Organic Goodness January 12, 2009

One of my absolute FAVORITE beauty bloggers is back on the prowl after giving birth to her first bundle of joy late last year! If you haven’t heard of her, click here for a proper introduction.  She’s a blogger, author, and former beauty editor of chic Mags such as Elle, Glamour & Lucky Magazine just to name a few!  I’ve been following her columns and blogs since her days at Elle and have been a HUGE fan ever since. 

So glad she’s back, and her bambina is doing great, but doubly thrilled she banged out a product review on something I’ve been searching for!

What is this you say?! Let’s holla at the ingredient list first:

INGREDIENTS:Water, Witch Hazel, Organic Aloe Vera, Vegetable Glycerin, Panthenol (Vitamin B-5), Gum Arabic, Gum Tragacanth, White Camellia Oil, Ginkgo Leaf, Ginseng Root, Magnolia Blossom, Angelica and Chrysanthemum Extracts, Jasmine Oil, Aubrey’s Preservative (Citrus Seed Extract, Vitamins A, C and E).

Ahem…

It’s an essential spray that, get this…doubles as a conditioner & styling spray for dry lifeless hair.  It can be used in between shampoos or after to add softness and increased manageability!  And if you’re like me and can’t read the fine print on that cute ‘lil bottle, this product is put out by Aubrey Organics, which means 100% natural & vegan, two mighty fine things!

Indeed my list is getting long, but it’s gratifying to know it’s a myriad of natural goodness..!

Giovanni Direct Leave-In January 8, 2009

When it comes to curly hair there are indeed three elements or products typically necessary to acheive any respective look. 

1. A nourishing PH balanced conditioner

2. A moisturizing leave in conditioner

3. A versatile styling product.

All three are important, and for some curlyheads/naturals one more so than the other.  I find that my emphasis lately has been primarily with finding a solid leave in conditioner to set up my styling process.  Several folks on the haircare boards have suggested the uber popular (organic) Giovanni Direct Leave-in conditioner!

I have to admit though, I tried this on a reallllly lazy day of not really feeling what I refer to as ‘the process’.  A couple weeks back I set aside an afternoon to style my hair for work the next morning and all I remember was bitching and moaning in front of my mirror.  I was a bit out of sorts I guess you could say, even though I was trying a new product…something that usually leaves me excited with anticipation!

I ended up using the leave-in after a light conditioning and twisting it onto slightly damp hair.  I made several medium-large size twists after detangling with a wide tooth comb. I pincurled the ends with bobby pins, let it air dry for a bit and went to bed peeved.

Unraveling my hair the next morning was….well it wasn’t altogether horrible.  After unraveling the twists, I noticed most if not all were a bit frizzy and not relatively moisturized.  I ended up pinning the hair up with half a dozen pins, smoothing the front with gel and utilizing one of my hair bands.  This was pretty much the look for a good half week before I sucked it up and started ‘the process’ over again.

I say all that to say, I like the product…lol! Irony I know, but the error does fall on me this time.  Going over my usual steps I could’ve predicted what the end result would be.  First, I failed to condition properly (my minimum condi.time is 30min.),  + my hair turns out best when I section it into into smaller twists while adding the right amount of product, and last but not least….I desperately needed a trim!! When my hair is in dire need of a trim it has a distinct way of letting me know….basically by not behaving. 

This leave in is also quite light, letting me know that because of the density of my hair I should layer it with something else.  Instincts tell me if I add more to compensate for the amount of hair I have, my hair will feel overly saturated.  The ingredients are fabulous though!!  It’s an organic product, a factor I’ve been trying to add into my decision making these days.

I guess the jury is still out on this one though.  I clipped my ends last week so I’m pretty positive I could get different results the next go round.  So it’s a keeper for now.