Shea Moisture Products

I have fallen in love.......not that type of love lol. But I have definitely taken to a new product line and I don't do that very often. I have recently started using Shea Moisture products; Coconut and Hibiscus Curl Enhancing Smoothie and Hold & Shine Moisture Mist. And, so far so good.

I used the Curl Enhancing Smoothie on freshly washed hair with my favorite leave-in conditioner (Silk Elements Mixed Silk Leave-In) brushed through beforehand for some lovely large twists. I didn't take any pictures and I shoulda have. I'm sorry. I really am. I'll do better next time I promise.


But in the mean time.....The Curl Enhancing Smoothie smells absolutely delicious and leaves my hair extra soft!! And the Moisture Mist smells equally yummy and does the trick if your hair is feeling parched. Both can be purchased at your local Target or Walgreens for $9.99 ea. A little birdie told me they are currently on sale for 2/$16.99 :-) not sure how long that lasts so don't shoot the messenger lol.


Toodles!

Its Been A Long Time....I Shouldn'ta Left You ;)

Hello World!!!! I have arrived....again....lol. Well, I'm finally back from a years long hiatus. I didn't intend to stay away that long, and for that my dear friends I apologize. My life went into overdrive when I moved to Florida for my Disney College Program season (Shoutouts to my fellow Fall 2010 Alumni! Dream it, do it, Disney yall haha ;) I meant to give weekly updates on how my hair was fairing in a new climate with all that humidity n whatnot, and what styles I was rockin. It so didn't happen....sorry lol.

Like a fool, I flat-ironed my hair not realizing the humidity would tear up my steamed 'do (my maxi glide has a steam feature). Day 1 I was fine, but the next morning at registration was a whole new story lol. My poor little housing ID picture. I couldn't wear my white headband I had on b/c it would clash with the background and stuff so they made me take it off. My hair expanded like crazy and looked a mess without my headband :-/ Long story short, my styles only consisted of flat-ironed sleekness with headbands (the humidity and other things kept me from wearing my usual middle part), wash-n-go ponytails, and wash-n-go curliness. I did try new products while I was gone though, so a product review of the Kinky Curly products I used will be coming soon!

This year is a new year, and a new me. I have so much to update its not even funny. You ladies (and gents if you're out there) get to look forward to hearing about my last three henna applications, my new favorite conditioner, length retention, and my go-to twisted style!

Be back soon, with pics and more :)

Review-Suave Professionals Almond & Shea Butter Conditioner

I've been MIA for a while but that doesn't mean I stop taking care of my hair ;)

Ok.....so maybe this time that was the case, but I promise to pieces it won't happen again. I got really lazy yall. And that should not have happened. What am I talking about you ask? Well once I twisted my hair this last time (this would have been week 4 but I took them out), I kept it that way. I only washed and styled once and ironically it was the day of my surprise grad party (thank you bae!). Considering that I hennaed before a twist set, I should have taken greater caution with my hair; especially since its been hot as all hell lately. The last few days of this twist-set were dry-like, which prompted me to wash and condish immediately.

While I was out shopping for items for my upcoming venture to Disney, I happened upon a 2 for $4 sale of different hair care items such as the titular Suave conditioner. I was intrigued because it has shea butter and almond in it. And its specifically a moisturizing conditioner. For the most part it has nothing but lovely ingredients in it and I was amazed at how much better my hair felt after using it.

This is what I did:

I co-washed with Suave Naturals Tropical Coconut conditioner to let whatever twists I couldnt manage to find and undo, become undone easier. This also helped me detangle my dry twist-out.

Next, (after rinsing the condish out of course) I washed my hair with Neutrogena T-Gel shampoo; per instruction of my dermatologist for my sebhorreic dermatitis & acne issues (no more acne yall!!) and proceeded to use my newfound friend.

I applied the Suave Professionals like I would any other conditioner, making sure to cover every spot possible. I have thick hair...and lots of it.... so this took a good minute. Once it was on, I just at for 10 min (it was hot in my house so I didnt need a cap for this one lol) and rinsed. I was amazed at how moisturized my hair felt. I was soooo relieved to find that my hair could be salvaged. Just imagine what my hair would have felt like if I used an even more extravagant method of deep conditioning!

Ingredients: Water (Aqua), Cetearyl Alcohol, Cyclopentasiloxane, Stearamidopropyl Dimethylamine, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis Oil (Sweet Almond), Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter) (Shea Butter), Simmondsia Chinensis Seed Oil (Jojoba), Aloe (Aloe Barbadensis) Leaf Juice (Aloe Vera), Cymbopogon Schoenanthus Oil (Lemongrass), Rosmarinus Officinalis Leaf Oil (Rosemary), Chamomilla Recutita Flower/Leaf Extract (Matricaria), Lavandula Angustifolia Flower Extract (Lavender), Dimethiconol, Behentrimonium Chloride, Fragrance, Dipropylene Glycol, Potassium Chloride, Lactic Acid, Disodium EDTA, TEA Dodecylbenzene Sulfonate, PEG 150 Distearate, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone

For now, my hair is in a very messy puff. Terrible I know but I am too lazy to even be bothered with twisting it right now. Besides, they would have to come out sooner than 3-4 weeks b/c I may be taking grad portraits (my hair looked so fly straightened in my other professional grad pics (fresh off the stage pics.....coming to the site soon!) I wanna do it again! lol) and I may just keep it like that until orientation and stuff is over for Disney (if it keeps up in that hot A Florida weather, sheesh!)

So ladies, if you're not against conditioners that don't have 100% all natural ingredients or you wanna feed into your PJism, go ahead and buy this heavenly conditioner.

Hop over to your nearest Kmart to indulge in the 2/$4 deal :)

Later days~~

Jamila Henna Results

I tried out my Jamila Henna Friday night. If I didn't know any better, I would swear that there is more than 100g in each of those packages lol. I mixed 200g (2 boxes) and it seemed like waaaay too much. I almost feel like what I had left over and stored in the freezer is 100g mix. Idk.....

But anywho, I love love love my results :) The color is more noticeable indoors....at least in my bathroom; when I hold up my table mirror to look into the bathroom cabinet mirror, I feel like I'm looking at two different people lol. The red color is sooo pretty. I can't wait for people to notice it in the sunlight. But then again, it might look very different the next time I'm around people. Henna coloring oxidizes over a few days after the initial application so Idk what my hair will look like tomorrow, and the next day, etc.

For all my 4a/b ladies out there, henna at your own risk if you have not yet fully come to terms with caring for extremely kinky coils. If you have a thick head of hair, henna will not make it change textures (i.e jumping from 4b to 4a or 4b to 3b, etc). It DOES increase thickness...at least from my experiences and others that I have read on natural hair forums. Although still thick, it doesn't kill me when I try to comb through on dry hair (at least yesterday and today that wasnt the case lol). I guess you would only be able to know what I'm talking about if you've hennaed more than twice and know the feeling of thick and kinky but still comb-able (is that a word?? lol)

My only problem is that with this increased thickness I haven't got the slightest clue as to what to do with this mane of mine now. I think I am going to twist again b/c wash-n-go pony's are a pain for me to do. Always have been. Besides....I wanna be cute for my fireworks venture tomorrow and whatever else comes up this week.

Happy Hennaing and Styling!!

Oh yes, and Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there :)

My Henna Mix:

200g Jamila Henna Summer Crop 09 (from Butters N Bars)

Lemon juice (estimated 1/3)

Orange Juice (estimated 2/3)

I just dumped the powder into a medium sized plastic bowl and added the last potion of lemon juice that was left; it was a very small fraction of the bottle I used last time (see older henna post....I cant remember at the moment the bottle size). I used that corner of lemon juice and made up for the rest of the moisture for the mix by using orange juice. I didn't use official measurements; I just kept ading until everything was moist and made sure to mix between add-ins. When I was done mixing it had the consistency of mashed potatoes or really thick lumpy oatmeal. I let my mix sit for almost 19-20 hours because my schedule changed that Friday; I didn't get home until maybe 6pm so thats when I washed my hair and then applied my henna.

My mix was obviously darker than the night before (indicator of dye release) and still as lumpy as ever....maybe even a little more. I applied a tiny bit more orange juice to make it less lumpy and proceeded to wash. Some naturals clarify with a clarifying shampoo of some sort or skip actual shampoo and just co-wash or something. Since I have sebhorreic dermatitis I have to wash with T-Gel shampoo---might as well be a clarifyer, its that cleansing lol. After I washed, I conditioned (dont remember if I did that during my last two henna sessions, but I felt it was necessary this time b/c T-Gel shampoo makes my hair feel weird and dry-like afterwards. I was scared the henna directly after shampooing would do horrendous things to my hair i.e fall out or break off ) with a couple of Suave Naturals conditioners that I've had for a while but never finished using (making good use of my (and my mom's...RIP honey) product junkyism lol). I believe it was the Sea Breeze one with algae and vitamin E and the Mango Peach. After rinsing my condish, I sectioned my hair off and went to work.

Applying henna is tiring as heck, especially when its late at night. I will NEVA do that again, unless I plan on sleeping in that ish. Wheeew! I was done applying by 7:30 but given the day I had, I was tired. I didnt even want to let it sit in my hair for 4 hours but I did it anyway to see the color deposit (although thats not why I henna...its just a fun bonus lol).

And presto! Henna session number 3 for me:

Obvious auburn/red tint in certain lighting.

Jamila Henna

SO....my new stash of henna has just arrived fresh in the mail and I cannot wait to try it! I haven't done a henna treatment in months (about 4 or 5, eeek!) so you can imagine my excitement lol. The BAQ henna that I used before was from Yemen and was supposed to have a very superior dye quality. Idk what would have happened if I kept using that instead of switching to the Jamila Crop; would the orangey-reddy color have gotten deeper orange or red? The world may never know....lol But I have heard great things about the Jamila brand and have seen some amazing results from it.

Like I said in my last post, I am going to make the most of my time at home before I head down to Florida. I'm sure my tresses will thank me for treating and protecting them prior to 5 more months of heat (90 degree weather, here we come! lol).

Well, I have a few more things to do today (shopping for Disney! :) then I will be able to mix it up and enjoy my henna.

Hasta Luego!

It's Henna Time......Yet Again

Hello world!

In an effort to keep this dear old blog of mine updated, I have decided to embark on a new challenge. This challenge will be tweaked in the coming days but as of now I just know it as my Glow and Grow Challenge. I just ordered 500g of Jamila Summer Crop BAQ Henna; from a different site too :-\ I used to order my henna from mehandi.com but earlier this year I became aware of Butters N Bars through the CurlyNikki network. Well, over at Butters N Bars they have a little sale going on (15% off ayurvedic products) and my trusty Yemeni Henna from mehandi has gone up in price (its like $9 per 100g now....yikes!!!).

With things being the way they are right now I can't afford to treat my tresses to superb burgandy tones and such with more applications of the Yemen henna so I snatched up the deal on Jamila henna :) I should receive my new stash sometime next week so I will def have pics and reviews to the best of my ability (my comp hates when I try to upload pics to blogger....works better from a campus comp smh)

Anywho.....as I said before my new personal challenge for my hair is gonna be called Glow and Grow. I am going to regularly use henna in my hair care regimen to retain length and also see what type of henna glow I can maintain in the process. My hair is already naturally dark but in the sunlight and rare movements of indoor lighting my hair glows a pretty reddish/orangish color. Its so pretty that my sister has asked me to hook her up with henna! I want to henna my hair more than just once every 2-3 months. I am going to see what happens if I henna my hair every other week. Since the effects of henna build up with each use, I should see results fast--being that these next few applications would be my 3rd, 4th, and 5th. Obviously there wouldn't be a dramatic change in length overnight, but I'm sure the added strength from the new applications will have a great effect on my length retention. My hair is about an inch or less away from being APL and just last summer my hair was barely grazing shoulder length.......

2 Henna treatments and many protective styles and such later, I'm at APL.
Let's see what 3 consecutive henna treatments (more may be in the works, depending on funds and such), buns, twists, DC treatments, improved nutrition and exercise regimens, etc have in store for my hair this summer. Who knows, my hair may grow alot more by the end of the summer than what's normal for me lol

Goodnight :)
~Lena

Summer Hair Affair

Aaahh, it feels good to be back!

My apologies for the unintentional hiatus. Everything just turned into one big whirlwind of events overnight....so it seemed. Ah, maybe it did lol. Between my last post and this post, I have aced more exams, discovered new hairstyles, and graduated from college. Yay me!! lol.

I played with the idea of wearing my hair in a natural/curly style for graduation but unfortunately that didn't materialize. I decided to stick with what I was used to (judge if you want, I really don't care lol) which is my slick straight press. My hair was banging and it lasted a good while through all the heat and anti-heat and everything. Well almost everything; it didn't outlast my sebhorreic dermatitis! Argh!! I had to wash my hair even though I didn't want to (wanted my money's worth of flaunting my length lol).

Flash-forward to today which marks a full month since I graduated (yay!!) and my hair is in twists. Cute twists might I add. I have been slacking on my posts and taking hair shots....and posting them.....but I promise I will make that all up this week. I have soooo many pics to share from graduation and before graduation when I experimented with a style I hold dear to me. I am going to name my hairstyle soon enough but it fits me so well that I may just name it after myself :)

Sooooo many things to come. Pics, pics and more pics!
Stay tuned!

~Lena