Hey beautiful people!  I have been trying to keep my product junkism at bay, and I have been doing a pretty good job at it.  However, courtesy of a tip on Long Hair Care Forum, I got wind of a clearance sale on Mielle Organics products, and picked up a few items.  Here are my thoughts:

Detangling Co-wash - 8 oz. ($11.99):  This co-wash is more of a conditioner than cleanser.  It has amazing slip and did a great job detangling my hair, but it didn’t clean it.  My hair felt coated before I used it, and it still felt coated after using it.  As a low porosity girl, I need a real cleanser.

White Peony Ultra Moisturizing Leave-In Conditioner - 8 oz. ($12.99):  As the name suggests, this product is moisturizing.  It is also light-weight, which is good for low porosity hair.  I just like my homemade spritz better, and it is cheaper.  Also, the spray nozzle on this product bothers me.  It comes out as a stream, rather than distributing across my hair.  I actually ended up transferring it to another bottle to make it easier to use.  However, in looking at the Mielle Organics website, it looks like they have changed the top to a spray pump, so that should fix this problem.

Avocado Moisturizing Hair Milk - 8 oz. ($12.99):  This is very moisturizing, and is probably my favorite product in the line.  My hair felt so soft after I used this.  Unfortunately, it doesn't absorb into my hair right away when I first put it on, but few things do.  The other downside I notice is that it clumps when I mixed it with EcoStyler gel in my hands, which is what I usually use to bun my hair.  Nevertheless, because of how wonderfully moisturized it makes my hair feel, I would repurchase this product.

Mint Almond Oil - 8 oz. ($12.99):  This is a very nice oil, and my second favorite product in the line.  It is lightweight enough for my low porosity strands, and the peppermint smell is heavenly.  The oil essentially has three main ingredients -- Sweet Almond Oil, Soybean Oil and Peppermint Oil, so you could make it yourself if you consider yourself a mixtress.  I would definitely purchase it again at the $7 price point I purchased it for, but it is not a repurchase for me at the regular price.  That being said, this isn't overpriced.  Peppermint oil is expensive.  I have seen a 4 oz. jar sell for $11.  It's just that I already have a bottle of peppermint oil that I haven't been able to use up in the past 5 years, and I typically buy a 32 oz bottle of avocado oil (my favorite straight oil) for about $15.  I do thank this product, however, for teaching me that I can add more peppermint oil to my other products without irritating my scalp.

Honey Ginger Edge Gel - 4 oz. ($12.99):   While I had high hopes, this edge gel suffered the same fate as many others.  It initially slicked down my edges, but that did not last long.  Thus far, it still remains that Eco Styler is one of the few things capable of slicking my edges long term.

I still want to try the Brazilian Curl Cream and the Honey & Ginger Styling Gel.  I guess I will just have to wait for another great sale.

Do you like this line?  What products do you use from it?

Hey, beautiful people!  As you may have heard, Eco Styler recently came out with two new styling gels.  One is the coconut gel.  The other is the black castor oil and flaxseed gel.  I recently purchased the coconut gel in my beauty supply, and I have tried it on a variety of styles to see how it works on my hair in comparison to some of the others.

Overall, this gel seems to mix well with my other products, particularly the As I Am Leave-In Conditioner.  However, despite the level 10 hold stated on the Coconut Gel jar, it seems to have a lighter hold that is more similar to the pink gel (pink is a level 8).  Because of the lighter hold, my hair has remained soft, but I have had some styling issues.  For example, with my bun, the gel did not smooth down flyaways. 

With my wash n’ go, my first day hair was just ok.  The coconut gel did not give me the same definition as the Krystal or Argan Oil Eco Styler gels, likely because of the lighter hold.  Also, the hold I did get was completely gone by the second day, and my hair looked pretty terrible by the end of the day (see picture).

In short, I would not add this to my list of favorite Eco Styler gels, and I probably wouldn’t repurchase it because I like other Eco Styler gels better, but I don’t hate it enough to throw out my current jar.  I will not do a wash and go with it again, but I will use it for messy buns.

Have you tried it?  What are your thoughts?

Hi, beautiful people!  As I mentioned in my Black Friday post from last year, I’ve been thinking about transitioning to almost exclusively using one product line.  If you followed my blog during my wash n’ go challenge, you know that I really like the Camille Rose Curl Maker Gel.     

LOVE IT:

I’ve also reviewed a few other Camille Rose products on my page, so feel free to check those out too.  I also hope to do a battle of the Camille Rose butters soon.

Hey, beautiful people.  It has been an awhile since I did an ingredient investigation, but I’ve had a burning question for a while now that I wanted to look into.  If you have read my blog for any period of time, you know that my hair does not really like coconut oil in stylers.  It leaves my hair feeling coated and hard.  That being said, my hair loves leave-ins with coconut milk, coconut cream and coconut fruit, like My Honey Child Coconut Hair Milk, Silk Dreams Mocha Silk Hair Milk and Aubrey Organics Island Replenishing Conditioner.  So, I decided to investigate the different types of coconut products, and how they are made.  Below is a summary of what I found.   

A green coconut (young coconut) starts off with coconut water and soft, gel-like meat.  As the coconut ages, the coconut has less water and the meat becomes more firm.  Coconut fruit is the “meat” inside the coconut.  Coconut milk is extracted from coconut fruit (frequently using water as part of the process), and coconut oil is extracted from coconut milk.  Thus, coconut oil has the least amount of water of the three.

One way to make coconut milk/oil is through a process called "wet-milling fermentation".  Freshly grated coconut is blended with water to make coconut milk.  The milk then sits for hours (sometimes overnight) so that it separates into a liquid and coconut cream/butter.  The coconut cream is scooped out, and boiled until the coconut solids fall to the bottom and turn brown.  Then, the oil is filtered, and Voila!

In case you are curious (I was), from what I've read, heating the milk to create the oil is actually good.  This particular wet-milling fermentation process produces the highest level of antioxidants in the coconut oil.  Both the oil and the anti-oxidants are thermally stable, so heating doesn't break them down.  In fact, simmering the cream for a long time at a high temperature dissolves more anti-oxidants into the oil!  Who knew.

Based on my research, I think the difference for me is that coconut oil is a purer concentration from the coconut, as opposed to coconut milk and coconut fruit, which have water.  Also, this explains why my hair likes co-washes and conditioners with coconut oil -- because I'm using them in the shower.  In essence, my hair only seems to like coconut when it is with a lot of water, probably to counteract the protein-like properties and because my hair generally loves things that have high water content. 

If you want to know more, I found a few great Youtube videos that show how coconut fruit is used to make coconut milk and coconut oil:

Price:  $12.50 for 9 oz.

Results:  I first tried to use this as a deep conditioner under a heat cap.  Unfortunately, I think that after almost a decade of use, my heat cap finally died.  It stopped giving off heat during my deep conditioning session.  Even without heat, this conditioner had some slip when I rinsed it out and some moisture. I was even able to detangle with it a little.  Next, I tried it a second time as a deep conditioner overnight.  Again, it gave my hair some moisture.  Overall, if you don't mind the scent, this is an ok deep conditioner.  It provides moisture and slip, though I have gotten better moisture from other deep conditioners.

Love it, Like it or Leave It:  Leave it.  I am sensitive to strong fragrances, and this one was too much for me.

Hey, HHJs.  One of my personal goals for 2014 is to have three, great go-to moisturizing deep conditioners.  I'm getting an early start because of my Black Friday purchases.  I currently have 11 moisturizing deep conditioners, so I am going to go through them 1-by-1 in my hunt.  First up is Darcy's Botanicals Deep Conditioning Mask.


Price:  $20

Results:  I first tried to use this alone on two occasions, and I think it was just too thick for my hair.   My hair just did not feel moisturized at all.  Then, I decided to tap into my inner mixologist.  I mixed it with honey, avocado oil, and grapeseed oil to thin it out and boost the moisturizing benefits.  This worked great.  My hair felt moisturized and wonderful.  However, I personally feel that I should not have to do that much mixing for a product that costs $20.

Love it, Like it or Leave It:  Leave it.  It has great ingredients, but I don't think I will be buying any more Darcy's Botanicals products because they seem to be a little too heavy for my low porosity, fine strands.  I also missed the fact that this has hydrolyzed oat protein when I bought it, which is one of the proteins I try to avoid.