New year (2013) hair resolutions

Hello there lovelies~

I was looking at old posts and saw my new year's hair resolutions for 2011 :-O  Here they are:

1. Love my hair unconditionally
2. Deep condition my hair at least once per week (which I must admit I've been doing quite good with)
3. Make and maintain an appropriate hair routine (and as you all know I've been working on this for a minute now, but I feel like 2011 is my year ;-)
4. To straighten my hair at least once every three months
5. To trim my hair as needed (which hopefully with the use of a good routine will be not too often)
6. To tend to my hair every night (or close to every night, probably braid it at night)
7. To try at least one new hairstyle each month
8. To use more bold hair accessories
9. To make at least three hair accessories
10. To wear protective styles more often

I've taken the liberty of going ahead and scratching off the things I know I definitely didn't do, or at least didn't do longer than about two months into the new year. 

 

Yeah, I got a 40 on that test.  Hopefully, I will do a lot better this time around.  I have a few resolutions for my hair this upcoming year, and this time I'll keep track of how well I do with them.  So, I'm making  my public resolution below, which means that I can't deny resolving to do any of them.  You will probably notice some repeats from 2010 which goes to prove that I'm still working at getting this natural hair thing down........

1. To love/appreciate my hair unconditionally
2. To moisturize my hair daily
3. To trim my hair as needed
4. To deep condition at least once/month
5. To wash (co-wash, lemon juice rinse, or cleanse) my hair at least once/week
6. To not get hung up on length
7. To be gentle with my hair (am I the only one that acts as though it's okay to tug, yank and pull at natural hair?)
8. To take a holistic approach to my hair's health (this incorporates drinking water, eating well, getting my vitamins, exercising and getting enough rest....that last one's going to be a doosey)

Well, I think that's all for me.  Leave comments below with any new year's resolutions (hair or otherwise) that you have.   

Tootles for now, catch you in 2013!!!!

Acetyl Alcohol homemade leave in attempt 1......fail

Slight throwback pic from August 2012 (about 1 month post hair cut), I can't believe how much my hair has grown!  I like this pic.

Hello there lovelies~

As you know I'm working on a homemade leave in conditioner (read about attempt 1 here).  Previously, I tried using guar gum as a thickening agent for my conditioner, but didn't care for the texture that this produced.  Now don't get me wrong, overall the conditioner was good, but was more of a gel-like consistency and that wasn't what I was going for.  So, I bought some acetyl alcohol to use instead.  Acetyl alcohol is a thickening agent that also has some conditioning properties, sounds ideal right?  Well, that's what I thought too.  I ordered this product off of Amazon and it arrived last week.  Yesterday I decided to make my new batch of conditioner......yeah.   So, the acetyl alcohol comes as little balls (think Styrofoam stuffing of bean bag chairs minus the noise).  So, I warmed about 1/2 teaspoon in the microwave and it became liquid.  Okay, we're doing good so far.  I poured the acetyl alcohol into my anxiously awaiting mixture and the stupid thing clumped.  That's right, I had little clumps of acetyl alcohol floating in my liquid mixture....what?!?!  Is this a joke?  I mean, it did get thick, but I think when it only thickens itself it can't really be considered a thickener right?  Anyhoo, not too discouraged I decided to try to save the mix by adding my handy dandy guar gum.  Being an expert now I knew not to add too much, so I added about one modest teaspoon of guar gum.  I mixed everything together, put the mix in the fridge for about 3 hours and then checked it out.  I haven't used this on my hair yet, but the consistency is just what I want.  The leave in is liquid enough to pour out of a bottle (which I prefer to scooping out of a container), but not so liquidy that I'm afraid of losing it all in the shower when I pour.  

So, until I figure this mysterious acetyl alcohol out, which I WILL figure out, I guess I'll be sticking with guar gum for now.  I'll have to report back later on how this treats my hair.  

Tootles for now.....

PS-Check out curlyniki's blog sometime, she's in Tokyo.  I always forget about international naturals.   

Leave in ingredients:

12 teaspoons aloe vera juice

2 teaspoons vegetable glycerin

2 teaspoons castor oil

1 teaspoon jojoba oil

12 drops essential oil lavender

8 drops essential oil lemongrass

1 modest teaspoon guar gum powder

Several stubborn clumps acetyl alcohol

Contest!!!

Image source

Hello there lovelies~

So, I got this brilliant idea one day while watching "The Chopping Block."  For anyone not familiar, "The Chopping Block" is a reality tv show for aspiring chefs.  On the show, contestants are given certain ingredients and a limited amount of time to create a dish.  As I was watching the show I thought about how creative these individuals must be to come up with these meals with such random ingredients and limited time.  The episode that I watched used the ingredients:  testicles (I forget from which animal), coffee beans, bananas, and arugula I believe.  

So, as I was watching, the light bulb in my head went ding and I got the idea to create my own contest.  The contest goes as follows.  I'll give you a list of items to use and I would like to see the most creative/cute hairstyle that you can come up with using those items.  Once you create your hairstyle take a pic and send it to me (curlykinkybeauty@gmail.com).  The prize will be one hair product of your choosing (so make it good), a sample of my leave in (once redesigned to my liking), and cute hair accessories.  So start thinking and get those photos in.  And spread the word so I can have lots of pics to choose from.  Be sure to send a photo that you don't mind being displayed as I will post the winning pic on my blog.   

Drumroll please........ and the items are:

• 4 paperclips
• 1 flower (artificial or real)
• 3 ink pens or pencils
• 2 buttons
• 3 coins

Tootles for now

Rules for the contest

1. You must use all items 
2. You can not add additional items (products such as leave in or gel are fine)
3. All submissions must be received no later than 11:59pm January 1, 2013
4. All submissions must be sent to curlykinkybeauty@gmail.com
5. There will only be one winner chosen by myself, Shayna
6. All photos sent in will become the property of curlykinkybeauty.blogspot.com
7. Any photo sent in could be used on curlykinkybeauty.blogspot.com
8. In email with attached photo, contestant should specify product of choice to receive if he/she is the winner
9. In the email with attached photo, contestants should describe where each item was used in the hairstyle
10. Each person should have fun and enjoy creating a new hairstyle
11. By entering the contest you agree to all posted rules

DIY-leave in conditioner

Hello there lovelies~

I decided to begin making my own leave in conditioner from scratch.  I figured that it would be more cost effective to make my own leave in, and I would know exactly what's in the leave in and therefore exactly what I'm putting into my hair.  So, after a bit of googling and knowledge of ingredients that have done well in my hair I came up with the following ingredient list:

• Aloe vera juice (about 1 cup)-reduces frizziness
• Guar gum (2 heaping teaspoons)-thickener and conditioner
• Vegetable glycerin (2 teaspoons)-moisturizer
• Jojoba oil (1 teaspoon)-moisturizer
• Castor oil (1 teaspoon)-emollient and humectant (keep water in)
• Essential oils: rosemary, lavender (about 8 drops), lemongrass (about 5 drops)

I mixed everything together and put it in the fridge overnight (this is supposed to help the guar gum have a smooth texture).  The texture of the leave in came out to be a bit gummy-ish.  Unfortunately, I put too much guar gum in the mix.  However, the results of the leave in as a leave in are promising.  

Pros

• Leaves hair shiny
• Moisturizes some
• Defines curls
• Cost effective
• Contains only ingredients I approve of (and can pronounce the name of, read the label of a product sometime, sheesh)

Cons

• Flakes if you use too much
• Doesn't moisturize as much as I would like 
• The texture is too thick (similar to really thick gel) and difficult to spread through the hair
• Causing itchy scalp (this may be due to overuse)

So, although it's not exactly where I want it to be the leave in experiment was successful.  I ordered some ingredients last night to modify my conditioner a bit.  I will replace (at least some) the guar gum with cetyl alcohol and will add panthenol (Vitamin B5).  Cetyl alcohol is also a thickener and a moisturizer.  Panthenol is a moisturizer.

So, once my cetyl alcohol and panthenol come in I'll make a new batch of leave in and report back on the results.  

Tootles for now!

Thirty days of Thankfulness......the finale

Thirty days of thankfulness is over!  It's hard to write a post everyday. This is a challenge I'll have to conquer at another time!