Saturday, July 19, 2014
African Black Soap Update
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.
Saturday, July 12, 2014
Product Review: Hairveda Moist Condition PRO Conditioner
Price: $9.99
for 16 oz.
Promise: From
the website - Our wheat protein-enriched conditioner carries moisture and
protein into the hair without weighing it down or dulling. Soy protein delivers the maximum amount of
nutrients into the hair follicles where protein deficiencies occur. Moist Condition PRO provides building blocks
for strengthening the hair. We use wheat
protein derived from organic sources. We've
designed it to add manageability and shine. Designed for all hair types. Safe and mild for natural, relaxed and color
processed hair.
Scent: Citrusy
starburst scent
Consistency: Like
wet lotion
Results: This was the last of my Black Friday Hairveda purchases. This
reminds me a lot of the Acai Phyto Conditioner, though it may be a little more runny. I used this both as an overnight deep
conditioner and as a rinse out conditioner. I liked it both ways, but
preferred it as a rinse out conditioner. It leaves
my hair feeling strong, yet moisturized. However, as an overnight, there
was a slight hardness to my hair. Not
super hard, but noticeable. I think it
may be the wheat protein or the coconut oil. The ingredients listed on the website are now different and don't include coconut or soybean oil, so I may try this again.
Either way, I think I prefer the Acai Phyto Conditioner over this one.Saturday, July 5, 2014
Product Review: Alikay Naturals Lemongrass Leave-in Conditioner
Price: $13 for 8 oz. / $22 for 16 oz.
Promise: Locks
moisture in your hair without weighing it down or causing product build up.
Infused with essential oils to smooth your hair shaft and keeps it moisturized.
The lemon zest scent is yummy and refreshing. Hair will feel soft and ready to
be styled pretty!
Scent: Lemon
Consistency: Thick
liquid, like orange juice with a lot of pulp
Results: I
loved this product! It made my hair
soft, strong and moisturized. It also
lasts a long time. I’ve been using it regularly
since at least the beginning of the year, and I still have a quarter of a
bottle left. I used it more as a
moisturizing, protein spritz rather than a leave-in. My only issue is that, because of the thickness of the liquid, it didn't always come out of the spray nozzle well. Sometimes, it would drip or collect on the front of the spray, and I would have to wipe it off and spread it on my hair with my fingers. I didn't mind this too much because this is such a great product. I was going back and forth on whether to buy it again because I am trying to transition to making more of my own products and buying less online. However, now that I can get this on the ground at Target, I will definitely buy it when my no-buy is up.
Saturday, June 28, 2014
Product Review: Silk Dreams Vanilla Silk Cream Moisture Dream (The Deep Conditioner Files #6)
Price: $10
for 8 oz. / $16 for 16 oz.
Promise: Get
ready for moist, supple, manageable hair. This rich conditioning cream will help you get
your moisture groove back. Silk protein
protects and softens your hair while honey, apricot kernel oil, jojoba oil, and
aloe wrap your tresses in silky moisture.
Scent: Almond extract
Consistency: Like lightly
whipped buttercream frosting
Results: The
price is right and it makes my hair feel great.
I got at least 4 uses out of this.
I’ve tried it under a heat cap, as an overnight deep conditioner, and in
my hair for two weeks under a wig (I was feeling lazy on my wash day). My hair probably liked the overnight deep
conditioning best, but it worked every way I tried it. It was even mild enough that my scalp wasn't bothered by leaving it in long term. After each use, my hair felt moisturized, yet strong.
Saturday, June 21, 2014
Ingredient Investigation: Dimethicone and Other Silicones
Hey, beautiful people!
As I mentioned in a previous post,
I’m going to take a few posts and investigate some of the more suspect
ingredients in commercial rinse out conditioners. This is my first one.
If you have been in the natural hair community for awhile,
then you probably know by now that silicones have gotten a bad rap. From what I know, it seems like most of that
bad rap stems from the Curly Girl method created by Lorraine Massey. As a result, many people, including me at one
point, have just accepted that silicones are either good or bad without knowing
why. However, the science geek in me
can’t just stick with assumptions.
As you may recall from my toolbox post,
one purpose of a rinse out conditioner is to coat the hair to make it easier to
detangle. Silicones are great for this
purpose because they coat the hair, creating an effective lubricant for
detangling. They also provide protection
for thermal styling.
The reason why silicones can be bad for you is that they coat
the hair and can cause buildup, preventing good things, like moisture from
getting to your hair. Silicones usually
end in "cone," "col," "conol" or
"zane." There are four types
-- water soluble, non-soluble that evaporate, non-soluble that resist buildup,
and the rest.
Water soluble silicones can be washed away with water, so if
you wet your hair frequently, then water soluble silicones should not be a
problem. Non-soluble silicones that evaporate
won’t wash away with water, but they completely evaporate from your hair
anywhere from 10 minutes to a few hours after application, so there’s no worry
about build up or moisture lock out with these.
Other non-soluble silicones may need sulfates or another cleanser to be
washed away. If you are a regular
shampoo user, like me, or clarify periodically, then even non-soluble silicones
should not cause a problem. Here is a
great chart from Chemist Tonya McKay that shows what cleansers will remove what silicones.
The reason why non-soluble silicones are not good for people
on the Curly Girl method is that the Curly Girl method discourages the use of
sulfate shampoos. Obviously, if you are
avoiding stronger cleansers, then it is probably a good idea to avoid
non-soluble silicones that don’t evaporate.
So, with that in mind, here is the list of silicones that I have been
able to nail down into a category:
Water Soluble
- Dimethicone Copolyol
- Lauryl Methicone Copolyol
- Hydrolyzed wheat protein (Hydroxypropyl Polysiloxane)
- Any silicone with PEG as a prefix
Non-Soluble That Evaporate
- Cyclo-XXX-siloxane, like Cyclopentasiloxane
- Cyclomethicone
- Decamethylcyclotetrasiloxane
- Hexamethylcyclotrisiloxane
- Hexamethyldisiloxane
- Octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane
Build-Up Resistant Non-Soluble
- Amodimethicone
- Bis-aminopropyl dimethicone
- Aminopropyl Dimethicone
- Dimethicone crosspolymer
- Vinyldimethicone Crosspolymer
Other Non-Soluble (hard to wash out)
- Dimethicone (when paired with cationic ingredient, like a such as a bromide, chloride or polyquaternium)
- Bis-Phenylpropyl Dimethicone
- Behenoxy dimethicone
- Cetyl Dimethicone
- Cetearyl Methicone
- Dimethiconol
- Stearoxy dimethicone
- Stearyl dimethicone
- Stearyl methicone
- Propoxytetramethyl piperidinyl dimethicone
- Polysilicone-18 Cetyl Phosphate
- Trimethylsiylamodimethicone
Based on this, I am ok with testing out rinse out
conditioners with silicones, with a preference for water soluble, evaporative
or build-up resistant. Maybe,
one day, I’ll even go back to dimethicone -- GASP!
Do you use conditioners with silicones? If so, which ones and how do you avoid
buildup?
Saturday, June 14, 2014
Product Review: Alikay Naturals CoWash Me Cleansing Conditioner
Price: $13
for 8 oz. / $22 for 16 oz.
Promise: Formulated
to be gentle enough for daily use on curly, kinky or straight hair. Leaves hair soft, moisturized, clean and easy
to detangle. Hair will feel and smell great!
This Product is 100% Natural and 90%
Organic. Cleans hair without the
stripping it of natural oils caused by sulfates.
Scent: Like
strawberry lemon starburst or skittles
Consistency: It
was very runny. It almost ran off my
hand mid picture.
Results: My
hair definitely did not feel stripped.
However, I’m not sure this cleansed my hair at all because my hair didn't feel any cleaner after using it and I can't really tell which ingredient is the cleansing agent. It was
a great conditioner, though. This had lots
of slip and was great for detangling.
Unfortunately, I run through conditioner way too fast to ever use this as just a good conditioner. I used up the
8 oz. bottle in about 2 washes. After
the second wash, I only had enough for 1/4 of my hair. If I had a smaller head of hair, I would add
this to the regular rotation. Maybe, if
I have a daughter, I will use it on her, if I can figure out what is in the “herbal and botanical blend”.Saturday, June 7, 2014
Product Review: Jessicurl Deep Conditioning Treatment (The Deep Conditioner Files #5)
Price: $16.95
for 8 oz.
Promise: From
the bottle - Intense pampering for dry hair.
From the website - It’s thick, it’s rich, it’s moisturizing, it doesn’t
build up – it really is the ideal formula for restoring moisture to dry curly
hair. It also works great as a shaving cream – that even includes bald men!
Scent: I
bought the Island Fantasy scent. The
scent is so light, I can’t really tell.
Maybe light orange and peppermint.
Consistency: Like
whipped shea butter
Results: This
is thick, and it really should be in a jar.
I had to work so hard to get this out of the bottle that my hand turned
red from hitting the bottle against it. That's why I didn't bother trying to get more out to take a picture of the consistency. Despite the thickness, it still
goes on smooth. Unfortunately, it didn’t
work for me. I tried this under a heat
cap for about 25 minutes, and it made my hair hard. As a disclaimer, the bottle says to leave it
on for 30-60 minutes; but, I forgot to check the bottle before I went under the
heat cap. The Curlmart website and
another website I checked while under the heat cap said 20 minutes. The next time I tried this, I did an overnight
treatment. My hair wasn’t hard, so the
extra time helped, but this is still not one of my favorites. I think that the concentration of butters is just too much for my low porosity hair. This worked better in the front of my hair, which is a slightly higher porosity I think. Between the effort it took to get this out of
the bottle, the amount of time this product needs to work for my hair and the price for the result, I
just can’t get with it.
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