Yummy Product Nomenclatures

Hellur girls and boys! (Do any boys read this blog? There must be a couple. We see you! You should say hello some time, okay?)

So by way of a disclaimer, today’s post is only going to highlight a topic that I have often wondered about. I will present you with findings from my little research. However, I have no conclusions to make. Perhaps we can reach a conclusion together?

Hair products. When you see ‘shampoo’ or ‘cleansing’ attached to the name of a product, you know exactly what that product ought to do without reading the description, right? The same goes for ‘conditioner’, ‘leave-in conditioner’, ‘detangler’, ‘gel’, and even ‘mousse’. These terms point not only to the function of a particular product but many times, also to its look and/ or feel. And then you keep going across the hair product aisle and you start to see ‘butter’, ‘souffle’, ‘smoothie’, ‘custard’, ‘pudding’.

Have these earned their names or are manufacturers just slapping names on products because they so fancy?

When I think of butter, I think stick butter; or at least a type of hardened oil, hardened being the key word. Of course, cooking/edible butter can get soft in warmer temperatures. However there is a certain consistency to the softness… there is something thick and heavy about the way it feels, right? In the same light, custards and puddings are, to me, light and fluid mixtures. So translating that to hair speak, I would expect more effort to rub a butter between my palms, than to rub a custard or a pudding. In addition, because butter is hardened, heavy oil, I would not expect it to carry water. Conversely, I would expect water to be the first ingredient of a custard or pudding.

Apart from appearance and feel, I then thought that perhaps there are certain ingredients that are common to products to earn them the suffixes of ‘butter’, ‘custard’, or ‘pudding’. So I did a little research, using the product database of CurlMart.

I used the search terms ‘butter’, ‘pudding’, and ‘custard’ individually and randomly selected 8 products from each category for this little research.

Below are the most common ingredients found in:

Custards (Obia Curl Enhancing Custard, Miss Jessie’s Coily Custard, Kinky Curly Curling Custard, Mop Top Curly Custard, Design Essentials Natural Honey Curl Forming Custard, Milk + Honey Hydrating Hair Custard, Nubian Heritage Indian Hemp & Tamanu Grow & Strengthen Custard)

Water – 6

Vegetable glycerin – 5

Pectin – 3

Xantham gum – 2

 

Pudding (As I Am Cleansing Pudding, Carol’s daughter Hair Milk Pudding Style, Miss Jessie’s Curly Pudding, Darcy’s Botanicals Organic Coconut & Aloe Moisture Pudding, EDEN Bodyworks Coconut Shea Pudding Souffle, Milk + Honey Tangle Free Pudding, Oyin Handmade Whipped Pudding)

Water – 6

Ethylhexyl palmitate – 4

Glycerin – 4

Caprylyl Glycol – 3

Cetearyl alcohol – 2

Hydroxyl propyl starch phosphate – 2

Carbomer – 2

Oleth5 – 2

 

Butter (As I Am Double Butter Cream Rich Daily Moisturiser, Beemine Bee Hold Curly Butter, Blended Beauty Curl Styling Butter, Camille Rose Naturals Almond Jai Twisting Butter, Carol’s daughter Healthy Hair Butter, Darcy’s Botanicals Eucalyptus Mint Herbal Scalp Conditining Butter, Milk + Honey Honey Butter)

Butter (Shea/Almond/Cocoa/Other)- 7

Water – 4

Behentrimonium methosulfate – 2

Cetearyl alcohol – 2

Beeswax – 2

One thing I find really interesting in these results is the butter. Almost all the products labelled ‘butter’ had some type of butter in its ingredients. And of the 8 products sampled, only half contained water. But going by the numbers, there probably isn’t any one ingredient or combination of ingredients that confer butter status, for example, to a product. Of course only 8 products per category is hardly enough to infer anything, but at least it’s a start. However, all of the products sampled have moisturising claims (even the ones without water… You know yourselves) and herald themselves as being great all-encompassing styling aids. (While there are products that expressly say they are best used for twist-outs or braid-outs, I am yet to find a styling aid that states that it is only good for afros. If you know of any, please let me know. My theory though is that lighter products should be for the fro, while heavier (butter) products will be perfect for twist-outs and braid-outs. I am yet to test out this theory.)

So my question still remains… how are these names given? By appearance or consistency of the product? Or are they just random fancy names given to the products?

I hope I have not just rambled on and left you feeling like “What did I just read?!”

If you use or have used products with any of these three names, did the feel complement the name? Did they act differently in their styling abilities? For example, do you find you get better twists out results with a butter, and a better, fluffy fro with a custard or pudding? I’m obviously interested in this seemingly non-existent issue. Please help a sister!

– Mee Mee

xx.

DIY: Flaxseed Gel!

What is Flaxseed?

Flaxseed (Also known as linseed) comes from the fibre crop, Flax. It is rich in Vitamin B1, Omega 3 Fatty Acid, dietary fibre and then some. Some call it a wonder food (no surprise, it lowers the risk of cancer), and it can be used for a little sustainable vanity too, to make hair gel! 🙂

For more about the benefits of this flaxseed for your health and hair, please go here, here, and here. There are two types- brown and golden brown- but the brown seed is more nutritious.

I got my golden brown linseed when I was in Lagos for Easter, from Fig Health Store. Contact deets are down, at the end of the post.

This 250g pack cost me 900 naira. Fig Health Store is also on online retailer, Buyam. Did you know? Delivery on Buyam is free nationwide! Love Buyam!

WHAT YOU NEED
– Flaxseed
– Water
– For straining, a Sieve and A Pair of Tongs (or improvise)
– Storage containers

HOW TO.
It’s really simple. I used a yogurt cup to measure my flaxseed. Some instructions I saw online said ½ cup flaxseed to 2 cups water, so I tried that ratio but no, that wasn’t working out.

So I used this cup of yogurt and 3 cups water at first, but when it got too thick, I added about 500ml of water. Just be intuitive about your mixing, go with the flow.

1. Put your flaxseed in a pot, add water and leave to boil.

2. Do not cover the pot! This is important. I covered the pot and came back to see my gel that wasn’t up to half the pot had boiled over. A lot of gel wasted on my stove top.

3. Stir from time to time to make sure that the flaxseed does not stick to the sides or the bottom of the pot.

4. Wait until you see the mucus. Lol sorry to use the word. At first, my mix got real thick and sticky, so I tried to strain. Nope. E no work. Then I went back to watch Naptural85 and I saw that she waited for some substance to congeal. See it here:

When this happened, my gel was the right consistency. Not too watery, but not too thick either.

5. Okay, now your gel is the right consistency, time to strain. Pantyhose is ideal, and I think one of those 200 naira mesh sieves (the ones with the same flimsy net as you’d see on some wooden kitchen doors) should be perfect too. I didn’t have either, so I improvised with a handkerchief. I placed it over a bowl and poured in the gel.

A pair of tongs would be perfect to help with the squeezing, but I had none, so I used a spoon to squeeze against the fabric to release more of the gel. And to squeeze the last of it, I used my hands. Never again! If you don’t have Agonyin hand, don’t try it! It’s really hot! (duh)

6. Store your gel, wash up and you could also store your seeds to use another time.

This was my first time making flaxseed and I think it was a success. You can add Vitamin E oil (it’s a natural preservative), to keep your gel in good condition. Refrigerate, and it should last you 2 weeks. So, don’t make too much, or when you do, pour your friends some. You can also add your favourite essential oils for their properties and fragrances.

My gel made enough for like 3 uses. I didn’t have any containers though, so I’m sad to say I wasted what I did not use. I don’t plan to use gel anytime soon, so it didn’t make sense to try to store it.

On the same day I made the gel, I used it to 3-strand twist on blow dried hair. I used SO much, I guess I just went ham because I read that flaxseed is moisturising.

I unravelled the twists when dry, and I had very defined curls in fact too defined, but the flaking was crazy! Not scalp flaking oh, I mean flaking on my hair. So bad I had to wash. I’ll properly review flaxseed gel after a couple more uses. For now, I’d just say, go easy on your flaxseed when you use it. Use it as you would use normal store-bought gel.

Oh, here’s the Naptural85 video I mentioned. I love Whit’s tutorials!! 🙂

Ever tried this, ladies? Let’s talk! 🙂

Love,
AB
Xx

—
Fig Health Store
Emma Abimbola Cole Street, off Fola Osibo,
Opposite a blue house, Lekki Phase 1.
08097494186.
Twitter: @FigHealthStore

DIY: A Deep Conditioning Hair Smoothie!

Last Washday found me separated from my hair products.

I tried a Henna treatment, and being the super strengthening protein treatment henna is, a moisturising deep conditioning treatment was VERY VERY necessary. My Intense Healing Mask was like 700 kilometres away, so I had to find something and no, I didn’t want to buy.

I wasn’t in the mood for my Honey and Olive oil DC either. It is soooo drippy and I can’t stand that for long. I wanted something thicker that day, and the internet led me to the Avocado & Banana Deep Conditioning Smoothie on KL’s Naturals. Avocado & Banana are good for the body, and for your hair too! This Deep Conditioner like other DIY organic deep conditioners is easy on your wallet, and super easy to make!

WHY TRY THIS?

Before we get to how to make this, you should know why I even bothered:

1. Bananas are believed to help with moisture and shine, and somehow fight shrinkage.

2. The healthy oils and Vitamin E in Avocado make this fruit a staple part of my diet. It’s an excellent fat burner especially for your belly. For hair, it is said to bring moisture, shine and softness!

3. Good old Honey is no stranger to me. It’s a humectant (meaning, it draws moisture into the hair), and for this reason it has been a staple part of my deep conditioning process for about a year.

L-R: One very ripe avocado, 2 Bananas (I added one later), Jar of Honey. Smoothie Maker behind.

WHAT I USED

One ripe avocado

3 medium size bananas

Smoothie maker.

A little water (to help with the mixing)

HOW-TO

1. Cut your fruits up

2. Throw ‘em into your smoothie maker, blender, whatever mixer you’ve got

3. Add a little water.

4. Blend/ mix till it’s as smooth as possible

5. Sieve <- very important tip K.L pointed out, to avoid getting bits left in your hair.

sievin’

I sieved to be cautious, but nothing was caught in the sieve or later left in my hair because I used a smoothie maker to do my mixing, so my smoothie was perfectly smooth. (Does anyone mind enlightening me why smoothie makers aren’t as mainstream as blenders? If I had to choose one, I’d go with the smoothie maker! Smoothie makers don’t need as much liquid as blenders to mix well.)

Are you wondering “Where does the Honey go?” You can add your honey to the fruits at Step 2. At any point during Step 4, or even after.

The taste of honey makes me want to puke (Too sweet!) and I wanted to taste the smoothie first. So I added the honey after I was done blending the solids, and tasting the avocado-banana plain.

Very yummy smoothie, which I shall be making next time for myself, not my hair! Banana can be a little too much for me (my least favourite fruit!) so the avocado was a perfect match to tone down the sweetness. I love the heavy, smooth texture the avocado brought to this!

This was how much I made, about the same size of my henna and I used up ALL of it. My hair is 8 and half to 9 inches long, medium-high density (that is, it is full)- so if your hair isn’t as long or thick, you may not need 3 bananas or one full avocado.

yes, hair! drink upppp 😀

RESULTS

Henna left my hair feeling dry, and this DC restored moisture to my strands! So yes, I endorse this. It works! Just take your time with the blending and sieving oh. You do not want bits in your hair! Had bits when I tried a Coconut milk DC and that was super annoying!

I had the henna on for 5 hours 30 minutes, so I left the hair smoothie in my hair for almost the same time, head wrapped in clingfilm. This was because I was really worried about the dryness from the henna. On another day, I think it’d be very okay for me to use this as I would use my other Deep Conditioners- put in hair, wear shower cap and steam for 20 minutes or baggy for an hour.

Lastly, I think it’s a good idea to make this fresh. It is so simple, I don’t see any reason not to. Fruits are the components of this DC, and with no preservatives involved, it could easily go bad.

Till next post,

Love,

AB,

xx

WASHDAY!: Mud wash

Yep. I said Mud. I washed my hair with clay. Mud. Now isn’t that… Counter-intuitive? That’s the word you’re looking for. I knowww. But it was amazing. Let me tell you alllllllll about it! 😀

Last Sunday was Washday. True to my word, I took down my twists when I got home as soon as I’d rolled my luggage to a corner. I had a little help from my little cousins who were visiting, and eventually, my baby brother.

My hair is naturally very dry, so I do not care for Shampoo at all. It leaves my hair all dry and rough and tangled. I do not own a bottle of Shampoo. Since my Big Chop, I don’t think I’ve shampoo’d more than 5 times. What do I do instead? I clarify my hair with no-Poo methods like this one, or I simply wash my hair with Black soap. And when I do shampoo, I pre-poo by saturating my hair with oil first.

So Sunday, as a no-poo clarifying alternative to Shampoo, I did a mud wash. I was very pleased with the results and I’ll definitely be doing this again!

WHAT I USED

Bentonite Clay (About 4 spoons)

Aloe Vera Juice (AVJ)

Carrier Oils: Castor, Olive

A few drops of Tea-Tree Essential Oil

Honey

Plastic bowl, plastic disposable spoon

(please, feel free to use the oils you want to. I used what I had. Though, Castor & Olive are good oils for conditioning)

I got my Bentonite Clay and AVJ from Ahia Natural Nigerian (through Natmane in Abuja) but I’m pretty sure you could find Aloe Vera Juice at any decent health shop or pharmacy.

WHAT I DID

1. I really didn’t do much measuring. My hair is short and I figured 4 spoons of the clay would be okay. I added enough AVJ to mix the clay to the consistency I wanted. Let’s say I added two spoons of honey & one spoon of Castor and Olive oil each (I just poured straight from the bottles), and 3-4 drops of Tea Tree Essential Oil.

2. I mixed all the ingredients in the plastic bowl, with the plastic spoon. They say you shouldn’t use metal utensils, I’m not really sure why. I’d love to find a small wooden spoon. My mother would not take kindly to me using her wooden spoons to mix my concoctions lol. I ended up using 2 plastic spoons. They were really flimsy disposable spoons so one broke half way. I didn’t have the patience to mix it to a perfectly smooth consistency but it didn’t matter in the end.

3. Satisfied with the mix, I spritzed my hair with water for it to be a little damp, and then got the gunk all over it.

4. I wore a plastic bag (again, life is too short to be washing shower caps) and wrapped my plastic-wearing head round with a warm towel. I’d put the towel in to microwave for about 30 seconds, and let my body heat do the rest.

5. 30 minutes after, I was ready to wash but decided to give it another 30 minutes just because I felt like it.

6. I washed my hair over the sink. I prefer this to washing in the shower because it’s just easier for me to gather my shed/broken strands from the sink drain than the shower. By wash, I mean I rinsed the clay out of my hair with clean water, just a little warm, that’s how I like it. All done!

RESULTS, RESULTS!

My hair felt great yo. So clean. It didn’t feel dry or stripped! Detangling was a breeze. Here’s what I lost in the process of finger-detangling x twisting.

Now, my hair was still all clumped together because I hadn’t combed it out. Look at the coil definition! Coils be poppin’! Haha. I attempted to capture it on camera, I hope you can see what I see!

Then, what I did next? I towel-dried my hair, yep, with an actual towel I designated for the purpose. Frizz is SO not my problem at this stage in my hair journey so, I’m just happy with gentle towel-drying with my towel. My hair towel is nowhere as thick as my body towel. It’s one of those ones that come in a tiny compact package that you have to put in water to release it for the first time.

Then I moisturised with a leave-in, sealed with olive oil, put my hair in chunky twists and left my hair alone. I’ve been indoors since then, so my hair is still in the twists.

Time saver tip (something I realised): it is easier and faster to moisturise the entire fro first and then section & twist after, than to moisturise & seal each section. If you do the first method, you can pay more attention to sealing the ends when you’re done.

Another great thing about this method, it is an absolute time saver for Washday when you’re very busy. Why? Because, your mud wash = Clarifier + Conditioner + Deep-Conditioner rolled into one! True story!

Maybe, just maybe, Washday can come earlier to this girl’s fro. Rather than every 4 weeks, I could do this every 2 weeks, alternate with my regular deep-conditioning routine on weekends. We’ll see!

So, my loves. Have you tried a Mud wash before? What were your results? Will you be trying one out soon?

Love,

AB

xx

Adopt Good Habits: DEEP-CONDITIONING

Hey guys!

How is your week going? It’s the middle of the week already and I’m not sure how I feel about this.

In this post, we’ll be looking at a very important hair habit- deep conditioning!

DEEP CONDITIONING: THE WHAT AND THE WHY.

Conditioning is a necessary hair habit. I don’t think it’s possible to get by with no conditioning. I run through bottles of conditioner like crazy and I haven’t owned a bottle of shampoo since last year. Conditioners help us strengthen, moisturise and detangle our hair.

To be of any effect, the ingredients in conditioner attach themselves to the hair shaft. Our rinse-out or instant conditioners mainly lubricate and provide a quick fix. Leave-in conditioners are designed to be left in, and provide conditioning to the hair for a longer period. Deep conditioning goes the extra mile, the DC goes in, penetrates better and deeper than other forms of conditioner. Your hair does not need to be penetrated this deeply all the time- which is why this is not something to be done on the daily.

It is a really beneficial habit to adopt- natural or relaxed. I’d done a bit of this in the past (I tried two homemade DCs here) but it wasn’t really a part of my regimen, it wasn’t a habit. For my super-dry hair, I hope making Deep conditioning a habit will overtime help solve my moisture issues.

HOW TO CHOOSE YOUR DC

Good hair is healthy hair and healthy hair simply means striking the right moisture-protein balance. Our hair is more than 70% protein, so we need protein for strength and structure. Moisture keeps our hair flexible. If your hair isn’t getting enough moisture, it will be inelastic and this inelasticity means that your hair is very prone to breakage under the slightest pressure. For more on the basic features of hair, you can read the ‘Hair Basics’ series we did earlier in the year. 🙂

There is such a thing as over-moisturising- and I’ve learnt that except my hair is breaking off or in really bad shape, I don’t need protein treatments on the regular. Once in a while (as a protective/preventive measure) but I don’t need a lot.

So, in choosing your regular DC, ask yourself: what does your hair crave or need? Protein? Moisture? Both? What works for me may not work for you. What’s working for me right now may not be what I need in a few months, so yeah, just listen to your hair.

DEEP CONDITIONING: The HOW.

There are several different ways to deep-condition. So many Deep Conditioners you could buy, and so many you can whip up yourself in the kitchen. For the month of May, Deep Conditioning was top of the hair agenda. In this post, I’ll be sharing the three simple DCs I tried out.

1.  Coconut Milk DC
2.  Honey DC
3.  Hot Oil Treatment

Before I go on to the DCs in more detail, I’d like to say at this point that in my application of each, the steps were the same:

First, I put DC into hair

Second, cover with shower cap or plastic bags (Seriously, life is too short to be rinsing shower caps)

Third, wrap head with warm towel. You can microwave your towel for a minute or two (your mom may not be keen on this though) and leave on for 30 minutes- an hour.

And finally, I co-washed after.

One more constant: I pre-pooed before each DC

Some people say you should spritz water on your hair before DC but I didn’t. You might want to try that though. 🙂

To my Coconut milk and Honey DCs, I added two spoons of Olive oil. Not necessary, I just felt like adding them. For shine, and because Olive oil conditions also.

COCONUT MILK DC

What you need: Coconut milk 

Coconuts!

Coconut milk is rich in protein. I read that doing a Coconut milk DC would make my hair soft, but it did no such thing for me. I actually planned to try this hair softener for the whole of May but after the first trial, I knew it wasn’t what I needed.  My hair was dry. You know when your hair is wet after a wash and you know it’s only soft to the touch because it’s wet.

You could buy coconut milk or make your own, it’s easy. I did a post about this here.

HONEY DC

What you need: enough honey to go round your hair.

I think honey is too sweet. The smell makes my belly churn at times- maybe it’s from the too-sweet honey and garlic infused tea I was forced to drink as a child because of my horrible colds (which are still with me now) but I was really not looking forward to trying this one. But I am SO glad I did.

My hair is super dry, and super thirsty- I am yet to give it all the moisture it needs- so it’s really no surprise that my hair loved this DC. Honey is a humectant- meaning, it’s a substance that draws moisture from the atmosphere into the hair shaft.

I co-washed the honey out of my hair with surprising ease (I expected it to be gooey and sticky) and left to air dry. When my hair was damp, I moisturised and sealed. I did this DC at about 6pm and by 11, I felt my hair and was SO amazed at how soft it felt. Usually, after a co-wash, I need two days of moisturising with lotion to get my hair feeling good again.

I tried this DC twice and I don’t think it’s too soon to say my hair loves it.

HOT OIL TREATMENT

Put your oil(s) in an applicator bottle, then immerse bottle in a bowl of hot water (not boiling) to heat up.

You don’t want to burn yourself, so test the oil on your wrist to make sure it’s not too hot.

If it’s too hot for your wrist, it’s too hot for your head. Leave it to cool a little.

Not too hot? Okay, get that oil all over your hair.

In my applicator bottle is a blend of Olive oil, Sweet Almond oil, cold-pressed Castor Oil and a few drops of Tea Tree oil. I just decided to mix all the oils I had. Different oils are great for different purposes, you can read a little about this here.

WHEN TO DEEP CONDITION?

Weekly? Every two weeks? Once a month?

I think the answer to this question depends on our big aunty upstairs. What is she craving? Listen to your hair. Our featured hairspiration Naturalista, Oyinkan sometimes DCs twice a week when her hair is looking dull. I pledge to do a moisturising DC every week (when my hair is out) and mix some protein in every 4-6 weeks.

So, tell me ladies. Do you Deep Condition? How often? What’s your favourite DC- is it packaged or homemade?

Till next time,

Love,

AB

x