Beauty...Natural Hair...Vibes

Tag: Kinky Hair (page 3 of 6)

My Chagrin Valley shampoo bars review!

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NB: Nothing to declare! Product mentioned bought by me!

Chagrin Valley Soap and Salve products!

For the last few months, I have been testing out the two shampoo bars that I purchased from Chagrin Valley.  I have not had too much experience with Shampoo bars and previously I had only used the babassu bars from Anita Grant.  I have been a fan of liquid cleaners as they are more likely to lather (which by the way, assuming they don’t contain sulphates, assist in removing grease and dirt from the hair, but they are not absolutely necessary for cleansing).  Plus the fact, I am not a fan of soap melting away in the bathroom, but I decided to give them a try.  I purchased the Babassu Marsh Mallow and the Butter Bar Conditioner Shampoo Bars.  I got about 7oz. in each bar for about US$8.

See how large the bar is!!! Covers my entire hand!

Good value!  I cut off pieces of the bar as I needed it.

Babassu Marsh Mallow Shampoo Bar – 7oz.

Babassu Marsh Mallow Shampoo Bar –  The main ingredients are Babassu oil, which is great for thick hair and helps with restoring strength and elasticity,  and marsh mallow root, which a well-known botanical used for its detangling, softening and hydrating properties.  This bar had a citrusy, herbal scent that dissipated when rinsed.  I parted my hair into quarters and I was able to get a pretty decent lather from the bar.  It did not strip my hair of its moisture but neither was it super moisturizing.  My scalp looked/felt clean and it did not itch while I was washing it.   I also did not notice any significant ease in detangling.  This was a generally a good bar, not amazing, but I would repurchase.

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Hair haul: My recent Chagrin Valley purchase

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Back in the day, before I even decided to go back to natural hair, I did a lot of research on new products that I could use.  I was a member of a number of natural hair discussion boards, as there were not that many blogs available at that time.  This is how I discovered that I could cleanse my hair without sulphates and they (the sulphates)  were probably the cause of the intense itching and dryness that I felt while shampooing.  One of the most widely mentioned brands for cleansers was from Chagrin Valley Soap & Salve Company.  Chagrin Valley makes a variety of handmade soaps for hair and body as well as body balms made with shea butter and herbal rinses.  I definitely wanted to explore the world of sulphate-free, natural shampoos, so I filed this name in my memory bank.

Fast forward to earlier this year and I wanted to try some new products.  I have been loving my SheaMoisture but, you know, the product junkie in me.  Browsing the site, there are a lot to choose from, depending on what you are looking for, the ingredients that you like, scents etc.  They sell their full sized bars as well as sample sizes, which is great!  I ended up choosing 2 full sized bars; the Babassu Marsh Mallow Shampoo Bar and the Butter Bar Conditioner Shampoo Bar.  I’ve always wanted to try hair teas to make detangling easier so I picked up the trial size of the Hair Tea Detangler Blend.

I ordered my items on a Monday night and I had a box waiting for me on Thursday! And this was the cheapest shipping option!  Here’s my haul.

Chagrin Valley Soap & Salve Co. haul!

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Naturalistas! New product line! Au Naturale from Dark & Lovely

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Dark & Lovely just recently launched their newest haircare line called Au Naturale, for women with natural hair, whether it’s wavy, curly, coily or kinky.  Dark and Lovely has been in the game for….ever, maybe?  I used to use their relaxers way back when!

Anyway, the media event was held at Arena in NYC and hosted by natural hair blogger and author Nikki of Curly Nikki! OMG!! I was really, really excited to meet her! I’ve been reading her blog for years!

Ms. Curly Nikki and me!

and R&B songstress Marsha Ambrosius!

Marsha Ambrosius!

Here’s the line!!

Dark & Lovely’s Au Naturale line

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Hair of the Day! Twist out, half up

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My latest twist out!!!

My usual twistout and I decided to wear it half up and half down.  Super easy! I just unravelled the twists but I did not separate the individual twists. I used these products to do my two strand twists – these are pretty much my holy grail products!

  • Kinky Curly Knot Today as a leave-in
  • Oyin Handmade Whipped Pudding
  • Oyin Burnt Sugar Pomade

What do you use?? Laters!

My experiment with bentonite clay on my natural hair!

So I returned from an amazing trip to Turkey and I needed to give my hair a little TLC.  I decided to do a deep cleanse with bentonite clay.  What’s bentonite clay you ask??  I used Aztec Secret Indian Healing Clay with contains 100% natural calcium bentonite clay, which I bought at Fairway in NYC for $6.95.  You can find this at other stores and all over online.

Image via Vitacost

A bit on bentonite clay…

Calcium bentonite or green bentonite is a naturally occurring clay that is known for it’s highly absorbing and detoxification properties.  It can be used both internally and externally, but if you are going ingest bentonite clay, do copious amounts of research and proceed at your own risk!  Anyway, calcium bentonite absorbs many things, water, oil, sebum, dirt, toxins, metals, free radicals, bacteria and other kinds of impurities and it is quite popular in the haircare and skincare communities.  Many people with oily or acne-prone skin make facial masques as it quite effectively removes surface oil.  I got some of it on my forehead and my dry skin felt suuuuuuper tight, so I know it works!  I used it to cleanse and detoxify my hair, like a hair masque.  So here’s how I mixed it:

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