Beauty Shop Bloc

I have started a new habit of popping into my local beauty shop, just to see what they've got - one of the things that helps bump a product up on my 'more likely to repurchase' list is whether I can grab it and go on the ground.

When I went in a year ago and saw Shea Moisture, I was impressed. 

Then Mielle Organics popped up last month (totally took advantage, I 'on currr). 

I stuck my head in last week and now it looks like this:

We got TGIN! We got Alikay Nautrals! We got Mielle Organics and Design Essentials all over the place!

They had to add an extra slab of shelves for all the extra products they've been buying in...!

My main question is - who is telling them this?! 

Are the beauty shops lurking on the Nappturality or Long Hair Forum?

Are they following Mane Objective and NeffyFroFro on instagram and youtibe? 

How do they know?

I imagine it to be quite like a covert organisation. Robes that cover your face in shadow are optional but greatly admired.

Ahmed and Ranjit are comparing their favourite deep conditioners in the light of a flickering candle.

There is an impromptu workshop on the difference between creams, puddings and soufflés happening in the atrium, when you hear an impassioned cry:

"Dude! Have you felt this leave in? Light as a feather mate, light. as. a. feather. We are NOT leaving until we get two boxes of this, as well as the rest of the range."

I'll be honest - if it means that I get Eden Bodyworks and/or ManeObjective and/or Camille Rose on the ground, then I'm totally cool with this. But I'd loooooove to see local brands like Almocado and Shea Decadence being this easily available too...how awesome would that be?

Till then, the internet continues to be my friend.

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Rejects Wash and Go.

It started with two buns.

I had some free time, and still have some excess (summer) products from last year's adventures that I thought I'd better use up.

So here we go.


1. I jumped in the shower and co washed with Eden Body Works Coconut Cowash.
It will take a meteorite of an an event/product to stop me from using this cowash - f'real, f'real. I'm on my third? Fourth? Tub. I LOVE this!

2, I wanted strengthening of my hair's pattern and I didn't want to spend aaages in the shower marinating, so I used Aphogee's 2 minute reconstructor. Am I the only one who has to plan their hairstyle before they wash so they know what products to use? Otherwise, I just end up in a foaming, flustered flap.

3. I jumped out and used my As I am Leave In Conditioner. Lazy Quick Review: Love the citrusy orangey scent, has no slip and feels a bit weird after you've handed it, but works well on wet hair and as an underwear layer on my wash and go because it's light and has little to no build up. The packaging drove me MAD though. The ink is water soluble, so every time I touched the label with wet hands for my wash and go, I'd end up with black specks everywhere. In annoyance, I pulled off the label, but the glue was tougher than the writing ink and now it's like having gentle velcro on the bottle when I handle it.

On top, I layered Eden Body Works Pudding Soufflé, inspired by Christina and her sister. My hair looked like I'd put soufflé in it, but it dries clear.

I'd originally bought it as a moisturiser for dry hair but it does so very much better as a leave in on wet hair.

Then I finished off with Kinky Curly Curling Custard. I like it but it's 2) too expensive and 3) slightly too sticky/tacky to the touch even nearly two weeks later.. It's soft but touchable (kinda...) hold can't be denied and neither can that deee-licious scent. Plus, a little goes a long way. I thought I'd finish it this time around but no. I still have enough for another go it seems.

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Trepidly Trying Trepadora

So I took the plunge and ordered all of the samples, after at least 7 months of flirting eye-winking across my browser for the sale that would never come.


So this begs the question - do I just go all in and have a Trepadora themed wash day, or do I ease them in one by one?

Decisions, decisions.

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Oh dear.

In light of my recent reaction, I was really surprised (and saddened) to come across across this article discussing lead levels in a well known natural hair brand.

The link simply mentioned a beauty brand and I hadn't known it was going to be Alikay Naturals, since the site where I found the link was completely unrelated to natural hair.

For your own safety and information, whether you have used Alikay Naturals Bentonite Me Baby or not, I would urge you to read the article.

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My First Sheet Mask

This is not a review. This is more a 'my first time mucking about with a sheet mask' post.

One of my Chinese friends went back home a while ago. As a thank you for helping her pack, and as a way of getting rid of some luggage weight, she gave me these sheet masks.

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It's complicated

I've fallen out a little bit with Alikay Naturals because of their shampoo.

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Black Friday in the UK (2015)

Every year now, it seems, we have the debate - is Black Friday even a thing here? Are we a little too jealous of our American cousins? Aren't the boxing day sales enough?

No matter how you feel -  it's an opportunity to support independent, small businesses at an affordable rate. If, like me, you are roaming the wild back streets of the internet looking for a deal, but wincing at shipping costs, here are some deals that are a little more local to you.

These are all I could find -- if you know of any more, please leave the details in the comments!

Almocado
almocado.com
Deal: Up to 30% off hair and body gift sets.
Starts: 26th November
Ends: 30th November (Midnight GMT)
Code: N/A


Antidote Street
 https://antidotestreet.com/black-friday.html
Deal: 10% - 40% off 9 pre-selected products.
Starts: 27 November
Ends:
Code: N/A

Deal: Free Delivery (normally £2.99)
Starts: Friday 27th November
Ends Monday 29th November
Code: N/A


Anita Grant
http://anitagrant.com/
Starts: Friday 27th November
Ends: Wednesday 2nd December
Deal: 20% off *
Extra 10% off on orders over £100
Code: N/A
*excludes make up and samples.


Bianca Miller London (Hosiery)
http://www.biancamillerlondon.com/
Deal: 20% off all products
Starts: Friday 27th November
Ends: Saturday 28th November
Code:  NITNB20


British Curlies Shop
http://shop.britishcurlies.co.uk/
Deal: 15% off all products
Starts: Friday 27th November
Ends: Sunday 29th November
Code: BLACK15


Crown Pride Naturals
http://crownpride.co.uk/Store/
Deal: 25% off all products
Starts: Friday 27th November
Ends: Monday 30th November
Code: N/A


Curl Harmony
http://www.curlharmony.co.uk/ 
Deal: Save 25%
Starts: Friday 27th November
Ends: Saturday 28th November (24 hours only)
Code: Friday


Sleek Makeup
http://www.sleekmakeup.com/
Deal: 25% off certain products online.
Starts: Saturday 28th November
Ends: Tuesday 1st December
International shipping available (£13.40?)

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Anita Grant 20% Off

Yes, she still ships worldwide.
Yes, I'm only telling you because I've already bought mine.

But at least I'm sharing now. Why must you focus only on the negatives...? Jeez! Pay attention! Discounts! Christmas in less than 8 weeks! Pressies!

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Disappointment

Oh look! Beautybyzara have got the entire As I Am Range! Only £2.99 shipping?

Oh my goodness! I wonder if they have it... Gidore's been out of stock of it for a month already! I've always wanted to try the Coconut Cowas -

Oh.

Guess I'm not the only one...

*Twiddles thumbs as she impatiently awaits the restock.*

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25% off Curlformers

I know there are some people who have been wanting to get their hands on some Curlformers styling kits, but have cringed massively at the prices - I just found out that Gidore has them at 25% off. Which means that there's at least £10 off all the Curlformers they have in stock! The long and wide Curlformers (the orange and pink ones) are now just under £32 and the extra long and wide ones (pictured above) are just under £35. The kits include 40 of each curlormer type, the plastic case, two styling hooks and instructions for use.

Curlformers are quite popular amongst the hair blogging community as a heat-free way to either stretch your hair (if your hair is prone to shrinking) or putting curls in (if your hair is straight). Beadsbraidsandbeyond used to use them quite a lot, which is how I heard of them and got into the act.

I'm thinking it might make a nice birthday gift for The Littlest Sis, who is twice as hair obsessed as I am!

I'm not sure how long it will last - it's been going since September 4th apparently - but postage and packaging is about £4.99.

Image - from Gidore.com

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The Interim Hair Milk

I use the rinse out conditioner as a creamy base, and then plump up the moisture with aloe vera juice, rose water and some ceramides to create this delicious leave-in conditioner for my hair.
It leaves my hair lightly moisturised for about 3-4 days but not overly mushy and definitely not weighed down.

It's an excellent spring conditioner for days when I don't want to get my entire head wet because it takes too long to dry but my hair is gasping for hydration.

It's quick, easy to make, and only one bowl to wash out afterwards.

Unfortunately, the weather is getting hotter, and I know I'll need something heavier for summer. Hence the 'interim' in the name. For now though, it's perfect.

The amounts below makes enough for one use. I used to double it (well, used 60ml - a 1/4 cup - and all tablespoons) then keep it in the fridge, but it dried out because my hair was so moisturised, I didn't need it any more!

It has only one flaw - it can sometimes leave built up on the very ends of my twists, where it's more 'fluffy' (*coughdamagedcough*) than the rest of my hair, though I've noticed this with some other products too. I think this has something to do with the time it takes to absorb the conditioner and how much water the hair in that area holds, I dunno.

Ingredients

30ml (2 tablespoons) of your favourite conditioner
1 teaspoon rosewater
1 teaspoon aloe vera juice
1/2 teaspoon wheatgerm oil

Put all ingredients into a bowl and mix until well emulsified.
Apply to damp hair.

Easy!

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A Quick FYI

Is using acronyms in your blog title obnoxious? Sorry.

Anyway, the other day I was perusing my good old local supermarket, when I *ahem* accidentally found myself in the beauty aisle.

Look, it could happen to anyone.

While I was there, my eye fell upon something vaguely familiar...

These are the exact same conditioners I used in Paris! They were about £4 each (£3.89, if you want the exact details) for 400ml, and they're both silicone and paraben free conditioners, if you're into that kind of thing. The others in the Ultimate Blends range, not so much when it comes to silicones, but I think they're all paraben free.

I was so excited, I picked them up and added them to my trolley immediately (to the bemusement of the Wonder Thing, who I'd previously been desperately rushing to get out of the supermarket to get to his secret birthday surprise).

From what I've seen, the cranberry, coconut and lemon conditioners (not the 1 minute treatments) also seem to be silicone and paraben free (but please check, I just had a cursory glance whilst there).

If you're  someone who can't afford (or simply refuses) to spend £20+ on a conditioner, t have certain standards, you may want to check these out (the Vanilla milk and papaya one smells SO good). 

A full review will be out soon, but I'm trying to write it in French and English and my French is appalling, so....don't watch this space, haha!

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Sally Hau...um, Order.

It's not really a haul if you're only buying one thing, and the rest is so you get free postage, is it?

Last year, I swore off scissors (kinda). Plus, it's been over a year since my last trim. Somewhere between Paris and (new) home, my old hair shears went missing.

I didn't want a supermarket pair, and my last pair from Superdrug were shockingly bad.

So I went to the experts and ordered some from Sally.
They have free delivery over £25, the scissors were £21 and it's about £6 for the bus ticket to my nearest store, so online delivery it was.
I just ordered a few non-essential fillers to get me up to the price and away we go!

I had to pick it up from the post office and the box said....

Yikes. No wonder the man in the Post Office gave me an odd look.

A few details about Sally's delivery service: They only charge you when your items have been dispatched, and they can come at different times. So the filler stuff was actually in the suspicious looking box above and the scissors came through my door a few days later.

Another thing is that not everything in their stores are featured on the website, which is annoying, but it's definitely better than it used to be, because it used to drive me absolutely bonkers!

As per usual, the Wonder Thing cut my hair. I asked him to take off anything that wasn't curling at the end of my twists, which was about 1 to 2 inches. He threw the strands in the bin before I could take a picture of them, because he's normal (I guess), so here's a picture of one of my lovely and fresh blunt ends.

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Tea-mendous!

I have a quite a few friends moving about, in and out of the country.

You know what lovely, kind, panicking people do when they move from country to country with limited time?

They tend to give away their stuff.

And if you're a Chinese girl living in England, you know what you're going to have a lot of?

Tea. Specifically, black tea. Loose leaf black tea.

And you know who doesn't drink black tea, as in not at all?

Yep. You got that right. Yours truly.

I guess this means I'm going to take up tea rinsing for real and see if I can finally find a solution to stop me whining about my excessive shedding.

Unless anybody wants to come over to mine for a cuppa?

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CG Girl Gone Cone

It started innocently enough, in Paris. Borrowing a little bit of my house mates anti dandruff shampoo to clarify my scalp properly.

And then it spiralled - aggravated by a crazy life situation, an overwhelming need for convenience and no longer having the time, space and access to ingredients like before.

So here, we have my new list of products I'm using at the moment - at least, until life settles down a little bit more and allows me to get my clay on like I used to.

In the shower:

L - R: Schwarzkopf Gliss Hair Repair Ultimate Colour 
Shampoo with Liquid Keratin, Herbal Essences Hello Hydration.
I do have 5 fingers, I promise.

Name: Schwarzkopf Gliss Hair Repair with Liquid Keratin Ultimate Colour Shampoo .
Cost: £1
Use: Shampoo on a weekly basis


Name: Herbal Essences Hello Hydration.
Cost: £1.97 on offer, normally £3.89 at Boots.
Use: Conditioner after shampoo weekly; As a deep conditioner with an oil added.

Out the shower:

L - R: Cantu Shea Butter Leave In Conditioning Repair Cream, Rose Water, Eco Styler Olive Oil Gel, Macadamia Healing Oil Treatment.

Name: Cantu Shea Butter Leave In Conditioning Repair Cream

Cost: Free for me, from a stash of a relative, but around £4 from Beauty Shops.

Use: As a moisturiser in the colder days, and when I'm too lazy to condition wash my hair; as a styler for my twists. It was there and it meant I wouldn't have to lug a spritz bottle and a bottle of sealant in all at the same time.

Name:  Macadamia Healing Oil Treatment

Cost: £11 from TK Maxx - the pump was missing and half of the stuff had been poured out, so it was on reduction to £18. I pointed out to the till girl that, if half was missing, shouldn't it have half off...?
She agreed - success!

Use: As a sealant, hair serum, and a hair perfume.

I'm having a lot of fun experimenting with products on my hair and I still have one purchase left to make. It's been nice, as well, getting to give some of the products that the natural forums and community have been buzzing about a bit of a go as well :)

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Mixology: Delicate Rose Aloe Moisturiser

So, before this month, this is the moisturiser I was using. I found it was a light, non sticky formulation, that could easily be used on both my hair and face for a quick blast of moisture. When I used it on my face, I followed up with some coconut oil, because it's winter, and also to break up the aloe vera gel 'cast' as well.

I found it was great for my fine hair that isn't a huge fan of butters and the like, though sometimes I needed to follow up with a sealant. I only ever made small amounts at a time, because I didn't use any preservatives- what is in that bottle sometimes lasted me a week, no longer.

It has a light scent from the Rosewater, and was just a relaxing and delightful way to start off my day! It's based off the Giovanni Direct Conditioner, but it's even lighter than that (hence, the need for a sealant), so I loved using it when I was a few days away from my wash day, but don't want to use anything heavier to cause build up or attract dust >.<

I didn't use measurements - I just did it by instinct, but it was always something like:

50% Rosewater
30-40% Aloe Vera Gel
10-20% Oil.

For my oil, I of course used my Felix Capillus, but if you try it and change anything, let me know how it goes!

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Wash Day

Since I took so long to put my mini-twists in (finished them Saturday evening), and I didn't want the Curlformer curls to get shrunken, my head /hair hadn't been washed in just over a week. Although the Aloe Vera Juice and Shea butter had done a good job in keeping my hair moisturised for the best part of 4 days, more was needed; hence, the large amount of conditioner used this time around - my hair was craving it mightily. and absorbed it ALL. No drippies on the wall, no siree.
The coconut oil was added in after primarily to semi-mask the smell of the aloe vera juice, but I know that there is some added moisture benefits too.

So I hopped to it  - so quickly in fact, I forgot to pre-poo and do an apple cider vinegar rinse after. Whoopsie.

1) Rinsed through hair and scalp with warm water. 2) Applied Burt's Bronner's Magic Lavender Liquid Soap and gently massaged into my scalp. Rinsed thoroughly. Repeated. 3) Added approximately 3 handfuls of Garnier Ultra Doux Vanille & Papaye Conditioner. Left in for about 5 minutes, then rinsed. 4) I wrapped my head in a towel while I sorted myself out, and then added some aloe vera juice. 5) Added some Extra Virgin Coconut Oil on top.


And...that's it. Honestly. It was very short and quick, which is always great because spending a fortnight in the shower is not where my passions lay.

                                                          It's an ardent pleasure to return to the convenience of twists.

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Look What I Found :)

I don't normally do hauls because...well, I never really buy in that well. Things just sort of build up.

I had an hour to kill in Le Marais area and wandered into an American Apparel shop. I've never been into my life, so it was interesting for me.

At the very front desk, I noticed some Dr Bronner's products. I actually used them last year, but more as part of my hippy laundry liquid experiments more than anything else. This time, I was looking for a convenient inbetween for my bentonite clay, and the anti dandruff shampoo.

I picked up a small size of the lavender as a sample, because I wanted something soothing, rather than stimulating.

Know what's even better than finding an affordable sample size of a product you wanna try?

Ohhhh yeah.

Unfortunately for me, I ran out of aloe vera gel. So I took this as an opportunity to pick something up from my local heath food store (Naturalia) that I've been considering for a while:

Aloe Vera Juice, opposed to the gel. Unfortunately, this behemoth did not come with a 30% off sticker which, at €20 euros, would have been highly appreciated!

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Wash day: Reboot

I hadn't done a Cassia since before Christmas - so I knew I was due for one. If not out of necessity, at least to use up the bag I've got!

Bentonite on the right, Cassia on the left

I was feeling really sluggish about doing it, because I needed to do a bentonite as well, but I didn't want to have another Wash day where I end up doing it all at once: bentonite, cassia, tea rinse, condition etc etc...

And then I remembered that last year, I totally used to mix the two together! Yay, minimising a step!

I wanted a smoother, runnier mix, so I only used about 1 tablespoon of bentonite clay and the same the same for the Cassia too and then added water slowly, allowing the clays to absorb the water, so it wouldn't thicken on me suddenly.

1)Pre-pooed with coconut oil an hour prior instead of overnight, and finger-detangled.
2) Added mixed clays to hair and left it on for 30 - 45  minutes .
3) Rinsed with warm water until it ran clear, and focused the shower head on my scalp. I always miss a spot! 4) Did a black tea rinse, making sure to saturate hair and scalp
5) Wrung hair out gently and applied the Shea butter and avocado conditioner, mixed with a little Felix Capillus (ran out of Olive Oil). Put on a baggy and left it on for another 30 minutes and then rinsed out, whilst finger detangling.
6) Rinsed with Apple Cider Vinegar. (Forgot to lean back instead of forward. My eyes regretted it immediately.)
6) Applied Rose Aloe Leave in, and sealed with hempseed oil and shea butter.

I don't know what's happened to my washing my hair in sections. When I use the clays, I just don't any more...
I was going to go without a leave in at first ,but after ten minutes, I realised that my hair was not about that life and put some in. I'm slowly using up the hempseed oil. Although using that and the Brazil Nut Oil made me appreciate the effect of using something slightly heavier on my ends, I don't think I'll be repurchasing them as staples. I might grab some Brazil Nut Oil every now and then, because I adore the smell...

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Following Cassie's Footsteps

When one moves to a new place, the natural instinct is to explore it and check it out. Ascertain what your favourite shops and places and where they may be.

It's always nice to have a little bit of information.

Fortunately, Cassie of NaturalSelectionblog.com has already written a short but informative piece about her hair related travels in Paris.
Boom, instant guide to hair care in Paris.

Obviously, my first stop as a wannabe mixtress was AromaZone. 

It was exactly as described, though a lot smaller than I'd imagined. In my mind's eyes, I'd envisaged it as a ingredient emporium, but it was cosier than I thought. All the ingredients were separated into sections according to their purpose and then neatly lined up alphabetically.
I'm not exactly a diplomat when it comes to the art of the French language, so I have to admit that my knowledge of the Latin names of ingredients really helped.
So much stuff! There were testers too, so you could immediately feel the texture and smell the different oils (eurgh to raspberry oil - not as tasty as I was hoping!).

As well as the typical 'health food' shop products, they also have emulsifers, hydrolats, containers and neutral bases for the more serious mixologists; indian powders, henna, and their own line of handmade cosmetics too. There

I went to the sample area and bough some aloe vera (which I later found out was cut with sunflower oil/helianthus annus - sigh), brazil nut oil, some vanilla scented sesame oil (so scrummy smelling! Has bits of vanilla seed floating about inside) and some green montmillonrite clay - I'd been running low on bentonite clay (and it was reduced, so...). They're all under 2,00€ for a 10ml sample of anything, if you want to try before you buy, which I thought was more than reasonable, considering that most of them are organic (bio).

That was only on my first trip there, but we'll talk about the rest later on :)
It's easily reached by the metro - Odeon on ligne 4, Maubert Mutalite on ligne 10. Check to be sure..

Next up - Saint Denis Strasbourg!
That was all Cassie had mentioned, so I hopped on the Metro to the stop. My first experience upon exiting was different because I'd gone to the wrong stop - if you want to get the exact same experience as her, of emerging in front a fair and white skin bleaching shop, go to the Chateau d'Eau stop, not the Saint Denis Strasbourg one.
This will also mean that you don't end up lost in a labyrinth of clothes shops too!
When I finally found my way back to the correct, hair-related area, I did get a few guys asking me to enter their shops to get manicures, pedicures  (not so much with relaxers, since I was in mini twists). I just insisted I didn't speak French well.

Well, I don't.

 One guy was really insistent, so I simply stared ahead and said 'Non, merci' over and over again whilst walking away.
Some of them will approach you as soon as you get off the metro train, even if you're only changing over to another line!
It's far more annoying than it is scary.

I found that the hair shops were incredibly similar to many of the hair shops I'd frequently back when I lived in London, though I did find one that sold Jane Carter hair products for under 20 euros each. I don't know if that's good or not; I just know that I was surprised to see them there. 

I'll admit - I chose which shops to enter based on size. The bigger shops tended to have a bigger variety.

I went to look for the 'Little India', which I assumed was Passage Brady, but at the moment there's a lot of construction going on and only a few restaurants were open.
So I called it a day and went back home.

However, Cassie's article has proved to be incredibly helpful to me - I literally can't imagine what I would be doing if I hadn't found AromaZone! I've been back twice already (or is it three times...?)

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