Tag: naturalhairblogger

Crème of Nature Argan Oil Moisture and Shine Shampoo Review

 

Crème of Nature has been a brand that’s been around for a while! I love their products especially the Argan Oil Collection! It performs well and it smells great. Whilst I haven’t tried a lot of products from the brand, what I have tried I have loved! One of my fav spray leave-in conditioners is from Crème of Nature, check out the review here

Today’s post will be a full review on the Crème of Nature Argan Oil Moisture and Shine Shampoo. This is a sulfate free shampoo that promises to gently cleanse the hair, help detangle whilst adding shine, softness and strength to the hair. It’s been formulated with Argan oil from Morocco.

Experience

I have had this shampoo for a while and I have been using it on and off as I had older products to get through. For the last month and a half though, I have been using it consistently and I am now out of it. This shampoo has the same great scent as the rest of the products in the Argan Oil collection.

The shampoo has a thick consistency and a fair amount gives a lot of suds. I really like this shampoo because it really softens my hair. I have been wearing my hair out a lot lately and been quite lazy to moisturise it, actually I have chosen a slick bun as my protective style so it’s quite difficult to properly moisture without having to take it apart and start again so it’s safe to say going into my weekly wash days, my hair has been dry. The shampoo gently cleanses my hair and scalp and softens it.

In terms of detangling, I think this shampoo provided enough slip for finger detangling which I absolutely love. It always makes subsequent detangling with conditioner and a comb easier and quicker even when my hair is tangled quite a bit. I think I took a while to use it because it thought it wasn’t suitable for natural hair so I was only using it on my wigs for a while. It also performed really well on them

Verdict

An excellent choice of shampoo for all hair textures including natural hair. I really like how it softens my hair and helps me detangle it. The scent is a bonus. One thing I will comment though is the texture of the shampoo changed in the last few months I was using it HOWEVER I have also used it on and off for 2 years (don’t judge me) or maybe longer and once a product is opened there is a best before time period to use it by. It still worked absolutely fine anyway but just something to note if you have had this shampoo for a while and it looks like it has changed textured.

I will recommend this.

Crème of Nature Argan Oil Moisture and Shine Shampoo is £4.99 at Superdrug

Top 5 Natural Hair Deep Conditioners

It’s a deep conditioning party and there’s no such thing as having too many deep conditioners! Let no one tell you that, you don’t need such negativity in your life! As I keep searching for the best deep conditioners on the market, I will keep bringing you guys updates on the latest and best products out there for us. In today’s post, I will update the previous Best Deep Conditioners list with my new Top 5 Natural Hair Deep Conditioners!

Why Deep Condition?

It’s simple. You need to replace the moisture in your hair, rebuild and repair your fro. Natural hair tends to be drier in the winter (which is why we love protective styling) and deep conditioning offers far more and longer lasting benefits than conditioning alone! Plus you need a deep conditioner that will make you go like this

via GIPHY

 

Top 5 Natural Hair Conditioners

These are my new fav 5 deep conditioners suitable for natural hair. Between these bad boys they repair, soften and rebuild your hair. Plus they have some amazing slip to help you detangle with ease!

Andre Walker TKO Ultimate Moisture Conditioner

 

ORS Curls Unleashed Intensive Hair Conditioner

 

 

 

Vatika Naturals Wild Cactus Hair Mask

 

Aunt Jackie’s In Control Anti Poof Moisturising and Softening Conditioner

 

 

Elasta QP DPR11 Deep Penetrating Re moisturising Conditioner

 

Let me know if you will be trying these out! Check out my previous posts for more product recommendations if you have already picked these up and looking to try something new!

Shampoo recommendations

Leave-In conditioners recommendations

If you are struggling to stick to a natural hair routine or want some inspiration on how to get one going, see my Winter Natural Hair Routine to help you out.

Are you Protective Styling this season? See how to do it right in the Protective Styling & Winter Hair Care post. Protective styling is great but without proper care it can all go horribly wrong.

A girl can relax now, knowing that everyone’s natural hair will be soft as soft can be lol. I’m off to work on some more posts with some new and exciting products.

Catch you soon

Xoxo

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shetai Natural Hair Butter

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Hey guys, I hope everyone is doing great. I am super late with this review!

This is will be short 1st impressions on the Shetai hair butter I received from Shetai Hair Care. I featured them as part of my UK brands product collections for natural hair. Please check out that post for more info on Shetai and where to purchase their products>> http://wp.me/p1uQOd-LP .

 

So they say you can use the butter in 3 ways
As an everyday cream
As a hair sealant
and a deep moisturiser

 

Ingredients

It’s all natural- organic shea butter, coconut oil, vitamin e oil and peppermint oil. The peppermint oil gives it a light minty scent which I really like.

It stays fluffy and it’s easy to use and apply: the butter melts in your palms quite easily and it’s not too oily. I have used it twice as a pre poo treatment. It left my hair soft even after shampoo with a sulfate containing shampoo. I also used it as the cream in my LCO method after rinsing out my deep conditioner.

 

Verdict: it’s a good quality hair butter with many uses. If you are in search for an all-natural hair butter give this one a try. It comes in two sizes 100ml or 225ml.

Visit their website to purchase or for more information>>  http://shetai.co.uk/shop

If you want to purchase in person they will be available at the Natural Nights Show, details can be found here >> http://wp.me/p1uQOd-LE , I hope to see you guys there!

 

Shea Moisture Superfruit Complex 10 in 1 Renewal System Review

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Shea Moisture has officially launched in the UK! ( Oh there’s a 3 for 2 offer NOW ON at Boots )  I was able to go to the launch party and get my hands on the Superfruit complex 10 in 1 shampoo and conditioner and this will be a short 1st impressions post.

It has 3 main ingredients:

Superfruit Complex– which is a blend of red raspberry ketones, goji, acai and guava extracts. This is super rich in antiaging oxidants

Marula Oil- contains natural plant peptides that help support hair’s elasticity

Biotin- for nourishment and thicker stronger hair.

It boasts of 10 benefits which are Anti-aging benefits, Colour protection, Hydration, Nourishment, Rejuvenation, Strength, Anti-stress, Manageability, Softness and Shine

How does it live up to its claims?

The shampoo smells amazing! It’s free from many chemicals such as sulfate, parabens mineral oils and paraffin. I loved it cleansed my hair and scalp without stripping it of moisture; It’s very conditioning. I used a fair enough which gave me a good amount of suds seeing that its sulfate free.

After shampooing, I finger detangled with the conditioner and let that sit for 20 mins with a conditioning cap. I was very impressed with the amount of slip it gave me, which made finger detangling so much easier (aren’t we always on the hunt for the conditioner that gives the perfect slip?). I love that the bottle came with a pump, which made it user to use and apply. A little goes a long way and I found I didn’t use much for my thick curls.

Verdict: I LOVE the products and would recommend it! My hair felt nourished and more manageable with reduced shedding. The smell is an added bonus! The Superfruit Complex range has more amazing products, check out the full range and where to purchase here

It’s my first of many Shea Moisture products! I’m seriously hooked and can’t wait to try the other collections! Which one is best for you? Check out my help chart to help you decide

If you’re looking for the conditioner for the perfect slip, you need to try the Superfruit Complex conditioner. I am excited about this range and I will be looking to purchase the other products too.

See you soon!

Love

Sarah

 

 

Debunking natural hair myths 3: Ignorant hairdresser!

Hey guys, I hope everyone is doing great! If you read my previous debunking natural hair myths, Part 1>> http://wp.me/p1uQOd-Ju Part 2 >>http://wp.me/p1uQOd-JM  you would know it was inspired by things I heard or read. Today’s post however was inspired by a conversation I overheard lol yesterday between a ‘hairdresser’ and another man.

He said

Natural hair is just a trend that will die down soon. You know how people catch on to trends. They will realise its expensive and it’s not suitable for UK weather. Natural hair is not versatile, there’s not much you can do with it

Because I was eavesdropping (lol, well I wasn’t I was in the next room and the door was open lol) I couldn’t just barge in and lecture him. I thought about what I heard all the way home and how it’s a pity to hear this from a hairdresser. He’s probably the type to convince you to relax your hair if you walked into his salon. Anyway today’s post will focus on debunking all the myths he said

  1. Natural hair is a trend- I think this is subjective depending on who you talk to. For instance, if you talk to someone who has seen a lot of perfectly defined twist outs and amazing voluminous hair, they are somehow led to believe that will be their case once they transition. They don’t really know what goes into that process aka pre poo, detangle, wash, deep condition, LOC then twist, dry, fluff then ROCK lol. So they transition only to find it’s not the case and give up, it is to those people that natural hair is a trend. I believe most things started off as a trend but stuck because people found it worked for them and they liked it. I also I believe if you did your research prior to transitioning and you had a personal reason/issue why you transitioned aka you had damaged hair etc, and you believe transitioning to natural hair is the only way to recovery, then  you are more likely to keep your natural hair afterwards. it will not die down for those people that has become their lifestyle
  2. Natural hair is expensive- I must confess I thought the same thing when I first became natural, and of course I thought I needed a separate conditioner to detangle and condition. I also thought I needed 10000 different oils for my hair. But now I believe it’s either more or less expensive than relaxed hair. It will cost whatever you put into it. I can have natural hair and use the bare minimum products or relaxed hair with the most products. But for the sake of this man, let’s look at some prices comparisons of natural and relaxed hair products in the same category.

Shampoos

Relaxed hair- Elasta QP shampoo for relaxed hair £2.49/237ml

Natural hair- Motions nourish and acre active moisture shampoo £2.99/473ml

Conditioner

Relaxed hair- Olive oil formula replenishing conditioner- £2.99/250ml

Natural Hair- Eco natural cocktail conditioner- £2.99/8oz

 

I could go on. It’s what you decide to buy.  A lot of these products are suitable for all hair types too. I think the main reason people think it’s expensive is 1. Some time ago, companies that made natural hair products were very limited hence the high price 2. I believe when you transition or first become natural there is a lot of products that are thrown at you that you want to try out, hence you buy, buy, buy. Trust me when I say about 60% of products you would buy in the first year of been natural will not work for you. As you experiment and play around with different products, you will know your staple products and what works best for your hair.

If he is saying natural hair is more expensive because of all the styling products or oils we buy, once again he is wrong because we just swapped wrapping/setting lotions for curl defining cremes/gels and so forth. But again this really depends on the individual and how much they are willing to spend on their hair products

  1. It’s not suitable for UK weather- 1st of all, no hair is ever suitable for UK weather lol that’s why we got weaves, braids and wigs. Say no more
  2. Natural hair is not versatile, there’s not much you can do with it- well mister take a look at the countless videos on YouTube and decide for yourself

I hope I did a good job debunking these myths, what do you guys think? I would love to hear others opinions on some stuff he said, make sure you comment below: whether you’re relaxed or natural!

Naturals do you think been natural is more expensive than when you were relaxed? People that transitioned but when back to relaxing their hair, what made you go back? Was it a trend for you or did you find it difficult/ not enough time? Do you think I am been defensive because I am natural?

It really gets on my nerves to hear ignorant stuff about natural hair, what people decide to do with their hair is their personal business so why say foolish things about something just because it’s not the norm?. Anyway let me go and drink this tea and apply my oils and sleep lol.

Love

Sarah

Anita Grants Natural Hair Products

Hey family, how is everyone? So taking a much needed break from our Lush Cleansers series, we will be going back to our product collections for natural hair ( y’all thought it was over? Lol). Today we are looking at Anita Grant, one of UK top brands for natural hair. They have a lot of products so let’s dive right in!

Shampoos, Cleansers and Co-wash

  1. African black soap
  2. Babassu alma shampoo bar
  3. Babassu lavender rose shampoo bar
  4. Curl conditioning clay hair wash
  5. Organic kelp and ylang babassu shampoo bar
  6. Peppermint babassu shampoo bar
  7. Unscented babassu shampoo bar
  8. Curl cleansing co-wash conditioner (citrus mint, rosemary mint, unscented)

Most of the shampoo bars are 110g however they also provide bars in smaller sizes e.g. 40g

clays

Deep Conditioners/ leave in conditioners

  1. Banana rhassoul deep condish ( 90g and 940 g)
  2. Black strap molasses and organic slippery elm deep condish block
  3. Curl conditioning milk ( different versions)
  4. Marshmallow rhassoul deep condish
  5. Original rhassoul deep condish
  6. Raspberry rhassoul deep condish

curl milk

Natural Hair pomades

  1. Organic sapote and coconut pomade

Floral Waters and spritzers

  1. Aloe rose oil free hair spritz
  2. Aloe vera gel
  3. Aloe vera seaweed gel
  4. Grapefruit floral water
  5. Jasmine floral water
  6. Lavender floral
  7. Organic rose geranium floral water
  8. Organic rose water
  9. Organic witch hazel
  10. Ylang ylang floral water

Organic natural hair oils

  1. Organic virgin argan oil
  2. Cucumber kissi hair and body oils
  3. Japanese camellia kissi oil
  4. Monoi de Tahiti castor hair oil
  5. Monoi de Tahiti tiare
  6. Organic andiroba oil
  7. Organic babassu oil
  8. Organic burdock root oil
  9. Organic carrot oil
  10. Organic sapote oil
  11. Organic virgin castor oil
  12. Organic virgin coconut castor hair oil
  13. Organic virgin coconut oil
  14. Pink grapefruit kissi oil
  15. Unrefined baobab oil
  16. Virgin pataua oil

anita-grant-hair-oils

Natural organic hair butters

  1. Creamy café latte leave in detangle conditioner ( unscented , vanilla )
  2. Organic sapote shea
  3. Unrefined shea
  4. Virgin mango butter coconut whip
  5. Whipped butter leave in moisture sealing conditioner (Lavender and sandalwood, monoi de Tahiti, pink grapefruit , unscented and lemon sponge)

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That’s a whole lot of products from start (Cleansing) to finish (styling). I have been able to find a few videos on some of the products, I also contacted them a while back to ask for products to review for this series but to no avail. Let’s take a look at the videos, I tried to get as many covering different products as most of the ones I found were on the condish cubes.

 

 

 

 

Anyways what do you guys think? Anita Grant is based here in the UK for those of you wondering. For more information or to make a purchase please visit the website> http://anitagrant.com/ . Most of the products come in smaller sizes if you wanted to test them out before getting a full sized product. i got the pictures from their facebook page

Let me if you have any of these products

Until next time

Love

Sarah

Remember if you are natural and live in the UK, there is still time to fill out my survey to help with my project, here’s a link >> http://goo.gl/forms/7sV14kVhLf 

 

 

 

Curl Care Collection by Dr Miracle

Hey naturalistas!

Another product collection for you to think about! This whole series is aimed at giving you information about the different product collections out there for naturals. We have gone through a lot so take a look around, you may spot your fav brand.

This time we will be going through the Curl care collection by Dr Miracle. I couldn’t find any information on the official website so, I am going with what I found on British Curlies. They are pretty accurate with their stuff and usually stock full collections however if you spot that I missed something do let me know.

So the full collection is as follows

curl-care2

  1. Dr Miracles blow out foam
  2. Dr Miracles leave in conditioner
  3. Dr Miracles weightless moisturising crème
  4. Dr. Miracles soft hold crème
  5. Dr Miracles soothing elixir
  6. Dr. Miracles rehydrating shampoo
  7. Dr Miracles moisturising growth balm
  8. Dr Miracles nourishing conditioner
  9. Dr Miracles strong hold gel

A good sized collection and looks good to me but what are people saying about it

Reviews

 

 

 

Mixed reviews but what do you guys think? Let me know in the comments below! Here in the UK, you can you purchase the full collection online on British Curlies >> http://shop.britishcurlies.co.uk/dr-miracles/

Let me knows your thoughts guys

Until next time

Love

Sarah

 

 

SHEA MOISTURE AFRICAN BLACK SOAP

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Hey guys, welcome back. As discussed previously, we are going through all the Shea moisture product collections for natural hair, complete with reviews and where to purchase in the UK! This is to help shea moisture virgins like me Lol (yes there are some of us) who have never used any of their products before. We have already looked at the coconut and hibiscus line which can be found here if you missed it >>http://wp.me/p1uQOd-Bq . Now, let’s get into today’s post!

The African black soap collection aims to calm and clarify dry, itching and flaking scalp. It helps to remove product build up while moisturising and conditioning for healthy looking hair. The main ingredients are as follows

  1. Plantain enzyme- helps to calm itching and irritation
  2. Tea tree oil- removed build up for enhanced shine and volume
  3. Willow bark extract- exfoliates and detoxifies hair and scalp

It’s not a big collection, just 4 products in the range which are

  1. African black soap purification mask
  2. African black soap dandruff and dry scalp elixir
  3. African black soap deep cleansing shampoo
  4. African black soap balancing conditioner

Reviews

 

 

 

 

I must say I am a HUGE fan of African black soap especially for skin.  It’s the ULTIMATE DETOX/CLARIFIER! I have been using it for the last month and a half and I am already seeing results. It’s quite harsh though, it has the potential to dry out the skin so I am interested to see how it works on the hair without stripping all the moisture or oils. Anyway if you have this line let me know how it’s working for you and which product you will recommend.  Here in the UK you can purchase the full collection on British Curlies >> http://shop.britishcurlies.co.uk/categories/SheaMoisture/?sort=featured&page=2 . Shea moisture’s website will give you plenty of information on the line >>http://www.sheamoisture.com/African-Black-Soap_c_119.html

That’s all folks for now, next we will be talking the latest collection, the super fruits complex!

Until then

With love

Sarah

CURL HARMONY

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Hey family! I hope everyone is doing great. So I have been working hard searching for the best UK based brands for you and voila, I came across Curl Harmony!

Curl Harmony is a UK based natural hair company that produces products free from harmful chemicals e.g. sulphates, silicones and petrochemicals.  All products are made with natural or naturally derived ingredients with minimum amounts of fragrance oils.

In simpler terms, the products have been formulated using luxurious natural ingredients to suit every curly girl’s needs! I’m talking to my type 4 sistas and type 2 a/b/z (lool I don’t think there is a type 2z…. yet…)

So it’s a good collection featuring all the essentials: a cleanser, deep conditioner and a leave in conditioner! The full product list is as follows:

  1. Curl Cleanser
  2. Smoothing conditioner
  3. Leave in conditioner
  4. Intensive repair deep conditioner
  5. Buttercream
  6. Curl reviver

Since you guys don’t mind not having pictures of every single product (thank God lol), I will be doing these collections without them, Lord knows I am running out of storage on my WordPress account lool.

Review time!

 

 

So I have been speaking to the lovely Nadine, the owner of Curl Harmony who sent me some products to review! I got the

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  • Leave in conditioner
  • Deep treatment mask
  • Buttercream

So you guys are in for a first impressions/ full review from me! I’m sorry I can’t try all the products I feature in this series lol (I’m only human with a limited amount of space and one head of hair lool, but remember this series is to bring you information on the brands out there for us and where to purchase them in the UK, if I happen to use it of course I will add a personal review for you guys J)

So look out for more information about these products soon, wash day is close by! Lool. Here in the UK you can get the full product range on their website > http://www.curlharmony.co.uk?tap_a=3216-11cfd5&tap_s=4594-418706

That’s all folks. I am really happy you guys are enjoying this series. I have loads more to come. I have realised in doing this series that, there are a lot of companies that now have a natural hair product collection from just catering to relaxed girls previously. Obviously the quality of these are yet to be determined by us. There are also a LOT of natural hair companies that offer great products. There are also UK based companies with really great products waiting to be discovered by us. (Did I just get deep there? Lool)

So until next time (off I go to enjoy my curl harmony products and my days off lol)

Love

Sarah

 

 

NUNAAT GARLIC MAGIC COLLECTION FIRST IMPRESSIONS

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Hey guys, so a few weeks ago nuNAAT sent me the Garlic Magic collection to review. This post will be on my first impression on the use of their products, let’s get started! Check out my posts pervious posts on the collection for more information about them >> http://wp.me/p1uQOd-yV

So I got sent the shampoo, conditioner and intensive mask and coincidentally it was wash day a couple days later lool. So I detangled with the conditioner and let that sit for about 10 mins as a pre-poo treatment then I went ahead and shampooed with the shampoo. The shampoo lathers well and did a good job of cleansing the scalp. A little goes a long way! I lathered once because you get a rich foam with just a little bit.

For my ingredient savvy readers, yes it contains sulfate but it didn’t strip my hair because I did the pre poo treatment. I then deep conditioned with the intensive mask for 25 mins. The mask reminds me of the NAAT cream garlic and Cupuacu, a full review of that can be seen here >> http://wp.me/p1uQOd-zJ . To think of it, they both smell the same.

Verdict- my first experience with this was good. I will bring you a more in depth review after I use it a bit more, so let’s say end of the month? Watch out for that then, in the meantime, we will carry on with our product collections.

Until next time

Love

Sarah