of protecting your strands while you sleep. My large stain hooded scarf is my favorite, but it sometimes slides, so I always sleep with a satin pillowcase. Do not go cheap on your hair covering or you might as well not bother. Most of the generic beauty supply scarves are not enough to keep cotton from sucking the moisture out of your hair. If you can see through it or your fingers catch on the fabric, it won’t cut it. Wait for a good Black Friday sale, and get a double-lined satin/charmeuse scarf. I haven’t purchased any of her products due to price, but Eboni of EboniCurls has a good Youtube video on this. As I mentioned in my last Black Friday haul, I purchased my hair bonnet from BonBons Cheveux Boutique. I purchased my roomy hooded scarf from Crystal's Coifs, but it appears that it is no longer in business. Most of my pillowcases are the Betty Dain brand, which is reasonably priced.
What are some of your essential hair tools? Let me know if you think I missed something!
Saturday, October 18, 2014
11 Essential Tools For Your Hair Toolbox Part 1
In January, I did a post on products for yourhair toolbox. I just realized that I
never did one on hair tools. Here are the ones on my list:
- Wide Tooth Comb - This is optional. Some women use one, and some rely solely on their fingers. I use my fingers to detangle regularly. But, I find that, with my curl pattern, I have to do an intensive detangling periodically with a wide tooth comb. I have two Hercules Sageman Magic Star Rake combs, but I've found that I actually prefer my cheap jumbo rake combs made by Annie and Diane these days.
- Soft Boar Bristle Brush - Again, this is an optional tool because not everyone uses one. You also have to be careful if you have fine strands like me. I only use my boar bristle brush if I want a sleek bun or puff. Also, my boar bristle brush has hairs that are almost as soft as a baby brush.
- Headbands - I have a ton of these. I use thick, decorative ones when I don’t want to brush my edges but I still want a neater look. I use thin, stretched out ones to do my buns and puffs. My hair is too thick to gather it all up with a ponytail holder (I’ve broken a lot of them trying and I get headaches from them).
- Ponytail Holders - I use these mainly for sectioning my hair to deep condition and wash it. I also sometimes use a couple of these, once my hair is already in a bun, to catch any remaining strands or flyaways. I buy these in bulk because my hair snaps them easily. Some people use the stretchy lace kind, but I’m a bigger fan of the traditional Goody or Scunci ones, which are cheap and effective. Plus, my hair is too big for the tiny lace ones. Just don’t buy the ones with metal clamps because these can snag your hair.
- Hairpins - These should be self-explanatory. I have not met a natural yet, who does not have a stash of hair pins. This is another cheap tool that I usually buy in bulk, but I also have travel packs.
- Hair Clamps - Now that my hair is longer, I don’t use these as often as I used to, but alligator clips and roller clamps are still great for sectioning off the hair to flat twist or braid. I also use duckbill clips to set my part for a wash n’ go.
I'll try to post part 2 soon.
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