Hi curlies! One of my favorite healthy hair accessories is a heating cap for deep treatments. Especially if you have hair that is stubborn to absorb moisture, or very dry, adding heat while you use a deep conditioner or treatment can make a huge difference. It accelerates and intensifies the conditioning process. You can check out my new video on how I pamper my hair and skin here.
Lately I have been using a Hot Head cap from Thermal Hair Care for deep conditioning. These are great because the entire cap gets hot (as opposed to a few areas), and it's heated up in the microwave- easy peasy. The caps are filled with flax seeds so they are all natural as well. They come in a ton of cute patterns, and kids' sizes as well!
Preparing to double mask with my Formula 10.0.6 Peel Mask & Mane Choice Hair mask. I have the Hot Head in the "Rain" pattern.
Thermal Hair Care was kind enough to offer a giveaway for my followers. You can enter in the widget below. Please use a correct email address, and don't forget you can tweet about the giveaway once a day, every day to increase your chances of winning. (If you enter via facebook, we will receive the email associated with your facebook account in your settings.) A winner will be selected after a week's time. If they do not respond to email within 48 hours I will select a new winner, and so forth, so stay on top of your emails. Thermal Hair Care will send out the prize, once I have passed your information onto them.
Hello amiras! Today I am finally sharing my favorite routine of products with you guys, for those of you that live in the UAE. A lot of these are made in the US or the UK though, or you might just have some of these in your country. Enjoy the video! I have started embedding the link and the video preview so hopefully it's easy for everyone to watch.
Hello lovelies! You'll find below the list of products mentioned in my latest Empties/ Hits and Misses video. Let me know what products you've been loving (or hating, I don't mind) down below in the comments on here or YouTube! Don't forget to give my blog a follow on bloglovin' while you're at it too! (Click the + on the right.) Enjoy!
Products I Used up aka Hits:
L'oreal El Vive Total Repair conditioner (5 bottles)
Hello curlies! I hope you're having a great week. You have may have noticed a change in my blog. New layout! ^_^ Let me know what you think about it in the comments.
Anyways I wanted to do a post on my top 5 unique or extra curly hair stylers. As a bit of a product junkie I tend to try lots of different types of products. In doing so I come across some unique products that do something no other product in my collection can do. These are products outside of your basic shampoo, conditioner, gel, serum, mousse etc. There are also products that are not particularly unique on the market but are "extra" products I like to have around to style my hair in a variety of ways.
All of these products are free of heavy silicones, waxes, or mineral oil.
This is one of my favorite products for smoothing down my edges aka baby hairs. I use this almost everytime I put my hair up in a bun, ponytail, or half up. I dampen my hair, moisturize with conditioner, and smooth on the Design Essentials product. It works like a dream to get pesky hairs to stay put, especially when combined with a tooth brush or boar bristle brush. This product has a non-descript, pleasant scent.
This is my favorite second day hair product, and it has a very unique texture compared to other stylers I've tried. It has a thick texture that changes to a slightly tacky, oily texture when emulsified in hands. I apply this over water and conditioner on the second day. The light hold and tackiness gives me enough control to reshape my hair and it dries shiny and non-sticky. It also has a pleasant citrus scent.
Sometimes our curls get a little droopy, or we just want a boost. This salt spray mist is perfect for that. I spray it on underneath my gel and then diffuse for best results. Hello curls! Just be sure not to use this too often, as the sea salt can dry out hair. This is one of the only curl enhancing sprays I've seen at the drugstores, and it smells divine. Pictured above is my DIY sea salt spray which I have with me at the moment. The OGX product is nice to have though, since it's a store-bought product that wont expire and smells great.
This is a new product I've tried recently that does a great job at heat protection. It has a perfumey scent and also adds shine to the hair from the natural oils in the formula. It's secret weapon is that it shortens blow drying time, which I have never seen in another product. I spritz this on before my gel (or after if I forget) and then diffuse my hair. This is great for those of us with low porosity hair that takes forever to dry!
Lately I have been using this product after I work out to help dry my scalp which gets a little sweaty. That way I can wear my hair in a bun the next day, or work out at night but wash my hair in the morning. This product contains drying alcohols which can dry out the hair, but works to help zap away moisture. (I wouldn't recommend using this daily, especially without re-moisturizing your hair.) The scent is light and perfumey.
For my light brown hair, it's very hard to detect, but when used on my husband's dark brown hair to reduce oil, it shows up after spraying. I work it through his hair with my hands and a brush, and the white caste disappears. (You should also spray at least 30 cm from the scalp.) This would also be a great product to use if you were transitioning to the Curly Girl method or to using sulfate free shampoos.
So those are some of my favorite "extra" products I incorporate into my routine from now and then. I wouldn't bring many on a trip, but I wouldn't want to be without them at home.
What are your favorite "extra" or super unique products? Let me know down below in the comments.
Hey hey hey! This week I'm sharing with you a guys a simple recipe for a Sea Salt Spray. This spray adds texture to the hair and enhances curls, just like swimming in the ocean does. It's not recommended to be used daily though, as it can be slightly drying. But maybe once a week it's great for a curl boost!
Recipe:
2/3 cup water
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 tablespooon leave in conditioner (can be substituted with aloe vera or oil)
Things You'll Need:
Plastic spray bottle
1. Heat water in microwave for 30 seconds (to warm, not boiling).
2. Mix in salt and leave in conditioner.
3. Pour into spray bottle and shake it up. Voila!
For styling tips on how to get more voluminous, bigger hair please watch the new video:
If you need to learn how to Plop your Hair:
How to Diffuse Curly Hair (Pixiecurl Method):
Bonus: Curly Root Clipping via Devacurl:
*Note: You don't have to purchase the devaclips. Just buy the same kind from Sally's Beauty!
Hey loves! In this post I'll be laying out the different steps I take to change my routine when the summer starts to roll around as well as how to protect your hair from the sun and chlorine. I get lots of questions about this so I hope it is helpful. :)
Routine Changes
For reference I have spent most of my life living in the southern US, so I spent summers in hot and humid places. When the weather starts to get a bit warmer, we all know we need some extra help from our hair products to help prevent frizz and keep our hair moisturized. I use harder hold gels and frizz reducing products. One of my favorite frizz reducers is Curly Hair Solutions Curl Keeper, which is a serum that's awesome for cutting frizz when layered under gel. If I can't get my hands on that I will opt for relying on my gel alone; I enjoy Biosilk Rock Hard Gelee (for ultra high hold) or LA Looks Sport gel (with high hold) for hot weather. If you live in Europe or Asia the L'oreal Invisihold gel is a good dupe for LA looks sport in terms of amount of hold. Or if you want something high end the Original Moxie Hold Up Serum is the bomb and has lots of good ingredients for your hair. If the gel leaves your hair a little crunchy, just give your hair a good scrunch when dry. The gel cast really helps prevent frizz and poofing!
A photo posted by 🐨 Sarah 🌻 | waterlily716 (@waterlily716) on
Hair *usually* frizzes because of dryness so you can't forget about moisturizing in the summer. Not to mention the sun and swimming can take a toll on your hair, which I'll get to in a minute. One of the best steps to prevent frizz is a good leave in. My hair loves both the As I Am and Kinky Curly Knot Today leave ins, which are water based and really leave my hair feeling like seaweed. I also like Beauty Without Cruelty's leave in conditioner from iHerb.com if I can't get my hands on those two. Beyond that good regular conditioner is really important like Sally's Beauty Generic Matrix Biolage Conditioning Balm or the slightly lighter Andalou Naturals Citrus Conditioner (again from iHerb.com). And when my hair really needs an infusion of moisture I use my Hair Therapy heat wrap with Curl Junkie Curl Rehab deep treatment.
It's also worth mentioning that I apply A LOT more of my products in the summer---for all of them. The extra moisture and hold really helps keep my hair from frizzing out. I also check the dew point on AccuWeather on my phone, which is an excellent measure of how much moisture is in the air (aka humidity) and helps me know which products to reach for.
A photo posted by 🐨 Sarah 🌻 | waterlily716 (@waterlily716) on
Surf and Turf Protection
So you wanna go swimming but you don't want the chemicals to affect your hair. And did you know you can get very real heat damage from the sun?? The good thing is that these are easy to prevent.
When I go swimming in chlorine, I follow up my swim with a shampoo with a sulfate free shampoo like any from Shea Moisture or the Boots DermaCare Gentle Shampoo. Then I use a deep conditioner or a really good regular conditioner (mentioned previously). This usually leaves my hair pretty happy. BUT if you want to prevent any chlorine seeping into your hair, you can apply leave in, water, and oil before swimming. This is probably more necessary for frequent swimmers; as an occasional swimmer and more of a pro-tanner I don't feel the need to do the preventative step but it is a good tip. If you spend time sunning, you'll also be letting the moisturizing products work their way into your hair even better.
Lastly if you go swimming in a lake or the sea, don't worry too much about clarifying your hair. The sea salt will actually give you a natural curl boost, so it's fine to avoid washing it out completely with shampoo. But do be sure to follow up your dip in the ocean with a good conditioner. And if you're spending a lot of time in the sun, invest in a cute sun hat or a bandana to cover your hair. There are some products with sunscreen in them (benozophenone in the ingredients) such as LA looks sport gel, but covering your hair is by far the best way to protect it from the sun.
Please leave any questions or comments below. What are your favorite summer products and what do YOU change?
Hello blog readers! Today someone messaged me asking if there was a list somewhere of ingredients for following the Curly Girl method. The only place this list used to be before was a video description, but I decided to leave it here, so it's a bit easier to read and bookmark. For more information on the Curly Girl method, check out some of the videos I've done or wikiHow.
How to follow the curly girl method:
Please watch the addendum video for more information and clarification
about sulfates and silicones:
From "ingredients commonly found in hair products":
http://www.naturallycurly.com/curlreading/curl-products/ingredients-commonly-found-in-hair-care-products
This is not a comprehensive list and is not intended to be that way. Usually google can tell you more about an ingredient if you can't find it here! Also please note that the amoutn of ingredient present in the formulation of a product, and the other ingredients they are combined with, can greatly affect how these ingredients perform in your hair. For example you can find harsh sulfate free shampoos and more gentle sulfate shampoos. Something to keep in mind - otherwise happy product shopping!
Wishing you all a good hair day,
Sarah @:-)
______________________________________________________________________
Hola lectores del blog! Hoy una chica me ha preguntado si exista una
lista de ingredients para seguir el metodo curly girl. Antes, solo
existaba en la descripcion del video, pero decidi dejar la lista aqui,
porque es mas facil leer asi. Para mas informacion sobre el metodo Curly
Girl, mira mis videos o es.wikiHow.com.
Esta lista fue constuido con la ayuda de esta lista en naturallycurly.com:
http://www.naturallycurly.com/curlreading/curl-products/ingredients-commonly-found-in-hair-care-products
No es una lista completa. Google te puede ayudar con otros ingredients. :) Tambien, los otros ingredients en un producto pueden afectar como performa uno de esos ingredientes arriba... y ademas la cantidad del ingrediente.
