Hair and Face Mask

Hello dear readers. I thought I’d share with you another new thing I’m doing with my hair. A few months ago I showed all the hair products I bought for my BIG hair care purchase for the year. I had wanted to try Bentonite Clay for over a year since I hear so many rave reviews about it. I have used it 3 times so far (once a month) and really like the results. So what do I do with it? Glad you asked. Here is a recipe for a homemade hair and face mask:

6 Tbsp. Bentonite or Rhassoul Clay
2 Tbsp. EVOO
2 tsp. Jojoba Oil
1 tsp. Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
Liquid: Water, Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV), or Aloe Vera Juice (AVJ)

Use only non metal measuring spoons and bowls for making this mix. You don’t want to mess up the minerals in the clay so be careful. Also be careful not to inhale the clay when you open the container. I hold it as far away from my face as possible when pouring and mixing. Before you get started applying the clay you'll want to wear an old T-shirt you don't mind messing up.

Put the first 4 ingredients in a plastic bowl. Add your choice of liquid and stir everything together with a plastic spoon. Keep adding liquid to it until it’s like a pancake batter. If your hair is short you can half the ingredients to make less.

Note: you can use water for this but I prefer ACV or AVJ because it raises the pH balance which is good for my hair. Here is how I apply it….


First I take out a section of hair and put the rest up in butterfly clips.


Next I spray water on that section to get it wet to work with. It’s better to put the clay in when hair is wet than when it’s dry. Believe me you’ll be glad you did.


Now I apply the clay with my fingers being sure to get the section evenly coated. I have not applied it all the way down my hair shaft so you would see what it’s doing at this point. Notice how it makes my hair look straight and stiff. That’s why it’s better not to apply this to dry hair.


As you can see this side is all done now so it’s time to finish up.


The clay is all in and I still have a little left over. I’m not one to waist anything so what to do with it now? (I’m sorry I didn’t show a pic of how much was left in my bowl).

   
I splash on some water and I apply the remaining clay to my face.  I’m ready for a night out on the town. LOL

  
Creature Feature…that’s so not funny.  Now I put on my disposable shower cap and wait up to 30 minutes (or as long as my face can stand it).  I rinse off the clay from my face. I wish I had discovered this years ago. My face feels amazing after this application.  Now I head to the shower to wash all this out of my hair and shower.  I don’t use any shampoo after doing this because the clay does all the work.  To make sure it’s thoroughly rinsed I follow up with some TREsumme Naturals conditioner and rinse again. My curls are shiny and soft when I finish.  Again I’m sorry for not having a pic for that.

All I do now is move on to regular styling.  I have been using a homemade curling pudding recipe I love that’s way cheaper (if you have everything on hand) to make than buying some already made up at the store.  Here’s the recipe:

12 oz. Fantasia IC Polisher Gel with Olive Oil
5 oz. Shea Butter
1 oz. EVOO

If your Shea Butter is hard you’ll want to warm it up a little to get it soft but not all the way melted. Mix everyting together and use for putting in twists or for Wash~n~Gos. 

Ivory 2-IN-1 Hair & Body Wash

Over the past couple of weeks my family and I have been using a new product to keep us smelling fresh and feeling clean from head to toe. What is that you may ask? It’s the new Ivory 2-in-1 Hair and Body Wash.

About The Product

• Cleans head to toe with dual action formula
• Washes away dirt and odor
• Leaves hair clean and conditioned
• Free of dyes & heavy perfumes
• Saves shower space with just 1 bottle
• 50% more than other 2-IN-1 brands
• Made in the USA

Check out the fun new Ivory video to see why you may want to try some yourself.

The Ivory 2-in-1 is not too thick or too watery. My teenage son was the first to use it. He said it smelled good and that his skin felt really soft. He uses it each time he showers from head to toe.  My hubby was the next one to use it. He was surprised he didn’t have to use as much as he normally do to get a good lather. He liked the clean fresh scent and how soft it made his skin feel. He also uses it to shave his face and his head. It did the job and he has no complaints.

I was the last one in the house to try out Ivory 2-in-1 Hair and Body Wash. I’m very careful of the type of products I use on my hair because I don’t want to strip and dry out my kinky curly hair. For review purposes I was willing to give this a try. When using any shampoo I only apply it to my scalp and not my hair. I follow up with a thorough cleansing using a conditioner on my scalp and hair. I used this product the same way. I didn’t have a problem with it drying my hair out. I’ll continue to use it this way because I like that the ingredients are gentle enough for this type of cleansing. If I do notice it drying out my hair at some point I will come back and update this post. As for my skin it felt so soft. I couldn’t believe that I didn’t have to use much to get the job done. Believe me when I say “a little goes a long way”.

Ivory 2-in-1 is a great alternative if you’ve run out of shaving cream. In fact I like using it much better. I doesn’t dry out my skin like some shaving creams do. I don’t have to hurry to put on some body butter/cream or lotion afterwards. As you can see my family was pleased with the product. It's sells for around $3.50 a bottle in stores like Wal-Mart and Target. I think I’ll be using up the coupons I received with my review to purchase some more bottles of Ivory 2-in-1 Hair & Body Wash.


Disclaimer: I received this product complimentary for review purposes from Influenster.

My New Do…

I mentioned yesterday about me having done something new to my hair. I had been agonizing and praying over a year about some problem spots on my head. When I would talk to my husband about it he would suggest I just cut all my hair off and just start back over. You may be wondering why I would need to do that. You see back in 2010 when I decided to go natural and did not want to do a BC (big chop) because I didn’t think I could handle seeing my hair all cut off like a man. Don’t get me wrong I see some women wear their hair that way and I think it’s cute on THEM. I was just insecure of how it would look on ME. So I ended up transitioning for almost 9 months, During that time I would give myself a monthly trim were I cut an inch off each time. I had planned on going a whole year but I grew tired of caring for the two textures so I cut off the rest of my permed ends that remained.

After I was finally free meaning I was now only wearing my natural unprocessed hair I fell in love with my new hair. I had to get to know this hair and learn what it needed to grow and stay healthy. Everything was fine until I decided to do my first blow out on my 1 year natural anniversary. I noticed the sides of my hair did not look right like the rest of my head did. I was in search of more products to use to help with repairing & conditioning and later learned about the CG (curly girl) method. It helped all the other parts of my hair but the sides remained dry and damaged looking. Heck it wouldn’t even curl like it was supposed to. It was rough looking so I kept it covered with my other hair. This was really disappointing and upsetting. You see my hair was badly damaged from the chemicals and heat I used on my hair all the years I wore a perm. I thought after cutting off the permed ends I would see healthy natural hair but that wasn’t the case with the sides of my head. My scalp underneath this hair had some irritation with redness and peeling skin. Something needed to be done because it wasn’t getting better. Again my husband would suggest I go ahead and cut it all off and start fresh.

I was not ready to sacrifice all the hair I worked hard to grow the last 2.5 years. I often said I just may cut it all off before I turn 40 but I was unsure about that (I only have a few years to go). I had the same feelings come up in me that I had before making the decision to grow natural. I recognized the thoughts and emotions right off the bat. I came up with a solution to my damaged hair dilemma. I started looking at photos of women with Mohawks and side hair cuts to see what look I could go for without looking crazy. Hubby was excited when I finally said I was ready to get rid of this troubled hair. He looked at photos and videos to see how he would cut it for me. That night he got the scissors, clippers, and other parts ready to get to work the next day. He was more excited than me. I was nervous because he was grinning and looking like he was ready to do an experiment I would later regret.


The next day as I was cutting my hair with the scissors I felt like I was loosing a part of me. I just told myself it was a good thing and continued on. Man that was a LOT of hair. My hubby proceeded with using the clippers to finish it off and shaping it up. We also decided to cut the back at the nape. I showered and washed my hair. It felt funny having some of my hair gone but washing it took less time than usual. Here’s how my hair looks as of today:

  

In the first pic I show one side with the remaining hair hanging down it. The other side shows where the hair is shaved off. If you look close enough at the first pic you’ll see the hair in the back (at the nape) is shaved too (for the same reason I stated before). I’m going to take extra special care of my shaved hair and pray it too won’t grow back in a damaged state.


Today I decided to go with this look. I see women wear pompadours which are really chic. As my hair grows back (thank God I know how to get it to grow) I’ll have to come up with more creative looks. My hair grows fast so I’ll be sure to come back with updates on how it’s coming along. Here are some side views of today’s do.

 
I know not everyone will like this look but I don’t care. I like it and so does hubby. One think I kept telling myself when I first went natural is “You can’t please everyone so don’t worry about what others think. Just rock the look that makes you happy with yourself”. Thanks for reading.

Dropping in for an update...

It's been a while so I thought I'd drop in with a quick update. At the writing of this post I'm still reading "Curly Like Me". I'm halfway through the book. I'm just taking my time to soak it all in. I have tried several new things and I'm liking the results. New things are happening with my hair. I have a new look so I'll be back another time to post about what I decided to do and why. I'll also show some pictures of my hair looks. Thanks for stopping by and have a blessed day!

First WNG this Year

It’s Spring so I decided to see what my Wash ~N~ Go would look like compared to last year's when I tried it for the first time. Here is what it looks like after washing, conditioning, and styling:

   

WOW!!! Look at that shrinkage! You wouldn’t think I had hair reaching down my back by looking at this picture. It’s no exaggeration. I have over 13” of hair that falls down the middle of my back if flat ironed. I like the curly look. I’m proud of the progress I’m making with my WNG’s. Last year I struggled getting my hair to curl up like this. By June I plan to put my hair up in micro twists.

I’m halfway through the newest book I bought (Curly like Me). I’ll share my thoughts on it later. That’s all I have to share for now. Thanks for reading and be blessed.