Shea Moisture Raw Shea Butter Baby Eczema Therapy Review

 You know how they say everything happens for a reason... well what a grand reason today! I was on my way to Yoga, only to realize that it was overcrowded when I arrived :(

Instead of fretting, I remembered that I wasn't too far from Bryant Park and the fact that Shea Moisture had a tent sent up there!!! Did I mention they also have their products selling at 3 products for $25 there?

Anyhoo, I know I mentioned using a new product in my post yesterday about my Poppin' Curls... watch the video to check out my review! The product I'm reviewing is Shea Moisture's Raw Shea Butter Baby Eczema Therapy with Argan Oil & Extracts of Frankincense and Myrrh.

Though this is a body product, I loved the ingredients and decided to try it in my hair and boy do I love this product! It really moisturizes my skin, without leaving it greasy, smells great, and keep my eczema from feeling dry and itchy. I have even used this overnight on my face with no issues. It moisturizes and seals my hair amazingly and gives it shine like I've never seem before, almost like a sparkle!

I had the honor of meeting Jenell from KinkyCurlyCoilyMe.com  and of course she is just as adorable in person as in her videos and of course her hair was amazing as usual! Randomly, she complimented me on my hair when I was lurking to get a peek at hers, lol! We ended up having a cute little convo and hopefully I'll be able to get some input from her over here! Not to mention, everyone over at the Shea Moisture pop up was super awesome, humble, and down to earth. There was definitely a beautiful vibe going on in there.

All in all, I'll have to do my Yoga on a different day but I had a great time vibing with everyone in the Shea Moisture pop up shop and especially meeting Jenell!

What's your favorite Shea Moisture Product?!

My 2nd Braid & Twist Out

 Before I blew my hair out, my last rollerset had gotten pretty stale and my hair needed to be washed, but I had very minimal time.

I co-washed while in the shower with the plethora of conditioners I have been using to keep my over processed hair feeling as good as possible (will make a  post about that soon) and was so ready for bed!

I knew I needed to do something with this hair of mine, and my West Indian side kicked in and said "tro it in some plaits gyal" and that's exactly what I did. I plaited my hair until about 2 inches were left, and turned the rest into a two strand twist, much like when I did my Braid & Twist out the 1st time. I prefer the curls on the ends from twist outs, but like the wavy texture with braid outs.

On my damp hair, I applied Lacio Lacio, Elasta QP's Olive Oil and Mango Butter, JBCO to seal and 8 plaits later I'm in bed. Unraveled in the morning with Vatika oil, fluffed, separated and go! I was super busy and tired last week, so this was optimal for quick styling.
I think I will forever be a twist out girl but I look forward to enjoying more braid outs as my hair gets longer.

Which Do You like Better, Braid Outs, Twist Outs, or a Braid/Twist combo?

The Winter Wash n Go

This routine is basically what I've been doing to my hair that was left out during my weave and I realized that it may be great to try out as another styling option to add into my regimen.

• Co-wash hair with conditioner of choice, detangle and throw hair into a few big detangled twists. Rinse and leave naked hair in twists
• Let air dry a bit (The bit for me is usually the duration of my shower, moisturizing my skin, getting dressed, then getting ready to do my hair)

Once 40% - 50% dry, start this process one twisted section at a time:

• First moisturize the hair - I used Care Free Curl Instant moisturizer and Suave coconut condish
• Smooth Curls with Eco- Styler Olive Oil gel
• Let air dry or diffuse (+ add heat protector with this step)
• Once curls are dry, smooth out any crunch with your favorite oil, being careful not to overmanipulate the hair and cause breakge during the process. *My personal fave oil is JBCO because it's super moisturizing and keeps my hair sooo soft, especially in the winter!
• Without disturbing or further separating any curls, grab and separate the hair with your hands alone, and do your favorite twist out pattern.
• Bonnet/Scarf and Sleep... Untwist the next day to reveal a stretched, curly, winter wash and go look! 
• Spritz with a little water, add a little more moisturizer if needed, fluff, and go!
• Retwist with oil every night to maintain stretch, definition and softness. Keeping the hair stretched will also avoid excessive tangling.

What do you think about this Winter Wash n Go method? Would you try it?!

Little TWA Buns on Stretched hair

I've been trying to incorporate more scalp massaging into my regimen to hopefully increase my growth a bit, so I decided the easiest way to do this, would be by wearing my hair in buns. I figured, if I wore a bun I could always take it down at night, moisturize and massage my scalp daily and put my hair right back in my little buns, perfect! I wanted to keep my hair really stretched for this regimen, as I'm always afraid of tangling when it comes to scalp massaging... the thought of rubbing in cirlcles with my hair that tangles ever so easily is so scary to me. lol Last week I rollerset my hair then pulled  it back into a ponytail, and this week I blowdryed and lightly passed the flat iron just once. I've been home nursing my sick puppy, so I haven't been trying to look cute, just wearing the buns braided an tucked up. I wanted to include a photo of my little ponytail/braid hangtime! AAEEOOWW! lol
I had to run to the store really quick so i decided to just roll the braid up and pin, which I think turned out kind of cute, I just definitely wouldn't wear the white scrunchie and blue clip if I had anywhere significant to go (getting in touch with my Haitian roots, lol)

This bun was done on yesterday's lightly flatironed hair, pulled back with a (supposed to be) middle part. I really love middle parts on low ponytails/ buns.

I will be sticking to this regimen for the next week or two, or until I get bored of buns and decide to protective style or rock a few twist/braid outs. I've been slicking my buns back with a brush and a little Jamaican Black Castor oil, trying to kind of follow my mom's regimen.  I realized while in conversation with Curly Film Chic last night, that I really hadn't done much to my hair for the summer, I wore a lot of buns and called it a day, and I've still been retaining length, so I'm hoping the addition of scalp massages and Jamaican Black Castor Oil will be good for something :) Oh! And I almost forgot, CFC is supposed to let me borrow her Curlformers next week so I'll get to try those for the first time, Oh joy! lol

Buns? Borings or Funs?

Last Week's Fashion's Night Out Puff

My friend was snapping pics of me on the low, trying to be funny, but I was really loving how massive my puff was that day. I put moisturizer in it and unfortunately it shrunk up a bit, but was still quite cute.

The puffs are the result of old twist outs just pushed back with a little Murrays Cream Beeswax and a doubled headband... my go to style for recycling my twist outs when I'm in hurry and on the go!

What do you do with your old twist outs?

Combating Breakage in Dry Desert Climates

 I recently came back from the west coast for a work trip, spending a week in Los Angeles and 2 days in Las Vegas. A few posts ago I had mentioned how ever since my hair's been long enough to go into ponytails, that's exactly what's been happening with it... I had been moisturizing daily and making sure to tuck my ends under whenever I did little buns, but one day while removing my ponytail holders, I saw a few broken strands of hair and totally freaked out!!! I knew it wasn't the ponytail holders because I got some new ones I really love that don't snag my hair at all. I knew my hair had been feeling dry with all of the dry desert heat, visits to the pool, and tanning, but I never thought it would start breaking. All I could think of was all of my hard work, feeling like I've been working for it forever and then watching it going down the drain.
Immediately, with my small resources (seeing as how I wasn't home I didnt have everything I needed) I began putting together a concoction of what would be the deepest conditioner possible at the time... A mix of whatever conditioners were on hand, and some Palmers Cocoa Butter Body oil. Thank goodness it worked! I started mixing the oil into my conditioner every time I washed my hair, and left a good amount of conditioner and oil in my hair afterwards too. I'm so glad I've come this far in my haircare to understand that what I saw was breakage, and to have had an idea of how to combat it.

How have you dealt with your hair under different climate circumstances?

Back to curls + Twist outs in July

  I've been so crazy busy it's been ridiculous; from work, to family affairs, to down right tragedies... it's no wonder I've hardly had time to get on and properly blog, much less any time for my hair.
Ever since I've made my way into the ponytail/bun world my hair has been washed, moisturized, and thrown back into a ponytail or bun of sorts. I haven't had the time or patience for twisting or retwisting, and with my multiple textures, wearing wash n go are currently no-no's for me.
 In these photos I was deep conditoning my hair to get ready to twist it for a twist out. This was the week of the 20's in July, I was prepping for my trip to LA (not under the happiest circumstances, but it turned out that I got the opportunity to work while out there so that was great... more on that later). I left in some Giovanni Deeper Moisture Smooth As Silk conditioner and proceeded to twist with Eco Styler Olive Oil gel. Slept/Air Dried, and removed my twist the next evening to go to a party I didn't even make it to... lol.
Crazy thing was, I usually love twist outs but I really was not liking the outcome of my twist out this time around...
I think it probably had more to do with my hair length than the actual twist out though, because I will say Eco Styler does make my twist outs come out beautifully. My hair is just growing into a point that I think might become mildly awkward for wearing out and curly, since it is becoming overall fuller, and longer, but still has a ton of shrinkage. My hair can still look 2 inches when it's about 8. The little Bob I have going on is getting a little mushroom-y! The good thing is, I've just braided up my hair so hopefully this little break will also come with a good little growth spurt... lets see if I can hold out for a month! lol
 I have sooo much to post about my hair on the West Coast so I will definitely be back with more posts!

I Too Summer Straightened!

I colored and straightened my hair literally a month ago for my birthday and I was super surprised with the amount of growth I had! I wore my hair up for the most part, french braided in the back... Originally I had no intentions of straightening, just to rollerset my hair, but then I got the itch to see what the color looked like with straight hair. I decided to keep my little color patch in the front and go with a reversed ombre look. I loove it!!  I can't wait until all  of these layers are grown out but it looks like the new year will be promising for that goal.

I'm not gonna lie, I havent been taking as best care of my hair as i'm supposed to lately, mostly because i've hardly been covering it to sleep and i haven't been doing twist outs... which for me = ssks -_-
But I have been deep conditioning and moisturizing like crazy, wearing wash and go's and buns mostly... yes I said buns!!!


I've been super busy and I'm running to class but i'll be back shortly with more hair and hair stories to come!

Reader Question: Transitioner Learning how to Style

Sietta (Not Pictured Above) said...

I'm looking to transition from wearing sew-ins to wearing my own natural hair again, but I'm lost about how to go about styling it :( I haven't worn my own hair for more than a week in almost 5 years and I don't have a perm so as you could imagine it is very difficult to work with at this point and I am concerned about styles because of this. Also, my coils are SUPER tight and idk what to do with them at this point because my hair has never been this untrained so I know I have a job ahead of me lol. Do you have any suggestions for styles until I can get my coils to loosen a little?

Hi Sietta, 
Thanks for asking and we're glad to help =)
For starts, I would say it'll be a little hard without a few extra details (Hair length? What look you would like to achieve? What do you mean by trained hair and coil loosening?)but I will give you the best advice possible for anyone in your situation or anyone who needs help learning their new texture and how to care for it.

Part 1 - Moisturize, Detangle & Stretch!!!
As a professional hair stylist, time and time again I've seen women trying to go natural after wearing weaves for quite some time, but feeling discouraged about their "rough, dry, hard" manes. They think they have this horrible texture of hair because it is usually dry and malnourished, and because of this, their hair may also be a lot more shriveled and shrunked up.

Start with a spritzer bottle with water, get some of your favorite slippery conditioner, take your hair in one section at a time, moisturize, detangle from the ends up, and either braid, twist, bun or band the little section to keep the moisture in and your hair from shrinking up again (You can also do this in the shower if it's easier/faster for you). 

Part 2 - Washing
Don't be afraid, moisture and water are your best friends :)
After detangling and moisturizing it should be much easier to deal with your hair now, and if you have a lot of hair you may want to leave it in those sections during your wash. If/when I wash in sections, I will bring a few hair clips in the shower with me so as I wash one section at a time, I can twist and pin it back up so it stays stretched and detangled and I won't need to comb through my hair again....or at least bring a scrunchie to throw it all in a ponytail.

Part 3 - Styling
When it comes to styling natural hair, it's all about knowing the look you're going for, and understanding what your hair will and won't do. Henna and other natural products like coconut milk have been known to cause a little curl loosening, but usually on looser textures. The way we usually go about loosening our curls usually is by way of chemicals or heat damage, as a lot of hairstylists will call burning your curls out "heat training." Know that this is not an accurate method (not a method at all) ladies.

I love the curly look and my hair is curly but shrinks A LOT so I live in twist outs as it lets me have the look of my own curls, minus all the shrinkage. Doing twist-outs, braid-outs, banding, or any other kind of Set that will stretch the hair, should help with your feeling of wanting to loosen your curls. When I want a curlier, froey-er twist out I will do it on wet hair or re-twist an old twist out, and if I'd like my hair to be a little silkier, I'll first rollerset my hair and do my twist out on that. 

Here are some links to help you along your journey:
Tips For Naturals
Creating Textures
Creating a Regimen

I hope this helped, and please, don't ever feel like your options are limited, And Haircare above all else!!!

VERY Happy Hair as of lately!

 You all know I'm impatient, so it's no wonder I took my weave out in a week! lol I guess what it is more so though, is that I really enjoy my own hair, especially now that it's getting longer. And though I enjoy wearing weaves and extensions, I still end up feeling fake. I know I will enjoy weave more when my hair is long enough to fully and easily blend... right now it's just a little more work and leaves me with limited styling that makes me just rather my own hair...

So, I took my hair out 2 nights ago, and since I had washed my hair about 3 days before that and moisturized it, It left me with a beautiful, soft, and defined braid out.. In love!!!

Randomly, I bought this Aloe Body Lotion at the hair show that I did not love for my body, but upon reading the ingredients further, decided to try it in my hair, and so far it's amazing!!!

I don't want to jump the gun, seeing as how i've only been using it for a day or two, so I won't give any reviews or names of anything until I've used it for a while... especially since it's initially intended to moisturize the skin... Review in let's say...a week?  

Anyhoo... I moisturized my hair yesterday using the Aloe Cream and decided to wear the braid out in my fave 2 buns, and was so happy to see how much my hair had grown, as my buns were bigger, fuller, and longer! I even had to squish them down quite a bit to get scrunchies over 'em.

I definitely loved the protective styling benefits of wearing the weave for a week, and I am thinking of wearing my usual large, long extention braids for the first 2 weeks of May... just to  get some protective styling in (especially for my front edges) without missing my hair like crazy. Also, though I love those braids, they're damned heavy! lol

 I bought some new products at the hair show I wanted to try and my scalp was a little itchy so I decided to wash my hair last night. Again, I won't be reviewing anything until I use it for a little while so I can give a full and thorough review...

Before washing however, I decided to do a few length checks, just to see how this growth process is going and I'm happy to say I'm pleased. My hair doesn't grow super fast, and it can break, tangle, get split ends and single strand knots pretty easily, so growth around here is a joyus occasion, lol. My edges are still basically the shortest of my hair, my hair at my crown and upper head in general being the longest. 

Are Your Products Actually Moisturizing? Shiny Hair Does Not Necessarily Mean Moisturized Hair

I would say I commend myself for keeping shiny hair although my hair naturally can be anything less than lustrious at times. I have so many people stop me and ask me how I get my hair so shiny, with the famous question "What do you use? Oil Sheen?" Definitely not.
I feel so lucky to have found this community that has helped me to learn the truth about our hair and the products we use in it and why. As a hairstylist, there has been countless times where a girl would come to get her hair done and it would be dry, hard and brittle, but greasy or oily at the same time. Adding layers of grease to already dry hair does nothing but clog the pores, weigh the hair down and make it greasy, and make the hair dirtier faster. Now I'm no scientist so I'm going to break this down in laymens terms...

Moisturizing in 3 Steps:
Part 1 -  Water & Washing your hair ~ When your body feels dehydrated, you drink water, so why not give your hair water when it's thirsty? Water is the first part of moisturizing, so if your hair's feeling dry and brittle , it may need some water. If your regimen is one that is low maintanence with washing, make sure you're still adding water to your hair, i.e. via a spritz bottle before retwisting or rebraiding.

Part 2 - Moisturizing ~ Add a moisturizer of some sort. I like cream moisturizers and leave-in conditioners personally, but I will occasionally use a regular conditioner as a leave in or sometimes just a light oil like coconut or jojoba oil.

Part 3 - Sealing ~ You know that feeling you get when you come out of the shower and you dont put any moisturizer on and you feel like your skin is about to crack... maybe it does ::chapped lips for example:: Moisturizing really seals in the moisture our skin just soaked up from the water in the shower... Same scenario for your hair. Moisturizers will dry out quickly if not sealed in with anything. A few of my favorite sealers would be Jamaican Black Castor oil, Jojoba & Coconut Oils, Shea Butter & Shea Oil, Vitamin E oil, and my latest favorite CHI Deep Brilliance Glisten.

Quick Tips
If you are washing, conditioning, moisturizing and sealing and your hair still feels dry, it's possible your products aren't providing the right amount of moisture for you, or you just may not be applying them correctly or as frequently as needed. Try tweaking your regimen a bit until you find something that works... One thing I used to like to do was read natural hair blogs and watch YouTube videos of people who had hair like mine, doing the same styling, and see what they would use...

*For Transitioners and Newly Transitioned Naturals - Realize that with this new texture involved that your regimen will have to change, as well as your products probably. Don't expect everything you used to use to work for you now. If your old products are still serving you justice, just make sure you adjust to how much more moisture your natural/transitioning hair needs.

* For Naturals - If your natural hair is always feeling dry, there's definitely a huge problem there. Make sure your products contain humectants such as glycerin, propylene glycol, aloe vera, and honey to name a few, which are moisture attracting molecules.

*For the drastically different multi textured hair - Know that with extremely different textures, sometimes we need to not forget to baby our more fragile textures, or add a little more or even a different product to these areas.

I hope this helps someone out there with their dry hair... Feel free to ask any questions :)

TWA Wash n Go Curly Fro

So today i wanted the afro look without the actual afro so i went with the wash-n-go curly fro!

Wearing an afro can be very drying to my ends so i try not to wear them too often, even though i have now grown to love mine. 

I decided i wanted my wash n go to be a little larger than usual, so i co-washed in the shower with Herbal Essences Hello Hydration, rinsed and shook my hair out to remove excess water and make my curls stand up. I then added equal amounts of these guys:

Let air dry for a bit, then used a pik to LIFT the roots only! do not comb through to the end of the hair if you want to leave your curls in tact at the ends. You can lift and shape your hair the way you would like it. Also, i did this while my hair was still damp. I know it will shrink so i will use the pik to lift it again once it dries.