Product Review No.3 Giovanni Products

On the hair forums I read that Giovanni hair care products are good for all hair types including relaxed hair.  The line is all natural and organic. So yesterday while perusing the aisles at Whole Foods I went down the hair care aisle and saw they had trial sizes. I have had a few problems with itching scalp and bought the Tea Tree shampoo and conditioner.  Each bottle was 1.99 for 2 ounces.

TEA TREE TRIPLE TREAT SHAMPOO
Tri-functional shampoo - alleviates dry, flaky scalp; unclogs pores, removes product build up.

TEA TREE TRIPLE TREAT CONDITIONER
A natural blend of essential oils, minerals, vegetable proteins, tea tree, eucalyptus, rosemary, and peppermint oils. Nourishes and restores strength and shine. Tingly sensation invigorates the scalp.

My hair felt really clean! I mean really clean. So that means the shampoo is moisture striping
and clarifying. It seemed good as a clarifying shampoo. I usually only co-wash and I made sure to only wash my scalp but the shampoo that got on my hair did make it a bit dry. However, I really liked the tingle I felt during the wash.  I think I will be able to use just the  tea tree conditioner to co wash with in the future when my scalp feels itchy.

Update: Not able to just use the conditioner it did not get my hair as clean as I needed it to be.

I recommend following up with a good deep conditioner like Silk Elements Mega Moisturizing

 
Overall I liked it!  I think if your scalp is having a real problem with dandruff and/or itching both products together will help! You can check out the products at the link below.

http://www.giovannihaircare.co.nz/products.htm

UPDATE WEEK 6

I am in my 6th week of this relaxer. I plan to relax at 10 weeks but if my hair is doing well I may stretch to 12 weeks. I know I keep switching up but I really want to stretch to 12 weeks each relaxer. I always get tangly around 9 weeks so that will deterimine if week 10 will be my relaxer week.

Last night I pre-pooed my hair with olive oil and EQP Intense. Today I washed with Hair One for dry hair. I like the tingle of this product and my scalp is really clean.  I DC with ORS Hair Mayo for 30 min. It is a light/ med protein. I felt like my hair needed some strength. I hope I did not protein overload my hair. I then moisturized with  Aphogee Balancer Moisturizer for 10 min  and Silk Elements MM for 5 min.

My hair felt so soft and strong after I air dried. I wanted to know what my hair would feel like without a leave in and it feels GREAT!!!

So  I will be washing with Hair One weeks 1-6 and I have to find a really good detangling shampoo or conditioner to wash with weeks 7-10 or 12. Any suggetions??? I miss the original version of CON!

My next step is to begin a vitamin regime for strength, health and growth. My blog friend at P.S. I love this... told me about the use of  B vitamins and how they help your hair. So I plan to follow Traycee from K.I.S.S. vitamin plan she used to go from APL to WL with relaxed hair.

This came straight from K.I.S.S.

GNC Women's Ultra Mega Vitamin

Super B-Complex with vitamin C & Folic Acid -
Helps Convert Food Into Energy Supports energy production
Helps offset the wear and tear of stress
Assist homcysteine metabolism

Specifically the B's are responsible for the health and maintenance of nerves, eyes, digestion and skin, as well as the processing of carbohydrates, fat and protein, growth, the production of hormones and digestive enzymes, prevention of anemia, maintenance of the sex glands, sebaceous glands and bone marrow.


MSM
provides Sulfur that is a building block for joints, cartilage, skin, hair, and nails, and methyl groups,
that support many biochemical processes in the body and energy production


Biotin is also known as Vitamin H or B7...It helps skin , and hair health..It is important for metabolism of carbohydrates,, proteins and fats

Fish Oil Omega-3....Great source of protein
Doesn't have high saturated fat that fatty meat products have
Omega-3 fatty acids benefit the heart of healthy people and those that are high risk of cardiovascular disease

I do nails too!

Recently, I saw a manicure on a beauty blog that I had to try. I love beauty blogs by the way. I decided to do all my nails with the glitter. It is a fabulous gold glitter french manicure. I had everything but the glitter polish.

I painted my nails with one coat of Sally Hansen Nail Growth Miracle
http://www.sallyhansen.com/product.cfm?product=111

Then one coat of the best top coat in the world Seche Vite LOL! It dries so fast. I love this stuff!!!!

http://seche.com/products/product-83005.html

Then I used one coat of Sinful Colors Nude Satin 109. I tried to find it on the site but it's not available it's similar to this one. But any nude will do.

http://sinfulcolors.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Store_Code=sinfulcolors&Screen=PROD&Product_Code=nail-polish

Then another coat of the Seche Vite top coat.

I waited about a hour to let everything set. Then I did the glitter french part. Sephora has this great gold glitter polish I was going to get but it costs 9.00. I'm on a budget right now.

One of the beauty blogs I read raved about Sally's Beauty Supply version which cost .94. It's a little bottle but Umm Yeah! It's GREAT!! looked similar and did what I needed it to do.

To add the french part you have remove excess polish on the side of the bottle and dot the tip of your nails until you get the desired affect. After adding the french part add one more coat of Seche Vite.

I am totally going back to get all the chunky glitters since it's a trend right now!  Sally's has silver and pink too. The end result is a gel like manicure that should last 7 -10 days!! I just add a little topcoat as needed when it gets dull.

After all that it better last LOL!

UPDATE: This manicure has lasted 8 days!!  No chips!!! I'm only removing it because my naisl have grown out. Make sure you seal the topcoat by adding polish to the front and back of the nail.

UPDATE week 2

First and second wash and length check

Hello All!!

I did my first wash with Creme of Nature shampoo for fine hair. My scalp was jacked up from my relaxer. I had no idea I burned that much! I'm glad there wasn't any hair loss. I conditioned with Intense by EQP. I know I said I don't like it but I didn't have any other conditioner *shrugs* My scalp was still healing and shedding so it didn't matter. I put it in a ponytail and left it alone so it could do what it needed to do.

I did my 2nd wash today Yay!

I used VO5 moisturizing conditioner and really scrubbed the rest of the dead burned scalp flakes out of my hair. My scalp is clean and healed. I deeped conditioned with Silk Elements Moisture intense conditioner. I LOVE this stuff it leaves my hair really soft and silky with minimal detangling needed.

I shedded a lot to me this wash I'm not sure if  it was due to the burning from the relaxer. I plan to do a Aphogee 2 step Protein treatment next wash.

I made my own length check T shirt so that I can measure my hair length. According to the shirt I am 4 inches from BSL(bra strap length) I am super excited about this. I may not reach this goal by my next relaxer and birthday month in March, but surely by my relaxer in May I should be fully BSL barring any set backs. I can't wait. I plan to be slightly bangin by summer. Whipping my hair back and forth!! And by the Fall shoo you better watch out!! LOL!

Hair Goals for 2011 and what I learned

Well as this year comes to an end. I want to reflect on what worked and what didn't for my hair, and what I learned.

I didn't think I would get to know my hair like the hair blogs suggested but I really did.

1. I learned my hair cannot go more then 10 weeks without a relaxer. It gets too tangled and I am too tender headed so this combo equals a disaster waiting, because I won't comb it out making it worse.

2. I need moisture. Good moisturizing conditioners make my hair silky and easy to detangle! Silk Elements is the bomb.com

3. Aphogee 2 Step Protein treatment stopped my shedding immediately! Shut it down! LOL! This is something I will use every six weeks in my hair for strength. That's the protein process that works for me. Basically protein treatments coat the hair. That's why it feels bigger and heavier and it stops shedding.

4.The protective styles are working. The less manipulation the better for my hair.

5. I can relax my own hair now and Botanicals is my go to no lye relaxer.

6. Castor oil is too thick and I need another oil to thin it out. Still looking. UPDATE: olive is my carrier oil.

7. My new goal is waist length hair. I think I can achieve it! When my hair reaches BSL bra strap. I plan to do a good cut and continue to trim until my sides catch up to the back. Then I will continue on with the growth. UPDATE: When my  hair reaches Mid back length (MBL) I will do the cut etc.

8. Hair vitamins work wonders for my hair! Maxi hair is a great vitamin. It contains all the great B's and Biotin etc.
I will add more as they come to me...

Relaxer Update

Well I relaxed. At 10 1/2 weeks post, and colored jet black with clariol Beautiful Browns

My hair grew but I did not do a length check. Oopsie.

I will do the check at first wash!

Looks longer though.

I finally bought the full size Silk Elements Mega Moisturizer on sale at Sa.llys. Loves!

After my color I used a leave in condtioner and air dryed. It made these beautiful waves. I wore my hair like that today. It was pretty.

Well that's all for now.

Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

For Adei

Question: 8-10 weeks for a relaxer?! Go head girl! I need to find a way to stretch out my 5-6 weeks! Do you flat iron your roots? What products do you use? Wait, what texture is your hair considered?

Answers:

I'm still learning my texture. Its between 4A and 4B which I'm learning is very fragile! lacks moisture and breaks so easy if dry.

No I don't flat iron my roots. But I do use a blow dryer if I need to flatten out my roots after week 5 and I'm not wearing a protective style. I use a heat protectant.

Weeks 1 - 4 I old school wrap.

Lately I've been using Silk Elements MegaSilks Moisturizing Conditioner or Herbal Essence Hello Hydration Moisturizing Conditioner. I cowash weekly with VO5 Moisture milks weeks 1-5  and regular wash with Creme of Nature detangling shampoo usually as my relaxer gets older weeks 6 - 8 or10. 

After week 5 I only wear protective styles like ponytails and buns to not manipulate my hair too much. During those weeks I moisturize with Castor oil or olive oil on my new growth and scalp to keep it moisturized and soft. I also use a tiny bit of Scurl No Drip Moisturizer on the length during weeks 1-4(it's not greasy or heavy) and much more during weeks 5- 8 or 10

For me it's all about moisture. Once I realized my hair is really fragile and breaks easy when dry. I'm all about the moisture! This is just what i'm doing right now. I keep trying different things until I get the length, thickness and hair health

I'm trying to get back to mid-back length. I use to relax every 4 weeks but I learned this was too often and too soon.  So that's when I started stretching.

I've learned a lot from the hair blogs that I have linked to my hair blog.

Those women have beautiful  long hair. Check out  Keep it Simple Sister and Hairlicious Inc. those are my go to blogs if I'm trying a new product. But all the blogs I have linked have something to offer.

Then it's just a series of trial and error to see what products your hair responds too. If you have any more questions feel free to ask!  Good luck!

Product Review No.2 Hair One

I tried the Hair One Olive oil cleanser. It was just okay. It left my scalp really tingly and clean. I liked that. But I think this is best used in the earlier weeks of relaxed hair. It did not give me enough slip, nor did it detangle.Itwas supposed to be for dry hair, but I did not feel that moisturized. I will try it again after a new relaxer which is coming up.

My first Product review

I recently went to S.ally's Beauty Supply and bought some samples of hair products that I've read on hair blogs that are good. I bought Hair One hair cleanser, Silk Elements Megasilk Moisturizing Conditioner, Silk Elements Megasilk Moisturizer Reconstructer. I also bought a full size bottle of ElastaQP Intense Conditioner.

I tried the Silk Elements MMC and it was amazing!!! My hair was super moisturized and I will be purchasing the full size bottle and addding this to my regime.

MMR was a little drying but I will  use it when I need a quick protein boost and then add a moisturizer after. which is what I'm supposed to do anyway.

I plan to wash with Hair One this week to see how it cleanses my scalp.

I used the EQP as a dry conditioner before my cowash this week. It had a strong smell and I wasn't sure if I should keep it on my hair but I did.  SMH.

It wasn't very moisturizing and I won't be using it again. It had a lot of alcohol I could smell it and was VERY drying! My hair was not moist the next day and did not feel good when I rinsed. It did feel strong but I was worried about the chemical smell.

So that's my review! I'm in my 7 week stretch for this relaxer. I learned that I can't stretch long like women with thicker hair. My hair is very fine and "should be treated like delicate silk". LOL! per Haute girl!

Geez!!

Oh neglected hair blog so sorry.

I stretched to 17 weeks NEVER again too tangled. I got a relaxer I had a major hair set back because it was to tangled. I should have relaxed at 15 weeks because my hair was not as tangled and I had washed and combed it out.

I will stretch 10-12 weeks here on out I will need to relax on Dec 23. Since it's Fall I'm protective styling until Dec.

I will do protein treatments by Aphogee. I will continue to co wash and I'm re upping on my hair vitamins.
I was full (arm pit length) APL but I trimmed off about 1-2 inches because of the breakage. See a major set back. So my hair is an in between length of  SL and APL

I will be (bra strap length) BSL in 4.5 inches. I'm trying to grow that this stretch. I'm babying my hair and keeping it moisturized.

I measured. It will take about 10 inches to get to waist length. Only 6 inches once I reach BSL.