Thinking a Little Differently About Hair Care

I have noticed that going natural this time around has required that I think differently about caring for my hair.   What has improved is my understanding of the ingredients used in shampoos and conditioners and what works with the body’s pH.  Trying to improve my overall health has led me to understand more about what is healthy for my hair.

What I Recommend

Look at the ingredients ALL the time.  Even if you don’t go the all-natural vinegar/olive oil route that I’ve gone, it is good to try replicating the effects.  Alcohol, sulphates and phosphates in traditional beauty products are not at all good for your hair and scalp.  You should avoid them at all costs.  Manufacturers add the ingredients to create that lather you see in shampoos, or to increase the speed at which gels and creams dry.  You end up paying for it with your hair’s health.

Marketing is used to convince consumers that their products are the best for each type of hair.  That’s just not the case.  No matter who’s face is on the bottle, look at the ingredients inside the bottle.  If they don’t provide you with that information, don’t buy it.  The good news is that more consumers are asking for products that do not have these ingredients and it is becoming easier to find them at the local pharmacy, so things are changing for the better.

What About Oiling the Scalp?

You should also avoid putting any type of oil or grease on your scalp, as it clogs the follicles and blocks the natural oils from reaching the shaft.  For some, the excess grease mixes with trapped skin cells and ‘flakes’.  If your hair is too dry, try washing it less often and find waterless cleaning products. Twist at night or buy a silk/satin pillowcase to keep the oils in your hair and not on your pillow.

Also remember that the type of hair curls you have determines how dry your hair is.  It being more dry that other types of hair does not necessarily make it a bad thing.  Love your hair for what it is.  What you need to watch out for is split ends and breakage.  Dryness alone shouldn’t raise concerns.

As Promised! Pics!

With that being said, here’s a side profile picture of my hair when I let it out of the twists.  The products I used for that was the vinegar/olive oil to start and I finished with the Blended Beauty’s Natural Hair Oil.

This is what it looks like from the front.

Okay, I’m done with the pictures. It’s not working well with my shyness…:-)

Product Review: Blended Beauty’s Styling Butter Creme

My last experience with a curl butter had left me a little apprehensive about using another product like it.  But, for the sake of beauty, I decided to try Blended Beauty’s Styling Butter Creme, also known as the Curl Styling Butter.

After washing my hair using my new hair regiment of vinegar and olive oil, I put a generous amount of the butter in my hair.   I was delighted that it allowed me to comb through my hair much more easily, but was surprised to realize that as it started to dry, it began to feel like it had some gel-like ingredient.  I watched to see if it would start to clump and bead but to my surprise, it seemed to be more of a moist hold than a stiff flaky hold.  I can actually touch my hair and not have it crunch.

So overall, I liked this product because:

• It had a soft hold
• It did not flake or bead
• air-dried fairly quickly
• allowed me to touch and move my hair without losing its hold
• gave me relatively good curl definition for such a light-hold product
• did not parch my scalp

- The Style I Used With This Product -

The style that I used for this product was the finger twirl.  I took small sections of my hair, put a little bit of extra butter to the areas that need it, and twirled the hair around my finger to get it to coil a little.  I did the entire head like that then let it dry.  Afterward, I took each coil and separated them.

I will be posting pictures of the finger twirl soon.

Product Review: Blended Beauty – Natural Hair Oil

I’ve ordered three products from Blended Beauty via Honey Fig and the Natural Hair Oil is what I’ve decided to try first. I was looking to have a moisturizing product lighter than olive oil for in-between days when my hair needs just a little bit of an emollient on the ends.

The product website described it as a light-weight product that doesn’t clog follicles. They say it can also be used as a hot-oil treatment.

This product is wonderful. Here are some of the reasons:

1. Fast absorbing – this oil is like no other I’ve tried. It was quickly absorbed by my hair. I had it on my hands and it disappeared within a few minutes – like body lotion. Wow.
2. Smells great – and I don’t mean the artificial smell produced in labs, but the natural smell of the oils it is comprised of.
3. The application bottle – although it is in a squirt bottle, I didn’t want to squirt it in my hair and drench it with oil. But the bottle type did made it easy to squirt a little bit of oil in my hand quickly and touch up some areas that needed it.

This is something I will be ordering again. I’ve noticed that since I’ve been using it, my hands have never looked better. I think it may have more uses than just hair oil.

My next product reviews from Blended Beauty will be their Styling Butter Creme and their Quenching Conditioner.

Looking for Moisture in a Few Household Items

Vinegar, Olive Oil, and SOMA

Here is what I wanted to accomplish:

1. I wanted to have my hair moisturized and detangled.
2. I wanted my scalp not to flake.
3. I also wanted to maintain my hair’s natural oils while cleaning the dirt away.

Vinegar? Why Vinegar?

Vinegar has long been praised for its beneficial properties, including its ability to assist in restoring the body’s alkaline pH, increase the absorption of calcium, and kill harmful bacteria. Another wonderful use for vinegar is dandruff control. It restores the proper pH levels to the scalp and kills any clogging bacteria that may be contributing to the problem. [1]

I started out by first soaking my hair and scalp in regular white vinegar. I put just enough, scalp first, in my hair for it not to drip or need to be covered. It tingled as it worked its way through my scalp. I knew it was killing something when it started to get warm on my scalp, but after a while the tingling settled. Then I washed it out as if it were shampoo, gently massaging my scalp.

A few tips: Get a spray bottle of some kind to apply the vinegar. It would be too cumbersome to hold a big bottle of vinegar to your hair. Also, Rosemary (pictured) is apparently also good for hair. If nothing else, it makes the vinegar smell much better.

Olive Oil

Olive oil is also wonderful for the body, so I decided to try it as a conditioner.[2] I put about two cap fulls of oil into my hair, starting with the most dry places first. After massaging it in, I combed through my hair and it detangled very easily. Then I rinsed my hair out until I couldn’t smell the olive oil.

These two steps left my hair feeling and looking wonderful. My curls were more defined than they have ever been and they felt hydrated. It did not leave my hair feeling greasy.

SOMA Solace Anti-Frizz Serum

I have been using this SOMA hair product as both an anti-frizz product and a hydrater. I put a little more than what is recommended in my hair. Depending on how parched my hair is, I will load it on. It leaves my hair looking and feeling great. It brought a little curl definition, but not much. Seeing as that was not what I was using it for, it was fine for me. It gave me the little shine I wanted without looking like I had gel in my hair.

Overall – Did I get what I wanted?

Yes! I wanted my hair to easily detangle, my scalp not to flake, and my hair to feel hydrated. I got that. I twisted my hair to let it dry and this regimen worked well for that. My hair is clean, smells great, feels soft, is hydrated, and I am happy.

I will have to use some other finishing product in addition to SOMA if I want to achieve that corkscrew-looking curly style. My next task is to find that product.

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[1] http://www.health911.com/remedies/rem_dand.htm, http://organicpassion.info/got-dandruff-use-vinegar/

[2] It was only after I used the olive oil that I googled it and found that it is commonly used as a hair treatment. You can google it too to see what you find.