On the Hunt for the Perfect Conditioner

Ok. I have been using my Herbal Essences Totally Twisted and Hydralicious conditioners like crazy when washing my hair. But I want to navigate to a more natural and organic conditioner. So, I have tried several brands, (don't worry, these will get reviewed soon),  and so far they don't give me as much slip as the Herbal Essences. I don't know what it is, but it's like my hair craves it!. So, today I used this new conditioner that my job, (Walgreen's), just started to sell. I saw it when it first came in but pondered for like a month before I actually bought it. Well here it is.

Here is a shot of the packaging

 Here is a better shot of the name of the conditioner

Yep, you guessed it, the title "Great Detangler" got me. So I picked it up and read the ingredients. They are as follows:

• Deionized Water
• Vitamin E
• Olive Oil
• Peg-75 Shea Butter
• Silk Protein
• Cocoa Butter Oil Extract
• Cetrimonium Bromide
• Cetheareth-20
• Vegetable Glycerin
• Mineral Oil
• Glycerol
• D&C yellow #5
• Fragrance
• DMDM Hydantoin
• Detanglers (whatever this is)
• Balsam
• Aloe Vera

OK. So when I saw that most of these ingredients are beneficial in a conditioner, such as the oils, Shea Butter, and Vitamin E, I said, this should work pretty good, and although it's not organic, it's better than using the Herbal Essences because it has nothing even close to what this has in it. So, on my next wash day I was excited and could not WAIT to use it! I poured it out after rinsing my shampoo and here is the consistency.

So, it appeared creamy, but that's only because there is a glob of it in my hands. If I were to just dab my finger in the top of it and just take a little off, it would basically be transparent, (which is not good for my kinky 4a/4b hair). But I gave it a world anyway. While I applying I instantly felt my hair turn to straw! I was like how can this be called the "Great Detangler" when I can't even get my fingers through it, let alone a comb?! So, I thought, maybe I just should apply more, that should give me some slip. NOPE! I literally had to pair this conditioner with one of my other conditioners I rarely use, (which is one of the formulas from the Curlz line that I will review later), just to have enough slip to detangle my hair. But once I did pair it, my hair felt awesome. The bottle indicated that the conditioner was a leave-in formula, but since I used the Curls line conditioner with it, I rinsed it out. Besides, I never detangle my hair with leave-in conditioner in my hair, but rather a detangling conditioner, and a detangler this is not, (at least not for my hair).

My final say on this product is that it smells good, nothing devine or anything, but still pleasing to the nose. I will never again use this as a conditioner for detangling my hair, but I may use it as a base in my leave-in conditioner, (which is Kimmaytube's leave-in conditioner formula). Once I do that, I will be back for further updates about this product. Until then,

Stay Natural
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No Frizzy Business

I was at work and selling a fellow patient her prescription when she asked me "Who does your hair?" I looked at her in dismay because I felt my hair needed some work done, (I was wearing a 4 day old twist out in a puff). I told her that I did my own hair. She then asked "Well how do you get it to remain so curly and defined?" Once again, I was taken aback because it appeared that she had relaxed hair and she was asking me things like what I would say could help her. I guess she read my face because she said "Oh, I'm natural, I just have on a wig. But I can never get my twist outs to remain curly. They always come out frizzy. What's your method?" I went over the process, which is not long, step by step with her to see what she was doing wrong and there were several things. So I thought, hmmmm, if this one natural lady is having trouble with twist outs, she can't be alone, (for I too, used to get unintentional frizz in my earlier days). So I am here to share my twist out method with everyone just in  case someone is having the same issues she was.

Step 1. Always make sure that before you start to unravel your twists, that your hands, (or at least your fingertips), are coated with oil. I personally use EVOO (extra virgin olive oil), but use whatever works for you just as long as you have enough slip not to tangle your hair.

Step 2. Unravel twists starting from the root and NOT the ends!!! This is very important because starting from the ends of your hair is more likely to create frizz. If your hands are well coated and you start from the roots, then your fingertips will be able to glide right down to the tip with no problem. This method will result in frizz-free twist outs.

(Day 1 Hair) not fluffed out

These are the only two steps that I use when taking down my twists and they are also the two steps the patient at my job got wrong.

Another thing to do, (and this is while twisting your hair), is that you NEVER want to borrow hair from strand to strand while twisting. I find that borrowing in braid outs is fine, but borrowing hair while twisting can result in tangles, which can lead to frizz.

Now when the lady talked to me I was on Day 4 hair and it looked like this.

(Day 4) fluffed out hair

My hair normally remains in the defined state without me fluffing for about 5 to 6 days. To help the style to stay defined at night I just use the pineapple method with a satin cap at night and shake it out in the morning. The end result is frizz-free and well defined hair.

These are just my methods and they work for me. But I figure there may be other ways to achieve frizz-free twist outs or maybe there are some Dont's that I left out. Feel free share your experience with frizzy twist out, leave advice for fellow naturals, or even leave your method that works for you!

Until next time,

Stay Natural

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What The Teeze??!!

OK. I know that there are many of you who are reading this that have heard about the Tangle Teezer. I heard about it I guess a month after it came out and I was curious so I started to watch the reviews of it on YouTube, (my go-to source for new products and such). I watched tons of vids about it and EVERYONE seemed to just love the darn thing. So I figured I had to get one. Right before ordering, (because Sally's never seemed to have any in stock), I ran across one person who had a bad review of the tool. The person is the awesome blogger of CurlyNikki. She said that in the beginning she loved her Tangle Teezer then after frequent usage, realized that her ends were spit! I figured, well, Nikki's hair and my hair are two ENTIRELY different textures and she was the only person I saw that had a negative review about it, so I figured, well, just go to amazon and order it. I was soooo excited when I got my Tangle Teezer in the mail and here is the one I ordered.

I was so happy because it was wash day when it came in and on day one I loved the brush so much that I did not even notice the difference in shedding between my regular detangling tools and this brush. So I used it like two more times, and I finally noticed that in the brush there were a lot of short, broken hairs!! I was like OMGeez! How much of my hair has been broken? So I took notice of the "shed", (broken), hairs that had accumulated and took a mental picture of the amount, (and it was huge). So today was wash day again and I used my regular tools, which consist of my handy-dandy detangling comb

and my trustee Denman brush, (which I only use when needed).

Once I was done with my hair I was astonished at the amount of difference in "shed" hair! It was so much less using both of these tools as opposed to using just the Tangle Teezer!! I am very disappointed because the Tangle Teezer cut down my detangling time immensely and to realize the strain that I had put on my hair, it wasn't  worth it. I have assessed the ends of my hair and they appear to be fine, but my hair is so curly that looks tend to be deceiving. So I twisted my hair to get a better look at the ends of my hair and it appears that all is well.

So after the detrimental evidence from the Tangle Teezer, I have to say, (sadly), that I agree with CurlyNikki. I guess in this case, hair texture has nothing to do with the matter and my Tangle Teezer will just have to be for decoration (I guess I have to mourn it for a while before actually getting rid of it).

Have any of you noticed a difference in "shed" hairs with the Tangle Teezer, good or bad?

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The Beginning

People have told me "Oh... It's just hair. Do what you want. It'll grow back."
I can remember back when I was three years old and getting my hair pressed. I remember the grease, the fear that overtook my body when I saw the comb approaching my head, wondering "Is this it? Will this be the time I get burned?". And then I remember the confirmation of that fear and hearing the words "Oh, honey! It' just the grease. Didn't nobody burn you.", only to find out the next day that I had a burn on the back of my neck. That turmoil went every two weeks for two years until my mother finally let the beautician introduce my hair to "The Relaxer".

It was then that I realized that no matter how much activity I would do or even if my hair got wet, that it could stay straight. I was pleased with the results, but I was getting the kiddie perm known as PCJ. It burned when it touched my scalp and I hated going through with the procedure, but was always anxiously awaiting the results. I was just so glad that the pain had now been reduced from every two weeks from when I got my hair pressed, to now once a month. As I got older and my tom-boy habits began to increase exponentially, the PCJ relaxer did not stand a chance against a girl who was always sweating from running, playing football, climbing trees, and etc. So my mom thought it best that at age nine that I get the Super perm. Until then, I had not known pain that was as monumental as that was. I cried when the first bristles of the perm brush touched my scalp! Because of that happening to me every time I got a perm, I was diagnosed as having a "sensitive scalp" and needed a milder formula. But even with the milder formulas, the relaxers were still painful. I remember one time I went to a beauty school and because of the amount of pain I was in, the staff had a "bright" idea of using the soda Sprite to calm the irritation. (Yeah, don't know where they got that idea from since the hair cannot be wet while applying relaxer. Then the stupid people saw that I was crying even more than before and rinsed it out and then STILL wanted to relax my hair!! WTHECK!!!???). Needless to say, the tactic was a bust and I left that shop with countless chemical burns to my scalp. Once I got old enough to do my hair myself, I found myself perming my hair only when I had no choice. That would only happen when my hair became very disobedient and uncooperative due to the amount of new-growth that I had. I got tired of all the chemical burns so I decided to go back to pressing my hair.

At this time I was about 19 years old and just knew that I would love getting my hair pressed. So I went to a beautician and she pressed my hair for about two months. It was so thick and bouncy. I thought I was fine, ok! I was so happy not to deal with the pain of the relaxer I did not know what to do with myself. And the beautician was so good at giving me presses that she rarely ever burned me. So I felt confident enough to ask for highlights and streaks. ( I know someone is saying "Did she say highlights and streaks PLUS a press??!!! WTHECK was she thinking?!).  Once she applied the streaks, sure they looked good, but a week later, I could tell that the areas where the streaks were, were dry and brittle. About six months after the color I took a look at my ends and was horrified! They were almost non-existent! I had stringy-thin hair! My hair had always been think and full, so to see my hair in such a state was a mental blow. I had to cut like 5 inches of hair! So, needless to say, I went back to getting a relaxer. I figured although the pain was extreme, at least my hair did not break off and become thin. So, once again, I did my hair myself, (it just always seemed to work out better that way since I knew my scalp better than anyone else), and my hair grew back healthy and strong. It wasn't until I was 25 that I was fed up with the pain from the perm.

It was April 2009 when I gave myself, (at the time I did not realize), my last perm. In May, I was graduating from undergrad and I wanted my hair to be on point! So I set my May perm date for May 3rd. The only thing is, when May 3rd arrived, I didn't go through with it because I was tired of the pain. So for graduation, I just flat-ironed my new-growth and wore my graduate cap all day. Then in June 2009, I finally made the decision to never relax again and just flat-iron. But I didn't want heat damage. So I had the bright idea of checking out Youtube to see if there were any other girls who felt the way I did and just wanted to ditch the perm. I thought that I would not find that many sources, but boy was I wrong! Thanks to Youtube, I learned how to care for my hair in its natural, unflat-ironed state and I loved it!

In September 2009, I finally BC'd, (Whoop Whoop!!)! Of course there were obstacles that I had to overlook, even the voice of my then boyfriend, now fiance, his aunt, and even my mom! I kept hearing that I would be unattractive, I would look like a boy, that no one would claim me as their daughter (my mom said these words), and etc. Thankfully I had some support from my brother, (I love him to death). He told me to just wash my hair, blow dry it, and come over to his house and he would cut my hair for me. And he did. (He video taped it, but I have yet to post it. The conversation topic was....yeah...). Thanks to him, I went to work the next day in all of my TWA glory and loved it! My then-boyfriend loved it too! He loved it so much that in October 2009, I found out I was pregnant! He kept calling me his pregnant Jada Pinkett (due to my hair and the curls in my sideburns at the time). So now that I think about it, everything worked out perfect. I changed my lifestyle when I went natural. I was taking prenatal vitamins for my hair and drinking more water. And I found out that once a woman is pregnant, she should not put any chemicals in or on her body, which would include relaxers. So when I did get pregnant, these things were already put into practice which made for a great pregnancy. I gave birth to a healthy 8 pound baby boy on June 20, 2010. He is the joy of my life and everyday, I learn something new from and about him.

This journey of my completely natural self has been an awesome one, with some bumps and bruises along the way, which I will eventually share in future posts.

Until then,
Stay Natural @@(*_*)@@