There's Nothing Wrong with Cheap

The other day I couldn't decide which conditioner I wanted to use for my cowash.  It was between Trader Joe's Nourish conditioner and Giovanni Smooth as Silk conditioner.  So I turned the bottles over and read the ingredients, only to find out that they're just about IDENTICAL. Now as much time as I spend on natural hair blogs, I don't know why I haven't come across that discovery.

Here's the list: Water, Rosemary Oil, Valencia Orange Citrus, Mango, Lemongrass, Ginko Biloba, Echinacea, Willow Bark, Sea Kelp, Chamomile, Soy Protein, Lavender, Grapefruit... there are a few more from each but that's where they differ.  Giovanni has glycerin, TJ's doesn't.  TJ's has Vitamin E, Giovanni doesn't.

Now since they're basically the same, the should work the same right? Wrong.  My hair does not seem to like Giovanni.  I ended up choosing Smooth as Silk to cowash with and I was mad I did.  The bottle design is the worst so I struggled trying to get this super thick conditioner out of it.  I do like the fact that it's thick but other than that I'm not impressed because detangling was still somewhat difficult.  My hair felt ehh afterwards but I know it can and absolutely has, felt better.  The TJ's Nourish however, makes detangling a breeze and it's so much cheaper. Nourish runs about $3 while Giovanni was $8.  The bottle doesn't give me problems.  And my hair feels soft.  There's nothing like a reasonably priced product that works well. I'm thinking I'm gonna mix the two of them together since I'm about halfway through each of them and see how that works out.  Maybe I'll try a Giovanni product again but right now I'm not in a hurry because my experiences with them.  (I had tried the direct leave-in a while back and immediately returned it because my hair felt brittle and crunchy, never a good look)

My Verdict for Giovanni Smooth as Silk: 2/5

My Verdict for Trader Joe's Nourish Spa Conditioner: 4/5

I Decided...

(via The Fashion Bomb)

...that everytime I see Solange Knowles, I like her more and more.  Ok her hair is a little questionable (windy possibly?) but I adore her Boxing Kitten dress.  She's supposed to be dj-ing out in Brooklyn this Friday and I'm thinking I kinda wanna see what her set is like.

This pic from her blog is MUCH better.

Anyway, I love the tribal prints in both these images and was inspired to leave a few ideas in case you're into it too!

More Forever 21...

Summer Nail Trends

Why the video? The nail color Beyonce's sporting... LOVE!  The song's not bad either although I would like it better if kid sis Solange were singing it (it suits her better)

A lot of blogs are saying that it's Chanel's Nouvelle Vague.  

Lately I've had a fascination with nail polish.  Every week you can catch me with a new color.  Honestly I think it's the change in season.  Something about winter equals low maintance to me.  Now that it's nice outside and I'm not covered by gloves, coats and Uggs I'm taking a little more time on how I present myself.  I figured I'd share my current nail polish obsessions.  Some of which I've tried already and others that I can't wait to get my hands on.

Nail Polish by Pop Beauty
Nail Polish by Forever 21

 

Now I'm definitely not the type to spend $14 on a bottle but I just wanted to provide the colors and you can grab them from your local BSS or drugstore.

 

 

Prepoo Vs. Deep Conditioning

All the research I had done during my year of transitioning introduced me to a world of terms & acronyms that I had never heard before: TWA, Cowash, BAA, and more.  One of my newly learned terms... Prepoo.  A prepoo is basically a deep conditioning treatment applied to hair before washing with either shampoo or conditioner.  So if that's the case, why am I titling this post "Prepoo Vs. Deep Conditioner?" Because I've never heard anyone call it anything else.  Whenever I read other blogs or visit a forum, I know deep conditioning refers to a treatment that is applied to hair after washing and then rinsed out.  I call them all deep conditioning treatments.

Is one better than the other? To me, it's a matter of preference.

I personally like prepoo-ing or deep conditioning before I wash my hair.  Something about washing my hair in the shower only to get out, hang around with more stuff in my hair and then get back INTO the shower is annoying.  Also it's a waste of water and I'm semi-green.  I would much rather slap some stuff on either the night before I plan on washing my hair or the day of.  Like right now, I'm prepoo-ing as I write this.  After I'm done, I'll just throw myself into the shower, hop out and twist my hair.

What do I use to deep condition? (I'm gonna call it deep conditioning or DC from here on but just know that it really doesn't make a difference as to when you choose to do it)

I haven't found the HG (holy grail; another term I've learned) DC treatment so I am experimenting until I find something I really like.  Since I decided to wash my hair last minute, I decided to sit under the dryer for 45 minutes with my combination of HE Hello Hydration, honey and olive oil.  If I had known last night, I might have DC'd then.  I do know that if I'm DC-ing overnight then I use only oils (usually a combination of JBCO, olive oil and coconut oil) and saturate my hair.  If I'm doing it on a wash day then it's either the conditioner mix or the oil mix.  I don't like to use the conditioner mix overnight because it leaves my hair way too soft which means too much moisture.  Too much moisture means fragile hair that will break easily.

I'm always up for new methods of conditioning so fi you have any, please share.  Let me know what works best for your hair, conditioning before washing, or after?

The Sahara...

... is what my hair looks like. DRY!!! ROUGH!! Ugh. When I touch it, it's amazingly soft but just by looking you would never know.  What to do? What to do?  As I write this, I'm prepoo-ing/deep conditioning* my hair under a dryer just to see if that make some sort of difference.  I'll sit under the dryer for 30-60 mins (depending on how antsy I get) Co-wash my hair. Twist it and see how it looks when I take them out tomorrow.  By tweaking things in my regimen I'm sure I'll have a better idea of what works and what doesn't.  If I change it all, I'll never know what the problem really was.  I should have some compare and contrast pics up by Friday.

*I wanna get more into the prepoo/deep conditioning thing on another post. You know, while I sit around, I might just get it done now.