Sistah's Top 5 Leave In Conditioners

I consider myself to be the Queen of Wash N Go's.  Its my signature style.  Why? Oh I dont know.  Its quick, its easy.  No muss no fuss.  Right?  Well it wasnt always that way.  When I 1st went Natural it was the only style I knew.  The products that I was using back then were not condusive to a healthy WnG style.  The main reason is because they failed to keep my hair moisturized through out a day, which caused frizzy inconsistancies with my hair.   This issue is very important. If you want to rock a GREAT WnG you'll need to find a GREAT Leave In.  I look for products that will  assist my hair in retaining moisture, while remaining soft and touchable.  I also like it to smell good. I like flowery and/or fruity scented products.  When MY hair gets moisture it spirals and shines.  If can find a product that can make this last for a week, then I feel like its a good product.  I believe that my hair is thin type 4a/4b. It enjoys a thick, creamy, leave in conditioner. 

 5 Leave~ Ins that I LOVE and Why!

Oyin Handmade Honey Hemp Conditioner ~ This is my absolute favorite.  It smells AMAZING!  thats first.  Its marketed as a Conditioner that can also be used as a leave in.  Its organic.  I use this condish after every Wash/CoWash and under any other Leave In that I might be using.  Its the first thing that I apply to my damp hair. No special method, just a quarter size sized amount smoothed thru my hair from root to ends. I usually follow with another favorite. It seems to immediately seal in moisture by stopping my hair from dripping once applied.  Its not super thick.  I also use it to enhance some not so favorite products, if they are not doing what I want them to do.

Giovanni Direct Leave In Conditioner ~ I love, love, love this stuff.  I found this product when I was looking for an organic alternative to Mixed Chicks.  It works great alone, but also plays friendly with other products.  A little goes a long way with this product.  I usually shingle this in AFTER i have applied my Honey Hemp Condish and let my hair air dry.  I also use this to twist my lil Chicks hair (I add jojoba oil to it for her)  I love the way this leave in clings to my hair, it smells really good and seems to dry quicker than the rest.  Its nice and thick.  This product is certified organic and is sold at Whole Foods. 

Ohm Body Sweet Hair Pudding ~ I am so glad that I was recently introduced to this product!  (This is where my product Junkyism pays off!!!) Its a very thick strawberry yogurt looking cream. It comes in a jar and It smells divine. Not only does this product smell like a treat, its like a decadent treat for my hair.  It seems to grab and absorb into my hair, holding onto it while it dries. Leaving it super curly & soft to the touch.   (I have also used this product for a Bantu Knot out and got EXCELLENT results)

Kinky Kurly Knot Today Leave in/Detangler ~ I got this Leave In along with the Kinky Kurly Curling Custard.  Although the Custard did nothing for my hair, I found a gem in the Knot Today.  I am not sure if this one is organic or not.  I use it as a leave in. It smells great, it comes in a bottle so its not super thick, but very effective.  It dries leaving my hair soft and touchable, just the way I like.  Its not necessary to add anything to this conditioner, it works just fine all by itself.  You can get it at Whole Foods and Target.

EO Lavender & Aloe Conditioner ~  I was introduced to this conditioner by a friend on YouTube.  This product is not marketed as a Leave In.  Its an organic condtioner that smells absolutely heavenly, that is if you are a fan of Lavender like I am.  It works great for detangling, and I use it as a Leave-In also.  (I have never experienced and residue or build up from doing this).  This product plays very well with other products (especially Giovanni) Of course since I fell in love with this conditioner, they have reformulated it and its no longer being sold as "Lavender & Aloe".  Luckily, I was able to hit up EO's web warehouse special when they were getting rid of the old formula.  I wont tell you how much i got, but I will be using it for awhile (smiles).  While in TJ Maxx recently I was able to find some of their new formulation so I picked up bottles of Citrus & Vanilla Shampoo & Conditioner.  I'll have to let you know how it turns out!

What are some of your favs?

Thanks for Reading!

Peace :-)

HairStory - Days of My Napps

As many of you Natural girls know the road to NappiHappiness ain't easy. If you were like me, you've had relaxers in your hair for many years and dont even know what the natural pattern is. After my big chop I was pleasantly surprised to find a head full of small coils. While growing my hair out i mostly wore it in an afro. I am fortunate to be able to work from home so only my family and friends saw my hair as it transitioned from relaxed to natural. Their reaction has been pretty positive. i have been at this for almost 3 years, and have used various products. Finding products developed for natural hair hasn't been easy. I'll be honest and tell you that in the beginning, i never really thought that much about it. My hair routine had gotten so much easier, what else did i need to worry about? I started off with washing my hair once a week, but wetting it everyday to achieve the ringlets that I wanted. The wash included shampooing & Conditioning with Garnier Fructis. I used the conditioner as my comb thru. I would completely resaturate my towel dried hair with Infusium Leave In Conditioner for dry/damaged hair. I would then apply a palm full of Pink Lotion Hair Moisturizer, a follow with a quarter size dollop of Loreal Melting Gel. This was a MESSY process. It left my hair really curly in some parts and poofy in others. Once my hair dried it remained sticky to the touch. Think Coming to America when SOUL-Glo's parents were sittin on the couch. Yep, I think I had a Jheri Curl, Even tho I was using everything made for dry hair, my hair was not being moisturized and it was left dry and damaged. I was also experiencing a lot of shedding. TRIAL/ERROR (I told you it wasn't easy!) Eventually, my routine transitioned to washing once a week using Garnier Fructis Shampoo for Curly Hair. I changed my comb thru deep conditioner to Motions CPR (Critical, Protection, Repair) mixed in with Garnier Fructis Conditioner for Curly Hair. While my hair is still very damp I sprayed with Infusium Frizzologie Leave In Conditioner and followed with a palm full of Motions Conditioning Cream. This process seemed to do a good job of keeping my hair moisturized. It was a little oily to the touch, but not too bad. The shrinkage that i experienced with this routine was insane. By now my hair is shoulder length when straightened with a blow dryer(I would blow it out straight periodically to cut my ends evenly), however, it would shrink to a short afro during the drying process. Once completely dry, I could then pick and pull it out to a reasonably curly afro. I found that as hours of the day went on tho that my afro would get poofy, frizzy and unruly. I didnt mind this so much, but it was unpredictable. On a humid day, I would get a huge out of control mane and on dry days I would get the curls that I wanted but this never lasted into the next day. I was continuously having to rewet and reapply all of the products and would get different results after every application. If I am just chillin in my hood or with my fam/friends this is not a problem but a learning experience, HOWEVER! Not good on special occasions because i could never know what my hair would do. Various headbands & scarves became my perfect standbys in case of Hairtastrophies. (HairStory within a HairStory - Had a business meetin in FL. Got my hair into a nice perfect afro. It was dry and cutely cropped. Fell asleep on the plane and woke to find the back of my hair completely flattened, stiff and unmoisturized. The front was doing its own thing. I had no products, no supplies, not even a comb. I remedied this by wetting the back of hair in the bathroom and applying some hand lotion from my purse. I picked at it and blended it and got it all to at least look uniformily wet (but not dripping) and just prayed that I could get in and out of that meeting and back on the plane home before my hair dried again! OOPS was still in early learning stages!! LOL) My hair is like a Soap Opera - Days of My Napps, All My Napps, One Nap to Live, etc...lol its a different HairStory everyday!