Herbal Essences Hello Hydration as a leave-in

Before I discovered Shea Moisture curl enhancing smoothie, I was using hello hydration as my leave in and I loved it! I had tried all of my conditioners as a leave-in and almost every single one was a no go except hello hydration. Its nice and thick, smells lovely, and is very moisturizing. Its my go to when I need something I can rely on without any headache.

It gives me plenty of shine and leaves my hair very soft. I've had a few times when my hair was a difficult dried out mess and hello hydration perked it right back up! I've also used it as a regular conditioner, washing it out but I really think it benefits my hair more being left in. I'd honestly say it works just as well if not better than shea moisture on my hair. I also love that its cheap! Yay for inexpensive products that work!

Thought I'd share the love. =)

Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie

I finally tried a "natural" hair product! Wooooo! Walgreen's had a sale a couple weeks ago on the Shea moisture line and I figured this would be as good a time as any, right? Right!

My bushy ends were back. =/ Apparently henna is only a temporary fix *shrug*. But back to the Shea moisture...I opted to get a couple jars of the curl enhancing smoothie because 1. Its called smoothie. Come on, I couldn't resist! And 2. I really just need a good leave-in at this point!

I didn't use it on freshly cleaned hair the first time which was a bad idea. I hated the smell mixed with my other products. Elck! And it left my hair dull and film-ish. *shakes head* So I washed and then tried it again. *singing* LOOOOOVED it!

The smell was much better (although I'm still not crazy about it) and my bushy ends were controlled once again! =) I do lots of twist-outs nowadays so I simply sectioned, applied, and twisted my hair up. When I took them out I had tons of curl definition (which isn't really a problem with my hair anyway) and my hair felt like heaven! Although the consistency may appear heavy, it went on really light. Its amazingly buttery soft on your hair. I definitely have my staple leave-in now!

The downside is, I noticed that if your hair gets oily easily, you should probably stay away from this product. I usually have to add a leave-in, oil, and a sheen to keep oil on my hair but with the curl enhancing smoothie, I literally only needed it by itself; but that also means build-up galore! So proceed with cautin!

Overall though, I love Shea moisture curl enhancing smoothie. =)

Lush Caca Marron Mama Henna

So I have decided recently that I need to improve my product junkie ways. If I'm gonna keep wasting on hair stuff, it mind as well be good kind of hair stuff hunh?

A friend of mine had some Lush (fresh handmade cosmetics) henna and we decided to put it in my hair just for fun. I had been wanting to try it because my previous henna experiences weren't so good (it wasn't all natural), so this was the perfect time to do it!

Firstly, after watching some henna video's, people were saying that it smelled. It didn't. I mean, what exactly should it smell like? Its a plant! It smelled fine to me. We cut it up (took 3 blocks for my 5 inch hair), put it in a bowl, and poured boiling hot water in it. I also mixed some hot six oil in it just because from my other experiences, my hair was dried out and I didn't want to take any chances. Secondly, my friend applied it for me, so the mess was probably considerably decreased. I know lots of people say its a super mess and you should cover your whole house in bubble wrap. That wasn't my experience this time 'round (or any other time I'd done it myself). My friend and I kept joking while she was applying that it was like getting a perm because we had to mix it and then part my hair in four sections, etc. Its like a perm minus the burn lol. I also decided that if I ever got the urge to perm, I'd just henna. It was a good time.

After the application, I covered my head in plastic wrap, put on a shower cap, put on my scarf, and went to sleep. That was around midnight and I woke up around 10 am to wash it out.

Disclaimer: sleeping that way was NOT comfortable.

It took me awhile to wash it out. That stuff is GUNKY. I washed with shampoo twice (I'm using Mane N Tail again) and conditioned twice. It was such a hassle washing it out! But it finally did get out and I twisted my hair up. The henna DEF conditioned my hair. I had a problem with bushy ends...not anymore! I was so happy! There isn't really a visible color change but my hair was already brown and this henna is said to turn hair brown. lol, no need. I'm excited about it. I'll probably do a  darker Persian henna the next time I need a good condition. I haven't been able to stop touching it and its been a few days. Grrr.

Lush on their henna: "We use the finest Persian henna, which has been used since ancient times to dye the skin and hair. The leaves are dried and ground into a powder and it is this, mixed with conditioning cocoa butter, which forms the basis of our Cacas"

Its a really nice conditioning treatment. It softened my curls and made my hair shinier. It also took care of my bushy ends which was a nice surprise. Love it!