The product junkie strikes again

Okay,

So, I'm an addict and I can admit it. There I am in Target, just minding my own business, and this conditioner just starts yelling "buy me." I had read on Curly Niki's blog that she loves Yes to Cucumbers conditioner, so I decided to try it. After pondering the fact that I had a practically new bottle of conditioner at home, and I am living on a graduate student budget (not much for anyone not doing it) I decided that hair was worth the sacrifice :-) like there was ever really any doubt as to if I'd buy right?!?!
I LOVED it. My hair was so soft after I conditioned with this. I just conditioned as usual and then applied Carol's Daughter Black Vanilla Leave-In and Some of Maurgerite's Magic as I had been doing, and left. My curls were well defined, soft, and well moisturized. And I smelled like cucumbers all day-which wasn't a bad thing to me, I like food. I still won't replace my Herbal Essences, but I will definitely add Yes to Cucumbers to the pile of conditioners I approve of. Yes to Cucumbers is a little more pricey than Herbal Essences (~$9/bottle opposed to ~$5/bottle), it doesn't smell as awesome as Herbal Essences (Totally Twisted), and it isn't as great of a detangler as Baba de Caracol (I'll review this later, but the thoughts are pretty good). However, it is mostly natural which gives it an extra boost in the Shayna ratings.

So, take home. My hair likes Yes to Cucumbers conditioner. The conditioner made my hair soft and moisturized. The conditioner was more pricey than Herbal Essences (but not unbearable), and did not detangle as well as I'd like. I will definitely be buying this again. I'm also thinking about trying the Yes to Cucumbers leave-in. Of course this is all only after a couple of uses so I'll let you all know if I still love it in about a month or so.

I also had an epiphany yesterday that I should just mix all of my favorite conditioners together and hopefully get the best of each. So, I mixed together Yes to Cucumbers, Herbal Essences Totally Twisted, and Baba de Caracol. I'm going to use it tonight or tomorrow so I'll report back with pics on the results.

Tootles for now,
Lady Shay

Review of Baba de Caracol conditioner

Okay, so I've pretty much used up my Baba de Caracol conditioner. This is a Domincan conditioner, and I've tried it before. The verdict is it's a no go. I do like this conditioner, but not enough to have to order it online (I must absolutely love a product to be willing to order online on a regular basis). The product does provide moisture, and it is good for detangling the hair while the conditioner is on. However, it was not much better than the other products I use. The product, for me, wasn't good enough to go through the hassle of online purchasing. So, I would recommend this product to anyone who doesn't mind ordering online (and paying shipping and handling, I mean, really? Just ship the product as is, forget the box, stick a stamp on it and send it to my house :-/) and/or who has very tangled hair and has had a problem finding a conditioner that works well for detangling. I must say that one big pro to this conditioner is that it is cheap; I think it's like $5 for 8oz. however, that is not taking into account that pesky shipping and handling which ends up being as much or close to the price of the product. So if anyone is interested, you can order it online from Amazon.com or you can get it from a Dominican hair product based website such as Roundbrushhair.com, Bluebeez.com or others. If anyone is into ordering online and trying new products the Dominican conditioners are typically good, and get a lot of good reviews from African Americans with natural hair. If you're ever bored it's kind of fun to go on one of the websites (I really like roundbrushhair) and seeing all the different products, they use some crazy ingredients. I have tried a plethora of these conditioners and overall agree that they are good at moisturizing and detangling, but again, the hassle of online purchasing for something that must be replaced so frequently is too much for me.

So, summary
Pros

• moisturizing


• good detangler


• cheap (if you don't include S&H)

Cons

• must be ordered online (unless you are in the Dominican and some places in NY or NJ)


• not really a big con, but it doesn't smell great, it doesn't smell bad, but just not anything I long to smell (hope that was confusing enough ;-)

Ingredients: Deionized Water, Behentrimonium methosulfate, Soalkylamidopropyl ethyl dimonium, Dipropileno glycol, Cetil alcohol, Cetyl ester, Cropure Earth-smail extract, Lactamide MEA, Hidrolized wheat protein, Fragrance, Metil Paraben, Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 1, FD&C

So, that's all I've got this time.

Tootles for now

Lady Shay :-)

Check it out

Hey,

New question for the people. Check it out http://curlykinkybeauty2.blogspot.com/

Just for Avis-tips for straightening natural hair

Hey there everyone,

So, my sister-Avis-said that I need to put something "helpful" on my blog :-/ Thanks for the family support, j/k :-). Unfortunately I don't know what would be helpful to others so if there's anything that you all want to know about let me know and I'll do my best to put the info up for you (and try to not make things up;-).

Anyhoo, she (my lovely sister) started complaining about the messy state of her hair after straightening so I thought I'd throw up some tips that help me straighten my hair. Hope some/all of these help (and I'm sure if they don't, she'll tell me ;-)

• Start with wet hair-I've found it to be much easier to get my hair straighter if I start the process while it's wet opposed to dry.
• Start with damp wet hair, not soaked-I have no idea why, but for me soaked hair is just harder to work with so I usually towel dry the hair by putting it up in the towel (like the ladies on commercials stepping out of the shower) for a couple seconds and then remove the towel. However, be sure to not completely dry it with the towel.
• Use a good blow dryer-the blow drying process is so important for straightening your hair. Often, you can actually just blow dry and if you do it well enough it may be straight enough to satisfy you (obviously not as straight as if you flat iron, but pretty darn straight). I highly recommend a ceramic blow dryer; they work well, cut down on drying time which means less heat, and get your hair pretty straight. I'd get one with a pretty high wattage so it'll get hot and get the job done. Also, a little aside, I'd get a diffuser attachment and a blow dryer with multiple heat settings including cold. Diffuser will come in handy if you ever want to dry your curls maybe in winter or something, and the cold setting will help with that too. A really good blow dryer might cost you a bit, but in the end, especially if you intend to straighten your hair often, it's worth it.
• Work on your hair in sections-Some people will tell you not to section off your hair, but it has been my experience that not sectioning the hair is overwhelming and takes a really long time. I usually section my hair into 4 sections and secure with a clip or ponytail holder of some sort. I then pick a section and go to work. I start by blow drying and once the blow drying is done I clip that section up and move to the next one.
• Get a good blow drying brush-So when you first start the blow drying process I recommend combing the section you're working on with a wide tooth detangling comb. Then, blow dry using the comb as a guide. I only briefly go through with the comb, until I can comb with ease. Then I use my brush-I use a vented brush that I bought from Sally Beauty Supply a million years ago, the bristles are all bent, but it's still holding on. I have no idea what brand it is, because all of the letters have come off. I start at the root, and follow my brush in a downward motion with my blow dryer, so the brush is always going through the hair before the heat hits it. I usually start by brushing in a downward motion (and you may want to sub-section your sections) then once I do that a few times I again start at the root with the brush on one side of my hair and the blow dryer on the other, and brush in an upward motion with the blow dryer following on the underside. I've read that it's best to always blow dry in a downward motion, but this is hard for me to keep up.
• Use a ceramic flat iron-You want to pick a flat iron that will get HOT and that has ceramic plates so that the job can get done in as little time as possible. I usually just start in the back and flat iron away. I try to do super small sections of hair at a time. I own a Chi, but I think most ceramic flat irons today are pretty good, and I'm still convinced that the real work is done by the blow dryer. If you have to splurge on one, but cut corners on the other splurge on the blow dryer.
• Use PROTECTION!!-Be certain to apply a heat protector to your hair prior to starting any of this process. I use Silk Elements Megasilk Olive Heat Protection, and I like it a lot.
• Don't overdo on products-the less products you can put in your hair the better. When I know I'm going to straighten I usually apply a little leave-in and my heat protectant, and I'm off.
• Do keep a fan nearby-Oh my goodness, this can be a hot process. Don't feel like you're having hot flashes and do invest in a small fan that can be placed near you during this process. No need to spend all that time straightening your hair just so you can sweat it out during the process.

Well, chicas, those are the only tips I have for now on straightening. I hope something was helpful, and if there are any questions or comments please leave a comment or email me!!!

Tootles for now,

Lady Shay

I'm feeling inspired

Hey All,


So, I was reading Curly Niki's blog today, and came across a new blog (moptopmaven, it's on my blog list) about natural hair, and her hair was so pretty. Looking at Curly Niki's hair and pics from other curly lovelies on her blog I felt so inspired to start taking really good care of my hair. When I first became natural I used to take really good care of my hair, and gave it lots of TLC, but as some time passed I stopped being quite as wonderful to my hair, and neglected it a bit, and now I feel bad :( But I am now re-inspired to love my beautiful tresses like no other could love them. I think that if you love your hair then your hair will love you back. So I feel like I am beginning my natural journey all over again......here I go.....I'm excited!!!!!

Tootles for now,
Lady Shay

Shea Moisture product update

Hey All,
So I am currently deep conditioning my hair, and thought I'd write a product review while I incubate here under the dryer. I just washed my hair with Shea Moisture Raw Shea Butter Moisture Retention Shampoo, and I'm not in love with it. This is the second time I've used this product and it has yet to wow me either time, however, I'll get back with you if that changes. So, pros and cons

Pros

• It can be purchased at Target (I love being able to buy locally and not having to order online)
• It smells quite nice-I can't really describe the smell, but I like it, it's a light scent
• It does moisturize my hair (read cons for some more on this)
• It is a natural product-no sulfates; sulfates are the ingredient used in many products to produce lather, and sulfates can be harsh and drying to the hair. This info is according to the experts, but I think it really depends on how much sulfate the product contains and the other ingredients in the product.
• The price isn't horrible. It is 9.99 for 8oz. Compared to other natural products (ie. Carol's Daughter, most shampoos 12.50 for 8oz) the price is good.

Cons

• It doesn't moisturize my hair as much as I'd like it to. Although this product did moisturize my hair it only did so a little. I have used other shampoos that I felt left my hair better moisturized than this (Design Essentials: Moisture Retention and Hemp: Moisture Retention)-this con is the biggest factor causing me to not love this product
• It felt like it slightly coated my hair. I think this is a property associated with the Shea Butter, because I use raw Shea Butter on my hair, and it leaves a little coat behind-this doesn't completely turn me off to the product, because it's not heavily coated, but it's def not a good thing

So, there you have it, 5 pros and 2 cons. I'd give it 3.5 stars because the first con is so big for me. I'd keep this around as a back up shampoo if I couldn't get something that I really wanted, but I won't make this my new every time use shampoo.

Let me know if you've tried this shampoo before or any of the other products in this line!

Tootles for now my lovelies

Lady Shay

You won't guess what happened today....

Hola peoples,

So the most fabulous thing happened to me today!!!!! So for anyone who doesn't know my birthday was Wednesday (September 1, and gifts, calls, well wishes etc will be accepted all month;-). I decided that as a happy birthday to me I'd go shopping. I've been very good, I put myself on shopping restriction and I haven't bought one article of clothing (minus one shirt for $4) since June. That's right JUNE.......okay, for everyone who knows me knows that is HUGE!!!! So today I conquered Columbiana mall and took no prisoners at some of my fav stores. First stop...Express...awww...how I love thee. So at Express I bought a few things. Then I headed on down to wet seal and finished up with a quick trip to Charlotte Russe. So, of course by the time I had gotten to Charlotte Russe I had reached my spending limit, but I absolutely loved this cute dress and a lovely sweater that I found, so of course I had to buy them. And me being me, I didn't even look at price tags, just took my purchases to the register and wanted the process to go quickly and to be as painless as possible. So the girl rings me up and says $31.36. Pardon?!?!?! I must not have heard you right, I got two items. Then she says the magic words that made me feel like I was elevated to a whole new place...."oh, these were buy one get one free." I'm sorry, did she just say FREE!?!?!?!?! Okay, when was the last time that happened to anyone? Let me repeat that....FREE....buy one get one FREE!!!!!!!! Oh my goodness!!!!!! She made my day!!!!! Okay, so that was so wonderful I had to share it. One more time, "buy one get one FREE." AAAhhhhhhh........AWESOME.

Anyhoo, not too much in the hair news. I did buy Shea Moisture, Raw Shea Butter Moisture Retention Shampoo. I've only used it once, and I liked it, I'm not sure yet if I love it, but I'll let you all know how I feel about it and give a little more info on it after a few washes.

I think that's all for now. Keep those comments, questions, and emails coming, I LOVE them!!!!! And thanks to everyone who is now a follower, I'm up to a whopping 6!

Tootles for now,
Lady Shay

Check it out

Hey,

So, I have posed a question for the people. Check out http://curlykinkybeauty2.blogspot.com and leave a comment. I want to hear from you all!!!

Tootles for now,
Lady Shay