Coastal Scents is the best! I needed shea butter, cocoa butter and some other various things but, I didn't want to pay shipping as was on a budget, all the other sites wanted like $10 shipping (say what?!) for just $30 worth of products!

Well, I remembered that Coastal Scents had shea butter and black soap and lo and behold, they have it the cheapest I have seen so far!

Shea butter- $8.49/lb
Cocoa butter- $9.45/lb
Sweet Almond Oil-$6.69/lb (16 oz)
African Black Soap-$11.95/15 oz
Juniper Berry and Lavender Essentail Oils- 3.99 each
and a few 4 oz containers


My order came to $50 and I got FREE shipping!!

I still need to get some herbs and stuff but, I think I'll try to get those locally.

I should have my package in about 2-3 days via FedEx!

I love saving money, one stop shopping AND FREE shipping!! Can you tell I am glad?! :)

Recipe (got some of it offline some of it from my mind...etc.)


In a large bowl mix:
8oz shea butter (you can do a little bit more or less)
4 tablespoons of aloe vera gel
2 tablespoons castor oil
2 tablespoons coconut oil (my coconut oil was in a solid state)
1 tablespoon of oil of preference (I used a body oil blend that had jojoba, almond oil, etc)

Mix with a hand held mixer until mixture becomes creamy and fluffy. Add more aloe vera if the consistency isn't thick as you want it. The aloe vera is the defining product, if you don't use enough you won't get a nice hold. The aloe vera also cuts some of the oiliness of the oils and shea butter (IMO). Make sure you don't add too much oil because shea butter is "greasy" enough on it's own.

Store in a Tupperware type container in cool dry place and use as necessary.

Remember, this is not a moisturizer! This is a sealant/ styling agent. It works best on damp hair or after a water-based leave-in has already been applied to the hair.

My braid-outs have never been defined but, since I have been using this cream they have been defined and soft. :)

Enjoy!!

Told you...nice right?!

Defined braid-out...? Achieved

Not so great picture of the back...

See how thick it is?

Look at that shine!!

There is a lot of debate about which oils actually do penetrate the hair shaft, if any at all do. So, I did a little digging (and I do mean a little b/c this info was easy to find) and found the answer:

Coconut Oil- penetrates the hair shaft
Jojoba oil- does not penetrate and may/may not have any actual benefit to the hair itself besides being superficial.
Olive Oil- penetrates the hair shaft
Avocado Oil- penetrates the hair shaft
Meadow foam oil- partially penetrates
Sunflower oils- don't penetrate at all

Site where I got this info: The Beauty Brains

So, when looking for a moisturizer you may want to make sure that the oils that are at the top of the list (the ones most abundant in the product) are actually penetrating your hair. Remember, water is the best moisturizer, so if you are looking for moisture make sure water is at the top of the list.

Make sure to do your research and don't just go off of articles like this. Look and find out for yourself why something may or may not work for you. Be an educated consumer. :)

Sometimes too much knowledge can get over whelming and confusing. This is something that seems to be occurring in the haircare community. As many of us learn how to take better care of our hair we look to forums, youtube, and blogs. There is a plethora of haircare knowledge sweeping the web and just recently, bookstores. There seems to be a lot of product junkies still struggling with their hair and a lot of women that think "natural hair is hard to take care of" not true at all.

Here is a great youtube video by "msvcharles" about how simple taking care of your hair can be. I agree with her completely, it doesn't take much at all to take are of your hair.

Checklist:

1. Shampoo- if you use an "all natural" soap to wash your body, try it on your hair and see how your hair reacts. I use Nubian Heritage soaps for my body and surprisingly they also work well for my hair.

2. Conditioner- I use the Giovanni line. I honestly think it you figure out what your hair needs this is a simple choice. Dry, itchy scalp? Get a conditioner with tea tree oil. Slow hair growth? Try one with peppermint. Read reviews and narrow it down to 2 or 3 companies.

3. Leave-In conditioner- You need your leave-in to moisturize so, you need to look for water as the first ingredient. If you feel like you can't find a leave-in you like, try a water and vegetable glycerin mix (50/50). Water and glycerin are usually the first 2 ingredients in most leave-ins.

4. Sealant/oil: Your options are endless here. You can use shea butter, mango butter, avocado oil,olive oil, coconut oil, vitamin e oil, the list is endless. Some oils are lighter than others and even penetrate the hair shaft to moisturize (coconut oil).

5. Gel- This is optional. You can even make your own gel with flax seeds or use aloe vera gel.

This is just a starter list. Of course you will need to do your research and find out what your hair likes.

One thing I will suggest is making sure you are not sending you hair on a PH roller coaster ride as Kimmaytube calls it. Here is her video on this: PH Balance. This is something I suggest being aware of when you start mixing ingredients and using "homemade" hair recipes. Just because it is natural doesn't mean it is great for our hair.

Also, the products found in the stores are usually already tested for PH, this is why most companies suggest you use their shampoo along with their conditioner.

Remember, women have been growing their hair since the beginning of time and they didn't have all these product lines, they kept it simple.

My hair had been really dry and since I had run out of my deep conditioner, I think my hair was having withdrawals. Well, I stumbled upon a blog where a woman was talking about oil rinsing and how it had given her hair shine and moisture. She showed before and after pics of her hair in a bun and the difference was amazing!!! (Blog)

Here is a thread @ Naturally Curly about it: Oil Rinsing
A post @ Newly Natural: Oil Rinsing
Blog I found out about it on "Textured Playground": Super Slick Bun

Here are the steps "Newly Natural" used:

Oil rinsing is essentially washing your hair with oil before applying your conditioner. I have found that occasionally oil rinsing allows my hair to detangle easier and it also softens it up. To oil rinse, simply do the following:
1. Wash or Rinse hair
2. Apply oil of choice from root to tip.
3. Rinse hair.
4. Apply conditioner and continue as you normally would.
My favorite oil to use for oil rinses is olive oil. It’s nice and thick and goes on easy. It’s way too heavy for me to use on my hair after washing, but perfect for my oil rinses. You can use any oil you like, though.

Here is where my "homemade" method differed....
I didn't want to use it before I shampooed because the shampoo I use is actually very moisturising. (does that make sense? I didn't need the moisture in that step, I needed moisture AFTER the conditioner and before the leave-in)

So what I do is this:

1. Shampoo hair in sections and rinse thoroughly.
2. Apply conditioner and rinse.
3. Apply a light oil to whole head. I used Castor oil for 2 days and then used coconut oil until I shampooed again.
4. Rinsed the oil out. I rinsed about 50% of the oil out.
5. Then I applied a light handed amount of coconut oil and bunned my hair while soaking wet.

I am telling you my hair was so soft!! I did notice that just using coconut oil wasn't very moisturising by itself, unless I put a towel over my bun (like a steam treatment) to seal in some of the oil. I didn't use a leave-in when I oil rinsed and I also made sure to shampoo my hair once a week at the very least or else my hair would feel weighed down. and oily..

I give oil- rinsing a thumbs up in my book and will continue doing it throughout the Winter when I take out my protective style (more on that later...whew...).

Try both methods and let me know which one works for you!! 

I just got back in town after being in dry Texas for a week and a half and my hair is so dry... I wore it in a ponytail the whole time I was there and didn't put a lick of conditioner in it. Sad right? I took my conditioner but the bees were so bad out there that I didn't even want to risk being stung (they were all over me when I wore lotion).

What I plan to do it is do a deep condition with honey, Castor oil, and a cheap conditioner (white rain tropical coconut), shampoo, condition and then do an oil rinse (more on that later).

I am not sure if I will detangle after the shampoo or after the deep condish...

Benefits of honey for hair: It is high in vitamins and minerals, and has wonderful benefits for the skin and hair. Honey is a good humectant and emollient, serving as a good moisturizer and conditioner.

Read more: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/honey-hair-conditioner.html##ixzz11W9LmlMs

Benefits of Castor oil: Castor oil is a humectant as it draws moisture into the hair and skin. Applying castor oil on hair will keep it looking soft, shiny and strong.
Read more: http://skinverse.com/castor-oils-many-uses-for-beautiful-skin-and-hair.html











Of course do your own research to see if these products are great for you. I find that using Castor oil for my oil rinse and them putting a towel over my hair (kind of like a steam treatment) makes my hair really soft. In the morning all I do is add some coconut oil (because it is so light) and bun my hair.

Doing all of this from beginning to end (deep condition to bun) take about an 1 hr.; detangling included.

As you can see I like to Keep It Simple!