Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Product Review: Camille Rose Naturals Coconut Water Leave-In Detangling Hair Treatment and Almond Jai Twisting Butter

Hey everyone!

This week I'm going to do a product review for two Camille Rose Naturals products: the Coconut Water Leave-In and the Almond Jai Twisting Butter. I have been wanting to try Camille Rose products for a while now, but could never really gather the drive to do so. I know that my hair doesn't react well to all hair products, so I was really nervous about trying a new line, especially one that's a bit pricier than the other product lines I'm used to. But a few weeks ago, I built up the strength to dive into a new product pool, mainly because I have seen some AMAZING product reviews and tutorial videos featuring this product line. Obviously, this was my first time using Camille Rose on my hair and I have to say that I was impressed for a few reasons, which I will discuss later on. At this point, I hadn't done a twist out in a while, so I figured since I was trying out the Almond Jai Twisting Butter, what better style to try it out on than a twist out?! :)
The Coconut Water Leave-In Detangling Hair Treatment is a part of Camille Rose Naturals' Coconut Water collection that provides superior moisture. Some of its ingredients include: coconut water, shea butter, grapeseed oil, flax seed oil, and yucca root. I wanted to try this product mainly because I read many reviews on it that said that this product was very lightweight and that it was perfect for fine hair, which I have. I loved that it had the benefit of hydration and that it promised awesome slip. Since I prefer to finger detangle my hair instead of using combs, I love to find products with a good amount of slip so that I can detangle with ease and reduce the amount of breakage and splitting. As an added plus, this product smells SO good!! It smells like a light breeze of fresh coconuts!
The Almond Jai Twisting Butter is a styler that strengthens and softens hair and elongates curls. It contains ingredients such as: almond milk, jojoba oil, castor oil, aloe, and honey. I originally wanted to try the Aloe Whipped Butter Gel, but did not find the product in the Target I was in, so I opted for the Almond Jai. (I recently found out from a fellow natural hair blogger that the Aloe Whipped Butter Gel is only available online, so I just purchased it and will be doing a product review as soon as I use it). I normally don't purchase butters because they are oftentimes way too heavy for my hair. I love hair milks, curling jellies, and light creams because they give me an amazing hold without weighing my hair down. However, I was not at all disappointed with the results I got from using this butter. It is not heavy at all and my hair still had SO much body and volume! Also it smells absolutely amazing! I kid you not, it smells like vanilla cake batter! Sooo yummy!! Let's get started with how I styled my hair!
To start off this style, I deep conditioned/cleansed with Shea Moisture's Superfruit Complex 10-in-1 Renewal System hair masque. After I cleansed, I parted my hair into four sections. I then took one of those sections and separated it into fourths. I took one of those smaller sections and dampened it with a bit of water and applied the Coconut Water Leave-in from end to root as I detangled on my way up the section of hair, being sure to focus on my ends. After I thoroughly smoothed the product through, I then took a little bit of the Almond Jai and applied it to the same piece I just applied the leave-in to. After the products were smoothed into my hair, I then did a two-strand twist. I continued this process all over my head until I was done. After wards, I allowed my hair to air dry over the course of the day and overnight. The first thing I noticed was that it dried much quicker than I expected, so that was great!
The next day, I took my twists out, separated and fluffed my roots. Y'all...when I tell you that this Almond Jai is amazing...I truly mean that!! My curls were defined, yet still SO full! My hair was also extremely hydrated! The only flaw I came across was that I had a slight "matte" feel to my hair that I wasn't too fond of. However, this does not discourage me from using either of these products ever again. What I want to do is try using them separately so that I can see how they do on their own or with other products But overall, I highly recommend these products. The leave-in had amazing slip and I was more than able to detangle with ease. The Almond Jai was so amazingly lightweight and smooth that I wouldn't even consider it a butter. It has more of a creamy, thick whipped texture, which I absolutely love!
:)
I hope y'all found this review helpful! Be sure to come back and check out my next post and don't forget to respond to the poll question under "The Purpose." See ya on the next post!

Monday, April 13, 2015

Product Review: Shea Moisture Anti-Breakage Firm Hold Gel Cream

Hey everyone!

I'm so sorry for being so absent lately! I have been super busy and by the time I got around to writing a blog post, my computer crashed! So I finally have a new laptop and now I am all ready to go!

This week, I will be reviewing Shea Moisture's new Yucca and Plantain Anti-Breakage Firm Hold Gel Cream. This product is a new styler from their newly formulated Yucca and Plantain collection which is meant for frizzy, split, and breaking hair. This gel cream defines waves and curls while providing a firm hold without a sticky or flaky residue. It prevents frizz by hydrating and smoothing the hair cuticle, allowing for soft, shiny curls that last all day long. This collection contains:

-Yucca extract - promotes hair growth for thicker, fuller hair
-Plantain extract - rich in Vitamin B complex and nourishes hair with moisture
-Baobab oil - contains Vitamins A, D, E and F to fortify and strengthen hair
-Garlic - increases blood circulation in the scalp for healthier hair

Freshly washed hair
Overall, this collection has some AMAZING ingredients that help promote healthy and strong hair growth. It is formerly known as the Yucca and Baobab collection that was for fine, thin hair, and it contained biotin, a vitamin that strengthens the hair follicle. The new formula, unfortunately, does not contain biotin and it actually made me really sad when I found this out because that formula was perfect for my hair. However, I found that this collection definitely makes up for the removal of this awesome vitamin by replacing it with other ingredients that fortify hair and aid in healthy hair growth. If they took out the biotin and didn't add anything else, then that would have been pretty sucky. But the fact that they replaced it with other great substitutes definitely makes up for it. But yet and still, I know that my hair absolutely loves biotin and proteins, so that's what I try to look for in my hair products. So when I found out that Shea Moisture's Superfruit Complex 10-in-1 System collection contains biotin, I was super excited! I tried the masque from this collection and LOVED it!! It's definitely a new staple. So if you are like me and you looooooove biotin containing hair products, be sure to check that collection out! Now lets get to the product review for this gel cream!
Wet hair with Gel Cream applied
When I purchased this product, I knew right away that I wanted to do a wash-and-go. I figured it was the best fit style for this product because of its thick and slippy nature, so I figured I would first rate it in its element. To start, I deep conditioned/cleansed my hair with the Shea Moisture Yucca and Plantain Anti-Breakage Strengthening Masque and used their Yucca and Baobab Thickening Growth Milk as my leave-in/detangler. This is a milk from the older collection, obviously. I had some leftover from an old bottle so decided to use it! When applied the masque and leave-in, I made sure to massage my scalp to promote blood circulation and and remove buildup and I also paid close attention to my ends by making sure I applied a little extra product to them and finger detangled softly.
After I cleansed and rinsed, I parted my hair into 4 sections and applied my leave-in, again, paying close attention to my ends. When I began styling with the gel cream, I took one of the four sections, sprayed it with water and applied the product to small pieces at a time. After I finished a section, I scrunched my hair and then continued that process all over my head. When I got to the front sections where I have a looser curl pattern, I coiled my hair around my finger in small pieces to allow for better curl definition. My hair took quite a while to fully air dry, as it usually does, but when it did, it was extremely defined and hydrated. I did have a slight gel cast, but all I did was smooth my hands down my hair and fluff my roots and it was gone! My hair had tons of body and my curls were beyond soft and shiny! Most importantly, when I washed my hair the next week, I had barely any shedding! It was kind of crazy how much the amount of shedding decreased in just one week, so I know for sure that my hair really loves and reacts well to this system, so I will continue to use it in the future.
Dry and fluffed hair
Overall, I was VERY happy with this product. My wash-and-go lasted a full week with my hair gaining more and more body and fullness with each day! I absolutely LOVE this gel cream and this new formula. The masque was also amazing and I want to try the hair lotion this collection also offers!

I hope you found this post helpful and that you gained some insight to this collection. As always, thank you for the support and I will see y'all on the next post! They hopefully will not come months in-between anymore LOL!

To see a video of my results using the cleanser and the cream, check out my Instagram, @naturallykimie :)