Love it, Like it or Leave It:  Leave It

Hey, beautiful people!  In a previous post, I talked about how I wanted to try African Black Soap as a cleanser to see how it worked for my hair.  Well, I've been using it almost exclusively for a couple months now and I LOVE IT!  It leaves my hair soft and clean, and I also use it as body wash.  Plus, it is cheaper than any of my other cleansers.  I can get a 32 oz bottle of the Dr. Woods Black Soap for $13 on Amazon.  I have learned that if I use too much of this black soap undiluted, then it can be a little stripping.  So, lately, I've been mixing it with water for my hair, which makes it last even longer.  I tried a 1 part black soap with 7 part water mix; but, this is too thin to make it manageable for me in the shower, though it was still cleansing.  I think, I may do a 3:5 ratio for a little thicker mixture.

Also, I've been watching Youtube videos lately to see if I want to try making my own black soap shampoo, which would be even cheaper.   You can get a pound of solid black soap for about $5-$8 to mix with water and oil.  A little of the solid goes a long way.  Here are some Youtube videos that I have found for inspiration:

• DIY - Liquid Black Soap by NaturalArtMaven
• DIY - How To Liquify African Black Soap by MakeupOnABudget
• Black Soap Moisturizing Shampoo part 1 and part 2 by DuchessGabrielle

With this discovery and my no-buy, I'm giving up shampoo altogether for now, with the exception of my chelator shampoo.

Do you use black soap to wash your hair?  What do you think?

Hey, beautiful people!  My hair has been in desperate need of a trim for a couple weeks now, so I decided to take advantage of the long holiday to finally do it.  There are a number of ways to trim, all involving the use of small sections.  I decided to trim my hair in its curly state in sections small enough for my extra wide Curlformers.  That way, I could trim and style all at the same time.  This was also a great time for me to try out the It's A 10 Miracle Leave-in that I have heard so much about.

Here is what I did:
(1) Deep conditioned overnight with Silk Dreams Vanilla Silk
(2) Washed hair with Dr. Woods Pure Black Soap
(3) Conditioned / detangled with Hairveda Moist Condition Pro

Because I wanted to test out how well the It's A 10 worked, I used just It's A 10 on the left side of my hair and It's A 10 plus Carol's Daughter Chocolat Smoothing Blow Dry Cream on the right side.

Before putting a curlformer on a section of hair, I would put on my leave-in(s), comb it through, and then stretched my hair  between two fingers to trim off the last 1/4 to 1/2 inch.  I was ok with trimming off this much because I haven't trimmed my hair since my big chop.  My goal was not to make my hair even.  I just wanted to get rid of the ends.  It took about an hour to put in my Curlformers because of the added trim step.  After putting in my Curlformers, I sat under the dryer for an hour, in my favorite dryer pose, until all of the curls were dry.

After taking out the Curlformers, my hair was was amazingly soft on both sides, but the curls had almost no hold.  The side with just It's A 10 had a little curl, but was mainly just poofy.  The It's A 10 + Carol's Daughter side held the curl for a about an hour or so before puffing up.  By the end of the day, all I had was a curly fro.  It was potentially cute, but not the look I was going for at the time.

I think this was the first time I've had my Curlformer set poof out.  Even my set with Oyin Hair Dew didn't poof out.  Next time, I think I want to try a mousse/wrap lotion for a firmer hold.

What do you use for your sets?

Hey, beautiful people!  As you probably know if you have been reading my blog, I’m currently on a no-buy.  This means that I have been trying to avoid purchasing any new products until I hit my goals.  I am currently out of shampoo, though I still have four co-washes with cleansing agents.  Normally, the co-washes are enough to cleanse my hair.  However, the other day, I experimented with a setting lotion that left flakes in my hair and I wanted to make sure I thoroughly cleansed my hair to get it all out.  I didn’t want to buy a shampoo, so I had to get creative with what I had around the house.  That is when I decided to try my african black soap body wash on my hair.  I will do a formal review after I try this a few more times, but I just had to mention that it worked!  My hair felt clean, yet soft.  If this consistently works for my hair, I may stop buying shampoos and just use this and my beloved As I Am Coconut Co-wash (I know I need to do a review on this as well).  I’m excited!