Search Results: Priscilla
In June of this year I got the opportunity to try some Brock Beauty products, including Infinite Lash, Essentious Shampoo and Conditioner and the well-known Hairfinity Hair Vitamins. To give a genuine review of Hairfinity and Essentious products, I have to start from the very beginning.
I purchased and started taking Hairfinity hair vitamins in the spring of this year, but after one and a half bottles, I stopped. Mostly, because I’m not very good at keeping up with a daily anything, and also because I did a poor job of documenting any growth I might have noticed if I had done better.
Then, I started again in mid June, when I received all the Brock Beauty products to try. The results have been a bit difficult to see so far, because my hair is so very coily! I also have a bad habit of getting scissor happy when I don’t like the way my ends feel. Sometime in June, I cut off a lot on my ends, and I also got a good trim on the back and sides of my hair at the beginning of July.
I know that I had an index finger’s length of hair that was a chemically texturized around March, and today, 6 months later, after all the cutting and trimming, I have all natural new growth that has grown to about the same length. That’s about 4.5 inches of growth in 6 months, which means that my growth hasn’t necessarily been exponential, but it has been more than the average, steady 1/2 inch per month, especially when you take into account all the trimming. Also, in the back, where I cut it down to a half inch to one inch at the beginning of July, it is already about 1.75 to 2.5 inches, which means I’m getting a solid half inch every month, and I’m happy with that!
On May 27th, before using Hairfinity»
On July 22, after using Hairfinity»
My Coily Texture on August 20»
I also have a sneaking suspicion that all those lovely ingredients have had a wonderful effect on the way my hair feels. Overall my hair tends to feel softer and more manageable and moisturized than it ever has. It also looks more full and shows less and less of my scalp when I do twist-outs. That used to be a major problem after my first big chop. I had let my hair grow a little longer then, but it was not as full as it is today! I have two patches of thinning hair that I believe are due to damage from when I used to relax. I can still see my scalp, and some of it is very fine baby hair near my hairline, but seems a little thicker and longer there than before. I know that isn’t only due to what I put on the outside of it.
Now, I want to take at least a month or two and carefully track my growth with the Hairfinity Vitamins. Then, I will report back with more fabulous results! This time I will be using my hair color as a marker for my growth, as I got my hair colored on September 6th and a new round of Hairfinity vitamins around the same time.
Read on for my review of the Essentious Shampoo and Conditioner on pg 2…
Read More: My Brock Beauty Makeover: Infinite Lash
Essentious
When I looked up the ingredient lists for these line of Essentious products on their website, I was pleased to find a very natural line-up of ingredients in each. Here’s my honest review of them.
Exonerate Gentle Shampoo
I’m not usually big on using shampoos because my coily, springy hair is naturally dry and wiry. It needs all the moisture it can get, so I usually prefer to use cleansing conditioner. That’s why I was honestly not that excited about trying the Essentious Exonerate shampoo, gentle or not. I don’t wash or co-wash more than once a week, but since I sometimes use products with silicones, I do have a need for something stronger than a cleansing conditioner to remove buildup every once in a while. When I read that there are no harsh sulfates in the Exonerate shampoo that would strip my hair of natural oils, it raised my hopes a little higher, and I tried it out.
After washing my hair with Exonerate, I could tell that the buildup had been removed and my hair and scalp were left feeling clean yet not dried out or tangled. My hair is pretty short, so I usually don’t need a lot to begin with, but I still got the impression that a little bit of Exonerate goes a long way. I only needed to wash once for that satisfyingly clean feeling.
If your hair naturally dry or very coily hair, I would recommend this shampoo only for times when you need to effectively remove days or weeks of buildup without losing the barrier of moisture that you have built up around your hair. If you have looser curls that like shampoos, you could probably enjoy using this shampoo twice or more a week.
Essentious Hydrate Conditioner
Right after rinsing out the shampoo, I massaged in the Essentious Hydrate Conditioner. It had a pretty thick consistency that those with finer strands might not appreciate. My hair, somewhere between medium and fine, happily soaked up the moisture from the Hydrate Conditioner, so I gave it a little more. Although Hydrate is pretty thick, my hair seemed to hold on to the moisture from it. It was easy to work into my hair for a great detangling experience. Conditioners are my go-to product of choice, but what I hate the most, is a thick, un-spreadable conditioner that sits on my hair and then leaves it drier than when I started. Hydrate proved to be the opposite of this.
My hair felt super soft and slick (in a very nice way”> after cowashing with the conditioner and using some leave-in conditioner mixed with vegetable glycerine. Even in the dry air conditioned office, my hair felt really wonderful which is never the result of just using leave-in conditioner with glycerine, so it must have been from using the Hydrate conditioner. I couldn’t stop touching my hair that day!
Because Hydrate does contain proteins, it should make a good strengthening and moisturizing rinse out conditioner. As much as we curlies love to leave in a little conditioner, I would not recommend using Hydrate as a leave-in. Any buildup of protein in your hair may leave it feeling dry and straw-like. I tried it as a leave in mixed with vegetable glycerin and the results were okay, but the most benefits of the conditioner seem to come with massaging it in and then rinsing it out.
Read More: Top Fall Hair Accessories
Final Thoughts
If you’re looking for a way to do a beauty makeover, I would recommend giving Brock Beauty products a try. My favorites out of the ones I experimented with were the Hairfinity Hair vitamins and the Infinite Lash serum because they produced the effect of a dramatic makeover with my own natural hair and lashes! Besides, who doesn’t enjoy a good before and after story?
Interested in trying out Hairfinity or Essentious? You can find out more at hairfinity.com and essentious.com.
In the spirit of Solange’s Twitter posts last Thursday, I’m about to rant a little bit. Solange is sick of the natural hair police and frankly, so am I. Wearing your hair naturally, the way it grows out of your head is supposed to be liberating for us all. As a community of naturally curly folks, we have the opportunity to encourage one another to embrace our natural textures and to rock our curls, twirls, waves and coils however we please. Shouldn’t being natural be about being free from the pressures to conform to what other people say is an acceptable way to wear are hair?
I know that it makes many naturals furious, or at the very least a bit annoyed, when someone tries to say a curly should straighten because it looks more…you fill in the blank. So why are we doing this to each other now? Actress Nicole Ari Parker said it well on MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry show: “We even judge each other—we were just talking about Solange being very upset on Twitter, but it’s because there is still this thing about getting your hair done. Whether it’s an afro, whether its twists or braids or relaxers, everybody wants their hair done, so [Solange] — you know, embraces just get up and go, and she’s beautiful.”
This natural hair movement that’s more than a movement has finally given us a new sense of pride about our hair and about ourselves. Why kill that by cutting each other down? At the very least, can’t we can agree to disagree about how we want to wear our own hair?
Maybe I’m just being too idealistic, but this is what I think. More importantly, though, what do you think?
At 10:30 am on Sunday morning the scissors came out — nail scissors, that is. Yes, I use nail scissors to trim my hair, because they are pretty sharp and I don’t have proper shears, nor do I have any inclination to shell out any cash for some good ones.
I know I don’t really have time to properly trim my whole head, but I keep trimming here and there. I started snipping out of pure frustration with my dry chemically texturized ends. This kind of thing runs in my family. My mom and one of my sisters are known for their impromptu, self-trimming sessions. You might think it’s crazy, but somehow it always turns out well, to the point that we get compliments on our new cuts.
My TWA Hair Trimming Tips
Maybe you’ve stayed up too late with your hands in your hair, wishing there was 24-hr hair salon somewhere or maybe you’d just like some tips on how to self-trim your TWA. If you’ve ever been there, here are some tips that could save you from the frustration of a self-trimming disaster.
- Nail scissors: If you have legitimate shears, that’s great, but since I don’t and many of you might not, you might have a pair of tiny, razor sharp nail scissors that came with that nail care kit of yours. If not, you can easily purchase some without breaking the bank or doing any the kind of research that would make investing in some good shears worth it.
- How much to cut: First, start out with dry hair. If you need to, you can go back and wet it some later in the cut to make the straighter, drier ends stand out from healthier, curly roots. Because I had dry, stringy, chemically texturized ends, it was easier to tell what I wanted to cut off. If you have dry or damaged ends you may be able to feel the difference and know where you want to cut. When in doubt, trim off less because you can always go back and trim more off. FYI: I did not stretch or blow out my hair prior to trimming.
- Gather twist and cut: I’m obviously not a professional, just a coily who believes that desperate times call for desperate measures. You can modify it, but this is the technique I used. I would gather a small section of coils, no more than half an inch wide, slide my fingers down to the tips of the hair, twist the ends once in my hand and clip the hair just below my fingers. The twisting was a method I developed to help ensure that I was trimming all the hair I had gathered. If your hair is longer or less coily and more curly, if it tends to hang a little more than it sticks out, then I think this method might produce an interesting effect, like maybe increased volume (but I can’t be sure”>. I’m pretty sure, though, that it will keep you from having blunt, unnatural looking cuts. For my 4c TWA, I can’t really see any visual effects created by this method.
- Keep trimming: I would be playing in my hair even weeks later and find more hair to trim off. This is totally fine. Just grab your nail scissors and keep trimming to perfect your cut.
- Use shrinkage to your advantage: I find that shrinkage can be a self-trimmer’s best friend. Just remember, less is more when you are trimming because if you wear your hair in an un-streched state, it will of course look even shorter when it shrinks. How is this a good thing? Well, if you have a TWA that you can pat into place, shrinkage can help to conceal some unevenness in your cut. I know that when I finished my cut it was NOT even by any stretch of the imagination. Yet, one of the first compliments I got was about how smooth and even it looked! If your TWA is uneven when you finish, try this method to fake a smooth flawless cut. Wet, or for better results, cowash your hair, then slather your TWA with as much slippery, curl-enhancing conditioner or leave-in your hair can take. It needs to be something you can leave in that won’t produce white residue. I used some USE Me Moisturizer and Curl Junkie Curl Rehab to moisturize and encourage my coils. With the pads of your fingers make small gentle circular motions in your hair starting at the roots and moving up till your fingertips are hovering over the ends. You can also smooth or rake — whatever you do to encourage curls and coils. For my 4c (1.5 inch stretched”> TWA I made small circular motions in my hair to help my coils clump.
- Encourage clumping: My coils have never really clumped, but since I don’t ever use a comb or brush, just conditioner and my fingers so it doesn’t get tangled, amazingly it has started to clump. In the shower or sink, sprinkle or splash cold water over your hair to help distribute the conditioner. You can pat with a microfiber towel, paper towel or tissue very gently or press some of the water out with your hands, but be careful not to disturb the coils. Get your favorite gel. I like to use Ampro Olive Oil Gel, but today, I’m digging the way Ouidad Climate Control Gel smooths over my coils. Spread the gel in your hands and smooth it gently over your hair like a glaze. If your hair is still dripping, pat, pat, pat very gently with a paper towel or tissue. Also, use that opportunity to pat your TWA into place. You can also pat it into place with just your conditioner coated hands.
If it works for you, you can use this method daily to care for your freshly cut TWA so that it looks as even as if you just stepped out of a salon! If you try out these tips, please share your results! Happy trimming!
Do you self-trim? Do you have any tried and true self-trimming methods?
The other day I was hanging out on Twitter, just checking out what other people are saying under the topic of being curly, when I stumbled upon this trending phrase: “Curly hair, don’t care.”
Being a bit of a newbie to the NaturallyCurly community, I’m wondering where the phrase came from and what exactly does it mean? Is it a positive expression, or could it somehow have a negative connotation? Is it the kind of movement or motto that I might soon see printed on T-shirts and bumper stickers?
Some of the tweets I saw were accompanied by smiling curly, coily or wavy pictures of the tweeters. “Curly hair, don’t care” seems to have become like a motto for these naturally textured women on Twitter who are proudly embracing their texture. For them, perhaps, it is a motto that excepts the challenge of wearing hair naturally curly, coily or wavy. Maybe part of the way they embrace their textured hair is about not caring if others are against their choice, or maybe not caring too much if it rains or if your curls shrink.
Others seemed to use the phrase to express an attitude which doesn’t seem entirely negative, but does equate wearing your natural texture to being lazy or low-maintenance and laid back. Such an interpretation could be offensive to some curlies who are very serious about taking care of their textured tresses, or even find taking care of their curly hair to be anything but low maintenance.
Maybe there isn’t just one of two answers to my question about “Curly hair, don’t care.” It seems to mean various things to people of both similar and different hair textures. But, as a newbie, I wanted to reach out and get the opinion of my fellow community.
What does “Curly hair, don’t care” mean to you? Do you think it is a positive or negative reinforcement for the textured hair community as a whole?
