Oyin Handmade

Alrighty, so this is going to be a two parter because of my tendency to ramble about stuff. I’ll break the review down into two parts, first starting off with two products, Oyin’s Honey Hemp Conditioner and Oyin’s Shine & Define. I purchased my Oyin stash during my last mini-haul, and used a nifty coupon code that the lovelies over at Oyin Handmade deliver at the end of each of their monthly podcast. The trick is of course to listen to the entire podcast featuring the brains and gustos behind the label, Jamyla Bennu and her husband Pierre Bennu. The lowdown of Oyin truly boils down to the name which means Honey. Here’s a brief descrip from their site:

We are a family-owned company, named after the Yoruba word for ‘honey’ – one of nature’s most versatile beauty products! We make our products from scratch, by hand, in small batches to ensure freshness. We never use petroleum, silicones, or non-nourishing fillers – every ingredient in our mixtures has work to do! In our goodies you can find unrefined shea butter, nutritive sea vegetables, pure aloe vera juice, nourishing vitamins, and herbal infusions carefully chosen for their beneficial and healing properties

Honestly though, my first attempt at using Oyin’s Honey Hemp was half-assed at best. I was in one of those moods where the best possible solution to doing your hair would be to cut it all off. More often than not, I tend to reach these moments…my guess is because of all the freakin hair I have. But I digress to offer my two cents. I liked the Honey Hemp, but had to battle with my hair to get to the ‘like’ part. It’s a light silky conditioner that does well on many fronts. You can use it as a leave-in, rinse-out, or styler. I’ve used it both as a leave in & a styler on two separate occasions. With my first try, I left it in after shampooing, allowed to dry overnight and added a styler in the morning. This might’ve been a mistake, at least for my hair because of my heavy handedness when it comes to conditioners. To use as a leave-in, I definitely used a tad too much and awoke the next morning with a bit of a crunch to my twists. The fix was easy…just a quick spritz of water and retwisted with a curl defining crème. My second go was using it as a rinse out conditioner, a happy medium for me and the Honey Hemp! I conditioned with the Honey Hemp, detangled & left in for about an hour, rinsed out and added a crème styler.

Description:

A creamy rinse-out conditioner has been an often-requested product at Oyin. We are very proud of the Honey-Hemp Conditioner – a light, penetrating, silky blend enriched with aloe vera gel, hemp oil, honey, and hydrolyzed silk protein, it’s got nice detangling slip and serious moisturizing power. It rinses cleanly and also makes a nice pre-shampoo deep conditioning treatment. It can even be used as a creamy, nourishing leave-in!

For $11 you can opt for the 8oz, or the 16 oz for $18. If I were to purchase again I’d probably opt for the 16oz just to be a bit more cost effective. What still interests me about the conditioner is its versatility to be used as a leave-in/rinse out conditioner, an option offered by many conditioners on the market..but very few that have worked successfully on my hair (and scalp).  In the below video Jamyla uses the Hemp as a pre-poo!

 

 

 

The second in my haul was Oyin’s Shine and Define, described as a gentle styling serum from the creators. But I’m going to go ahead and place it in the gel/crème category. The only other styling serums I’ve used in the past have been clear in color, light and greasy in consistency and pack a punch with a whole host of silicones to gloss over hair and frizz.

 

Descrip:

Designed to be nourishing, light & non-greasy, this soft creamy serum contains herbal infusions, pure Aloe Vera, flax seed extract, nutritive sea vegetables, shea butter, and more. It’s like a smoothie for your hair! Smooth onto damp edges & set with a scarf for a sleek hairline; massage into wet or damp hair and squeeze dry for softness, frizz reduction, and definition of your hair’s beautiful texture. Work with your hair, not against it, with this lightly fruit-scented styling aid.

 

Alrighty, as with most products geared for natural hair…trial and error is almost always inevitable, and the same went for my go with the Shine and Define. As soon as I saw the consistency of the serum and most importantly the size of the jar, I knew I’d have to use sparingly. Granted a little goes a long way with this product, but I found that the more I applied, the more my hair cried out for more. Silly me, I obliged and by the time I was done twisting my entire head there was less than half an ounce left in the jar.

 

$11 will get you 4oz of the serum while $18 will get you an 8oz jar.  Applying liberally will not get you far with this product, but what I found it best for was for slicking back edges and moisturizing parts of my hair that needed.  A dime size amount would work fine on either wet or dry hair…though for me it did work best on wet/damp hair.  If you’ve got a TWA, I’d say to consider investing if the price is right and your hair loves a soft moisturizing gentle hold.  The light consistency is perfect for the warmer months, and it helps to cut back on frizz.

 

To visit the Oyin blog and listen to their podcast, click here.  Each podcast unearths a cool discount code that could be used towards your next purchase.