Phil Smith Argain Oil Hair Transforming Cream Product Review

Price: £10.99 from Sainsbury’s

Claims:

"This oil-in-cream treatment will miraculously transform the texture of your hair into lustrous silky locks. It helps lock in moisture to heal dry, damaged hair and restore smoothness. Prepare to be amazed by the gloss and general hair gorgeousness."

Directions:

Apply a pea sized amount to damp hair, working through mid-lengths and ends. Blow-dry as usual.

Ingredients:

What I think:

Best Moisturizer I have come across yet on my hair journey!!

It comes in a squeezable tube, and is a white consistency, and smells lovely.

Phil Smith is a British celebrity hairdresser and he makes his own range of products. I saw this freebie in the April Cosmopolitan magazine and was drawn the Argan Oil in the product. If am honest with you, I wasn’t even sure I was going to use it, I have never heard of Phil Smith and I have never heard of his products.

This moisturizing cream promises no more dry hair and a complete transformation of your hair, it’s true, my hair was very moisturizer, it absorbs into the hair and there is no oiliness whatsoever, this is something I struggle with, with other hair moisturizer. It doesn’t leave a greasy look on the hair; I use it as my moisturizer in M&S process and not as directed.

The free tube I got was 50ml, it lasted me 2 weeks moisturizing every other day. From the internet I believe they sell the 100ml bottle for £10.99. Now that would be double for what I have, so I would only be able to get a month’s use from this product, which I think is quite expensive, am I being a bit tight? Maybe am heavy handed?

My plan is shop around for another cream base moisturizer that is more cost efficient

Pros:

1.      Smiles nice

2.     Very moisturizing

3.     Not oily

4.     Doubles up as a heat protector

5.     Water base

Cons

1.      Expensive

2.     Only stocked in Sainsbury’s

Damn not many cons, was going to convince myself I didn’t like it! Will have to try the 100ml bottle and see how far I go!

Happy Hair Journeys ladies :)

‘’Remember that you are a spiritual being in a physical body’

*Disclaimer – I am not a hair expert, these are all exclusively my thoughts from my experiences

Wash day – 2 week post relaxer

This wash day post is a little delayed, it was done on Sunday after my Spa night on the Saturday, have a read to see how it went. I am trying out a new washing method, co washing and a new product Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Daily Treatment, also this wash day I did not pre poo.

1. Co washed hair – Co washed hair twice with Tresemme Natural Rich Moisture Conditioner,

2. Black tea rinse – Using 3 black tea bags I boiled the tea let it cool down and rinsed my hair with it 3 to 4 times, catching the run-off and rinsing again

3. I applied my newly purchased PMSSDT for 5 mins then rinsed it off.

4. Deep conditioning –for I used Vatika Deep Conditioner .  I had my heat cap on for 1.30hrs with no heat. Hopped back in the shower and rinsed it off.

 

5. Cool water rinse – to finish off I rinsed my hair with cool water and then t-shirt dried my hair

6. Leave in conditioner – For my leave in conditioner I used Aussie Miracle Insurance Leave in Conditioner and detangled my hair with a wide tooth comb

7. Styling – I used flexirods to style my hair. Which I slept with.

8. M&S – I moisturised the following day with ORS Carrot Oil, haven’t used this in a while, and applied castor oil to my edges.

A products I am in need of: 

1) Hooded dryer

A treatment my hair is in need of:

1) After reviewing my hair, I can see my bone straight ends have started falling off from my texlaxed hair, I will schedule a trim at the salon.

What I did I like about this wash day

1)     This wash day I try co washing for the first time on my journey – Do I like it? - Yes, I absolutely loved it, my hair felt soft and moisturised, going forward will be co washing and only use shampoo once a month, therefore, I will cut off pre pooing and only pre poo on shampoo wash days.

2)     I also tried PMSSDT – Do I like it? - Yes, as I used it at the same time at my co wash I can not make out whether it was the co washing or the PMSSDT that was great for my hair! Next week will finish off my tresemme shampoo and will use PMSSDT and see if the results are the same.

Other comments:

 

It was not my intention not to pre poo, I had done my hot oil treatment and added coffee to it, but when I tried applying this to my hair it was flaking everywhere, think it would have been a better idea to dissolve the coffee in water or just use it as a rinse, so definitely never trying it again, only as a rinse.

 

My hair felt really fluffy and soft after my wash, the flexirods did not dry well so will try then again. As I used a moisturising conditioner, this could also be the cause of my soft fluffy hair.

 

My hair was shedding, but I think its more due to the fact that I had not combed my hair all week, therefore this was normal shedding.

 

Am really happy with the results of the co wash, and this will help me cut down my wash days

Next wash day is scheduled for next weekend and will be a protein treatment with ORS Hair Mayonaise and finishing off my Tresemme Shampoo

 

Happy Hair Journeys Ladies!! :-)

‘Slow down once in a while, and take time to enjoy all the beauty around you’

Current Regimen (Updated August 2014)

Once every 6 weeks Every week

-Prepoo - with coconut oil any oils hot oil treatment with heat cap for 15 mins 30 mins – or hot oil is with any oils I have at hand
- Clarify hair with sulphate containing shampoo

- DC with ORS Replenshing Pak

Weekly
-DC on dry hair with Vatika Conditioners

-Co washing with Herbal Essence Hello Hydration Conditioner or Shampoo with Elasta QP Crème and Conditioning Shampoo

- Tea Rinse with tea of choice

- Pre poo with coconut oil

 - Shampoo with sulphate free shampoo, clarify once a month 

- DC with balance protein moisture conditioner or moisture only conditioner

-T-shirt dry hair

-Leave in conditioner Aussie Hair Miracle Insurance Leave in Conditioner and apply coconut oil

-Blow dry on cool air/air dry

-M&S with ORS Carrot Oil/Elasta QP Mango and butter and Seal with coconut oil/grapeseed/almond oil

once every other day

- Sleep with a silk scarf or bonnet and use silk pillows - always

-Moisturiser hair with ORS Carrot Oil and seal with oil

-Spritz Aussie Miracle Insurance leave in conditioner every other day to maintain my hair pH balance.

-Protective Styling every day

Relaxer days (12 -14 weeks)
-Base relaxed hair with mineral based product (yes Blue Magic still has a place in my HHJ)

-Base scalp with Vaseline

-Relax with ORS No-Lye relaxer. I also add an oil to slow down the processing time, starting with middle section of hair (9-13 mins on roots only max)

- This is the day I use direct heat – flat iron

I keep it really simple with my regimen; I don't want to get lazy

Happy Hair Journeys Ladies :-)

'I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well' -Theodore Roosevelt

 

How often is too often???

I have been trying to answer this question for myself; ‘how often is too often to wash relaxed hair?’

I have been researching this on the net, and there are women out there that wash their hair every day, or every other day, twice a week, once a week, once every 2 weeks, once a month! So the frequency is different with everyone.
I currently wash my hair once a week, but to help me combat my breaking and shedding hair, I washed my hair twice last week in order to deep condition my hair.

I currently do not co wash, my other co washing experience I have is when ORS Replenishing Conditioner, and it left a coat on my hair, that was before I was on my hair journey, now I know it was probably not the best shampoo to cowash with, and I am thinking of trying out a co wash with my Tresemme conditioner, eventually!

The other thing that needs to be asked if what type of hair do you have, is it oily, dry, sensitive scalp etc. My hair tends to be dry if I have to label it but not too dry, I don’t have an issue with oily scalp.

So how often should I be washing my hair? I have chosen to listen to my hair on this one, and I think once a week is sufficient, how I got to this;

1.     The only products I use between my wash days is my moisturiser and oil for M&S every other day, and my homemade leave in conditioner, this does not really cause a heavy product build up

2.     I use Tresemme Naturals which contains sulphates therefore the more I use it the more stripping it will be on my hair, I have now purchased a sulphate free shampoo by L’Oreal which I will be trying and reviewing. To be honest as sulphate shampoos are all I have ever used I can’t comment on the difference, but hey its science!

3.     I don’t have an active lifestyle therefore I don’t tend to sweat my hair out, therefore the need for washes more than once or twice a week would not be necessary for me.

4.     As I don’t have oily hair my dry hair will mean my hair oils get stripped off more often if I wash more than once a week

5.     The more I wash my hair the more manipulation I will be subjecting my hair to

6.     Past experience, my hair was alright with once a week washes

7.     Lifestyle and plan laziness, I know for a fact that I would love washing and DCing my hair twice a week, but let’s face it after work the thought of prepooing, washing, tea rinsing, DCing and washing again, detangling and then drying is not for the fate hearted! Let me keep it simple!

I think once a week washes will be good enough for me! And will wash more if I feel my hair and scalp are in need for it, but for now boy am I happy I will not be washing my hair tonight!

Happy Hair Journeys ladies :-)

‘Avoid negative people’

Hair pH balance

pH (potential of hydrogen) is the measurement of how acidic or alkali a substance is, the scale ranges from 0 to 14, acidic between 0 - 6.9 (lemony taste), in the middle we have water with pH 7 (water taste) and from 7.1 to 14 is alkaline (soap like taste). 

Our hair and scalp are pH 4.5 to 5.5 the level is this low as the body helps us fight off fungi and bacteria, therefore at this rate the hair cuticles are laying flat and closed up.

Alkaline products cause the hair cuticles to open up, and acidic products cause hair cuticles to contract. High alkaline environment causes a buildup of fungi and bacteria, this is due to products that strip your hair and scalp acidity i.e. relaxers are very alkaline with the presence of sodium hydroxide (pH 10 to 14) and calcium hydroxide (I just found out this is the same product that is used in sink de-clogging products, it is proven to burn through hair and grease! Yikes! Neutralize that hair neutralize it!!! This got me very scared, but women all over the world have shown it can be used in a safe way!)

For curly hair the cuticles are already partially open, therefore for women with curly hair it’s even more important that we get our hair back to the normal hair balance! Straight hair ladies have less of an issue with this, as their cuticles are already laying flat.
What needs to be done...:

1.     Use a natural acid to bring your hair into an acidic pH range, these natural acids are ACV diluted as its pH 4, Aloe Vera juice is great! Lemon is too acidic pH 2!! Closed cuticles means less frizz!

2.     Use products that are pH balanced

3.     Always use a leave in conditioner in your hair after washing, water is neutral pH so will increase the hair pH balance, therefore using a leave in conditioner that has aloe vera or natural acid (ACV) will bring the hair to its pH of 4.5 to 5.5, provided its mixed well, make sure to touch up with the leave in conditioner in between washes as it evaporates. A good homemade conditioner by kimmaytube is Aloe Vera Juice, Jojoba oil and castor oil, mix and check pH. Or my personal favourite silicone free conditioner, and oil and water, cheap and does the job

4.     Finish off washing hair by giving it a blast of cool water that will close the hair cuticles.

No nos!

1.     Don’t use baking soda to clarify hair, a lot of ladies on the net use baking soda, its fair too alkaline! At about 8 to 9 pH

2.     Lemon is too harsh on the hair it’s at pH 2!! This needs to be diluted and pH checked

What I am taking away from this

1.     Cool water rinses after every wash day to help close up the hair cuticles

2.     Leave in conditioner after every wash and a top up mid week with my home made leave in.

3.     Try ACV I need to find a good natural ACV and have it in my spray bottle to use with my washes as an end

Happy Hair Journeys ladies :-)


‘Discover and rediscover a passion’

Hair Dreams.....ZzzzZzzzZzzz

For my next relaxer day which is scheduled for the 29^th August that will be 12 weeks post relaxer (Thinking about stretching for an extra week maybe 13 weeks, making it gradual. My last stretch made me lose quite a bit of hair, so
I will be stretching with caution. My dreams for 11 weeks for now:

1.       I am bra strap length; I think I am 3 inches away from BSL so I can only hope, 1 inches of growth each month!

2.       My ends are thicker than at my last relaxer, I know this will be something I will attain over time as I cut my ends. But I will still be monitoring it

3.       More flowy hair, during my last relaxer my hair was dry and crunchy and brittle (hence the breaking) this time round I really want to have a lock down on the overall health of my hair!

4.       No more shedding!! I was pretty much in tears during my last relaxer; my hair was just dropping off!!!

5.       If all is going well try and stretch to 13 – 14 weeks making my relaxer day 5^th or 12^th September 2013, I am hoping this is the last of my relaxers in 2013 and next relaxer will be when am celebrating my 1 year hairversary, when am hoping I will be MBL, hey it’s a dream, you have to dream big or not dream at all!!  

How I aim to get these goals

1.       DCing! Alternating between moisture and protein

2.       Protective sytling, I think I have this on lock down.

3.       Keep myself rehydrated always

4.       Only use direct heat, after my relaxer days.
5.       M&S, I think this was the reason for my breaking hair just before my relaxer.

6.       Work on keeping the hair pH balance to its normal pH levels, this should help me with shine and flowyness I am after. Next stop researching on how to get my hair’s pH balance on lock down

Happy hair journey ladies :-)

‘Develop your sense of humour’

First blog request!

I got my very first blog request off Stephanie from a post I did in March when I was 3 months post relaxer, I had a protective style on. I have been asked to make a tutorial of this protective style. I have never done videos before I have included the link to the Youtube clip that I got the style from. I have also attached my results below :-)

This had inspired me to try doing my own tutorials of protective styles which I will posting.

Protective Style

In words......

Step 1 – Section the front of your hair with a side parting.

Step 2 – With the larger side of the parting, section enough hair for a 2 strand cornrow

Step 3 – With the remaining hair tie it up in a pony tail as you work on your two strand cornrow in the front, make sure you put the ponytail towards the side of where the two strand cornrow will end as you will be connecting the ends

Step 4 – secure your two strand cornrow.

Step 5 – Now we will be making the bun (you can use extensions to make a thicker bun, I will just use my hair) Section the pony tail in 3 equal section, twist the first section and wrap it round the ponytail to make a bun

Step 6 – Twist the other hair using the 2 strand method and wrap it around the opposite side to the other strand to make a bun

Step 7 – For the third section twist use the same 2 strand twisting method and then take the end of the two strand cornrow you have done in the front and continue twisting them together, after this, secure this among the bun you have now created.

Step 8- to make the hair style all clean, you can use gel for the fronts and place it under a hair scarf to flatten you fronts.

Step 9 – after 10 minutes your hair should be all done and ready for the world!

This is how mine turned out!

Happy Hair Journeys ladies!

‘Start your day in a positive way by thinking positive thoughts’

Hair Waffle

Start of a fresh week, my plans for this week, 2 DCs both with Vatika Deep Conditioner.

I went shampoo shopping over the weekend and I got the L’Oreal No Sulphate shampoo a 250ml bottle for £5.99, this is definitely not as affordable as my usual Tresemme Naturals line, but I thought I should try a shampoo which is sulphate free and has no Ammonium Laureth Sulfate, Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate, as these cause porosity in the hair and really strip the hair strands. I also got a heat protectant, this was from the Tresemme line up to 230 degree heat protection, this was a small bottle for £1.89 and finally I got the highly raved about Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Daily Treatment, I really can’t wait to use this! I will be reviewing each of the products I got! Next wash day is Tuesday!

I also loving the thickness of my hair, everyone thinks am going natural!! This obviously means volume volume for me!
Also I have controlled my breaking significantly, I can only put it down to the DCs and the black tea rinse with I plan on continuing with, I will however, cut it down to once a week as opposed to bi weekly with every wash day!

This weekend I also had hair envy, one of my closest friend who is not even on a hair journey has reach mid back length I would say! Super super jealous look at her hair below! She has got this over a few years I would say about 3 years, due to constantly weaving her hair, her hair is ALWAYS in a weave!! Due to this she has achieved maximum length retention, am not sure about the overall health of her hair, as I haven’t seen here hair yet (except in pictures, I can’t really comment on it), but the length is definitely there! This remains me of Ebony from Longing4length and her personal hair challenge. I really thought of getting my weave out as well, but my boyfriend really doesn’t like me in weave *sigh* as he has been very support with everything on the hair journey, I think I should meet him half way! He doesn’t understand why we have more oils in my hair basket than the kitchen but he has nevertheless been super supportive!
I really want my hair to grow! Like now!!!
I removed the split ends from my hair; it was a dusting exercise not a major trim but it made me feel super happy!

Happy Hair Journeys ladies :-)

‘Try to make at least 3 people smile each day, beginning with yourself’

Wash day - 1 week post relaxer

1. Pre poo – 15 mins with warmed up castor oil under a heat cap with a blow dryer

2. Shampoo hair - Shampooed hair twice with Tresemme low sulphate vibrantly smooth shampoo

3. Black tea rinse – Using 3 black tea bags I boiled the tea let it cool down and rinsed my hair with it 4 to 5 times, catching the run-off and rinsing again

Deep conditioning – I used ORS Hair Mayonnaise and mixed it with 3 drops of peppermint and 3 drops of lavender essential oil, and Argan oil.  I sat with my heat cap and using my blow dryer heated my hair for 1 hour 30minutes. ( 30 mins with heat)

4. Cool water rinse – to finish off I rinsed my hair with cool water and used Aussie 3 minute conditioner, towel dried my hair

5. Leave in conditioner – For my leave in conditioner I used Aussie Moist Leave in Conditioner and detangled my hair with a wide tooth comb, also sprayed my home made moisturiser 

6. Styling – I two strand twisted my hair in sections and secured it with flexirods and let it air dry, I also cut off 1/2 an inch from the ends 

7. M&S – I moisturised the following day with Phil Smith ArganOil Moisturiser (I got this free with my Cosmopolitan magazine, and has been working really well, it a water creamy based hair lotion, I have been looking for some in the stores but haven’t been able to find any!), and sealed with castor oil.

2 products I am in need of: 

1) Hooded dryer, 2)Hair protectant

A treatment my hair is in need of: 1) Trim

What am liking in my hair journey:

1) Tresemme shampoo, I have come to rely and trust this product, I used to used ORS Aloe Shampoo on a constant basis so that is all I am comparing to really, will be doing a review of it soon

2) Black tea rinses – this has really helped me significantly reduce shedding and breaking I believe, will be writing about my experience of black tea rinses soon

What I would like to try:

ACV rinses – I have done this once before and I thought it work really well I will have to start it again and be more consistent with it to see if it’s of benefit

Happy Hair Journeys Ladies!! :-)

‘Life is too short to waste time hating anyone or holding a grudge’

Product review – Tresemme low sulphate Vibrantly Smooth Shampoo

Price: £5 from Boots

Claims:

The TRESemmé Naturals Vibrantly Smooth Shampoo & Conditioner system, with natural coconut oil and jojoba leaf extract, gently cleanses and conditions hair. Hair will be soft, manageable and smooth. Discover 10x stronger hair after just one use. This natural shampoo has no dyes, is hypoallergenic, silicone-free and safe for color treated hair.

Directions:

1.        Coat wet hair with a liberal amount of shampoo.

2.        Gently massage the scalp and roots you're your fingertips to work into a rich lather.

3.        Rinse thoroughly.

Ingredients:

Water (Aqua) , Ammonium Laureth Sulfate , Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate , Cocamidopropyl Betaine , Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate , Lauryl Glucoside , Ammonium Chloride , Water (Aqua) , Sodium Methyl Cocoyl Taurate , Sodium Lauroamphoacetate , Fragrance (Parfum) , Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose , Propylene Glycol , Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride , Sodium Xylenesulfonate , Citric Acid , Dipropylene Glycol , DMDM Hydantoin , Cocos Nucifera Oil (Coconut) , Quaternium-80 , Bisamino PEG , PPG-41 , 3 Aminoethyl PG-Propyl Dimethicone , Disodium EDTA , Alcohol , Simmondsia Chinensis Leaf Extract (Jojoba) , PEG-18 Glyceryl Oleate , Cocoate

What I think:

I can only really compare it with my pervious shampoo ORS Aloe which I know use for clarifying. This shampoo makes my hair feel clean and is not drying. It lathes well.

After a free weeks if I have product build up or dandruff it was not the best shampoo, and had to go back to my ORS Aloe Shampoo to clarify my hair and scalp and then I would go back to my Tresemme shampoo in the following wash. The added bonus is it has no silicones which everyone cries about, need to do more research before I can say this is good or bad.

This product is value for money for £5 you get 900ml wealth of shampoo, I started using it at the start of my hair journey in January this year and 6 months later it’s still here, this is will weekly shampoo washes twice each wash. So I would definitely be repurchasing it.

At the moment I have seen that Tresemme are doing a lower sulphate Nourishing Moisture shampoo, which I will buy when the one am using is finished just to get more moisture in my washes as I don’t co wash.

Reviewing the 2 shampoos the different is the vibrantly smooth shampoo has got an extra sulphate (Ammonium Laureth Sulfate ) product while the nourshing one has an extra alcohol ingredient (Amino Methyl Propanol), and the oils in the shampoos are also different the vibrantly smooth one has coconut oil and Jojoba oil, while the nourshing shampoo has Aloe Vera and Avocado Oil. My thoughts these two shampoos should not really give you significantly different results, so will try it!

Ingredient is Tresemme low sulphate Nourshing Moisture Shampoo

Water, Amino Methyl Propanol, Ammonium Laureth Sulfate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Lauryl Glucoside, Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate, Glucoside, Sodium Methyl Lauroyl Taurate, Sodium Lauroamphoacetate, Fragrance, Hydroxypropylmethylcellulose, Ammonium Chloride, Propylene Glycol, Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Dipropylene Glycol, DMDM Hydantoin, Citric Acid, Persea Gratissima (Avacado) Oil (Organic), Sodium Xylene Sulfonate, Quaternium 80, Bisamino, Bisamino PEG/PPG 41/3 Aminoethyl PG Propyl Dimethicone, Disodium EDTA, Alcohol, PEG 18 Glyceryl Oleate/Cocoate, Aloe Vera (Aloe Barbadensis) Leaf Juice (Organic), Polyquaternium 7 

Happy Hair Journeys ladies :)

‘Free your mind from anxiety’

*Disclaimer – I am not a hair expert, these are all exclusively my thoughts from my experiences