Thursday, December 20, 2012

Winter Hair Changes

Hey there,

The cold weather has been here for awhile and my hair has let me know recently that she isn't happy. I'll be bringing back a few things techniques and products that my tresses have always loved, namely the things that got me from shoulder to armpit length in the first place ;).

Protective styling - Now that my scalp has fully recovered and my hair is longer, I can revisit protective styling. I've mentioned previously that protective styling is one of the holy grail methods of length retention and that really is the truth-- it keeps hair away from the elements and keeps it balanced for extended periods of time with less work. I'm glad my scalp issues have calmed down just in time for cold weather. I have chosen to adopt a 50-50 protective-low-manipulation styling routine. This should keep my ends in reasonable shape, while avoiding any damage done to my hair and scalp caused by repeated tension.

No direct heat - I had some fun with my flat iron in the fall and my ends were not pleased with me. That was like the first time I had more than a handfull of split ends at once. My hair also got super duper dry and since that was the only thing that changed in my regimen, I can only assume that was the cause for the trouble. On that note, no direct heat for me until probably all of the pre-hair journey hair has been removed (1-2.5'').

Protein conditioning - Since the air is so dry during the winter, I have to use a protein-free moisturizer the majority of the time. To ensure that my hair remains balanced, I make sure to condition with protein at regular intervals to prevent any breakage due to over-moisturizing my hair.

Serum/Butter use - In the warmer weather, my hair is generally fine with a just argan or grapeseed oil to seal. In the winter time, I can't use heavier oils due to my oily skin, but I try to make good use of butters and serums which tend to have less of a greasy feel. When I am bunning, I go crazy with oil because my hair isn't touching my face or trunk, but when my hair is out I have to be more careful. I tend to seal the body of my hair with just argan or grapeseed to avoid heavy hair, but for the ends and the nape (i.e. the parts of my hair that will actually be touching my clothes and that can dry out fast) I use a serum or butter. Currently my fav products are the Organix Moroccan Argan Oil Weightless Healing Dry Oil (it's a spray, that ensures even coverage and encourages my laziness ;) and the Jane Carter Nourish & Shine to keep my nape and ends from hating me lol.

Thanks for reading :),

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Liebster Award

Good afternoon all,


The lovely Shika of Hair I Am World and Marie of Hatter's Hair have been kind enough to nominate me for the Liebster award. These ladies have great blogs, be sure to swing by!

How the Liebester Award works: 
1. Each person must post 11 random things about themselves (optional). 
2. Answer the 11 questions that the tagger set for you.
3. Choose 11 bloggers who you would like to give the Liebester Award.
4. Create 11 questions for the bloggers you have tagged with the award to answer.

Questions (from Shika):
  1. What do you love about your hair?
    I love how thick it is, and how little trouble it causes me when it's well cared for.
  2. What was the last thing you drank?
    Water.
  3. If you had to eat at the same fast food restaurant for a month, which restaurant would you choose?
    Honestly, McDonald's lol.
  4. Harry Potter or Twilight?
    Neither, Lord of the Rings haha
  5. What was the last concert you've been to?
    Trey Songz
  6. What is your favorite holiday?
    New Year's!
  7. What do you do for a living?
    I'm a web developer
  8. What does your most recent text message say?
    "The Most"
  9. Where is your dream vacation destination?
    Greece!
  10. Who is your biggest celebrity crush?
    Oh my goodness... Trey Songz, I need to meet that man lol
  11. What did you do last weekend?
    Spent some quality time with friends and did some shopping.
Nominations:
  1. Jeni at  Just Grow Already
  2. Vienna at Persian Named Girl
  3. Robin at Blessed Tresses
  4. Nadine at Textured Strands
  5. Lesley at Fresh Lengths
  6. Dr. Fomsky at Sizzling Mommy
  7. Chilnell at ChilNell Chiln'Hair
  8. Cecily at Tracking My Tresses
  9. Tama at Simply Into My Hair
  10. Shereen at WishfulLengths
  11. Diamond at BeautiNWisdom
My Questions for the Nominees:
  1. What is your favorite food?
  2. What are you doing for New Year's?
  3. What is your shoe size?
  4. What style is your hair currently in?
  5. What is your absolute favorite deep conditioner?
  6. Chocolate or vanilla?
  7. How often do you exercise?
  8. What's your favorite cereal?
  9. What was the last movie you saw?
  10. Did you get your flu shot this year?
  11. Why did you start blogging?
 Thanks for reading :),

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Product Review: Jane Carter Nourish & Shine

Hey there :)


Throughout the course of my hair journey (almost 18 months!), I have battled with solving various hair and scalp concerns along with trying to select the appropriate products and techniques to remedy my concerns. I had an easy time finding my staple shampoos, conditioners and pre-shampoo products, but my moisturizers and styling products were much harder to come by. Due to my skin's sensitivity to sulfates, I have to be careful with my use of silicone, and I also chose to avoid mineral oil/petroleum for much the same reason. I finally secured some moisturizers from Bee Mine and Giovanni that fit the bill, but styling products took far longer. Commercial hold products were always a thing I stayed away from due to the high silicone and/or alcohol content. A popular ingredient in many natural styling products is beeswax. I found that beeswax would irritate my scalp and create a lot of buildup in the areas where styling products were usually placed (nape and edges), and I also noticed more breakage in the length when these products were added for textured styles (twist-outs, bantu knot outs, etc).

I gave up on styling/hold products for a while until I saw that my Rite Aid was selling the Jane Carter products and I decided to take a chance. Well I'm GLAD that I did. While I have also tried shea butter in the past, I also found that leads to some breakage in the length (after doing research I found that some people found shea butter based products to be very drying; who knew!?). Nourish & Shine turned out to be the exception; from the day I started using it up until now, it gives me soft and smooth hold and rinses out clean, I don't even have to shampoo it out. My skin loves it too. It has a light grapefruit scent that blends well with the smell of my other hair products. It melts quickly when rubbed in your hands for a smooth application and a little really does go a long way. Nourish & Shine also does a great job of slicking down edges, holding textured styles and moisturizing skin with minimal buildup. Basically I'm saying, I love it and I would absolutely recommend it to anyone who is in search of a good natural styling product.

Rating: 5/5--Staple!
Claims: Nourish & Shine is made of all natural ingredients. Use a small amount to add shine to hair, to nourish and repair dry hair. It's great on dry skin. It will repair, soften and keep skin moist and supple.

Ingredients: Organic illipe, mango, kokum, and shea butters, grapefruit, (vegetable derived) sources of vitamins A, D & E, squalene.
pH: 7
Type: Sealant (butter)

Thanks for reading :),
 

Sunday, December 2, 2012

New Product Preview!

Happy Sunday!

I decided to buy myself an early Christmas present a few days ago. I have heard so much about Kérastase products, but because of the $50+ price tags on their deep conditioners I felt that maybe that was a bit much to spend on some hair products. Well, this has been a messy year and I figured I'd try something new and entirely too expensive to cheer myself up lol. I purchased the Kérastase Nutritive Masquintense for Thick Hair a few days ago, and I tried it out last night.
I followed the directions online on the Kérastase website and left it in for 5-10 minutes without heat and then rinsed. It felt soft, smelled amazing but I am not yet blown away. I will try it a few more times and a few different ways before giving a full review. I tried it after a normal wash day, with a coconut oil pre-poo treatment, clarified and shampooed with Aussie moist shampoo and Shea Moisture moisture retention shampoo and then conditioned in the shower with Masquintense. I'll return with pictures of how my hair turned out and more info on this product coming soon :o).


Those are the results of pincurling air-dried hair after applying my Bee Mine Deja's Hair Milk. I didn't separate the curls yet, just let them fall out of the clips and I also didn't use any oil or anything yet. I'm hyped. My hair is soft, smooth and it looks nice and full. Hopefully Kérastase and I will live happily ever after lol.

Thanks for reading :),

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...