So I tried this quick updo after I took down my 2-strand twists.
Updo from 2 strand twist out
Jan23
LOTD: Quick twistout updo!
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Tag Archives: African-American Hair
Nov24
This might just be the best shampoo ever….
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I’m talking about the SheaMoisture Organic Raw Shea Butter Moisture Retention Shampoo with Sea Kelp, Argan Oil & Shea Butter for dry, damaged hair. I have been using this shampoo for about a year now. AND I LOVE IT!!!!!
SheaMoisture Organic Raw Shea Butter Moisture Retention Shampoo, image courtesy of Target.com
While I was a relaxed girl, as a matter of fact, I have always have problems with shampoos drying my hair and scalp out. I would often feel like my scalp was tightening and pulling away from my hair. Fast forward to last year as a natural. Now my hair is growing and kinky and my number 1 goal is to prevent my hair from completely drying out when I wash it and to still effectively cleanse it. I have tried other natural shampoos and many of them while they work, they also did not suds enough for my liking. A little bit of sudsing or foaming is actually good because it helps trap and remove oil and dirt. It’s when there is excessive bubble action when the skin and hair feels dry. I also avoid traditional shampoos with certain sulphates and their derivatives like sodium lauryl sulphate, ammonium laureth sulphate etc. This is one of the moves that I have made that has totally changed the health and condition of my hair. I stick to the gentle cleansers that can remove water-soluble products.
Apr28
Just a quick note
Image courtesy of GeorgiaNY.com
Hey!
There is a Carol’s Daughter/natural hair event going on tomorrow, Friday 29th at Georgia NY.
Location: Georgia NY
Address: 89a East Houston Street, NYC
Time: 5p -9p
See you there!!
Mar16
Updated haircare routine
So have have not been buying a lot of products as of late, but I’ve been loving a few items. I usually wash and condition every other week. The process is done in four sections. I wear my hair in a protective style for one week then as a twist-out/bun for the next. I definitely will be experimenting with more styles this year! So here’s what’s hot with me!!
- Prepoo: Organic Coconut oil. Just applied to my strands a few hours before washing.
- Shampoo: Well I stopped using regular sulphate shampoo years ago, and I have been loving the Shea Moisture Organic Raw Shea Butter Moisture Retention Shampoo. My hair never feels dry with this product!
I use the shampoo with the tan label, image courtesy of Shea Moisture
Mar8
Two strand twists – a new protective style!
So here’s an update on my protective styling. For those who don’t know, I pretty much live in protective styles because when it comes to my hair, I 1) am kinda lazy when it comes to styling, 2) like the convenience, 3) don’t like to wear my hair out when it’s cold (which is at least 75% of the year). I wear a twisted style one week, then a twist-out bun the next, wash, repeat. Get it?? Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE buying hair products, testing them out, but I have not that creative with styling. So I’m trying to bust out of that.
Here is my usual protective style, a two-strand cornrowed flat twist:
Two-strand canerow
Mar2
Two strand twists – a new protective style!
So Trinidad & Tobago Carnival 2011 drops in less than one week and as ah true, true Trini, I’m now getting around to this!!!
Anyway, as usual the bands have provided lots of inspiration for makeup looks, plenty brilliant colours, lots of beading, feathers, sequins, skimpiness!. You have to admit that it’s amazing!!!
So I chose two costumes to create a look around.
Island People Mas in Mars Secret!
Mars Secret, image courtesy of Island People Mas
TRIBE/Bliss Carnival Mas in Izumi Clan!
Bliss Izumi Clan, image courtesy of Trinidad Carnival Diary
Remember, this is the time to express yourself…be more bold. Accentuate your look with rhinestones, palettes, body paint, falsies, glitter, whatever you want. Also since you are going to be jumping up in the blazing sun and sweating, you want to use as much waterproof makeup as you can. Make Up For Ever makes an entire line of great products. Many other companies sell waterproof items, M.A.C., NYX etc. Just do a little research.
Note: My Trini folks, head over to The Falls at West Mall to the M.A.C. store and get some waterproof eyeliner, like the Technakohl eyeliner, the Paints, which can be used as a stay-put, crease-free base. They have a lot of options. A Wonderful World sells a lot of different drugstore brands that have waterproof items. Mascara, eyeliner and blush are musts in the waterproof formulas.
So here is the look that I came up with:
Oct20
Champagne & Cupcakes!
Hi ladies!!
Over the weekend, I attended the Champagne & Cupcakes event at Karen’s Body Beautiful in Brooklyn, my old neighbourhood!!! I am amazed at how the area has changed for the better. Lots of cute shops, restaurants etc. But I digress….
This was the bash celebrating the brand’s total makeover: the new packaging, the opening of the spa, the website relaunch, the store redesign. I appreciate what Karen has done as a minority business owner, especially in this economy. I like her products and I think she aims to bring out a quality, natural, handmade product that caters for people with naturally curly/kinky hair (even though anyone can use her products).
Anyway, I got there pretty late, but the place was still jumping…
DJ was mixing…
Her hair was cute!
Apr19
Product Review time!!! Looking for a good deep conditioner???
So, as I previously mentioned, I visited Target last week and bought a new hair product. Today’s review is going to focus on the SheaMoisture’s Organic Raw Shea Butter Deep Treatment Masque.
It is advertised to have Sea Kelp, Argan Oil and Shea Butter and it’s to heal, grow and strengthen dry, damaged hair.
First, a little history about SheaMoisture….
As per the packaging:
“Sofi Tucker started selling Shea Nuts at the village market in Bonthe, Sierra Leone in 1912. By age 19, the widowed mother of four was selling Shea Butter, Black Soap and her homemade hair and skin preparations all over the countryside. Sofi Tucker was our grandmother and SheaMoisture is her legacy.”
So this is basically a family business that has blossomed over the last almost 100 years!!!!!
Now back to the product…..
The thing that caught my eye is that the product contains no parabens, no phthalates, no paraffin, no gluten, no propylene glycol, no mineral oil, no sulphates, no synthetic fragrances, no PABA, no DEA, no synthetic colours, no animal ingredients and they conduct no animal testing. Therefore this product is also cruelty-free and made with ethically traded ingredients. This just has ‘great’ written all over it and as you know I am always looking for all natural/organic minority-owned businesses to support.
What this product does contain are some wonderful ingredients. In general, you want to make sure that the ingredients advertised are the first 5-6 products on the label and this one certainly follows that rule! Three of those first ingredients are:
- Shea Butter – deeply moisturizes, and repairs damage to hair and scalp
- Argan Oil – restores shine and rebuilds hair elasticity
- Sea Kelp – trace minerals detoxify hair follicles of impurities and residue
The verdict: This product lives up its claims. It has a rich, creamy texture which coated my hair and instantly made my hair supa soft! This has a lot of slip and I left this in for about 1 hour with a plastic cap. I could feel the slip from the oil and shea butter, but I was not left with a greasy residue. My hair was real easy to detangle and, again, my hair was super smooth and soft.
This is a must keep for me!!! I love this product and it’s affordable price and great ingredients will keep this in my hair regime for a while!!!!!
Overall Rating: A!
This product is available from select Target locations and for the Trinis, this may be available from Beauty on D’Avenue in the coming months!
FTC Disclosure: Product was bought by me. For more information, please see my Disclosure Policy.
Apr15
As seen in Target…..
So I’m browsing through Target the other day and and to my surprise, there is a section designated for natural/organic hair care products. Now I know that they just started selling Miss Jessie’s products, but there is a whole end display with four different natural lines specifically geared towards people with natural curly, kinky, coily, wavy hair. So you know my heart started racing!!!!!!!
Target now sells Miss Jessie’s, Jane Carter Solution, Curls (for Target) and Shea Moisture. I quickly bypassed Miss Jessie’s as they are not really natural products (although they work quite well), and I have already tried both the Jane Carter (when I was relaxed) and Curls and headed straight for the Shea Moisture line.
Shea Moisture for Target, Image courtesy of SheaMoisture.com
Now this is a line that I have seen being sold on 125th Street in Harlem as well as black owned establishments, but I have never tried them. It seems that they have created a new line of all-natural and organic certified products specially for Target. They revamped the packaging, became cruelty-free and incorporated some delicious ingredients found on the Mother Land, like Argan Oil (!) and Shea Butter. This is straight…up…my…alley!
All of these products are available online at Target.com, but they will not be available at all Target locations. I visited the Target on Atlantic Avenue. Check the Target website for availability. I can’t wait to try out what I bought! Review comin’!!!!
Note to my Trinbagonians: I know that Beauty on D’Avenue sells Shea Moisture and that they are looking to expand on their offerings of that line. I know that they are also interested interested in bringing down Jane Carter Solution. So check them out!!!
Laters!!!
Mar31
This has lived up to the hype!!!!! Kinky Curly Knot Today
Image courtesy of kinky-curly.com
I finally decided to take the plunge and purchase one of the natural girl’s favourites, Kinky Curly Knot Today. I’ve heard a lot about this product and this line. I currently use their Come Clean cleanser, which works great as it cleanses without drying my hair out. A lot of people use this product as a deep conditioner and a moisturizing detangler.
Here’s what the product says:
“… This creamy herbal conditioner is enriched with botanical extracts and is designed to smooth the cuticle and to remove knots, snarls and tangles from thick curly hair.”
This is a cruelty-free, organic, nourishing concoction in a bottle!!! I love this product. I think it runs neck and neck with my all time favourite, Oyin’s Honey Hemp Conditioner. The ingredients list reads like a who’s who of wholesome, natural hair products:
- Organic mango fruit extract – naturally occurring,used for conditioning properties
- Organic slippery elm – slippery!! great detangling agent
- Organic marshmallow root – conditioner and detangler
- Organic lemongrass – adds shine to hair and anti-microbial
- cetyl alcohol – it’s an alcohol, but it’s among other things, an emollient, which softens and smoothes hair and skin
- Behentrimonium methosulphate – very mild compound which has superior detangling properties
- citric acid – natural preservative
- phenoxyethanol – organic antibacterial
- natural fragrance
This product is worth the $$$$, it made detangling with a wide-tooth comb a breeze and added moisture to my hair. My hair was super smooth afterwards. Another good thing about this product, it’s also a leave-in conditioner. So after washing with the Come Clean and detangling with the Knot Today, I rinsed and added a little bit of the Knot Today again. This product helped keep my coils defined.
The only downside, is the price. At about $12 for an 8 oz. bottle, it’s pricey, but for me it’s worth it.
This will be in rotation, but I think I’ll use it every 2 weeks and use my Aubrey Organics in between for moisture.
Overall Grade: A!
Knot Today is sold at Body Beautiful on D’Avenue in Trinidad & at Ricky’s in New York and Whole Foods.
