What should I buy from.....IHERB.COM?

In honor of Spring I decided to blog about my recommendations for products to buy at various places. I thought I'd start with http://www.iherb.com/  --  because I get asked frequently what people should buy from there. I also have a coupon code you can use for $5 off your first order (it's at the top of my blog) if you haven't ordered before. I love ordering from iherb because they ship super fast and I always get my stuff in a day or two. I've never had a mixed up order and they responded to an email I sent very quickly. Excellent service!

So ....  you've got some money earmarked for product and decide to go shopping on iherb--what are some good options?

Shampoo's and Conditioners brands:

EO  -- There are several types. My favorite is the Sweet Orange but others like the Chamomile and Honey.

Giovanni  -- we love the 50/50 shampoo and the Tea Tree shampoo/conditioner. I like the Root 66 volume conditioner as well. We were not overly fond of the Smooth as Silk shampoo (has cones) or the condish (didn't work all that great).

Beauty without Cruelty -- LOVE the Leave In. It has great slip (but not too much for me) and works wonderfully underneath almost any styler. A little goes a long way. Not too fond of the smell but it doesn't linger. Have not tried the poo or condish (if you have leave a comment below!)

Aubrey Organics -- Of course you simply *must* try the Honeysuckle Rose Conditioner. Many like it (we thought it conditioned o.k. but T had a problem with waxy type build up). GPB is the only Aubrey condish we still have and we use it occasionally. I did not like the Aubrey shampoo's. Their liquid curl activator had the most horrendous smell (see other blog article on that!). We also tried the Island Naturals conditioners and were not fond of the smell. The trend seems to be that we don't like the smell of their products. Another product I strongly recommend you pick up is the Mandarin Magic -- this stuff is great to use to add to a gel to help it spread and as an all around moisturizing gel you can add with a curl jelly or as a leave in. This is, by far, my favorite Aubrey product! I tried the B5 Design gel and hated it--left my curls droopy and sad.

Avalon Organics -- You have to read the labels on these as some contain cones. I really like the Olive and Grape Seed (thanks Solidgold for turning me onto these!) poo and condish. I haven't tried the others.

Jason Natural -- my two favorite products are the Thin to Thick conditioner and the Curl Defining Cream.  Although the condish does not smell great (see previous blog posts) it does work well. The Curl Cream is really fabulous! It works wonders for me!

I am planning another iherb order for some Alba Botanical Gel and Leave in as well as Desert Essence shampoo and conditioner along with a few other products. Once I get them I'll review and post!

Komaza Hair Care Stylers

Komaza Stylers

I've tried several Komaza stylers but have not had the greatest results. A lot of folks on the nc.com website love Komaza and their puddings and stylers but for me they tend to pull my curl out a bit and give me some frizz. On the other hand they provide pretty good definition to my hair and leave it very soft and touchable. My favorite of the three I've tried is definitely the Califia Styling pudding although it is pretty heavy.

In the immortal words of one of my naturally curly's board mates "I need to be touchable, and any product that doesn't let my curls spring back after some solid rolling around, fuggedaboutdit." ...so you might want to consider giving these a try (*wink*)

Komaza Coconut Hair Pudding: 

I've tried this about 8 times--initially it was ok but my curls just fall out and elongate by mid day. I like the smell (coconut'y) and the consistency (its sort of between a gel and a cream) but I haven't been able to get it to work consistently for me. Even with a hard hold gel on top of it. I do seem to be in the minority though--as many absolutely consider this their HG. Komaza has samples available on the website at a *VERY* reasonable price so this is one time I'm going to advise you to pick up a few samples and see what you think.

Komaza Coconut Curl Lotion:

Theoretically this would be a better choice for me than the pudding since it is supposed to be lighter. For me though all it did was give me a frizzy undefined mess of curls that fell into barely there waves by about 11am. The pudding was much better. It smells a little strange to me so I wasn't overly fond of the smell either--but I could have handled it if the result was better. This is not for me.

Komaza Califia Care Styling Pudding:

I absolutely LOVE the consistency and smell of this--it is like chocolate latte mousse--looks so good you want to eat it! It's thick and more creamy then gel'ly but once you get it on your hands it actually feels more gel like than cream like. It almost seems to coat your hair--for me it had no slip but did distribute well. I've never had anything go on my hair like this--took about a minute or two for my hair to absorb and I could tell when pixie diffusing that my hair was already going to be soft. It did provide very nice definition and soft touchable hair (see above) but I didn't find it curl enhancing. I don't think it is meant to be but that is what I like to see in a curl pudding--since I'm always trying to get more curls!

Overall the Califia pudding for me would be the only full size purchase (I used samples on all of it and glad I did so!). I do think that those curlies who have a stronger pattern such as 3B/3C/4A/B or strong 3A might do better with this since it defines well.

Curl Junkie Coffee Coco Curl Creme Lite

CCCC LITE!

I've been waiting for this product for EVER it seems. In reality it's not that long it just seems like it is!

This is for all of us who thought CCCC was too much -- too rich, too heavy, too whatever. I did have success with CCCC provided I used it in a very certain way. For my daughter it is her HG (Holy Grail) product. The pictures in her Pikistrip above on the right are with CCCC. I think you'll agree they look awesome. And YES it is as soft as it looks. No gel needed as CCCC has some hold.

So CCCC Lite (hereafter Lite) had a lot to live up to! I am happy to say that it is as good as I thought. Many of us use a bit more of this than we initially thought we would--so try varying amounts. It is much like a leave in (creamy) so you may/may not use a leave in with it. These days I always use a leave in and this works great for me with a leave in. I have not yet tried without. I'll update this post when I do.

I put it in after the leave in and then layer gel over the top. Depending on your situation you may or may not need gel--this has some hold. I put this in on wet hair--not dripping wet--but still soaking. That means I squeezed the water out with my hands AFTER my leave in. I had tried it before on dripping wet and it didn't work as well. I like it better when I do the water squeeze first. This is similar to other cream type curl enhancers (Mop C Curl Cream, AG Re:Coil, etc) but it is not sticky (Mop C is) and it does not have mag sulfate (Re:Coil does). I pixie diffuse and that worked very well with this.

The smell is good and underpowering--nothing here that will clash with another scent. It also does not linger in the hair. This comes in a bottle (not a jar) but it comes out just fine--it is thick but when you rub in your palms it quickly spreads.

This is an outstanding option for those that thought CCCC was too heavy or weighed down their fine hair too much. It is absolutely the level of quality that you expect from Curl Junkie.

Bravo Marsha!

Edited to add: this product and Duchess of Curls work amazing together--if you've got both (or the Essential Wholesale Aloe Jelly) give it a shot! I got wonderful hair with volume and body!

New to CG methods? My 10 top picks for products to buy!

So you are new to the Curly Girl method? Confused by acronym's and wondering what on earth you should buy to begin the journey?

First I believe in KISS --especially in the beginning with CG where you are struggling with the transition to the CG method. Both you and your hair are likely frustrated. We can relate--we started there too!

It goes without saying that you need to read heavily--go visit the naturallycurly.com website or any of the blogs I link below as all have various amounts of information. The Live Curly Live Free website is a goldmine of information as is the blog by Jillipoo.

So here is what I recommend for you to purchase in the first weeks of going CG. Most will be on ground but I've thrown in a couple of recommendations for online purchases if you want to give that a try:

1. Suave Naturals or V05 Moisture Milks or similar for a co-wash. These are widely available and cheap. If you have medium to coarse hair stay with things that don't have a lot of protein in them (V05 or Suave is fine except the coconut)Cost: $1.25

2. LA Looks Sport Gel (LALSG): again cheap and widely available. If you can't find the Sports one then try LaBella or a generic (e.g. CVS) version of hard hold gel. Cost $2.00

3. Lustrasilk Cholesterol Conditioners--choose one of the three without cones (Olive Oil, Shea and Mango, or Organic with Argan Oil). At a price of $2.50 you can afford to pick up a couple. I vote for Olive Oil for Leave-in and either Shea Mango or the Organic for your DT's. Cost $2.50

4. A good conditioner. Giovanni and/or Trader Joe's conditioners: Depending on your hair type and scalp issues and if you have a TJ's around you. Choose the Tea Tree is you get itchy scalp or your preCG hair was oily/greasy. If your hair was pretty dry but not ultra frizzy and dry then I recommend the TJ Nourish or Refresh or the Giovanni 50/50. If you have really dry hair or want to do a couple of very moisturizing DT's then try Smooth as Silk by Giovanni. Your other option is the ones we use on my daughter--Garnier Fructis. The Triple Nutrition and the Sleek and Shine (fortifying Conditioners) are excellent choices for really dry hair or just normal to dry, cheap, and work great. They are reviewed on my blog so you can see what they look like. Cost $3-8

5. Any or all of the following hair accessories if you do not already own them: mini clips, bobby pins, ponytail holders, headbands, clips, barrette's, Flexi-8's, etc. You are likely going to put your hair up or back at some point. Inevitable. Make sure you have some products you can live with to do that. Trust me. You may also want to clip your hair to give it volume on top so clips can be a lifesaver. Hit up the Goody or Scunchi isle's in your local CVS, Target, Walmart, or Walgreen's.

6. A diffuser or hard hat dryer. Whichever floats your boat. Peeps with very thick and potential-poof hair might want a hard hat dryer (I use and love Ion Conditioning Hard Hat dryer from Sally's). I use a diffuser more often on my hair--check out the Conair attachments for regular dryer's available at Sally's as those work well and are cheap $5-8.

7. A towel or something that functions as one. Either a curl towel OR use old Hanes type undershirts or other tshirts or flour sack towels. You won't be using regular terry cloth towel's on your hair and you need something to get some water out.

8. Ingredients to either make your own Flax Seed Gel OR to do DT's and soothe your scalp: Honey, Coconut Oil, Flax Seeds, strainer, Avocado Oil, Jojoba Oil, Tea Tree Oil, eggs, mayonaisse, avocado and more. No you don't have to be a Mixtress to do this-it's easy and you'll like using what you have on hand to have beautiful hair! Recipes are all over the net and on naturallycurly.com on the Recipes board.

9. If you have coarser hair you may want to invest in some butters or cream's that are moisturizing. This is where you start to go online. I recommend something like Karen's Body Beautiful or Shescentit for your butters and creams. We've also used Ohm Avocado Custard and Oyin's whipped pudding to good effect. Just google them. If you are a finer haired wavy or curly I recommend investing in a good protein treatment. There are numerous options like Nexxus Emergencee, Apoghee (may have cones) or one of the online like Hairveda's Methi set or Curl Junkie's Curl Fix. In addition if you are a wavy you may want to invest in a low-poo because many wavies need to low poo--there are many to chose from including the Giovannie or Trader Joe's shampoo's, EO shampoo's, and others you can get from a health food store or drug/grocery store.

10. If you want a curl creme or gel (and trust me you will) then check out any of the following (mostly online but Whole Foods in states other than CA have some Kinky Curly products and you might find the AG and Mop products in a local BSS or salon):

Kinky Curly Curling Custard, Donna Marie Mira Curl Curling Jelly, Amourai Organique Duchess of Curls, AG Re:Coil, Jessicurl Rockin' Ringlet's and Confident Coils, Curl Junkie Curls in a Bottle, Coffee-Coco Curl Creme or Smoothing Gellee, or Mop C Curl Creme and Darcy's Botanical's Natural Coils Curling Jelly.

I've listed in order of importance IMHO. You can always use #1 as a rinse out conditioner as well until you figure out what your hair likes.

Qhemet Biologics Amla and Olive Heavy Cream

Amla and Olive Heavy Cream (AOHC)

First this stuff is what legends are made of. Serious.

Here's another wonderful cream. A word of caution: Fine and thin haired ladies/guys should opt for the Burdock Root Butter Cream instead of the AOHC. This stuff is HEAVY DUTY. If you have medium to coarse, thick, and very dry hair you really ought to give this a go.

The smell is lemony citrusy but like most of her other products it doesn't linger. It's very natural smelling. It is a heavy product--we use it on the ends of my daughter's hair and as a pre-poo treatment for when her hair feels exceptionally dry and straw like. You can use it on wet or dry hair but be aware it does cause a small amount of build up on T's hair if we use it daily in heavier amounts. So just watch the amount you are using.

My ex has very very very coarse hair and this is an amazing product for him--weird I know that I care about my ex's hair but whateva'--it leaves his hair soft for 2 days.

AOHC packs the HIGHEST wollop I've ever experienced in a hair care product as far as pure moisture to add softness. If you are closer to the coarse end of the spectrum and/or you have more highly textured hair this is a must buy product. There are plenty of youtube vid's that you can check out to get more info.

The Pikistrip above is a pic of my ex's hair with Qhemet Biologics Olive and Honey Balm and Amla and Olive Heavy Cream in. The first and third pic's are the B4 pictures. Look at how great it looks after and, although you can't see it in photo's, it is so much softer. He has type 3/4 very coarse and very dry hair.

Great product!

Qhemet Biologics Burdock Root Butter Cream

BRBC

OMG. Serious amounts of WOW's abounded in our house when we tried Qhem's BRBC. This is true moisture ladies and gents...true moisture. You don't need a ton. It is a fairly thick but creamy textured cream that you can use on wet or dry hair. We use it on my daughter's hair to combat frizz, add tons of moisture, and help define her curls.

It is a pretty heavy product so the very fine and thin haired ladies might not be able to use more than a pea sized amount. I use it occasionally scrunched in for added moisture when the dew point and humidity drop.

How we use this: We section off my daughter's hair and apply a small (dime sized) amount to wet hair AFTER we comb her leave-in through her hair. We pay special attention to the ends as they get dry. We use this (about a nickel sized amount) in the mornings as well before I drop her at school to get rid of frizz and keep her hair moisturized.

The pic shows the large jar. The scent is sort of citrus but it's very light and does not linger at all. Since this is a smaller vendor be aware that she is occasionally out of stock and the product may take a little while to arrive on your doorstep. If you exercise a little patience I can tell you that you will fall in love just as we have with this wonderful wonderful cream! I think it's available on ground as well on the East Coast (NYC).

Sweet Nature By Eddie Moisturizers

These are two cream's that are designed for use on hair or body.

The other pic is what the products come in--a nice little carrying bag!

Dream Cream Moisturizer is the one I actually use on my hair. I use it to SOTC (Scrunch Out the Crunch) caused by my hard hold gel's. It clumps my curls and provides a shot of moisture and my hair feels soft. It does not seem to impart any sort of sheen. The smell is out of this world good--I often use this on my elbows and arms before bed so my linen's smell like this all night. I love sweet smells and this is definitely one of them..the smell is very similar to her Inspiration Shampoo and Growth Spray.

Wisdom Moisturizer--this product was too heavy for my hair. While I can generally use many products designed for textures of hair different than mine I do occasionally run across one that flat out doesn't work for me. This is one of those.

After watching youtube reviews I realized I could use this on my son's excema. I did and NO LIE it disappeared overnite. Literally. Truth. Could-not-believe-it. Now I just put it on him after he bathes (2-3x week max) and so far no excema. This cream did what hundreds of dollars of prescription product couldn't--it provided enough moisture to keep the itchy scalies at bay. Since my son has other medical issues the problem of him scratching and potentially making spots bleed cannot be ignored. It is actually dangerous for him.

I am a forever customer for this product for my son's skin. I use it on my feet, elbows, knees, etc. It is a great body cream. It smells like chocolate which is a complete bonus!

As I mentioned in my first SNBE review you can get smaller sample sizes of these products so you can give them a try before a full size purchase. HIGHLY recommended!

Curl Junkie Smoothing Gellie

Curl Junkie Smoothing Gellie (CJSG)

CJSG is my *favorite* of all the CJ products so far. I absolutely ADORE the scent. In fact I've been known to just open it and smell it occasionally just cuz. MMMMMM...it's fruity with a hint of citrus and clean scents. It smells like a tropical fruit table to me. Even more this smell does stay with you a bit and every time you get a whiff of it you are transported to that same tropical beach. I better finish this review as I'm getting hungry!

Although it is a gelly it's texture and consistency most resemble a cream. However this is watery once you put it on your hand and it quickly emulsifies (as opposed to CJCCCC which remains a true cream to be rubbed in). So in that respect it is more of a jelly regardless of one's intitial impression of its creamy-ness. You can also tell this if you put your finger in it--with the SG your finger comes away pretty clean vs with the CCCC it comes out with some product on it.

I use this by itself as a combo of leave-in and styler. It most definitely enhances my curls and defines them. It also provides a bit of elongation which I like. Even though normally I am always tryng to get more curls I love the products that even out my curls and get my hair to look uniform.

Other great things about SG: It is very forgiving for me--I've never had a producty mess because I used a bit too much, you do not need to use a lot of product, and it distributes through your hair very evenly. Although it has a hold I found it to be too light to hold my waves all day so I always put a hard hold gel over it.

I have used the Smoothing Gellie with a leave in if I feel my rinse out conditioner just didn't quite cut it. In that case I use about a pea sized amount of leave in and focus on my canopy which is the driest part of my hair.

Updated Dec 09 - Pics above are of me with the CJ Hibiscus and Banana Leave In and Smoothing Gellee in my hair. Nothing else. I get excellent curls and lately I haven't needed a gel over the Smoothing Gellee as the dews are much lower and my hair doesn't need quite the same level of hold. Outstanding!

If you are deciding on what to order from CJ or are doing a mini-product haul I recommend (in the following order)

Smoothing Gellie
Curl Assurance Leave-In
Coffee-Coco Curl Creme

Have a wavy day!

Curl Junkie Coffee-Coco Curl Creme

Curl Junkie Coffee-Coco Curl Creme

CCCC has a lotta love all over the spectrum with natural hair from 2's, 3's, and 4's. The pic above is my hair with CCCC as I describe below.

The smell: In a word - YUMMY!

The texture: Creamy, transluscent, not oily or greasy

Properties: Emulsifies in your hands but not to an oil--it remains a true cream.

Thoughts: This works extremely well for my daughter's thicker hair that ranges in texture from fine to coarser. It works well for me but it took a lot of experimentation to get it to succeed. I think my fine and thin hair had me running in circles with this for a while trying to figure out the best combo/amount to use. I am happy to say I did find that combo--for me this includes using the CJ Curl Assurance Hair Styling water on my hair first and then about a nickel sized blob of CCCC smoothed through (not raked) and then scrunched. After this I add some hard hold gel to assure the hold.

Extra: A word regarding Curl Junkie. This is a manufactured line. That means the quality is consistent as are the products. Many more natural or smaller lines are made by individuals in sort of a mom-pop operation and, as such, you can get variation in texture, consistency, smell, etc. This does not mean they are bad--just that the potential is there. In addition it appears more common for the smaller operations to alter their products more frequently--which can be problematic as just when you think you've found something that you like (HG!) the formula can be altered. The reason I chose to start my blog with CJ products are because they are available at multiple locations online and products are consistent. I also think that this is a line of products--therefore it is possible to buy several different items that meet your needs (vs. somewhere that only has conditioners or only shampoo's and so on)

Overall: The vast majority of people who try this find it works exceptionally well for them. The owner of Curl Junkie is extremely helpful if you have questions regarding its use and you can check out her blog as well for other suggestions on her products. If you are wanting to try CJ this is another of her products I recommend are part of your first purchase.