Flax Seed Hair Gel..the revoloution for my curly hair!

Been poking around Natruallycurly.com and reading all the posts with the ladies who have decided to abandon conventional hair products and get back to using more natural products which are safe for curly hair and also not stripping or causing reactions on the skin.

When i hear natural sometimes I tend to think the item is going to be more expensive than the store item which i can get for a budget price. Going green does not always mean cheap. It's an adjustment but using items closer to the natural state of things does work better in the long run if the family budget allows for it and i can maintain it well.

Okay so let's lay out how much hair care was costing me before i went the natural route:

Living Proof No Frizz shampoo and conditioner: 2oz bottles = $10 each = $20
Living Proof No Frizz Styling creme: 2 oz bottle = $14
Tresemme Hair Spray: 11oz = $4.99
Bioterra Hair Gel: 38 oz = $9.49 (with club card) plus 13oz bottle to use for travel and refill with the 38oz = 5.99 (with club card)
Giovanni 50:50 Balanced Hydrating-Clarifying Shampoo, for Normal to Dry Hair
8.5 fl oz = $7.97
matching conditioner: $7.97

total: $54.47
The no frizz items only last for at most 1 and a half months. The hair spray last really long b/c i barely used it except for the third or fourth day of having curls. Bioterra 38oz lasts a long time. I think about 2 years...had i not stopped using it it would have finally run out this month. The Giovanni used for clarifying once a week and it took a lot to clarify and deep condition my hair maybe 2 months. Not bad but ever other month for Living Proof was driving me up the wall. Besides the ingredients still had Sodium Lauroyl Methyl Isethionate in the shampoo and that is drying.

Okay, so having been fed up with no relief from frizz at all...a researching I went. Found Naturally Curly.com and started reading about what these girls have been doing ot better thier curly locks. My hair profile according to the website is a 3b. I have nice corkscrew curls and they can be loose but yes my hair comes out like curls from a curling iron naturally. A blessing and a curse. The girls follow the Curly Girl method or the system of co-washing which is conditioner washing. Using only conditioner to cleanse the hair. Wen is the infomercial version of this process. Couldn't go that route b/c it's so expensive. However the girls on the board said they used inexpensive conditioner like Suave Naturals (which you can get in the dollarstore... hey $1 not bad) for the first rounds of cleansing then used a quality conditioner for the leave in portion.

While this sounded like the way to go for me i still read on and looked for other methods. Shampoo bars. Made with oils and all things moisturizing. They are portable and take forever to use up for nice prices from $3 to almost $10. This sounded like something i could definitely go for. Supporting artisan soap makers and moms, while getting clean and conditioned hair.So i looked at Chagrin Valley Soap. Many of the NC posters use these soaps religiously. So to the web page i went and read the ingredients and was loving it. Okay the prices are really good and the sample prices were also good but i kept looking. To Etsy I went and found that some soap makers used sodium hydroxide in their shampoo bars and had to keep looking. Thanks to CV i knew what ingredients i wanted in my shampoo bar: coconut oil, jojoba oil, shea butter and a few other really moisturizing oils and butters. I was worried about castor oil weighing down my hair but i would have to try it out. Found Koala Care on Etsy and she has this amazing bar called Aphrodite's Shampoo Bar Soap. For $3.50 this mid sized bar (cause CV's are huge) had what i wanted (i think now it's $4.50). Shipping was $2.50 so for $6 happiness achived and conditioner, conventional conditioner knocked out.

To follow that rinse with Apple Cider Vinegar for shine and that's like $1.50 for a small bottle at the grocery store.

Now for the thing this post is name for: Flax Seed Gel
This has the buzz of all the natural beauties on NC forums. Flax seed gel is a natural gel you make at home from boiled flax seeds.
Basic Recipe:

One cup water

Quarter cup linseeds

Read more at Suite101: How to Make Flaxseed Gel to Style Curly Hair http://hair-care.suite101.com/article.cfm/how-to-make-flaxseed-gel-to-style-curly-hair#ixzz0v89K3lyM

1 C. Water (distilled is great if you have hard water)
1/4 C. Flax Seeds
Natural Preservative like (grapefruit Seed Extract or Vitamin E)

1. Mix one cup of water to a quarter cup of flaxseeds and add to a pan.
2. Heat slowly, stirring often to stop seeds from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
3. Continue to stir gently as water comes to a boil.
4. A frothy jelly will form and it is crucial to turn the heat down a little when seeds settle in the jelly rather than falling immediately to the bottom of the pan turn the heat off.
5. Carefully pour the liquid through a strainer over a bowl checking for any seeds that may have passed through.
6. Essential oils or preservative can be added at this point.

To this recipe my preservative is Vitamin E ($6 for 200 capsules at Walmart) and for hold, agave nectar ($3 at grocery store) and for more moisture and great scent Sweet almond oil ($2 at Walmart Latino section of the hair styling products), oh yeah Flax seed at grocery store 1lbs for $2.99.

This has given me the perfect curls. Oh yeah must add EVCO just for volume and yes more moisture ( my hair is very thirsty). I use the EV Coconut Oil ($8.99 at Vitamin Shoppe) last because it seals the hair shaft. Air dry and my hair is just WONDERFUL! The gel lasts for about 2 weeks and i have made a more concentrated mixture so that the hold is stronger. My curls are tighter and frizz free! i love it! It's soft and touchable and even lasts in rain. I can even stretch out washings to almost 7 days and my hair looks better the more gel i add to it and do on water rinse mid week in case of the rim of fuzz appears from sleeping and tossing and turning due to pregnancy (so can't wait to get my body back so i can sleep still on my back).

Total: $30.48

Since I'm using very small amounts of everything this $30.48 is going to stretch a long way. I've only used a half cup- 4oz out of 16oz of the flax seed so far and the almond oil maybe half teaspoon (OMG my hair smells great between this and the EVCO..good enough to eat). ACV is only two cap-fulls in warm water. The shampoo bar has barely wasted away, same with the coconut oil. The vitamin E, two capsules per FSG mix and 1/2 tsp agave nectar. This is a great investment b/c i know this will last over months and $2 here and $6 bucks there my hubby will not complain about anything especially since he has seen the change in my hair health and look.

So for almost $6 more than the cost of just the shampoo and styling creme, I'm getting a much better value and usage. This to me is FABULOUS!

UPDATE: her is my hair i hope you can see it well:

One cup water

Quarter cup linseeds

Read more at Suite101: How to Make Flaxseed Gel to Style Curly Hair http://hair-care.suite101.com/article.cfm/how-to-make-flaxseed-gel-to-style-curly-hair#ixzz0v89K3lyM

One cup water

Quarter cup linseeds

Read more at Suite101: How to Make Flaxseed Gel to Style Curly Hair http://hair-care.suite101.com/article.cfm/how-to-make-flaxseed-gel-to-style-curly-hair#ixzz0v89K3lyM

One cup water

Quarter cup linseeds

Read more at Suite101: How to Make Flaxseed Gel to Style Curly Hair http://hair-care.suite101.com/article.cfm/how-to-make-flaxseed-gel-to-style-curly-hair#ixzz0v89K3lyM

The difference between this and my profile pic...i can touch it and it moves well and it's soft! and $23.99!!!!!!!!!!

A Tweezer is a Tweezer is Tweezer!

I was shopping at Sephora a while back and saw the display for the Anastacia . While i was looking at the stencils for eyebrows and the cute products, one caught my eye, the tweezers. Well why not, the woman who has been on Oprah, does the brows of J-Lo, and countless other movie stars has got to put out a really cool tweezers.

According to the Sephora website, the product is described as:

Crafted from the highest quality steel with custom-slanted top and calibrated tension, this professional must-have tool handles even the finest hairs with ease.

For $28 this should be an awesome tweezer.

However, this did not catch my eye because it's Anastacia's Tweezer but because it looked remarkably similar to my tweezers at home by Earth Theraputics. The Pink SoftTouch tweezers. The Earth Theraputics tweezer retails for $9.99 on most sites but I found it at Marshalls for $3.99!



ET describes the tweezer as: Earth Therapeutics SofTouch™ tweezers are professional quality. The body of the SofTouch™ tweezer is lined with a special coating that is velvety soft to the touch, yet ensures a non-slip secure grip for perfect and precise tweezing. The tweezer tips are hand-filed, perfectly aligned and rigorously tested for exacting accuracy.

It's a great tweezer! I really love it and my sister who is very into the brow grooming thing was amazed at it and the price i paid. It has a soft feel to the hand grip and the tip is quite accurate at plucking my brows.

So for about $24.01 less than the official Anastacia brand, you can get the same tweezer for way less at drugstore.com and Amazon which has a Two pack for just under $10. That would make a great gift for a friend ad you get to keep one as well and it's less than $5 each tweezer.

I understand that having a great tweezer is essential especially just to keep up between waxing or threading sessions, however when you have the opportunity to get a great tweezer for a fraction of the cost. This is just way too good to pass up. Ladies save your money and purchase the same tweezer at a less price. you won't be unhappy. Shop on ladies!

Moiturizer for oily skin search Part I

On the quest to look for a moisturizer that works for my skin and helps me to not breakout when that does happen has been a challenge with the triple digit heat here in San Antonio I do not want to look shiny or feel my skin producing excess oils.

So i'm trying two moisturizers:

1. Arbonne FC5 Oil Absorbing Day Lotion with SPF 20 Retail value: $39.50 1.7 oz

2. Sephora FACE Hydrating Balancing Cream - Combination To Oily Skin: $18(online) $12(in-store)
1.69 oz

Yes even oily skin need moisture. However the quest to find a moisturizer that does what it claims is the challenge no matter what your skin type.

I choose these two brands based on my track record with both companies. Arbonne has had wonderful products that my mother uses religiously and that i love to use on occasion. The Hybrids Vitamin punch is great for my daughter and the mens line i so want my hubby to use. I still get the 35% discount and used it to purchase the Day Lotion at less than the $39.50 price tag.

The Sephora face brand saved my face when my skin dried out in the winter. Their dry skin line was perfect for my first experience with dry skina fter being oily for years. Now that the hot weather has finally caught up with my face, i have had to use a different moisturizer with little sucess much to my and my skin's dismay.

Claims:

Arbonne claims this moiturizer is oil free and helps to absorb moisture has antioxidants and has SPF 20 to fight the sun's harmful rays while leavign the skin with a fresh matte appearance.

Sephora Face claims their hydrating balancing cream is tripel action: hydrates, regulates oil production and help future breakouts.

Arbonne is vegan and forulated thsi moisturizer without: Parabens,m Phthalates, Propylene Glycol, Mineral Oil, PABA, Petrolatum, Paraffin, Diethanolamine, or Anima-Derived Ingredients. Key Ingredients: Fresh kiwi cells; Matte Fresh Complex of mallow, melissa, watercress, ivy; grapeseed oil, pomegranate extract, vitamins A and E

Sephora: has white clay, zinc, vitamin b-5, however it has parabens. No mineral oil which is great.
-White Clay: Absorbs excess sebum and impurities.
-Zinc: Regulates sebum.
-Vitamin E: Antioxidant.
-Glycerin: Prevents skin dryness.
-Pro-Vitamin B5: Nourishing, softening, and anti-inflammatory.


Aroma:
Arbonne: Pleasant fruity smell though does smell a little like suntan loition.

Sephora: Fresh smell that is light.

Texture and absorption:

Arbonne had a light slippery feel a little like suntan lotion but thinner. The product comes out throught the use of a samll pump and it is a perfect amount for the face. It absorbed into my skin very quickly, lef my skin soft and matte just as the claim goes.

Sephora in a plain tube had great smooth texture and was thin as well. It absorbed into my skin more quickly than the Arbonne product.

Staying power:

Arbonne left my skin feeling hydrated longer while the sephora as soft but not as soft as the Arbonne product. I am sititng here petting my hand withthe arbonne cream on it b/c it's so soft.

Field testing into the Texas Heat is the next test. I need a week with each product to give it a full go. so this posting will have to have a Part II.

If you have used any of the two let me know. If you'd liek to purchase Arboonee with a 35% discount let me know and i can tell you how to get it.

If you haven't signed up for the Beauty Insider card with sephora you need to get it! Rack up points and get exlusive full sized samples. How cool is that!

Designer Looks for Less - Bling it OUT!

Let's do some comparison shopping!


On Shopnbc.com, the Samuel Benham collection is stunning. The pieces are luxurious and stunning. Let's take a look at a few.

This beautiful pendant was listed for almost $210 before shipping. It's gorgeous detailing and is a statement maker. Compare it to our Signature Pendant at $76 and we have a savings of $134! What a difference. It also comes with our lifetime guarantee and if purchased as a bonus item can be yours for only $12 (a savings of $198). The colors are also limited to a choice of two stones, where as the Park Lane Signature Series comes in 5 different stone colors to suit your fashion needs. Topaz, Amethyst, Ruby, Jet and Pink.









At Kay Jewelers I found these beautiful earrings for $150 available in white and yellow gold. What a nice pair for that up coming party or to throw in some glamor into a weekday outfit.

Our version of these earrings, called Whisper will in either silver or gold tone can be yours for just $15 or 10% of the Kay price! What a steal! The designer look with out the designer price!



You could get Whisper in both colors and still not have paid as much for the one set. That is what I call shopping wisely.


Another hot designer is John Hardy. His creations are simply stunning. On a trip to Neiman Marcus, you can find his jewelry running from the low $200 to almost $2000 range. Very nice work and it's lovely. I was just salivating over the craftsmanship and the attention to detail.

The Kali bracelet that runs for a modest $495 at Neiman Marcus. It's chic, modern and would go with anything from jeans to that perfect black cocktail dress.

The Jewels By Park Lane has a designer inspired version of the Kali called Wild One. At the price of $59 it is the look for less and at a savings of $436! There is more to the set and it can best be seen in the catalog so just look for the Box.net widget on this page on the left hand side and download the 2008 catalog to view it on page 17. You will not be disappointed.


You can get the look for less and still have money to put in the bank. You can do it with Jewels by Park Lane. Place an order or host a party. Your jewelry is waiting for you!