Black Friday: Bee Mine Organics

Hello Saints! Bee Mine organic products are the staple brand for me and my family's hair care. I have been using there products since I began my healthy hair care journey in 2011. I had learned about Bee Mine through the Hairlicious blog by Sunshyne. She is a relaxed hair and beauty blogger with the most beautiful relaxed hair I have ever seen. She has been my encouragement through my own hair care journey.

This year I have been ordering the special edition CurlBox Natural by CurlBox. This pass May Natural Box featured all Bee Mine products so needless to say I was FLOORED seeing my staple brand in my box!  There were 5 FULL sized products.  They were Deja's Hair Milk, Luscious Moisturizer, Curly Butter, Juicy Daily Spritz and Daily Conditioner. This special edition box does NOT require a subscription but just like the subscription box, they do sell out fast.  If you would like to learn more about CurlBox please click here.

CurlBox Natural

Hello there Saints! CurlBox. For $20 (plus $5 shipping) a month you would recieve a pakage with samples and/or full sized products for hair care to try. I learned about monthly hair care subscriptions through various blogs and social media on the web. I am not a full blown product junkie. Lets just say I'm a "watered down" product junkie (Teehee). So, I like to try various hair products here and there. And if you are like me, who is fruggle when it come to spending funds, you are always on the lookout for getting the most bang for your bucks.

2015 Updates

Hey there Saints! I know, long time no posts from me. Well, I'm not going to lie, I went into pout mode after my heat damage episode in December 2013. Even with my blog posts in 2014, my heart just was not in it like I know it should be. I felt if I am going to blog, it has to be all or nothing.  I want my blog posts to be encourgaing and uplifting to the readers. So, with that being said lets get to the update! :o)

VO5 Conditioner & Eco Styler Gel

Hello Saints and Happy New Year! Process of elimination continues.... So, for awhile I had been wearing my hair in flat twist outs and recently wash n' goes. When I put my leave-in and/or curly pudding in my hair then apply my Eco Styler Gel I would end up with little white clumps in my hair. My hair looked ashy and white for some reason. I did not have it before but now I did. So, I had to recap. I washed my little girls hair (she's 7yrs old) last week. Shampoo'd, oil rinsed, AVC rinsed and then conditioned her hair with VO5 Moisture Milk Conditioner. When I began to twist her hair I applied her leave-in, curly butter and sealed with my whipped shea butter. As soon as I put the Eco gel on, her hair clumped with little white balls. I remembered whenever I used VO5 conditioner and gel in her hair, it did not mix well at all. 

COWashing

Hello Saints! I have been on my natural hair journey for 3 months and have been COWashing (conditioner only washing) my hair 1-2x weekly in place of shampooing weekly. Cowashing is a great alternative to daily or weekly shampooing to help increase moisture and condition the hair in between washes. 

Update: Natural Journey

Hello there Saints! So sorry for being MIA. Tis' the season for preparation of the upcoming holidays. Well, here I am 2 months later fully natural and LOVING IT!!! I could not have imagine that I could see myself wear my homegrown natural hair. It is such an amazing accomplishment for me! I feel so free and uninhibited being a naturalista. :o)

Now, let me get to the nitty gritty of my natural journey 2 months in. First off, all is well. I'm retaining length still and my hair is growing quite well. I did have a problem area that I really was not aware of until I cut the remaining relaxed ends off. It's an area in my crow that the hair broke off and the texture is on the course side as if it was not getting enough TLC. Given that I have been giving that specific area the TLC it needs to get it going again. It is beginning to soften up and the texture is starting to feel more like the rest of my hair which is good thing. I make sure, when I moisturize, I pay additional attention to that area as well as when I cleanse and oil my scalp.

Operation: Length Retention

Sensationnel Up-Do

Hello Saints! Now that I am confident in caring for my transitioning hair, I have now began focusing on ways to retain my length. I had mentioned before in a previous post about Operation: Length Retention, so in this post I will share with you what I plan on doing through out my transition to help retain length and commitments I am making to see it happen.

What is Operation: Length Retention?

It is methods, styles and products I am using and/or doing to help minimize breakage in order to retain length. Our hair is always growing however if we are not protecting our strands from breaking, we will not see the growth that is happening. I do not believe there is anything that can make the hair grow, however I do believe there are products and supplements that can help strength our hair and keep our scalp healthy for growth.

Transitioning to Natural: 10 Months Post

Hello Saints! Another month down which now puts me at 10 months post! That is absolutely amazing to me. It truly is. I may sound as if this transitioning to natural is an easy thing but it surely is not! Transitioning hair takes alot of commitment and dedication. The hair is battling with two totally different textures and somehow I have to figure out how to give both textures the care and needs that are required. Now at 10 months post, my natural texture is truly overruling what is left of my relaxed ends. I have trimmed my ends some but I'm going to go to a salon and get a professional trim soon. It will more than likely be after the kids go back to school which is this month. 

The BEST Flat Twist Out EVER!

Hello Saints! Last month I ordered for the first time the Ouidad $5 sample pack which included two gels, a leave-in, shampoo and conditioner. I got an additional free sample of my choice plus free shipping with this offer. At the time of this special, Ouidad was also offering a 5 day Deal of the Day. Each day they had a special package offer or free products with a purchase. On day 4 of the special, with ANY purchase you would receive their Moisture Lock Leave-In Conditioner 6oz and Sun Shield Sun & Sport Leave-In Spray 8.5oz for FREE. Those two products together is $37. Talk about savings!! So needless I took advantage on this day and ordered my daughter and I the $5 sample pack and received an additional sample and the 2 full size leave-ins for free and free shipping too! I could not pass this deal up! :o)

Transitioning to Natural: 8 Months Post

Hello Saints! Today is my 8th month in my journey to natural.  My hair's current length is shoulder length and all is well. I'm still on my regular standard hair care regimen with trying various products here and there.

Daily

Every day I moisturize with S-Curl No Drip and seal with 100% sweet almond oil.  Before bed I will pull my hair back into a loose bun or do flat 2-strand twists then cover with my satin scarf or bonnet. 

Extra Virgin Coconut How To's

Hello Saints! How I love me some pure extra virgin coconut oil. I started using it when I started my hair care journey in 2011. It is such a versatile oil. It is one of the ingredients I use in my oil mix I use for my face and body. I have used coconut oil as an overnite treatment before my wash day. It can be used for cooking but I have yet to cook with it though. Whatever way I use it, I always purchase extra virgin coconut oil. There's several brands to choose from but my personal choice has been Nutiva Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil. 

Shampoo Day Essentials

Hello Saints!  In order for me to have a sucessful shampoo day, these are my must have items:

1. Comb for detangling
2. Salon mixing bowl
3. Teaspoon
4. Application brush
5. Plastic cap
6. T-shirt

Okay, now I will share why these are my essentials for my shampoo day. 

BEE MINE All the Time

Hello Saints! I pray all is well with everyone. The holidays are over but the the hair journey must go one! LOL

So, for a while I was looking for a moisturizing deep conditioner. I wanted it to be protein free since I like use Aphogee Two Minute for my weekly protein treatment and I follow up with a moistruizing deep conditioning. I had tried various sample packs from Sally Beauty and others from department stores like Walmart. I had some great results but I was not too impresed with some of the ingredients. Sometimes my hair would be moisturized after the rinse but once completely dry it was dull and bone dry as if I had not deep condition.

Jamaican Black Castor Oil

Hello Saints! When I started my healthy hair care journey I was not too knowlegable about oils for the hair.  In fact the only oil I knew about growing up was grease.  The only grease I really remember seeing used in my house was Blue Magic or Royal Crown Hair Dressing.  Now after a year of being on a hair care journey, I have almost become an oil junky! There are some oils I have still yet to test out but there is no rush there since I am pretty content with the oils I am currently using in my hair care. One  being Jamaican Black Castor Oil.  I knew about castor oil but have NEVER heard of black castor oil.  Honestly what I did know about castor oil was it was used as a laxative and to help induce labor (I do not know if it works for labor though).  I did not know that it could be used for the hair. Now that I am continuously researching on how to properly care for my hair as well as my family's hair as a whole, I started to see castor oil and black castor oil appear.

 

I started using JBCO almost a year ago when I needed some assistance with growing my edges back in when pretty much my whole hair line broke. My edges suffered the most. I came across Hairlicious and read about how JBCO can help with thickening and promoting growth of the hair. There after I began to Google and Bing about all the benefits of JBCO and where I can purchase some.  Here are a few benefits or using JBCO:

Deep Conditioning Treatment

Hello Saints! Well, it is Friday! Today I am going to do my deep condtioning treatment. I have faithfully been doing deep conditioing treatments once a week. Even when I do not feel like it, I get it done. There are somethings that I do not want to slack in and one of them is being diligent about my hair care. :o)

Last week I ran out of my Beautiful Textures Deep Moisture deep conditioner so I needed to restock. This was a great opportunity to try something different. This time I picked up Elasta QP DRP-11 deep conditioner. I had used it before a few years ago when I was relaxing my hair. They have changed the ingredients since so I am giving it another try on my now texlaxed hair.

Texlaxed

Hello Saints! After a 7 month stretch I texlaxed my hair Friday October 5th. It was the 2nd time this year doing a texlax. I was quite suprised that I was able to stretch as long as I did. I use to faithfully get a touch up every 8 weeks when I would completely relax my hair. Me, go without a chemical service for 7 months? WHAT??!! That was the past and now I am looking forward to the future.

Dominican Hair Product: Crece Pelo Natual Leave-In

Hello Saints! I pray all is well with everyone this day. We had a wonderful weekend. The weather was great so the family and I went to Busch Gardens for the day. We had a wonderful time in the Lord!

 

Well for a while now I had a curiousity about Dominican hair care products. I had my first dominican blow out a few months ago and my curiosity peaked. I wanted to know how is it that women can get this high heat technique once weekly and even sometime twice weekly without seeing damage. We all know that high heat can be harmful to the hair. So of course I started to Google and Bing research about the heat protectants that are used when salon blow outs are done. Primarily I researched domican blow out treatments and products.

Ayurvedic Friday: Henna Treatment

Hello Saints! I did my second Jamila henna treatment today! However... I did not leave it overnite since I wanted more conditioning then color. I also used coconut milk instead of tea or water.

Side Note: The quanity of henna mix I made is according to the current length of my hair which is ear lenth. As my hair grows the amounts of my ingredients used will increase based on my length

Here are my ingredients:

• 2tbsp Jamila henna
• coconut milk
• 1tbsp Wild Growth oil mix (I had added other oils to it a while back)
• 1tsp Navratna Oil Lite (more for the scent then the benefits)
• 2tsp honey
• 2tsp Maka powder

After mixing, I covered the mix and let it sit for about 3 hours then applied to my dry prepoo'd hair. I covered my hair with a plastic cap and left it in for 4 hours then cowashed it out using Jason Aloe Vera 84% Conditioner. There after I did a moisturizing deep conditioning treatment using Beautiful Textures Rapid Repair Deep Conditioner with heat for 30 minutes. Cowashed that out as well using Herbal Essences Hello Hydration conditioner (you know I had to put moisture back in). After all said and done...drum roll.... IT WAS THE BEST TREATMENT EVER!!. I actually still did get some color but still yet my hair feels sooooo amazingly soft and strong. I love it! I'm going to do this again next Friday (my designanted Ayurvedic treatment day)!

Ear Length = HIGH MAINTENANCE!

So this Sunday will be a month since I cut my grazing shoulder length hair to ear length. Let me tell you, this is a high mantenance length for me! I am doing all I can to keep from using heat on my hair. My first week I was a mess. I was in tears trying to figure out what to do with my hair. I work out 5+ days a week so I cowash my hair every other day. It is a must since I sweat like rain drops. It has been almost 4 months since I texlaxed my hair, so that is an added trial to the situation (yes, it's a situation to me). What did I do? I did the best thing I know to do....I PRAYED! 

First Henna Treatment

Hello Saints! Sunday night I had applied my very first ayurvedic hair treatment called 'Henna'. This treatment is one of many ayurvedic conditioning treatments that helps strengthen and improve overall health of the hair from roots to ends. Henna also helps premature greying and promotes growth of the hair. It is an all natural way to permenantly color treat the hair including the grey ones without chemicals. That is one of the other reasons I had applied the henna treatment outside of conditioning. I made my mix Saturday evening since it takes 12-24 hours for the dye to release. I applied the henna to my dry pre-oil conditioned hair Sunday evening prior to go going to bed and left it in overnite to let it do its conditioning and color creation. I used 3.5oz of Jamila henna, 1.5 cups of brewed green tea which I had added honey and lemon then mixed in some various oils. I rinsed it out Monday morning with water and conditioner only. No shampoo. There after I did do a moisturizing deep conditioning treatment with heat which is a must since henna can be drying to the hair.