Beauty on a Budget: GREASE! Back to basics!

Hello everyone! I am back with another edition of Beauty on a Budget!  So as you can see from the title...I'm talkin about grease! If your a curly girl or an ingredient nazi, then you can stop reading right here, this post is not for you.

However, if you are a chick on a budget like me and looking for products that work and won't break the bank, this post is for you!

So I have been doing some research and watching some reviews on YouTube about using hair grease on natural hair and the theme is the same: grease is a great sealant, gives crazy definition and shine, provide a light hold, and combats humidity.

Of course, it has its cons too. The biggest one, if you use too much, your hair will be greasy and sticky, which is no beuno! It may also actually cause dryness if used alone as it is not really a moisturizer. Another con is that this probably shouldn't be applied to your scap for fear of clogging pores, stick to your oils or natural pomades for that.

How I Use Grease
In my opinion, this works best on really wet, freshly washed hair. I have only done twist outs so far with this and let me tell you, they have been bomb! So after washing and conditioning, I prep my hair for styling. I work some leave in through each section of my hair, then I add the moisturizer of my choice, preferably something light. Then I add a small amount of grease to each individual twist before twisting. I allow to dry overnight, separate, and fluff!

My hair has been soft,  moisturized, defined, and not as frizzy. It has also been holding up in this Georgia humidity!

Bottom Line
Grease is definitely worth a shot! If you have thick, coarse, or hard to define hair, then this may be for you. I firmly believe that grease is still around because it still works! Our parents may have been on to something so we shouldn't discount what they were doing!

Where to Find it and How Much
The grease I have been using you can get just about anywhere! I have been experimenting with Softee Coconut Oil hair & scalp conditioner, Softee Indian Hemp, and Dax. These can be found at your local Family Dollar,  Dollar Tree, Walmart, drug store, or beauty supply store. These jars can range anywhere from $1-$3, depending on what size you buy!

Stay tuned, I have more items coming your way so that you can stay beautiful on a budget!

Peace

How I am facing my hair challenges! (breakage, pjism, protective styles, length retention, etc)

Hello Loves! So my protective styling is going well and I hope that my hair responds. But WAIT......
I must confess that last week, I wore a twist out for like 2 days....but I washed it yesterday and flat twisted it up!

I digress! I am twisted up again and looking to be more creative with my hair. So I challenged myself to this protective challenge and it is definitely a challenge! But my hope is to:
1. Improve my edges and grow out the short sections of hair in the middle. I know I complain about my thick hair, but I'd rather it be thick and healty, than thing and breaking and falling out!
2. Retain some length. So I have never been into long hair, but I am challenging myself to deal with my hair instead of cutting it. Cutting has always been my answer, but I am going to grow my hair and deal with the length!
3. Improve the health of my hair. Constant mainipulation kills my hair and my ends always end up a crunchy  mess as a result. I want to protect my ends and allow my hair to heal.
4. Improve my parting and flat twists skills! Enough said. I suck at this and it needs help. I don't want to pay to get my hair done, so it is best I perfect the craft myself!!!!
5. Use up my products and develop a better regimen. I don't like my hair do's to get old or too frizzy, so I will try to do my hair weekly. I am thinking I will shampoo every other week and co-wash in between. The co-wash in between is only if my hair needs it to create a new style. I will clarify whenever I decide to switch up products and will protein treat every six weeks.

Plus, as you know, grad school has become quite demanding and I really only have time to devote to my hair once a week. I don't want to neglect it terribly and end up with hair in bad shape, so protective styling is my key. I will post pics of what I have come up with later, but right now I am at the library, supposed to be working on my theoretical framework, but instead I am updating my blog!!!!

So for the month of october, this is what I am using and doing to my hair! My regimen is as follows:
1. DC on dry hair using Creme of Nature Argan Oil Intensive Conditioning Treatment and Africa's Best Ultimate Herbal Oil.
2. Shampoo with Creme of Nature Argan Oil Moisture and Shine Shampoo.
3. Condition and detangle with Herbal Essence Hello Hydration Conditioner. Rinse.
4. LOC: L-Cantu Shea Butter Leave-in Conditioning Repair Cream, O-my own blend of grapeseed, coconut, olive, and flaxseed oil, C: African Prides Olive Miracle Maximum Strenghting Moisurizer Lotion.
5. Syle with African Pride's Shea Butter Miracle Bouncy Curls Pudding.

So far this has been okay for my hair, but I am trying to get rid of the African Pride products. They work okayfor me, but I am still on the hunt for a good line of leave-in, moisturizer, and styling products. These products do moisturize, but I feel a dryness after a few days and I don't think they will stand up for the entire fall and winter.This is not my fave, but it will work in a pinch. I would repurchase again if need be, but not at this time! I think they are better suited for spring and summer when there is more moisture in the air!

Pics to come soon, until then......Peace!

My Second Henna! I know, I'm Late!!!! Protective Style Challenge for me!

Forgive me for my tardiness all! My last year of grad school has begun and I have been crazy busy! I did Henna my hair again sometime last month and my hair is doing really well. I like the effects of he henna and all, but honestly yall, I just don't have time for it right now! Straight up! But here is what I will say about my henna experience:

1. My hair is overall healthier
2. There is a nice reddish brown tint to my hair
3. I think I get the same results as everyone else by just mixing my henna with brewed green tea
4. Henna is a PAIN to rinse out! Very long process and requires  A LOT of clean up!
5. It reduces the shedding of my hair and make my hair a bit shinier and healthier
6. I will definitely re-visit my henna journey....maybe next semester when the hard stuff is over and it's time to graduate!


PROTECTIVE STYLE CHALLENGE!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, so as I expressed above, I just don't have time for my hair. I still want to keep it healthy and moisturized though. I am really trying to grow my hair out and regain some of it's thickness. So until December, I am in protective style mode. Today is the beginning of this challenge. Here are the dynamics of this challenge:

• The idea is to retain length and keep hair moisturized and protected.
• Wash/co-wash and condition/deep condition as often as you normally do. For me, this is about every 2 weeks. I am considering for the next few months only shampooing once every six week and co-washing in between. Just to keep my hair from possibly drying.
• Find a good moisturizing routine that will fit YOUR hair. For me, I will be  doing the following: Leave-in (Cantu), oil (personal oil blend I am using consisting of coconut oil, olive oil, grapeseed oil, and flax oil), moisturizer (whatever I choose at the time but for now I will be using up my African Pride Olive Miracle Strengthening Moisturizer), and a styler (African Pride Shea Miracle Bouncy Curls Pudding...it's almost all gone and want to use it up). When I check back in, I will let you know how these products work and if I am sticking with them or using something different.
• Keep hair in a protected style a minimum of  3 out of 4 weeks in the month. Styles can include twists, braids, weaves, buns, etc.
• We will stay in protective mode until March....that's 6 months! Then by the spring we can see how much progress we have made with length retention and hair health!

Please bare with me through graduation. I will still be checking in. I will post about my oil blend and how it has been working and progress with my protective styles. If I come up with something super creative, I will be sure to post! Until next time friends!


Peace

Dark & Lovely: Au Naturale Review

Alright, I said I was going to review it in a few weeks....yeah, I don't need a few weeks. Okay, so this is what I bought:

This line of products promises to ant-shrinkage, all day elongation, moisture, shine, and hold. Before I get started, please remember that this review is only relevant to the experience on MY hair. I am not being paid to do this (I mean my page only has about 100 views anyway, so Dark & Lovely did not send this to me), I bought these products with my own money because I wanted to see how they would do!

Hydrating Soak Shampoo: Umm.....not so much! I mean, this shampoo was nothing to write home about in my opinion. It did not strip my hair which made me happy, but I don't know that it made my hair feel any different than any other sulfate shampoo I have used. It lathers really well and cleans the hair. If you like heavily scented products, then you will like the scent, if not, then you will not be happy. I would not re-purchase this. I have used cheaper shampoo's with better results. In my honest opinion: there are better shampoo's out there and I will not buy this again once the bottle is gone. ( I bought it, so I'm using it!)

Knot Out Conditioner:I was also not impressed by this conditioner. A conditioner called "knot out" to me would imply that it is super slippery and makes detangling a breeze! Well, that is not the case with this conditioner. When I apply it to my hair, it has slip, but not as much as I would expect given the name. I do not instantly feel moisture being re-introduced to my hair and you have to apply a significant amount ( I am also a lil heavy handed with conditioner). Lucky for me, I already detangle my hair when I do my pre-poo, so once I washed and applied this conditioner, I did not have a ton of work to do. With that said, if I was applying this to hair that had not previously been detangle, I could easily see it being a nightmare to detangle because the slip is just not significant. Again, I have used cheaper conditioners with better results ie. HE Hello Hydration, Suave naturals Coconut conditioner, V05 conditioners, etc. The conditioner is also heavily scented, not completely moisturizing, and lacking the slip you would expect with the name. Will not be re-purchasing this either once it is gone.

Curl Moisturizing Souffle: Okay, this product was definitely not a win for me. I can't quite describe the texture of the product. It has kind of a creamy consistency but a little thicker? IDK, it's weird! Anywhoo, this stuff did not do anything it says! It's supposed to give definition without crunch and add moisture. UMMM......NO! First of all, I did not use this product for a wash n go. I thought about it, but the consistency and the non-slippery quality of it let me know that I would not be applying this to wet hair to be worn out all day! I used this to do braid out and twist outs. If you do not let your hair dry COMPLETELY with this stuff in, you will have a frizzy, poofy, tangled mess! There is not much moisture, but it didn't dry my hair out which I guess is a plus. It does not get crunchy which is what the product promises. However, it does leave your hair dull looking, maybe a tiny bit of a sheen, but nothing that says "hey look at me! My hair is moisturized, soft, fluffy, and I want to keep my hands in it all day!". Absolutely not! The anti-shrinkage claim is non-existent also. But, I will say that I don't believe any product that claims ant-shrinkage. Natural hair shrinks....period. So yeah, this was also disappointing to the point that I'm not sure I will even use this till it's gone. I may be tossing it in the trash. As we speak, I am sitting with the conditioner in my hair, thinking of a style and trying to determine if I get lazy and do a twist out, will I even use this product. This product was definitely not for me.

10-in-1 Gelee: Definitly not for me. It's a thing, goupy gel. It reminds me of the Murray's Loc and Twist Gel, but I like the Murray's better! I'm not quite sure what the purpose of this is or why it's in the line, but whatever. What I did find it useful for is when I would pull my hair up into a puff or bun or something and didn't want to gel my hair, this would provide the hold without the build up or that "slicked down" look. I will use it for that purpose in the future, but nothing else. It did not make a difference or add definition when twisting. Will also NOT be re-purchasing!


So overall, I guess you could say that I was not pleased with this line and it just was not for me. My hair is probably a 4b/4a mix with some 3c in the back. So yes my hair is highly textured and this line did nothing for me. I look for my products to not only be good stylers, but to be nourishing for my hair. This line definitely did not do that. It's full of bad ingredients,  but we all know that some of those products can do very well in our hair. Well this one does not fit into that category for MY hair. In all honesty I have gotten better results using TreSemme Naturals Shampoo and conditioner as well twisting with some coconut oil and eco-styler gel. My hair looked and felt better than with using this line. So I will not re-purchase this line EVER, and my fix for trying this product has been satisfied!

I will be reviewing the ORS CURLS Unleashed line next. I have reason to believe I will have better results. Ultimately, I am convinced once I my product junky fix has been completely satisfied, I will be sticking with my Oyin, Qhemet Biologics, oils, and eco-styler gel!


Hope this review was helpful and I will holla at you peeps later!


Peace