Product Review: Organic Root Stimulator's Olive Oil Deep Penetrating Conditioner

Organic Root Stimulator (ORS) Olive Oil Deep Penetrating Conditioner.

This stuff, this stuff right here? Yeah, this stuff right here is Great, lol. It smells absolutely delectable and makes your hair feel like silk. This a very important conditioner to put in your hair after a relaxer or shampoo. And this a good conditioner to use if you just want to condition your hair only.

The ORS replenishing paks are relatively inexpensive costing between .79-1.59 depending on where you go (usually .99 cents or $1.49). If you just want to try it out or are going out of town then just get a pak, otherwise it's smarter to buy the big bottle.

Product Review: Nairobi Essential Botanical Oils

Alrighty guys, so I've been mixing my own "secret" batch of hair oil for the past few months: 1/2 extra virgin olive oil, 1/2 pure coconut oil. I would put this in my hair almost daily and add the mix to my conditioners, as well as put it on my hair before my little semi perms.

The drawback of putting my "Olive Coco" mix in my hair before going to bed or throughout the day is that little bumps would begin to show up on the tops of my forehead. That is a no-no.

So, I went to the beauty supply store to find a new oil (I hate going in these places by the way, I wish SO bad they were colored-american (black) owned).

And I saw one bottle of Nairobi Essential Botanical Oils left. So, I scooped it up! (It was between this and the Kemi Oil).

And y'all-- this stuff is great so far. Not only is it very light-weight, it has a very pleasant smell, and has the BEST ingredients of any designer oil I've used (compared to keracare, mizani, etc).

Ingredients: sunflower oil, peanut oil, canola oil, coconut oil, aloe vera oil, olive oil, almond oil, sesame oil, jojoba oil, and fragrance.

Now, that's really are a list of Essential oils.

Size: 4 fl.oz

Cost: $11.99

I loooove this stuff. And this will be my go-to oil for now until forever, lol. Why? Because it has all the natural oils in it that I was self-mixing, plus more. Yeah, I could easily make this myself and have more of it, but I don't want to be bothered buying 9 different types of oil (not right now atleast).

Be sure to give this a try and tell me what you think :-)

My New Crew: My New Hair Routine

Check out close-ups of my new hair products, lol....

I seriously have never been so excited to get hair products in my life. Why was I so freaking happy? Because I did research. The best thing about the internet and blogs in particular is that it allows people to connect and get advice from other people- just like them. I web-surfed my bum off the other day figuring out what products to get, what to make my routine. I checked out many blogs and forums and I looked at peoples before and after pictures- I respected/reverenced more the girls who had broken short hair before and long thick full "you must got some indian in you" hair afterwards. And I also kept in mind which products and brands have worked best for me in the past (patene and mizani).

I had my list, yes list and headed to my favorite beauty supply store- the one where the asian owners are nice and have smartly hired amiable black women as staff (there's two chicks, they give advice and have tried alot of the products - weaves and all). Anyway so I go there pick up some things, then I go to another- the really big one that was like product heaven for someone on a mission to find particular products. I that one I found the main ones I was looking for, like the Elasta QPR. Oh, and I stopped at Walgreen in between to pick one product as well (the Neutrogena Triple Moisture).

And this is what I came home with (minus the Patene and Mizani- I already had those). I spent about $40 bucks, but it was cool- I was more than happy to.

1. Shampoo- Creme of Nature Ultra Moisturizing Shampoo
They say shampoo strips our hair (people of color) from its much needed moisture, so a moisturizing shampoo is a MUST, some people don't even use shampoos, instead they use a cheap conditioner as their shampoo (like Suave). I think I had planned on getting the detangling shampoo, but just ended up with this one instead.

2. Conditioner- AtOne Reconstructer Conditioner

3. Deep Conditioner- Elasta QP DPR-11 Deep Penetrating Reconstructor
Everyone swears by this stuff, so I HAD to get it--- it works so WELL, my hair was left SO soft after using it.

4. Deep Conditioner- Creme of Nature Nurturing and Strengthening Treatment
This came free with the Creme of Nature shampoo, yes that BIG jar came free, so it was a fluke that I purchased, but I later found out that one of the girl bloggers with great hair uses it, she actually replaced the Elasta DPR with this one....

5. Deep Conditioner- Patene Pro-V Relaxed and Natural Deep Conditioning Mask
I just so happened to see this when I was contemplating on whether or not to by more patene pro-v. It was so pretty-looking (the jar was) and most of them were gone, so went 'what the heck' and picked it up.

6. Leave-In Conditioner- Elasta QP Leave-In H2

7. Leave-In Conditioner- Neutrogena Triple Moisture Silk-Touch Leave-In Creme

8. Oil- Kemi Oyl

This one chick on a hair forum, with a bunch of pictures of her hair says this is the one oil she couldn't leave without. So I decided to buy it... first I couldn't find it, but it ended up being on the check-out counter.... 3 bucks for a tiny bottle of oil, its a bit pricey, but I've used it on my hair the past two days and it seems (only seems) to help my hair grow a bit and it keeps the hair nicely quenched.

My Shampoos and Conditioners:

My Deep Conditioners and Leave-Ins:

UPDATE: I am no longer using creme of nature. It is still a good product, but patene pro-v and mizani have the best shampoos. Also, shampoos are not that good for colored-american (black) hair, so its best to use a really good moisturizing shampoo when you do decide to shampoo.

Product Reviews: SoftSheen Carson Roots of Nature Remedies and Dr.Miracles Temple & Nape Gro Balm

SoftSheen Carson Roots of Nature Remedies:
Shea Butter Green Tea Stimulating Scalp Oil

This product is the replacement Dr.Miracles Stimulating Scalp Oil for some people. Though I like the smell many people feel like Dr.Miracles Gro Oil is TOO strong (my ex boyfriend was one of them). Well I feel that the Nature of Remedies Stimulating Oil will give you the same affect (smell free). It's light, easy to handle, and made my hair soft.

SoftSheen Carson Roots of Nature Remedies:
Shea Butter Green Tea Triple Repair Hairdress

This product made my mom really happy. Before I could even open it she decided to use it and the next day she couldn't stop talking about how it made her edges so flat. What she would do is put some on at night then put on her satin scarf. The next morning her edges were really flat. I decided to give the product a whirl and low and behold- she was right. This may sound crazy, but I sorta feel like this product makes my edges flat without me putting a scarf on. Either way it goes this is a solid product-- light, smells pretty good, and my mom loves it.

SoftSheen Carson Roots of Nature Remedies:
Shea Butter Green Tea Reconstructing Deep Treatment

This product I tried a few weeks ago... and the results were a bit fickle. At the time I didn't know the big differences between moisturizing and protein treatments and when and how to use them. So I used this after washing my hair I applied it through the scalp and on the edges then I mixed in a little of my Mizani treatment. I sat under the dryer and ended up sorta falling asleep... a few hours later, I woke up and rinsed it out. Then I put a little oil on my hair and let it air dry. My hair ended up feeling kind of dry. But I realized that its because this product is essentially a protein and its very important to condition or deep condition after a protein treatment, otherwise your hair will feel a bit dry and hard. Also I don't think I applied a leave-in afterward which is VERY important. So, I'll try this product again later and tell you what I think .

Dr.Miracles Temple & Nape Gro Balm

Hmmm.... I think it works. The key is to be consistent, apply everyday and take a picture before, then a week after and a week after til its all gone. I didn't do that, but I wish I would have. Like always, the product Felt like it was working....

Product Review: My Mizani Army- The Story: Shampoos and Conditioners

PURIPHYING Intense Cleansing Shampoo
BOTANIFYING Conditioning Shampoo (with botanicals)
FUFYL Conditioning Treatment
MOISTURFUSE Moisturizing Conditioner

I call the my Mizani Army because when I first began to grow my hair in high school, these are the products I chose to help me. My routine was washing every two weeks, wrap every night, apply Mizani overnight treatment every other night, and use Mizani Rose H2O and Organic Root Stimulator Carrot Oil Cream. I wasn't extra educated at the time about hair care products, but I had learned that the best was Mizani or Keracare and because Mizani seemed and smelled less chemical like I went with that. My hairdresser at the time was great with styling, but maybe not the best with actual hair care... I guess someone told her Design Essentials was the best, but I just didn't think so- so I brought my own stuff.

I decided to switch hair dressers because I just felt like the one I had wasn't growing my hair. So I took a risk, jumped shipped and began going to a man that had grew my aunts hair ridiculously long and thick. I won't go through all the details, but long story shirt- he was scissor happy and was cutting my hair waaaaaaay to much. Also he used Kercare Dry and Itchy Scalp.... which ended up.... wait for it.... wait for it.... effing up my hair. Yeah it did, it worked wonders for my aunt and sister, but it was my worst enemy.

Fast forward to college. I decided I want to grow my hair back out, so I went back to "my Mizani army"... and I wore weaves at times in between and went natural underneath (the weave). My hair GREW alot... I wore weaves almost full time for two years. You could say my hair went from
neck length to a little over shoulder length.... then I decided to perm and cut it for the whole Rihanna thing and, well that's a whole other story, that I'll share later (I wish I would have stayed natural though)

Anyway, I say all that to say even though I'm currently choosing to switch it up products. These 4 products did work for me, when I used them consistently.

When I first picked them, my thought process was- well I need 2 shampoos and 2 conditioners because that's what they used at the beautician. Then I figured I needed one shampoo to clean my hair and another one to restore moisture that the other shampoo may have stripped. Then I needed two good conditioners- one regular and one treatment.

More Info from the bottles:

Puriphying Shampoo- pH balanced shampoo that removes residue. Has hydrolyzed wheat protein.

Botanifying Shampoo- gentle shampoo with botanicals

Moisturfuse Conditioner- has moisturizers and proteins. Polyquatermium-37 and hydrolyzed wheat protein.

Fulfyl Treatment- has protein and moisturizers as well

Yesss Found It: Natural Product to Make Permed Hair- Curly. Miss Jessie's Quick Curls

Now THIS is what I'm talking about. After further going through Miss Jessies products I found this:


And its SOLD OUT. SMH! Not cool Miss Jessie, NOT cool at all. Lol, I'm about to send an email inquiring about when they will have more because this is what I was looking for. And at $9? I'm not mad... that is if it will make my hair curly. I really really hope they replenish within the week, if so, I will purchase and let you all know how it goes.... if you have used it, please let me know how it is. I'm sorta anxious about this product.... hurry Miss Jessie! Get in that kitchen and whip up another batch!


PRODUCT REVIEW: Update June 29, 2009:

This product is an EPIC FAILURE. I tried it twice on a section of my permed hair- once with it airdrying, another using the blowdryer... both times- no curls. My hair type (what they call 4a/b, what I call 1a/b) I think this product is for girls with straight hair like asians, some european-americans, some hispanics, and women with 3 a/b hair or lower.