Product Review: Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose

Good Guide Rating: 7.6

Ingredients: Coconut Fatty Acid Cream Base, Organic Aloe Vera, Organic Shea Butter, Wheat Germ Oil, Organic Jojoba Oil, Organic Rosa Mosqueta® Rose Hip Seed Oil; Extracts of Fennel, Hops, Balm Mint, Mistletoe, Camomile, Yarrow, Chrysanthemum, Angelica, Forsythia and Magnolia; Honeysuckle Oil, Carrot Oil, Aubrey’s Preservative (Citrus Seed Extract, Vitamins A, C and E).

They Say: For Dry, Brittle Hair  The sweet smell of success for your hair. Trade those dry, thirsty tresses for vibrant, touchably soft hair with this moisture-intensive conditioner. Restorative herbal emollients detangle and rehydrate to leave hair ultra-silky and irresistibly fragrant. Also recommended for bleached or highlighted hair. [source]

I Say: The smell was nice and it left a pleasant scent on my hair. However, it was a fight getting the product out of the bottle. Maybe it would be better packaged in a jar or an easier to squeeze bottle. Before purchasing I read a ton of rave reviews about the product so I was ready to be "wowed." But, I wasn't. This conditioner did not give me amazingly great results. The moisture factor was just okay and there was very little slip with this product. I purchased this conditioner because I was looking for an all natural/mostly natural hair conditioner. AOHR is not the one for me and I do not plan on purchasing this product again.

Huetiful Hair Steamer

This is not a full review - just a recap of my first experience.

[Source]

I got the Huetiful Hair Steamer for Christmas and couldn't wait to use it. For my first steaming with the yarn braids I oiled my scalp lightly with Castor Oil (a humectant) and then sat under the steamer for 15-20 minutes.

It felt great! My scalp felt like little fingers were crawling all over my scalp and giving me mini massages in each area; also, my scalp/yarn did not feel overly damp after steaming. It felt so nice that I want to try and steam at least twice a week. The only downside was that I was unable to the steam to really focus on the back/nape area of my scalp. Part of the reason was due to the thickness of my braids. I am going to play around with adjust the level of my chair and steamer next time to see if that makes a difference.

Fall/Winter 2010 - Week 8

Most of this week was spent installing my very first set of yarn braids. They are posted in the blog entry just before this one. I am loving them and I am already planning on doing them again. I want to leave them in for about a month so that means I will be setting aside a weekend at the end of January to take them out.

Sunday

My hair was in a bun from my Saturday wash. I decided that evening to start on the yarn braids. I separated my hair into sections and started braiding in the back. I moisturized each section of hair with leave-in conditioner before starting the braid. I braided from 6pm-11pm.

Monday-Tuesday

My braids were not complete so I wore a hat during the day. I braided from 7pm-11pm each night.

Wednesday

I was determined to finish braiding. I started around 5pm and braided until 3:30am. I believe the reason that the yarn braids took so long for me to install was because I had no idea what I was doing and this was my first time doing braids with something other than my own hair.

Thursday-Saturday

Anytime that my scalp felt a little dry I would spray some Aloe Gro onto my scalp. It's so cool and refreshing that I started spraying just for the feeling (lol). I got a Huetiful Hair Steamer for Christmas and since I can't wait to use it I will be sitting under it in my braids really soon (review coming).

Yarn Braids? Yes!

I have seen on YouTube and read a lot on the the blogs about a protective braid style known by many as "yarn braids" or "genie locs." Since I now have some free time back in my life I decided to give them a try. Another reason that the timing to try them out was perfect was because the last two weeks of the year are causal days at my job and if I didn't like them I could easily throw on a hat. (Natural hair and hats - I love the combination).

Some of the tutorials I watched on YT to learn how to do yarn braids are here, here, and here.
A blog that I found extremely helpful is here.

I did learn a few things with the braids:
• Braiding in small sections gives better results. Larger sections results in a lot of space and a lot of  visible scalp.
• Don't braid too tight or close to the edges. I had about 10 braids that I did a little to tight for my liking.
• Moisturize each section before braiding. The last thing you want with a protective style is breakage. Handling dry hair too roughly will lead to breakage.
• TIME. Putting in yarn braids so that they look good, takes t - i - m - e!!
• A spray bottle filled with your favorite moisturizer is great for daily moisturizing.

Side

Ponytail

Front

Rear

Thoughts?

I love the outcome! This is definitely something that I will do again. When time allows and I am looking forward to trying out some styles with the braids.

If you have tried yarn braids, do you have any tips that you would like to share?

Merry Christmas!

Favorite Hair Things of 2010

Over the past year I discovered a few (somewhat) new hair-related items that I have grown to love! Some items I had tried before but finally got the hang of them in 2010 and others were new discoveries that I wish I would have known about sooner. Here's my 2010 list:

Products

Giovanni SAS Conditioner
Jasmine Oil

YouTube Channels

Naptural85

Glamazini
Loving the You God Made

Blogs

The MopTop Maven
The Natural Haven

Gadgets/ToolsNatural Hair Search Engine
Hair Stopper

Click the link to view the 2009 list: Favorite Hair Things of 2009

Please share your 2010 discoveries!

My co-washing method

During the fall/winter season I only shampoo once a month and co-wash during the weeks in between shampoo days. One day I was running short on time so I applied the conditioner (Giovanni SAS) I was planning on using (for the cowash) to my hair while it was dry. The conditioner remained on for about 30 minutes before I was able to finally rinse and detangle in the shower. The results were amazing (to me) and I was convinced it was probably a fluke but I had to test it out a few more times just to make sure.

With the next few weekends that passed I did the following:
-Took down what ever protective style I was wearing that week
-Applied conditioner to my (dry) hair while putting it in four sections
-Let the conditioner sit on my hair until is was dry/stiff and then rinsed in sections
-I detangled each section with my rubber based brush (like a denman) as I rinsed
-Finally, applied a leave-in conditioner and styled as usual

This method was quick and easy. My hair was detangled, extremely manageable, and soft in the end. As a result, I am now doing the steps above with all my winter cowashes.

I love accidentally discovering great ways to revamp my regimen!

Today is the first day of Winter...

This year it seemed like the Fall season forgot to make its appearance in North Carolina and so my hair care regimen has been winterized for some time now. I am shampooing less, conditioning regularly, and keeping my hair in protective styles. Check out my winter hair care regimen here. Also, Google as a great blog search feature that lets you find and read about the winterized hair care regimen of other bloggers.

Have you already put your winter hair care regimen into effect?

(Feel free to share your regimen)

Sharing your regimen may be a way to help someone that is going through their first winter was a natural lady.

Fall/Winter 2010 - Week 7

Sunday
My hair was still in a low bun from my Saturday cowash.

Monday-Wednesday
Still bunning it...

Thursday-Friday
I was home for 2 days and so there was no need to do my hair. I took my bun down and just kept my hair clipped up.

Saturday
I cowashed my hair with Giovanni SAS and pulled my hair back into another low bun.

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My hair was kind of neglected this past week because it was my last week of class an all my free time was spent researching and typing up papers. I am so GLAD that this part of life is done. Two years of blood (paper cuts), sweat, and tears...it's finally OVER. God did it all (Tia wanted to quit everyday).

Fall/Winter 2010 - Week 6

Sunday
I co-washed my hair and it felt great! I am falling in love with Giovanni SAS. I styled my hair in a low bun for the week after sealing in leave-in conditioner with shea butter.

Monday-Tuesday
Still bunning it...

Wednesday
The heat in our house has been bumping so that made the air in our house extra dry. As a result, my hair felt really dry and I couldn't take it so I did a mid-week cowash and re-styled my hair back in the bun.

Thursday-Friday
Bunning...

Saturday
I cowashed my hair with Giovanni SAS and did medium two strand twists. I have been alternating between bunning and twists since I have not had time to really sit down and do a bun style that I like.

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You can tell by my simple routine this past week that things have been quite busy lately. I have less than one week until I am done with school FOREVER and I can't wait. The regular blog postings will resume and I can get back to doing things I love.

It's cold...can you believe that the first day of winter isn't until Dec 21st?!?!

Fall/Winter 2010 - Week 5

During week 4 I wore my hair in medium sized two strand twists and kept them up in a messy-like bun all week.

Sunday
On Sunday I took down the bun that I put up on Saturday and two strand twisted my hair. The position that the bun was in on Saturday made it hard for me to sleep so, down it came. I did the two strand twists on dry hair using only Suave Tropical Coconut Conditioner and Coconut Oil. It took me about 1.5hrs to do the twists

Monday-Friday
I couldn't believe that for the entire week my hair felt moisturized and I did not have to apply any product to my hair at all during the week. I will definitely be using that combo again. It's really something that I did years ago but strayed away from for no good reason. Twisting with conditioner also slows down frizziness with my styles.

Saturday
On Saturday my job had its annual Holiday Party so I took my twists out for a more festive look. If I would have remembered on Sunday that the party was on Friday, I would not have taken down my bun and wore my hair that way all week and to the party. Since I was busy with schoolwork all day on Saturday and then attending the holiday party on Saturday night I was unable to wash and condition my hair. Wash day was moved to Sunday.

2-Strand Twists

Messy Bun