Hey guys! Ok, so I am back on hair maintenance and I have been sticking with my main products that I love like CON Argan Shampoo, regular ol' rinse out conditioner (mainly V05), my AO GPB as as a deep conditioner (when I have time!) and my avocado butter as a twistout, twist, braidout, braid, leave in product. I LOVE my avocado butter with a passion, I have been using it for about 8 years now and it will ALWAYS be a staple, as long as I can continue to buy it on Etsy :) :).
Anywhoo, on to my ramble of the day...
This next product (or products) I have to mention is the reason for
the title of this blog post. So, I love finding products that are cheap
but effective. I just never really got the whole "$ 50 for 2 oz of
product" thing. Don't get me wrong, I know that you get what you pay
for, but c'mon. So I'm on youtube and I see a review for my Evoo and
Moringa and the same reviewer mentions a product called "African Pride
shea butter miracle bouncy curls pudding" and "African Pride shea butter
miracle leave-in conditioner". Now, I don't really use the "african"
this and "african" that brand names, so I wasn't expecting anything
special, but let me just say, whoever formulated this product was spot
on. The ingredients are seemingly pretty good and there is no mineral
oil or petrolatum from what I can see. I really like both products and
what I REALLY like is that I got them for $3.45 at my local Fred's
Dollar Store for 15 ounces!! Yes, everyone that seems to be looking
for it can only find it at Walmart (ugh, I don't do Walmart) and I have
heard prices that range from $3.88 and up at Walmart. For anyone that
has a Fred's in their area, check it out, you'll be surprised at the
wide range of products made for "us" there. I also occasionally buy my
castor oil at Fred's. Walmart ain't always the cheapest ya'll. ;) ;)
African Pride also makes an "Olive Miracle" line but they contain
Paraffinum Liquidum (Mineral Oil) and Petrolatum. They are also cheaper
(I have seen them as low as $2.69 at the beauty supply). :|
So,
the African pride products are made by Strength of Nature, which also
makes Elasta QP per their website. A THIRD brand that they also make is Beautiful Textures per the Beautiful Textures website. Ya'll know I do my research, so
check out the ingredients of Elasta QP Olive Oil and Mango Butter Curl
Defining Pudding vs the Shea Butter Miracle Bouncy Curls pudding vs Beautiful Textures Curl Control Defining Pudding:
Beautiful Textures Curl Control Defining Pudding
Ingredients: Aqua, Glycine Soja Oil/Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil, Argania Spinosa Nut Oil/Argan Oil, Cocos Nucifera Oil/Coconut Oil, Olea Europaea Fruit Oil/Olive Oil, Butyrospermum Parkii Fruit/Shea Butter, Mangifera Indica Seed Butter/Mango Butter, Rosmarinus Officinalis Leaf Extract/Rosemary Extract, Dimethicone, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract/Aloe Vera, Phenyl Trimethicone, Panax Ginseng Root Extract/Ginseng Extract, Glycerin, Polyquaternium 11, Steareth 2, Steareth 20, DMDM Hydantoin, Imidazolidinyl Urea, Sodium Carbomer, PEG 150 Distearate, PEG 12 Dimethicone, CI 15985/Yellow 6, Parfum/Fragrance, Benzyl Benzoate, Benzyl Salicylate, Coumarin, d-Limonene, Hexyl Cinnamal, Lyral, Methyl Ionone Gamma.
Elasta QP Olive Oil and Mango Butter Curl Defining Pudding
Aqua,
Glycine Soja Oil/Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil, Olea Europaea
Fruit Oil/Olive Oil, Mangifera Indica Seed Butter/Mango Butter, Argonia
Spinosa Nut Oil/Argon Oil, Cocos Nucifera Oil/Coconut Oil,
Butyrospermum Parkii Fruit/Shea Butter, Rosmarinus Officinalis Leaf
Extract/Rosemary Extract, Dimethicone, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf
Extract/Aloe Vera Extract, Phenyl Trimethicone, Panax Ginseng Root
Extract/Ginseng Extract, Glycerin, Polyquaternium 11, Steareth 2,
Steareth 20, DMDM Hydantoin, lmidazolidinyl Urea,Sodium Carbomer, PEG
150 Distearate, PEG 12 Dimethicone, Daucus Carota Sativa Root Oil/Carrot
Oil, Parfum/Fragrance, Benzyl Benzoate, Citrai,Citronellal, d-Limonene,
Geraniol, Lilial, Linalool.
African Pride Shea Butter Miracle Bouncy Curls Pudding 15oz
aqua,glycine
soja oil/soy bean oil, hydrogenated vegetable oil, butyrospermum parkii
fruit/shea butter, mangifera indica seed butter/mango butter, argania
spinosa kernel oil/argan oil, cocos nucifera oil/coconut oil, olea
eurpaea friut oil/olive oil,rasmarinus officinalis leaf extract/rosemary
extract. dimethicone, aloe barbadensis leaf extract/aloe vera extract,
phemyl trimethicone, pamax gingseng root extract/gingseng extract, aloe
barbademsis leaf extract/aloe vera extract, glycerin, polyquaternium 11,
steareth 2, steareth 20, DMDM hydantoin, imidazolidinyl urea sodium
carbomer, PEG 150 diftearate, PEG 12 dimethicone, CI 15985/yellow 6,
parfum/fragrance, benzyl benzoate, benzyl salicylate, coumarin,
d-limoneme, hexyl cinnamal, lyral,methyl ionane gamma
Pretty darn similar, right? I own the EQP and the AP Shea butter miracle and have seen the EQP at beauty supply
stores for about $5.99 for 15 oz, which is still a great price, but I
think the AP Shea Butter pudding will do just fine for me after the EQP
is gone. :)
So, the rest of this blog will be about stuff I have run across while I have been trying to get my hair journey back on track (don't worry, my hair is doing AWESOME and growing back like weeds hee hee), I have been of course curious of all the NEW and NEW AND IMPROVED?? stuff that's circulating on youtube, blogs, etc. I have never been a PJ, but I know it's easy to become one, especially with the literally THOUSANDS of products out here these days. I have been fortunate and have been able to avoid it in my journey of the last 12 years. That being said, I was low on my avocado butter so instead of ordering a new batch right now, I decided to check out some of the commercial products at the department store.
The first thing I did was check out youtube to see what some good recommendations were. Anyone that knows me, knows I don't do expensive because expensive didn't get my hair to my tailbone before, so yeah...no. First, I absolutely love Youtube's Naptural85's winter wash and go method with the oil rinsing. Love it, hands down. I also love that she doesn't use a lot of products. Just great methods, great information, gorgeous hair and minimal products. THAT'S how you do it. ;)
So I was in Walgreens one day and ran across the Nubian Heritage Evoo and Moringa line (that I have avoided like the plague since it hit the shelves because of those $11.99 and $13.99 price tags.) But this particular day, they had ONE jar of the Evoo & Moringa Repair & Extend Hair Butter...and it was on CLEARANCE. Ya'll know I LOVE me some clearance. It was $3.24 AND I had 1000 points on my Walgreens card that the clerk let me use, so I got it for $2.24. Seriously, what was there to lose? That being said, I took it home, tried it right out of the shower on a set of twists and I LOVED it. It is almost the exact same consistency as my avocado butter but it has shea butter in it. I am not a fan of shea butter but the consistency of the product just melts like butter in my hair, JUST like my avocado butter! It also smells so good and citrus-y, like freshly squeezed lemons! That being said, even though I really love the product, I will not repurchase it, because of the price. Not when I can get a 12-16 oz jar of avocado butter for about 10-12 bucks, the same price as the Evoo and Moringa. I am about halfway through the jar, so once it's gone, that will be it for me. So on to the next...
Another product that I have been eye-ing was the newly revamped line from Eden Bodyworks. I love the history behind the owner, and I didn't get a chance to try her products years ago before they were discontinued. That being said, ya'll know I love a deal, so here was my scenario...
My Sally Beauty club card was set to expire in Sept 2013. Those of you that have one, know that if you renew your card in the same month it expires, you get a $5 off coupon after you renew it, so it's like getting your money right back! Also in Sept, Sally's was running a special on Eden Bodyworks. You get $2 off any product. So I went in to renew my card, I got my five buck coupon. The next week, I went in and got the Eden BW Coconut co-wash and the Coconut Shea Curl Defining Creme. They were $7.99 each, $2 off each and w/my $5 off coupon, I got both of them for about $7! Once again, I hit gold. The co-wash is great, it doesn't sud, which I didn't expect it to, but it does foam, which I love, because you can kind of squeeze the product through to the ends without wasting it, if that makes sense. The curl pudding, on the other hand, the jury is still out. It smells great, the consistency is good and moisturizing, but don't expect any good hold. I don't think it's geared toward hold anyway. :) Overall, the co-wash is great and I would purchase it again, but I need to get it on a good sale. :)
So that's it, I hope this helps someone out, peace love and (no) hair grease! :)
