My Experience With... Suave® Professionals Flexible Control Curl Mousse

I am major-league into my curls, and yes, I do like definition. I think my Mother and I were on a product hunt when we came across this. It looked promising, and it looked like it had a decent hold, so we decided to try it. I'd read recently (I think on naturallycurly.com) that it's useful for curly girls.

Upon first using it, I had no idea what to do with it. Turns out, you shake, hold it upside-down, and pull the trigger. Once I heard what sounded like Cool Whip shooting out, followed by a snap, crackle and pop, I realized that I had encountered mousse before. It was at Bath and Body Works YEARS ago, and it was in some kind of fragrance that I wanted to smell. I saw that it said “mousse,” but I thought it was a term for a fancy lotion. Hey, gimme a break, I'd never used that stuff before! So I squirted some out, and started applying it to my hand/arm... as soon as I saw fizzing, I realized something was not right. I read the package again, and found out that it was indeed for hair. I dismissed it as a straight-haired thing, washed the stuff off my arm, and moved on.

Anyway, I applied it to my hair and... I dunno what happened, exactly. I hadn't even touched the stuff until weeks later. I was kinda desperate, and had my hair wet. I applied it, and... WOAH. It was almost like magic! Unfortunately, about 10 minutes later, that “carriage” turned back into a “pumpkin.” Boy, was my hair dry and stiff! I left it alone again.

I read the ingredients and found there was some kind of alcohol compound in it. I don't necessarily write off alcohols as horrible ingredients, especially since some are really fats or oils. No, for real. I think Cetyl or Cetereal Alcohol is an oil.... weird. In any case, I figured that next time, I would use it as a styling agent, rather than a moisturizing and styling agent.

Weeks later, I tried once again, this time as a styling agent over my favorite lotion. Yes, it still dried out, but my hair still looked touchable! To this day, I still use it as just a styling agent. Here's my formula:

   

Rinse + Gold + Mousse = Fabulous-looking curls!

It works like a charm!

What's your formula to fabulous-looking hair?

My Experience With... Infusium 23 (Old School)

Last time I wrote to you, I wrote about Wen® Hair Care Sweet Almond Mint, and how it pretty much jacked up my tresses.

Sorry, just speaking the truth here. My edges are still in slow-growth mode.

Anyway, my mother and I tried so many things in desperation to revive my hair. Finally, my mother recalled Infusium 23, a product she used in the 80s.

Yes. This exact bottle.

At first I was leery because it LOOKED like it was from 1983. Never judge a book by it's cover. Words cannot express how my hair felt after ONE use!

Because of the damage, I had to get my hair texturized and set STRAIGHT. Don't get me wrong, I do wear my hair straight from time to time for a change of pace, and I don't mind how it looks straight (even though I prefer it curly), but...

I.

HATE.

THE HARSH CHEMICALS.

Plus, I can't stand having it permed straight, because a) when the new growth comes in, it comes in curly, which means b) I gotta perm it back curly, anyway.

I know what some of you are thinking. Suck it up. It's part of being a Black woman. Yeah, well so is a flat iron. And it gives temporary styling results. And it STILL loosens my hair a bit! Also, have you been living under a rock? There are natural alternatives to get similar, if not identical hairstyles.

Anyways, rant aside, Infusium 23 definitely helped with heat protection, and it works great after a good moisturizing conditioner.

The Infusium 23 Bottle is long gone, but one of those old school bottles will last you MONTHS. Just make sure it's not rank or rachet, and you're set to style.

But that's just on my hair. How about you? What type of hair do you have? Have you used Old-School (OS) or New-School (NS) Infusium 23?

My Experience With... Wen® Sweet Almond Hair Care

My first product review!!!!

Everybody's seen the commercials, right? The women who come in with straw for hair and leave with excessively shakeable tresses? And for those with more ethnic cabello, this stuff is for us, too!

Yeah, I was EXTREMELY skeptic at first, especially since 99.99% of those models had straight / wavy hair. My hair... NOT SO MUCH. Then I saw that one black-ish model with that blonde Russian (I'm assuming.....????) model, to show that it works with all kinds of hair. It showed (obviously) good results. I was skeptical. The black-ish mix of the model was not the black-ish mix of myself. And I have some wonky hair.

Some long time later, I heard that a galpal of mine from out of town had some extra from a gift from family. I figured I'd try it the next time I visited her. I was starting to get excited... her hair was sorta like mine, and she loved it!

What really sealed it for me was when I saw this woman on one of their more recent commercials...

 When I saw her, I thought, Hokey flipping smoke! Holly Robinson Peete uses this stuff???!!!!

That did it. She's been natural for, like, EVER, and I'm trying (repeatedly) to go natural. I figured this would be my ticket through my transitioning.

Finally, I visited my friend, and yes, I tried it. I loved the tingle it had on my scalp, and how soft my hair felt. I even got it flat-ironed. Then trouble hit when I got back home. My hair started coming out like CRAZY. I thank God that I didn't go bald! If I wanted to go bald, that would not have been the way I would've done it.

To give you an idea of what went on, here's a video I saw. Mind you her hair is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT from mine, and we had about the same result.

So, yeah... not only was that a bust, but I had MAJOR damage to my hair and scalp, from most of which I have recovered. Different people have different hair, but I think that it is overall too expensive a gamble to have gorgeous hair. Sorry Chaz Dean, I know you had good intentions, but the next time I put Wen® anything into my hair, you probably will need to put it in yourself. ^_^