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. :)

Update on my hair

Picture from De Piramide

Heyo!

Sorry for totally being M.I.A on this blog. I'm here now, so.....UPDATE TIME!

Yeah, so, my hair is actually past APL (ArmPit Length) now. It's not quite ate BSL (Bra-Strap Length) yet. I'm so excited by it's length, though! Eeep!

I am currently stretching out my hair with some African threading which is awesome. I started stretching out after washing out my deep conditioner and showering and then before going to bed, I undid some of the threaded hair, separated it and rethreaded it for that 'super stretched' effect. My hair looks practically straight and like, y'all know I love big curly hair to bits so, I guess I probably will add a bit more texture to it before the New Year's party tomorrow (it's now the 30th in England) by bantu knotting it or something. Maybe I might even try out a new hairstyle.

So, yeah, here's what I've done with my hair post-take down (in case you forgot, I had crochet braids in and I normally would keep them in for about 4 months before I redo them):

• I took down my hair yesterday (day before yesterday) and it like took less than an hour to get all the extensions out and my hair down which was awesome. If you need tips on this, let me know 'cause like it took 30mins, if not less to take down my hair and it usually would take me over an hour to do that.
• I worked some Extra Virgin Olive Oil into my hair as I detangled it using a wide toothed comb straight after taking down my extensions. I still had my spray bottle of coconut oil and water nearby, but I didn't use that because, I experience A LOT of shrinkage when my hair gets wet (like my hair can shrink up to my ears) and, well, it's easier to detangle my hair when it's stretched out although I could easily hand-stretch it while combing or melt the tangles away with the water as my tangles melt away easily. However, I had a little it of dirt in parts of my hair from not washing it out as often as I should've with the extensions in (got way too busy with school and work and stuff) and I didn't want dirty water dripping everywhere.
• I put my hair in random twists, donned on a plastic bag covered by my satin scarf and went to bed. So, basically, I prepooed. I did this for three reasons. 1) I was lazy and didn't want to bother with my hair anymore that night so I decided not to wash it then, 2) My hair takes almost a full 24hrs to dry especially if I decide to wear it in a wash and go (which is rare for me, but....) and 3) I felt that prepooing will help melt away any tangles that might still be in there and make the washing process easier.
• This morning (yesterday morning), I woke up and went straight to my bathroom where I washed my hair with my BeeMine Botanical Shampoo (sulfate-free, 100% natural and organic ingredients) twist section by twist section. This made washing my hair much easier, faster and ensure that every inch of my scalp and hair was clean 'cause as y'all know, some times, people wash their hair and don't wash it properly so there are like a few random parts that have lint in them or something or parts that can make your finger feel sticky or your nail get dirty ("I ain't about that life").
• Next, I conditioned my hair with three different conditioners. Yup! I did. I first used my BeeMine BeeLovely Conditioner followed by some of the VitaNourish conditioner that was sent to me (to review) by Midas Naturals. I worked this in my entire hair and then rinsed it out. Why did I do this? No reason, really. I like MidasNaturals' products and I liked the results I got from them when I initially used them (for the review) so I wanted to use that HOWEVER, I was sent a small bottle of the product and I have a lot of hair so....yeah. With the BeeMine conditioner, I brought a practically empty bottle home with me and I hadn't used that product in a while so I decided to just use it too combined with the MidasNaturals conditioner. Moving on....
• After rinsing out the conditioner combo going on in my hair, I used some of my SheaMoisture Restorative Conditioner to finger detangle, further soften and condition my hair (I just felt that my hair needed some tender loving care). I worked in the conditioner and finger detangled twist section by twist section and then I rinsed it out without taking out the twists to rinse then retwisting. Why? 1) Too much work and 2) I'm not so big on thoroughly rinsing out conditioners from my hair especially when the conditioner contains just natural ingredients.
• After the whole process my hair had undergone so far, I decided to treat it to one of my favourite products and the only deep conditioner I have ever used on my entire head of hair since I went natural (y'all know my and my 100% natural ingredients thing so, yeah, I always made my own deep conditioners prior to trying this one (for the review) and I only used this on my entire head of hair back then because I liked its ingredients list (normally, I'll use <1x1cm section of my hair to try out DCs or products I'm sceptical about)). I used the MidasNaturals Shine Conditioner. I absolutely love this product! Its consistency is on point, its smell is on point and its results are ON POINT. A little goes a long way with this product. I don't have a lot of it left as I got a small jar sent to me (looking forward to purchasing a larger jar of it) and like I've said before, I have a lot of hair so, yeah, I was glad that I could still get awesome results from just using a little of it.
• I left the conditioner in for a little over an hour before rinsing it out. This was because I wasn't in the mood to get back to the bathroom to rinse it out as my head had been feeling weird and I had woken up feeling terrible (I think I had my scarf on a little too tight when I slept or the heat going on up in the plastic bag combined by temperatures rising here while I was asleep and under a thick quilt (aka continental quilt, duvet, doona or comforter) messed up with my body). So, yeah, I got some breakfast (at around 3:11pm), chilled on a teddy bear that's almost my height (and I am much taller than the average height for women here in England), listened to a friend and my cousin play the drums (at first, I couldn't stand it because of how I was feeling and then when I started feeling better, it became more appealing to me), texted a friend and then I went to rinse out the DC and have a proper shower (and change out of the weird clothes I had been in (disappointing combination)).
• After rinsing out the DC, showering and changing into sweatpants and a comfortable top, I began to take down the twist (I forgot to mention, I rinsed out the DC with my hair still being in twists (I applied the DC taking down the twists first, though)) and African thread my hair to stretch it out because like I said before, my hair shrinks A LOT and up to my ears. I'm not a fan of horridly shrunken hair on me, neither was I up for wearing a wash and go or having to detangle my hair again any time soon. So, yeah, I threaded my hair.
• Before heading to bed, I took down the threads individually and separated my hair using just my fingers before rethreading to get my hair from collarbone length to almost APL without being 100% straight.

So, yeah, that's it.

I probably will leave my hair in the threads all tomorrow and in the morning of the day after to avoid manipulating my hair often and to retain this stretch for as long as possible (also, I need to be able to study and not worry about my hair).

I will be reinstalling my crochet braids (with new extensions identical to the old ones) before I head back to the west country (basically, back to college) and my aunt will be reinstalling them for me which is a process that makes me rather nervous haha (the pain!). I probably will go over to her place with my hair threaded to minimise the pain when she combs with a fine toothed comb (don't know why she does that) and does whatever she needs to do to install the extensions.

Anyways, it's really late now.

Gotta sleep.

Adios!

~Sammy

Midas Naturals Product Reviews!

Picture gotten from MidasNaturals.com

Yes! I've finally gotten the review up!

So, I didn't use all the products in the pic above. I just used the hydrating mist, whipped shea butter and conditioner so that's all I'm going to review (but I'll do a shampoo review once I receive the shampoo).

Overall Review:
I like these products because their ingredients lists are awesome. All-natural ingredients, amazing right? (the ingredients that don't look natural are naturally-derived (derived from plants) I also like that they did not leave my hair feeling weird or stripped both during and after application and please don't say, "oh, Sammy, a conditioner, hydrating mist and whipped shea butter can never leave your hair feeling weird or stripped," because I have used a conditioner that has left my hair feeling weird and stripped before.
I would SO be willing to try other products from MidasNaturals! :)

Individual Review:

Shine Conditioner
Price: £10.39 for the next 5 days (then it's back up to £12.99) for a 250ml jar.

Ingredients -  Aqua, organic shea butter (butyrosperumum parkii), avocado (persea gratissima), emulsifying wax NF, sweet almond oil (prunus dulcis amara), potassium oleate, potassium cocoate, potassium citrate, palm free vegetable glycerin, coconut oil (cocos nucifera), keratin amino acid, phenoxyethanol, anthem gum. PH balanced. Free from: paragons, silicones, sulphates, DEA, petrolatum, mineral oils, pthalates, gluten, fragrance

When I received this conditioner, I thought it was simply just a rinsing conditioner, but it's even more.

Okay! So, on a scale of 1-5 where 1 is "terrible" and 5 is "totally amazing!" I will rate this product on the following things:

• As a detangler - 2
• As a rinsing conditioner - 5
• As a deep conditioner - 5

The smell of this product is light and not bad, at all.

Applying the product is easy and most definitely not messy and unlike some products that drip uncontrollably from your hair, this product does not drip.

It's consistency is slightly thick which is good not just for application purposes but also because for my hair, it's perfect. Things that are too light basically do nothing noticeable for my hair and things that are too heavy....lets just say that both my hair and I hate them.

Oh! oh! Although my hair looks shiny often, on wash day (after washing), it doesn't look that shiny, but today, it did :)

*Would I buy this product: YES!

*Would I recommend this product: Heck, yeah!

Whipped Shea Hair Butter

Price: £10.79 for the next 5 days (then it's back up to £13.49) for a 250ml jar.

Ingredients -  Aqua, organic shea butter (butyrospermum parkii), avocado oil (persea gratissima), coconut oil (cocos nucifera), emulsifying wax NF (cetearyl alchohol & polysorbate 60), olive oil (olea europaea), argan oil, crambe seed oil (abyssinica), organic palm oil (elaeis guineesis), stearic acid, xantham gum, phenoxyethanol, vanilla cream fragrance oil. PH balanced. Free from: parabens, silicones, sulphates, DEA, petrolatum, mineral oils, pthalates, gluten

I first tried this while I still had my crochet braids in. I used it on my edges and liked it so, I couldn't wait to use it on the rest of my hair.

On a scale of 1-5 where 1 is "terrible" and 5 is "totally amazing!" I will rate this product on the following things:

• As a styling product - 4
• As a sealant - 5

Although the product description refers to the butter as, "thick," I don't consider it to be thick because I have a jar of shea butter my grandmother sent over to me from Africa and that thing is THICK! I would describe this product's texture as nice and fluffy, not too thick and not light.

It's smell is light and nice.

Application is easy, HOWEVER, it is hard to get the whiteness off like to work it into your hair fully. However, if your hair was damp during application and you worked it in till you decided to just let it be, the whiteness will go once your hair dries (or is 90% dry).

*Would I buy this product: Yes

*Would I recommend this product: Yes

Hydrating Hair Mist

Price: £9.99 for the next 5 days (then it's back to £12.49) for a 250ml bottle.

Ingredients - Organic aloe vera leaf juice (Aloe Barbadensis), solubizer, blackberry extract (rubus fructicosus), rich vanilla cream fragrance PH balanced. Free from: parabens, silicones, sulphates, DEA, petrolatum, mineral oils, pthalates, gluten

I will start by saying that I love that this comes out like a mist and not like the Niagara Falls. There are many times I have expected something to come out as a mist and instead it's like I'm being fired with water pistols that let out quite a lot of water, but this isn't like that.

I first tried this while I had my crochet braids in too and when my edges felt dry, I used this to hydrate it especially if I'm in a rush. I can't remember if I ever used this alone (I think I always quickly followed up with the whipped shea butter after working this in).

Anyways, on a scale of 1-5 where 1 is "terrible" and 5 is "totally amazing!" I will rate this product on the following things:

• As a hydrator - 4
• Balancing your hair's natural pH value - 5

This product smells okay.

Water is said to be the best hydrator however, I wash my face with just water and my face goes right back to peeling if I don't get some oil or something on it quickly. Water sometimes, makes my hair feel hydrated and moisturised, but I think this does a bit of a better job than the water that comes out of the taps and showers here.

I like that using this, my hair does not really revert even though this product is in the form of a liquid. Like, the other day, I was remoisturising my hair (I had it stretched out using threads) and this mist barely did a thing to revert my hair while a tad bit of my conditioner (not by MidasNaturals) made it revert a whole lot and that wasn't even a leave-in conditioner!

I like that most of the product is aloe vera juice because my hair just adores anything from the aloe vera leaf!

This product does not drip off of your hair after application.

*Would I buy this product: Yup

*Would I recommend this product: Mmh-hmm

En Fin

Like I said at the start of this, I would love to try other products by MidasNaturals and there is a high chance that I'll purchase these products the next time I'm restocking on hair products. There is a higher chance that I'll buy the Shine Conditioner than I will the other products (no particular reason).

I love these products!

To any company manufacturing and selling natural hair products, I am willing to review your products and if your products has all-natural ingredients, there is a high chance I would not use it on just a small portion of hair on the back of my head, but on my entire head of hair (just being honest). Contact my via the email address on my Contacts page on this blog if your would like me to review your products.

I will not purchase your products to review if you ask me to review them as there is always the possibility that my hair might dislike them so, please, if you would like me to review your products, send me a trial-size/sample bottle or container of them.

Coming Soon

Heyo!

So, I'm going back to school on Wednesday and that means that there'll be no new posts on here till a month after then. However, I'm going to let you know what I have planned for you when I get back on here.

Okay! So, I have what can really be defined as 'long hair' right now so I'm going to talk about my journey to this point. APL and almost past it is a good length for someone who's been natural for 3 years especially someone who lost loads of inches of hair during that time.

Other posts would be on my plans for protective styling, but not, protective styling this summer. I feel like telling you my plans now, but I'm going to keep my mouth shut (or just stop my fingers from typing it out). I'll also have a post on how I got my hair to be SO SHINY! And what I did this holiday to retain as much length as possible.

And here's what I'm itching to blog about! Some products from Midas Naturals are being sent to me to try out and review. Midas Naturals is a new natural hair care brand that's made with all-natural ingredients. I have gone through the ingredients lists of some of their products (and researched on some of the ingredients I wasn't familiar with) they seem really good. Unfortunately, because of a little thing called, 'Bank Holiday,' I haven't received the products yet (but they should be here tomorrow) so I haven't tried them out yet, but I can't wait to try them out. I am currently getting my hair back in crochet braids and I'll be taking them down this July. Once they're out, I'll try out the products.

I love my Terressentials, yeah, but I don't always have the patience for it and it costs an arm and a leg to get it down to England. I owe my brother £50 for helping me pay to get it here. Customs and stuff are crazy!  I plan on not using my Terressentials every time I wash my hair to preserve it. It'll be like a treat for my hair. My previous sulfate-free shampoo has been discontinued so I'm looking for a new one and this could be it.

So excited! So, girls and guys, if you see this brand, buy the product, I think it's going to be good!

Can't wait till next month and can't wait till school's out this summer!! :)