Did a braid twist-out

Sunday night:

Pre-poo'd with Dabur Vatika Enriched Coconut Oil under a cap for about an hour
Washed with SM Raw Shea MR poo
DT- CJ Deep Fix with SM Smoothie
Steamed with Huetiful steamer
R/O- Oyin Honey Hemp
LI- Oyin Hair Dew
Used SM CE Smoothie and their hold & shine mist and did flat twists to take out in the a.m. My bangs, did bantu knots at the end of twists to shorten it to match the rest of my hair.

Yesterday, took out the twists and put some of Kyra's Ultimate Indulgence Sweet Mango Butter throughout. Parted the bangs in the middle and pinned each side. Didn't end up liking the style by the time I got to work, looked like two pony puffs at the side of my head, which I wasn't in the mood for.

Last night I picked it out and did some big braids, spritzing each section with water and a bit of Eco Styler Argan Oil gel. This morning, took out the braids and got rid of the parts with my fingers and put some of Kyra's mango butter again, but just on the canopy to tame the frizzies. The result is the picture above :)

Queen Helene's Royal Curl, Curl Shaping Creme- The First Try

So I've been hearing about this product since May on naturallycurly.com (my daily haunt!) and how great it is and even better than KCCC for a wng, etc. It took a while for it to get to my Whole Foods compared to people in the midwest and other states, so I basically forgot about it after checking a couple times. Then one day earlier this month I popped in WF and it was there. I got as far as the line with it and decided to stop my pj'ism. I was so proud of myself :D Even though I was looking for a KCCC replacement since it's not exactly kind to the pockets being $17 for 8oz., I held off because I still had 1/2 jar left and other stylers/gels I wanted to play around and compare it with first. I've tried Eco Styler gel, Herbal Essences, Jane Carter Curl Defining Cream, Curl Junkie, etc. After trying many styler/li combo's, they all gave me the same results as each other, more of an afro-curl when dry, more poufy, which I like, but nothing gave me the curl definition that the custard does, which is a defined corkscrew, a look I sometimes also want. So I finally caved yesterday and bought QH's creme at Whole Foods for $7.95 (15oz) because my custard jar is getting down there! Of course I couldn't wait to try it out so yesterday evening I did a wng using:


Shampoo- Garnier Fructis Pure Clean (has sulfates, but I've been using 'cones, so I wanted to get rid of them)
Then I used some of the plant poo mixed with Giovanni 50:50 Shampoo for extra clean :D
Condish- Garnier Fructis Color Shield
LI- KCKT, then combed through to get rid of any knots
Then applied the cream in sections on soaking wet hair, shingling it (pulling it through with my fingers and shaping the curl), spritzing with water first
Sealed with KBB's hair oil

Here's the blurb from their website:

"In a hive, there’s only one queen whose diet is only Royal Jelly, a nutrient packed super-food with 17 amino acids, vitamins A, C, D, K and multiple B-vitamins. We use the Queen Bee’s Royal Jelly in Curl Shaping Créme to naturally tame frizz, define curls and smooth waves with silky hold. Pure Aloe Vera Gel and Agave Nectar quench your hair’s thirst without the grease, while powerful Green Tea antioxidants and intense moisturizers defend against damaging heat and humidity. 

All natural: No harsh, or drying chemicals like alcohol, sulfates, petrolatum, parabens or phthalates." 


Applying it was smooth as it really is like a jelly, and it's very light. Once fully applied, there wasn't a lot of white product on my hair like I usually get when I do KCKT and KCCC, which is great because I can't leave the house with my hair that way. With the creme, you can totally leave the house with your hair wet and not get any stares. I still diffused a bit to help it dry faster, not fully, and it really looked great! With KC, I get a tight coil that springs right up, which I love and absolutely no frizz. With QH, it was a looser curl, almost a wave. So it did lengthen my curl as they claim on the jar. Not much frizz. 

When my hair was dry, there was shrinkage, but it was shiny and I didn't have to wipe my nape and hairline off to remove any sticky residue (like with the custard). It was a little crunchy, but no more than when I use any other gel. 

I love that it's all natural and doesn't have any harsh chemicals in it. The smell is nice and fresh like any regular mainstream hair product. The custard smells like marshmallow, which I ADORE! The true test will be seeing how many days I get out of this one wng. With KC, it can literally last about 5 days with me just steaming it in the shower and spritzing with water before I leave, no re-applying of any product. QH claims this will combat humidity and heat, which I find interesting since glycerin is the second ingredient...but we'll see since NYC has been all of the above! :/


I slept with my sleep cap last night as usual and when I woke up this morning, yes it looked jacked up, but with the KCCC, all I have to do is my steam/spritz routine and tousle a little and it's all good. We'll see.

UPDATE:
It didn't give me as many days at KCCC, but that doesn't really matter since it's cheaper and in a bigger jar, so I can afford to re-do it ;)

My 'fro!

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My nails this week, July 25, 2011

I know, same blue as last week. I was being lazy :P
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My much needed jewelry organization

My chest of drawers was a definite eye-sore with jewelry, sunglasses, body products, papers/receipts and everything else in between strewn all over it. Whatever the item of the day was, it ended up there. Oh, just got back from vacay? Just throw those travel-sized bottles of whatever product on there. Mind you, I would tidy it, but it would slowly turn into mayhem in no time. The last time I really organized it, I bought two baskets from Target (see below), the one to the left had my body products, such as creams/lotions, facial products, deodorants, etc, and the other had smaller jewelry in their boxes, sunglasses, bangles and soon enough hairbands ended up in there too. Then if I was hiding something from my son, I'd throw it in either one. When I finally cleaned both baskets on Sunday, I either said "What is this?" half the time, or "Oh, I forgot about this!" the other. I found an Easter Egg I was supposed to give my son at Easter, a keepsake pacifier :| and small parts to his toys that we thought he'd swallow way back when.

Nope, this is no joke. It got out of hand :/

The bulk of my jewelry was hanging to the right of my drawers in a 80-pocket Hanging Jewelry Organizer that I bought a few years ago from The Container Store. Even though it has clear pockets, whatever I put in them got lost since I put more than one item per pocket. So basically, I was only wearing jewelry I could see or was easily accessible, aka, thrown on my chest of drawers :/ When I did the big clean, I rediscovered jewelry I completely forgot about! So I threw out stuff that turned (cheap jewelry) and organized bracelets and earrings by color into the pockets. Still more than one per pocket, but at least they were color coordinated. The necklaces, I put clear push pins on the wall and hung them on. When I finally finished everything I could actually see what I had. It took about 3 hours!!

The next day I was online looking for earring organizers, I tried Amazon, saw a good one, but that involved drilling holes in the wall and I didn't want to do that (nor do I even know how, ha!) So I went onto my trusty fav website, The Container Store and saw some stuff that looked interesting and jumped up that instant from my desk and went to the store.  They're currently having their Happy Organized Home Sale, perfect timing, so I got:

Acrylic Grooved Bracelet Stand, $7.99

Acrylic Folding Earring Screen, on sale for $9.99 (reg. $14.99)

4-Section Acrylic Swivel Organizer (for my rings), on sale for $6.99 (reg. $9.99)

As you can see, it's easy to get organized on a budget. I couldn't wait to get home that evening to see if everything would fit or if I even needed it all. I did. Everything is a lot more organized and I'm pleased...though it sort of looks like an jewelry store now :D 

Earring rack, color coordinated, studs to the bottom

Necklaces on push-pins

80-pocket organizer, earrings to the top, bracelets to the bottom, the other side doesn't have much

Large hoop earrings and charm/link/tennis bracelets on the bracelet stand

Rings, small earrings, and a brooch in the swivel organizer

The last two days have been heaven being able to wear jewelry I couldn't see before! I plan on getting Aye'Shanti to help me make a nice jewelry holder for the wall behind my chest of drawers. I want to maybe move the necklaces onto that. I've also been meaning to put that poster on my wall into a frame ever since I got it at my baby shower nearly 4 years ago. I tried, I swear, it's just hard to find one that fits :( When I update the wall I'll post about it. That's my next mission!

My hair today, wng 07/20/11

Hair

2nd day wng with Kinky Curly products

I did a mini bang today, ha!

Makeup

All Avon, I just got a new quad eye-shadow palette from them, True Color in Caribbean Sunset, pretty colors. The teal and coral on the lid, darker bronze in the crease and the lightest color to highlight the brow bone. This is it on the left:

Eye liner on the lower lash line is Avon Glimmersticks Diamonds in Twilight Sparkle.

Cheeks: Avon True Color blush in Antique Rose.

Lips: Avon SuperShock Liquid Lip Shine in Melon Madness. I've mentioned this one in my blog before, in a different color.

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My nails this week, July 18th

Base coat- Avon Nail Experts Mineral Fix

Top coat- Avon Nail Experts UV Gloss Guard

Main color
Color Club mini in Chelsea Girl (Duane Reade)
Same brand I tried last week, I had to put 3 coats of this color to get it to my liking.

Accents 
L.A. Girl Flare in Yellow (Forever 21 last year). Very opaque, one coat shows a lot.

Absolute! in Orange (local bss)
Absolute! in Fuschia (local bss)

This brand is like 99cents, you need like a million coats ;)

Here they are in better lighting