Category Archives: NATURAL HAIR

Favorite hair products of 2024

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How’s your January going so far? Good , I hope! We’re almost at the finish line!

Today I have a shortlist of some of my favorite products I discovered & used last year. 2024 was my year of healthy hair, so I spent time & effort researching & trying new products.

1. Briogeo don’t despair repair deep conditioning mask- when I thought to do this post, this was the 1st product that popped up in my head! I love this product so much that I kinda overused it and it broke off my hair lol. It is a protein rich mask so just be mindful how many times you use it. I love this mask because it’s detangling but helps to reduce shedding, strengthens and conditions the hair! If you find your hair just feels limp & it’s shedding a lot don’t despair! try this mask! My advice will be to balance this mask with a moisture treatment too, so use once every 2 weeks/monthly depending on your hair needs. It broke my hair because I was using it right after getting a texture release and as that is amino acid based, it was too much protein on my hair and too much protein causes hair to be brittle & easier to break off. This is not the fault of the product but mine which is why I still love this product and will recommend it.

2. Affirm Light Creme hair dress- I was first introduced to this product when I went to Elite hair lounge in Feb 2024. I loved how light it felt on my hair. Fast forward to May, I did my texture release and the stylist recommended the same product to use as my Keracare buttercream would be too heavy. I got it and fell in love with it. Its lightweight as the name suggests and it does well to add moisture to the hair. It’s a nice ‘hair cream’ I used during the week to add moisture.

3. Tgin honey miracle conditioner- this product went viral in the natural hair community when it first arrived but I never got to try it because it was never available in the UK. Last year as I was looking for moisture deep conditioners, the girlies were still raving about the conditioner so I decided to finally try it. This deep conditioner is amazing and I will be writing up a full review soon

4. Olapex 4c shampoo- everyone knows how I feel about Olapex by now, and this product? This clarifying shampoo is no different! It leaves the hair clean but not stripped! I use this on a monthly basis to clarify and chelate my hair. It works for 4c hair. If you want to read my full review of all the Olapex products I have used, check it out here

5. African pride moisture miracle pre poo- another viral product in the natural hair community and it deserves all the hype & more! if you’re looking for a moisture pre poo treatment this is it! I’ve been through 2 or 3 tubs of this! My full review is here

6. Briogeo Don’t Despair, Repair!™Moisture + Damage Defense Leave-In Treatment– This one came in the gift set with the don’t despair deep conditioner and I love it just as much. It really works to soften the hair. I find that some leave ins just leave the hair ‘wet’ but don’t really soften it. This doesn’t do that.

These have been my top 6 products of last year and I will/ have repurchase/d everyone of these again. More products worthy of a mention is the Paul Mitchell skinny serum which came recommended by my stylist. I don’t know how but this helps to dry my hair faster! and it doesn’t weigh the hair down or cause it to revert. You literally need a tiny bit. If you use a lot like I did when I started using it, you will feel the difference after the hair is dry. it feels a bit sticky?( lack of a better word). Another product I have to mention is the Cantu protective styling hair freshener. I call this hair perfume because it smells absolutely amazing. We all know how braids can get a bit musty after some time, get this! Just get this if you want amazing smelling hair.

That’s all folks! This year I’m focusing more on length retention but the search for better products/brands is still ongoing. I learnt about many brands last year, I’m just patiently waiting to finish up my batch before getting new products.

laterr

Healthy Hair Check in

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Happy New year! I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday break and a well deserved rest.

Starting 2025 off with a healthy hair check in. This post is a bit late but I know you will forgive me because it was Christmas!

So 8 months after my texture release and 12 months of a healthy hair routine, what has happened to my hair? And what have I learnt so far

Back in Aug I noticed some breakage around my crown area but I thought it may be due to the braids I had just taken out so I didn’t think too much of it. However over the next month, I kept noticing more breakage so I decided to visit the salon for some expert help. After speaking to my stylist about my routine, it became apparent that I was using too many protein rich products on my hair and since I wasn’t doing much to my hair during the week + my TR which was amino acids based it was protein overload and causing the breakage! I was using my Briogeo don’t despair repair too often! I decided to switch my routine and focus more on moisture and conditioning instead of strengthening. I booked a follow up app in Dec, 12 weeks time to see any changes.

I’m happy to say when I went back in Dec, the breakage was growing back and no further breakage! my hair also felt much better.

2024 was my year to rediscover my hair, focusing on restoring the health of my hair. I’m also happy to report my hair is back! look at my before & after pictures. I started my healthy hair journey in Jan 2024 with my 1st salon app in Feb, look at how dry and crusty my hair was! and this was after a deep moisture treatment! look at my hair now in Dec 2024! my hair looks and feels so much better!. My hair has improved so much! Whilst it may look like my hair didn’t grow much- it did! I had 4 trims in 2024 to get rid of a lot of dead hair

I reviewed a lot of products and you can go check them out but my routine was as follows:

wash- 7-10 days

deep condition with my thermal cap every 3 weeks focus on moisture.

deep condition every 6 weeks with a strengthening treatment OR olapex

clarify every 4 weeks

blow dry after every wash with a leave in, blow dry lotion and heat protectant

For 2025 i want to focus on length retention. My challenge is to grow my hair to waist length- I don’t have a time frame because I’m not going to sacrifice health over length so if I need to switch to focus on something else I will do so. Since its winter I’ve also gone into protective styling mode- no braids! From now until April I will be washing my hair every 2 weeks.

Conclusion

I’m really happy with the progress of my hair. Its so much healthier than 2023 and I can really start on my hair growth journey. I’m going to take the good practices I developed last year and keep on caring for my hair. Going to the salon once every quarter also helped tremendously and I will carry on with this and encourage my natural girles to start going to the salon if not already!

In 2024 I learnt braids as a protective style is not just my friend! even with human hair so I’m going to try to go this year without it. Also can I just say how proud I am of myself for having my hair out most of the time last year! I experimented with a lot of half up & downs thanks to Royale ponytails ( you need to check them out) here are some styles I loved PS that cornrow ponytail is actually a draw string ponytail! and I don’t even remember the last time I wore my own hair to a wedding! let alone 2!

After a year of blow-drying my hair, I did not experience any heat damage my hair grew and felt so much better when dried- no more AIR DRYING FOR ME! I did ‘backslide’ after one wash day back in the fall and airdried my hair(threaded) and never again! the difference was ALOT. My blow drying routine and products post will come soon!

Anyways, I don’t want to bore you with a super long post! Please check out my previous posts for more info and all the reviews of the products I’ve loved last year. I will carry with discovering better hair products so more reviews coming soon!

Here’s to 2025! May it be filled with favor, blessings, good hair & skin

catch you later

The Best Brands for Natural Hair

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hello everyone, I hope your summer is going well so far. This year is my healthy hair year so I’ve committed to better hair practices and routines. To go along with the above, I also made sure to upgrade my hair products. I am now looking for brands that have well formulated, well researched ingredients & products suitable for MY hair type, density & texture. These are the brands I have the products I absolutely love and have made a huge positive impact to my hair.

My hair is 4c low to medium density with very fine strands. I have low to medium porosity. I also have a texture release in( since May 2024). I will be listing the products I have been using from the brands. I purchased everything

Olapex- I tried Olapex last year when my shedding/breaking was out of control and I haven’t looked back! I mainly use this before & after my braids. It’s great for prepping hair for long term braids. Olapex works for natural hair that is extremely dry, damaged and excessively breaking/shedding. I love the No0 & 3 as well as No5- conditioner. Full review on Olapex here

Olapex for black natural hair

Keracare- Keracare is serious brand for natural hair. This year I learnt the importance of ph balanced hair products which made me appreciate the brand even more. The cleansing cream and butter cream is amazing for natural hair! Although as I have a texture release in, the buttercream feels slightly heavy & oily now but prior to the TR it was absolutely fine.

AffirmCare- this brand is from the same parent company as Keracare so Im not really surprised I love this too. I think Affirm is their professional line as I have mostly seen this available in hair salons. I love the light hairdress cream and the Hair Repair Masque. These have been a great addition to my hair since my TR

Briogeo- So everyone knows about the don’t despair repair deep conditioner which is 100% worth the hype by the way but I want to mention 2 other products, the don’t despair repair leave in conditioner and the matching shampoo.

These have been my go to brands this year. some of these products are pricey so do look for discounts when you can. I will be doing full reviews on all the products I have been using but I have linked reviews where Ive done them already.

Hope this was helpful

Catch you later

6 months Healthy Hair Check in

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hey hey, I hope all is well! Today’s my 6 month healthy hair check in. Technically I’m a little past the 6 months mark lol but I still wanted to share my thoughts on my hair so far.

So, a quick summary, this year is my healthy hair year and I committed to improve the condition of my hair from last year. I had really dry, excessive breakage & shedding 4c hair. I also wanted to wear my hair out more and try new things. I also started my journey to waist length hair. I’ve written all about it here

Before we get to this check in, my last check in was at 3 months, you can read that here. So 8 months in, what’s the condition of my hair? I have to mention I had a texture release back in June. Read my thoughts on that here its now 2 months since my TR.

So honestly, how has it been?

Well, 4 weeks after my TR, I decided to get braids. 1 because I had some trips and wanted freedom from daily styling & maintenance and 2 because I wanted to see if human hair extensions would be safer/gentler on my hair. Whilst I loved how lightweight my hair felt with the human hair, it wasn’t really any gentler on my hairline! my hairline is already fragile and I’m desperately trying to regrow it. I was so saddened by this because I feel like its a huge set back on the progress made using the ordinary peptide serum :(. but now I know for sure my hairline just cant take braids-human or synthetic and its just not worth it anymore now

I had my hair in for exactly 5 weeks 5 days. My moisturing routine whilst I had them in was non existent I wont lie lool so the shedding/breakage that I got when I took them out was ALOT. Again I was saddened by this because I worked so hard to get my shedding/breakage down this year! Just compare these pictures from March to now :(.

its now been more than 2 weeks since I took out the braids and I’ve had a 2nd wash day, my shedding/breakage is back to the my usual amount but it just made me think, any growth I had whilst I had the braids in probably wasn’t retained with that amount of shedding/breakage

So is protective styling , in particular braids, is it really worth it for me?

I have super fine hair and weak temples and they seem to get thinner every time after braids, no matter how careful I am. my braider doesn’t braid them too tight either. I also now keep them in the same hairstyle/position to prevent excessive pulling and tugging. It always takes me a few months for them to recover which is why I don’t leave my braids in too long and cant do them back to back. But if I’m on a growth journey I need to try to retain as much growth as I can so having this much shedding just isn’t on par. Wigs are much safer as I don’t glue them on but I don’t want to depend on them either.

Final thoughts

Guys, I just have to leave braids alone for a long time. My initial idea was that I do them twice a year at least 5 months apart however I dont even think I should do that. My hair simply cant take it. It’s like taking 5 steps forward then 3 back. I’ve bought a few hair pieces- half up & downs & ponytails to help me wear my hair out more and experiment. I just want to be able to enjoy my own hair more.

So 8 months down the line, my hair feels great, the condition is better than last year, shedding/breakage back to my usual amount and the TR has softened my hair. On the other hand, progress on re growing my hairline has taken a few steps back. I really wanted to wear my own hair out more this year and I have tbh so Im very happy with that. I just need to learn more hairstyles lol.

I need to do an official length check and I will be right back with that.

I will be sharing my fav hair products so far- in addition to new techniques, the products I now use have made such a big difference.

Catch you later

Texture Release on Fine 4c Natural hair

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hihi everyone, I hope all is well! It’s now more than 1 month after my texture release and so now is a great time to share my thoughts on it! I have played around with my hair and had a few wash days too and I have a lot of thoughts to share!

My hair- I have very fine, low to medium density 4c hair. I’ve been natural for 13 years. This texture release would be the 1st time in 13 years I have ever done a chemical service and also the first time I have straightened my hair, done a silk press.

I got my TR done at Maison Style, full review here. One of the main reasons why I did the TR was that I wanted to try something different with my hair this year because I wanted to wear it out more. I wanted to be a heat trained/straight natural so that I can do that easily. After getting the TR and talking with Andree, I have decided not to go down this route. Why?

Because I have very fine hair, my hair is more prone to heat damage. I actually didn’t know this until Andree said at my app. Fine hair has fewer layers compared to coarse hair making it more fragile. I think I have some heat damage in the top area of my hair after the service because its straight and limp as compared to the rest of my hair. And this is with lots of heat protectant and a good routine prior to the TR. Whilst I don’t really wear my hair in its curly state, I still want healthier hair so becoming a straight natural and having lots of silk presses will cause a lot of damage even with a good moisture/protein balance routine.

I have low to medium density hair and this is disguised very well when my hair is in its natural coily state. It feels fuller and thicker. I prefer thicker hair so I was very surprised to see my hair on the lower density side after it was straightened. To be totally honest I did not like that. There’s nothing wrong with having this density, density is genetic however because I prefer a fuller head, I just didn’t like it. I made some clip ins to add extra body but I don’t want to rely on this every time I get my hair straightened. No clip ins in the pic.

My blowdried hair still appears fuller so if anything I can go down the route of a blow dried natural instead of getting silk presses. Blow drying is not nearly as damaging as a silk press in terms of heat damage. Still I would have to be careful on my very fine hair

In terms of the condition of my hair, my hair feels so soft and the curls are more elongated. I don’t have as much shrinkage as before so it makes washing my hair just a little bit quicker. I do like the TR for this.

If you have fine low density 4c hair just manage your expectations of a TR, especially if you haven’t seen your hair silky straight before. I say this because almost 98% of the videos I watched were on 4c coarse high density hair so of course my image of what I thought my hair would look like was a bit skewed especially since I had also never seen my hair straight after I went natural. What about my relaxed days? Well there was only ever 1 time I was able to get my hair proper silky straight because this person actually knew what they were doing lol, all other times my hair was still slightly puffy and honestly my hair was more in braids than relaxed and out. My silky straight relaxed hair was also on the thinner side infact my silky straight natural hair is actually a bit ‘thicker’.

Will I get a texture release again? No. Because the main reason why I wanted one was to aid my straight natural journey and since my hair cant tolerate that much heat frequently, there’s no need for it. Whilst I’m loving the relaxed curl pattern and the condition of my hair, its just not enough to justify the service. Will I change my mind later? who knows

Will I recommend it? YES. If you have coarse high density hair, you will probably love it and benefit from it more

I don’t regret getting the TR, I’m so happy I’m finally trying something different with my hair and taking much better care of it! I will have my 1 month wash day post TR up soon! I’m ending my hair challenge of no braids or wigs as I’m planning to get braids soon for the summer as an actual protective style lol. I’ve had my hair out for the last 6 months and need a mini break. Over the last 6 months too, I have worn wigs for a total of 1 week spread over many days. I’m really proud of myself for it! I don’t remember a time I’ve had my own hair out for this long! and taking proper care of it too.

I really hope you find this post helpful. If you are thinking of getting a TR, make sure you read up on it as much as possible whilst watching as many videos as you can. Try and watch vids of people with the same density & texture as yours, it will help you manage expectations. If you have hair like mine, there isnt that many videos for us fortunately lol so hopefully my posts on TR help

take care