Shea Moisture Fail and Wash Day Update

At long, long last, Wash Day's web site is finally live! Attempted assistance from several sources, but nothing ever came through so I did it on my own. Still have some tweaking to do, but for now, here's my baby!

www.wash-day.com

Wash Day is comprised of shampoos, conditioner, hair butter and hair oil...all designed to help you develop your own low-manipulation natural hair regimen and without spending a fortune! While there is a plethora of natural hair care products on the market, after 40+ years, I couldn't find anything my hair would love for more than a few months until I learned how to make my own hair care products. And the rest, they say, is history!

Now, from time to time, I do try out non-Wash Day products and sometimes with decent results. Not this time, however. I know everyone raves about Shea Moisture products, but I'm not real keen on them...mainly because many of their products contain ingredients on the endangered species list. I did finally break down last weekend and bought a jar of Shea Moisture's Curl Enhancing Smoothie. I liked the ingredients, the price, the amount of product in the container and even the smell. But, I hate this product! Two coils down on this one!

With ladies literally killing themselves to take advantage of Shea Moisture's BOGO deals, I was excited to finally give this product a try. I knew something was wrong as soon as I put my finger in it. The consistency was way wrong for my hair texture and it lacked the oomph I hoped it would have. Additionally, I'm on Day Two of my twist out and will have to redo my hair tonight. Not only did Curl Enhancing Smoothie fail to add shine or bounce to my hair, it didn't even hold my curls!!!!!  I also find my curls to be too wild, frizzy and stiff. I'm not used to this. My hair is always shiny, bouncy and does not frizz when I separate my curls.

 Note: I am not being biased in any way, but Wash Day's Bounce Butter and Carol's Daughter's Healthy Hair Butter do a much better job of maintaining weeklong curls.

I don't know what all the fuss is about with Shea Moisture's Curl Enhancing Smoothie, but at least I know I'm not missing anything when I throw this in the trash!

Modelsown!

I don't know about you, but I'm always on the hunt for unusual things. So, when I found lime green eyeliner on Pinterest, I couldn't not buy it! It took a little hunting, but I found the eyeliner, and then some, at Modelsown!

I am now the proud owner of yellow, lime green, bright pink and orange eyeliner (the black eyeliner was a free gift), and can't wait to see how these Kohl Neon Eye Pencils work with my Mac eye shadows! They also have blue, but that got a bad rap back in the day so I skipped that one. And, considering these have sharpeners built into the inside of the cap and a smudger on the opposite end, I don't think £5 each is a bad price. Shipping was pretty fast too!

And look how pretty they are! I can't wait to get a little sunkissed to see how these colors pop! From top to bottom is pink, green, yellow and orange. Speaking of orange, which is the larger smudge of color above the eye pencil colors, I also got this:

It's matte and it's Hyper Brite in Orangeade for just £6! Ever since I was a little girl, my mom has always hunted for the perfect shade of orange lipstick as it was the go-to color for a lot of ladies back in the '40s and the '50s. I've even tried hunting this down for her as a birthday or Christmas gift, but never found one. But, I think this is it! Of course, I'll be test driving it before I purchase one for her. But, I think this is going to be a winner. 

Just like the eye pencils, this lipstick goes on smooth and creamy. Hopefully, it has staying power.

UPDATE: I wore the lipstick yesterday, but had to keep reapplying it over and over and over again! This wears off faster than Mac lipstick which has the worst staying power of all the brands I've tried. Moving on to Lime Crime!

Wash Day Update and Product Review

It's been a hectic past few weeks with Wash Day, but going very well what with my weekly business classes and shipping out Etsy orders. I did have one snafu with my labels, but that's been resolved! I'm also waiting on my domain to be repointed so my website will be up and running. 

Also, look for Wash Day samples in the very near future and the release of a new product to compliment the Wash Day line. If you haven't yet placed an order, do it soon before the free shipping disappears! Wash Day updates are also on Facebook and Twitter. And, if you're on LinkedIn, Wash Day is there, too.

In the meantime, I've been trying out a few products. First up is fellow Etsy seller Brown Butter Beauty's Babassu Cream Deep Conditioner. Conditioners and deep conditioners will always be my downfall (sigh).

I purchased a sample of this a while back, but forgot I had it! A few weeks ago, I used it with my weekly steam treatment and enjoyed it very much. I like babassu butter and I love conditioners, so this is a win-win for me. The product has a light, pleasant scent and is amazingly smooth and creamy. And, it left my hair very soft. I like this very much, but not enough to add to my arsenal of products.

During a visit to my fave local Indian grocer, I found a few more Vatika products so I decided to give their Black Shine shampoo a try. My bad...when I got it home, I read the ingredients and found formaldehyde in the ingredients list.

So, I wrote the company and asked about the inclusion of this ingredient and got a lackluster response. Now, most of you would probably have thrown this away, but I was curious. My hair is strong, thick and is super healthy so I used it. It smells great, has an abundance of suds and is black in color...a boon since I'm trying to keep the greys at bay, but not enough to make me want to use it again given what's in it.

I also tried their Nourish & Protect Styling Hair Cream. HUGE disappointment. This get two coils down.

There was just enough of this product for me to do two sets of twists. For the price, I can live with that, but overall, this product was a huge fail. Granted it's super light and added great shine to my hair, it left my hair feeling filmy. And, after about two days, my hair felt SUPER dry so I had to add more product to my hair which is a huge no-no for me as part of my low-mani regimen. If I use a hair product, I do not nor should I have to use it again until my next wash day.

What new products are you trying out? Care to share?

Wash Day is on now Etsy!

At long last, Wash Day products are ready for sale! 

Tested on human heads for over a year, the Wash Day 2012 product line includes:

• Build-up Buster, a creamy clarifying shampoo
• Muddy Water, an oil-rich Ayurvedic cleansing shampoo
• The Slip, a no-nonsense detangling conditioner
• Snake Oil, a special blend of Ayurvedic herbs and black castor oil
• Bounce Butter, a whipped shealoe hair butter cream

All Wash Day products are created with all-natural and organic ingredients, and do not contain any harsh chemicals or additives. I personally have been using Wash Day products during the past year and attribute much of my hair's growth and health to Wash Day.

As part of an introductory offer, Wash Day is offering free shipping on all purchases. Stay tuned for the Wash Day web site, coming soon!