Unrefined African Shea Butter

Although we use a LOT of hair products, I don't do many reviews.   The reason for it is because not many things impress me when it comes to moisturizing C's hair and I don't want to look like one of those people who 'hates' everything!  Also, I don't mean to degrade or deface any person and/or company when I do a review on a product I don't like.  What works for one may not work for another! :)

Description...
I came across a tub of Unrefined African Shea Butter at a local beauty supply store when we were shopping for some new barrettes and decided to try it.  It comes in solid form and is an off white/yellowish color.  Some forms of this may have a smell, but this particular Shea Butter was unscented.

How to use it...
Since this is in solid form, it has to be melted in order to use it.  When a solid natural oil is melted, it becomes liquid but will go back to solid form again when it cools.  This works out perfectly for us, because I don't have to worry about it spilling in our work station once we put things away.  It only takes about 30 seconds in the microwave to become soft/liquidy.

Price...
$5.99 for an 8oz. tub.

Of course the only ingredient is 100% Unrefined African Shea Butter.  I think this would probably last us 3-4 weeks, which is not too bad.  So far I have only used this for one style, which I did on C 4 days ago.  I'm very happy to say that C's hair has held up nice enough that she could wear it to school and out in public for 4 days without completely drying out!  Most styles only last 2-3 days with C so this is great! 

I did use quite a bit of this while styling C's hair.  I had banded her hair the night before to stretch out the curls and keep tangles to a minimum.  After I sprayed C's hair with our water & Africa's Best Herbal Oil mixture, I parted her hair off into 4 sections and applied a generous amount of the UASB to each section.  I also added more during braiding by rubbing it into each strand of each braid, and when I finished each braid I added yet another helping down the entire length of the braid.  I actually moisturize this way a lot, unless I'm in a hurry.
When I was finished with C's hair, it was very shinny and moisturized looking.  Her hair seemed a little weighed down with all the UASB we used, but I like that because it means C's hair hasn't soaked it all up yet and it will take a little time for it to be all soaked up.

OK, usually after the first day of a style C's hair still looks somewhat moisturized but has a little bit of hair sticking up in random places.  By day 2 she can still get away with going to school in the came style, but I'm already thinking about what I'm going to do with her hair next.  By day 3 (if I didn't take the style down on day 2), C's hair is very frizzy and since it's dried out, it looks very messy and absolutely has to come down!
With the UASB, I haven't seen much frizzing.  I have been re-moisturizing every morning and night (as I always do) and C's hair still looks like it could last another day or 2!  So I will definitely be buying more of this and might keep a stockpile!

The bad part...
So far my only complaint would be that we have already gone through almost half a tub of this.  This is actually fine with me because it's easy to get more since we can find it at the BSS and if it works it's worth it!  But the reason I call it a complaint it we just can't seem to go to the BSS without walking out with a bunch of new hair prettys! C has over $40 of unopened accessories and we have a whole dresser full of them!  BUT... we do have some things we accidentally got multiples of, so they just might be part of our next giveaway!!!  :)
...By the way, we will be having a giveaway when we get 100 followers AND one for C's birthday this month! :)
You might want to check it out!

Cornrows With Ponies And Beads

There really isn't too much to this style.  I wanted to do something that would hopefully last the rest of the week so that I don't have to do anything with C's hair until we wash it on Sunday.
I wanted this style to be random, so I didn't work section by section.  I did 1 or 2 cornrows in one area and then I went to another area and just kept moving around until I was finished.



Right Side

I decided to add ponytails to this style because C wanted to wear her new glittery barrettes and beads, but I have no luck getting beads to stay with snaps or barrettes so I did a little combination style.



Back/Top View

 The braid in the middle looks a little crooked because it was actually only cornrowed halfway back.  I wanted a partially free hanging braid just to be cute :)




Back/Bottom View

 I didn't add the barrettes until C left for school because they like to get caught in her sleeping cap. (I took these pictures before she went to bed.)



Left Side



I don't know why the m isn't where it belongs, it was before I posted the pics...

I  didn't use a specific pattern with the beads.  I just grabbed them and put them in C's hair to add a little more random-ness.  It also saved lots of time! 


C's hair was banded overnight to try and stretch her hair, and also to keep it from tangling.  In my opinion, a style takes enough time to do so I try and keep it as tangle free as possible.


For this style, I wet C's hair with our spray bottle of water mixed with a few drops of Africa's Best Herbal Oil.  I didn't use anything for hold because I wanted to see how the moisturizer we used would do all on it's own.
I used Unrefined African Shea Butter (I'll try and do the review later tonight or tomorrow)
I always use a lot of moisturizer because C's hair is sooo dry, but I really used a ton of this! 
As usual, I used a rat tail comb for parting. 
I'm pretty slow at hairstyling, especially when it comes to braiding.  I have to take extra time because I don't want to pull or snap any hair and C's hair gets knotted during braiding.  This style took me about 1 1/2 hours to do, plus a few short breaks.



I know I haven't been posting anything in a while, but I finally got a good enough camera to take pictures I can show so hopefully you'll be seeing more from us!  :)





Thanksgiving/Fall Themed Hair



(Yes, I still have bad pictures!)

I like to do styles for holidays, but I couldn't think of anything for Thanksgiving.  I just decided to do a simple random part box braid/ponytail style and added some festive fall colored beads.  (yellow, red, orange and brown if you can't tell)

For this style I used Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie and Shea Moisture Organic Coconut and Hibiscus Curl and Style Milk for moisture and curl definition, and I used some Taliah Waajid Lock It Up gel for hold.  See the She Moisture product reviews here and here! 

This took a little over an hour and a half to do, including detangling

This style only lasted for a day.  C's hair is very dry, no matter what I use!  Usually no style lasts longer than 2 or 3 days (3 is really pushing it) because C has extremely dry hair that doesn't stay moisturized. 

I put this style in the night before so C would be ready for school fast in the morning.  I expected a little frizzing since I made such big sections.  As you can see, C's hair was starting to curl up- it always does when it's braided, if we use beads or not.

This is fairly easy to figure out.  I just decided on rounded parts this time to switch up the look a little since I usually do straight, more squared parts.

I'm still trying to come up with something more original, but one thing that doesn't help is knowing that nothing is going to last long!

It looks like we might be doing a giveaway sometime soon in celebration of 100 followers- only 9 more to go!! :)  I wonder what we should give?.....

Shea Moisture Curl And Style Milk

I know I have been totally neglecting you all lately! : /  Well, I'm trying to work on that soon but for now...
Here's the review I told you I would be doing!

Shea Moisture Organic Coconut and Hibiscus Curl and Style Conditioning Milk

Price $9.99 at Walgreens
 
Consistency:
Creamy, light
 
Scent:
Tropical- exactly the same as the Curl Enhancing Smoothie

 

Ingredients: 

Deionized water, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter)*, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut Oil)*, Isopropyl Myristate, Sugar Starch, Silk Protein, Essential Oil Blend, Melila Azadirachta (Neem) Seed Oil Caprylyl glycol, Sorbitol Esters, Algae Extract, Hyssopus Officinalis Extract, Salvia Officinalis, (Sage) Leaf and Equisetum Arvenese Extract, Daucus Carota Sativa (Carrot) Seed Oil, Caprifolium (Honeysuckle) Flower (and Lonicera Japonica (Japanese Honeysuckle) Flower Extract, Tocopherol (Vitamin E) *Certified Organic

Product Description:
Shea Moisture Coconut Hibiscus Curl & Style Milk has coconut oil, silk protein and neem oil that adds moisture, body and shine to your curls. Keeps curly hair frizz-free, shiny and healthy.

Detangles, conditions and defines curls while restoring body and shine

Apply to damp hair; use sparingly, dispensing a dime-size amount into palm

Rub hands together and distribute evenly throughout hair

Avoid applying directly to roots

Do not rinse out, style hair as desired

I purchased this a few weeks ago and have already gone through an entire bottle.
This product is supposed to detangle, which I would have to say it does a fairly good job at doing.  However...  I had to use a lot of product for it to do anything for C's hair, even when it wasn't super tangled.
This did not help define C's curls at all.  By the time her hair dried and soaked the milk up, she was a big ball of frizzy tangles!
I've found that sometimes C's hair retains moisture and stays defined better if I use lots of extra product (whatever I might be using at the time) and I put her hair up in some sort of style.  So what I did was I used both the Styling Milk and the Curl Enhancing Smoothie, and I put C's hair into big box braids with some fall colored beads. 
I admit, most styles do not last longer than 2 or 3 days in C's hair because it is so dry and I have to do everything extra loose because of her sensitive scalp.  I was only able to leave the style in for a day this time!  The Shea Moisture products did nothing for moisture, and also the braid out was a nightmare.  No curl definition at all, and because her hair was so dry, it was also extremely tangled and hard to un-braid.

I would consider using this product just for detangling but I still need something else for definition and moisture... NOTHING seems to work on C's hair!  :*(
Have you tried this?  If so, what did you think?