Braidouts, Buns, and Bantu Knot... Oh My!! Winter Time Coming Soon!

With Winter being right around the corner it is time to bust out those protective styles! My protective style of choice for the cold months is the tried and true bun. Buns can be done in many different ways besides the traditional donut bun you see a lot. This Winter I plan on giving different kind of styles of buns a try and will be posting pics up to show the hair style of the day. I feel buns do a great job of protecting hair from the winter climates, because the hair is tucked away from the elements. Always make sure that you tuck the ends underneath when creating your bun, because leaving them exposed will cause your ends to dry out. As far as the other two hairstyles for the Winter months, I feel they are good in moderation. Bantu knots and braidouts keep your hair out in harsh elements more and your hair comes into contact with scrafs, and other wool like materials you could be wearing. I use to try to do the braidout look all the time in the Winter, but hair would always get caught in my coat zipper or backpack strap. And while doing this hairstyles, don't forget to moisturize your hair. Many women in the Winter time find that they have to use a heavier moisturizer than they did in the Summer months. I feel that some of the moisturizers you use in the Summer could work just as good in the Winter, just that you should switch to a heavier oil sealant to lock in moisture. But listen to your hair's needs during the colder months to determine what is good for your own hair. Now ladies let's all have a wonderful Winter, so by Spring we can have hair swaying down our backs!! HHJ

Giving GVP Nexxus Humectress Another Try

Ok so in the past I tried the GVP version of the Nexxus Humectress and was not impressed at all with the results. Well this weekend when I was in Sallys I seen they had the new formulation change to compare with the new formula of Nexxus Humectress. Hopefully I like this one better, because Sally's sells big bottles of this as well. My new regimen calls for me to deep condition every other week, but since it is getting cold out I might deep condition every week. Depending on how I feel I will give the GVP Humectress a try and let you know how it works out HHJ =]

V05 Shampoo

I used this Sunday for my first wash since getting a relaxer. I first detangled my hair with conditioner in it and then washed my hair with V05 Free Me Fressia Moisturizing Shampoo and a hand full of baking soda to kind of clarify my hair. I then shampooed my hair with just the shampoo. I absolutely love the smell of this shampoo, some people don't like it but I love it! Yes it does have sulfates in it, but frankly when using it I didn't even notice. My hair felt clean and not stripped at all. I know women on hair care sites rant and rave about V05 conditoners for co-washes but I feel this shampoo does get slept on. The good thing about it is the price it goes on sell almost everywhere so stocking up on it isn't that hard to do. I have like 4 bottles of the shampoo now since it was on sale at Walgreens for 79 cents. I can say I will be adding this to my revamped up regimen. Anyway, after shampooing I deep conditioned for 25 minutes with Moisture Maniac by Bed Head, I love this conditioner, just don't love the price. But since I am cutting down on products I should be able to manage to get this one. But still paying 20.00 and up for a bottle of conditioner is kind of steep, but I shall see. After deep conditoning I rinsed out in the shower and then applied more conditioner to detangle under the running water. I dried my hair using the turbie twist (love this by the way). Applied Infusium 23 Leave in Treatment and sealed with GVP Silk Infusion. My hair was sooooo soft!! I didn't have to moisturize for 2 days!! The stuff I have tried out so far are keepers. I will keep you posted HHJ!!

Officially Waist Length!

I got my hair relaxed yesterday at the salon at about 17 weeks post. And I am happy to say that I am waist length now!! I feel after this I am going to continue to grow my hair out as long as it will grow. Also I am in the makings of simplifying my regimen down and cutting out a lot of steps. As my hair gets longer I am getting to the point where I feel all the extra steps like pre pooing(something I never really did anyway) and moisturizing and sealing everyday don't seem that necessary. I feel the simpler the better, because I don't feel like spending all day on my hair nor do I want to be breaking the bank buying expensive products. So I am going to be giving V05 a try, most of their products you can get anywhere and they usually go on sale for a pretty reasonable price. I will be giving their shampoo a try, since I like their conditioner a lot for cowashing I will see if I feel the same way about their shampoo. I will be giving you a review of the new regimen once I compile it and try it out for some weeks but on that note... Yay waist length!!

Wash Day!!

So I finally washed my hair today, and stopped being lazy. I stopped at Sally's, the BSS, and this hair salon to pick up some products. I deep conditioned on dry hair with my protein conditioner (Mane N' Tail Deep Moisturising Condish). And then I shampooed my hair once with Silk Elements Sulfate Free Conditioner. I then deep conditioned with Bed Head Moisture Maniac, my hair dresser used this on my hair and I liked the way it made my hair feel. I bought the small bottle of the Moisture Maniac it was 60% off the price to see if I liked it before I shell out the 30 something dollars for it. The small bottle comes with a pump which I really liked, and it gave good slip when I combed it out my hair. I will do a more through review on it soon. After washing the conditoner out I towel dried my hair, applied detangler, and since I am trying a new method of the braid out by a member on Hairlista named Brianna that I got the idea from. I spritzed my hair with a leave in made with water and Suave Almond and Shea conditioner, since my ends and hair was getting dry. Then I applied Cantu Strengthing Leave in, combed it through and applied Elasta Qp Olive Oil and Mango moisturizer. I then applied Motions Foaming Wrap to my hair and combed it through. I then applied Paul Mitchell's Foaming Pomade to each section before I braided and applied rollers to the ends. I haven't taken my hair down yet, but will be taking it down tomorrow morning, and will be taking pictures of the results and will post them up. And giving reviews for all the new products I tried. HHJ!!

Dr. Bonner's Peppermint Bar Soap Review

So I know everyone rants about the liquid form of this soap, but I don't really hear much about the bar form of this soap. I have been looking for a bar soap that will clean my skin without stripping it, and also wanted to try something on the natural side as well. I was on Hairlista's forum and I seen one of the member used Peppermint soap, and wanted to give it a try. I was using African Black Soap, but when I use it continuously it starts to burn my skin. Anyway Dr. Bonner's Peppermint soap smells really nice! As soon as you lather it on your skin the smell just comes at you. Personally I like the smell, others might not depending on how you feel about Peppermint. I feel the scent is a plus when you wake up early in the morning and have that groggy feel it kind of wakes you up a bit. I also like the tingle you get on your skin when you use it. It makes me feel clean, refreshed, and the leaves the skin soft. All in all I really like this soap and just bought two more bars of it today. So I am thinking this will be a staple soap for me. The bar also comes in Tea Tree, Sweet Almond, and Lavender. It is sold for around 3 or 4 dollars at Health Food Stores, Target, and other Grocery and drugs stores!

Coconut Oil Back in my Regimen

For thos of you that know or have been following on my hair journey, I use to use Coconut Oil in the beginning. Then when I bought my second batch I fell out of love with it and began to venture out to other oils. I have fallen in love with Avocado oil and it took me a long while to find it so when I purchased it I was so happy. Then the store I bought it from closed, and considering it's a hard find something in my mind told me to incorporate Coconut oil back in. This time I went to the store I bought my first batch from. And now I am back in love with Coconut oil!! I think the last batch I bought was bad, because I remember opening it and seeing where it looked rancid. But this has become my go to oil for right now. I have learned how to apply it now so it doesn't weigh my hair down or leave it feeling greasy when I seal with it daily. So I guess it's safe to say... Welcome Back Coconut Oil, I missed you!!