Garnier Fructis Repair and Shine Conditioner

I tried a new conditioner, I'm awaiting my ingredients for my homemade conditioner and so searched for a cheap co-wash conditioner without silicones and parabens and I found Garnier Fructis Repair and Shine Conditioner. It smells lovely, cleaned just as well as shampoo, and gave my hair a good shine.

INGREDIENTS
Aqua, Cetearyl Alcohol, Elaeis Guineenis (Palm Oil), Behentrimonium Chloride, CI19140 (Yellow5), CI15985 (Yellow 6), Niacinamide, Ribes Nigrum Oil (Black Currant Seed Oil), Saccharum Officinarum Extract (Sugar Cane Extract), Stearamidopropyl Dimethylamine, Olea Europaea Oil (Olive Fruit Oil), Chlorhexidine Dihydrochloride, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Benzyl Alcohol, Linalool, Pyrus Mallus Extract (Apple Fruit Extract), Pyridoxine HCI, Persea Gratissima Oil (Avocado Oil), Butyrospermum Parki Butter (Shea Butter), Citric Acid, Lemon Peel Extract, Glycerin, Fragrance

WHAT SOME OF THE UNPROUNOUNCIBLES ARE!

Behentrimonium Chloride
Cationic quaternary ammonium compound (docosyltrimethylammonium chlorid) made from colza oil (canolla oil) with potent conditioning effect. Potent conditioner with antistatic & detangling properties, able to restore & rebuild damaged hair (due to colza oil it does not coat but penetrates & substantiates the hair shaft), softening effect, antimicrobial properties.


Niacinamide
(Viatamin B3),

Stearamidopropyl Dimethylamine
Origin: A synthetic compound derived from stearic acid, a fatty acid. It is an emulsifier that is made from vegetable based components and is safe for the environment and for your hair.

Chlorhexidine Dihydrochloride
Antibacterial properties soluble in water

Linalool
one of the natural constituents of lavender essential oil, can also be manufactured synthetically

Pyridoxine HCI
Vitamin B6

Citric Acid
Inherently natural as it occurs in citric fruits, produced by fermentation of carbohydrates, Acidulant (useful to adjust pH of products to make them more acid / less alkaline), chelating effect (neutralizes minerals to enhance activity of antioxidants & preservatives)

War on my TWA

The week I declared war on my hair!

If I haven't mentioned it before I am a school teacher, and therefore I don't have enough time or the inclination to wory too much about my hair in the mornings. Now that Christmas holidays have begun I've decided that it's time to see what I can do with my hair and to try and go gel free.

I'm trying to go cold turkey and not use any gel and see what else I can use to define my curls. The link with the gel is that #1 I can't get Eco Olive Oil in the UK, #2 Eco Clear is a little drying and #3 gel just increases shrinkage and my hair has less body.

So what have I done this week:

1. I've co-washed Faith in Nature's Jojoba Conditioner, and then just added Jojoba Oil and let my hair dry - this made my hair soft and when I rinse with cold water my curl pattern holds better, but the next day I had to co-wash again to revive the curl.
2. I blow dried my hair (first time since 2nd BC in August!), I liked it but heat = damage in the long run, so then I put African Essence gel on the dry hair and used a bristle brush in a circular motion all over my head to make the curls pop. It looked good but the gel is very drying.
3. I co-washed with Faith in Nature Jojoba Conditioner, put in Giovanni Smooth as Silk wrap head with cling film, put my head scraf on and went to bed. In the morning rinsed out with cold water last, then put in jojba oil, sprayed with Naturally Sexy Moisturising Spray , and then put on Naturally Sexy Styling Cream added a little cold water and added Oyin Shine and Define. I then used the bristle brush in a circular motion all over head, the longer you do it the more defined the curls they end up looking like finger curls. I liked this best will have to see what it looks like with 2nd day hair.

Homemade Hair Gel

I'm going to make my own hair gel! Ordered the ingredients but they wont arrive until the new year so I'll keep you posted. I'M SO EXCITED!

Going cone free! week 2

On Saturday 12th December, I did a deep condition I mixed Giovanni Smooth as Silk Conditioner with Curls Coconut Sublime, coconut oil, olive oil, mayo, honey and baking soda, I left this in for about 3 hours with a plastic bag on my head. I then rinsed this out with a little extra Coconut Sublime, and used Giovanni Direct Leave-in Weightless Moisture Conditioner, sprayed a little H20 and veggie glycerin/oil mix, and I also used Oyin's Whipped Pudding (shea butter). So basically I used a cream leave in conditioner, water and oil products making sure that my hair get maximum moisture, I also rinsed my hair with COLD WATER. I got this advice from Nikkimae2003 on YouTube and more specifically this video



My hair still isn't perfect but it is definitely more moisturised and getting softer and my hair is soft when I wake up no more straw! I definitely think no cones is the way. I've since seen I few videos on YouTube talking about the Curly Girl Method so I'm gonna look that up and see what it's saying. I'll keep you posted.

Going cone free! Week 1

I've decided that I'm going to go cone free, right now I've bee cone free since Monday 7th December. Why have I made this decision you may ask? My main reason for this is because my hair is seriously lacking moisture and I believe that cones in products that I have using are stopping moisture getting to my hair. When I go to bed I tie my hair with a satin scarf thinking that that is all my hair requires to make sure that it doesn't go dry. I've been so wrong! Every morning I've been waking up and my hair has been so dry, like straw y'all and I've had enough.

So last Monday I shampooed my hair with my favourite shampoo Dr Bronners, I wanted to make sure that all cones were washed out. Once I rinsed I then sprayed my hair with my water, veggie glycerin and oil mix (rosemary and peppermint), then I used Giovanni Smooth as Silk Deep Moisture Conditioner as a leave in, I was staying at home so I didn't apply any styling products.

The next morning I sprayed my hair with H20 & veggie glycerin and again used the Giovanni Smooth and Silk, then I used my Eco Styler gel, in the evening I did the same with out the Eco Styler. I did this every day until Saturday morning, I felt that putting in conditioner every morning and evening was necessary to put the moisture back into my hair.

My hair does feel softer and more moisturised, and the no cone method is working.

Good Hair

"If your hair's relaxed white people are relaxed, if your hair is nappy they're not happy" (best quote in the film)

So I watched Good Hair and I have to say that I was thoroughly disappointed. I was waiting for Chris to get to the part where he met up with some natural sisters who may of communicated to the audience how proud they were of their natural hair, but alas that part never came (there was one so called celebrity with natural hair featured). Instead the film was dominated by footage of a hair show where over zealous, self obsessed hair dressers were able to showcase their talents, this included a token white guy hairdresser who was seen to be a miracle worker with black women’s hair, but as you’ve probably guessed they only styled processed hair.

Another thing that I didn’t like about the film was that Chris also featured a segment on how much black women paid for weaves and ‘hair units’ going into the thousands! The only good thing shown in my opinion was they demonstrated how harmful the chemicals in relaxers are. A white scientist was shocked to learn that these chemicals were used on humans!

I don’t want to seem like I’m moaning (but I am). The marketing for this film made it seem as though the film was going to tell people that having natural hair was good hair, and take a subjective look at how Black women treat their hair. I was left thinking how stupid some black women are for spending so much money on their hair, and taking away from their natural beauty. The film only served to perpetuate that many Black women still are mentally enslaved by Eurocentric ideologies of beauty.

I’m not a Pan-African activist, and I’m not totally against weaves and wigs, but I do find it saddening when some women really totally rely on these things so much so that they begin to dislike their own natural hair. Being a black women who chemically processed her hair for 14 years, and has now begun her naturally hair journey, I can say with confidence that doing the big chop is a liberating and emotional experience.

Black women are very attached to their hair and it’s an important part of who they are; this at least came across in the film Good Hair. But what didn’t come across is that being happy with what God blessed you with and breaking through the years of ingrained social stereotypes of what are acceptable notions of beauty for a Black woman in a white world is a hard journey for a Black woman to take.

The natural journey is a journey that many Black women are not prepared to take yet, but I encourage you to think about it, it’s a journey that I’m taking and it’s hard sometimes to wake up in the morning and be greeted with a ‘fro but I see my ‘fro as me taking back my history, and letting my true black beauty shine through.

To use ECO STYLER or not?

Okay so for the past week and half I've been using Eco Styler (with olive oil) gel, and I really like it for the simple fact that it defines my curls like no other product that I've tried up to now. My problem is that it leaves my hair feeling cruncy and I don't know what to do! This morning I co-washed and I used Curls quenched curls moisturizer and I put on some shea butter before using the Eco styler, I thought that this might soften it up a bit but no luck. I don't know what to do, please advise!

Update on Curls Products

The Curls products didn't provide good second day hair, I have found recently that I'm having to co-wash my hair everyday so that I can have defined curls. To co-wash I'm using either the coconut sublime or Organix coconut conditioner or the Organix pomegranate coditioner, I then use the Curls quenched curls because I think that it's an excellent product and I use Eco styler olive oil gel, and Green People aloe vera gel. This is what is working for me so far.

Curls (TM)

I've recently tried a range of products by Curls, their slogan is "Effortless, Frizz Free Curls for Multi Ethnic Women and Girls". Well what can I say I purchased a whole 4 step product line

#1 Curlicious Curls Cleansing Cream
#2 Coconut Sublime Moisturizing Conditioner
#3 Quenched Curls Moisturizer
#4 Curl Soufflé and Whipped Cream

All the products have a high percentage of natural ingredients (I'm not going to list them check out the website) so much so that they all smell like you can eat them, the Curl Soufflé could be mistaken for yogurt. After using the whole system my hair felt soft and moisturised. The Curl Soufflé did help my curl definition, only drawback was I washed my hair at 9am and by 6pm my crown was still damp, but my hair was smelling sweet! In addition I didn't have much shine, my hair looked a little dull. I would recommend this product line, and I would use it again but not on a TWA, I'll wait until I have some more length.

My Hairstory

I have done the Big Chop twice the first time was March of this year, and the second was in August. The need for the second big chop was due to trying a so called natural relaxer and colouring my hair.

My first post

Although I have a You Tube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/4Nappiness4eva I don't always have time to make and upload videos and I thought a blog would be useful, to quickly up load pictures and thoughts. I just realised yesterday that I've been trying a few products and taking pictures of the outcome but I'm losing track of which products are for which pictures. I'm trying to work my way to those few staple products that I can use, and can really be happy with.