Product Review: Shea Moisture Jamaican Black Castor Oil Shampoo

Hey Curlies!

Soooo, the last week or so I have been EXTREMELY lazy and have let my hair go! It has gotten to be a matted, tangled, dry, hot mess! That’s the best way I could possibly describe it without calling it nappy (because nappy is even an understatement). Winter is here and my hair has just been feeling extra dry lately. I finally decided it was time to try some new products because the ones I have don’t seem to be working all that great for me and this weather. I went to Sally’s and picked up a few products that I always wanted to try.

I am not a huge fan of the Shea Moisture product line for some reason. I know most naturals rave about it, but I have about 1 or 2 products that I use here and there but aren’t necessarily “staples” per say. So I decided to pick up the Shea Moisture Jamaican Black Castor Oil Strengthen, Grow and Restore Shampoo.

So the smell was a bit weird to me. It’s a little hard to describe but it has a sweet almost cookie like smell to it. (Must be snack time hehe) The consistency was a bit goopy but on the thinner side. It wasn’t unbearable or anything, but I am not a big fan of the smell. I poured a small amount in my hand and let me tell you, a little goes a long way! I am not sure if I am heavy handed or what, but I feel like Shea Moisture products go so quickly because you need a lot to actually saturate your hair.

So I did a quick 30 minute pre poo with olive oil.. for the first time might I add! The pre poo definitely helped give my wash a little boost but after washing my hair with the shampoo, my hair felt remarkably moist and soft! Before washing my hair, it was dry, crunchy and brittle feeling. I only washed once with the shampoo and that was plenty for my hair to feel like it was alive again!

Ingredients:

I have used the Shea Moisture Conditioning Shampoo in the past, but I definitely think the Castor Oil Shampoo made much more of a difference. I don’t want to call it a staple just yet, but as of right now I definitely plan on giving it a few more tries. It immediately brought my hair back to life. With just one wash I could feel the difference. My hair finally felt moisturized again!

I will keep you all updated as I continue to use it! 🙂

Oh yeah, I have also used the Masque from the same line and was not a fan of the smell or what it did for my hair.. but everyone’s hair is different. Again, I am not a huge fan of Shea Moisture, but some of their products work pretty well.

Have you tried this line? What did you think of it?

Yours Until Furthur Notice,

Shenay ❤

Cold, dry air. Brittle, dry Hair.

Hey Curlies!

Since my big chop last October (2013), I have learned so much about caring for my hair. I have gone through all four seasons in Boston and have figured out what works and what doesn’t work in certain weather. Well, since my hair has grown so much since last winter, I feel like I am lost all over again.

I have started noticing that my hair is increasingly dry! No matter what I do, it just never seems moisturized enough. This is a new issue I am dealing with because winter has officially begun in Boston and it is FREEZING! The other day it was -9 degrees! Yeah, imagine that! With extra frigid air comes extra dry hair!

I woke up today and really was just tired of my hair feeling like a brillo pad! I love when my curls are pillow soft so I have to do something about it. I started researching ways to winterize hair and found some pretty interesting reasons why it is extremely important. Some are obvious, but then there are some that I really did not think of. If you live in an area where the winter gets really cold and the air really dry, these tips may be helpful.

Deep Condition as often as possible.

Deep conditioning is an absolute must for any natural. If you are not deep conditioning your hair, you really need to start now! I typically deep condition about once a week but lately I have been getting really lazy. It could possibly be the cold weather and gloomy days that make me lazy, but I really need to up the anty. Deep conditioning is going to help give your hair that extra moisture boost it needs. Try to deep condition weekly if you can.

**Do not forget to use a protein treatment every few weeks to balance it out. You do not want to overcondition your hair because that isn’t healthy either.**

Protect your ends.

This is obviously very important period. Hair is dead, and needs constant moisture to prevent split ends and breakage. If you want your hair to continue to grow long and strong, you have to make sure that you are always giving extra care to your ends. Protecting your ends in the winter means using extra moisture and protective styling to tuck away the ends.

This has been a struggle for me because I love my Wash and Go’s. I have recently started to learn how to preserve my wash and go’s for a few days so I am not going outside with wet hair, but I realized I really do need to do more protective styling during these cold winter months.

**Never, ever go outside with wet hair in the winter. Not only is it terrible for your hair, you also do not want to get sick**

Put the Coconut Oil away for now

Now THIS right here caught me off guard. My hair absolutely LOVEESSSS coconut oil, as do I! Ever since I first started using that, it has been my go to oil. Everyone knows that coconut oil solidifies at a certain temperature, and the cold winter weather is definitely a culprit. So think about it, if its solidifying in the jar, is it safe to say that it is solidifying in your hair also? I have read that it can cause your hair to be stiff and hard when it is cold. There are plenty of other oils out that there work great such as olive oil, so I am going to start using that again and give the coconut a rest for now. *Sigh* How upsetting. After learning about this, I really do wonder if that has been adding to my extra dry hair lately. A little experiment is underway..

Use satin lined hats

I THINK I like hats, but I do not wear them. Hats definitely keep your head warm and your hair protected, but also soak up the moisture in your hair. Satin lined hats can prevent all of this from happening as well as prevent hat hair. I’m sure there are places online where you can get some. When I find out, I will definitely let you all know.

**If anyone has any resources and knows where I can find these that would be great!!**

Use thicker creams and butters.

Thicker products give your hair more of a barrier to the cold. It provides a bit more protection than the lighter products you use in the warmer months.

Be gentle.

As always you want to treat your tresses with love and care. Be gentle when washing and detangling, and try not to manipulate it too much! Make sure that you are doing everything possible to keep your hair healthy, moisturized and happy.

 

Yours Until Further Notice,

Shenay

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Is there anything in particular that you do to winterize your hair?

Detangling Disaster

Hello Curlies!

I want to discuss the dreaded DETANGLING. Recently I have noticed that the longer my hair gets, the more tangled my strands are getting! *sigh* Those of us who like to rock our wash and go’s know that after about day 3 (4 if you’re lucky) it is time to wash and refresh. Well, with washing comes detangling. Now ever since I have been natural, I have never had an issue with detangling. It was always something simple and quick that just came as second nature. WELL, let. me. tell. YOU. GIRL, it is not so easy anymore. After a few days of leaving my curls out to do their thang, once it is time to wash, it’s a tangled mess! There are a few options for detangling hair such as using a comb like normal people do, or using our fingers to do something called “finger detangling” which is using your fingers as a comb to detangle your strands. I typically use my handy dandy wide toothed comb and it seems to do the job. Recently I felt like I was losing much more hair and couldn’t figure out whether it was me ripping it out, or just the normal everyday shedding. I decided to give finger detangling a try to see if it made a difference.. BAD IDEA.

Yes, finger detangling can help retain length by decreasing the amount of breakage and shedding but dang, I didn’t think it was going to be like this.

1. It takes forever and a day! I do not have all day and night to sit in the shower and separate my hair in a million different sections and then take 5 minutes to separate the strands of the sections only to feel like I made it more tangled! UH UH! (Woosah)
2. My nails are not having it. My nails are naturally long, so I typically just leave them as is. There are times where a nail may split and if this happens my hair gets caught in it and it drives me INSANE. Not only does it rip the strand if I don’t catch it quick enough, it also makes the split in my nail worse. Keeping my nails cut short just for the sake of detangling is not worth it to me.
3. After going through the long process and trouble of detangling with my fingers, I feel like my hair STILL isn’t completely tangle free. At least when I used a comb, I could run my fingers completely through without finding any missed tangles. With finger detangling, every time I go through my hair I find ANOTHER tangle. What the flip man! Come on!
4. After awhile I just get frustrated and start raking through my hair just to get it over with. This in return causes me to start yanking out hair that shouldn’t be yanked out! So much for TLC.
5. Just no. NO NO NO. I just don’t like it. That’s a good enough reason right? 🙂

Ain’t nobody got time for that!

I guess I got my point across, finger detangling is just not for me. I simply do not have the patience for it. My hair is too fine, my curls get too tangled after some time and it takes TOO long to get through it all. I understand that using a comb can give you a higher chance of ripping your strands, but I feel like detangling is more of a risk for me. Everything isn’t for everyone, and finger detangling is one of em. Maybe one day I will have the patience to properly learn how to finger detangle without getting frustrated but I give up for now. I guess I will just stick to my comb. It’s been holding me down since day 1 anyways!

Does anyone else have trouble with finger detangling or is it just me? =/