the ups and downs of trader joe's nourish spa conditioner

about a year ago, i made the (unconscious) decision to switch to all- or mostly natural hair care products. not that i have anything against my beloved VO5, herbal essences or ion products, but as part of an overhaul of my diet and general lifestyle, it just made sense to convert my hair products, too. it wasn't as hard on my wallet as i thought: i find giovanni products on sale at my local whole foods pretty often, i caught a killer sale on aubrey organics, so i'm good on DC for a while, and there is always marshall's and tjmaxx when i need a liter of giovanni smooth as silk or 50:50 (a product i haven't tried.....YET). as for some of the more "trendy" lines, kinky-curly is more expensive than i am used to, but one bottle of come clean shampoo lasts me a few months, and since i don't care too much for the curling custard and knot today, i don't have to break the bank on the whole line. jane carter, shea moisture, qhemet biologics and oyin handmade are next on my list. however, the frugalista in me loves the fact that there is a cheapie line i can turn to: trader joe's nourish spa.

while i haven't tried the shampoo (y'all know how finicky my hair is with that stuff), i believe i actually talked about tj nourish spa conditioner quite some time ago....like 2 or 3 years ago. back in the day, i couldn't decide if i liked it or not, since it seemed a little too thick for a cowash conditioner, but not quite nourishing enough to use as a DC. well....though i haven't really talked about it, the conditioner has actually been a part of my regimen for a few months now.

i have heard for a loooong time that it is comparable to giovanni smooth as silk, but since i never used that specific giovanni product, it didn't matter to me. that all changed around december of last year when i found the entire giovanni line on sale for $5 at whole foods and picked up the smooth as silk conditioner instead of the direct leave-in. as some of you may know, i'm from the "i'll try anything once" school of thought, so it wasn't a huge decision to grab the SAS instead of GDLI, especially since i was trying to decide if i liked the new version of GDLI as much as the other. long story short? it was great as a DC, but ROCKED as a cowash conditioner AND a leave-in!

now i'm not gonna lie, i'm used to getting a lot more conditioner for $5 (i believe their products come in 8oz bottles) but my hair was responding so great that i said 'forget it' and kept purchasing. i was in heaven when i came across the liter pump bottle at tjmaxx for $12.99, but being that i could only find the SAS in virginia, that joy didn't last too long. while i continued to run into the two local stores every week hoping to find a stray bottle, i decided to give tj nourish spa another go. i guess it was because i fell in love with SAS, but this time my hair responded IMMEDIATELY to nourish spa -- it stays soft, moisturized and tangle-free, and i can go longer without cowashing, too. i call it my "triple threat" since i can use it as a DC, cowash and leave-in. besides, it's got the other things on my "dream hair product" list: no offensive smell, readily available, pretty good ingredients, and fantastic portability. since i (re)discovered tj nourish spa, i've gifted it to my mom, sister and recommended it to a few coworkers as well. i mean, who doesn't need a multipurpose, all natural, CHEAP conditioner/moisturizer/styling product?

not bad for $3, huh?

ingredients: purified water, organic rosemary oil, organic valencia orange citrus, organic mango, organic lemongrass, organic ginko biloba, organic echinacea, organic willow bark, organic sea kelp, organic chamomile flower, organic textured soy protein, organic lavender, organic grapefruit citrus, tocopherol (Vit E), acetamide MEA, cetyl alcohol, citric acid, methylparaben, propylparaben, botanical fragrance

read the amazon reviews here!

lion's mane

after rocking a WNG for a few weeks, i decided to blow out my hair. although the idea itself was pretty spur of the moment, the process was still fairly exhiliarating -- i got to buy new hair toys! of course i would need a blow dryer for this, so i used the opportunity as an excuse to purchase a babyliss pro dryer and joico k-pak smoothing balm from tjmaxx. i also got a chance to try out one of my new aubrey organics deep conditioners -- in one word, the gpb is FANTASTIC!

i worked in small sections with my denman *memo -- get a comb attachment for this blow dryer* and knew i was getting somewhere when my SO did a double take and exclaimed "wow, your hair is LONG!" -grin-

i actually wore it like this for a few days, even daring to take my lion's mane to work with me in all its glory. the thing i LOVED? it made a pretty full bun, something me and my fine hair don't get to experience that much. however, for most of its 3 week lifespan, my hair stayed in a french braid or two.

all in all, i felt as if everything went fine, considering my technique leaves something to be desired. now that the warm months are quickly approaching, i am reconsidering holding off on my next REAL length check until september or so. i just think of what i went through last summer after i foolishly straightened my hair in june and....well, shudder. LOL

spring wishlist update: MUFE blush + moisturizer comparison

as stated a few posts back, lately i've been drooling over this beautiful coral-y blush by MUFE called "quickie." it was getting to the point where i was obsessing over it, so i finally went out to purchase it and am so in love! as per my usual routine, while in the mall one day i made a beeline to sephora, and while there i asked a MUA to apply the blush to my cheeks just so i could make sure it was as lovely in person as i thought it would be. i then got a sample to take home and try myself -- God forbid i purchase it, get all excited, then be unable to duplicate the fab look done in the store! thankfully for me, the cream formula was easier to apply than i thought it would be. blush is one of my favorite makeup items, but all the ones i owned up until this point were of the powder variety, and truthfully i was a little intimidated by the shockingly bright cream in the pump bottle that i saw on display at sephora. armed with my essence of beauty blush brush, i went for it....and actually got it right! after wearing it to work one day, i knew i needed it, so when my SO picked me up and suggested a trip to the mall, i was all for it.

not only did i snag the blush, but since i am in the market for a good moisturizer that i can wear under my makeup, i also got samples of the DDF ultra-lite moisturizing dew, as well as the sephora instant moisturizer. i have become a true OCM (oil cleansing method) junkie and love, love, love moisturizing with EVOO, castor, grapeseed or sweet almond oil, but they are not very foundation-friendly. from my initial testing, the DDF seems really great, and i can tell why it is one of their consistent best sellers: it is non-greasy, wears very light (almost like you're wearing nothing at all) and has no smell to it. while the sephora moisturizer is very lush and equally moisturizes both the oily and dry parts of my face, it is almost a bit too heavy for my tastes and has a strange smell that i can't quite put my finger on. both are available in approximately 1.7 oz containers, but DDF is in a pump bottle and sephora's moisturizer is in a jar. while the instant moisturizer is the least expensive option at $20 vs the $38 for DDF, i think i will spring for the moisturizing dew. with spring here and summer a yawn away, i will need a lighter option for the days when my face feels like it is melting off. plus, there's always eBay! *wink*

this month's beauty insider picks were average at best, but i was able to trade in 100 points for a small bottle of philosophy purity. at one time i was a philosophy junkie and would have been dying to get my hands on this, but now i simply plan on using it on the days where i am performing a chemical peel. speaking of which, today is the day for another lactic acid peel. i have become lightweight addicted to the smooth feeling of my skin after a 40% LA peel, and it makes me super excited for my TCA peel in a few weeks. my great spring skin is revealing itself, and i cannot wait.

beauty fix: my top ten skincare products

i know i promised to come back a little sooner with my top 10 skincare products, but i've been kinda busy lately. the move to NC and the subsequent job search have had me a little stressed lately, but i have faith that things will fall into place. my skin has taken a beating, but i'm finally at a place in my life where i have a set regimen and i can troubleshoot skin problems, sort of like what i do when i'm having a bad hair day. some of these are relatively new to my regimen, but a few i have been using for a year plus now. they are ALL repurchases in my book. unfortunately, for every product i have tried and liked, there are three more that didn't work for me. needless to say, i've experimented a LOT! i've broken them down into three categories: cleanse, treat, and moisturize. this way, i can use different combinations of products depending on what i need....or how i'm feeling.

cleanse
1. desert essence thoroughly clean face wash ($8, amazon.com/the vitamin shoppe)

i first purchased this cleanser back in 2008, when i discovered the skin care boards on LHCF. it came highly recommended by user Divine Inspiration, and since i ate up pretty much everything she said at the time, i ran out and bought it. i stuck with it not only because it's 100% vegan and i am making an attempt to roll with a mostly natural/organic regimen, but because it WORKS for me. it dries up my blemishes without drying out my face, and it feels really invigorating. i used to use it on its own, but now i use it with my clarisonic and i still love it. what's more is you can get the 32 oz bottle for roughly the same price, if you buy online.

2. extra virgin olive oil (various prices, supermarkets)

the thing i love about this oil is its versatility. i've spoken about my hair's love affair with EVOO, and i was ecstatic when i learned about its benefits for the skin, too. i read a few threads on the oil cleansing method and was hooked -- i mean, getting rid of nearly every skin problem there is with something you can find in your kitchen (or in my case, the hair cabinet)? my main thing was just like most people's, getting over the fact that i assumed oil-free was the best way to go when dealing with oily skin, but i was wrong. since oil absorbs oil, it only makes sense that cleansing with oil would be so good for your skin. EVOO makes such a great base for OCM, and can readily be mixed with grapeseed oil, castor oil, sweet almond oil, or whatever you wish. in addition to being a great cleanser, it is a superb makeup remover -- so good that i no longer buy commercial makeup removers. i tried almost everything to take off my stubborn eye makeup, but nothing does it like EVOO. i always keep a bottle in my bathroom.

3. clarisonic ($149-225, sephora)

i can truly say that this is the one tool that has taken my skincare to the next level. although i have not seen some of the almost miraculous results some users claim to see, i do love and frequently use my clarisonic plus. i purchased it on ebay since they had the best price on the plus, but honestly i could have done without all the extras, such as the included cleansers and the body brush. i am glad i got the three different face brushes though, because without them, i never would have known which i needed (the gentle blue brush). while it did not fade my hyperpigmentation or completely rid my face of blackheads/whiteheads, i see a major difference in my face when i go without using it for a few days. it can be used with so many different cleansers, and it really holds a charge. i routinely go for weeks on end without setting it on the charging dock, and it always works perfectly. i love the different timers on it, as well as the different speed settings. i hope i'm never without my clarisonic!

treat
4. stridex daily care alcohol-free acne pads ($3, CVS/walgreens)

i picked up this tip from the lovely ladies at makeupalley. they are semi-gurus on skincare on the board there, and someone once put it so plainly that if you want an effective acne-fighting medication, it shouldn't be a wash, but something that stays on your skin. i like to use products that multitask, and since i like my moisturizer to not only be that, but also a sunscreen (or a fade cream if using it at night), i decided to add this third product to my regimen. i have been through two boxes now, and i really like them. they provide me with a steady dose of salicylic acid, a beta-hydroxy acid that works great as an anti-acne medication. (why do you think it's in so many products? it WORKS.) my skin is consistently clear, except for a few stubborn hormonal pimples that get through during that time of the month. even better is the price point on these pads....they are only $3 a box, and if you look inside the flap before you get to the register, you will find a $1 off coupon that drops the price even more.

5. aztec secret indian healing clay ($7, the vitamin shoppe)

this is another great multitasking product. i purchased it back in 2008 for use on my face, and hated it for the longest time -- it may have been because i was using retin-a micro at the time, so my skin was already super sensitive. i recently revisited it, mixing it with organic ACV this time instead of water, and i liked it a lot more. it really deep cleans, getting out what my other cleansers can't: blackheads and whatever gunk happens to be clogging my pores at the time. i love the tightening feeling it produces when drying, and try to use it at least once a month, although ideally i would use it once a week. what i mean by multitasking is that you can use it as a hair paste to clarify and make your curls pop; i did a blog entry on this back a few months ago. this one pound jar has lasted me forever.

6. makeup artists' choice 40% lactic acid peels ($17.75-48.75, makeupartistschoice.com)

i purchased this at the end of 2009, hoping to find something to fade my acne scars. instead, i found a product that brightens and smooths my skin, making it look almost flawless. (now only if i could get rid of the marks, i'd have dream skin!) i used to rotate it weekly with glycolic acid peels, but they are also good alone. during weeks where i do strictly lactic peels, i do them about once every three days. they are really simple to do, and the savings are phenomenal when compared to how much they would cost at a spa or derm's office. i am currently out, but will repurchase this week -- enter code august2010 for 20% off your purchase! (ends 8/16/10)

moisturize
7. grapeseed oil ($5, grocery stores) + lily of the desert aloe vera gelly ($8, the vitamin shoppe)

another great find from Divine Inspiration. i started using this once i heard that grapeseed oil contains vitamin e, and aloe vera is wonderful for healing purposes. as a recovering skin picker, i put this on to soothe my blemishes and scars, and it really does help to make them less noticeable (although unfortunately the marks never completely disappeared). i do not currently use this, but when i did use it, i loved it. i may return to it in the future.

8. eucerin everyday protection moisturizer with spf 30 ($10, walgreens and CVS)

i began using this when i was on retin-a, as i needed a soothing moisturizer with a built-in sunscreen. this moisturizer definitely handled that -- no matter how raw my skin was, it never irritated it, and the sunscreen kept my hyperpigmentation from getting darker. what's best is that this bottle lasted months! i continued to use it after i got off RAM, and as a matter of fact the only reason i stopped is because i am now using a fade cream with a built-in sunscreen. i would definitely return to this moisturizer in the future.
9. cold-pressed castor oil ($5 and up, whole foods and health stores)

i originally bought a bottle of regular drugstore castor oil for my hair, but at the time found it too heavy and greasy. (since then, i have started using it differently, and now i love it!) i also added this to my OCM mix, and found success with it like that. however, recently i have been using it as a moisturizer right after washing my face before bed. i now use the cold-pressed hexane free version from whole foods. it helps to absorb oil, and thus leaves my skin less oily. castor oil's benefits as an anti-acne treatment and as a scar treatment are also widely discussed (see here), and for that reason it has become a staple in my skincare regimen. i will soon switch to JBCO for my hair, and i may try that on my skin as well. if not, i will continue to purchase and use cold-pressed, hexane free castor oil.
10. nadinola extra strength fade cream ($5, drugstores and wal-mart)

i was highly skeptical for the longest time of using fade creams, despite the fact that my mom raved about what wonders they did for her skin when she was younger. i have heard a lot about hydroquinone and how dangerous it can be, but that was foolishly before doing my own research. from what i have determined, it is perfectly fine in small doses, and i do not plan on using it for more than three months anyway. from what i have seen in the three weeks that i have been using it, this fade cream is fading my hyperpigmentation faster than anything else i have tried. of course i took "before" pictures, and even my unofficial "after" photos show a marked difference in my skin. what's even more remarkable is that for the first two weeks i was using a jar that i have had sitting in a drawer for at least two years, so it wasn't even full strength. now that i am using a brand new jar, i am continuing to see results. i am hopeful that by my birthday, my marks will have largely disappeared. moral of the story? listen to mom next time!

beauty fix: my top ten products

one of my new favorite blogs is tamerri zamaih's "astro fashionista", and i was inspired by a post she did a while back to list my favorite beauty products. i've done lists like this in the past, but i've changed lots of things i now have in heavy rotation since then, and i think i have finally gotten to a good spot not only in my makeup application, but also in my skincare regimen in general. this is the makeup list....i will probably do a skincare list later this week.


1. make up for ever HD foundation - 153/golden honey ($40, sephora)

i became intrigued by this foundation quite a while ago; in fact, i think i remember trying it out in early 2009, before i graduated and left charlottesville. at the time, i couldn't find a match, but i recently returned to sephora and tried again, this time finding a perfect match. prior to finding this, the ONLY makeup company that could match my undertones was MAC, and even with that i would have issues with the makeup feeling cakey, looking unnatural in pictures, or breaking me out really bad. this foundation does NONE of the above....it provides great wear, feels light on my skin, and doesn't cause breakouts (for me, at least). it's a little more expensive than either MAC studio fix fluid or mineralize satinfinish, but it is worth it to me. the satinfinish always required two pumps, so i went through it rather quickly, and the SFF was heavy, almost like stage makeup. i can mix this with my eucerin moisturizer with spf 30 to make a tinted moisturizer, or i can just dab it on lightly, stipple it into my skin, and blend it effortlessly. i do want to try MUFE's mat velvet, as i have heard good things about its oil-controlling capabilities, but for now this is definitely my HG foundation.


2. make up for ever HD microfinish powder ($30, sephora)

this is the cherry on my proverbial sundae -- the HD foundation works well without this, but when applied on top of it, my skin GLOWS. of course i was thinking, like a lot of you, that putting a white powder on top of my foundation would make me look ashy. it most definitely doesn't....as i have heard it put frequently, it serves as a "soft focus" to minimize any flaws and even imperfections. i even use it on my bare face from time to time. i actually got this in a kit with some other HD products, as i didn't think i would need the larger one. i was right....since it requires so little for an entire face, this thing will last forever. side note: the other two products were the MUFE HD elixir and the MUFE HD primer. they are alright, but not "must haves" in my book.
3. MAC matte lipstick in honeylove ($14, MAC stores and counters)

i discovered this a few months ago, when i went into MAC to buy a new foundation. (she sold me mineralize satinfinish in NC42, which i returned for MUFE HD a few weeks later.) i asked for a nude lip recommendation, and the makeup artist gave me this to try. i immediately fell in love, and wear it quite often, considering the only other lippie i have and have actually kept up with is 2N. as a pinky nude color, i usually pair it with a bold eye.
4. MAC cremesheen glass in boy bait ($18, MAC stores and counters)

this is another item i picked up during my MAC haul. it goes great with the honeylove when i need more shine, but it also rocks on its own. it's described as a "light neutral beige with pearl", which i think is just code for NUDE. anyway, i use it as that...something to give my lips a gloss without all the glitter of other lipglosses i own.

5. MAC beauty powder blush in eversun (discontinued)

i have been using this blush for a while now, and even though it was re-released last summer as part of the style warrior collection, i had it before that...way back in 2008. in any event, i absolutely love this color...it's a pinky brown that just makes my skintone really POP when i apply it. i love it so much that without it, i feel completely monotone and pale. i don't know what i will do when i run out of it.

6. MAC MSF natural/shimmer in medium dark ($26, MAC stores and counters)

although i have changed foundations over the years, this is one thing that stays the same. i love the way this makes my makeup less shiny, and i also love wearing it alone on days where i don't feel like being bothered by liquid makeup. much like the HD powder, it blurs my imperfections, so over a bare face i have a more even complexion.

7. dior diorshow iconic mascara ($27, sephora)

a few years ago, diorshow blackout became my favorite mascara. the tube is ultra luxe, and the applicator gave me the biggest, blackest lashes i had ever seen. i was super excited when they came out with iconic, but i didn't rush out to buy it since i was convinced i had my HG mascara. as time went on, i began to notice that it gave me a severe case of raccoon eyes, and as much as i loved the false eyelash look i had going on, i had to let it go. i tried a few more brands, like fresh firebird (which gave me big doe eyes), but tried the iconic on a recommendation from a sephora MUA when i said i wanted definition and length all in one. this mascara "lifts, curls and separates" according to the package, and it definitely delivers on that. i still get the blackest lashes, but it doesn't flake and removes easily with my olive oil-based makeup remover. some may swear by drugstore brands like great lash and lashblast, but this will forever be one of my top, if not THE top, mascaras.


8. MAC 187 ($42, MAC stores and counters)

great makeup is nothing without great application skills, and this brush makes applying my makeup so effortless. there are many dupes of this brush out there, and i feel as if that lets me know the original must be really great. i was first interested in this brush because i was told it's great at multitasking, and it is definitely one of my most-used brushes. i use it to stipple on my liquid foundation, use it again to blend, use it again for blush, then AGAIN for my MSF and powders....you get the idea. in fact, i love it so much i am considering getting another. tip: to save a few bucks, try scoring it from the CCO instead of the full-priced MAC counters.

9. essence of beauty makeup brushes (assorted prices, CVS)

while i have a pretty sizeable makeup brush collection, my MAC 187 is the only truly expensive one i own. i invested in a few EoB brushes a few years ago now, and they have held up really well over time. as a matter of fact, they actually shed less than the 187 and my loew-cornell brushes. they are easy to clean, i can beat the crap out of them since i don't have to worry about the cost of replacement (they are often BOGO 50% off), and they are durable. my favorites are the concealer brush, the dual-ended blush and powder brush, and the contouring eyeshadow brushes. the eyeshadow brushes are perfect for both packing on color and "cutting the crease" when i am using multiple shades. i am actually thinking about getting another powder brush, and if i don't get the ELF one (simply because it's only $1), it will be this one.


10. MAC Fix+ ($18, MAC stores and counters)

i have owned the same bottle of fix+ for about two years now, and i don't think i will have to get another until sometime in 2011. this is the ultimate in multipurpose tools, although at first glance it just looks like a fancy bottle of water. this stuff is great for wetting my brush before applying MSF on a bare face -- this helps it look more natural and blend into my skin better. i also use it to set my makeup, especially on really humid days. it can be used on a bare face before applying anything, as well. i have found that it is especially helpful on an eyeshadow brush, especially when i am applying not-so-pigmented shadows. fix+ has allowed me to purchase really inexpensive shadows and get better color payoff out of them: i simply pack the eyeshadow onto the brush, spray it, and apply to my lid. i really think this is one of the most underrated beauty tools out there.

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i am now in the midst of compiling my list of top ten skincare products. most of them are relatively new to my regimen, but i am seeing the best skin i have had in a very long time, so needless to say they are keepers. the list will be up soon!

SCORE!

in the past week or so, i posted an ad on craigslist to start braiding hair as a side hustle. i haven't necessarily given up on mystery shopping, but this is something i can do to get paid THAT DAY, which is a drawback of my other side hustle. i charge between $75 and $100 (although it's so time consuming, i may just move to $100 soon) for kinky twists, senegalese twists, box braids, crochet braids, and yarn braids, and $35-50 for two strand twists, straw sets and the like. it's going pretty well, as i have had 3 clients who have wanted kinky twists or senegalese twists, and hopefully i will have more business next week.

anyway, my client yesterday wanted senegalese twists, and all she told me was that she is natural. i ask her if she has any favorite moisturizers (sort of an over-the-phone consultation before she got here), and she tells me no, but she doesn't use grease in her hair. as soon as she said this, a bell went off in my head....she must know about nikos! i kind of hinted at it once she got here, but she just kept mentioning youtube. eventually i came out and asked her if she was a member of lhcf...and she told me no, but some of her youtube browsing takes her there. the whole time i was twisting her hair, we talked moisturizers, sealing, hair goals (i even showed her pics of my natural hair, curly and straight, since i am in crochet braids and she couldn't see my hair) and more. it turns out she is a pj just like me, but her thing is buying essential oils and butters online. i almost started drooling when we got on the topic of skin care/fitness and she told me about the huge block of black soap she had purchased and all of her uses for it...she learned on youtube how to make it into liquid soap, adding glycerin, honey and all my other favorite DC additives to it. you guys may know by now about my struggles with sulfate shampoos and how they dry out and tangle my hair to the MAX, so when she mentioned she uses this as shampoo, i had to stop and look at her! then she offered to bring me some so i could try it, and i wanted to kiss this child!!

we ran out of hair last night, so she came back this morning to get the twists at her crown finished. not only did she bring me black soap, but she also brought me small containers of mango and avocado butter! y'all know how i am about playing in my hair, so i am realllly fighting to keep these crochet braids in...i just wanna wash my hair and...i don't even know, i just wanna seal it with one of these butters! LMAO...i feel like a fiend who got a fix...but i will let you guys know (of course) when i use them.

want it, need it, gotta have it: fall/winter edition

now that i'm putting away the flip flops and shorts in lieu of pea coats and leather boots, it's time for me to revamp some of my current products/habits until winter weather returns. here is a list of things i really need (ok, some are wants) to get me through the colder days.

PRODUCTS

• ditching the coconut oil for avocado oil
• castor oil to seal and weigh down my ends
  
• jane carter nourish and shine for straight hair weeks
  
• qhemet biologics burdock root butter cream...something to COAT those strands
• cantu shea butter leave-in for daily moisturizing
• lustrasilk cholesterol (an old favorite) for defined curls/waves and DCing
  
• hairone cleanser to clean the gunk off my hair without the tangling effect of sulfates
• more hair accessories...clips, headbands, silk scarves, bra strap headbands, ouchless bands
  
• gel: ecostyler clear, aloe vera, fantasia IC are among my choices
  

TOOLS

• FHI Runway (definitely a WANT, since my solia works fine)
• a new denman...mine is ready to cross over to the promised land
• more large magnetic rollers, perhaps of the ceramic variety
• caruso steam rollers
• bigger flexirods (i currently only have the grey ones)
• salons r us dryer to dry my hair faster
• bone combs...snagging those strands is not attractive
• shower filter
• hot air brush to cut down on styling time
  

METHODS

• more deep conditioning...more than likely i will continue using aussie moist or GVP CB
• less cowashing, more styles that last 3+ days: buns, twistouts, frohawks, chunky twists
  
• MORE STRETCHED HAIR! my ends do not get along with one another...
• stretching hair with the denman and a blow dryer
• a solid weave regimen for when the time comes
• self-installed cornrows and flat twists i won't be ashamed to wear in public!
  

SUPPLEMENTS

• fish oil
• GNC vitapaks? these look really interesting...
  

hair update

i've been going through some things with my hair for the past few weeks, some good and some bad. after realizing that WNGs were murderous on my ends, i had to restructure the way i go about doing things. since i really didn't feel like dealing with it over spring break, i put in senegalese twists on the 4th of march. i ended up keeping them only until the 28th -- no water on my scalp was making me antsy, plus they got really fuzzy.

after i took them out i went back to my first love, WNGs. i decided that it would be better to wash them out after a max of 2 days, since detangling HAS to be what is slowing me down. i also picked up a few new hair products, and i'm not having a single regret about them! here is my new WNG regimen:

• wet hair down and add HE Hello Hydration. i don't know what it is but this stuff gives the greatest curl definition...
• rinse most of it out and squeeze out the extra water. some days i switch it up and rinse all of it out.
• dry with my handy dandy t-shirt for about 5 minutes, then remove it...if i rinsed it all out, i add GVP leave-in
• seal (yes, me SEALING) with jojoba oil.
  
• add lily of the desert AV gelly to keep it fabulous and funky. good to go!

other goodies that i throw in the mix are HE LTR (since i fell in love with the leave-in last summer) as well as aussie moist (for cowashes and DCs), and grapeseed oil. i'm still looking for that quintessential shampoo; the organix has become a body wash and the chi infra shampoo that i bought dried my hair out too. i almost forgot that crappy one night stand i had with ecostyler gel; it may be more cost efficient than the aloe vera gelly, but it certainly doesn't give me the shine, softness, and definition that this double duty gel provides. and you know it's good when you can use it on your face too!

another revelation that i made is my hair likes protein...or at least i think it does. i did a DC with megatek about 2 weeks ago, of course followed with a moisturizing DC, and my hair thanked me for it! i went home and stole both the aphogee 2 min and the nexxus emergencee, so now i have enough strengtheners to last me the rest of the semester.

right now i am sitting under the dryer with aphogee 2 min, grapeseed oil, and GVP conditioning balm in my hair. i'll let this sit for about 40 mins, then it's wash day! i'm definitely gonna try a ponytail rollerset, and since the other one didn't go so hot i hope i can get the hang of it! i will post pics if it comes out right, my camera broke on me (well, someone broke it) so i will try to take a few via webcam.

"you have to stop using suave..."

what kind of nappyheaded (excuse the language) buffoonery do we have here? i was on mahoganybutterfly reading a great article on jennifer hudson's new album cover when i realized that this site is not only a blog but a community of sorts for black women. cool, i said, and i looked for hair care stuff, just cause that's what i do. when i saw an article entitled "Best Products to Manage and Grow Our Hair" (link here) i got excited. (oh come on, if you have read anything i have ever typed you are NOT surprised.) i began reading with a smile on my face...and boy did that sucker disappear in 6.3 seconds. i got to this...

"You have to stop using Suave, Salon Selectives, Motions, and Alberto VO5, because although affordable, hey will leave your hair type dry and brittle..."

and i felt one of my curls drop. ok so i have kinky twists, but you know what i'm saying. it is no secret that i stan for suave and VO5 like a teenybopper loves B2K (moment of silence for my adolescence); see my previous posts on these two darlings. i do agree that making a regular habit of using the shampoos is hazardous to your hair, but i admit that i love the suave daily clarifying shampoo when i feel the need to lose some weight on my scalp. what gives? i will admit that i know nothing about salon selectives, and motions is garbage to me (anyone want a tub of the moisture plus conditioner? how about the 32oz shampoo?) but not my babies! oh lawd not my tropical coconut!!! i seriously hope whoever wrote that article got paid by ojon, cause while i have heard nothing but good things about that restorative treatment - yes it's on my list, i'm a PJ - that doesn't mean they have to bash strawberries and creme! that's like comparing apples and oranges...like saying pink oil moisturizer has nothing on kenra mc. uh hello, cowashing conditioners and the ones we use for DCing are completely different. the brands they mentioned are not bad, but i refuse to believe that "there are only two hair care companies on the market that will leave your hair in salon quality condition" (direct quote). puh-leaze, spend five minutes lurking on LHCF and you will find so many product reviews, rants and raves, and general questions about so many brands your head will spin. shescentit, hairveda, and miss jessie's make equally splendid products, most of them in the same price range if not cheaper. so gimme my strawberries and creme, thank you very much, my hair is doing just fine.

like another hole in my head

well i'll be...guess part of it saved after all. here is the blog i meant to finish earlier in the week:

i can tell that i am a pj cause i am a few days off the buy nothing challenge and the list of wants is ever growing. to appease this beast in me i have decided to make a list of the shampoos and conditioners i want to try. (let's not get started on the glycerin, AV juice, sweet almond, coconut and avocado oils, and the honeyquat...blahblahbleeblahblah)

SHAMPOOS

• kenra clarifying shampoo. i have the suave daily clarifying shampoo (which i do like, dont get me wrong) but i love kenra mc so much that it really makes me want to be one of those people who is line-specific. i know that wont help with the cowashing (i am a slave to vo5 and suave) but at least when wash day comes around all my bottles will be silvery and matchy-matchy.
• kenra moisturizing shampoo. i have no idea what a moisturizing poo does; i mean cant conditioner wash your hair just as well if the purpose is to get it clean without stripping it? it's kenra though and you know how i am. read the above if not.
• ORS creamy aloe shampoo. it's a clarifier and chelator all in one, and i do need a chelating shampoo cause this water is hard as rocks. why not go the cheap route? it's five bucks at all the major stores, and that means it's also easy to pick up while i'm out and about instead of making a special trip to the mall to go to trade secret.

COWASH CONDITIONERS

• herbal essences long term relationship. i already have and love the leave-in (too bad i discovered VO5) so why not? i have heard good things about it and i am a sucker for stuff that makes my hair smell fab.
• herbal essences hello hydration. same deal here...it's relatively inexpensive...and smells like coconuts from what i have heard, just like my suave but souped up.
• organix vanilla silk conditioner. a really lavish conditioner to add to my cowashes. supposedly gives amazing slip and has a nice smell. also contains SAA so i dont have to buy any.
• organix coconut milk conditioner. sensing a theme with the coconut here? has eggs and coconut milk...so i can get the benefits without the mess.
• VS so sexy conditioner. *i actually got this one* (2 bucks for the bottle on the exchange forum!!!) so i can post a review this weekend...yay! scent "lasts all day and evening" according to an amazon review, and while it's a bit expensive for cowashing (not this bottle, but the regular stuff) i still cant wait to smell it.

DEEP CONDITIONERS

• hairveda sitrinillah hair masque. i am a sucker for deeply hydrating treatments that happen to make you smell like orange creamsicles. sue me.
• aveda brilliant conditioner. aveda products are ridiculously expensive and i am hoping that it would do well for me like it does for so many other people. like, is it really "brilliant"?
• redken smooth down butter treat. i have heard a slew of good things about redken...and since i am waiting on more reviews of the real control line this is something that i'm sure i can't go wrong with.
• pantene relaxed and natural mask. a cheap staple for many people. i hate the regular pantene r&n products but perhaps the mask will help redeem the pantene image in my mind.
• ORS hair mayo. i think this is still on my list from when i was transitioning, but just to keep my moisture/protein levels in check i need a good yet inexpensive protein DC.
• joico moisture recovery treatment balm. again with the expensive miracle products...i need some moisture recovery right about now since i am slacking on the DCs this week. oops.
• joico k-pak intense hydrator. another one that supposedly works miracles. i want to be the judge of this.

i plan on doing another list on leave-ins and styling aids...but no time soon. this is good, right? keeps me away from the BSS.

love it or hate it: suave tropical coconut conditioner

now that i cowash a lot (and the buy nothing challenge is over) i can start experimenting with different conditioners. i am always on the hunt for products that will give me everything my hair needs, and now that i have a solid regimen this is getting easier. i have a staple cowash conditioner, VO5 strawberries and creme, but i keep hearing that suave tropical coconut, organix vanilla silk, and herbal essences hello hydration are awesome and get the job done well. on my trip to family dollar (it's in walking distance from my house - worst move EVER) i picked up a bottle of VO5 S&C, since it's only 80 cents, and i saw the suave tropical coconut sitting right next to it. awesome. it was 20 cents more, but that only made it a dollar...not bad by my standards. the bottle is kinda sleek as well...not that it matters if the product inside it sucks, but that means i can fit more in my shower.

the actual test came yesterday, and upon squeezing it in my hand i was pleased to notice that it is of a thicker consistency than VO5. it took less of it to coat my hair, which means that maybe i can go through the bottle slower. the scent is not as noticeable as with the VO5, but this could be a good thing, being that it won't interfere with whatever else is in my hair (or on my body). my hair dried really nicely and i had another good hair day yesterday.

verdict? love it. the family size (i dont know why they call it that, it's only 7 oz larger) is only about 50 cents more at wal-mart and that is an expense i can afford once or twice a month. now i have two conditioners i can rotate. unless i start liking this one more...hmm...

making a moisturizer...

i just spent the last hour procrasinating...i'm supposed to be scraping paint off the doorways of my house so i can repaint them, but stuffblackpeoplehate is the funniest blog ever. LOL!

nine hours later...
ok, i stopped procrastinating and scraped the darn paint. now i can get back to what has really been on my mind the past few days: i want to make my own moisturizer. sure, i have moisturizers that work well, namely leaving in my VO5, but even with this i feel like my second day hair is really crappy and dry for some reason. now that i don't have to worry so much about something that will work on my transitioning hair, this is what i'm thinking:

glycerin + aloe vera gel + distilled water + VO5

i've heard a lot about these things being the ultimate moisturizers, namely glycerin and AV gel, since glycerin is a natural humectant anyway and draws moisture into your hair. unfortunately i can't buy the first two till july, but perhaps in the meantime i will empty the spray bottle that has "detangler" in it (i don't know WTF it is really) and just combine the VO5 and water. hopefully i can find something that works on my mom's hair too since she hates the bb oil moisturizer.

sweet as honey.

now that i can finally use all these funky curl-defining products in my stash (i did a WNG today! it was great!) i am looking for the miracle thing. i own noodle head, which is supposed to be really good, the gel route is quite interesting, and today i used my diluted GD and miss jessie's baby buttercreme. it worked nicely, but i need something for those days where i am low on my stash and wanna get by on something else. i also want definition - i felt a little fuzzy towards my crown by late afternoon. this is where honey comes in - i have heard from quite a few people, like ladylibra and pokahontas, that it is a great curl definer, and the reviews just keep building as i search. here is the latest recipe i have come across, courtesy of an LHCF thread on WNGs:
"...a honey rinse will make the curls POP! 1T honey in a cup of water after cowash. Do not rinse out."
so why not try it? what a great question! i will report back with my findings in a few days. i am searching for more concoctions as well...wish me luck!

suppressing the PJ inside

i've been sitting with this lustrasilk shea butter cholesterol DC in my hair since 6:30. it is now 11. the first three hours were by choice (sort of, i got caught up watching Law and Order: SVU) but this is a bit ridiculous; the bathroom is being hogged! (on a positive note, my curl definition is off the chain right now. i should let DC dry in my hair more often!) normally i would just rinse out in the kitchen sink but that's not an option right now. so what do i do? blog, of course, to pass the time.

even though i am on LHCF's "Buy Nothing In June" challenge, i still find it hard to pass a BSS without entering. case in point, today mom and i drove up to my apartment to move some stuff (pretty much for nothing, but that's a different story for a different blog) and on the way back i convinced her to go look at some kinky twist hair with me (well, for me, but she didn't need to know all that). she even reminded me i wasn't supposed to buy anything for my hair this month, so since the jig was up i told her she could be a sweetheart and get it for me. well, she's not so sweet cause she didn't get it, but at least i know the janet marley braid hair is $5.99 over there. it's ok, i have 3 weeks and 10 more BSS's to try before the challenge is up. i can look if i don't touch, right?

another thing i have really been feenin' for is more hair accessories. i break more and more hair clips every week and lose so many bobby pins it's a crying shame. i started a "natural buns" thread on LHCF and there are so many cute hair accessories in there! one i'm really diggin' is the flexi8 clip. some of them are really cute, but other ones are kind of "my hair is recklessly long" looking. you know what i'm talking about. oh, and don't get me started on the mane clip. just take a look at SouthernTease's SJP-inspired bun that she made with that thing and a human hair weft. can you say fabulous?! i'm so excited for my transition to be over so i can do all sorts of funky stuff with my hair...cause bunning and flat ironing are ok and all but i am so anxious to bite some of these styles. one day i will have to publish my hair inspirations folder so everyone can see exactly who i'm diggin.

-sigh- now the bathroom is clear and i can rinse this conditioner out. here's to healthy hair.

the truth

this stuff as a leave-in? pretty darn good. i haven't been running my fingers through my hair all day since it is up in a bun, but i know i've been smelling like straight strawberries all day. that herbal essences leave-in may not get repurchased unless it magically goes on sale for 79 cents or something. try it.

in with the old.

i figure the proper way to start a blog is by bringing in all the stuff i've been talking about that made me want to get a real blog in the first place. while i do a bit of talking about my life, it's not really that exciting right now so i talk about my personal struggle to get from being a sassy spoiled mooch to a classy sophisticate. this may take a while.

i will try to deal with the more superficial stuff in here: my hair and skin. gotta look the part, right? here are all the blogs from my fotki page (http://members.fotki.com/lilsparkle825/about/)

june 5 wash journal

DC on dry hair, kenra mc/jf color glazes. 20 min w/o heat, 20 min w/ heat.
co-rinse with VO5 strawberries and cream; also used as leave-in.
bunning under satin scarf overnight.

i have never used the VO5 as a leave in but i have heard rave reviews about this. like i need to do it...i have giovanni and the HE LTR, but what the hey. i am also trying the "lay down edges with satin scarf" thing...two things to cross my fingers for.

oh, and i changed my mind...i am starting bootcamp TONIGHT! still have not decided what i will do to my hair for my bestie's baby shower later this month...perhaps a nice twistout if i have perfected them by then. i foresee many more co-washes in my immediate future, and that means more opportunities to practice!

i am switching over to blogspot soon, as soon as i come up with a good name for my blog. i do too much writing for fotki to keep up. lol

LHCF BOOTCAMP...

I'M JOINING! YAY LONG HAIR!

no but seriouly without the yelling, i read the related threads and had no choice. have you seen brownsugarflyygirl's progress pics from last year?! plus it sounds really easy and i can incorporate it with the other two challenges i'm on, DC and APL08. i mean, no direct heat? doing that this month anyway. DC with every shampoo? do that already. protective and/or low-mani styles? that's all i do when my hair is not flat-ironed...i mean come on. piece of cake, right?

...we'll see. starts june 15th for me only because i have not decided when i am going to wash this straight style out. (haha wasn't i just saying the other day i was sick of it? i'm so fickle...)

p.s. used some old suave shampoo we have from before we started giving a damn about our hair as body wash tonight. i smell like shampoo. lol

p.p.s. i wish everyone could have seen the old, and i mean from when i was a baby, bottles of hair spray i pulled from under the bathroom cabinet tonight. teen spirit and white rain? really?! OF COURSE i chucked em, i'm just amused mom brought them with us when we moved 5 years ago even though she hasn't used em since at least 1993! i'm not kidding...and the only reason she let me chuck em is because i read SouthernTease's entry on alcohol, SLS, and all that other crappy stuff to her! see, she does listen sometimes. =)

perm rods + comp shot

had to buy more perm rods today...doing mom's hair last night and i ran out so i had to finish the top with two cornrows. i guess it would have looked better if i could actually cornrow. LOL! i took that opportunity to watch a video on youtube by ladykpnyc...and guess what, i learned. she is the only person that ever made the finger placement make sense! too bad i'm not washing her hair till this weekend at least, so no practice till then.

i moisturized for the first time since saturday today. i know that sounds bad but i swear i didn't need it! i bunned today so something told me i still didn't need it but my edges are funky so i did it anyway, with bb oil moisturizer (aka the TROOF) and then some castor oil. i'm baggying right now.

i made a comp shot today also...see it in my album. i'm shocked to say the least. LET'S CROSS THAT V NEXT TIME! whooooo!

skin regimen

i have realized that as a pj my job (lol) is to try every product, every regimen, and every remedy for my hair and skin under the sun, then use the best-working ones to come up with my regimen. this is what i did for my hair, and this is how i know things like DCing 2x a week, baggying with bb oil moisturizer, and buns are my friends. this is also how i know i hate chi iron guard (my scalp is still recovering, literally). now i have done the same for my skin: using the makeup/skin care forum, afrobella's info on the OCM, youtube videos, and pokahontas's masks/scrubs, this is what i have come up with. i have found that i do like the honey on my face, as well as the baking soda. it feels so much better than the sugar. the coffee and yogurt seem to taste better than they work but i have only done the coffee scrub once. (still have to try the mask with cinnamon in it.) my face has cleared tremendously in the past week, which is something that has not happened since i used proactiv 2 years ago (the joy from that eventually faded). in fact, i went to the doctor today to get a new referral for my upcoming derm appt (june 10th!) and he looked at my face and asked me why i wanted to go. yes, he asked ME, of all people. i have never really been the one to get those really big red bumps, except for every other month or two one will pop up on my chin, but in the past 2 weeks i have had two (one at a time) on my left cheek, and through resisting the temptation to touch them (something i have only accomplished with less than 5 blemishes my whole life) they are shrinking. i usually get the really small ones on my cheeks, around my nose, and on my forehead, despite losing the sideswept bangs, but even they are disappearing to some extent. i will take pictures tonight after i rinse this cleanser/mask off (yes i am multitasking, one of my favorite hobbies: typing this, watching the first 48, and cleansing) since i failed to take some last week like i should have. i was simply too embarrassed for anyone to see my skin.

after all that talking/typing, here is my current regimen:
MORNING:
*rinse face with lukewarm water
*apply shea butter or purpose moisturizer (it has spf 15 in it and my derm recommended it)

NIGHT:
*put a little (teaspoonish) amount of baking soda in my hand; add honey; make it less stiff with EVOO. apply to face for ~10 minutes. rinse off - no washcloth anymore.
*dry with hand towel, though i may change to a t-shirt or something
*tone with acv/distilled water/lemon juice mixture to remove excess oil and such
*moisturize with raw shea butter while face is still damp
*apply a thin layer of castor oil...use this time to apply it to my hairline as well =)

voila. i will update in a week or two, and definitely when i see the derm to hear his thoughts on dermabrasion/chem peels.

a day later...

it has been only 24 HOURS and i am already itching to DC and wash out this straight look. when i was curly i really wanted it straight (although i think that was just an urge to do a length check). this has never happened before in my life...i don't know whether it's the heat or what. i need to do SouthernTease's sidebun real quick so i can keep my hands away from the showerhead and kenra mc.

:goes to look at my hair pics album for motivation:: i did NOT spend an hour and a half on my hair yesterday for it to only last two days! i MUST get someone to french braid it or something! this sabino mb will keep on doing what it was purchased for! (oh, speaking of which, i woke up sweating like a fat rat, thanks mom for turning off the a/c, and my hair still looked fabulous. i love this stuff.)

but once it DOES get washed out...i'm on two strand twists like white on rice in a glass of milk on a paper plate in a snowstorm (got that from major payne). i saw someone on LHCF with a pic of some perfect twists using only her hair, no yarn or extension hair. this is what i will do until i can find some kinky twist hair that matches my color. i REALLY wish i had the patience to do a straw set but i can't do styles that take an insane amount of time unless it's someone else's hair, cause then it's like busy work. guess i will have to coax mom into trying it.

NO BC until AUGUST!...yes i know that keeps changing. sue me.

flat ironing

the banding experience was just that, an experience. i still did not let it dry all the way although i left them in overnight, goes to show how impatient i am. i pulled my hair back in a pony puff and threw on a dress and must say i felt very summery. it is 90 degrees outside after all.

once i got home though, i had the urge to flat iron, despite the fact that a) i am still wearing it up and b) it's 90 friggin degrees like i said. i mixed up some giovanni and water in a spray bottle and re-sectioned my hair into the 4 ponytails, then sprayed them and sealed with my shea oil mix before applying MB. i blowdried on medium then used my trusty solia to finish up the roots. it really does work in one pass. the plus side is my hair has grown and looks reallllllly shiny, but the negative is that it still doesn't swang. i have to get this product ratio down. i think too much MB may have done it. oh, and i'm laying off the flat iron for the month of june. if i want straight hair i will rollerset and wrap, or band again since it really did a good job of getting most of the curlies out.

banding pt 2

giving this thing another go since the one yesterday did not dry all the way.

DC w/ kenra mc, 2 hrs no heat
section off, apply GD
I FORGOT MY SHEA MIX!
band into 4 ponytails

on a side note, my ponytails were so pretty, especially the ones on the sides. the curls were just perfect...i think my dream hair is starting to show. in the morning when it is DRY (as in 100% this time) i will add the shea mix and MB before deciding whether it needs to be flat-ironed or not. tomorrow is APL challenge length check-in! is it weird that i am excited? i think i can make it by the end of the summer...that is if i can resist the urge to BC.

dream hair - o rly?

in my last journal entry i said how my bestie's sister touched my hair and was shocked. now i wanna talk about her hair just because i need to get it off my chest. for all intensive purposes i will call her B.

B just turned 16 years old...man it literally seems like the other day when i was that age, which is when my bestie became my bestie. anyhoo, when i met B at age 12 or so, she had really long (like BSL) thick 3b or so hair that her mother made her keep in ponytails - age appropriate, i thought. when she turned 14 her mother let her start straightening it, and she hit the ground running. it was professionally straightened the first time and it was so nice that they took multiple pics of it. it really was awe-inspiring. after that however she wasn't allowed to go to the salon...the stylist was "scissor-happy" it seems and no one wanted her to even have the chance to "clip some split ends", which i completely understand. so what happens? B gets a cheap flat-iron, a jar of vaseline, and goes to town. from that point on she wore it as straight as possible - and every few days she would restraighten, usually on damp hair, because it was frizzy.

now mind you this is before i found LHCF, but i still did not think this was a good idea. fast forward to a few months ago: she asks me to straighten her hair, so i bring over my chi silk infusion to act as a heat protectant, make sure her hair is DRY first, and do my thing. it came out really nice, but again it only lasted a few days. i mentioned that she should use a heat protectant but she is young and it only mattered that the vaseline made her hair shiny. because of the length she would eventually put it up in a ponytail.

so in march i joined LHCF and immediately began to think of her. by now you can probably figure out the results: as of now B still has long-ish hair, but her ends are horrible and her hair has broken off to APL pretty much. in fact, i saw her for the first time in a month and a half on memorial day and i was taken aback by the condition of her hair. it was in a messy bun but her ends were so see through it was ridiculous. it had lost what 'swang' it had and everything, i mean i almost cried. she saw my hair, which i had straightened and was wearing in a side bun, and told me it looked really nice. (i just liked it because it was shiny and moisturized, but come on it was a donut bun.) while sitting outside with my bestie we began talking about her recent haircut (FIERCE, btw) and trailed off to the subject of B's hair. she told me she had gotten so sick of the abuse that she has to hide her flat iron every time B comes over...yeah it's that bad. i then told her that no offense but she needs a trim, and she said that's why her mom hasn't taken her to a salon - she KNOWS that they have no choice but to cut B's hair. so then i was thinking how sad it was that she would rather hang onto those ends so she could have long hair, but really if the damage would not stop even after she cut it what would be the point? now i am stuck: do i try to pass some knowledge down to her or just let her do her thing? i feel like she will say what i used to: why pay all that money for that expensive hair stuff (like chi products and MB) when what i have gets the job done? i saw her again tonight and struggled with this. i will think on it a bit more so i can find the right words...or maybe i will just buy her some silk infusion or something. -sigh-

banding

i had every intention on flat-ironing my hair tonight although i had reservations since i am going to an amusement park tomorrow and will more than likely sweat my curls out (even though my MB came today). i decided to give Pokahontas's banding method a try (man i'm really goin through her albums, lol) so i cowashed with kenra, did a clear glaze and rinsed it out with vo5 strawberries, added GD and MB, then put my hair in 4 ponytails and added the multicolored cloth bands with perm rods on the ends. i must say my hair was very straight and shiny under those bands...i only wish i were more patient and had stayed under the hood dryer till they were all the way dry, but that's another story for another journal. in any event my hair came out nice and wavy...i brushed it into a high pony and it looks so nice i will just wear it like this.

oh yes, from the overnight baggying i did (successfully) last night - i covered the plastic cap with a satin bonnet and slept on my satin pillowcase - my hair came out wayyy too soft for my liking. i put it all on and took the cap off after 2 hours to check and everything felt great, so maybe i should have stopped there. but after a few hours of being out in the air it "hardened" up. i think i will baggy this ponytail tonight so that when i wake up in the morning all i have to do is remove my scarf and the cap.

p.s. another hair compliment today - my bestie's sister touched my ponytail and was caught offguard by the softness and the smell. as i couldn't smell it myself it was either the kenra, the vo5, or the GD i think. lol

p.p.s. i took some of the shea butter and whipped it (with an electric blender) with some of the herbal oil blend and some EVOO. my skin is so well moisturized. i plan on putting this on my hair in the baggy tonight as well.

am i there yet?

after that whole coffee mask thing the other day, i got impatient and being that i stayed up all night anyway i did the baking soda scrub thing at around 7 in the morning. it was honey and baking soda at first but that stuff was hard to spread so i added EVOO, then toned and applied a thin layer of castor oil. then last night i did another one, but forgot the toner. i know i am super impatient though so i will do this for a week before i note any results, but YES my skin is soft (it usually is though) and YES the blemishes are shrinking (but this is usually the case as well).

jump tracks to my hair: that braidout came out pretty good. i pulled it back with a knee-high because of the shrinkage though so it looks like a curly fro. i whole-head baggied successfully last night and i think i should have taken the bag off last night before i went to sleep cause my hair feels kinda mushy. i will be co-washing anyway because ::cue trumpets:: MY MB and SHEA BUTTER ARRIVED! i am going out with friends tomorrow so i want to straighten my hair tonight, and these will be perfect for doing that. i also get to use the shea butter on my skin now...oh i can hardly stand the excitement.

but playing around in the mirror last night...i think i am almost APL. not full APL mind you, but i am almost there. i was stretching that hair as hard as i could...lollll! i am due for a length check-in for the APL challenge on the 31st anyway so perhaps i will do it tonight. i'm so exciteddddd!

another survey from LHCF

1. Clarifying Shampoo - suave clarifying
2. Moisturizing/Detangling Shampoo - CON blue
3. Protein conditioner - aphogee 2 min, emergencee
4. Moisturizing conditioner - lustrasilk shea butter cholesterol just got knocked off by kenra mc
5. Flat iron - solia
6. hair oil - castor oil/africa's best herbal mixed with EVOO if i'm feelin frisky
7. Blow dryer - ion pink bonnet or andis ionic handheld
8. Leave in - HE LTR or giovanni direct depending on my mood
9. Homemade concoction - i'm not that advanced, sorry
10. Regimen - whatever it takes to achieve the style i am looking for, from cowashing to the whole poo/protein/dc/rollerset/flat iron thing
(Bonus) Growth aid - none
(Bonus) Pre Poo - VO5 and oils if not clarifying
(Bonus) Co wash - VO5 vanilla mint tea or moisture milks
(Bonus) Relaxer - transitioning!

other tools: jf color glaze in brunette and clear, denman d3, sabino mb, baggying, purple satin scarf and pink satin pillowcase

may 27th

HAIR:
washed with CON blue.
emergencee treatment.
DC with jf brunette glaze, jf clear glaze and kenra mc.
rinse with VO5 "moisture milks".
giovanni direct leave-in; 5 large braids.

i'll be damned if this isn't the softest my hair has ever felt. can't wait to see the results of this braidout. if it goes well maybe i DC again before the end of the week, especially if i got that protein/moisture thing back on track.

SKIN:
bought honey, baking soda, and got coffee grinds - enough for some serious exfoliation. i did Pokahontas's coffee scrub and boy my face feels great. tomorrow i will try the honey mask because i have heard great things about honey's anti-acne properties and i am up for anything. in addition i have heard some talk about washing with baking soda so i want to try that too. hopefully this coupled with the OCM will clear me up a bit before my june 10th derm appointment.

i hate my face.

well, the skin on it.

so something i have been dealing with since high school is mild acne. i remember a girl telling me in 10th grade "you have such perfect skin!" and i think that is what set off the blemishes...LOL! i have tried various remedies, both OTC and prescription, but the fact that i find it hard to stick with things for four weeks (i'm an instant gratitude type of girl) AND the fact that i have serious hand-on-face disease (i'm working on it, i realllllly am) make these things work little to none of the time. proactiv was the best thing on wheels for a while but either the magic faded after the 60 day trial period or i fell off, i don't know. but now i am looking for something to clear up these bumps (tiny but numerous) and get rid of the scarring.

my current regimen:
DAY: moisturize with purpose w/SPF 15 (derm recommended). i don't wash because i find it unnecessary to wash 8 hours after the fact, but maybe if i did i would see something different. hmm. i'll ask the derm.
NIGHT: remove eye makeup (if applicable) with almay pads - OCM with EVOO - tone with ACV/water/lemon juice mix - apply thin layer of castor oil. once my shea butter comes in i will use that day and night. EVOO/sugar or Pokahontas' coffee scrub 1x week; baking soda in EVOO every other day. steam treatments are also delish; man how i wish i had a face steamer other than my pot of water. lollll

ETA: reading the makeup/skin care forum like it's my job. wash/exfoliate/mask/moisturize seems to be the key, at least once a week, though exfoliation can be done 3x week if necessary. and i have to ask the derm about peels and microdermabrasion - seems lots of people have had success with 40% lactic acid peels, TCA peels, and glycolic acid.

my affair with baggying

i wanna start out by saying i never really got the point of baggying before the other day. sure, i knew it was supposed to "lock in moisture", and i should have known this based on the no-heat treatments i have done while prepooing (that shower cap always came out soaked just from me sitting in front of the tv). i did it once before using SouthernTease's whole head baggying, but my hair was wet...stupidstupidstupid! NOW i know it's done on DRY hair that you have moisturized before bed!

my hair is still flat ironed from last tuesday or so, so while going through the closet the other day throwing away all the "bad" hair stuff, you know the ones with mineral oil, i came across this barely used bottle of BB hair lotion "with castor oil and aloe". i read the ingredients...good stuff, no mineral oil, so i decided to use it and see what would happen if i just so happened to put a plastic shower cap on my ponytail. after one night i was sold. three nights later i am testifying. i found that mixing it with that african oil stuff we have on the shelf produces even greater results. so here i am tonight getting ready to try the whole head baggying again...but this time with a DRY yet moisturized head.

trade secret+sabino haul

BOOM! went to trade secret today looking for the MB and Kenra MC since it's on sale through the end of the month. got the kenra (whoo hoo) but the saleschick had no idea what MB was so that let me know they didn't sell it and i would have to pay for shipping. &*^%!!!!!!! so i bought it online. so for $28 i got 2 LITERS of kenra...and for another $28 i got 3oz of MB. what a ripoff. they better be glad this stuff works.

oh, and i took back the iron guard and the straight guard. i have too many products already, and MB > iron guard.

hair disaster+MB+CVS haul

ok so its not really a disaster but here's where i am.

tues night: dc'd with some hot oil treatments i found in the back of the closet (they are suave but they have wheat protein!) and my cholesterol. i wanted to keep it on overnight so thank goodness i only kept in on about 2 hrs, one with heat one without. i took off the cap and when i rinsed it out OMG! there were all these short broken bone straight pieces! ALL MY HAIR IS FALLING OUT! not literally but it felt like it compared to the wash 2 days prior where all i saw was shed hair. wore it in a snood so i couldn't see it. idk what to do.

so wed night i was sad but i wanted to flat iron my hair for a meeting i had today (well, thursday). i cowashed, rollerset with detangler and chi silk infusion, and planned on just flat ironing the roots but i had my mom put the rollers in and she did a horrible job with straightening the hair on the roller (sorry mom). i have these sabino moisture block samples i wanted to try so here's what i did:

after taking out the rollers i then applied one whole vial, but i think i didn't coat it all too evenly. i was nervous about the heat protection so i had conveniently purchased some chi iron guard (what a pj) and i sprayed that on starting at the bottom half of my hair. i heard this frying noise and ditched that idea REAL quick.

so playing around with the temp, i went from ~410 on my solia back down to 370, then once i stopped using the iron guard (and subsequently stopped feeling like i was burning my scalp even though i was nowhere near my roots at that point) i turned it back up to 400. i then pulled out the other vial of MB and applied it section by section...man i tell you once i started doing it that way my results were so much better, just really shiny and smooth. gotta say i love my hair right now...i put on some castor oil and bunned today (gotta make APL!) but it still feels really great. can't wait to return the iron guard and run to trade secret tomorrow to see if they have this in stock.

last but not least, i made a trip to charlottesville today so i could get my shoe basket from my apartment (i can't believe i went TWO WEEKS without my flats!) and go to a meeting. while there i went to cvs since there isn't one here in newport news. they had john frieda products all BOGO and i was dying to try the color glaze (littlegoldlamb's reviews are slammin, btw). i got the brown and the clear BOTH for ten bucks and will try them this weekend or when my hair stops trippin, whichever comes first. i also bought some emergencee since this is the only place i can find it - seriously, that stuff is out of stock everywhere i go and shipping charges online are a b*tch. i will try it in maybe 2 weeks. oh, they had some 75% off stickers on random makeup...too bad the true match foundations/blushes were for people of a lighter complexion. i did get some physician's formula eyeshadow, a smoky trio that i really needed in my life, for 3.99, since it was 50% off. gotta love it.

be back in a few days...this is therapeutic as hell.

may 18th wash journal

so i spent ALL day yesterday putting yarn twists in my sister's hair then i washed my brother's hair for him. that makes today MY day. man i feel like such a bad girl because of all i've learned on LHCF. last time i washed was on the 10th...i meant to wash on the 13th or 14th but i got that free blowout and it messed up my life. not really, but it threw me off schedule cause i wanted to extend my straight hair glory. lol

ok...so right now i am prepooing with EVOO and castor oil and i will be washing afterwards with suave clarifying (1st lather) and CON blue (2nd lather). i bought a denman =) so i will use that and my VO5 to detangle. after that i will DC with aphogee 2 min for about 5 mins then again with Lustrasilk cholesterol. then thats about it...rinse, add my HE LTR leave-in, braid it up and dry it. haven't decided whether i will wear it curly or straight yet. i feel good about this though.

updated wants: CON green, a better prepoo. maybe.

thanks LadyLibra

LHCF Hair Survey!

1. Current Hair Length:
--collarbone stretched, mid-neck unstretched.

2.Relaxed/Texlaxed/Natural?
--transitioning? lol, natural

3. Favorite Style at Current Length (not necessarily a style you'd wear since we're all mainly wearing protective styles, but a style that you think looks cute with that length):
--bantu knot outs

4. Current Hair Color:
--lightish brown; darker at the ends where the damaged reddish black stuff is trying to fade.

5. Favorite Hair Color (for yourself):
--dark brown

6. Realistic Goal Length (the length you are truly determined to get to):
--APL unstretched

7. Dream Goal Length (the length you'd like to have, but not sure if you can achieve it, can be the same as above):
--BSL unstretched

8. Desired Style or Styles for Realistic Goal (a style you would wear at that goal):
--keeping it flat-ironed in protective styles, or when curly i like bantu knot outs/twistouts/braidouts.

9. Desired Style or Styles for Dream Goal:
either mimicking the sew-in with the bangs i had, or long, soft perfectly shaped ringlets.

10. Dream Look (okay this is weird but I've vowed to try to look more stylish once I achieve my goal length, plus I know some ladies here have taken up other self improvement regimens like weight loss or skin care so in the end what would be your dream look?):
--long healthy hair with glowing healthy and scar-free skin (acne scarring and the tolls of being a tomboy on my legs.)

11. Any crazy hair story:
--the day i got mad at my stylist for trying to charge me an exorbitant amount of money just to wash my sew in so me and my mom went at it. end result was HUGE matted tangle on top of my head...and since this was ~6pm on a friday every salon i called was like "sorry, see you monday". (btw i did find a girl who opened the shop just for me AND recut my bangs to please me.)

12. One thing you LOVE about your hair:
--discovering how much of a mistake it was for me to beg for a relaxer once i hit middle school. i love this versatility, and i am afflicted with hand-in-hair now.

13. Who truly screwed your hair up?:
--a few, to make it short: my mom's former stylist, who gave me my first relaxer...my stepmom's former stylist, who decided i would look great with bangs and resigned me to walking around with them bobby pinned back for 6 months...the people who told me dark and lovely blonde would be great on my hair...these are the same ones who did my sew-in and made me think i could go for 2 months without doing ANYTHING to it. eww.

14. Three reasons for wanting long hair (other than wanting to show that black women can have long hair, this is somewhat a goal for all of us):
--to determine if SL really is my terminal length (so far doesn't seem like it); to have more versatility; because my bf loves girls with long dark hair. haha. j/k about that last one, the real 3rd reason is so i learn about MYSELF (and save some dough in the process).

hair mini haul

so today was my bf's birthday and since he is still up at school finishing finals i went out and bought things for myself. =) i had been itching for some aphogee so this is what i got from sally's:

denman d3 (can't wait to use it tomorrow!)
aphogee 2 min reconstructor
noodle head curling creme
CON blue shampoo (extra body, they were out of the regular and i just had to take advantage of the sale)
rayon net

and then i went to wal-mart and bought yarn so i can do yarn twists in my little sister's head (thanks for the tutorial Honesty!) so we will see how my prepoo/wash/DC regimen goes tomorrow. i will prepoo with EVOO and castor oil, then wash with the new CON, and DC with the aphogee followed by the cholesterol i bought the other day.

reorganizing my regimen

all i need to add in:
cowashing (3x a week?)
DCing 2x a week
clarifying 1x aweek
full prepoo/wash/DC 1x a week

i'll figure it out in the next week or so.

PJ in search of a DC

So I joined the DC challenge on LHCF...I think challenges are my new thing - so many good tips and support, and in this particular one Aggie (LadyAggie on fotki) is so great at being patient with me and answering all my unanswered questions! I love this challenge and I have only DC'd once!

I wanted to flat iron my hair today so I started preparing my hair on Saturday night 5/10...I don't have any SLS-free poos yet so I just used my trusty old VO5 conditioner and did a co-wash. (I since have bought some Suave clarifying...I heard Trade Secret has a sale though, and I'll stalk the board tomorrow for some recommendations. If you wanna rec though...you know!). After that I DC'd for 30 mins with this Cantu shea butter leave-in I bought spiked with some EVOO, which is my best friend ever. It clearly said "leave-in" but the back of the jar said something about leaving in overnight, so for less than $5 I said why not. My hair didn't feel so mushy after the treatment, so I said hey cool, but something still didn't feel right. (I exchanged it today for some LustraSilk cholesterol, btw.) Getting on with it...I detangled with this leftover Thermasilk spray and put on some of the greatest leave-in ever, HE LTR. I really wanted to stretch it but it was 3am by then and I was t-i-r-e-d. Therefore, I just put a satin bonnet on.

Fast forward to Sunday afternoon. My hair was still damp but I was anxious to use my new Solia for the first time, and the box clearly says you can use it on damp hair, so I grabbed my Chi Silk Infusion and went for it. Somewhere along this pathway I must have went seriously wrong, because I couldn't get my roots straight for anything. I got frustrated and just did what I could, so basically my roots are crimpy right now and the rest is straight. It also looks dry...what the heck, man? I'm gonna get this thing eventually.

What I'll do different next time:
1) STRETCH! Probably banding or a braidout or twistout.
2) Let it dry all the way by giving it more time if I air dry or just biting the bullet and blow drying. The hood dryer also looks tempting...but that thing is HOT on my forehead. I am stanning for a Pibbs at this point.
3) Use a different moisturizer?
4) Clarify...maybe it is the buildup from all this freakin' co-washing.

So I'm excited...I am having a medical procedure on Wednesday and that will give me a lot of downtime (about 2 weeks) to sit and think once I get over the pain of the healing process. I will try to DC again on Sunday since I'm not happy with this straightening job anyway...but we shall see if I really feel like it.

My Hair Journey

As you can see...this is L-O-N-G.

If only I knew where to start. This "hair-therapy" is very new to me; I came across Macherieamour's site (http://healthytextures.typepad.com) about a month and a half ago just trying to find out more about the oil cleansing method or something else completely unrelated. Once I saw that there was the possibility that I really COULD have long hair, I was hooked.

I was born with light brown curly hair, and my brother came along four years later with a similar mop. He has grown his hair out on several occasions and always got praise for his curly 'fros. My mom always took pride in plaiting my hair into cute little ponytails, and I liked it too. My aunt and my older cousins (one is 10 years older, the other 2 years older) were ALWAYS putting their hands in my hair, and from the few times my aunt took me to her stylist Linda (who has a daughter my age with hair similar to mine) I liked that a lot. I felt so "grown" sitting in that chair. My mom tried to mimic that happiness by taking me to her stylist, who I now realize may have been part of the problem (I still love you though!). She was the one who first cut my hair, put the hot comb to my tresses, and applied that first relaxer. I felt pretty - my mom felt defeated.

From there began a line of bad stylists: my stepmother would take me with her and her daughters, who have hair similar to mine, but it stays pressed/greased. My mom was appalled on a number of occasions when I came back from his house with straight, shiny hair, which I LOVED because it helped me fit in with my Caucasian (ahem) friends.

Once I got into high school I continued with the relaxers but wasn't so big on upkeep: ponytails were my best friend. My cousins would tease me a lot for those puffy frizzy things, and this is when I was introduced to wrapping, moisturizing, and the like. My hair looked healthy for sure, but I still have no idea whether it was actually the hair or all the products. I began wearing my hair down more, and this may be why my hair didn't get past SL: it was always rubbing against my collar!

I began college in the fall of 2005 and decided I wanted a new hairdo to mark this new phase. (This is part of the problem: I express breakups, successes, and tragedy with my hair.) I cut it into a style like Linda's daughter's the day after Thanksgiving, and a month later I got it colored like hers too. I usually let Linda do what she saw fit, and I will concede that it worked - while I was relaxed, anyway. I grew this out, then in about September of 2006 got my first sew-in. It was ok, and I got it mainly for length, but I was under the impression that I didn't have to do anything to the braids underneath. This resulted in breakage when I took it out in December, then in January I bleached it blond with some Dark & Lovely off the shelf at Wal-mart. Linda's color was better of course, but $5 compared to $85? Come on!

Ok...grew out the blond (it looked bad anyway, but I didn't care) then dyed it a reddish color the summer of 07 to get rid of the yellowish. Got a sew-in July 07 because I liked that particular hairstyle; it looked good but was put in by an "old-school" stylist who told me "she didn't need to look at the pic I bought" so I was never satisfied with the bangs. She was one of those people who tell you what you wanna hear if it means you will sit in the chair...and give up that money. After it came out I found a great girl named Myra who advised me to wait for another...but only after taking out the one she put in. I had anticipated another full sew-in, but either because she didn't feel like it or she thought she had creative license, she left the top (reddish, remember?) out and the bottom was jet black. Wow, right? It looked okay, but once again I wasn't in love with it. Then that same night one of the tracks on the side slipped...she was 50 miles away by then so I had my mom fix it. Big mistake.

Myra disappeared right around the time I was looking for it to come out...by my 20th birthday (Oct 2007) it was looking really bad and I was upset, since I was planning on having a big celebration and didn't want to look like a fool. My cousin ended up taking it out so I could just wash it or whatever, and while it had grown it had also knotted up. After the knots came out I was barely SL. After I finished crying she told me about a Dominican salon she had been to, and since I was in no shape to get a relaxer I went to them. My hair turned out fabulous, minus the fact that they had to cut out the part that knotted up after washing it, so I went from SL to ear length that day. I kept up going to them pretty much once a month (more over academic breaks) from then (Oct 2007) to Feb or March of this year, since I have to travel ~150 miles from school to there. Sometime in November they dyed my hair black, and I haven't dyed it since.

In comes LHCF, which I discovered in late March. I began seriously reanalyzing the lack of washing (I only let them wash it, so if I was only home once a month that's all that happened) and deep conditioning, as well as my lack of enthusiasm for spending money on what has proven to work vs. going for the cheaper stuff. I quickly became a PJ (ha) after discovering LHCF, and through all the trial and error I have found a few things I can't live without - and saved some money. ($25 on a wash and set, then another $12 for Emergencia, then $5 for DC if I requested it...what?! I bought some VO5 for 66 cents from CVS and some HE LTR leave-in for 3 bucks at Wal-mart, and recently discovered the BOTTLE of Emergencee is $12!) Love it, and so does my hair. I love CW days now, and I use them to experiment with all the new styles I've picked up from LHCF. Who says you have to be relaxed to have style versatility? Just in the past 3 weeks I've tried braid-outs, twist-outs, Bantu knots...when I went home two weeks ago my mom bought a Chi (she has since returned it for a Solia from folica.com) and I used that and the Silk Infusion I had from a while back to straighten it. WOW...it's so thick and shiny, and the Bantu knots are so different when I do them on straight hair! I can't wait to post all my pics!

I know, I know...this was long. But if only you knew how liberated I feel. I seriously doubt I can offer suggestions to anyone, but I am open to them and eager to learn from the pros.

Peace, love, and (no) hair grease,
mojo <3

get up on the terminology if you have no idea what i am talking about!
http://longhaircareforum.com