Monday 30 September 2013

You Butter Believe It!

As some of you may know, I used to experiment with hairstyles, but the hairstyle that I am absolutely in love with is the high bun. It is such a classic hairstyle and it can be dressed up or dressed down and it just makes me feel happy =). In the past I had an obsession with pulling my hair up as tight as I could to create the bun and I ended up giving myself a DIY eyebrow lift. My hair was so tight I used to give myself headaches, but I still persisted!

This technique caused the hair at the back of my head to slowly disappear and it was not pretty =(. I decided to take drastic action (well it wasn’t that drastic). I stopped pulling my hair so tight and started massaging the back of my head with my Luxury Hair Butter and there has been a significant improvement.

I now know that the key is to be gentle and treat my hair with care. I keep this in mind when styling my hair in order to reduce the tension on my head and keep my eyebrows in their rightful place!

Hope that helped!

Monday 23 September 2013

How Did People React To My Hair?

As I mentioned before, I have always been natural, but I did go through my own form of ‘transition’. Whilst in school, I experimented with some very . . . interesting hairstyles. I used to wake up at 6:09am to get ready to do my hair when school was just over 10 minutes away. My hairstyles featured cementing some of my hair to my forehead with heavy duty gel, flat twisting one side and two little plaits at the back laden with hair bobbles – there were a lot of things going on. It is one of those ‘it looked nice at the time’ situations.

Once I got to university, things started to change. I started to wear weaves and pony tails. At first it started off very subtle, so it still looked like my hair (I think). I then started to get a bit more adventurous and went from 12 inches of hair right through to 18 inches.

I still like the versatility of weave, but I was neglecting my hair at the time and that is where the issue was. It was just strange how I went from being perfectly fine with my own hair to feeling kind of self conscious about it. I remember the first time I went out with my own hair again, people must have thought I was mad because I was constantly asking if it looked ok – sad, but true. My family and friends reacted very well to my natural hair, telling me I should have gone out with it sooner which was nice, but not every ‘review’ was positive. I got comments like “why are you going out with your hair like that?” or “did you forget to do your hair this morning?” I was shocked, but it did make me think about my initial reaction to my own hair when I went out post-weave.

Overall, it has been received quite positively - still trying to get used to random people trying to put their hands in my hair! Lol.

Hope that helped!


Monday 9 September 2013

Fave Products

I am a bit particular when it comes to trying out new products so I make sure I research everything I can find on a product before I put it in my hair. I tend to lean more towards natural products as they seem to work better for my hair. I have been using the same products for a while now and they are working quite well.

Shampoo – My favourite shampoo is Shea Moisture, Moisture retention Shampoo. This is an all natural shampoo with no harsh chemicals. I like this shampoo because it cleans my hair without making it feel like hay. To make it less harsh and last longer, I put a bit of the shampoo into a spray bottle and top it up with some water. This enables me to distribute the product effectively to my scalp and stops me from wasting it. Price – approximately £12.

When I want to clarify my hair (deep clean) I use apple cider vinegar mixed with water. I am going to do a separate post on apple cider vinegar, but it is very good and getting rid of all the gunk in your hair that a milder shampoo might miss. I do this every 4 weeks. Price – approximately £8.

Deep conditioner – I am in love with Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose. It is a thick all natural conditioner that makes my hair feel soft and moisturised. I make it even more effective by adding in extra virgin olive oil, jojoba oil, honey and any conditioner that I wasn’t a fan of. Price - £11-12.

My second favourite deep conditioner is Aubrey Organics GPB conditioner. It doesn’t make my hair as soft as the honeysuckle rose, but it is what I use when I need a protein fix.

Conditioner – My favourite conditioner is Shea Moisture Restorative Conditioner. This puts that much needed moisture back into the hair after shampooing and makes it nice and soft. I usually leave this in for about 5 minutes and rinse it lightly. Price – approximately £12.

Leave in/ Moisturiser - My leave in is my rinse out conditioner so I just put a touch more in when my hair is damp. If I had to choose, I would say it works better as a leave in because the softness stays in.

Butter – My all time favourite butter is my handmade Luxury Hair Butter. This is made with shea butter and a blend of oils that do wonders. It makes my hair extremely soft and locks in all the moisture without making the hair greasy. Price £9

Oils – I think my favourite oil at the moment is jojoba oil. It is light, but does an excellent job at locking in the moisture. If my hair needs a heavier oil, I will use castor oil, but usually use this only on the ends.

Stylers – I try not to use gels or holding creams too much, but if the occasion calls for it then I will use Hairveda Red Tea Stronger Hold Soufflé. It has a light texture that dries hard and does not flake. Price - £6.95. At some point in the future, I plan to make flaxseed gel and when I do, I will let you know how it goes.

Hope that helped!

Thursday 5 September 2013

My Hair Care Routine



My routine is extremely simple because I don’t want it to take up too much time. I have a few very simple steps that I have been using for a while.

Wash Day: My wash day is either every Saturday or Sunday depending on what is going on and consists of four steps.

1: Deep Condition - I deep condition on dry hair as it helps to combine my pre-poo (a pre shampoo treatment for your hair to prepare it for shampooing) with my deep conditioning. I like to use Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose Conditioner mixed with my hair butter, honey and extra virgin olive oil. This creates a lovely thick cream. I detangle my hair in sections and when I’m finished, I put my hair into two plaits. I then place a shower cap and a winter hat on my head – if I am feeling ambitious, I will do some skipping to create more heat, but this is rare! I let my hair sit for anything between 30 minutes and a few hours depending on what I am doing.

2: Rinse and Shampoo - I have a makeshift washing station in my shower which allows me to wash my hair standing outside of the shower cubicle without breaking my neck - always helpful. I clip one side up and rinse out the conditioner and then use my diluted shampoo (Shea Moisture, Moisture Retention Shampoo mixed with water) to wash that side. I then rinse out the shampoo and repeat on the other side.

3: Condition - I follow up the shampoo stage with a rinse out conditioner; the one I use at the moment is Shea Moisture Restorative Conditioner. I leave this in my hair for 3-5 minutes and rinse it out with cold water (does anyone else feel like they can’t breathe properly when they pour cold water on their head?!) I then put a T-shirt on my head for about five minutes to ensure my hair is not dripping wet, but still very damp.

4: Leave in and seal - While my hair is damp, I put in my leave in conditioner (I use the Shea Moisture Conditioner as my rinse out and leave in) and seal it in with jojoba oil. I then lock all the good stuff in with my wonderful butter and those infamous doo doo plaits make an appearance. And that ladies and Gentlemen is my wash day regimen.

Daily Regimen

My daily regimen is also very simple – my speciality. I split my hair into four sections and work with one section at a time. I spray the section with water (mixed with aloe vera juice if I’m feeling fancy) and smooth it through my hair. I then put a moisturiser in (I use the Shea Moisture conditioner as my leave in and moisturiser) and seal with my hair butter. I plait up the sections and sleep with my satin head scarf. That means in the morning it is moisturised and it is ready and waiting for me to style it.

Hope that helped!

Tuesday 3 September 2013

My Natural Hair

I have been natural my whole life so there are no stories about why I decided to go natural, but I can tell you why I started to look after my hair properly.

When I got to university, I started wearing weaves and I would always have a side part with some of my hair out. Because my hair is natural, in order to blend my hair with the weave, I had to straighten it. I did this on a daily basis, on a high heat and if I'm honest, not always with a heat protectant - clever me -_- Gradually my hair burnt off to about 3cm long in that section (sexy). So, being the clever person that I am, what did I do? I took the weave out and changed the part to the other side and did the same damage. Then, instead of addressing the problem, I got a full head weave with a fringe - big mistake! As soon as I got it, I hated it! I did not even recognise myself in the mirror and I think I drove my friends and family mad talking about how much I hated my hair. I know it sounds sad, but ladies, you know if you hair is not right, it's a problem.

Anywho, my hair started growing back in those sections so I was looking less like a partially bald chicken and more like me, which I was very grateful for. My hair revelation came about as my hair was growing back. I was plaiting my hair for bed (you know the doodoo plaits) and I was wondering why my hair had been the same length since Watty kill Philip (Jamaican for long long time) I typed into Google "why does black hair not grow long" and a whole new world opened up to me. Up until that point, I thought I was looking after my hair well - washing it every five weeks (puke now that I think about it because of all the junk I was putting in my hair), using only protein conditioners, blow drying my hair and using hair grease. I also used a very strong holding gel - I was guilty of cementing my hair to my forehead and gelling individual baby hairs, but I was in school so please don't judge me. I used to comb my hair when it was dry, didn't think anything of the amount of hair that was shedding/breaking and did NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES GET MY HAIR WET. I have always loved curly voluminous hair and I now know that what I was doing to my hair was comparable to abuse and I am proud I am now a reformed character.


Check out my progress so far