Tag Archives: Hair

Young, Broke, and Fabulous

5 Jun

I just combed through my bank statement from last month and discovered that I spent a whopping $200+ on miscellaneous bullshit. I spent another $75 in Ulta. On what you might ask? I have no effing clue. But I do know one thing, it stops here. I’m putting myself on a strict budget (I thought I had already, but obviously that didn’t work). I have all this stuff on my Summer Want list, but I nibbled away at the dollars I should’ve been using for that. NO MORE, I SAY! From now on, I will not be buying stuff that I don’t need unless:

  1. It’s something I use over and over and is at a rock-bottom, once-a-year price i.e. when I bought 2 razor cartridge refills b/c they were on sale at 60% off + two $2 coupons
  2. To replace a product I currently have but isn’t working
  3. A limited edition nail color

That seems like a lot of exceptions, but I can count the instances on my hand that those issues have been the case (and coincidentally, none of them were the case last month).

 

Also, I will allow myself a slight budget for stuff I don’t need, but I’ll only purchase those items based on priority (how bad/long I’ve wanted it). So. I’ll start with a budget of $150/month to be broken down as such:

 

$40 skin/makeup

$30 hair

$80 clothes (I NEVER buy clothes, so my wardrobe consists of an ass of shit that I only kinda like, but bought for a dirt cheap price)

 

So wish me luck. Join me. Whatever floats your boat.

Tags: , , ,

I want that old thing back: It’s A 10 Miracle leave-In Product

30 Dec

Somewhere about midway through 2011 I tried It’s A 10 miracle leave-in product. I remember being wowed by its detangling capabilities, but in my quest for an all-natural regimen, I put it in a drawer somewhere until today.

I washed my hair with what I believe is going to be my go-to shampoo/conditioner today *squeal*.  After I got out of the shower, I tied a towel around my hair and did a few things.

When I got done, my hair was no longer soaking wet, so I re-wet it in the sink and applied a few pumps of HE LTR. I then started to comb my hair out with a wide toothed comb. Hoooooowever *Franklin from My Wife and Kids voice* my lamb’s wool was resisting. A serious matter called for serious solution. So I broke out the It’s A 10. I sprayed one mist on the problem area from about seven inches away from my head and INSTANTLY it was detangled. I did this on about two more areas and was done detangling.

Even though I used this product primarily for detangling, that isn’t this products only claim to fame. It has 10 functions (hence the name). According to the bottle, it:

  1. repairs dry, damaged hair
  2. adds shine
  3. detangles
  4. controls frizz
  5. seals and protects hair color
  6. prevents split ends
  7. stops hair breakage
  8. creates silkiness
  9. enhances natural body
  10. 10. flat iron spray and thermal protector

The texture of this ten-in-one product is like a watery cream. You have to be careful not to use too much so that you don’t weigh your hair down. But it’s easy to apply since it comes in a spray bottle. It smells nice, but it is rather fragrant. IDK how to describe the smell, but it does smell really good (I’m sure that’s a big help, lol).  I think I may have to incorporate this into my regimen since it not only detangles, but supposedly does all those other things too. So far, we’re 1 for 10 and the prospect is good!

The only bad thing I will say about this, is that it costs a whopping $18 dollars for 4oz at Ulta. Not to mention it’s excluded from most of their coupons. It can be bought at a cheaper price on Amazon, though. But I do believe you’d get your money’s worth, as it only requires, at max, 5 mists for a whole head. Because it’s in cream form, 5 mists won’t even put a dent in the bottle.

Ingredients: It contains ‘cones and parabens (my verdict is still out on whether either of those are really all that bad), but it also has some really good stuff in it, including panthenol, sunflower seed extract, green tea leaf extract, and silk amino acids

Water, Cetearyl Alcohol, Behentrimanium Chloride, Propylene Glycol, Cyclomethicone, Fragrance, Panthenol, Silk Amino Acids, Heli Anthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Extract, Camelia Slnesis Leaf Extract, Quaternium-80, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Eugenol, Coumarin, Cinnamal, Linalool Methylchloroisothiazolinane and Methylisothiazolinone.

Tags: , , , ,

Wash Day: Herbal Essences Long Term Relationship

29 Dec

Ok. So. All year I have been avoiding commercial hair products because of their ingredients (you know, sulfate= bad), but I’m just about at my wit’s end. It seems like everything labeled “natural”, “organic”, or “handmade” that I’ve tried is lacking in one way or another. So out of desperation, and the sheer will to spend money on ish I know I don’t need, I purchased Herbal Essences Long Term Relationship shampoo and conditioner.

I actually liked the duo.

I love the leave-in conditoner from the same line, so almost on a whim I decided to try the other two products. This line is supposed to protect long hair from breakage and split ends by including Brazilian silk (I guess Brazilian is supposed to be better? whatev…) and raspberry extracts in the ingredients.

The Shampoo: The shampoo smells great, of course. However, neither of these products smell like the leave-in to me. It’s a surprisingly thick, pink liquid that lathers well. I was also surprised at how gentle it was in my hair. My hair didn’t feel the least bit stripped or hay-like. It was just clean and fragrant.

Ingredients: Water, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Glycol Distearate, Zea Mays (Corn) Silk Extract, Hydrolyzed Silk, Rubus Idaeus (Raspberry) Fruit Extract, Fragrance, Sodium Citrate, Cocamide MEA, Sodium Xylenesulfonate, Dimethicone, Citric Acid, Sodium Benzoate, Polyquaternium 76, Sodium Chloride, Tetrasodium EDTA, Ammonium Laureth Sulfate, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone, Red 33, Blue 1

The Conditioner: The conditioner smells like the shampoo: great. It had a regular conditioner consistency. Not thin and watery, and not thick and cream-like. I applied it liberally and covered with a plastic cap, a scarf, a baseball cap, and a hood and went to the mall to finish buying Christmas gifts. When I rinsed my hair, it was easy enough to detangle, but it wasn’t oozing with slippery, buttery goodness like I’d expect from a regular conditioner. But on the bright side, it didn’t weigh my hair down or leave it dry. My hair felt pretty darn good.

Ingredients:Water, Stearyl Alcohol, Behentrimonium Chloride, Cetyl Alcohol, Bis Aminopropyl Dimethicone, Hydrolyzed Silk, Rubus Idaeus (Raspberry) Fruit Extract, Zea Mays (Corn) Silk Extract, Fragrance, Benzyl Alcohol, Disodium EDTA, Sodium Hydroxide, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone, Red 33

After that, I rollerset my hair as usual and followed up with a “silk wrap” using Saran Wrap (but that’s a whole other post, smh). Nonetheless, my hair came out nicely for Christmas 🙂

 

 

Tags: , , , , ,