DECEMBER CURLBOX & COUPONS!!!!!!

Blogging live and direct from my bed.. I've been M.I.A for three weeks and I have to get these posts out before the end of the year!

Lemme tell you curlies about my DECEMBER CURLBOX!!!! Oh Em Gee loveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee it!

DECEMBER CURLBOX

This month @myleik and the @curlbox crew have out done themselves.. 

In the box:

• Super DOPE 8pg mag card
• Elasta QP olive oil and mango butter moisturizer
• Eco styler olive oil gel
• Dr. Miracles Curl Care Soft hold creme
• Isabella's Own - "Fix my Fro" curl cream (4 samples)
• Lustrasilk Curl Max - curl activator  Moisturizer (2 samples)
• Shea Moisture - Moisture retention shampoo (sample)
• Nubian Heritage - strengthen and grow hair treatment masque

I've already used and have fallen in love with the Elasta QP moisturizer -- It smells like heaven and even my weave hair responds to it!

If you have used Eco styler than you already know that this gel is the truth but if you put it on top of the Elasta QP moisturizer you have an OFFICIAL B.A.C. (Bomb Ass Combo)

Idk what it is about these two but they are a match made in natural hair heaven.. They work so well together that I have kinda neglected everything else in my hair cabinet! The gel provides hold and frizz control while the moisturizer ummmmmmmm moisturizes! Its the BOMB!

OH! One other new love from this box is the FIX MY FRO curl cream.. I haven't been using it in the traditional sense but I have been spraying in between my tracks with water and then "greasing" my scalp with the curl cream -- it is very light so I don't have to worry about it weighing my weave down or looking greasy but it gives my scalp enough love that I don't have to worry about dry hair underneath the weave.. 

Before I forget..

You curlies still have a couple days to use these coupons before they expire DECEMBER 31, 2012

Free shipping on your next ouidad.com order use CURLBOX12 at checkout

25% off your purchase from "STRAWLERS" use code curlbox at checkout

15% off at www.sagenaturals.co use CURLBOX15 

Consider it a late Christmas gift! 

Stay Blessed -- Love Freely

J.B.C.O. HAIR CHALLENGE UPDATE

Morning loves,

I know its been foreverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr since my last post -- please don't be too mad but a sistah had some issues!

Anyway, 1st I hope your Christmas was amazing!!!!!!!!

Now back to the subject at hand -- this CASTOR OIL HAIR CHALLENGE I signed up for at the beginning of the month *pause for emphasis*

*side eye* y'all I am doing terrible! TERRIBLE!! LOL! I haven't kept up with the regimen, I haven't signed in on kinkcurlycoilyme.com in AT LEAST three weeks -- like I totally suck at this hair challenge!

Now let me tell you girls what my issues are with the challenge. I have this weave in (stay tuned for a review and update) and I don't wet my hair that often -- I still co-wash at least once a week but that is usually the only time I wet my hair soooooooooooooooo WHEN THE HELL AM I GOING TO SEAL WITH CASTOR OIL IF THERE IS NO INITIAL MOISTURE???????  And another thing, they send that check-in email very very very early Saturday morning -- ain't nobody got time to wipe to crust out their eyes and think about Castor oil! I look at the email, read it and then I go back to sleep - I never remember to go back on the site and actually answer the ?s in the damn email! I need a reminder for my reminder.. LOL! I'm so frustrated with myself over this damn challenge

There is a bright side.

This week while I was co-washing my hair I filled my spray bottle with water, leave n conditioner and a bit of Castor oil and just went in between my tracks for some extra love and attention.. That's when I got the bright idea to just do that 3x a week -- it fulfills my hair challenge requirement, gives my own hair the love it needs AND I don't have to completely drench my head in the middle of a NY winter --  OH YEA I'M WINNING!

So I'm back on track! I will be checking in on the KCCM website this week and I'll let y'all know how everything turns out after a week -- pray for me..

HAVE YOU BEEN KEEPING UP WITH THE CHALLENGE?? 

WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR ISSUES?? 

LETS CHAT!

HAIR CHALLENGE!!!!!!!!

CHECK CHECK CHECK IT OUT...

It is December 1st and everyone is in that holiday "new year new me" mode and with that comes new challenges.

A few weeks ago I signed up for a Castor Oil 3 month hair challenge with kinkycurlycoilyme.com it started today and will run until March 1st. You ladies still have time to sign up and register for the challenge if your interested!

I know for me, I want the most awesome curly fro I can possibly handle and taking really good care of it is a part of that.

So the challenge consist of checking in weekly for questions and feedback with other naturals AND committing yourself to using Castor Oil at least three times a week during the three months.

BUT WHY CASTOR OIL??? Y THIS CHALLENGE???

Castor Oil is an excellent humectant for skin and hair. It helps with thinning hair and hair loss, and it prevents dry scalp.

I will be using Jamaican Black Castor Oil during this challenge for 2 reasons..

1.  I already have it in my cabinet
2.  This form of Castor Oil is raw and has kept most of its good stuff!

I still plan to weave up my natural hair some time in the next few weeks so that may prove to be a challenge for keeping up with the Castor Oil.. 

Right Now..

I am sealing my ends with my Castor Oil Mix

Massaging my scalp & edges

Pre-Poo'ing with a hot oil mix

After my install..

I can probably keep up with the last two from above but I have to come up with another use for it UNLESS I spritz with water and oil in between my tracks for extra moisture and sealing at the same damn time!

HERE IS MY CASTOR OIL MIX:

CASTOR OIL

OLIVE OIL 

ROSEMARY OR LAVENDER (for smell) 

Use equal parts of everything and shake! TA-DAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!

I will check in with you dolls as often as possible and keep you up to date on the progress

NEW HAIR!!!!!!!!!!!

HEY GUYS!

 I hope everyone had an amazing Thanksgiving -- I have been running the streets and I just have not sat down long enough to write out a blog post but here I am today and I have wonderful news..


MY HAIR IS HERE!!!!!!! 

MY HAIR IS HERE!!!!!!!!! 

MY HOLIDAY LUSCIOUS. OH EM GEE. DOWN MY BACK. LOOK AT THAT HAIR. VIRGIN HAIR IS HERE BABY!!!!!!!!!!!

LOL!  Clearly I am excited about this hair.. If you have read my previous post then you may already remember that I was looking to put in a new install for the holidays and I was prepping my hair with weekly deep conditioners,  a protein treatment, and a really good trim. I still haven't gotten that really good trim so some time this weekend that is on my TO-DO list!

ANYWAY... The hair! If you aren't following me on Instagram (shame on you) one of MY favorites on my TL is @miaray she is a blogger out of Detroit and she just recently started a website for #samegirldifferenthair -- they are selling virgin hair and this past week had a promotional sale on all of their hair.

Now I've bought hair before and I have a few websites over here in my bookmarks for future hair I wanna try and hair can be expensive -- GOOD HAIR -- can be expensive!  This sale was nothing to miss out on.. 3 bundles 22' 24' 26' deep wave -- $350 *faints*

Girl.... @miaray was hooking us up! Check out ANY hair website -- pick your favorite one and just look to see how much 22' 24' 26' of hair will run you.. 12oz of hair for $350 was the best deal ever and today I finally picked mine up from the post office.

DEEP WAVE 22' 24' 26'

samegirldifferenthair.com

BABY THIS HAIR IS EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've just been running my fingers through it since I picked it up; I can not wait to have it installed in the next few weeks. I will come back after it is installed, tell you all about shedding and maintenance.. Please expect LOTS of pictures! 

FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM: @not_yo_momma AND @metrocitycurly 

AS I AM REVIEW...

When I tell you I loveeeeeeeeeeeeee.... I love this product line!

Randomly one day I picked up the coconut cleansing co-wash and I've talked about it a few times already so we can just skip ahead to last week Thursday!

Strolling the aisles of my local beauty supply store I came across the entire AS I AM product line and was inclined to purchase and try out some different products and baby honey child boo boo that hair was BOMB!!!!!!

Let me tell you what I got:

• hydration elation
• double butter cream
• curling jelly 
• cocoshea spray

I cleansed with the coconut cleansing co-wash like regular and then I baggy'd with the hydration elation and let me tell you that I was elated with how hydrated my hair was... All of the products have a similar coconut smell to them -- the Mr. kept sniffing my head so that's always a good thing! UGH! the consistency -- like whipped frosting! So light and airy but still thick enough for me to shake the bottle and nothing fall out.. 

3hrs later...

It was time to style. Now this has been a VERY VERY busy weekend - I needed something that could hold up and be almost dry come Friday morning so I could hit the streets! I did a wash & go y'all and honey that hair was something out of this damn world! When I tell you my curls have NEVER in two years popped like they popped this wknd I mean that.. 

On wet hair I sectioned and rake through some double butter cream first and then I went over the section again with the curling jelly.. The smell again is the same (coconuts) the butter cream has a denser feel to it but it is really light and airy --- so if the hydration elation was whipped frosting this is just regular frosting.. The curling jelly reminds me of kinky curly curling custard -- same loose jelly like gel only this one smells better!

I pineapple'D all wknd.. I sprayed the cocoshea spray on my ends and scrunched to lose a bit of the crunch.. Shake to relax my curls from the top of my head.

I don't make a habit of using an entire product line on my hair -- I think this is the first time I've actually done this. I am super excited to see how this works for twists and braid outs and flexi rods! The double butter cream is soooooooooooooooooooo buttery I could just imagine my twist out *squeals* LOL! 

PRICE...

My first trip to the BSS cost me $48 dollars for the first three products -- I picked up the cocoshea spray on Saturday and that was another $12 so the price is definitely reasonable.

INGREDIENTS...

You know how you pick up a product and it says "with coconut oil, Shea butter and jojoba oil" then you look on the ingredients list and its like the 37th thing listed after a bunch of synthetic manufactured crap??? Well this is NOT the case for these products! Coconut oil and a bunch of other extracts are one of the first ingredients in all of these products --- I haven't goggled every ingredient and I didn't look to see if it was curly girl approved BUT its all good over here!

My hair feels amazing.. Extremely moisturized.. My curls are popping.. LIFE IS GOOD!

Try it and let my know your thoughts -- I am definitely a fan!

PRODUCT REVIEWS

I've been slacking with the reviews I know but there are just sooooooooooooo many new products... I'm trying desperately to find a holy grail can't live without product list that I can share with you but every week is something different.

1st I RE-purchased the AS I AM "coconut cleansing co wash" and then I FINALLY found the CANTU SHEA BUTTER "coconut curling cream" (AUGUST CURLBOX) in my local BSS so y'all know I picked that up!

RE-PURCHASE

RE-PURCHASE

I am almost out of the GIOVANNI "direct leave-in" -- that stuff is heaven in a damn bottle.. I'm gonna buckle down and order directly from their website for the larger bottle. For any ladies who may not have tried Giovanni's before it is a very lightweight leave-in and as soon as it hits your hair it melts! It clumps my curls immediately. I've used it on braid outs and flexi rod sets and basically any style y'all have seen in the last month from me. I will say that using it on wet hair is better then on dry hair -- it doesn't have the same melting effects but yes this stuff is the truth! Oh! and if y'all just need visual proof check out HAIRCRUSH on YouTube - she swears by it and after y'all see her hair you will swear by any and everything she swears by! It is that serious!

OVERALL SCORE: 9.9375 

I have to take off for the wet vs. dry results but I love this and I will be repurchasing a smaller one until my order comes in the mail from their website

I've also tried out two new conditioners.. 

Nature's Gate "tea tree calming" conditioner

I found this conditioner in one of my local beauty supply stores by complete accident! I am assuming it was one of those products they ordered and didn't really sell because it was at the end of the aisle with a very sad orange price tag on it for $2.99.. I've seen this brand in Ricky's and Whole Foods for at least $6 and $7.99 so why not give it a twirl? It has tea tree leaf oil in it as one of the first ten ingredients so you do get that tingling feeling when it is applied to the hair -- i know some naturals do not like that feeling so keep that in mind. It has a pretty thick consistency for a conditioner but it still has great slip to it.

WOULD YOU BUY THIS PRODUCT AGAIN??????

EEEEHHHHH.... probably not! or should I say I wouldn't buy it for $7.99 -- I don't like how it smells and it was just OK! my hair wasn't super soft or anything it was EH... *shrugs* 

I will say this: The bottle says it is for irritated, flaky scalp and it provides calming relief for dry and itchy conditions -- I have none of these conditions so perhaps this product just isn't for me at this time in my journey!

Curl Care by Dr. Miracle "nourishing conditioner"

Dr. Miracles Curl Care "nourishing conditiner" was in my October CurlBox. I used it, I didn't like it, I used it again and I liked it a lil better than I did when I initially tried it! If you have ever used a Dr. Miracle product then you already know that his products have that medicated, peppermint sensation to them and this is no exception! If you aren't a fan then do not pick this product up. I have to use this again to really give a fair assessment -- I can say for sure that I have not been blown away by it yet! The consistency is that of a typical conditioner; not too heavy and not too thick.. It smooths in my hair pretty easily and I was able to finger comb through it. As far as ingredients and how good this stuff is for my hair --- I'm not a scientist but there are a bunch of stuff in here that I can not pronounce!  

The verdict is still out on this product... I'll keep ya posted after the bottle is gone! For now, a 6 is the best I can give it.

PICS...

OMG... LOW POROSITY!!!!

POROSITY...

I've complained over and over about how long it takes for my hair to dry and how after a few days my hair feels dry, no matter how well I think I've moisturized it. I've done a bunch of research and I've come up with an answer -- I HAVE LOW POROSITY HAIR Y'ALL!!!!!!

WHAT IS POROSITY????

Glad you asked.. Hair porosity is essentially your hair's ability to soak up moisture. In my case, my hair shaft has overlapping scales that lay flat making it hard for moisture to get in or out (think of shingles on a roof) This explains why it takes so long for my hair to seem wet on wash day! 

HOW DO I FIND OUT MY HAIR POROSITY????

The Float Test: 

Take a few strands of shed hair from your scalp and place them into a clear bowl of room temperature water. Wait 5mins. If your hair floats, you have low porosity, If it sinks to the bottom, you have high porosity.

The Slip'n'Slide Test: 

Take a strand of hair and slide your fingers up the shaft (toward the scalp). If you feel little bumps along the way, this means that your cuticle is lifted and that you have high porosity. If your fingers slip smoothly, then you have low porosity hair.

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO NOW WHAT????

Now I adjust my regimen to meet my specific needs.. If I want to combat these overlapping scales and get as much moisture in as possible I need to temporarily raise my cuticle.

My new regimen will include:

• The baggy method (forces the moisture into the hair shaft)
• Steaming (the steam heat raises the cuticle to allow moisture in)
• Cherry Lola treatments (an alkaline treatment -- baking soda -- that raises the cuticle)

Low porosity hair is still considered to be healthy hair. While it is a bit of a challenge to get moisture in; once its in it isn't that easy to lose either -- My hair shaft is just as stubborn as I am *shrugs* who knew?!

I will keep you dolls posted and expect new reviews on my revised regimen. The task at hand is to beat my low porosity hair with a bit of experimentation I think I can get it done.

DO YOU HAVE LOW/HIGH POROSITY???? ANY SUGGESTIONS????

POST SANDY

Hello loves,

Just coming to you guys to say thank you from the bottom of my heart for the concern you all showed during Hurricane Sandy. My earlier post regarding Sandy was very light-hearted but as anyone in New York can tell you Sandy was nothing to play with, she came through and showed the hell out!

We were not expecting such a severe storm and we are still trying to get back to normal but luckily, I was not one of the New Yorkers directly affected by the storm. My family is safe, we have had electricity all week and there was no significant damage in my area at all.

While being stuck in the house has been an inconvenience it is nothing in comparison to others. If you are in the area please check on the elderly and try to help out as much as possible. Continue to send your support and prayers to all those who lost their lives, family members, and homes! This storm just gave us all the opportunity to sit back and reflect on how blessed we all really are.

I will be back with more hair and beauty posts shortly.

Peace & Love

OH WAIT YALL!

The other day I was in H&M shopping and I went in their dressing room -- something I rarely if ever do and u will not believe it! The light actually made my hair appear to have a reddish brown tint to it *shocking*

I guess something magical did happen from that whole henna experience.. Check the post if you haven't.  Unfortunately, my phone was on E and I couldn't catch a picture of the slight reflection of color I could see. Seeing that fleck of color is a bit encouraging to re henna my hair but not enough to run out and order some right now. That was much too much work for a description like "slight reflection" and "fleck of color"

I will be washing my hair for the first time since my henna experience tomorrow; so during the storm please expect a post about that and well thats it! just wanted to pop in and share that tid bit of information with you curlies.


As always stay blessed!

CHECK OUT "HENNA BABY" AND "HENNA EXPERIENCE" FOR FULL DETAILS

HURRICANE SANDY

I'm blogging through the storm y'all! I haven't seen a drop of rain YET but they say she is on her way...

NYC is officially shut down -- NO MTA, NO SCHOOL.. If any of you know they NEVER EVER RARELY EVER NEVER shut down our city -- super crazy snow storms and terrorism are the only two reasons I can remember for us not having any train or bus service...

ANYWAY... we have snacks, internet connection, vodka and new hair products to try! As long as I don't lose power Sandy can act up all she want outside -- I'll be inside writing up some new blog post!

Bck to the hair.. 

Yesterday was my annual choir day at church and my go to style is ,of course, FLEXI RODS! If you ladies haven't figured it out yet, I am style challenged.. I think I am going to push myself to master a few more styles just to switch it up -- I can't really do tutorials if I don't do anything to my hair *sigh* BUTTTTTTTTTTTT my flexi rods were super cute -- I used giovanni's direct leave-n, twists-n-locks organic leave-n conditioner (samples from CurlBox) and a spray bottle of water to set my hair.

One thing I've learned about my hair since going natural is that it takes FOREVERRRRRRRRRRR to dry! Ya'll ever watch the youtubers and she twists her hair and then edits the video to show the take down in the morning????? IN WHAT WORLD DOES THAT HAPPEN??? That never happens for me -- LOL -- EVER! I set my hair Friday night and Saturday afternoon at 3pm there was still damp hair!  Anyway, It was soft and the curls that were completely dry were poppington. I'll be looking for that twists-n-locks line at my local BSS and I'll purchase the full size to add to my stash.

LOL! YES I snap pics while I get dressed.. @metrocitycurly on Instagram

FLEXI - RODS

I use the yellow rods in the very front and and the back for smaller curls. The middle of my head is longer and I like a looser curl so I use the red rods. I can't remember how many rods I use all together but I think it is about 50 for my whole head.

These four samples were just enough for my big ole head. I'll be looking for the full size so I can come back with a real review for you. 

Heaven in a bottle.. Review coming soon!