Natural Hair Product Review: Aunt Jackie’s Knot on My Watch - Instant Detangling Therapy

Hi guys, I’m back with another review! I know. I’m very good to you all! It’s in my nature . This time, I’ll be stepping outside the box (just a smidge) as I bought a detangler. As many of you may have noticed, most naturals use a conditioning product to detangle their hair from roots to end either on wash days, or co-wash days. I wondered if buying a product specific for detangling would benefit my hair, especially as I am desperately trying to combat dryness and breakage on my 4c hair. 

The product claims to be free of sulfates, parabens, mineral oil and petrolatum. It also 'softens, helps restore moisture balance and eliminates knots and tangles for natural curls, coils and waves'. So, did this product work for me? Keep on reading to find out . . .

Ingredients: 

Consistency: The detangler was surprisingly more watery than I hoped it would be. As my hair is very coarse, wiry and quite dry, I think a thicker consistency would have benefitted me more. However, the product was still quite creamy. I give this a one out of two.

Scent: Oooh this stuff smells delish! It is a sweet and fruity scent without being too overpowering and sickly. It also makes me feel as though my hair is clean because it smells so fresh. I give this a two out of two.

Moisturisationess: My hair did feel quite moisturised with it… for a little while. Once the product dried into my hair, it didn’t seem to do much even with the Shea Butter and Olive Oil. I had to use the LOC method to really seal the moisture in and even then, I didn’t feel as though it had gone into the strands. It felt more like it had disappeared! I’ll have to give this a zero out of two. 

Slip/ Detangling: I felt that because the product was quite watery, it detangled my hair quite well and quite quickly it soaked each section well making it easier for my fingers and the comb to pass through. I also didn’t really need to spray my hair with water as the product kinda did it all in one. Yay! Two out of two. 

Price: I bought mine for £4.29 but in most places this retails for £5.99. I think the price is average for this 355ml bottle. Considering you don’t need a lot to detangle your hair, the price is fine for me and the product will last quite a long while. I give this a two out of two.

Overall, this detangler rated:

I do like the way it detangles but the main issues were it consistency and moisture. I feel as though type 4 hair needs a thick creamy product to really combat breakage whilst detangling, and since I’m a lazy natural I’ve realised I like everything to be done at once – exactly what a deep conditioner would do. I did like the product but I don’t think it’s something I can see myself repurchasing, especially as I’d find it difficult to fit into my wash regimen. It’s not moisturising enough to be used during my pre-poo sessions and whilst I deep condition I tend to detangle too. It would most probably be something I use mid-week but detangling mid-week is not something I do often anyway. So yeah, it was lovely, but not for me unfortunately. Thanks anyway Aunt Jackie!

See you soon guys. Zainab xxx

Twist-Out Tutorial for Type 4 Hair

Looks like I forgot to put this up on the blog. Enjoy my twist out tutorial!

Mariama xx

New Jeans using Dylon Machine Dye

Hi guys! This isn't a hair related post, just a little clothing DIY that I'm pretty happy with. Finding a good pair of jeans takes forever for me, I like my jeans to have a bit of stretch in them otherwise I get that huge gap in the back caused by my waist measurement being smaller than my hip measurement. In fact for a long time, I stopped wearing trousers altogether as I could never find a pair that properly fit. So when I finally found jeans that fit me a bit better (Topshop's Leigh Jeans) I was so excited! Unfortunately the price tag didn't excite me - Leigh Jeans are £38-£40 a pop - and for a poor student such as myself, buying several pairs would be out of the question. So when my old ones developed a rip in the thigh that I couldn't mend, I couldn't buy new ones. What to do? What to do? DIY of course!

Instead of buying a full price pair of blue Leigh Jeans, I decided to I buy these jeans for £15 in the Topshop sale and dye them blue:

I looked for a pair of jeans that were quite light in colour and already had dark blue, black or brown stitching. The stitches are made from polyester and therefore can't be dyed to a different colour so if you want the jeans to look like you bought them blue check the stitching on the outside and the inside (because the inside may peek through to the outside). The inside of these jeans use pink thread but it doesn't show through so I was good to go!

I bought the dye from John Lewis for about £5. The process is easy, the packet dye (rather than the box) comes with the salt and dye already combined and you don't have to do so many washes to rinse out the machine afterwards. I just popped the jeans and dye into the washing machine, used 2 normal spin cycles and I was done.

The colour is more of a grey-blue rather than a jeans blue, but I'm still pretty happy with the results. Because of the two washes, the jeans can come out of the machine feeling a little stiff initially but after a few wears they do soften up and go back to normal. So all in all a new pair of Topshop Leigh Jeans for £20!

Maz x   

Mariama's Hair Regimen

I’m sure none of us have days to waste doing our hair, so I’ve had to reduce down my regimen so I spend as little time as possible during the week doing my hair.

I was...

• co-washing once or twice a week, but who has time for that?! When you have kinky-curly Type 4 hair, your hair can take hours to wash and condition. I tried washing my hair once a fortnight/ once a month but it would get too dirty and dry. Now I try to wash my hair once a week with either the full prepoo-shampoo-deep condition or I co-wash with a deep conditioner (Yeah that’s right, I said deep conditioner!)
• detangle three times, THREE! What a waste of a day! I used to finger detangle, use a wide-tooth comb and then use a Denman. But to be honest, once your hair is detangled, it’s detangled. Doing it three times is just pointless. I tried just finger detangling for a while instead of combing but didn’t notice any difference in the amount of hair I was losing, it took FOREVER and my hair was more knotty than when I was using combs. Now I detangle my hair wet once a month with a Denman and the rest of the time using a wide-tooth comb.
• have a lot of conditioners (…in fact I still do, heh) but I’ve decided to stop experimenting and stick with two or three conditioners. But I have allowed myself the pleasure of experimenting with leave-in conditioners, but I am only allowed to buy one at a time!
• buy expensive oils because everyone was raving about them. Now when making my own products I use only a few ingredients and I cut out the more expensive oils like jojoba oil, argan oil and vitamin E oil. Instead I use much cheaper alternatives that were already high in vitamin A & E. Macadamia nut oil is a much cheaper alternative to jojoba oil, and like jojoba is similar to sebum. If you’re allergic to nuts and would rather avoid them then you can use the even cheaper apricot kernel oil. Altogether I have a collection of six oils that I buy in bulk and use to make my skin oil, hair oil and hair butters. 

Products I use (this list isn’t here to make you run out and buy these products, it’s more to encourage you to find products that work for you.)

Prepoo, Shampoo & Deep Conditioner

L’Oreal Expertise EverSleek range + my hair oil. There are two sub-ranges: Smoothing & Intensely Nourishing or Smoothing and Moisturing, what the difference is I’ll never know. I just buy whichever one is there. I tried the EverRiche line for dry hair, but I prefer these ones instead. 

Co-wash

Depending on which one is on sale (because I like to save my pennies) I use Herbal Essences Hello Hydration, Beautiful Ends Intensive Mask (the conditioner was kind of meh, but this I like) or Dove Nourishing Oil Care Hair Therapy Conditioner.

Styling Products

I make my oil mix and hair butter myself.

For my edges, buns and puffs, I use aloe vera gel and sometimes Zainab’s puff cream (which she told me she’ll tell you about soon).

Phew, all done. Tell me about your regimens!

Maz xx

How I Shampoo & Deep Condition my Type 4 Natural Hair

Hi guys! Here's part 2 of the video about washing my hair. You are now members of the small group of people who have seen me first thing in the morning. Gah!!! Anyways, watch away :D

Our first YouTube video!

Hi guys! Finally after months of promising we've finally done our first Youtube video. Sorry for the lack of voiceover but I started doing one and realised my voice is booooring (I'm so used to peppy American voices, so my South London voice sounds dry in comparison). This video is about detangling my hair, enjoy!

  

Bon Annivers(h)aire!!

One year's worth of growth

So guys, it’s been a whole year since I went natural! There have been many highs and lows but overall I’m so glad I did this. Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures from when I did my semi-big chop (I know… How annoying?!) but I started my natural journey with about two and a half inches of hair. It’s been a huge struggle to get used to my kinky texture, and to be quite honest, I’ve only just started to accept it and care for it the way I should have a long time ago. This has come through writing the blog (which has acted as a record for the way I look after my hair) and also through slowly building a regimen. I know a year sounds like quite a long time but my hair regimen is only just being created. Prior to this, I was just watching YT videos and attempting to copy everything I saw. It was fun but the routines didn’t last, I was growing poor and my arms began to ache from two-strand twisting every 5 seconds. Through reading natural hair articles and picking Mariama’s brain, I’ve been able to build the basic layout for a regimen that is unique to my hair type, texture and length (I need armpit length hair for graduation - 2015 baby! Woop!) I’ve only just entered that awkward length phase but here are some of the things I’ve learnt over the past year and some things I’ve added to my hair care routine:

• Finger Detangling – It’s made such a difference to my understanding of my texture. When you use a comb, you don’t really get to feel what your hair is like. I’ve been able to really get to grips with my 4c hair (hey! An accidental pun!)  and I’ve discovered that it's a bit 4B as it has a couple of clumped kinky-curls tucked away in there. 
• Co-washing – I’ve started washing with conditioner once a week which is slowly improving my high porosity hair and adding moisture. I need to dabble with the products I use but it’s working slowly! I started this at the beginning of my journey and even though it was working so well, I couldn’t keep up with it. I’m a lot more determined now :P 
• Shampoo – I now only wash with shampoo once a month and then detangle thoroughly with my wide tooth comb and my Denman brush. Finding a shampoo that is moisturising is so essential! I use the L’oreal Elvive EverSleek which always works wonders and… it’s sulphate free! 
• Braids and protective styling – I braid my hair all the time now and attempt to keep them in for a maximum of six to eight weeks. I’ve found this is the best length of time to prevent that gross oily clump at my scalp and also to minimise breakage and unnecessary shedding. 
• L.O.C method – Mariama pointed out to me that I never stick with products and see them out ‘til the end! Using my own advice, I have to see this stuff through. My hair has been pretty dry recently so hopefully using a leave in conditioner, oil and then thick cream/butter will make a difference. I started this method a while back and yeah… I gave up (rolls eyes vigorously).
• Blow-drying – I’ve been loving my blow dryer for adding stretch to my afro texture. It makes it a lot easier to do up do’s and protective styles as well as allowing me to see how much my hair has grown. I’ve noticed that where my hair had a lot (and I mean A LOT) of shrinkage, the blow-drying has helped it to stretch permanently but without heat damage. 

This year, I’ve also given up on twist outs and braid outs for definition. It was a sad day but I just realised they weren’t working for me! I’m waiting for my hair to grow out a bit more before I attempt a defined twist/braid out but I will continue to use them to add stretch to my hair before I do a style. My next goal for my natural journey will be moisture retention (in particular for my edges and ends). As I mentioned above, my hair has just been super dry. As I build a cupboard of staple products, I’ll let you guys know but for now, I’ll continue to search!  

Obviously I'm a bit too pleased with my growth here...

Are there any products you use that work amazingly? Spill the beans – comment and email with your questions and suggestions! 

Until next time… Zee xx