And the junkie-ism continues

My descent into conditioner junkie-ism (I need to stop making up words) continues. So ya know that box of conditioner I tripped over a few weeks ago...well along with my new love of Herbal Essence Hello Hydration, I had a bottle of the Totally Twisted stashed in there. Hello! I have a new love....this stuff makes my coils just POP!

Yeah, yeah I know, I'm supposed to be on that "only homemade products" for the summer, but with the exception of conditioner for co-washes, I did stick with it. It's just that there is nothing like a co-wash with a creamy conditioner. Plus the summer is over, so I can jump back into my commercial conditioner frenzy.

So back to this joy in the purple bottle. Totally Twisted, like all the other Herbal Essence line has a yummy scent to it, making me all the more addicted. I feel madly in love with this stuff.

But wait a minute a new player showed up on the scene, that made want to cheat on my Totally Twisted. I've been seeing Suave's Professional Humectant for some time now. And when Hello Hydration showed up on the scene with it intoxicating orchid and coconut scent, I couldn't help but share my shower time between the two. Well, I happened to be picking up some more Suave Pro Humectant when I noticed Suave's Pro Healthy Curls. The labels says "Defines Curls as well as Redkins". I don't use Redkins, but what the heck...it says it defines curls, I'll give at try. Lawd....chile, this stuff is da truth! My coils are popin' and sangin' all over the place. Now the only drawback is that it does not have that luscious smell that the Totally Twisted does. It doesn't smell bad though, just doesn't make me dream of a tropical island the way Totally Twisted does.

Now that I have this luv thang going on with 6 conditioners...don't forget, I'm still totally in love with Suave Natural's Tropical Coconut and Aussie Moist, who do I luv the most? Can't choose, they all give me something special. And since we are all living together in harmony, why mess with that. See that hang out together, even when I'm away.


Coil definition with Totally Twisted:


Coil definition with Healthy Curls:

Warning, if you are afraid of shrinkage....this product is not for you. But I love my shrinkage so the more I have the happier I am. We'll get into that later :D

Another note on the Suave Pro Healthy Curls...it is hard to find here. I'm not sure if this is a product being phased out. I've only found it in one store in my area so far out of about 10 stores I looked in :(
Nope, not telling cause I don't want y'all going in and grabbing up my stash.

Confessions of a conditioner junkie

Damn...that's a huge scrape on my arm.

I guess you're wondering what in blue blazes that has to do with conditioner. Er...I tripped over box of it last night. And nope...no margaritas were involved.

So I guess your next question is why and how did I trip over a box of conditioner? Well, it was sitting in front of the linen closet and I tripped over it when going to the bathroom in the dark in the middle of the night.

Ok, you've got more questions huh? I never turn the lights on when going to the bathroom in the middle of the night. I know the path well and I go back to sleep a lot easier if I don't turn lights on.

Now, why was there a box of conditioner sitting in the floor? Wait...did you say a box of conditioner? Well, there's really not any room in the linen closet, that doesn't have many linens because it is stuffed with health and beauty products.

I'm blaming part of it on Bath and Body Works and Victoria Secrets. Every time they have those durn semi-annual sales...well you know. No need to go into all the ugly details and talk about the bags of stuff I have on the floor in the closet.

Before going natural...I did have quite a few hair care products on one shelf. Most of the old "bad for your hair stuff" has been tossed, but now that I've gone natural...the daggone ingredients for my homemade concoctions have spread to two shelves. Them old, butters, herbs and powders take up a lot of room. Not to mention the additives like honey, glycerin...yada, yada, yada.

So, back to the box of conditioner on the floor. I've got quite a few bottles of different brands of conditioners. I co-wash daily, sometimes even twice. I've got a number of conditioners that I've tried. Some I like some I didn't care that much for. The ones I didn't care too much about, I used them in my deep conditioning mixes to use them up. I keep several bottles of my favorites like Sauve Naturals Coconut and Warm Vanilla. Then there's the Aussie Moist.....ummmm this is heaven in a bottle...or so I thought, but I'll get to that.

Disclaimer: It's KMart's fault. I really wasn't in there to buy conditioner. I was headed to look for a patio table when that big ass sale sign caught my attention...they were having their 3 for $8 on Aussie Moist. And before you know it, I was picking up bottles. They only had 2 left....grrr...I know them other nappturals here are the culprits. Can't prove it, but I know it. Anyway, they also had the Herbal Essences line on sale too. I pick up a bottle of the Hello Hydration and check out the ingredient list and it's not too bad, only one cone...I mean my beloved Aussie Moist has got 1 cone in it too. So I grab it to make my 3.

Well, I'm in this "homemade products for the summer" challenge, so I really shouldn't be buying conditioner. But I'm always afraid that they'll either stop making my favorites completely or screw up the ingredients trying to make it "new and improved".

I really wasn't going to use...I really wasn't...but you know a junkie cannot have their product of choice and not resist the temptation. I decided to use the Hello Hydration, because I figured it wouldn't be any good anyway. OMG....this stuff is better than the Aussie Moist...uh-oh! One use and I'm totally hooked. So what's a junkie to do....head back to KMart and buy more conditioner. 12 bottles later and nowhere to store them, I stuck them in a cardboard box until I had time later to "re-arrange"...ok...ok...clean out the linen closet.

So, that is how the box of conditioner came to be sitting in front of the closet and how I tripped over it and how I ended up with this 3 inch scrap on my arm.

{SIGH} I really am not using as much...I am trying to abide by the challenge. I use once or twice a week...ok maybe 3 times. I am trying to cut down to no commercial products for the challenge...but I got that conditioner monkey on my back. :D

The Caramel Treatment....taboo for natural hair or not?

Super soft moist hair.....that's what I got out of the infamous Caramel Treatment. No automatic straight relaxed-like hair (I would never have put the stuff in my beautifully nappy hair if I thought that it would have in the first place. I don't know why black folks think anything but chemicals and heat will straighten your nappy hair...just ain't gonna happen...ain't gonna happen ya hear me! That's how folks fell into that Rio trap years ago).

Anyhoo.....

The Caramel Treatment...what is it?

The Caramel Treatment, it seems was developed as a straightening "aid" for those desiring to wear their hair straight. On her website, the creator, promotes this aid as either an alternative to relaxing at all or as a way to extend the time period between re-touches. Not a bad idea at all...the less chemical exposure, the better. Even though, I'm no longer relaxed or looking for straightened hair....I can't knock anyone for looking for healthier alternatives to get that straightened look. (Nope, I ain't pointing out the site either...you wanna go with the relaxed look...go find it yourself...google is your friend...use it. No hate intended, just not something I'm promoting here in my little nappy world).

However, it's not the Caramel Treatment that does the straightening. Now I don't have her actual formula, but if it's all natural ingredients as promoted, there is no way this stuff will automatically straighten your hair on it's own... hello..remember only heat or chemicals will straighten nappy hair. So using a little bit of deductive reasoning...no chemicals in the treatment...duh it must be the heat doing the actual straightening. I will give over to the idea that the treatment does make the hair softer and will probably make it easier to straighten. But there is no way that you can apply this to your kinky, coily hair and the twists and turns fallout and look like a brand new package of Yaki hurr. (Bad girl...go stand in the corner). Oh and another thing...yanno what happens when straightened natural hair comes in contact with H2O dontcha? Some say the hair reverts....I prefer to say it springs back into it's natural God-made glory! On some hair boards you will see folks saying that it doesn't "revert" as quickly when using the Caramel Treatment...but you also see in the same threads, warning not to get your hair wet...like you are Gizmo and will turn into a freaking Gremlin. So if it doesn't snap back to it's natural texture, why run from water? Hmmmm......


So what's in the Caramel Treatment?

Well, I have no clue as to what the original formula contains. But there have been a number of homemade versions that have sprung up all over the internet. Sorry I'm not gonna post a list...again remember google is your friend. However I will point out Kiya's Blog and her version of the Caramel Treatment. (BTW....her blog is a good read, you should bookmark it)

These are just some of the different ingredients I've seen used:
over-ripe bananas or baby bananas
Olive Oil
Shea or other heavy butter
wheatgerm or coconut oil (Kiya's the only person I've seen use red palm oil)
Honey
molasses or black-strap molasses
cornstach
water
apple cider vinegar


I used:
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup my shea butter mix
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup molasses
2 large over-ripe bananas
1 tsp ACV
I only have to use half the batch. This freezes well, so I always have some on hand.

Slather it on my head, cover in plastic wrap then toss on my ski cap (I don't use heat in any form at all) for a couple of hours. Rinse throughly. I also use a light ACV rinse afterwards to knock of some of the left over residue on my strands. I will only co-wash at this point if my hair feels over coated. If not, then I just go on my merry little way and let my hair air dry.

Just for those of you that are curious, it does seem to loosen my texture a little, but that could just be the heavy coating on my thin strands and weighing them down. But in no way does it straighten my hair.

Right after rinsing the caramel treatment out. As you can see, my tiny little coils are still intact. Once this dried they tightened up even more.



(Um...ignore them bushy eyebrows...I've been trying to let them grow back fuller. I don't like the super thin shape I've been sporting lately.)

Just for a little reference point, this is my hair without the Caramel Treatment. Not much difference in them tight coils with our without the CT.




The Controversy

I don't think the Caramel Treatment in itself is the controversy...it's the way it's used that is. In some arenas heat, relaxed or relaxed-like hair are just not accepted and any reference to them are not welcome. Most of the ingredients used are ones I use on a regular basis anyway. I might not have combined all of them in this formula, but I sure as hell have done quite a few of them on any of my deep conditioning days...which I do once or twice a week anyway. I see myself doing the Caramel Treatment bi-weekly because it is a hell of a deep conditioner and now that I'm at the pool a lot more, I need to protect my hair from all that chlorine. I'm sure I'll adjust it along the way to use lighter oils that don't weigh my hair down as much if I'm using it so often.

So is the Caramel Treatment taboo for natural hair or not? Well that for you to decide. For me it's not...because I am in no way looking to alter the texture of my hair in any way and all of the ingredients I'm using are good for my hair. So that's my take on this treatment.

Oh Lawd....I can't believe I'm 'bout to give up my conditioner for the summer.

I decided to join MJ in her Homemade Product Challenge for the summer. I make just about all of my own products anyway....except for the conditioner. I co-wash daily and Aussie Moist is a must for me. I think I am truly addicted to this stuff.

The thought of going the whole summer with out it terrifies me. Well, now that I think of it, I'm gonna have a hard time giving up any of my conditioners. I just became acquainted with Suave Humectant...and I've fallen hard for it too. And all of my deep conditioning routines have a little commercial conditioner added to them.

I will be spending quite a bit of time at the pool or over at Percy Priest Lake aka...Pissy Priest Lake) and I think I'll need lots of conditioner to combat that chlorine from the pool and whatever the hell my be in the lake...ewwww, maybe I shouldn't be in the lake...huh?


What's a gal to do? Waaaaaah.......I want my conditioner!

What's your hair type? Ummmm....NAPPY....and don't ask me again, unless you wanna get cussed out!

Holy cow....what is the deal with folks and hair type? Damn...let it go!

For the 40th time, I've told a friend, I don't really know what my hair type is and I don't care...stop asking me and stop trying to tell me what you think it is. All I know is my hair is NAPPY...that's N-A-P-P-Y, for the stupid that need letters for a hair type.

If hair typing is your thing, ok go for it. But stop trying to shove it down the throats of us that really don't give a rat's ass. If you are asking me because you want know how I take care of my hair because we have a similar texture...cool. But if you are doing it because you are into the the damn hierarchal "good hair vs bad hair" BS....don't ask me, cause I will go off on you...plain and simple.

Can ya tell, I'm more than just a little irritated? I think I need a Margarita...and it ain't even lunchtime yet!

NOTE: BTW, if you are relaxed and have been so most of your life...how the hell do you know what your hair type is anyway?

Hey girl....where have you been hiding?

I need to get back to regular blogging now that I have gotten past the 2nd "unwanted" BC at the hands of my former hair dresser.

I had to step away and stop standing in the mirror commanding my hair to grow. I was literally standing there everyday saying "grow dammit grow". And when I stopped watching....guess what...it actually grew!


I've spent the past 3 months focusing on nurturing my hair. My focus has been...moisturize, moisturize, moisturize...and moisturize some more.

My "Good for your body from head to toe" Moisturizer is still a staple. I really only use it during deep conditioning though and not everyday use...on my hair anyway...still use it daily on my body for ash control.

My daily staple is Aussie Moist Conditioner. I swear this stuff has got to be bad for you. No way should hair be this soft and moisturized from a commercial product. But my hair loves the stuff.

So what does my hair routine look like these days?
Well it depends on how I'm feeling on that day. No set routine. I just reach up and feel my hair and decide on that day what type of loving it needs.
I generally co-wash every morning, spay on a conditioner made with (Aussie Moist, glycerin, jojoba oil, distilled water) and do a shake and go.

Just want to give you a warning...make sure you have enough hair on your head to do a shake and go...otherwise you can easily give yourself a concussion. Just a little tip I learned along the way. ;)

Anyhow....I am fond of pre-poos also. My current fave is Micheli07's Pre-Poo concoction. She said that you will have some "juicy hair" if you sleep in this overnight. Girlfriend was not lying. My hair is so soft and moisturized even days after, I can't keep my hands out of it. Yup...I've still got that "hand-n-fro disease" pretty bad.

I've also been doing some homemade mayonnaise treatments. I was adding avocado but I figured out, my hair just does not like it and is always hard afterwards.

Oh and I love castor oil. Love it, love it, love it. Use it in every deep conditioning and pre-poo.


Btw....I've colored my hair. Got sick and tired of the gray hair. The henna just didn't hide it the way I would have liked. It actually made the hair bronze.

Last month, I finally made the firm decision to color. I'd purchased and returned the color so many times it was ridiculous.
I used Dark-n-Lovely's Red Hot Rhythm because that was the color I wanted. Well, I got paranoid that I was going to dry out my hair, so I didn't let it sit on my hair as long as the package recommended. It's not as red as the package, but I love the color! And I have yet to have any breakage or shredding because of it. Yahoooooo!

Adjusting to the TTWA....Yup I ment TTWA.

So, it's been 2 weeks since the "2nd disastrous, un-wanted BC" and I've almost adjusted to my even TTWA (Teenier Teeny Weeny Afro).

I even managed to do some finger coils last weekened. The coil out was pretty cool and probably would have lasted more than 3 days if I hadn't washed it.

When does dust my ends equal to cut off half of my hair?

I have been digging my new hair, but know there were some stray ends that still had pieces of relaxed hair. I wanted to make sure I got rid of all of them so that they wouldn't start splitting and damage my natural hair.

I needed my eyebrows done, so I thought I'd get them done at the hair salon as well as let her get rid of any of those ends and get my eyebrows done too.

Now we had a long discussion about the fact that I didn't want to lose any length and that I didn't want my hair shaped in any way. They hair was healthy and she could basically just dust off the ends no more than 1/4".

So, because I trusted her, I turned my head over to her with no qualms...well only one, she said she needed to blow-dry my hair to cut it. I wasn't too happy with this, but if it made it easier on her to cut, then fine. She cuts a little in the back and shows me and I'm like "cool". So I'm reading and we're lightly chatting the whole time.

She does my brows and then shows them to me in a mirror. My eyes go straight to my head. OMG...she has cut off over half my length. The length that I struggled through rod and straw sets while transitioning. Hell, if I'd wanted my hair this short, I would have cut it 3 or 3 months ago and saved myself a lot of time and hassle.

She'd decided to shape me up. Hello, not what I wanted, not what we'd discussed.
My 3 inch coils have been reduced to about an inch long. And it's not that long on the sides where it was "shaped". WTF!!!!!!! And I've discovered that despite all of her hacking, it is in no way even. If she was gonna take it upon herself to shap me up, shouldn't the hair be even...especially since she blow-dried it?

I have been totally pissed about this. Before the "haircut from Hell", I had the option of rocking my TWA as just a wash-n-go or doing finger coils or two strand twists. Now I can barely grasp enough to do twists and I think the only coils I can wear will be comb coils and I certainly don't know how to do those.

While everyone says it looks good on me...that's not the point. I was trying to retain some length. I went in asked for one thing, had a discussion around it and ended up getting something different.

It's been 5 days since the cut and I'm slowly learning to adjust to it.

Before the hacking away the hair.



After the hacking. Grrrrr! My head has so many thin places...I don't need hair this short.

Curls for Women Products Test

So now that I am totally natural, I am starting to experiment with products. I was strolling through Hunneee B'z considering whether I wanted to spend a whole lotta money on Ms. Jessie's products or try Carol's Daughter's products again. Neither one of the these worked well when I was transitioning.

I noticed that they had gotten some new products. One being the Curls line . I've read a few good reviews of it was relatively inexpensive, I decided to give them a try. I used the Whipped Cream and the Quenched Curls Moisturizer. I loved the way they added definition to my tiny coils. I'm not to fond of the buildup that seems to happen after a couple of days. I don't want to start spending a lot of money on products and co-wash them out every night. But again, I'm just starting to play around, so we'll see. I've heard that the Curly Q's (kids line) is the same thing, just a little cheaper. I'll probably buy that next time.

Don't worry, I'm still making my own concoctions on the side. I just don't see me ever deep conditioning with out using my "Good From Head To To Shea Butter Mix."

2nd day of Curls Products test.

I did it, I did it, I did it....I BC'ed!

Yup, ya heard me...I did the big chop. I am au naturale now...well there may still be one or two straggly relaxed ends that I missed. But for the most part, I am chemical free and totally NAPPY!

I wish I could say I woke up and decided...."Hmmmm, I think I'll BC today." Uh-uh not me, I always gotta walk backwards dramatically into doing something. While I was home for Christmas, I caught the cooties from my cousin's daughter. Let's call her Typhoid Trinity....why is it that the little cutest things carry the worst germs. So between fevers up to 105, dehydration, ear infections and totally upper respiratory congestion, I can easily say I was not totally lucid on the day that the chop happened.

I'd been in the bed, sweating due to the fever and for some reason decided to get in the shower too cool off. If I'd been in my right mind, there would have been no way that would have washed my hair, but since I was in a fever induced alter reality, I guess anything was game and I seem to have washed my hair. Ok, mistake 1....no that's probably mistake number 3 since I can't stand it to be hot, so I keep my heat around 65-68 degrees and usually have on shorts and no socks. Hot feet are the worse for me. Oh yeah, I sleep with the fan on too.

Here's where my mind gets fuzzy. I can remember getting in the shower, but I have no recollection of getting out of the shower, but I woke up several hours later teeth chattering curled up in the bed with wet hair. I stumbled to the bathroom and looked in the mirror and was like WTF....I still had a head full of conditioner. That's normal for me since I like to deep condition overnight. But the thing that stood out was this big ass shower comb in my hair and the hair was tangled all around it. I really wish I'd had a picture cause that crap was too funny now that I think back on it. The relaxed hair was in ugly clumps all over my head. After spending sometime trying to get the comb out and the other parts of the relaxed hair un-clumped, I was like forget it and reached for the scissors.


Clip, clip, clip, clip...FREEDOM!

I ran my hands of my completly chemically free hair and fell more in love with my kinky napps. I am loving my TWA (Teeny Weeny Afro). Man, I can't wait until I am sporting an Angel Davis BAA (you don't need me to define that do ya?

But now I really am on a re-education plan trying to learn more about caring for my all natural hair. I'm still sick, so I can't wash and go, like I really want to. But I plan to try do some twists or coils this weekend to see how they turn out.

Stay tuned for more updates. Love ya.

Me an my new nappies. Ain't they beautiful?