Leave In's

Leave-In Conditioners

What exactly is a leave in? Are there rules for what goes in a leave in? Is there any regulation to call a product a leave in? Why use a leave in? Will a leave in leave me greasy or over conditioned? Will it make my hair limp? How much leave in?

These questions and more come up all the time when the topic is leave in hair conditioners. Let me say right away there is no one right answer to any of them really.

In simplest terms a leave in is something you leave IN your hair -- in other words you don't rinse it out. Leave in conditioners have no rule or definition as to what they contain -- it is up to the company. Generally leave in's should be moisturizing. Other than that everybody has a different story.

People use a leave in for a variety of reasons -- some need one to prevent dryness, frizz, or poof. Others use it as a "base" for another product such as a curl cream or jel. Still others use it to detangle. There is no one "right" reason OR way to use a leave in.

If you have fine or thin hair its possible a leave in may be "too much". It depends on your hair. My hair is porous and absorbs products readily--so I use very small amounts of leave in. My daughters hair is thicker and low porosity and we use a lot of leave in. Others I know have fine hair that is low porosity and use only a little leave in. Get the picture? It's all over the place. Only you can determine if a leave in will leave you greasy, oily, flat, limp, etc.

So what about amounts? Pea sized? Grape sized? Quarter? or palmfuls? Well in my house for my hair (fine, thin and porous) I use pea sized. My daughter has fine to medium/coarse thick low porosity hair--for her? Palmfuls. My son has medium normal porosity, medium to fine texture, and thick short hair-- for him about a quarter works best.

A special word: So if there is no real regulation of leave in's do you need a product "designed" as a leave in? Well, no. Not really. You can use any product as a leave in depending on what you want for your hair or what you want your hair to do--try using your rinse out conditioner, styling lotion, or your deep treatment condish as a leave in. There is nothing sacred about what a leave in is. One of my favorite protein leave in's is meant as a deep penetrating protein treatment. We regularly use Garnier Fructis Triple Nutrition for my daughter as a leave in (although its technically a rinse out) and for my son we occasionally use Curl Junkie Coffee Coco Curl Creme Lite as a leave in. Experiment! I give you permission. Fly free my beauties!

So what are my favorite leave ins?

Cream type leave in's:

Curl Junkie Curl Assurance Leave In (CALI)
Curl Junkie Beauticurls Leave In (BCLI)


Both of these are outstanding leave in products. They are moisturizing without being heavy. The BCLI has a stronger smell and its yummy. The CALI has been discontinued (so get it while you can!). These are excellent bases for other styling products as well and in my hair do not weigh it down. These are available from a variety of places like http://www.curljunkie.com/, http://www.aveyou.com/, or http://www.curlmart.com/

Beauty without Cruelty Leave In

This is one of my favorites actually. It has proteins high up on the list. It has a lot of slip but does not pull out my curl. It's not expensive (I get mine from iherb.cm). It is moisturizing but not super heavy.

Karens Body Beautiful Nectar and Milk:

For pure moisture and conditioning these really can't be beat. They work on all our heads at my house (although my son is NOT fond of the smells!). They come in a variety of scents so you can chose your favorite. They are super moisturizing--for my daughter they prevent frizz and give her outstanding softness. I discovered these early on and they have remained staples in our house. You can find them at http://www.karensbodybeautiful.com/

AND the big gun for moisture--not going to let your hair dry out at all is BellaCurls Leave In Elixir--this stuff is potent! It has good slip, a great sweet scent, and is incredibly moisturizing. If you have very dry hair or your hair is frizzy or poofy get this leave in STAT. It is outstanding!

When used with the other Bellacurl products we can get 5-7 day hair for my daughter. Since her hair is so dry that is just outstanding. We love Bellacurls!




For those of you that prefer a spray or are worried about weighing down your hair..or perhaps you like a spray before a cream then the following are good choices:

Darcys Botanicals Natural Coils Leave In Spray: Smells great and about 5 sprays does my entire head. Has a decent amount of slip but I wouldn't use it to detangle (not that I need to). It's very moisturizing!

Darcy Botanicals Herbal Spray -- this is heavier than the Natural Coils one. If you like hippie stink or patchouli then this here's your spray babe. It has tea tree so is particularly good for those with itchy scalp. I tend to use it more (with a few sprays) as a base for cream curl enhancers since sometimes the cream enhancers paired with a cream leave in are too much.

Brendita's No Knots Moisturizing Leave In is a great leave in spray for hair. It's not heavy.

The BIG GUN for moisture in this category is the Taliah Waajid Protective Mist Bodifier. IF your hair is super dry or you wear braids, twists, or locs get thee to the nearest beauty supplier or online supplier and order up a couple of bottles. This stuff is like liquid gold for dry hair. I'm not crazy about the smell (Caribbean Coconut) but this stuff works great. Watch the daily use as it can feel like its building up and it is a heavy product. Outstanding!

There are a few other sprays we use but we tend to use them as refresher's or pick me ups--less as leave in's...although I include them since I have used all of them as a leave in at one time or another. All are super light.

Curl Junkie Curl Assurance Hair Styling Water, Curl Junkie Curl Fuel enhancing spray, and Oyin Juices and Berries (best smell EVER!). All are great. My daughter's favorite spray is the Oyin which we use as a scent product almost on day 4 or 5 hair--we do find that the Oyin attracts dirt a bit so we don't use it until we get close to washing (side benefit: it hides any odor!)

The last kind of side category is protein leave in's--I've already mentioned both of these before but wanted to be sure I included them here as well: Spiral Solutions Repairing Protein Treatment and Terax Life Drops Leave In. You can view their reviews in my other blog posts.

My favorite Hair and Body Oils

So I like to use oils a a pre-poo occasionally for my hair. I also like to use them for my body. I thought I'd create a short blog about which ones are my favorite.

Since I have fine and thin hair I really have to be careful of what I use on my scalp. I can very easily become an overly oiled mess. There are so many choices for those of us trying to grow hair (with sulfur), make hair thicker (using herbs), or condition our tresses (using oils that penetrate into the hair strand).

The oil that works best for me in my hair is Afroveda Shikakai Growth Oil. It has a very pleasing mint tea smell, has a light oil base, and does not leave my hair overly oily or gross. I use it as a prepoo generally on Friday or Saturday night. I massage it into my scalp (first coating the tips/pads of a couple fingers and then just gently massage in).  I sleep with it in my hair and then do the normal low poo in the am. I'm seeing some new little baby hair growth and my scalp is far less itchy than it used to be. Although I'm not 100% sure its attributed to the oil I do think it contributes. An excellent oil! It can be found at http://www.afroveda.com/

When I need a little more "oomph" I use Hairveda's Cocasta Shikakai oil. It is in a base of castor oil so its far heavier than the Afroveda. I have to be uber careful not to get it on the strands and usually use it in the front at the temple at my hairline. I also love to use this as a body oil--it has made my skin so soft. I love the smell and I have no idea how to describe it except as rather sweet but tangy (?). It can be found at http://www.hairveda.com/

The last oil I found that I really love is the Darcy's Botanicals Peach Kernal Nectar Oil. It smells absolutely heavenly -- like homemade peaches you just want to drown in cream on a lazy Sunday morning. I use this in my bath and the whole bathroom smells wonderful. It's relaxing but won't put you to sleep. It can be found at http://www.darcysbotanicals.com/

I give all three of these oils the thumbs up! If you have oils you like please leave a comment below!

Darcy's Botanicals Part Duex

Darcy's Botanicals NEW products!

Those who read my blog know I love DB products. If any of you shop her website or her etsy store you might have noticed she has NEW products introduced in time for Black Friday. I, however, could not get on to her site until she was already closed so I missed the big BF sale. Waaaa!

Never fear cowgirls--I just saddled up again and ordered after the sale. Yes I think her products are that good that even the loss of a good 20-25% discount did not deter me.

Here's the sitch on the new products:

Pumpkin Seed Conditioner: OMG. AMAZING. AMAZING. AMAZING. If you are looking for slip in a conditoner this one has it in spades. Other than QB Coco Tree Detangling Ghee this is the only other product that has done a great job of detangling on T's hair. Other stuff is good and even great but this one is literally like butter.

On my hair it left it very well conditioned, silky smooth without being too smooth and feeling very soft. The scent is excellent as well--kind of like vanilla buttercream pumpkin cake batter. My hair felt SO good in the shower and out. It also gave me wonderful clumping. It has hydrolized oat protein and I already know my hair loves this particular protein. Its in her NC Curling Jelly too--which is another product my hair loves.


Natural Coils Daily Leave In Conditioning Spray: This sprays out in a wonderful mist. It is very light. Did not feel heavy on my hair but I could definitely see the conditioning aspect. Not sticky, tacky, or producty (which tends to happen with sprays). I used about 6 sprays for my entire head and it was perfect. I think I could use less in the summer (unless its dry). Smells very good--sort of sweet but not overwhelming or overpowering. This, on my hair, is light enough not to weigh it down at all. I think if you have fine hair and it leans towards thin and you like lighter products you ought to try this one out. Its not similar really to something like SNBE Growth Spray--that does better for me after my hair is already SOTC'd or mid day or before bed. It doesn't have enough Umph to use as a full leave in IMHO. This one IS a leave-in and you can feel it right away. Although there are oils in it my hair absorbed them very well--no problem with oily/greasy looks.

Avocado and Wild Plum Twisting Creme: I used a bit after the LI just to get a sense. Seems very good. I think I'm going to like this one the same way I like the coconut and aloe pudding--after I've SOTC or mid day especially to add some moisture. I found Darcys stuff to work really good for this--these pudding and creams. I'll have to try it alone to see if it has any curl enhancing effect. I like these for mid day moisturizers because they seem to have a little hold which helps my kind of droopy curls sometimes around 2o'clock. Also when I get home if its dry outside I usually spritz a little water and then scrunch in some of these creams. Just love them. Mine came as sample size so it is unscented so I can't speak to the scent. EDITED TO ADD: Tried it today as a "curl enhancer" and it doesn't enhance at all. I should be clear I didn't really expect it to but thought it was worth a go. Not a repurchase for me since I love the Coconut and Aloe pudding too much to replace it with this!

In my next order I plan on getting the Darcy's Botanical's Herbal spray, the Deep conditioner, and the Tucuma Butter along with at least one additional oil. Stay tuned for Part 3!

Darcy's Botanicals

I love Darcy's Botanical Products!

I originally thought the line wouldn't work because there were a lot of heavy products which seemed more aimed at things like twist outs and braids--none of which I can do on my fine and thin hair. Turns out her products work well for ALL types of hair!

My first and still favorite product is the Natural Coils Curling Jelly. This is one of my HG curl enhancing products and it consistently gives me awesome curls! I love everything about it--the smell (Citrus), the texture (gel but not super slimy) and the color which is a sort of yellow brown. It has lots of ingredients my hair loves like coconut and protein. I use about a dime sized for each side of my hair then another dime on the back and canopy. I use a hard hold gel over it and pixie diffuse or scrunch while diffusing. You can see how awesome this works by viewing my PikiStrip above--the "After" front view is with DB NCCJ! VERY Highly recommended!

Daily Leave In was my next product to try and I have it in the Peach scent. The smell, like all of Darcy's other products, is yummy. It does have some emulsifying wax in it so if you are sensitive to waxes you'll have to take that into account. This is very similar in my hair to fairly heavy hair milks. A little dab will do you if you've got fine and/or thin hair. In my daughters thick hair that's more medium texture we use about a Tsp on each of 7 sections. It works equally well in her hair. I do have to watch humidity and dew point as this has glycerin which can be problematic during one of SoCal's dry spells but otherwise it's an all season styler and moisturizer for me. Lovely!

The Detangling Milk comes in a spray bottle but I found it too heavy to use that way so I just pour some in my hand. I love the vanilla smell (you can chose a scent) and it does a good job of providing moisture and detangling should you need it. I find it very comparable to the Daily Leave In--interchangable for me.

Another of my favorite products is the Coconut and Aloe Moisture Pudding. This is my GO TO product for moisture particularly on DRY hair. If I've used a product with mag sulfate OR my hair is really dry that day or the humidity is in the teen's I break this out and use about 2 tsp and scrunch it in. It never leaves my hair oily or greasy--in fact my hair's two favorite things (outside of the main love which is protein) are Aloe and Coconut--so this was an easy choice. I was out all day today in 14% humidity--normally that would mean my hair would be a dry hot mess when I got home. Not so now--it's after 6pm and my hair is STILL soft and bouncy. Yeah Darcy's!

The last product is Peach Kernel Nectar (not pictured because I used it all up!). OMG the scent..oh lawdy the scent. It REMINDS me of the South and summer days out fishing and coming in to my Grandma's peaches with FRESH cream on top. Melt in your mouth goodness. This is just an amazing oil--it's not heavy and it absorbs into your hair very well. I use it in my hair as a kind of Pre-poo when I'm going to take a bath. The scent envelopes me while I'm relaxed and enjoying a hot soak. Heavenly! You simply MUST try it!

Look for more reviews from Darcy's Botanical's later this month or early next year-I'm waiting on a shipment of a couple of the new products right now! I can't wait to try them! Also the owner of Darcy's is outstanding--she replies to emails promptly, ships promptly, and is always willing to work with you. A wonderful company!

www.darcysbotanicals.com