My New Hair Routine

I waited about a week before uploading this.

So, as I mentioned before, now that my hair's longer, I have realised that I need to wash it more often. I actually need to wash it every 2-3 days. Due to this, my hair routine has changed quite a it. It is stable now and that's why I'm uploading this. So, here it goes, my hair routine:

Shampoo
I wash my hair with shampoo once every 2-4 weeks using Shea Moisture's Coconut & Hibiscus shampoo. I haven't reviewed this product yet as I have only used it once since I received it and I feel I have to use a product more than once before reviewing it especially if I've been protective styling for a month or more (with extensions). I focus on my scalp, but I work the lather down my hair shaft before rinsing it out of my hair. I would usually shampoo once, but depending on how much build up I feel, I might shampoo twice.

Condition/Co-Wash
I condition my hair after every shampoo wash and I co-wash my every 2-5 days using Shea Moisture's Coconut & Hibiscus conditioner. I really like this conditioner. I had a better experience with it today than I did prior to reviewing this product. I focus on my hair shaft when using this product, but if I'm co-washing, I put a bit of the product on the pads of my finger and massage my scalp a bit before rinsing out the product.
I also use about a dime-size amount of extra virgin olive oil, working it in on the two halves of my hair before leaving the shower. Some times, I partially rinse out the oil, other times, like today, I leave it in.
As a leave-in conditioner, I tend to just use a little of Shea Moisture's Curling Gel Soufflé as I have found this product to be rather moisturising and good at reducing the amount of frizz I experience.

Other forms of cleaning
I rinse out my hair and water-wash whenever I decide not to co-wash, but I need to get my hair wet and ensure my scalp is hydrated/cleaned to an extent. I plan on using my Terressentials Mud Wash every now and then to cleanse my hair and scalp too. Also, I might invest in to Bentonite clay or Amla powder as I find these work really well in cleansing and conditioning the scalp and my hair looks awesome and my curls clump and look amazing after mud washing.

Detangling
I try to keep detangling to a minimum. I thoroughly detangle my hair whenever I wash it so that's 2-3 times a week. However, I might run a comb through it a bit if I want to achieve a really big and neat puff.
To detangle, I first part my hair in two and saturate each section in extra virgin olive oil while moving my hands down my hair shaft in closed fists. This makes some of the shed hair slide out easily. Next I repeat this process, but using Shea Moisture's Restorative Conditioner, but I do not saturate my hair in it because....well....this product is rather pricey and you actually don't need to saturate your hair in it for it to do its job. Some times, I put on a heat processing cap (I have a foil-like one) while I sort out some things then I hop in the shower, rinse out my hair and then start my co-washing process. After applying the Coconut & Hibiscus conditioner, I run a comb through my hair (usually under the shower stream, but I can do it without this). As my hair is longer now, I spend less than 5mins detangling it as the tangles just slide out (whether or not there is product in my hair - as long as my hair's under the shower stream, the tangles are out). I do not comb or really finger detangle my hair before this.

Styling
If I'm not leaving my house, I wouldn't bother styling my hair. I would just leave it in whatever it's setting it - braids, twists, bantu knots, et cetera. If I am heading out, I would've had my hair stretched so all I'll do is take it down from its stretched state and either style it with bobby pins, put it in a bun, do a tuck-roll-and-pin or put my hair up in a puff. I try to keep styling/manipulating my hair to a minimum and most of all, I try to keep the need for a comb to a minimum too so I always end up doing a tuck-roll-and-pin quite often as it saves me from a bad hair day or old-looking hair. When styling my hair, I seldom put any product on it, but if I do use a product, it would be Shea Moisture's Curling Gel Soufflé and a little goes a VERY LONG WAY with this product.

Night Routine
I sleep on a pillow wrapped up in a satin material (or I cover my hair in a satin-scarf). If I feel lazy, I just put my hair up in a bun and go to bed. If not, I re-braid my hair or add flexi rods to the ends of my braids/twists if I never took them down. At times, I will use some of the Curling Gel Soufflé on my edges and wherever my hair was parted and that's pretty much it. My night routine is very minimal. Ain't nobody got time to be going through a long process when they're tired.


And that pretty much sums up my hair routine. It's pretty simples, I guess. I try to keep manipulating my hair to a minimum and I try to avoid using combs more than twice during a week (if not just once).

My routine might change slightly in the next few weeks to months. All that would be different would be that I'll invest in a blow dryer and be using it on the cool setting after washing my hair on weekdays especially because I'll be doing that after working out in the morning and as a student at uni (who lives about 30mins, using the tube, away from school), I need my hair to be easily sorted out and stretched before I need to start heading out to school.

This routine has been working pretty well for me as my hair has been breaking less and I've been having less shed hair. Also, my hair looks much better and as most of you know, my hair got really damaged from my last protective style.

Product Review: Shea Moisture Coconut & Hibiscus Curling Gel Soufflé

Picture got from SheaMoisture

Product description

"SheaMoisture's Coconut & Hibiscus Curling Gel Soufflé for thick, curly hair defines and promotes curls with a soft, smooth finish. This all natural styling aid moisturizes and conditions while leaving hair with a frizz-free, brilliant shine." 

Ingredients

Aqueous Infusion of Agave Teqilana Leaf Extract and Sugar Cane Extract, Pectin, Vegetable Glycerin, Adansonia Digitata Pulp(Baobab) Extract, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil*, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter)*, Panthenol (Pro-Vitamin B-5, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract*, Tocopherol (Vitamin E - Vegetable Oil Source), Linum Usitatissimum (Linseed/Flax) Seed Extract, Hibiscus Sabdariffa Extract, Potassium Sorbate, Proprietary Essential Oil Blend *Certified Organic Ingredient

Price

£12.99/$12.99 (12 oz)


My review

Like the Curl & Shine Conditioner, this product smells good. It does what it says when it comes to moisturising and conditioning the hair and it has left my hair with less frizz than usual. However, as mentioned when reviewing the conditioner, I'm not sure about the shine because my hair is naturally shiny.

When it comes to the frizz, I had been playing with my hair while it was in two buns yesterday so it got quite frizzy. This morning, after doing a little rinse and scalp massage, I applied a little of the product to my hair and right now, the frizz is still less than usual.

I like that this product did not leave my hair crunchy and with white residue like many gels have done.

However, I do not like that this product can be quite sticky when you touch your hair after applying it. I guess to combat this, you just have to use very little of the product on your whole head of hair as the stickiness is much less today and I have less product on my hair. Also, this product did not do much with defining my curls. Yes my curls are not the greatest fans of clumping in most parts of my hair, but by just running my hands down my hair with some oil in them and with closed fits, I can get my curls to clump and stay together pretty well.

Overall, I would recommend this product as it has been the best gel I have used on my hair in the almost 5 years that I have been natural. The product is really moisturising and leaves your hair feeling so soft and with minimal frizz. I have a lot of hair and it's not easy to define the curls in every single part of my hair so I'm not too bothered about this product not doing much in the defining aspect. I think that this product can be used as a leave-in conditioner so, if that's what you're looking for, purchase this product. Also, if your hair's not so big, it might help with defining your curls more than it helped with mine. Lastly, as a little goes a VERY LONG WAY, I believe this product will last for quite a number of months before I need to repurchase it so that saves having to spend £12.99 every few weeks and as a student, I need to keep my spending to a minimum.

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It seems there are two consistencies of this product. I received the thicker one. A little goes a long way with both consistencies (just did some research on it after it came to my attention that there are two very different consistencies). If you want the lighter, more runny consistency, you have two options:

1. Return your jar to the store you bought it from (if you didn't order it online) and ensure the new one you pick up is runny before you leave the store, and
2. take some of the product out of the jar, put it in something microwaveable and heat it up in the microwave for a few seconds/until it becomes more runny.

For now, I am going to leave this product the way I received it, but some day, I might try heating it up to try it out with a runny consistency.

Product Review: Shea Moisture Coconut & Hibiscus Curl & Shine Conditioner

Picture got from SheaMoisture

Product description

"This lightweight daily conditioner for thick, curly hair restores and smoothes dry hair cuticles. No more knots, snarls and tangles. Helps tame frizz as it defines and enhances natural curls." 

Ingredients

Deionized Water, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut ) Oil*, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter), Sorbitol Esters, Mangifera Indica (Mango) Seed Butter*, Simmondsia Chinesis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Glycine Soja (Soybean) Oil, Olea Europaea (Olive ) Fuit Oil*, Cetyl Alcohol, Behentrimonium Chloride, Panthenol (Pro-Vitamin B-5), Proprietary Essential Oil Blend, Silk Protein, Aloe Barbedenis Leaf Extract, Hibiscus Sabdariffa Extract, Tocopherol (Vitamin E), Melia Azadirachta (Neem) Seed Oil, Rosemary Extract, Caprylyl Glycol *Certified Organic Ingredients

Price

£12.99/$11.99 (13fl oz)


My review

This product smells really good, let's start with that. It smells really coconut-y, but its smell is definitely not overpowering - it's actually quite pleasant.

I have used this product twice now. Once as a normal rinsing conditioner and once as a co-wash. The first time I used this product, I had just taken out a weave after having it in for quite a while so my hair wasn't in the best of states (it also was a bit damaged).

My initial impression of this product was that it pretty much had no slip whatsoever and that it did not do much for my hair. I was going to write this review then, but chose to try the product out again, before I go ahead with the review.

I used this product again yesterday. This time, I used it on semi-stretched hair that was a bit tangled as it had been manipulated a few times without proper detangling/combing each time. During my co-washing session, I did not use a comb until I had this conditioner in my hair and although I did not feel like my hand was just sliding off my hair, I felt like this product actually helped the tangles slide out of my hair easily. I had very little breakage while washing my hair and the shed hair was to a minimum. I also was able to run my hands through my tightly curled type 4 hair! That is definitely something that doesn't happen often. My hair also felt really nice, soft and moisturised and it handled being out in the sun better today than it did before I co-washed it when it seemed to dry out and feel straw-like after just a few minutes in the sun.

I must say, I am not having a "WOW!" factor from this product, but I do really like it. I prefer it to my BeeMine conditioner and I prefer it to the Shea Moisture Restorative Conditioner as a co-wash.

My hair is naturally shiny so I can't say much about the shine from this product as I feel it didn't add or take much out of my hair's natural shine.

One thing I would really like for this product to have is more slip as I feel that would have helped a whole lot more with my post-protective style wash day, although I don't plan on protective styling like that again in at least a year. More slip will also result in me having to use less products to detangle my hair and in turn, it would lead to me spending less on hair products on the long run as I am still a student and purchasing these products does put quite a dent in my bank account.

Overall, I think I would recommend this product as I haven't had any bad experiences from using it and it actually did leave my hair soft and helped in the detangling process. Also, although my hair has been in two buns since I washed it, I can tell that the frizz it normally experiences is less.

Coming Soon

Hello,

I'm sorry I haven't posted anything in a month.

Here's what to expect within the next two weeks:

• A review of 3 products in the Shea Moisture Coconut & Hibiscus line - shampoo, conditioner and gel
• A Curlformers Review
• An interview with the awesome blogger, Simbi Akanni, from SimSpirituallyInspired

See you soon!

Sammy

My Hair :)

Hello people!

So, I have taken down my 5 month long protective style. Oh me, oh my! I have never kept a protective style in for that long before!

The shed hair has been pretty crazy. I'm surprised I still have hair on my head! Actually, it's not been that bad for 5 months. I used to get more shed hair than this in a week back when my natural hair journey started.

Anyways, I am blogging from the comfort of my bathroom. I just finished washing my hair and decided to just not leave here while my hair is deep conditioning  because I feel too lazy to. I mean, to leave, I have to open the door, make myself busy in my room, walk back in here.... too much work. Haha! Jokes.

So, what products have I used on my hair this fine day? What are my plans for my hair?
Okay! So, after taking down my crochet braids, I went heavy with the coconut oil and detangled my hair a bit, putting it up in bantu knots as I worked section by section then I donned on two plastic bags and an old T-shirt tied over as a turban as I went down to the kitchen to make my first batch of flaxseed gel EVER and to stuff my face with some fruits too :)

About 2 or so hours later, I went back up to wash my hair. I started off by taking down each bantu knot and giving my hair a really good rinse (by the way, I wash my hair every now and then while protective styling especially because I work out often and sweat when I do). Next, I used some of my BeeMine Botanicals Shampoo on my hair (I divided my hair into 4 sections while doing this) and after rinsing it all out. I possibly would have needed to go over one more time, but instead of using the BeeMine Shampoo, this time, I used the Terressential Mud Wash in the Cool Mint version on my scalp and the Lavender version on my hair itself and let it sit for a few minutes while I took a nice shower and body brushed. After rinding out all this wonderful smelling mud, I worked some of my Shea Moisture Restorative Conditioner into each of the 4 sections, but didn't go heavy with it as I wanted to use some of the Shine Conditioner I got from Midas Natural. So, I used the Restorative Conditioner and then over it, the Shine Conditioner and then donned on a silver Conditioner Cap my mum got for me about a year ago (but I never used till today). And well, here am I, blogging with a silver cap on my head.

Anyways, I'm going to rinse this out any time soon and after that, I will seal in the moisture with some extra virgin coconut oil or extra virgin olive oil or both and maybe some shea butter too and then working in small sections and using my flaxseed gel (ohmigosh! I made flaxseed gel!), I will try to define my curls and I'll totally work some short hair today as it seems like although my hair is past armpit length, my shrinkage is still SO REAL that my shrunken hair is around neck level (yeeeeaah).

So, today will be short hair day and because my friend's wedding is on Saturday, I am probably going to thread my hair to stretch it out and I may or may not rock a twist out or a bantu knot out to the wedding.....or I could rock a braid out. I haven't done that in years.

Anyways, those are my immediate plans for my hair and what I've done with it so far. I am going to get a protective style done again soon (next month), but I will be taking it out in July as I have protective styled A WHOLE LOT for the past two years and I just want to spend more time to my hair and take this glorious birds nest of mine to uni :)

So, that's it for now! Expect more blog posts from me soon. I'll start blogging more frequently.

~Sammy

p.s My tools are my fingers. That's what I've been using to detangle my hair so far. :)

Review: Shea Moisture Restorative Conditioner

¡Hola!

So, as mentioned before, I am going to be reviewing the above product. So, let's get started!

The ingredients in the above conditioner are:

Deionized Water, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter)*, Argan Oil, Coconut Oil*, Behentrimonium Chloride, Essential Oil Blend, Vegetable Glycerin, Emulsifying Wax, Sea Kelp Extract, Panthenol (Vitamin B‐5), Avocado Oil, Lonicera Caprifolium (Honeysuckle) Flower (and) Lonicera Japonica (Japanese Honeysuckle) Flower extract, Tocopherol (Vitamin E), Daucus Carota Sativa (Carrot) Seed Oil.

My thoughts:

So, I just took down a protective style I've had for about four months now and decided to try this out on my hair to see if it's good as a shampoo replacement. Honestly, if I go on one of those 2-3 weeks things I did when I was busy last spring-summer (not washing my hair for 2-3 weeks), I wouldn't use thing product to wash my hair. I would rather use my BeeMine (sulfate-free) shampoo. This product did nothing in cleansing my hair. My scalp and hair actually felt kinda dirty and sticky-ish near the roots when I used it and it seemed not to want to rinse out of my scalp. As for the rest of my hair, yes, they felt a tad bit moisturised which was okay, I guess.

From reading about how long I protective styled, I'm sure some of you might have thought about the killer tangles I must have. Honestly, I didn't really have "killer" tangles. I did have a bit of tangles, but I could get through them. I had this product on my hair when I was trying to detangle and yes, it did give a bit of slip, but just a little more slip would've been better.

Would I recommend this product:
I might have to give it another try some other time, dunno, but right now, I'll say that I won't be all giddy-giddy recommending this product right now. It's not bad, don't get me wrong. I'm just not excited about the product.

If I had to rate it with stars, how many would I give this product:
3 stars


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Update - 11-07-15
Hey!
So, believe it or not, I am still using this product. I do prefer it as a leave-in conditioner though. It is amazing (5 stars) as a leave-in. So, I am switching to the Coconut and Hibiscus line for a rinsing conditioner while I stick to this product as a leave-in.
~Sammy

The Test

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Hola!!

So.......I am going to be trying out some products on my entire head of hair in a few days.....or weeks. You see, I've been in a protective style for about 4 months now and I miss my hair. Yes, I miss my hair. I'm going to take down this protective style soon and then I'm going to try out the Terressentials mud wash (I have two different ones, but I'm trying out just the lavender one), Shea Moisture Restorative Conditioner, a Greek yoghurt deep conditioner and a WetBrush given to me to critique and review by TheWetBrush. Unfortunately, I don't know if the WetBrush ever arrived at my house 'cause I can't find it anywhere so I'll need to ask family later to know who received it and where's it's at.

So excited! Can't wait to try them on my bird's nest!!

Oh! and I'm going to do a length check! Can't wait to see how long my hair is now when hand stretched and when left to shrink. :)

I'm also trying out a new brand of coconut oil for the first time. From the look and smell of it, if any coconut oil is fully real, it's this one. It's 100% organic and raw, nothing added and it looks and smells divine! Like coconuts!

Hehe :)

Anyways, I'll post a review of all those products after trying them out! :)

~SammyWithTheBigHair