Haircare Review: My Natural Hair...Local is Lekker

Hi all,
This post is long overdue, but work has been crazy and it took me a while to get to this post.

My Natural Hair is a South African hair care range that launched late last year; it is the brainchild of Catherine Williams.
I came across it in early October on one of my exploratory stolls through the hair product aisles in Clicks (Canal Walk). as a natural, one is always on the lookout for new and better products (that work and are reasonably priced). So I was really excited when I saw this range, I picked up the conditioner to try (that's usually the deal breaker for me in any haircare range...I'm a sucker for a good conditioner!). I promptly snapped a shot and posted it to the Cape Town Naturally Support group (sharing is caring! Can't leave my curlfriends out in the cold).

FIRST! Facebook post of my new find

I was pretty impressed with the condtioner, so I picked more of it at their stall during the Cape Town Natural Hair Festival (December 2016).

Got my pciture taken at theMy Natural Hair stand at the Natural Hair Festival. Image courtesy of My Natural Hair

And then I got lucky enough to win a hamper during a let your hair speak social media campaign.

I've been using the entire range for a couple weeks and so i'm ready to give my thoughts...

Wash Day things

1. Nourishing Shampoo 250ml 
free from (Sulphates, Pthalates, Parabens, Petroleum & Mineral oil)
Ingredient List (as listed on the website)
aqua, sodium lauroyl sarcosinate, lauryl glucoside, cocamidopropyl betaine, PEG-18 glyceryl oleate/cocoate, cocamide DEA, PEG-7 glyceryl cocoate, glycerine, parfum, ethylene/sodium acrylate copolymer, sodium chloride, acetamide MEA, dimethiconol panthenol, hydrolyzed keratin, hyaluronic acid, disodium EDTA, methylchloroisothiiazolinone, methylisothiazolinone, linoleic acid, dimethiconol cysteine, simmondsia chinensis (jojoba) oil, sorbitol, citric acid.

I really like this shampoo, I've used after removing braids a couple of times and while my braids were installed. It cleanses without stripping the hair (even with a double shampoo). It leaves my hair really soft and manageable (I can't handle shampoos that leave my hair so stripped, that I'm afraid to touch it for fear of breaking it!). It's a clear formula with a light floral/herbal scent. It does foam up quite a bit, so you do have to rinse really well.

2. Hydrating Conditioner 250ml
Ingredient List (as listed on the website)

aqua, cetearyl alcohol, cetyl alcohol, cetrimonium chloride, glycerine, butyrospermum parkii (shea) butter, cocos nucifera (coconut) oil, PEG-20 stearate, prunus amygdalus dulcis (sweet almond) oil, polysorbate-60, simmondsia chinensus (jojoba) oil, parfum, acetamide MEA, dimethiconol panthenol, hydrolyzed keratin, hyaluronic acid, linoleic acid, methylchloroisothiazolinone, methylisothiazolinone, sorbitol.

I've used this conditioner as a pre-shampoo treatment and as a deep conditioner, and it works well in both instances. I apply this to damp hair section-by-section, detangle with my denman and cover my hair with a plastic cap (or cling wrap), then put a towel over my head and wait 30 minutes before rinsing. After rinsing, my coilys pop and clump together (this is my measure for a good conditioner...popping coils). 

Compared to the holy grail for coilys and curlies, Tresemme Naturals (Now Botaniques) it doesn't have a much slip but it works well enough to detangle without tugging and pain. My only gripe...I wish the contianer were bigger; I'm already more than halfway through the first bottle and the shampoo has hardly moved. You know how it is - it's one bottle of shampoo to a gazillion of conditioner. Tall n Curly the struggle with the most hilarious and honest illustrations (below).

 

True story

the struggle is real

 3. Moisturising Butter 125ml
Ingredients
aqua, butyrospermum parkii (shea) buttter, cocos nucifera (coconut) oil, cetearyl alcohol, stearic acid, glycerine, trehalose, glyceryl stearate (and) PEG-100 stearate, helianthus annuus (sunflower) oil, polysorbate-60, olea europaea (olive) oil, ceteareth-20, niacinamide, phenoxyethanol (and) ethylhexyl glycerin, cetrimonium chloride, parfum, acetamide MEA, benzophenone-3, tocopherol acetate, carbomer, disodium EDTA, benzophenone-4, dimethiconol panthenol, hydrolyzed keratin, hyaluronic acid, linoleic acid, dimethiconol cysteine, simmondsia chinensus (jojoba) oil, sodium hydroxide.

4. Strengthening Oil 150ml

Ingredients
helianthus annuus (sunflower) oil, vitis vinifera (grape) seed oil, ricinus communis (castor) seed oil, persia gratissima (avocado) oil, prunus amygdalus dulcis (sweet almond) oil, olea europaea (olive) oil, coco caprylate, tocopherol acetate, parfum, benzophenone-3, butylated hydroxytoluene.

I applied the butter to damp hair, after towel drying (sometimes I'm too lazy to find the t-shirt); then I comb through with my denman and seal with the oil and then braid the section up and allow the hair to dry for a few hours or overnight before blowdrying on medium heat to stretch my hair. 
the butter has a chocolate mousse consistency; it's easily absorbed without leaving any white residue. Also, a little goes a long way so this little tub should last quite a while. I've used this as a moisturiser between washdays and as a moisturiser when installing braids. 
The oil is light without being greasy or too viscose, so it's easy to apply. as with the butter, a little goes a long way (too much of any product just ends in a big mess). 

Final thoughts: I'm impressed with this range, I tend to be sceptical of locally made products; a symptom of many decades during which ethnic or curly/coily hair was ignored. As a child, my mum washed my hair with sunlight green soap bar and sealed my wet hair with vaseline or Wella hairfood (the stinky yellow one), so seeing these locally made products with good ingredients, that work really well is super exciting.

Where to find them: the entire range is available at the My Natural Hair online store, takealot.com and in Clicks stores, Jet Mart and  Africa Cash and Carry wholesalers. All the products cost ZAR 79.99 at the My Natural Hair store, and cost between ZAR 89 and 99.99 at Clicks (in-store and online). 
 
Media Event
My Natural Hair held a media event for Cape Town at the Bunglow in Clifton last month. Let me tell you.. I had such hair envy seeing all those curly fros as I had Goddess locs installed at the time. It was an event for local curlies to mingle, we also got a chance to meet Catherine the creator and ambassdor to My Natural Hair (I met her briefly at the Natural Hair Festival in December). Here are some pics from the event. The rest are available on the The Little Black Book Facebook page (here)

Images courtesy of My Natural Hair

I always feel acomplished when I finish a post *waves hands in the air*

Until my next post ,

xoxo,

Hair Review: Dark & Lovely Au Natural Range ft. the BFF

Hi loves,
I' was so excited about the launch of Dark & Lovely's Au Naturale range in South Africa (Designed specifically for the South African market, there's a plaiting pudding cream...), which couldn't come soon enough. I can't believe how long it's taken them to launch a natural hair care range considering how long they've been operating in South Africa....tsk.tsk.. But let by gones be by gones...
I'm happy to say that this review will be done in collabo with my BFF; we're both on a natural hair journey and certified product junkies. We got the products from Clicks and Dischem when they first launched (So for slighlty cheapper than the recommended retail price). She reviewed the shampoo and condtioner, and I reviewed the condtioner and mositurizing butter.

Shampoo 

Her Review:

The Moisture-Replenishing shampoo is egg yolk yellow in colour and slightly runny. It’s got a strong mango and tropical fruit fragrance, not unlike the Mango range from the Body Shop; A bit strong for my liking, but I’ll live. I used it as a clarifier after a protective style and as a weekly shampoo since purchasing. From the first wash, it lathers quite well (yay for suds!!) cleanses my fine strands clean without stripping; which is what I want, from my shampoo. I have shampooed my hair with this product both with and without pre-pooing and it delivered the same results. My strands are quite fine and dry out quickly so this is a win in my book. I just would recommend only shampooing twice if you really need to (i.e. you've been rolling in mud and/or attended the colour run). In my case, a moderate amount went a long way so I think this bottle may last me about two months.

Price: ZAR 39.95


Conditioner

My Review:
The Knot-out conditoner in this range also has a strong Mango fragrance but I'm not complaining. I must confess I'm more of a deep condtioner girl, so I used this conditioner as a pre-shampoo treatment/detangler.
The Verdict? It's great! It's got a ton load of slip which is what I need. It really made my from more manageable and removing knots easily. (I finger-detangle and follow that up with my Denman brush).
For pre-poo, I normally mix my conditoner with Jamaican Black Castor Oil and this condtioner works really well with JBCO (so that's another plus).
I feel like this is a great alternative (It's silicone-free) for those of us who miss Tresemme Naturals something fierce (I'm still mad about that by the way...How could they take it away from us?)

Her Review:

It’s light and with a creamy spreadable consistency. The fragrance was something akin to mango and tropical fruit smoothie; a bit overpowering for me, but bearable. Plus it doesn’t linger.

I first used it as a detangler on my 4b strands and I must say I was pleasantly surprised. It has SLIP. As in you can detangle with your fingers or paddle brush with ease (provided your hair isn’t extremely tangled). So that passes the first test. The downside is that you have to use quite a bit of product to saturate your hair. But as it’s fairly inexpensive, I don’t mind it.

I also tried it as a deep conditioner and left it in for 20min. Here.... ja, it’s not a deep conditioner. It’s not bad but it left my hair wanting a bit more. I tried again but added some of my favourite oils for extra extra-ness. This time it did a better job. But since I hate doing that, I think I will just stick to it as a quick conditioner or a detangler.

Price: ZAR 39.95

Afro moisturizing butter

 My Review:
I decided to go for the moisturizing butter instead of the plaiting pudding cream because I have a strong aversion to pink creams. Why must you be so Dark & Lovely? Pink? Really?! NO!
The moisturizing butter is quite firm with a smooth texture, which I really like (no dripping all over the place). The fragrance...I don't like at all. It's very chemical (trying to be herby..I don't know) It smells a little like Sunlight dishwashing liquid to me. That being said I really like how it feels in my hair. It's super mosturizing; great for use as a the moisture component in conjunction with an oil to seal. Also gives great slip if you're detangling your hair post-wash. I also used it on my hair with my whipped mafura butter when I installed Marley twists.


For those who are silicone-sensitive, it does contain dimethicone. So despite the not so awesome fragrance, we're keeping it! 

Price: ZAR 79.95

My final verdict: All three of these products are super affordable. They're available in selected Dischem and Clicks stores. Also, Clicks has an online store, you can order there too.
So Dark & Lovely, well done! Took you long enough.

Her final verdict:

All in all, this combo is great and budget friendly if you’re looking for good, cheap products that do the job well. Will I repurchase? Yup! It’s worth it.

What's your verdict on the Au Naturale range? Yay! or Nah!?

See you in my next post,

xoxo








*Product images are from www.darkandlovely.co.za

Wash Day - Kinky Twists are Gone

Hello everyone, thanks for dropping by. Today I'm going to chronicle my latest wash day. 

I removed my latest protective style - waist-length kinky twists ...what was I thinking? 
Anyway, after 5 hours I was finally done removing the extensions and it was time to detangle and pre-poo; I do this in one step and this time I mixed the Garnier Ultimate Blends The Nourishing Repairer conditioner (available at Clicks, Dischem and major supermarkets R 39.95-59.95) with Jamaican black castor oil from Sunny Isle (I purchased this from www.african-flair.co.za 236ml for R 249.00).

Pre-poo treatment: conditioner and Jamaican black castor oil

I have thick hair, so I divide my hair into 4 or 5 sections for wash day; I applied the mixture to my hair focussing on the tips and finger detangle before using my Denman D7 brush to finish the job starting at the tips (I could write songs to my D7...it's that good!) and then I twist each section. after I'm detangling all my hair, I cover it with a plastic cap or cling wrap and wait a minimum of 30 minutes before shampooing.

On to the next step; I rinsed out my pre-poo treatment and proceeded to shampoo with the Don't be Flaky anti-dandruff shampoo from Giovanni. I apply the shampoo to each section focussing on the scalp and then massage with my fingers, and keep it on 5 minutes before rinsing it out. One application is enough to cleanse my scalp and hair without stripping it. 

I dry my hair with a t-shirt and since I wanted to refresh my colour I mixed my Crazy color in peacock blue with the CHI curl preserve low pH treatment. After applying it generously, I coverred my hair with cling wrap and waited 90 minutes before rinsing it out. My hair was really soft afterwards and my coils were popping!

Deep condition and colour in one step: CHI Curl Preserve System and Crazy color in peacock blue

Cantu Leave-in conditioner and Body Shop Beautifying Oil

I covered my hair with a t-shirt to dry and then followed up with the LOC method to moisturize and seal: Cantu leave-in conditioning cream, Body Shop Brazil nut beautifying oil and hair butter cream (with shea butter and Jamaican black castor oil).
Because the weather is wet this week, I decided to wear my hair in 12 braids and wear headwraps. I'll unwrap and unravel for a braidout over the weekend since I'm going to a wedding on Saturday. 

...that's a wrap!

xoxo, 
N