Spring/Summer Hair Stash & Hair Tip #4

Heya, curlies! I wanted to show what I have in my bathroom right now as far as hair and face care. I had this little guilt about being a possible 'product junkie', but when I evaluated what I actually buy versus other people, I'm not even close to being a product junkie! LOL!

So, as you can see, I'm still a huge fan of Shea Moisture. That Yucca & Baobab shampoo and the Y&B conditioner is the biz-zomb! Curl Enhancing Smoothie... still awesome, mostly for Syriah's hair. My hair doesn't require that much protein. I like to use the Deep Treatment Masque as a leave in on my hair.
One day, I'm going to try Nubian Heritage hair products, because them and Shea Moisture are very similar as far as what ingredients they don't allow in their stuff. Plus, I love NH's soaps! I use them on my face as well as my body. All natural, all awesome. So far, the Raw Shea Butter soap in the picture is my favorite one.
EcoStyler gel will always be here. Love the stuff. I rarely use it, so when I get a jar this big, it tends to last about six months or longer. The olive oil one is the only kind I've tried thus far, but one day, I'll try the others.
I started using my Ambi fade cream again because my three pregnancies have left me with dark areas all over my face as well as my neck. My neck has annoying dark lines on it, and this stuff has always worked in the past for me, when I was still young and battling acne scars. So I saw it in Walgreens for 6 bucks (25% off)  versus the regular 10 bucks in Walmart and hopped on it!
And last but not least, the unfamiliar product in the picture is mine. Yes, I have labels for them now! I'm working on making them better, but this is the first go round. Used for hair and skin. If you'd like to purchase, then check out the Purchase our Products page.
This is pretty much my stash for now. Won't be changing around too much until I get money to try some new things. So, yeah. Hope you enjoyed!

Hair Tip #4: Don't get caught up in the hype of hair products. Just because everyone else is trying the newest product doesn't mean you'll die or miss out on something if you don't try it. It is tempting; don't get me wrong. The newest thing for kid's hair, apparently, is some type of gel called Gorilla Snot. Yes, that's the name of it. It looks like it tames fly-aways like nobody's business. I've been tempted to try it, but it can wait. I don't use too much gel in my hair or my family's hair, anyway. It's not urgent to try everything new. If what you're doing works, stick with it until you get bored, or your hair changes. You'll end up wasting tons of money trying every single thing out there just because everyone else is. Try one thing at a time so if your hair does something crazy, you'll know what product to blame it on instead of three.
Dark & Lovely's new natural line looks like junk to me. I wanted to try it, but when I saw the ingredients myself in the store, I said hell to the no! And this is what they call natural!? Some of these mainstream companies are way too desperate to hop onto the natural bandwagon and keep making money, and it seems like all they do is change the label and plaster it onto the same crap that they were selling before, give or take a few things. Same with Pantene's natural line. Utter disappointment. -___-
Please don't fall for the hype. Like Miss Jessies, for example. That stuff costs more than a dinner at Red Lobsters for a whole family, but I heard that it was utter crap and caused scalp problems in a lot of people because of all the chemicals in it. Use what you know works, and if something new has an ingredient that you know that you know that you KNOW your hair hates, then why...buy it?

Peace out, curly mamas!

~Epic Realist~

Walgreens vs. Walmart

So, I went to Walgreens on Monday to get some Shea Moisture hair products again. I picked up three different things, went to the cashier. There was a young black guy who had been looking me up and down ever since I'd walked in. Guess it was because I had something kind of sexy on.
Anyway, I paid for the stuff and I noticed that the total was way lower than what I'd expected. I decided not to investigate until I was in the car, and lo and behold, the total was ten dollars off.
Either the fool wasn't paying attention or he'd done that on purpose, trying to flirt with me on the undertone. Heck, either way I got one of the $10 hair products for FREE! Haha! Sucker!

I think I see why that happened, anyway. One of the products was the Shea Moisture Curling Souffle'. I washed my hair yesterday and immediately sectioned my hair. Then I began applying the stuff.

It was the stickiest hair concoction I'd ever touched! I mean, seriously. It felt good, kind of like a gel, and it smelled awesome. But it was soooo sticky! I felt as if I'd lathered my curls in honey. Literally. So, in a way, the universe must have known that I wasn't going to fall in love with the product and decided not to have me even waste money on it, because frankly, I'm not sure if I'd ever buy it again. 

Hey, I just got lucky.

Wait... I don't even believe in luck. You guys know what I mean though, right? .__.

Anyway, today in Walmart, I went cruising down the hair aisle, which I hadn't done in months, due to them not carrying any all natural products yet. I just wanted to check and see what they had now. I got a surprise this time. They actually had a good selection of natural products now. I was like, wow! Walmart's finally coming up! 

But good old Wally World's prices on some of these products weren't so hot. For the Shea Moisture shampoo that's shown above, they wanted $11.99! That's two dollars more than Walgreen's $9.99. I said, hell to the no! It was also $11.99 for the curl enhancing smoothie stuff I usually get. I'm not paying an extra two bucks when I know I can go right across the street and go cheaper. What happened to Walmart being the cheapest of the cheap on everything? 

You'd think that a pharmacy would be more expensive, considering that people don't really go to pharmacies to solely purchase hair products. You'd think they'd want to take advantage of the people who are going in to pick up their prescriptions... to sucker them into picking up a pack of diapers or candy or pens just because it's there. Oh, since I'm in here, might as well get my hair cream!

Apparently, that's not the case here. Now I know that I won't be getting any Shea Moisture stuff from Walmart, and if I try another natural product, I'll price it elsewhere before settling for Walmart. I heard that CVS now sells Miss Jessie's products. Wow. Now that stuff costs an arm, a leg, and your head on a platter.

Thirty bucks for one container... a 12oz container, I believe. Some people say that it isn't worth the hype, but either way, that's way too freakin expensive for some darn curl cream.

I got that Cantu hair cream from Walgreens as well. I was shocked because I didn't know that Cantu was beginning to create natural products at all! I mean, there's a few questionable ingredients, stuff that I well, can't pronounce, but hey. It's just a few. Haven't tried it yet, but I will soon. 

Syriah's hair is straight at the moment. I straighten it usually every 6 months to trim and what not. I used EVOO as a heat protectant. Her hair is in GREAT health right now. I'm so proud of myself.

Well, that's all for now, folks! I don't exactly have a tip for today. My mind is somewhat in a trance due to excessive sleep deprivation. Symari's one month old today, and she wakes hubby and I up twice a night to eat. So, we get about 4 hours of sleep a night. We're lucky to get 5 most days. Oh, well. That's newborns for ya.

I'm out! Peace, curly mamas! 

~Epic Realist~