Tag Archives: product

Winter Root Lifter

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Screen Shot 2015-02-12 at 5.04.44 PMI hope that everyone who shares my Northeastern United States weather system is faring well through yet another winter! I have been battling the usual ills: dry, limp hair, an itchy scalp, and more frequently required oil treatments. I actually got bored over the holidays and cut my hair off, so when it’s curly it comes about halfway down my neck. I am LOVING it and am so glad that I finally took the plunge! I plan to grow it back out again, but at more even lengths to make it feel fuller and less like a mullet. While this leads to naturally healthier hair since scalp oils don’t have as far to travel to saturate my ends, I have definitely still been struggling.

One cold-weather hero of mine has always been dry shampoo. I now realize that that was completely asinine. Curly-haired folk have to constantly combat dryness, and moisture and conditioning should be a part of our daily regimen. My hair is so fine that it tends to get greasy after a few days, and my knit winter hat also presses it down so that it’s looking stringy and sad by day two. In order to stretch hair washes by at least a few days each week, I would spray my hair with oil and proceed to dust some dry shampoo on my scalp. This works well for a couple of hours, but doesn’t hold up through a busy day or workout.

I decided to check out alternatives that would condition while lifting the hair at my roots, essentially solving my limpness problem. Luckily for me, the savvy young lady (with AMAZING hair) who helped me at Ricky’s near Union Square in NYC had the perfect solution!

5472Enter the moisturizing root lifter. It acts as a dry shampoo might, but without the drying component — it simply lifts roots while conditioning the scalp so that itchiness and flatness are no longer a problem. It also has a heat protector! I spray it sparingly on my roots after washing and styling but before blow-drying, and now my do’s are easily lasting three days before I need to put my hair up or wash it to look presentable. My hair even looked a bit like a wig when I woke up on day two yesterday, it was so full and that was certainly not the case before. I even wore a hat over it for the entire day prior. The ingredients are harmless and actually seem to be helping my hair to be healthier and stronger. I have not found that I have to reapply before my next co-wash.

If any of the issues above sound familiar to you, try it out and let me know what you think  in the comments below! What else do you do to battle winter flatness, static and dryness?

Product Review: CURLS’ Gel-Serum Hybrid

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yhst-67007254324410_2269_51235305Howdy friends! It’s been a while, but I made a promise never to post nonsensical traffic-driving blog fodder. I’m also SUPER busy planning my wedding (less than a month to go!) and will not forget to let y’all know about my upcoming appointment with my fabulous hair stylist Amy. You may recall that I’m doing my wedding hair myself, but I wanted to see if she could help me brainstorm and test styling techniques. I am not finding pictures of exactly what I want anywhere online, so I’m inventing it!

Wedding chatter aside, I have been waiting to update you on my most recent product purchase until I’ve given it a good thorough testing. The reason is because it’s very expensive, and I didn’t want to give advice either way before being totally sure. Let’s get into it.

CURLS’ Curl Gel-les’c, besides being really hard to type out, is a cutely-named, nice smelling, interesting styling elixir. Not a serum nor a gel, it embodies positive aspects of both: the conditioning qualities of a serum, but not the heaviness that usually drags finer curls down. It also has the control of a light gel. The love-child of these two styling products is a thin, syrupy mixture that can be used in very small amounts — and thank God because the bottle is super small and $25!

Absurd, you may say, to spend so much on an 8-ounce styling product, but one blogger made a good point by saying that she only trots it out on special occasions. I think that the benefits are probably greater for those with coarse hair types that need lots of conditioning with their styling aid. For me and my fine little mixed-Euro-ancestry curls, it made my hair bouncier, curlier, shinier, and much softer than usual. I used a pea-sized amount on each side of my head. My hair is down to the middle of my back when wet, but very layered. The concoction made my top layers super curly, so if you’re going for an extra-curly day, this is your product.

For me, my overall review is that I probably wouldn’t buy it again, but am glad I have it to use from time to time and it will last me a long time. My favorite recent find is still Curl Junkie’s Curls in a Bottle gel. But if you have a coarse hair type that needs lots of conditioning, or any hair type that gets dry very easily — even with regular use of conditioner (see: co-washing) and gel — I’d recommend giving it a try.

Product Alert! – Curls in a Bottle

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CIAB-2I’m so excited to announce a new product that I’ve tested and absolutely love! As you may remember, it’s important to rotate all of the products you use, which are basic non-damaging cleansers (WEN conditioning cleansers, DevaCurl No Poo, DevaCurl Low Poo, lemon juice and conditioner equal-parts mixtures), conditioners (DevaCurl One Condition, Ouidad Curl Quencher Conditioner, Argan Oil conditioners, Avalon Organics Volumizing Rosemary conditioner, Aussie Moist conditioner, etc. etc. etc. and yes I have all of these and more in my shower right now), and styling products. We’ve discussed cremes, gels, mousses (meese?), you name it. I’ve found that a light gel works best for my hair type. Until now I’ve mainly been using DevaCurl’s Angel and Ouidad’s Climate Control gel because both are light hold.

Salt-Spray-RecipeHOWEVER! My hair has been looking stringy and angry lately, despite oil treatments and my tender lovin’ care. I saw a brand I’d never seen before when researching my hair type on Naturallycurly.com. [Btw people — check them out! You take a quiz to determine your curl/hair type, and then you can read all about other members who have your hair type and what products they use, how they style it, and much more. It’s like a Pinterest board of curly hair care. My type is 3a, and they corroborated my findings that a light hold gel is my hair’s bff].

This fabulous new gel is called Curl Junkie’s Curls in a Bottle (pictured above), and it was being used to demonstrate a DIY sea salt spray (if you haven’t seen this yet, it means you need to like my Facebook page). I just knew I had to try it immediately.. and yes!!! It worked! It’s highly conditioning with no harmful ingredients and was so light it looked like water. Since my hair can’t handle heavy hold gels, it’s perfect!

While I was at Ricky’s picking it up, I heard a young woman asking where she can find leave-in conditioners for naturally curly hair. The straight-haired lady behind the counter was directing her when I intervened and said, “NO! You don’t want to buy a product labeled as a leave-in conditioner. You just want a really great quality conditioner, and when you’re in the shower apply it, concentrating on the ends, after you’ve cleaned your hair. Then stand with your head falling back under the nozzle and let the water rinse out maybe 20%-50% of it.” It only takes a second for most hair types/shower pressures. So let this be a reminder to you all: leave-ins are meant to be diluted conditioners, but because they’re made to be stocked on store shelves for a long time and also because people want their leave-ins to feel smooth and not thick or sticky, they load them up with lots of alcohol and other drying, damaging ingredients to make it evaporate faster. Kind of counter-intuitive, no? Just use a quality conditioner that you already have and water it down yourself in the shower.

I saw the young woman head over toward DevaCurl’s One Condition per my suggestion, and my only regret is wishing I had creepily followed her to fully ingratiate her into the world of naturally curly hair care. But alas, I left her to her own devices and hope that she’ll find CurlyNikki.com or NaturallyCurly.com or even my little ol’ blog. So girl at Ricky’s, this post goes out to you.

Remember friends: As curly girls who have wrestled with the wave, contended with the curl, kerfuffled with the kink, it’s always our duty to spread the knowledge and love. Mentor new curlfriends and gain the satisfaction of knowing that you’re a big part of making this world a happier, healthier, prettier, and slightly more genuine place.