Sunday 21 August 2016

5 Moisturisers That Shook My Regimen


THE PREPOO

I won't lie to you. My hair does not soak up coconut oil like the natural hair sista's rave about say it should. It feels rather striping during the day having applied it onto my hair shaft earlier in the morning. For a few months I tried and tried with this product and found it most beneficial for my skin as opposed to my hair. That's fine for me, as you can see I've almost emptied this product out! I'll be doing a post on natural skin miracle products very soon!

However, despite my previous unsuccessful attempts I did decide to try again with this product on my hair and found that whilst it was totally pants for moisturising my hair, it worked wonders as a prepoo. Brilliant stuff ay!


THE APPLICATION

I simply lather on the coconut oil onto my damp- not soaking wet hair strands. I put my hair into bantu knots, followed by a shower cap and a beanie hat to trap the heat from my head. It works somewhat like a hot oil treatment. The natural body heat allows the coconut oil to saturate my hair stands which comes in handy for when I begin my actual shampooing process. I've been loving the coconut prepoo this summer as it elongates my coils and kinks allowing for a smoother washday experience. I've witnessed a better glide when applying the conditioner/shampoo through my hair and a reduced shrinkage at the end of my wash. So I went out and did what any other person would do and repurchased the coconut oil, this time however I ventured out a little and bought it from a different brand. I'm hoping that the extra virgin coconut oil that I recently purchased, can do an improved job- but so far, so good!

THE LEAVE-IN

Now in all my natural years (20 to be precise), I've never actually had a proper leave in conditioner. To be honest I still don't have one but I decided to arm myself with a liquid moisturiser that could be applied onto my hair during the summer months. This seemed to be a pretty darn good thing to do since the climate has now become both warmer for the most parts anyways and harsher to the hair strands. I choose this product as it had less chemical ingredients to make up its formulation. Titled, the Miracle Oil Moisturtizer (M.O.M) by the brand African Royale, it really does do what it says on the bottle! Retailing at £2.69- extremely affordable if you'd ask me, my hair responded to this product very well, leaving me to beg the question - why doesn't this cost so much more?



Perhaps my expectations for this product were seriously underrated when I'd bought it. If I can recall very correctly, it was quick pick from the African hair shop, not wanting to be haggled by the shop assistants. In all honesty, I couldn't be any happier with the results and seek to stock up on this pretty soon. It's sulphate free and has a very light milky formula. This is absolutely fine with me as I wanted something that would mimic water in that it could provide my hair with the right amount of moisture without greatly weighing it down - who doesn't want hair billowing in the wind with each step? The three main ingredients are deionized water, Canola Oil and Castor Oil. This product prides itself on its oil-base. It also has an oil-mix (Canola, Castor, Coconut, Mineral), Aloe Vera Gel, Camomile, Henna and Wheat Germ. It also lists some weird ones too e.g. Slippery Elm Bark, Sheep Sorrell, Black Walnut, Alfalfa, Burdock Root and the list goes on! Despite the never ending list, I do appreciate the fact that the natural ingredients used in this product are in abundance. It would have been nicer for each ingredient to be listed with the percentage of its quantity used.

To apply this product, I basically lather a good dollop of it throughout my hair, working in sections and this not only feels good but looks good too! I feel like the henna gives my hair a nice and healthy dark tint, it defines my curls - although not so much whilst leaving it smelling like mangoes and whipped cream for days.

THE SEALANT



If you're an attentive natural hair gal, you'd know that the next step is oil! Oil is perfect for sealing in the moisture from the water and the leave in. As my leave-in contained an oily base, I decided not to apply any other extra oil directly onto my hair. I've been loving this scalp oil from Irie Dread Lock & Twist. I bought this for £2.99 and have nothing but praise for the product. Asides from it working really well in keeping the odd scalp itch at bay, it smells insanely divine and has the coolest of nozzles. I'd always wanted a nozzle bottle, to help my application experience to be both smoother and cleaner. I'm always the one to knock over my oil jars and so this applicator makes it incredibly hard for me to spill excess oil - I love it! One of these days i'll be making my very own whipped moisturizer and I plan to store it in this bottle! As you can tell, I'm not letting go of this one any time soon. If you're wandering, this product lists Mineral Oil, Olive Fruit Oil, Meadowfoam Seed Oil, Jojoba Seed Oil, Sunflower Seed Oil, Carrot Root Extract, Passion Fruit Seed Oil and Papaya Seed Oil in its ingredients.



Another oil which I've been applying to my scalp this summer is Jamaican Black Castor Oil. This is another of the natural hair communities raved product and for the longest time I didn't own it! I can't speak much on this one as I've only had it for a short while and during that short while I barely use it often on my hair. Perhaps I'm put off by its burnt smell or the incredibly thick consistency which makes it so difficult to work with in a manner that I'd hoped to. I have however, tried applying it to my eyebrows and eyelashes and have since experienced stronger strands which has allowed for me to witness length retention and thus the minutest of growth. I am of course grateful for that.


THE BUTTER

Lastly, I present to you all the Shea Butter Conditioning Shine by Jamaican Mango & Lime. I'd first heard about the Jamaican Mango & Lime range having stayed over at a friends one Saturday night. I had asked to use something to oil my scalp as it was feeling particularly brittle and hard. I stumbled upon this scalp oil, pretty similar to the one I have now by Irie Dread- which by the way smells of passion fruit and papaya! So haven been introduced to their oil then, I had high hopes for the butter.


Having made this list of amazing moisturisers that happened to shake my regimen this summer, you could probably already guess that I love the butter just as much as I love every other product listed here today. It has a petroleum like consistency, somewhat like Vaseline. I strangely like the gunky feel to it as it reminds me of an emollient covering my hair in a protective film. I lost the price tag on this one but I do believe that It cost me not more than £3- what a bargain!

For me, this summer moisturising routine was about tropical scents, light quick and easy formulations that worked well straight from the bottle to ensure my strands were happy all summer. Which of these did you like the sound of, let me know if you've tried or are trying any one of the mentioned products in the comments section down below. Thanks for reading!

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