Review: Herbal Essences Hello Hydration Moisturising Conditioner

So, I tried this, but not on my entire head of hear. I used it on my nape hair at the left side of my head. If you read my last post, you'll know that I have grown out my nape hair past neck length so, I have quite a bit of hair to work with there when doing a review with a product that isn't 100% natural like this.

Okay! So, here's the ingredients list:

Water, Stearyl Alcohol, Behentrimonium Chloride, Cetyl Alcohol, Bis-Aminopropyl Dimethicone, Orchid Mascula Flower Extract, Zea Mays (Corn) Silk Extract, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Fruit Extract, Fragrance, Benzyl Alcohol, Disodium EDTA, Sodium Hydroxide, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone, Blue 1

As you can see, this product is sulfate free, paraben free, protein free and glycerin free.

Okay, so here's how I used it:

I got quite some on my finger tips and worked it into my nape hair, left it in my hair and had a shower then I rinsed it out thoroughly. I pressed out the excess water  and that was all. Please note that I did not shampoo my nape hair before doing this.

My results:

When my hair was a tad bit dry, I felt it and it actually did feel pretty soft. Now, now, my hair usually feels soft, I know, so, some of you might think that I can't say much about this, so I'll just put it like this,  it did not dry out my hair. I think the Hello Hydration might actually be quite moisturising. It's definitely a good conditioner for people who seek moisture and don't mind products that aren't 100% natural. 

When it comes to co-washing, which is more or less what I did (now that I think about it), the conditioner was a very good co-wash for my nape hair. I haven't washed my hair in 2 weeks now (I'm going to wash it on Friday) so, you can tell that my hair was not squeeky clean, freshly washed. The conditioner cleansed my hair, and removed the little product buildup I had. So, yeah, this is pretty good as a cleanser too.

Would I try this product again?

Honestly, I doubt I will so, I'll say, 'no.' You can figure out why.

Would you recommend this product to people?

If you don't mind using products that aren't 100% natural, this is the co-wash/cleanser and conditioner for you. 

Product Reviews *info*

Hello everyone,

So, I'm up for product reviews. Here's how it's going to work:

1. You can recommend products for me to review or send products to me to review. If you are sending a product, please send only a trail size bottle of the product. Something small, especially if the product isn't all natural.

2. When products aren't fully natural, I only test them out on my nape hair. I've grown my nape hair past my neck now, so, that's enough hair I'm willing to work with for products with synthetic ingredients.

3. I'm okay with you sending messages to companies to send me a bottle of their products to review.

4. My reviews are going to be honest. If a brand sends me a product to review, I try out the product and my hair hates it, I'm going to write my review and say what results I got, honestly. However, I will always include what I say in all my reviews, "remember, what works for one person doesn't necessarily have to work for another."

5. You can send me products you've made, even those you want to sell to do a private review of. I will send you a private review and when you start selling the product (if that's your intention) you can ask me to make the review public.

6. If you want to send me a product to review (not recommend, but actually send the product), send me an email using the email in the 'Contact' page on this blog. Once you do, I'll send you my mailing address. You have to go through this process because I do not want to just make my mailing address public on here for whoever to see.

7. I can do a review on hair tools too as long as they do not produce heat (excluding hair steamers).

8. I might be able to do reviews of hair salons as long as they're in the south coast area of England. I am based in London now, but I will still be back to Southampton every few months. I doubt I'll be back in Nigeria any time soon (it might be YEARS) before I visit there so,  I'll post if I'm ever visiting Nigeria to let any of the Nigerian curlies out there know that they can ask me to visit a hair salon and write a review of it. Please note that the hair salon, in Nigeria has to be in Lagos and the closer to the islands, the better. *You do not need to send money to me to pay for whatever I do with my hair. I'll cover all the costs for that.

9. I am not reviewing things for thinning out the hair because i'm not interested in thinning out my hair. However, I dust my ends so hair shears are accepted.

Thanks for reading.
~Samantha

My Mini Twists so far. Take-down in a few days.

><>

Hola!

So, my mini twists are still in, but they're coming down on Saturday. This means that I'll have had them in for about two and a half weeks. Not bad, not bad, longest I've kept mini twists with just my hair in. I guess if they were a bit smaller, I'll have kept them in longer.

Okay! So, I've been spraying my hair with lavender water and lavender oil (in a spray bottle) daily. I hand picked the lavender leaves from the garden. After that, I seal in the moisture with my lovely new product (did I mention that it's pH balanced?). I dusted all my twists some days ago, can't remember when exactly. The ends of my twists are like popping with defined curls and I didn't twirl them neither where they twirled when they were done. They're just popping and looking gorg'.

Okay! So, my plans are.....I'm going to wash my hair with the twists in on Friday, stretch out the twists overnight and take them down on Saturday. I actually just wash my scalp and condition my hair, not wash my hair. I never work shampoo into the hair strands. I don't even work amla into my hair strands. I focus on my scalp and the hair's cleansed when I rinse out what I washed my scalp with. So, I guess I'm going to braid the twists in sections or just hold them off with ouchless bands and work section by section washing my scalp and working conditioner in my hair then I'm going to seal in the moisture (after rinsing the conditioner, of course, with my new product) then hold my hair up to stretch as it dries. On Saturday, after a nice, warm shower, I'll take down the twists quickly and.....I'm not sure about a twist out so, I guess I'm going to fake a blow out and then curl my ends a bit with my flexi rods or fake a blow out and do a braid 'n' curl on it. Whatever works.

After that, I need to figure out what I'll do with my hair daily till October and then till December. I guess I'll switch it up with a tuck 'n' pin, puff and some other simple style (I might make two flat braids some time) and then in October, I might get mini twists done again. I'm not sure about mini-braids 'cause I'm more likely to loose hair at my ends with that and I'm trying to avoid that, plus, it'll take longer to take down. If I could get some Marley or Havana hair, don't know where to get those in England, I'll install big twists in my hair and keep them in till January when I'm getting my first weave in the past almost 6 years (Heat-Free Hair Movement).

Anyways, that's all for now.

Interview with the beautiful, Daniele Watts (from Django) coming up soon, look out for it! :)

~Sammy

Nafisat is Naturally Glamorous

Can't remember where exactly I read about Nafisat, but I ended up on her blog some day. I read a bunch of her posts and was like, "I'd love to interview her!" Plus, she's from my black country! I support anyone going natural from my black country 'cause I know how hard it is to go natural there. It's hard to find products, salons aren't tailored to you, like, all the salons basically know how to do is to slap a relaxer on people's hairs and to work with relaxed hair.

Anyways, so, I saw a pic of Nafisat on Twitter and she was like totally rocking a WnG on her twa and it looked absolutely amazing! She has such a lovely twa.

So, I got to interview Nafisat. Yay! Here's the interview below. Enjoy!

><>

Introduction

Hi People, I am Nafisat, a recent high school-leaver with passion for Architecture, Music and all things natural.

What made you decide to go natural?

I had no problem with my relaxed hair until recently last year when I noticed that some parts of my hair had uneven length. I was really bothered; the mid section way down to the back is quite shorter than other part. The difference in length was clear! So being my young and curious self, I went online to fish out the culprit behind my uneven lengths and how I could effectively grow back my hair and I stumbled across the famous natural hair blog ‘Black Girl Long Hair’ and after so many sessions of reading, researching and asking questions alongside watching Chris Rock’s Good Hair, I was convinced that going natural is the best way and there was no turning back!



What was the reaction of the people in your school when they noticed you were transitioning (I know high schoolers can be pretty opinionated)?

Lol…my transitioning days were quite short. They lasted for 4 months. With very little new growth, my hair was as good as having my relaxed hair on, so nobody noticed I was transitioning but I shared my new hair journey with some friends at school. Some showed their disgust and thought my decision would prove futile sooner or late (yeah, it was that bad) while some commended my courage to want to keep my hair natural.

How did your parents react to the idea of you going natural?

When I told my mum I was going natural. She didn’t take me seriously...she just didn’t. My mum thought I was one of those teens who are fond of obsessing over irrelevant things online; she must have really thought I was joking because she never took me serious until I did the big chop! On the other hand, my dad didn’t have much to say but on the inside, I knew he had my back on this one.



What were your go-to transitioning styles?

Like I said, my hair was 90% relaxed while transitioning but I still tried some transitioning styles like the Bantu knots. The few Bantu knots I have done turned out quite good but I’m still getting the hang of it. I also tried the twist out and it wasn’t so favorable for my relaxed hair probably because my ends were damaged. It didn’t just come out right.

I just graduated, you just graduated, though from two separate schools. When my graduation was coming up, what I was going to do with my hair was such a big deal. I ended up having my hair up in cinnabuns. What did you do?

Yeah! I thought of it, “What am I going to? What am I going to do?” For something so big like my graduation, I would really need to look quite astonishing and my damaged relaxed hair wasn’t going to do the job for me, so, after my regular deep conditioning treatment, I headed to a salon and tucked my hair under some weave which really helped protect my new growth.



When did you big chop and how did people react to that?

I big chopped on the 10th of august barely 3 weeks ago. (I know right? I’m a newbie in this natural hair game.) The big chop is such a dramatic change for people who had worn longer hair before like me. Most people were really shocked and gave out their positive opinions. I have had very few negative comments since I big chopped. Well, everyone has something to say about you all the time, so I wasn’t bothered at all :-) I was happy with my decision so every other thing didn’t matter.

How do you feel about this very different length of hair?

As at this time last week, I was still getting used to my new look because I  had never cut my hair before, ever since I was born! I would sometimes look at my reflection in the mirror and I would keep questioning my identity. “Is that really me?” It was almost unbelievable for me but now that I’m used to it, I just love everything about my new hair.



What are your plans for your hair? Any goals?

Right now, I would say my quest for healthy hair has over powered my quest for longer hair so I’m really looking forward to having a healthy looking natural hair and also retaining as much length as possible.



I'm curious. What did you do with your twa (I didn't BC)? How do you style it? D'you rock a wash'n'go, finger coils, what? I'm really curious.

Most of the time, I rock wash and gos. It just suits my hair. I have tried twist-outs and I think they also rock. I have watched YouTube videos of finger coils on teeny weenie afros that I haven’t tried. I just didn’t like them, I don’t know why. I also love the teeny weenie afro puff…not much of a puff but I love it.

What are your go-to products and what products are you eager to try and why?

I co-wash and detangle with Gentelle Hair Fruits Conditioner and shampoo with Dudu Osun soap bar whenever I have build up, I moisturize with my homemade water – oil mix and I seal with my oil mix or my homemade Shea butter mix. My hair is so much in love with Shea butter. I looove Vitale Hair Mayonnaise. It keeps my hair perfectly conditioned for me but the 10 minutes leave-in duration on the label doesn’t work for me so I leave it in for 3 to 4 hours without heat. From so many reviews from the internet and some people I know, it seems Organic Root Stimulator (ORS) products are on everyone’s favorite list so I’m looking forward to getting some ORS products. Nature’s Gentle product line would also be a must- try for me.



Quick question. Did you ever go to hair salons while transitioning? I want to know your experience. I love hearing salon experiences!

Yes, though I haven’t had any dramatic salon experiences. (sorry to disappoint you) Well, I made just one salon visit when I was transitioning. That was when I was about to install my Jumbo braids. I had initially taken my comb and Shea butter mix, just in case this ignorant hair dresser of a woman tries to load my hair with those greasy and hair- drying products. I made it clear to her what I wanted so there was no room for mistakes. She kept bugging me about why I have decided to dump relaxers and I shared my journey with her. She just thought that I must reeaaaallly have plenty of time to want to do it.

D'you still go to hair salons? Why?

That is my last salon visit till date although I plan to go there to install my braids again with my own products and tools.



Any advice for those considering going natural and those already transitioning?
Every lady has the right to wear her hair whatever way she wants to wear it and there’s no crime in doing that. If you’ve recently big chopped or you’re currently transitioning, don’t pout or fret when people go all negative about your hair. It’s your hair and your style. Be cool and be free to flaunt it because it’s what makes you you.

><>

You can find Nafisat on

Her blog

and on

Her twitter page

How Your Hair Goals Will Guide Your Life Goals: The Coily Hair Edition

This post was written by Tia of AngelsRinglets

A little over 4 years ago, I started my 15 month transition from chemically processed (relaxed) to chemical free (natural) hair. Prompted this change by a frustrating head of tired, dull, breaking hair that never grew past the top of my shoulders. I couldn't understand why 10 years had passed without any major hair cuts, and my hair wouldn't get as long as I wanted it to. After looking at my daughter's hair (T), and my hair, I decided that a change was coming.

Four Years Hair Growth: Gathered Info on Coily Hair Care

Does that sound familiar to you? Are you transitioning, or did you transition to natural out of the same frustration? The need for a change in the outcome will typically require a change in the behaviors. Now, I could have gone another route and treat my relaxed hair differently, but my goal included a cleaner, greener solution. I was in the process of eliminating toxic products from my beauty regimen, and that included the hair relaxer.

BEHAVIOR CHANGED: Eliminate the relaxer.OUTCOME: Growth of coily hair in it's natural state.

Now, that was only the beginning. I had to learn how to take care of coily hair (hence the name of this site). I had to understand that I didn't know how to care for coily hair. I only knew how to deal with straight hair, and I wasn't even doing THAT properly. Taking baby steps, I educated myself by watching YouTube Videos, and reading blogs. I also enjoyed experimenting with products/techniques and learning what outcomes to expect. As a result, I learned a lot of information in a short period of time.

HOW THIS RELATES TO LIFE GOALS: Whatever passions or career plans, or goals set, the behaviors that I take with my hair goals translate well into goals that I set in life. If my plans are to begin saving money, then it would benefit me to begin with changing behaviors that are hindering me from achieving that specific goal (for example: review my spending, no more impulse buying, creating a budget on paper, paying myself as if I were a bill due). Those are just a few examples. Once those behaviors have been changed, then educating myself and experimenting with different techniques will put me in the direction of my goal.

AN ALL IMPORTANT CHANGE THAT I LEARNED FROM MY HAIR TRANSITION AND MY NOW ALL NATURAL HAIR CARE: 

Patience. There, I said it. I keep sharing that will all of the beauties that leave comments on my YouTube channel in regards to hair length. Just enjoy the stage or length that your hair is in now. The health and length will follow. That's true in any life goal. If you have $25.00 in the bank now, be happy about that $25.00. That's $25.00 more than you had when you started your savings. After 1 month of depositing $25.00 a week, you will have $100.00 in savings. If it wasn't for that $25.00 weekly goal, then the $100.00 savings would never happen. Live in the now, and enjoy the heck out of it.

Consistency. Changes will not work if they are not practiced consistently. If you start saving the $25.00 but you are not depositing it consistently, then the outcome will not be as effective. If you are caring for your hair 1 week, but 2 weeks later damage it by ripping it out with combs and brushes out of frustration, then whatever health/length progress you made, will be lost.

Set Reasonable Goals. If you decide to save $100.00 a week, and your income/budget can not support that goal, then it will not happen. The first week, you may save $100.00, but after that, it may not happen. And worse yet--you may have to withdraw some money to cover the excess that you deposited the week before. When you educate about how to save, and plan a budget, that comfortable dollar amount will be decided at that time. Same thing goes with hair care. Setting reasonable goals about how to take care of hair will ensure that the goals are met. If I decide that I am going to deep condition, steam treat, do micro two strand twists on weekly basis, and I get burned out in the first week, then problems will strike. I will probably end up ripping out the two strand twists in my frustration, which means that I will probably not want to take the time to put back in the two strand twists for week 2. Set reasonable goals for hair care. Things that will not take too much time (if you plan to do them regularly).

These are just some of the life changes that I have implemented that were brought to light by my hair care. You see, I was so intrigued by my coils and the "newness" of them, that I was dedicated enough to make these changes, set goals, and be consistent with them. From the messages that I get, I know that most of us (transitioning and natural alike) have changed our hair care behaviors. The parallel between both forms of goals was so vivid, that I thought it would be fun to compare notes with you beauties.

Four Years Consistent Hair Care. Reasonable Goals Set

As Always, Stay Beautiful.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Love Tia

Caring For My Mini Twists.

><>

Hey!

So, I've had my twists in for a week and a day now and I thought I should just talk about what I'm doing with it.

People tend to neglect their hair once it's in a protective style like this especially when done with extensions. I do not have extensions in. This is because they believe that they don't have to do as much as they would normally do to their hair and as the name says, it's protective.

Mini twists are protective, but in order for them to actually be a good protective style, they have to be properly cared for. They have to be moisturised and it's best for them to be stretched.

I moisturise my twists every morning and evening with my new homemade product (which I love to bits). I'm not putting its recipe up because I plan on selling the product in the near future. I usually use the products on my twists after a shower (with my twists held up) or after running damp hands through my hair. I can use the product without doing any of those though. So, I work it in in a "praying" motion - moving my hands downwards with the twists between my palms. This keeps the hair in a pretty good shape. Remember, moisture is like one of the main keys to healthy hair growth.

I stretched my twists immediately after they were installed because my hair got reverted at the salon. I held all the twists together at the top of my head with a metal-free ponytail holder and secured the sides bobby pins so all my twists are properly stretched. I had my hair up like that till Monday. Now, I take it down at day time and style it in a low ponytail, do twist outs on my twists, do a tuck, roll and pin, et cetera, BUT every night, my hair goes back up to keep in stretched.

Many of us dread wash 'n' goes or simply just wearing our hair out in afros or puffs. Why? Tangles. Due to the elements our hair shrinks and because of the fact that our curls curl up without thinking 'bout the curl beside it, our hair tangles and excessive tangling can lead to huge knots that have to be cut out or simply just breakage. We keep our hair stretched usually to reduce the amount of tangles we get. So, by keeping your twists stretched at all times, you are preventing the hair twisted up from tangling and being a horror to take down.

I haven't washed my twists yet, but I might some day soon. I have washed my hair with twists in (With extensions) before so I'll tell you how I did that 'cause that'll be the same way I'll do it. I lightly braid sections of my twists and secure the ends of the braids with pony tail holders or rubber bands (rubber bands only if I have extensions in that are longer than my hair length). I dilute some shampoo mixed with olive oil and a bit of a conditioner with water in a bottle and shake it all up then get some of it on my fingers and work it on my scalp. I leave it on for about a minute and rinse out thoroughly then get conditioner in my hands and scrunch it into the braids I created. I leave it in for a few minutes then rinse it out. Use an old cotton shirt to scrunch out excess water and leave my hair in the braids till it dries fully (or till it's at least 80% dry). Gotta keep your scalp clean and be able to breath and let out its sebum.

Okay! So, that's it for now. I'll talk more about my twists after I take them down (dunno when that's going to happen).

~Samantha

Mini Twisted My Hair

><>

Hi everyone,

Happy wear your hair curly day! Unfortunately, though my hair stayed in it's natural state, it wasn't "out" all day.

Anyways, as you read above, I got my hair mini twisted today, It took just about an hour - an hour and a half, I guess that's 'cause they lady twisting it up for me today at the hair salon was shuffling between sewing in someone's weave and twisting up my hair.

I detangled, deep conditioned, cleansed (with amla), conditioned, did another deep condition (2 days after wash day, but not a DC that necessarily needed to be washed out), stretched, ensured my hair was tangle free, kept it in a style to keep it stretched and tangle-free and headed to the salon (best thing to do before having someone twist you hair or style it any ways for you) and guess what happened once I got to the salon, lady landed with a spray bottle and before I knew it, half of my head of hair was damp (wasn't looking when she came) and of course, it reverted. I was like, "Sam, stay calm, half has reverted, let her just make everything revert so the twists look the same and then you can stretch. She went through my hair with a comb after getting it damp and only very little hair got on the comb (really little shed hair). I guess she remembered that the last time I was there (quite a long time ago), I asked her not to comb my hair dry if she wanted the comb to easily get through. I brought latest hair product along (if you've been following my tweets, you'll know that I made a new product on Monday) and I was glad when she thought of sealing in the moisture with that. Afterwards, she started talking in an African language and sometimes switching to English (not talking to me) about how soft the product made my hair and that the lady twisting my mum's hair (with extensions) should use it on my mum's hair to soften it up (also, the owner of the salon's sister liked the product, I gave her to take a look at it). The lady began mini twisting my hair and didn't touch that comb again (oh! and she used my wide tooth shower comb when she went through my hair earlier with a comb (while, after telling not to by my mum, the lady working on her own hair combed her hair with the teeth of a really tightly spaced rat tail comb and yes, my mum lost some hair (and she detangled this morning - comb pulled out her hair))). She finished it up and then I held my hear in something like a low bun with some parts bobby pinned backwards (to stretch a bit). I

I got home and after supper, I got my homemade aloe vera gel out of the fridge, got some out and rubbed it between my palms, flipped my hair over, raked and smoothed the gel over my hair, got some more out and repeated this process with my hair not flipped over anymore then I scrunched some more gel in. I held my hair in something like a bun around the crown area of my head (like a pineapple without the ends sticking out) and bobby pinned the flat parts of my twists down and hand stretched the few that didn't stay up with the rest holding them in place with bobby pins. 

I'm going to keep my hair in this stretching state for some days, maybe even during my flight to England this weekend (I don't really like having to do anything to my hair in planes and I'm going via Qatar Airways (so, I leave sometime in the afternoon on one day and arrive during the evening of the next day 'cause of the stop in Doha). Max., I'll refresh my twists when I wake up or before I leave the plane, but I'm not taking them down. I'll keep them up as much as possible to not have to manipulate. Somedays, I might take it down and work on the versatility of my twists (style it in a new way), but I'm going to manipulate them as little as possible so they can last till mid-September at least (I might get them redone in October (when I can get down to my aunt's place and she's free) just as a low-manipulation protective style).

My twists look good, I'm really happy with them. The last twists I did, while I was transitioning didn't look good and my dad asked me to head back to the hair salon the day after I got it done (once I got home) and get it all taken down and done up in something else (which ended up being cornrows/flat-braids). He's seen my hair today and he doesn't hate it like he hated the twists I had in back then (back in the days..... :) ).

Oh! and yes! I whipped my hair back and forth! ♫ I whip my twists back and forth, I whip my twists back and forth.....♫ 

♫ Just whip it, whip it real good.♫ 

><>