Making my own shea butter cream

 

I have realised how important it is to keep your hair moisturised. Before commencing this journey I did not like moisturising my hair because I was afraid it would get too 'dirty', not knowing the hair feeds on moisture. I am currently using Luster's Pink Oil as my daily moisturiser. I have had to ditch the Apple Hair Food and Indian Hemp cream because they contain Petroleum which isn't good for your hair. I want to add Shea Butter cream to my daily hair moisturiser/sealant, so I will have two products. I don't want to be using too many different moisturisers on my hair.

As I mentioned earlier, my mum returned from her holiday this morning and I broke the news to her. To my surprise she brought a can of solidified shea butter with her. This butter is good for the body and for the hair. If I wanted to explain the benefits of this cream, it would take all day. Winter is coming and I need a good protectant, so I will be going shopping with my mum to buy the extra ingredients to make this concoction. I have a spare plastic bottle ready to fill it up with. Instead of buying the Unrefined Shea Butter product from the shops (which I failed to find), I will just prepare my own daily moisturiser. I've got the solidified shea butter already.

What I will then do next:

Shea Butter Hair and Skin Homemade Recipe
- 1.5 cup of Shea Butter
- ½ Cup of coconut oil
- 1 tsp. Of Vitamin E Oil (preservative)
- ½ ounce of fragrance oil/lavender

Heat shea butter slowly in a medium sized saucepan until the butter is in liquid form. When it is liquid add in the coconut oil and mix/whip it around until both are incorporated and it becomes thicker. While it is still somewhat liquid, add the Vitamin E oil and the fragrance oil.

Whip the mixture again (for about 30 minutes). The consistency should resemble yogurt in smoothness. Add some fragrance oil. When you have reached the desired consistency you can spoon your finished product into a container. Use as often as needed as a daily skin and hair moisturizer. This is a very good replacement for commercial hair oils and skin lotions.

Shea butter has numerous benefits for hair and skin:

• Shea butter provides moisture to dry and damaged hair from the roots to the tips, leaving it healthy and shiny. Because it's rich in vitamins A and E, shea butter soothes dryness, repairs breakage, and mends split ends.
• Shea butter absorbs quickly and completely into the scalp without clogging pores, leaving a greasy residue, or causing a buildup of oil or dandruff.
• Shea butter protects hair from weather damage caused by wind, humidity, and extreme dryness, and repairs such damage.
• Because it's rich in moisture and can shield against harmful ultraviolet radiation, shea butter protects hair from sun damage.
• If your hair has endured chemical treatments, hot irons, and blow-dryers, shea butter can restore its moisture and vitality.

More information #1
More Information #2

So I told my mum...

My mum came back from her holiday in Nigeria today. I broke the news to her about me going natural. She was sooo happy about it! I didn't know she would be this pleased. She told me how she had been praying for me to come to the realisation. I liked it because if she had told insisted on me going natural I probably would've brushed it off, I came to my own realisation. She did always prefer me leaving my natural hair out.
So I explained my whole journey to her, showed her the products I bought and just everything. She was really happy. I'm happy too. I have completely stopped the whole sowing weave into my hair using needles and threads, natural all the way.

Yay! My mum supports me all the way. This will make everything much easier!

To buy: Jamaican Black Castor Oil

I can't say much because I'm speechless, having been astounded by the countless amazing youtube and article reviews of this product. It has done wonders. I am not going to buy it until I've finished my normal castor oil that I bought a couple of days ago. JBCO is around £15 but it is its money's worth. I saw it at the hair shop when I went shopping for my hair care products but and its price put me off. I stumbled upon it yesterday and read the reviews. I still don't know how many people do don't know about this oil. It is different to the regular castor oil because of its ash content due to the roasting of the beans, having been manufactured the oil fashioned way in Jamica. Therefore, the more ash content, the more effective the oil. This is not a myth, it is evidence based on scientific facts. It has helped to thicken and grow hair at a fast rate. I can't wait to get mine!

What's your goal?

What's your goal?

(click for a larger view)

I am currently touching the neck length.

My goal is between the armpit length and the bra-strap length. 

Curly Natural Hair Styles (blackhair101.com)

Braid Out

There are two types of braid outs, ordinary three section plaits and cornrow plates. They both look good when done properly and are a hard hairstyle to mess up.

STEP 1- Wash Hair with natural shampoo. You can use whatever shampoo you want to but the adage on this site is ‘the less chemicals in shampoo the better’. Wash hair only once, see how to shampoo hair for further details.

STEP 2- Condition Hair- Don’t just use an ordinary run of the mill conditioner, use a deep conditioner. I use a select few deep conditioners based on my hair needs at the time (protein or moisture).

STEP 3- Go under the overhead dryer for fifteen minutes to deep condition or put hair in a shower cap and then allow your body heat to penetrate for two to three hours. I usually do this.

STEP 4- Rinse out deep conditioner and air dry hair.

STEP 5- Your hair should be soft and well moisturized. When hair is partially dry it should still feel silky. Apply your favorite oil to seal in this lovely moisture. I use castor oil for sealing. I usually use coconut oil for my weekly hot oil treatments.

STEP 6- Part hair in small or large sections and then cornrow it. The bigger the parts the bigger the waves the smaller the parts, the tinier the waves. To achieve the style above I did my hair in 10 parts.

Setter Waves

STEP 1- Wash hair with natural shampoo.

STEP 2- Condition Hair- deep condition with a moisture rich deep conditioner. For this style I used Organic Root Stimulator Hair Mayonnaise Treatment or natural treatment.

STEP 3- Rinse out hair after you have either used the over head dryer for fifteen minutes or allowed your body heat to steam hair.

STEP 4- Set hair with medium sized rollers (not the jumbo ones or the tiny ones) and allow to air dry or go under the dryer for 30 minutes and then air dry.

Crunched Style

If you really want volume, you can try the crunched look. This requires minimum fuss for me in the week and is so easy to do. This style was created on a previously done curly style.

STEP 1- Spray hair with a combo of water and oil (I used coconut oil) until slightly damp.

STEP 2- Part hair in six sections.

STEP3- Plait hair and leave to air dry.

Courtesy

Soon to post and buy...

• Baggy treatment
• My Hair regime
• Tips page updated!

To buy:

• Large rollers
• Shea butter

Keep following!

Satin Hair Net and Peppermint Oil review

Hey guys, so during my bulk hair shopping activity I bought a satin hair net, called 'The String Triangle'. Satin materials are good for the hair as it reduces the possibility of breakage and locks in moisture. I have been using it for the past couple of days before I go into bed and use my laptop, not even sleep, thus my hair will be protected before I go into actual sleep. The effects on my hair have been very positive, when I wake up in the morning, I won't have messy sleep hair (like I would with my previous nets), but my hair would be so smooth. I usually tight tie my hair back in a protective style then tie on the material. My hair wakes up in place. Good stuff.

Peppermint Oil Review

Anything that tingles is good. That should be my motto. I use Clean and Clear daily washing facial cream when I shower and when I rub the cream onto my face, it gives me sort of pepperish, tingling sensation on my face. It doesn't hurt at all but I love the feeling. It leaves my face very smooth.  Peppermint oil contains numerous minerals and nutrients including magnesium, calcium, manganese, iron, folate, potassium, and copper. It also contains omega-3 fatty acids, Vitamin A and Vitamin C.

Peppermint oil has the same effect, but with hair what I find very vital is that it increases blood circulation on the scalp to help promote hair growth, especially for people suffering from hair loss. Some people don't grow much hair in some parts of their scalp. My hair grows slowly at the top corner of my scalp in front. Every night I would wrop one finger touch of oil onto the area and cover my hair with the satin. Well, today, being day #5 and I can say my hair growth is amazing. The hairs have just been sprouting out and I feel like with continuous use, within a month my hair growth at the front parts will be remarkable. I love peppermint oil. 

I want to try something as my dad grows peppermint leaves at the backyard. I could boil the leaves and use the water to rinse my hair the first time during the wash then just use normal water to wash it again. I will see how that goes. Natural all the way!!!

Decrease relaxer usage

Hey guys,
So you know how this journey is also about making mistakes and learning from it or just simply making changes to routines. Well indeed. I have come to some realisation about using relaxers. I am going to decrease the use of relaxers to just twice a year. I like how the relaxers straighten my hair but I want to decrease using it to see how the effects on my hair would be otherwise, regardless of it being no-lye or not harsh.

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Change - 27/08/2012
Okay, guys I'm editting this post. I spoke to my good friend Chi (who aswell is going natural) and she adviced me to completely stop the use of relaxers. After talking to her I realised and I remembered my previous picture post displayed the hair of big haired women. After I took out my last weave my hair was very thick (and as you all know, thick hair CAN be hard to tame), I relaxed it and although I maintained some thickness and got my hair to be straight, I felt guilty. It sounds crazy right? I know, but I felt like the relaxer was too much of an unnatural hair care for my hair. Yes, thick hair can be difficult but there's nothing wrong about that. You can look for other ways to make your hair straight and manageable instead of taking the chemical route. Forget it, even if it says ''soft on hair'' or No-lye, yes they are good benefits, but no, it is still full of chemicals that are harsh. Natural as best as possible, is the way.
I did a mayo treatment on my hair a few days ago and I was very pleased with the result. So yeah, this means I'm coming off relaxers for now, I want that thick hair. I'm happy with where my hair journey is taking me and with the lessons I am learning. Thanks to my friends and personal experiences - the true eye openers.