Curly Cancellation

So, I cancelled my curlkit. It was a great subscription while it lasted, but I just can not deal with the late shipments and lost packages that I never receive. I have told them to  change my address several times but some how it ends up going to my old address. And this latest one, the july box, is no where to be found. They get there money on time why cant I get my package on time at the right address. Well anyways, just got sick and tired of being sick and tired. There are all kinds of boxes popping up now but now that I am settling into a regimen I don't really need to experiment with all of these products. My product stockpile is dwindling and I am recovering from my product junkism. So all in all its all good, I save money, space, and the monthly headache. I will try new products from time to time though, gotta add a little spice to my life.  

Cowashing challenge

So, I decided to do a personal challenge. The challenge was to only cowash for a month straight. I used the Coconut Cowash by As I Am that I received in my CurlKit in January. It is available at the local beauty supply stores though. I read articles and watched videos of all these different people that had their own opinions about cowashing, Some of them believed in only cowashing and never shampooing while others believed that shampoo was necessary . I was one  that faithfully believed that shampooing weekly was the best way to remove build up for me . I only used natural products, nothing with cones or parabens or mineral oil, so I really didn't have build up in the first place. I just wanted to see what the hype was about with cowashing. I figured since I got this full size jar of the Coconut Cowash so I may as well try it, its not like I was losing out on money by giving it a shot. Since it was a big jar  I figured I could get at least a months worth of use out of it, I may actually get about two months out of it because I only wash my hair once a week. So far I have been cowashing my hair for about a month. My verdict is that cowashing is nothing special. My hair gets clean enough I suppose, but my scalp doesn't feel as clean as it should and it itches. Not after a few days but right after I wash my hair it itches and I am not a  fan of this. My head never itched when I used my Aubrey Organics GPB shampoo. There is no big difference in my hair that I can tell after a month and that should be a long enough time to see a difference. Although I don't see a difference in my hair I will finish out the jar just because I don't want to waste half of it. Cowashing is nice but after this jar is done I will be going back to my shampoo.

Trimming: oooooo aint' it the devil!!

The word "trim" can give any natural the shivers. The word is looked at so negatively because we work so hard to combat shrinkage and retain length, trimming makes it seems like a futile effort right? Wrong. Trimming is good for your hair but you don't have to trim once every 6 weeks. I feel like this is excessive, just trim your hair  as needed or 2-3 times a year is fine. If your ends don't feel rough and dry or brittle all the time then there is no need to cut them. But, on the other hand, once your ends are  damaged your best bet is to cut them off and let the healthy hair grow and replace it. It is important to get rid of those damaged ends because in the long run those ends can impede hair growth. The split at the end can travel up the hair shaft. The further up the split goes, the more hair you have to cut off when you are trimming. In order to trim less frequently you have to take care of your ends to keep them in good condition. If your hair is constantly dry at the ends you may want to try a different moisturizing method,  or sealing with heavier oils or butters. In extreme cases you may want to try the baggy or greenhouse methods. If you choose to do the greenhouse method I recommend doing it in the warmer months because your hair will be wet when you wake up, and no one wants to talk around while its cold with wet hair. Trims are necessary for healthy hair growth, it may be hard to part with those ends, but trust me when your hair grows back longer and stronger you wont even miss that little bit of hair you cut. Make sure you use hair sheers though, regular household scissors can leave the ends of your hair jagged and split, doing more harm than good in the long run. Hair sheers are sharper and do not disrupt the cuticle leaving the ends nice and smooth.

I got my CurlKit :)

So after a long long LONG wait, my February CurlKit finally arrived. This post is actually about a week and a half late. I was a little busy but any who, my kit came and oh gosh it was indeed worth the wait

As you can see its chopped full of curly hair goodies. Of course since it is February it is the Love Your Curls edition. This months kit contained:

•  A terry turban, great for covering up those shower caps when deep conditioning if company surprises you on wash day. 
• Cantu hair lotion: my hair doesn't usually agree with cantu products so I gave this to my roommate, she enjoys it. 
• Pooka Mint n' Roses Spa Soak: this stuff smells really minty. Just pour it into your bath or foot bath and let the relaxation begin. 
• Mixed Chicks travel pack: It contained a shampoo sample, deep conditioner sample as well as a a leave in conditioner. My hair is entirely to kinky for me to even attempt to try to use this so once again I gave this to my room mate because she has a much looser texture. 
•  B's Organic Jamaican Shea Butter Oil: This oil is nice, but a little goea a very long way. It isnt heavy like castor oil but it lasts on your hair for a few days like castor oil instead of just being absorbed quickly like lighter oils such as olive oil and jojoba oil.  
• Oyin Handmade's Burnt Sugar Pomade: a curly's  favorite. I was quite excited to see this again, as seen in my Oyin Handmade snack pack review I enjoyed this pomade. It smells delightful . 
• Giovanni Smooth As Silk Conditioner: This is not the leave in but almost as good. This is the rinse out conditioner. I love Giovanni products and was so incredibly excited to see this trial size. 

 Sooooo much stuff in this box for just $20. I am pleased with my box even though it took forever to get here but hopefully the March box will be on time.

Confessions of a product Junkie

Hey Curl Hey!!

So you know that moment when your realize you have way too many products and you're just like " ugh I have a problem" You just admitted that you are a product junkie. Admittence is the first step to recovery right? Not really. I realized, admitted and accepted it a long time ago, but that helped nothing. In fact it may have made things worse . I bought every new product I saw a YouTube guru use and tried every homemade recipe I could find. My closet was just full or natural hair stuff. When you first go natural it's hard not to become a product junkie because you are in search of the products that work great for your hair. In order to prevent having a closet full of products I tried to commit to using up all of my products before I bought new ones. That didn't work. I mean what is the point in doing that if the products dont work for you. Your hair just ends up looking like poop until you used up all the products. I refused to throw all of the extra products away, so I decided to start giving all of my extra products away. Thankfully my roommate is also natural and gladly accepts the products I don't want. Being able to get rid of my extra products only made my product junkie-ism worse. I now had a way to get rid of my products and I always have room for new ones. With all of those products and home recipes to try out there what is a curly girl to do? It's an expensive habit, and since I'm just a poor college student I either needed a miracle or some incredible self control to prevent using up all of my money on products. One day on one wonderful afternoon while perusing natural hair forums I found something called Curlkit and another similar company called curl box. It was like the clouds opened and angels began to sing. Each box comes with 5-8 samples or products from different natural hair care lines for only $20 a month ( it's a monthly subscription) . Many of them not even in stores. I quickly subscribed to both. Curlbox was more of a hassle to get on to due to their limited time to subscribe on one day of the month. Curlkit was a breeze to sign up for though. Eventually after a few months of being dissatisfied with curlbox (both the products and the owner) I unsubscribed though . I am still with Curlkit though and I love it! It gets better and better every month! It's great because I get to feed my inner product junkie and I don't have to break the bank. The things in the box are worth more than $20 so it's really a great deal. So my advice to any frugal product junkie is just subscribe to a box. There all kinds of them out there whether you want natural hair products or makeup just Google it! You might be surprised at what all you could subscribe to.

Product Review: Oyin Handmade Snack Pack

Heeeyyyyy!!

I've been M.I.A for a bit but I'm back!! This time I'm back with my first product review from a line that I've been looking at for a while. When I heard of Oyin handmade it was always about the burnt sugar pomade, and finally I decided to peruse the website one night. I lines that offer sample sizes, that way you don't have to commit to the size and price of full size products. What I found is that they offer snack packs ( isn't that a cute name ) for hair and body. Of course I got the one for hair which consisted of : 2 oz. honey hemp conditioner, 2 oz. hair dew leave in conditioner, 2 oz Greg juice, Shine and Define coaxing serum, and of course a 1 oz burnt sugar pomade. All of this for just $22. The shipping was a little slow but I'm sure it was just because I ordered on black friday and they had a high volume of orders to fulfill so no biggy there. It came well packaged in a cute little travel bag. It also came with little pieces of candy and bubbles.It was a fun surprise. but enough chit chat lets get to the product reviews.

      First up, the Honey Hemp conditioner:

This conditioner smelled amazing!! It has a creamy consistency but it isn't thick at all. After I shampooed my hair I reached for this, it took a good bit to feel like it was coating my hair. I don't have much hair so I don't really expect to use a whole lot of product. I used over half of the bottle with this one condition step. I know its only a 2 oz bottle but still I had to use more than I expected. I rinsed it out and looked at my hair in the mirror, my curls were popping, BUT as soon as i touched them with my drying shirt ( I dry my hair with a shirt instead of a towel ) my curls turned to pure frizz.  With other products my curls will stay intact.My hair didn't feel soft of really moisturized or anything. I added the rest of the left over conditioner to my deep conditioner mixture ( recipe coming soon to a computer screen  near you) as a base.  Now after my deep conditioning treatment my hair is usually on and poppin'! This time was no different my curls came out to play and this time they did not frizz up when i touched them. My hair still didn't feel super moisturized or super soft like usual. This conditioner is O.K. Its nothing that I would purchase in a full size though.

 Next , the Hair Dew leave in conditioner:

Just like the conditioner this leave in smells pretty yummy. I used this as a leave in and as a refresher a few days later when I styled my hair again. This was an O.K. leave in , but when I used it as a refresher, my hair would never stay stretched. I don't know what it was but its like my hair would just shrink right back up. I know it wasn't the moisture in the air attacking my hair because its winter, and I only go to work and back home, not a lot of time anywhere else or out in the elements and my hair will normally stay stretched all day. The definition of my curls when my hair shrank back up was pretty nice though so i will give it that. Over all it is O.K. It works as a leave in and a styler but I would not buy this again.

      

Now on to the Greg Juice:

I love this stuff! It smells pretty nice, I heard everyone rave over the juices berries, but that wasnt in the snack pack the greg juice is the same thing just with a different scent. This stuff makes my hair feel soft and moisturized and leaves a light scent. Its really  nice just a quick spritz and my hair is good to go. I dont usually use spritzers but if needed, I would buy this again.

      

Followed by the Shine and Define Coaxing Serum:
Bam Bam Bam!! This stuff right here is bomb. It smells great a really nice fruity scent. With serum being in the name you would thing it would be liquid like but its not actually. It is a cream and it is just oh so lovely. As soon as you open the jar you just want to eat it up it smells so good! This is a great styler, its a soft hold styler. Just spread a little on a section from root to tip and style as desired, the hair is moisturized and has a nice luster too it, not like a sheen like you would see with an oil but a nice moisturized look.I used it for twist outs and they looked pretty bomb. I would definitely buy this again.

     

 Last but certainly not least, that good ol' Burnt Sugar Pomade:
Just like everything else in this line it smells delightful. It comes in a jar and its solid but once you rub your finger over it a bit it melts and becomes a nice oil. It works as a humectant as well so I only used this once because it is the winter time and humectants aren't the best for you while its cold. But the time I did use it I liked it. I used it as a sealer and it left a nice sheen to my hair. It contains things like candelilla wax and hempseed oil. I don't use it often but I would buy this again if I were to run out.

All in all the Oyin Handmade products are good. Some products are better than others in my opinion but that's just me. Try them out for yourself and even let me know how you liked them.