From the category archives:

Product Reviews

Company Name: Darcy Botanicals

Product Name: Coconut Lemongrass Transitioning Creme

Price: $12 8 0z

Ingredients: Distilled Water, Organic Aloe Vera, Organic Virgin Coconut Oil, a mild detangling conditioner, Vitamin E, Panthenol, Yarrow, Sage, Horsetail, Nettle, & Lavender Extracts, Fractionated Coconut Oil, a paraben-free preservative, and lemongrass essential oil.

Consistency: Creamy, not oily

Purchase from: Darcy’s Botanicals

Review:

Obviously, I’m not transitioning, but I love a good moisturizing leave in (which this seems to be) so I jumped right in. I was actually sent this product to try out and never really gave much thought to Darcy’s Botanicals. I mean, I’ve heard of them, but not enough that my PJ brain was saying “Gotta have it, gotta have it”

Well, after trying this product, I realize my error. Can you say awesome??

First, to get the full transitioning experience, I used this one my dry fro pictured here. As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t routinely let my hair dry without some kind of product on it. So I really thought this would be a good opportunity to test out this creme. In other words, I wanted to make things as difficult for it as possible.

I used this creme to do twists on my dried afro. (This used to be the way I did dry twists back in the day with a few inches of hair…now? It usually ain’t happenin’!) Although this is not the way I will be choosing to do my twists on dry hair from now on, this product definitily made things easier. It softened my hair, aided in detangling, and hydrated my hair.

Do you hear me when I say “hydrated”? Because I’m not joking about that. I was dipping my fingertips in the product to apply it to my hair and after a few hours of twisting, my fingertips started to pucker. Hydration, ladies!!

I’ve also used this on wet hair  (under another product) when doing a twist out. I was also impressed with it then, but not near as impressed as I was with it on dry hair.

Now, as for my twists, I probably wouldn’t use it alone again on dry twists. It does not have as much hold and I’ve noticed a bit more frizziness than I normally do. Which is fine…3 days later, my hair still feels amazing and moisturized.

{ 3 comments }

Company Name: Bee Mine

Product Name: Moisturizing Deep Conditioner

Price: $26.97 16 0z

Consistency: Creamy

Ingredients: Distilled water, Cetearyl Alcohol, BTMS (mild emulsifier), 100% Unrefined Shea Butter , 100% Organic Coconut Oil, Cupuacu Butter, Calendula Extract, Chamomile Extract, Organic Raw Honey, Paraben Free Preservative, Fragrance (Phthalate Free)

Scent: a little like chamomile…definitely smells of essential oils or herbs

Purchase from: Bee Mine

Review:

(FYI: I was sent this product to review)

I’m officially adding this deep conditioner to my list of awesome DCs. I shampoo’d before using this because I feel that’s the best way to test a conditioner. (My hair also just really needed it).

The application is smooth as pie thanks to the creamy texture. My detangling session went well with it.

Kind of looks like a relaxer, doesn't it? LOL!

I left it on for an hour with a plastic bag. As I rinsed it out, my hair felt fantastic. It was nice and soft (as soft as my hair gets). I also noticed a nice sheen before I even applied my leave in conditioner. So two thumbs up from me!

While checking out the ingredients list, I noticed a component I’d not really heard of before. Cupuacu butter. I wondered what this was and found the following information on it:

  • Cupuacu is a tropical rainforest tree
  • It’s fruit is being touted as the newest “superfruit”
  • The ingredients to which these effects are attributed include phytonutrient polyphenols, vitamins B1, B2 and B3, and at least nine antioxidants.
  • Creamy and emollient butter, which promotes a pleasant touch, smoothness and softness to the skin and hair, boosting the recovery of its natural moisture and elasticity. Highly beneficial for dry and damaged skin and hair, promoting deep, long lasting hydration.

Hmm, pretty interesting!! And not something I see very often in hair products.

{ 10 comments }

Company Name: Bee Mine

Product Name: Juicy Moisturizing Daily Spritz

Price: $12.97 8 0z

Ingredients: Organic Aloe Vera Juice, Herbal Infused Purified Water, Organic Coconut Oil, Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Pure Glycerin, Ayurvedic Herbs, Select Herbs, Polysorbate 20, Essential oils of Tea Tree, Peppermint & Grapefruit, Vitamin E Tocopherol Oil, Fragrance, Paraben & Formaldehyde  Free Preservative.

Scent: Fresh

Consistency: Liquid

Purchase from: Bee Mine

Review:

As a big (and fairly new) Bee Mine fan, I was surprised that I didn’t really like this product.

Let me start with what I did like. The smell is very invigorating and fresh. It’s not overly feminine, so it would be nice for men. As usual with Bee Mine, the ingredients are wonderful. It even contains Ayurvedic herbs, if you’re into that.

It feels just lovely when spritzed on the scalp. Perfect for the  spring and summer, this spritz felt nice and light on my scalp. I’ve been using it all summer for this purpose. However, I’m afraid it wouldn’t be enough for the dry and itchy scalp that crops up during the colder months.

Because it is so light, I feel that may be why it wasn’t agreeing with my hair. I generally need my spritzes to be more heavy duty. My son’s fine textured hair, on the other hand, loved this product and was never weighed down by it.

{ 1 comment }

Product Name: Shea Souffle Natural Body Butter

Company Name: Jasmine’s Bath and Beauty

Price: $14.00 80z

Ingredients: Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Aloe Vera Juice , Shea Butter, Myristyl Myristate, Palm Stearic Acid, Emulsifying Wax NF, Cetyl Alcohol(Conditions), Phenoxyethanol, Caprylyl Glycol, Sorbic Acid( organic food grade preservative), (Vitamin C) Ascorbyl Palmitate, (Vitamin A)Retinyl Palmitate , (Vitamin E)Tocopherol Acetate, fragrance optional

Consistency: Very thick, whipped

Scent: Many to choose from, or fragrance free

Purchase from: Jasmine’s

Review:

I absolutely *heart* this stuff. First, as we all always do, let’s start with the smell. I chose the Jasmine Vanilla. I am constantly getting compliments on the “perfume” that I’m wearing. I am anxious to try the other scents!

The consistency was a bit thicker than I imagined, but it melts into the skin quickly.  The part of my body that loves this the most are my feet. My feet suffer from standing for hours at a time and all the running that I’ve done. After a good soak and a little of this butter, we were sandal ready.

Talk about soft and smooth skin! Moisture for days! *falls out*

No seriously, I can’t wait to see how this product performs in the winter when my skin really needs some TLC. Right now, it’s definitely a favorite!

{ 4 comments }

Company Name: Jasmine’s Bath and Body

Product Name: Hemp and Aloe Body Wash

Price: $10 80z

Ingredients: Aloe Gel (De-mineralized Water, Xanthan Gum, Aloe), Sodium Cocoamphoacetate, Alkyl Polyglucosides, Cannabis Sativa Seed Oil, Cocomidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Chloride, fragrance, Vegetable Glycerine, Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Flower Extract (Chamomile), Salix Alba (White Willow) Bark Extract, Phenoxyethanol and Caprylyl Glycol, fd & c color

Consistency: syrupy liquid

Scent: Available in many different scents.

Purchase from: Jasmine’s Bath and Body

Review:

I decided to finally order from this company after reading many positive reviews only to decide that I really needed more bath and body stuff than hair stuff right now. I love fragrant body washes and the description sounded so good that I thought I’d found a winner. From the website:

This gentle body wash contains a generous amount of hemp oil and aloe vera. It’s tough on dirt and daily grime, yet mild enough for children. Hemp Oil contains natural vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids and the benefits of Omega 3 and 6…typically available only from fish.

Kcurly’s opinion? I loved the smell; it was just what I wanted in that respect. There are many scents to choose from including Ice Cream Cake, Banana Buttercream, and Vanilla Sugar Cookies (sounds yummy huh?)

The ingredients are fab for the most part. It suds up like most other body washes I’ve used in the past.

However, to call this body wash “gentle” was not true for me. It was very drying to my skin. It wiped away the “daily grime” but immediately left me with that terrible ashiness that I can be prone to. Maybe it’s just me, or the scent that I chose (Clean and Fresh). I’ve used it for about a month now and still have to quickly apply a good lotion to my body or else I suffer from itchy, ashy skin.

I did use this on my son a time or two. The first time, his skin seemed fine: not very moisturized, but not dry either. The second time, I just put some in his bath water to make a few bubbles (probably not the smartest thing to do but I thought his skin was better with it than mine). He complained later of something “scratching him” which is his way of saying that he’s itching LOL!

I won’t be purchasing this again and am just trying to use up the remainder of the container that I bought.

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Post image for Oyin Honey Wash

Oyin Honey Wash

by kcurly on August 3, 2010

in Oyin Handmade,Product Reviews

Product Name: Honey Wash

Company Name: Oyin

Price: 8 0z $10

Consistency: viscous liqiud

Scent: Sweet, honeyish (there are several available scents including coco-mango and black cedar fig)

Ingredients: saponified organic oils of coconut, olive, and jojoba, glycerine/vegetable gum extract, organic aloe vera gel, honey, jojoba oil, walnut oil, grapefruit seed and green tea extracts, rosemary extract, fragrance

Purchase from: Oyin, Curlmart

Review:

Oh, Honey Wash…how do I love thee? Let me count the ways…

1. Thou art soft on my little boy’s skin and leave him smelling so sweet even after playing in dirt all day

2. Thou  leavest my hair clean, but unstripped

3. My skin is never dry when I use you (thou?) in the shower.

Anyway, enough of that. Point being: I like this stuff.

The smell honestly kind of threw me off.  Just like with all of my hair products, I sniffed the bottle when it arrived. Of course I was overpowered by a sweet smell. As I’ve found with a lot of products, the smell is not as powerful once the product has been in use.

Consistency Shot--Not very thick, but not watery thin either.

When I use it as a body wash or facial wash, I can still smell a hint of it afterwards. Which is fine, because that faint smell is very pleasant. I’m a fan of honey so I don’t mind smelling of it.

One of the best things about this wash is that it suds up. It doesn’t sud up as much as your average shampoo, but it’s decent (especially for an all natural product). I also did not have to use a lot, either on my hair or skin. The website suggests to use it all within 6 months, so I’ve been trying to keep it heavy in our rotation since I’ve had it a while.

Will I buy this again? Tough to say. I like it, but it’s a bit on the pricey side. I’m using it a lot, but, except for the smell, I could easily substitute something else. I don’t use a lot of gentle cleansers anymore, so I think if I re-buy it will be more for a body wash than for my hair.

{ 2 comments }

And the deodorant search continues…

June 9, 2010

After the many many comments you lovely ladies left me under this post, I decided to purchase Oyin Funk Butter…for two reasons: 1) the name is hilarious and 2) you can rarely go wrong with Oyin. Price: $5.00 2 oz tin Scents available: (copied from Oyin site) unscented – all the funk-fighting power, none of [...]

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Curls Lavish Curls Moisturizer

Thumbnail image for Curls Lavish Curls Moisturizer May 17, 2010

Company Name: Curls Product Name: Lavish Curls Moisturizer Price: ~$10 Color: Clear Ingredients: water, glycerin, polysorbate 80, methylheptyl isostearate, silk amino acids, certified organic anthemis nobilis flower extract, aloe barbadensis leaf juice, butyrospermum parkii (shea butter), simmondsia chinensis (jojoba) seed oil, certified organic camelllia sinensis leaf extract, citric acid, guar hydroxypropyltrimonium chloride, disodium EDTA, potassium [...]

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Shea Moisture Raw Shea Butter Deep Treatment Masque

Thumbnail image for Shea Moisture Raw Shea Butter Deep Treatment Masque May 4, 2010

Product Name: Raw Shea Butter Deep Treatment Masque Company Name: Shea Moisture Price: $9.99 120z Ingredients: deionized water, butyrospermum parkii (shea butter), argan oil, cetyl esters, sea kelp extract, panthenol (vitamin b-5), ammonium salt, essential oil blend, avocado oil, lonicera caprifolium (honeysuckle) flower and lonicera japonica (japanese honeysuckle) flower extract, tocopherol (vitamin e), hyssopus officinalis [...]

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Hydrating Hair Butter

Thumbnail image for Hydrating Hair Butter April 2, 2010

Company Name: Boutique De Fleurtzy Product Name: Hydrating Hair Butter Price: $11.00 4 oz Consistency: Thick, smooth, not whipped Ingredients: Lemon/Ylang Ylang Ingredients: Coconut oil, mango butter, kokum butter, shea butter, sweet almond oil, lemon and ylang ylang essential oils. Lavender/Jasmine Ingredients: Coconut oil, mango butter, kokum butter, shea butter, sweet almond oil, lavender and [...]

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Bee Mine Hair Milk

Thumbnail image for Bee Mine Hair Milk March 30, 2010

Company Name: Bee Mine Product Name: Deja’s Hair Milk Price: $15 80z Ingredients: Distilled water, Coconut milk, Organic Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Organic Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Butyrosperumum Parkir (Shea Butter), Emulsifying wax, Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa Butter), Prunus dulcis (Almond Oil), Grapefruit & Peppermint Essential Oils,  Paraben & Formaldehyde Free Preservative, Vitamin E, Panthenol (Vitamin [...]

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Bee Mine Peppermint and Tea Tree Nourishing Shampoo

Thumbnail image for Bee Mine Peppermint and Tea Tree Nourishing Shampoo March 22, 2010

Product Name: Peppermint and Tea Tree Nourishing Shampoo Company Name: Bee Mine Scent: Coconuty/Minty Price: $12.97 8 oz Ingredients: Coconut Oil, Organic Castor Oil, Palm Oil, Organic Jojoba Oil, Distilled Water, Soy Protein, Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein, Glycerin, Panthenol (Vitamin B Complex), Potassium Hydroxide, Guar Gum, Peppermint Essential Oil, Tea Tree Essential Oil & Fragrance. Purchase from: [...]

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Hamadi Shea Hair Cream

Thumbnail image for Hamadi Shea Hair Cream March 9, 2010

Company Name: Hamadi Product Name: Shea Hair Cream Ingredients:  Purified Water (Aqua), Shea Butter* (Butyrospermum Parkii), Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetearyl Glucoside, Glyceryl Stearate, Candelilla (Euphorbia Cerifera) Wax, Glyceryl Laurate, Ceteareth 12, Glycerin (Vegetal), Dimethicone, Rice Amino Acids, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Glycerin (Vegetal), Rosemary (Rosmarinus Officinalis) Extract, Panthenol, Sodium Hydroxide, Grapefruit Seed (Citrus Grandis) Extract, Tocopherol, Pyridoxine, Lemongrass (Cymbopogon [...]

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S-Curl Moisturizer

Thumbnail image for S-Curl Moisturizer February 26, 2010

Product Name: S curl Moisturizer Company Name: Luster’s Ingredients: Water , Glycerine , Cetearyl Alcohol , Propylene Glycol , Acetamide MEA , Ceteth-20 , Olealkonium Chloride , Stearalkonium Chloride , Panthenol , Simethicone , Imidazolidinyl Urea , Methylparaben , Propylparaben , Fragrance Consistency: liquid Scent: Old Mannish Price:$ 4-5 Purchase from: Drug Store, Beauty Supply Store, [...]

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Miss Jessie’s Ladies on Tyra

February 25, 2010

This is for you MJ fans out there!

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