Conditioner FAIL!

Just washed, conditioned, and braided my hair up. My scalp was super itchy and I had to wash the straightness out. Well, it lasted for a week! I missed my curls, anyway, and my scalp needed water.
I realized that I LOATHE the new Cream of Nature conditioner that I got recently (mentioned in a previous post). Wanted to try something new and the crap ended up having mineral oil, sulfates, cones, and about four different parabens in it. -___-
Yes, I had looked at the ingredients before buying it, but I was somewhat in a rush and said, 'what the hell? It's not going to kill me to try it'. Got it mostly because it was seven bucks and had protein in it.
My hair feels coated beyond reason! I haven't felt this coated feeling in years, since before I went natural and did stringy looking braid-outs and twist-outs with pink lotion every day. Never again. I'll use it up, but never again.
If something has over ten ingredients, then I'm going to leave it alone from now on. 
I-I think I'll stick to Shea Moisture. O.O

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~Epic Realist~ 

Beauty Supply Haul and... My STRAIGHT Hair!

Hiya, curlies! Today I'm displaying my beauty supply haul from two days ago, and the results of me straightening my natural hair for the first time in over a year!

So, here's what I got the other day. The Cantu Shea Butter leave-in cream I have already tried a long time ago and wanted to get it again for the hell of it. There's a Cream of Nature Moisture Extreme conditioner here. I've never tried this before, and I got tired of my Tresemme conditioner. Just wasn't working for me anymore. I don't like it because it has not one natural ingredient in it. I only got it because it was cheap at the time. So I got this new one to use with my Shea Moisture shampoo.
I know that I mentioned in a very old post about 'brand-hopping' hair products not being the best thing to do because if something went wrong with your hair, you wouldn't know what product to blame. But I wanted to try this, anyway.
I also got the Roots of Nature shea butter and green tea deep conditioner simply because I needed one, preferably one with protein and natural ingredients. Re-stocked on my EcoStyler olive oil gel, found a flat iron for ten bucks, and finally found my JBCO in store! Yay, no more ordering!
Spent fifty bucks in there, and it was well worth it.
After I 'doctored' up my hair for a few days, I decided to try the new flat iron. It was cheap, but it has a one year guarantee. As long as it lasts a year and does it's job, I'm not going to spend 50-100 bucks for a flat iron, just to (hope to) get top-notch quality! This one works just fine. The last time I attempted any heat on my hair was November 2011, so it's been over a year. Those results were not good because my hair wasn't that healthy at the time. No, I don't have a picture of that hot mess. Today, the results are great!

The picture speaks for itself, and the process is there, too. I love how my hair came out. I only used a small amount of grape seed oil on each section that I straightened. I had to pass through my hair twice, some areas three times because although I had banded my hair overnight, it was still hard to get as straight as possible. It took almost two hours to complete. But my hair is extremely soft, full of body and moisture. I can whip it back and forth lol!

Hope you guys enjoy this post! Questions, comments, advice? Write meh somewhere! When was your last battle with the flat iron? What did you do? 

Peace out, ladies!

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~Epic Realist~

Syriah Hairstyle Update...

So, here's one of Syriah's latest hairstyles, created with just whipped shea butter and water. Awesome what you can do with just those two things, right? Oh, and of course, my trusty new paddle brush. She has the perfect hair type for this...3A. Sometimes I wish that my hair was as silky as hers, but only part of my hair is like this... the top. The sides of my hair are like 3B-3C. Darn you, different curl patterns lol!

I still love my hair, though. All hair types are beautiful :P Natural hair RULES!


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~Epic Realist~

Staple Hair Products from...2011? (Review)

Hiya, curlies! I just wanted to share a picture of the staple products that I used back in 2011. I was already natural at this time, because my last perm was in April 2009. I knew that these products were... more or less 'bad' for your hair, but that was all I could afford then. I wasn't working and I had two young babies at the time.

So, here are the products! Recognize them? LOL
~The African Pride Olive Miracle leave in conditioner smelled really great, but of course, if I can remember, it had mineral oil and a million and one other ingredients that I couldn't even pronounce in it. It did it's job, but like mineral oil products always did for me and my daughter's hair, it was moist for the time being but was parched dry a few hours later. I would twist with it at night, and the next morning, the twists would look a little dried out. So I started doing my hair in the morning, and my hair would still be dry by the time I went to bed. So... um, yeah. No bueno. It was mad cheap for a big jar (I think $2.99), but in the end, it was just utter crap. So glad that I was able to upgrade that next year to home made whipped shea butter and Shea Moisture products. ^_^
~The second product, the Blue Magic Carrot Oil leave in conditioner, was very moisturizing. I think I used it mostly after I washed my hair. But again, lots of foreign ingredients in it. It had protein in it, so, as we may know by now, that was good and bad at the same time. Overuse of protein isn't a good thing. It smelled awesome and was super soft, but I don't exactly miss it.
~The last one, that Smooth and Shine gel stuff... eh, not the best gel in the world. I never used gel much; I only used it for smoothing down my edges. I only got it because it said that it had no alcohol and no flaking. Smells great. I never got any flaking from it, and it worked for the time being. I no longer use it. I still have a half used jar of it sitting in my bathroom cabinet, only because I hate throwing away a lot of product like that. I have a thing for wasting stuff. LOL!
So there's my random product review for what I was using in 2011. Now, I can afford better, so I do much better. These are no longer staple products in my inventory! =)

Until next time... peace out, curly mamas!

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~Epic Realist~

KCCM Castor Oil Challenge, Week 10 Check-In

Check in from KCCM Castor Oil Challenge, week 10:

1. Where do you go to shop for hair products?
My staple products are from Shea Moisture, and I usually get them from Walmart or Walgreens (whoever's having a sale). I use Tresemme conditioner from Walmart. I get JBCO from Amazon, but I think that I'll check out my nearest beauty supply store again to see if I can avoid shipping costs for that. ;-)
2. Do you read product labels? Why or why not? Hell yeah, I do! I always have, even before I went natural. That's just me (health fanatic); I've always read ingredients everywhere, even on food and researched about them. I honestly don't like using ingredients that I can't even pronounce. I believe that it's the key to great health overall, because if you know better, you do better. Avoiding certain ingredients makes you wiser and healthier in the long run.

3. How did you do last week (week 9)? Did you follow through with your goals? Any challenges thus far?

I've been hanging on. My whipped shea butter has JBCO in it, and that's my only form of JBCO right now until I get money to purchase more. So I've been using the shea butter probably... three times a week? It's great moisture in my hair, and I use it on my body as well.

~Epic Realist~

Twisting With Gel

Hiya, guys! I'm just making a quick post about gel. I've had my EcoStyler Olive Oil gel for about a year (huge container) and I just ran out of it. NUUUU! (hyperventilates) MUST GET MORE!
I'm surprised that it lasted that long. But I'm not that avid of a gel user. I usually only use it to smooth edges down and nothing else... on rare occasions. I don't wear ponytails or buns often.
Lately, I've started using more gel for my two strand twists. I use a cream on a section first, make sure my hair is de-tangled, and smooth in some gel throughout the entire section before I twist. It's been working awesome. My twists tend to unravel because I have 3B-3C hair, so I need something to where they won't come undone every minute. The EcoStyler is doing it! Sorry that I don't have pictures at the moment. Life's...well, busy.

Tip of the Day: If your twists come apart a lot, try using gel before you twist. Use only a fingertip amount, depending on how small your twists are. But make sure your twists are moisturized first. You'll reduce the 'crispy' feeling that you usually get with gel, and you hair won't feel hard when it dries. Trust me; it works!
And when you're done wearing the twists, you can take them down for a wicked twist-out. ;-)

Peace, curlies!
~Epic Realist~