O.O Shea Moisture Shampoo Gone Bad! O.O

the smell. omg, the smell.

its like a rotten eggs and perm mixture

:::faints:::

Ok, im done now. But this shit stinks. I bought a bottle of Shea Moisture's Raw Shea Moisture Retention shampoo when Walgreens was having its half off  sale in December. I haven't used the bottle yet myself seeing as how i still had my mini bottle from the shea moisture hair color system box when i colored my hair back in November. I was even thinking of mixing in the smaller bottle with the bigger one.

I'm glad i didn't....

Monday my mom asked me if  used the Shea Moisture shampoo yet and if i added anything to it. I told her no and that i used the mini when i washed my box braids. She went on to say that when she used it it smelled disgusting and she thought that since she had the acv in her that that might have caused the change in scent, But when she used it a second time without the acv or any other products the scent was still there and asking me she now knew that i did not change or alter its contents. Opening the bottle myself, i closed that shit immediately. My first thought was that there is a permed masked as the shea butter shampoo in my house. Then the smell of rotten eggs kicked in.

Eww.

Of course i emailed the company that same day (still waiting on a response, but im thinking with the help of social media.. it'll come faster. so to twitter, facebook, blogger, tumblr, instagram i go)

I honestly spent the last few minutes getting ready this morning taking pictures so you could see the difference in color of the bottles. One, the mini, is the regular tan shade and scent, while the other is is a light creamy green color with a very putrid smell.

                                

I know its probably a bad batch i got or something else (i dunno, maybe bad storage placement on my end) and i'm not saying that this has occurred to me before or frequently. Its the first time. I just want some acknowledgement on  the issue. I mean i only paid $4.99 for it. its not that serious. But if i could get a new bottle that would be awesome. =)

Anyone else had a bad experience with a product similar to this? Has a product expired on you?

Wish me luck!

A.Soul

Protective Style II Take Down & Wash Day

                     

Braids are gone people! (finally) After 7 long weeks, i took them down friday and im and so glad to have my hair out and about again. Its a learning experience doing these type of long term protective styles. its long term for me since i dont where my hair in twists for more than a week or 2, 3 is sometimes stretching it.

But take down took me an entire day. I pretty much stayed home after my surgery and chilled on netflix on my brothers big screen lo. Like the loc extensions, i took my time taking out the hair, spraying my roots with the acv spray and ball of dirt collected at the start of the braids. I gently pulled that apart and finger combed for each braid. After a while the pain kicked in from sitting in one position so long and i had to stop for the rest of the night.

heres a good video to watch on take down..

Saturday was wash day. i treated with a protein treatment plus a bit of garlic in the mix to help with my major shedding that occurred. Garlic will be a new addition to my weekly treatments from now on. Afterwards i followed through with the luscious locks shea butter shampoo (can find here or here) and then alikay naturals honey sage deep conditioner (here).

                               

With the DC i read on Curly Nikki this "Before rinsing, add a daily conditioner to seal in the treatment" It was a couple months ago before when i read this that i finally put it to use this weekend because hair still felt some type of way to me. i used Shea Moisture's Raw Shea Restorative Conditioner and it felt great afterwards. i would have used the shampoo but it smells something awful. Never have i ever used used the raw shea shampoo before and it smelled rancid (like rotten eggs and perm)... Just NO! i was not using it and i emailed them immediately! i really like their shampoo its just his one bottle that came out wrong... Lets see how that goes (cue side eye)

As for moisturizing and styling products, i used;

• alikay naturals lemongrass leave in (20% off Code FOC2014, ends 2/10)
• my oil mixture
• alikay natural shea yogurt moisturizer (20% off Code NMEL2014, ends 2/20)
• luscious locks shea butter curl enhancer (out of this months curlkit)

A well needed trim followed. I dusted my ends in th large sections after moisturizing. then again in smller sections as i went through for styling. I was aiming for a flexi rod set.. before i headed out for my friends surprise birthday party (of course my hair didnt dry in time... NEED HOODED DRYER!)... ended up with two large flat twists for the night (no pics)

And now i need a protective style for the week, cause its gonna be cold in NYC =(

...found it yesterday, new post with pics later!

Happy Days,

A.Soul

Natural Hair Care Products That I Love!

Detangle/Pre-Poo:

• Shea Moisture Anti-Breakage Mask or 
• Oils of choice
• Aloe Vera Gel, water, oil

Shampoo:

• Giovanni's Tea Tree Triple Threat Shampoo (awesome deep cleanser)
• Luscious Locks Shea Butter Shampoo (smells/feels so good in my hair!)
• Design Essentials Sulfate Free Curl Cleanser (another great cleanser..will buy again)
• Shea Moisture Raw Shea Shampoo (didnt like it at first but a second chance gave it justice)
• Mixed Chicks Sulfate Free Shampoo
• ACV Rinse

Conditioner: 

• Eden Body Works Jojoba Monoi Conditioner
• UR Curly Quinoa Conditioner (Mostly for my scalp scrubs)
• Shea Moisture Raw Shea Restorative Conditioner

Deep Conditioner: So i have to categories for this, protein and moisturizing deep conditioners

1. Protein: 
• Aubrey Organics GBP; 
• Chocolate Hair Mask (of my own making)
• ORS Replenishing Conditioner (light protein treatment) 
• HiProPac Protein Treatment
2. Moisture: 
• Mixed Chicks, 
• Eden Body Works Jojoba Monoi,
• Cantu  Deep treatment masque
• Luscious Locks Shea Butter Hair Mask (need to buy more... smells heavenly!)

Leave-In: 

• Mixed Chicks leave In 
• Alikay Naturals Lemongrass Leave in 
• Ori Essentials Leave In 
• CB Smoothe Coconut Hair Milk
• Shea Moisture Yucca & Baobob Hair Milk
• Eden Body Work Coconut Shea leave In

Oils: Castor, Avocado, Sweet Almond, Jojoba, Grape Seed, Vitamin E, Rosemary, Tea Tree, Peppermint, Horsetail, Burdock, Nettle, Saw Palmetto Berry 

Moisturizer: (Butters/Lotions/Cremes/Custards)... have no good experiences with EcoStyler

• Whipped Shea Butter (of my own making)
• Cantu Shea Butter Creamy Hair Lotion, 
• CB Smoothe Moisturizing Styling Creme
• EcoCustard Styling Creme (original)
• Alikay Naturals Shea Yogurt Moisturizer
• BelNuovo CocoCastor Pudding (Etsy)

Gels: Medium/Soft Hold; Non Flaky

• #1 Choice: ORS Loc & twist Creme
• Miss Jessies jelly Soft Curls
• Curls Cashmere Curl Jelly

*Can find these products at respective beauty supply stores, Walgreens/Walmart/Target, etc; the online websites (ie, Curlkit) amazon/whole food stores for oils.. if oyu want links just ask!)

Product Review: Shea Moisture Hair Color System - Dark Golden Blonde

So i finally did it...I colored my hair.. and i love it!

I recently acquired the hair color at the Circle of Sisters event last month and i told myself that i was gonna wait until Spring of next year to color it but my impaitient behind waited until last night, the wednesday after i took out my loc extensions on Friday lol.. it was a good 5 day wait lol

So heres what i used:

            

  

The Dark Golden Blonde hair color and inside was the 1) Hair Color Creme 2) Creme Developer 3) Shea Moisture: Moisture Retention Shampoo, Restorative Conditioner, & Reconstructive Finishing Elixir 4) Gloves, Applicator Brush, and Applicator top

Now I wasn't sure how i wanted to color my hair, all i know is that i wasnt doing the whole head i wanted to focus more on the ends. so what i did was part my hair horizontally 5 times, starting from the back. the first section was going to be colored so i twisted it to the and pinned it to the side. The next section was not to be colored so i flat twisted it out of the way. and bantu knotted the end. I repeated this for my whole head mommy helped !) =)

After i got my sections down to where i was coloring and where i wasnt, i went through again and detangled my hair. I then followed the intructions and mixed the color creme and color developer in an old bowl. I didnt follow the bottle or brush method, just grabbed up some color on my fingers and rubbed it down the sectioned off hair, which was about three quarters of the length of my hair that the color was on.

I let it sit for about 45 min-1 hour it was just taking long to turn (did i do a post check before hand.. nope! cause im not about that life.. we go in hard body expecting nothing and getting back something lol!) 

Shampoo (love)... Condition (eh its laright)... LOC Method... Twist & Tie for the night

and waalaa

My colored striped hair! 

=)

Come to realize that yesterday was my 3 year NappyVersary! Go figure! Lookin Good A.SOul!

Product Review: Shea Moisture Yucca & baobab w/ Biotin & bamboo

So i bought some new Shea Moisture products a few weeks ago off the Yucca & Baobab w/ Biotin & Bamboo Extract line (the green one) while shea moisture was having its sale on the Walgreen's site.

With new products i usually give them 2 weeks on my hair before i switch to something else (or at least thats what i started doing lately.

The first week with the Thickening & Growth Milk & Mist wasn't all great. My hair didnt take to well to it at all and left it feeling dry and just yuck. The Anti-breakage masque felt fine in my hair but after i washed it and put the milk & my oils in.. it didn't stay moisturized.. i did the LOC method pretty much everyday of last week.

SIGH

This week, the second week, went so much better.

I got a bit more in tune with the shea moisture products. I did an overnight pre-poo with my oils, the anti-breakage masque and the nubain heritage growth & streghtening masque. I followed a by a Designs Essentials Suflate Free Curl Cleanser, the JBCO Protein Conditioner (with added oils) for 2 hours or so; and then the Anti-Breakage Masque pretty much all day & overnight as treatment. I saw a lot less hair on my comb during the detangle process this week! Major Plus at that. I dusted my ends and this time i sealed my oils and the hair milk in with my whipped shea butter..

Results, Major, Major thumbs up!

Hair was & still is so fluffy!

Moisture lasted for days and re-twisting with the mist and milk, or the milk and oils gave good results! A lot less breakage and my hair does feel thicker lol, not that i needed that latter part. It did as it said it would, volumize, soften and thicken my hair! Do i recommend.. absolutely!

(Body Scrub & lotion: LOVE IT!)

Time to give KBB a go for the next two weeks!

No More Products!!!!

Ok, you dont understand... i am on my way to becoming a huge product junkie and i refuse to be one of those girls...

so, i am not buying anymore products anytime soon... the only thing i really need to get are oils to stock up on, thats pretty much it.

So i have products from the Edens Event:

 


from the Let Your Hair Down Expo:

From Shea Moisture Flash Sale on Walgreens.com:

Winnings from the Wondercurl Giveaway:

And of course Curlkit (no pic...).. debating on canceling my subscription or not ::shrug::

I mean seriously my product bag is hug and my samples bag is getting bigger & bigger ... (pic later lol).... then of course my cantu products but thats a review coming this weekend =)

Super Cleansing Shampoo

Black Soap is good for dry, itchy scalp as well as Aloe Vera Gel and Apple Cider Vinegar. This isn't my first time using this mixture, actually its my third. And my scalp really appreciates its after my 2- or 3-week twist sessions. 

In an applicator bottle, mix

• 1 ounce Aloe Vera Gel
• 1 ounce African Black Soap (I used Shea Moisture)
• 2 capfulls Apple Cider Vinegar
• You can add oils if you like, but i didn't this time cause of the hot oil treatment i did before shampooing.

while hair is in sections, wet hair first, then apply the mixture directly onto scalp. Rub it using your fingertips giving yourself a good head message! (pause), don't want to irritate your scalp too much with your nails. 

This mixture is enough to shampoo your hair twice. The first time around i just focused on getting my scalp clean, not paying to much to my edges. The second time around i paid more attention to the edges than anything else. 

Because of the dark color of the black soap you'll know once you've rinsed it all out. The water will stop being brown, lol.

Condition/Deep Condition afterwards then style as usual.