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Thursday, November 11, 2010

Things I want to add to my reggie (Deep Conditioner)

November 10, 2010

Hello, hello. This particular blog is just, well I wanted to basically get my idea's down and the research I have done all gathered in one place so that I can refer to it.

I am trying not to be a product junkie but it is so very hard. I want to try so many things that I read about or see on Youtube. In an effort not to be a Product Junkie (PJ) I try very hard to use all the product before I buy new stuff. If I buy new stuff before I finish the old stuff I will cave and never go back to the old stuff.

This deep conditioner is all the rage I hear and I really wanted to try it:
Aussie Moist 3 Minute Miracle (Really excited to try this)
Ingredients:
  1. Water
  2. Stearyl Alcohol (Fatty alcohol)
  3. Cyclopentasiloxane (Silicone but evaporates easily)
  4. Cetyl Alcohol (Fatty Alcohol)
  5. Dimethicone (Silicone/detangler)
  6. Stearamidopropyl Dimethylamine (Conditioning agent)
  7. Glutamic Acid (Conditioning agent/Protein)
  8. Fragrance
  9. Benzyl Alcohol (Preservative)
  10. EDTA (Preservative)
  11. Methylchloroisothiazolinone (Silicone preservative)
  12. Methylisothiazolinone (Preservative-Listed as a dangerous ingredient)
  13. Ecklonia Radiata Extract Australian Sea Kelp Extract (Moisturize and conditioning)
  14. Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract (AKA Aloe Vera-Improves the dry appearance of hair)
  15. Simmondsia Chinensis Seed Oil (AKA Jojoba Oil-Humectant/moisturizer)

Well, I was excited to try this and I can see why so many people rave about how silky their hair was after using this product. It is full of Silicone's! OMG!! Ok seriously though, silicone this, silicone that and that one ingredient, when I google it all these articles say "Dangerous. Toxic etc" I think this will be a pass for me. I really wanted to try it, and I might have if it wasn't for all the silicone's in it. I mean silicone's will prevent the moisture from penetrating the hair shaft, your hair will be pretty but not healthy.

The alternative Deep Conditioner I wanted to try was:
Neutrogena Triple Moisture Deep Recovery Hair Mask Professional

Ingredients:
  1. Water
  2. Cetyl Alcohol (Duplicate Ingredient)
  3. Behentrimonium Chloride (Detangling Conditioner)
  4. Cyclopentasiloxane (Carrier Silicone-Carries heavier silicone)
  5. Dimethicone (Duplicate Ingredient)
  6. Cetearyl Alcohol (Fatty alcohol)
  7. Ethylhexyl Isononanoate (Fatty alcohol-Emollient)
  8. Behenyl Alcohol (Duplicate Ingredient)
  9. Meadowfoam Seed Oil (Limnanthes Alba)
  10. Cyclohexasiloxane (Duplicate Ingredient)
  11. Olive Fruit Oil (Olea Europaea)
  12. Sweet Almond Oil (Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis)
  13. Stearamidopropyl Dimethylamine (Duplicate Ingredient)
  14. Behentrimonium Methosulfate (Mildest Detangling  ingredient)
  15. Amodimethicone (Silicone)
  16. Panthenol (Pro Vitamin B5)
  17. Glycol Stearate (Emollient/Humectant)
  18. Ceteth-2 (Derivative of cetyl alcohol)
  19. Hydroxyethylcellulose (Thickener-Like air in bag potato chip bag)
  20. Phenoxyethanol (Preservative)
  21. Methylparaben (Preservative)
  22. Propylparaben (Preservative)
  23. Citric Acid
  24. Mica (Opalescent)
  25. Titanium Dioxide (Colorant and SPF)
  26. Iron Oxide (Colorant)
  27. Fragrance Boi oh boi, this product has a lot of ingredients! I still want to try this product because I am using the Daily conditioner and leave in product and I really like them. I probably like them because of the silicone's making me hair "feel" soft instead of actually being soft.
So what's a PJ to do? Search for silicone free product?
List of products I am pretty sure I can buy locally:
V05 Blushin' Apple conditioner
V05 Creamy Citrus Healthy Shine Conditioner
V05 Extra Body conditioner
V05 Free Me Freesia conditioner
V05 Fruitsation Naturals Conditioner
V05 Kiwi and Lime Squeeze conditioner
VO5 Lavender Luster
V05 Moisture Milks Strawberries and Cream conditioner
V05 Peaches & Cream
V05 Passion Fruit Smoothie Conditioner (Moisture Milks)
VO5 Silky Experiences Champagne Kiss
VO5 Spa Lemongrass and Chamomile
V05 Spa Volumizing Conditioner (Invigorating w/ Spring Water and Lemongrass)
V05 Strawberries and Cream
V05 Sun Kissed Raspberry conditioner
V05 Tangerine Tickle conditioner
V05 Tea Therapy Nourishing conditioner (Tranquility Calming Chamomile Tea)
Herbal Essence Protection Conditioner
Garnier Fructis (Fine Hair)
L'Oreal VIVE Fresh-Shine Conditioner
L'Oreal VIVE Non-Stop Volume Conditioner
L'Oreal VIVE Nutri-Gloss intensive shine masque
Nexxus Color Ensure Replenishing Conditioner
Nexxus Ensure Acidifying Conditioner & Detangler
Nexxus Humectress Ultimate Moisturizing Conditioner (I guess I will try this one, I have heard good things, I just hate the $10 price ><)Nexxus Keraphix
Suave Aloe Vera
Suave Juicy Green Apple
Suave Milk and Honey conditioner
Suave Naturals Fresh Berry Smoothie Conditioner
Suave Naturals Citrus Smoothie
Suave Naturals Juicy Green Apple Conditioner
Suave Naturals Lavender Conditioner
Suave Naturals Tropical Coconut Conditioner
White Rain Energizing Citrus
White Rain Extra Body conditioner
White Rain Jasmine conditioner
White Rain Regular conditioner
This blog took on a life of it's own and has become a monster! However, I feel good about the information I have gathered. It was hard work too! Anyway, I wanted to include shampoo's, conditioners, oils etc into this blog, but I don't think it will happen tonight. Look for my next blog. Things I want to add to my reggie (Shampoo and conditioner) part 2

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Happy Veteran's Day.

November 11, 2010

Hello, hello and Happy Veteran's day. I want to take a minute to say thank you to all the men and women who fight in the service of our military service. They go were they are needed and stay until they need to leave. I am grateful for every family that has given their loved one in an war or conflict or whatever political name the people want to give to it. Thank you and I honor you today and everyday.

A few thoughts to someone starting their hair journey

November 10, 2010

Hello, hello!

When I was little, I hated washing my hair because I hated having to dry it and tame it into something other than the poofy mess it would become if I just let it dry. As I got older, I loved washing my hair. Really I just loved letting the water run through my hair and then since I wet it, i put some conditioner on it! Little did I know I was co-washing. Then when I got into my teens and I was really feeling that straight hair, which I had no idea how to achieve it by the way, I relaxed my hair more regularly and I would not wash my hair for weeks after a relaxer! Ruin my straight beautiful hair?! Never!

I tried to get serious about my hair journey last year and so I started trying to wash my hair once a week. I did and flat ironed once a week at least! Than I found out to much heat was bad for your hair! Oh my now what?!

What have I learned? Well, water is good for your hair, Ever notice that the first ingredient in a lot of products that MOISTURIZE is what? As a relaxed woman I know that I need to do more to maintain strength and moisture.

Moisturizing and sealing (M/S). All depends on what your hair needs. If you m/s in the morning and then before bed your hair feels dry than m/s again. I m/s twice a day if I can and I am noticing less breakage.

As for products to use, well my thoughts on that are that there is no miracle product and what works for me, may not work for you. I like to say that the begining of your hair journey is full of trial and error. I try this product and it sucks. I try this product and it's pretty awesome and my hair really responds to it. So then you have to ask yourself some basic questions: What does that product do? (Provides protein? Moisture?) Provides moisture? Sweet! Now I need an awesome product that provides protein or vice versa.

I think some staple items would be an essential oil and a carrier oil. An essential oil would be like: Lavendar, Peppermint, tea tree oil, Eucalyptus oil, Peppermint oil etc. A carrier oil is like: Jojoba oil, Sweet almond oil
Grape seed oil, Avocado oil, Olive oil, Sesame oil, Sunflower oil,Emu oil, Castor oil or coconut oil.

You can really improve a product by adding an essential and carrier oil to it. I suggest you figure out, or try to, what your hair needs and than make your choices based on that.

For instance, I am relaxed and was very naughty to my hair. My hair tends to be dry and I am constantly fighting split ends. I think I need protein and moisture. I am using a protein leave-in conditioner (ProFective Mega Growth Daily leave in conditioner) and sealing with an pre-mixed oil (African's Best Herbal Oil) that I bought and I alternate that with a regular leave-in conditioner (Garnier Fructis Leave-in Conditioning cream-Sleek n Shine) and sealing with the same oil. I use them alternative every day or one set in the morning and one in the evening. It really depends on how my hair feels.

I want to add an essential oil to the mix in my shampoo's and conditioner. I want to add Peppermint and jojoba oil to my shampoo and Castor oil and lavender oil to my conditioner.
So I am kinda cheap, so I haven't purchased an Essential oils, but I saw this on amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Therapeutic-Essential-Eucalyptus-Lemongrass-Peppermint/dp/B002RSEPAY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1289445784&sr=8-2

It has all the stuff I want to try in it. Lavendar oil, eucalyptus oil, peppermint, tea tree and I am hoping the lemongrass and orange smell really nice, I might throw them in to my spray in leave in conditioner.

Anyway, I wanted to post this blog as I answered a post on a hair board and my post was very long and I wanted to add more, and so I did and put it here :)

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Battle with Split ends

I'm in the Healthy Hair Journey war. I call it a war because it is hard work and it requires, diligence, planning and attention to details to wing the reward of healthy hair. I want my hair to be healthy, I really, really want to have beautiful healthy and long hair.

To that end I try to work hard, so in this war I have many battles to fight. Right now I am focusing on healthy ends, and no split ends. I got my hair trimmed on 10-2-10

After my last relaxer on 9-18-10




Length check on wet hair on 10-30-10











I was really bummed about my ends after my relaxer in September, so I decided that I needed to get my ends trimmed in an effort to get rid of those terrible ends. So I went to get them trimmed.

(Side note: The woman who trimmed my hair was freaking out of her mind! I mean seriously she was. I should have walked away when I saw how jacked up her hair was, but I really needed a trim so I sat down. This woman told me that my ends were dry and that next time I did a relaxer to apply the relaxer to my ends for a couple of minutes to lay down the cuticles! Now I don't know much but I know that was a fool thing to say.)

I was so sad when I got home. I went to my husband and laid my head on his chest and got a little teary eyed. He said my hair looked pretty and it didn't look like they had taken hardly end length off, but I knew different. I felt it! My hair was shoulder length again and I was none to happy.

As you can see the length in the picture above, I was so freaking happy that day. This was the longest my hair had ever been, and I was really feeling the new length but I did what I had to do.

So anyway, after I trimmed my hair I thought I would lay off the heat and my ends would do better. Little did I know. I was sitting on the couch last night looking at my ends and noticed split ends. I started to dust them and noticed quire a few! Now I will be danged but I was sure that I would have like NO split ends but noooo I am furious! I can't wait to get the Splitender for Christmas because dusting the back of my hair is super difficult.

I tried to do some research about preventing split ends but I really couldn't nail any specific information down, but here is what I know:

Split ends occur when the protective cuticle is destroyed at the end of the hair. The hair will then split into two or more strands or sometimes the strands will split mid shaft and come back together. (SN: That sucks)

Causes of split ends are: Over processing the hair with chemicals, over exposure to the sun, stripping of essential oils from hair, using a damaging brush or comb (SN: I had to look more into this one because, what is the right brush or comb?! So an ideal brush is a Boar Bristle brush. Brushes should not be used to de-tangle hair, so they should only be used on dry hair that is tangle free with good slip. No info on bad combs at this time), exposure to the elements, over use of heat styling tools and anything that snags or catches the hair which will damage the cuticle and expose the hair shaft.

So here is the plan! We know that split ends occur when the protective cuticle is destroyed or stripped from the hair shaft, so I have to redouble my efforts to baby my ends. Keep that oil on them and look for something, silicone free to keep them moisturized. Oh and try super hard to find something that stays on my head while I sleep.







My first Air-Dry Roller set!

October 31, 2010

My first Air-Dry Roller Set. Oh my! So I wanted to do a roller set because I am trying to stretch my relaxer for 10 weeks or more AND avoid heat.

The thing is, I like straight hair, shoot like it, I LOVE it. However, heat and hair are not best friends. If my hair was super healthy I wouldn't worry so much about it, the heat that is, but because it's still a work in progress I want to be kind and not heat damage my hair. So I watched a bunch of YouTube videos (ulovemegz was awesome) and I feel confident that I can do this.

I purchased the Conair 75 Piece roller set for $14.99 from Kmart and it comes in it's own little case. (See the pic)

It comes with:
9 Rollers in each size (For a total of 54 rollers)

20 metal clips (I purchased an additional 12 clips from Sally's because 20 is just not enough)
1 Rat tail comb

  • I pre-conditioned with oils Friday night.
  • On saturday morning I deep conditioned with the last of the Fructis 3 minute masque (So glad that stuff is gone, but I can't find the Aussie Moist 3 minute which is what I wanted to try next. Guess I am going to have to do a bunch of research and find a different DC. Maybe the Neutrugena Triple moisture one)
  • Applied the Kimmaytube Leave-in conditioner recipe (I used Fructis Leave in Conditioning cream instead of Kinky kurly or whatever that stuff is she uses.)
  • Kept my hair moist with water and applied Extra Virgin Coconut Oil as I did each section.
  • It was very hard to figure out each section. I used alot of rollers and effort to get the sections right and I think I only did it 'good enough' which was not acceptable. I was tired though.
  • As you can see from the picture, my sections are super sloppy! I will have to do better next time.

So Sunday morning I woke up, and I was so excited to see how it turned out! But I guess I still need work, because I was not impressed with my first attempt.

I took the rollers out:







Wasn't that much I guess, but I have shoulder length hair and it felt like alot to me!




I tell you what, new growth is the suck. I really just wanted to take the flat iron to my entire head! Seriously it was that bad. To make it worse, the left side looked fantastic but the right side looked off. The curls were not quite right. I put a hat on and worked with it all day sunday but I was none to happy.

I tried the Pineapple wrap and went to sleep, but OMGoodness it looked terrible! Seriously, I sucked at this roller set. I wet my hair down and put it in a pony tail and bunned for the rest of the week.



My Kimmaytube Leave-in Conditioner recipe

October 30, 2010

Hello, hello!

If you do not know who Kimmaytube is than you really need to check her out on Youtube or her website http://www.luvnaturals.com/. I love her videos  because they are so informative and she has such a nice speaking voice!

Anyway, she really got me thinking about the Ph balance of my hair and my hair cuticles. She has a Youtube video about a Leave-In Conditioner recipe that I really wanted to try, but with the products that I use. I don't know if I have said this before, but I do not want nor will I order hair care products over the internet. If I can not get it locally than it was not meant for me to have it. That's just me, I understand that means that I may be limiting myself, but wateve!

Anyway for my verison of her recipe I used.

  1. 1. Garnier Fructis Leave-in Conditioning cream (I was going to use the Neutragena but it has 3 oils in it already that I think they are more pervasive and might overwhelm the mix and make it to oily. I am going to be getting some honey or Tea Tree Oil to add just enough to the mix as a perservative so the mix will keep.) (1 Tbs)
  2. Aloe Vera Juice (This was hard to find! I bought it at an organic food store-2 Tsp)
  3. Jojoba Oil (2 Tsp)
  4. Castor Oil (2 tsp)

I made the mix today as it is my Saturday Pamper my hair day and I will be doing my first Air-Dry Roller set. So see that post for more info on how that went.

As for the mix? Well.... I like it pretty good :)