April 05, 2010

Product Review and Giveaway!

Okay time for another Giveaway :o) Not too long ago I had the opportunity to meet and have lunch with a fellow natural hair blogger - Fleurzty of Textured Playground (which is one of my favorite blogs by the way :o). I was so excited to get to meet her and see her beautiful hair live and in-person so much so that I forgot to bring my camera along - but not to worry Fleurzty was fully prepared - check out our picture taken by The Cheesecake Factory waiter.

Again - me sporting my lazy hairstyle - pulled back bun and my Thank God I'm Natural Tee - I'm really going to have to collect some more natural hair t-shirts - lol. Also, I'm sure you'll recognize my step daughter in the picture - when she heard 'Cheesecake Factory' she was more than eager to tag along.

Not only did we have a wonderful time - talking about all things natural hair and a wonderful lunch including cheesecake of course, Fleurzty shared some of her new products with me from her Boutique De Fleurzty . Being the recovering product junkie that I am - and one who loves products that actually do what they say they'll do and tend to share them - I've emptied one, reordered more and purchased the rest of her line.

All of the Boutique De Fleurzty products are made with natural ingredients. My personal favorite is the Hair and Scalp Serum. I like the fact that is comes with a dropper and can be easily distributed on your scalp. It is made with jojoba oil, castor oil, essential oils of peppermint, ylang ylang, rosemary, lemon, patchouli, frankincense and tangerine.

I've used it on one of my little clients who has suffered severe hair breakage due to 'kiddie perms' and her hair is growing back wonderfully. I've also used it to massage a few spots in the mid-back of my own hair that tends to break-off at a certain point and always felt 'rough' no matter how much moisture I would put on it and after using the Hair and Scalp Serum for less than a week - the hair in those spots started to feel smooth and softer.

Boutique De Fleurzty's Nurturing Treatment Oil made with sweet almond oil, apricot kernel oil, jojoba oil, avocado oil, grapeseed oil, essential oils of lavender and jasmine, reminds me of those Hot Six Oils - you can use it for everything - hot oil treatments, pre-poo, mixing with conditioner, scalp massages etc... I've used it on twists, braids, and loose hair to seal in moisture, and added it to my leave-in conditioner. And just like her product descriptions say a little really goes a long way.

Giveaway!!!!!

Okay before I go on and on about the other products, let me get to the giveaway. Of course, I have to give the back story (which will make this post even longer - lol) But anyway, at our lunch meeting, Fleurzty and I talked about doing a dual product giveaway - my shampoo bars and her moisturizing products. Due to the fact that she does an excellent job of keeping her blog current and up-to-date she posted her giveaway a few days after our meeting - see her post here - and just about a month later I'm posting mine :o)

But it's coming right on time since I got to try and even re-order more of her products and come up with a theme for the giveaway. The 'theme' is in conjunction with a new article I wrote for Clutch published today (check out my timeliness) called Get Your Hair Ready For Summer (check out my aheadoftimeness summer is not even here yet - lol). Within the article I list a few tips on getting your hair ready for the summer elements, wind, heat, sand, swimming, and sweat.

One of the main tips is moisturize, moisturize, moisturize - and that's how the giveaway comes into play :o) Along with my summer hair tips, I would like to know what summer hair tips/advice you have to protect your hair from the summer elements. Just share your tip(s) here and the winner will be chosen from the comments - that's it.

The winner will receive two great moisturizing products from Fleurzty's - Boutique De Fleurzty line Hydrating Hair Butter and Curls Nurture Creme.

Hydrating Hair Butter (HHB)


I love the smooth texture and smell of the Hydrating Butter - Again a little goes a long way but most times I am heavy-handed with products and even when I pile this on along with the oil my hair soaks it up and doesn't feel greasy at all, which is another thing I like about the products you can use them in conjunction with one another without that heavy build-up feel, and I like that you can use the butter on wet hair.

I've tried lots of butters on freshly washed hair and they did not mix well with water - this one does. The Hydrating Hair Butter comes in Lemon/Ylang Ylang and Lavender/Jasmine.

Lemon/Ylang Ylang Ingredients: Coconut oil, mango butter, kokum butter, shea butter, sweet almond oil, lemon and ylang ylang essential oils.
Lavender/Jasmine Ingredients: Coconut oil, mango butter, kokum butter, shea butter, sweet almond oil, lavender and jasmine essential oils.

Curls Nurture Creme (CNC)


When I saw Fleurzty's video tutorial on how she uses HHB and the CNC I had to get this cream. In her tutorial you can see the dramatic difference both products have on her hair - less frizz, moisture and shine. Now of course, my hair texture is not the same as Fleurzty's so the curls she achieved were soft waves in my hair in some places and just over all easy to detangle, well moisturized hair in others.

And her site instructions clearly state - It brings out your natural curl definition while moisturizing your hair and is not a curl definer product, and will not create curl that does not exist in your hair. So, like I said I achieved overall moisture, softness and shine. I've used this on puffs and twists and even braids with great results. I plan on using both products for a twist-out in the coming months and I will post pictures as well.

The Curls Nurture Creme is made with water, aloe vera juice, shea butter, avocado butter, coconut oil, horsetail extract, emulsifying wax, palm stearic acid, nettle extract, neem extract, fragrance, tinosan, potassium sorbate.

Be sure to check out Fleurzty's site Textured Playground if you do not already follow and check out her Boutique De Fleurzty products and reviews. She is also doing a giveaway for a set of Curlformers - be sure to enter:o)

Don't forget to leave your Summer Hair Tips to enter in the Giveaway - one of the Clutch readers did not like my suggestion of wigs/weaves for protective styles what do you think? Also check out the more info links where I listed links from The Natural Hair Haven, Newly Natural and Chocolate Orchid for more summer hair tips.

Peace and Blessings

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Summer Hair tips!
Heavy moisturizers at night, Light moisturizers during the day!
At night I put on heavy products so they have time to penetrate my hair. When I wake up, my hair has the prefect balance of shine and moisture.During the day I need light water-based products to keep my hair moist because it is so hot outside.

I protect my hair with printed headwraps on really hot days. I also make sure to deep condition once or twice a week with coconut oil and grapeseep oil

Moni said...

Here are my summer hair tips. I'm from Bermuda, so we have protecting our hair from the sun and salt down to a science!

-Use a moisturizer that contains shea butter, which has natural sunscreen properties. Use sparingly so that you don't weigh your hair down!

-Before swimming, completely soak your hair with fresh (tap or bottled) water. The more water your hair soaks up, the less room there is in the strands (follicles?) to soak up salt/chlorinated water. Just think about how much product you have to apply when your hair is wet versus when it's dry. Next apply conditioner to your wet hair. This provides a protective barrier between your hair and the water. If you really want extra protection, seal the conditioner with shea butter (sunscreen)! Finally, I pull my hair back into a bun or a few big braids so that it doesn't float around and tangle in the water. If I'm at the beach all day I reapply the conditioner when I reapply sunscreen to my body.
-Thoroughly rinse your hair when you are finished swimming. A cowash should be enough to remove any residual salt or sand, but you might want to use shampoo (or your shampoo equivalent) to remove the chemicals from a pool.
-Deep condition weekly or bi-weekly at most to retain moisture lost from heat and swimming.
-If you like to wear your hair out in the summer (I do!), wearing it in protective styles for some of the time (ie 4 days of twists, 3 of twistouts) can help to protect your hair and reduce manipulation while still letting your beautiful kinks and curls roam free!

As for the wig/weave debate, I'm personally not a fan of them and have never worn them. I think that they can be good protective styles, but also agree with one of the commentors that they may be too hot for the summer.

MrsFena313 said...

my summer hair tip seems to be very simple at least for me and my 2 girls

low maintenance protective hair styles and a daliy leave in moisture mixture in a spray bottle, which consist of a moisturizing conditioner and a fav/stable hair oil coconut oil and or evoo

2 strand twist or flat twist for me and girls with the hair either bun'ed up in the back or having the hair in flexy curlers to add some curls and just roll up at nite with head scarf
and baggying the ends of our hair 2wice out of the month

dopeCurlz said...

Spring has come and summer is slowly approaching! What does this mean for my hair? Moisture, moisture, moisture. I will co-wash my hair more so my hair isn't dry due to the heat. I will moisturize my hair before bed so in the morning it feels soft, but yet managable. I don't wear protective styles that much in the summer because I like for my fro to be unleashed!

I like to deep condition every week, so that will remain the same and I will oil my scalp every other day.

When I was transitioning and was not comfortable as of yet to show my hair, I wore a lot of wigs and weaves. I was the weave queen during my relaxer days ::snaps in the air::! You couldn't tell me nothing. However, now that I am natural I will NEVER ever wear weave again. There is just something about wearing your own hair that makes you shine so beautifully. You don't have to fret if everyone doesn't know it is yours.

Peace, love, & happiness!

CallaLily said...

Great Clutch article, as always, Laquita

Myriam said...

Hello there
I found your blog while researching the process of going natural. Haven't made the big jump but learning about the various products to be used as I get ready for the end of the month to transition.

Thanks.

intelligentbeauty said...

THIS MY FIRST TIME AROUND BEING NATURAL IN THE SUMMER. I PLAN TO COWASH EVERY 2-3 DAYS BECAUSE I LOVE THE OUTDOORS. POLLEN AND POLLUTION IS A PROBLEM SO I WANT TO KEEP THE HAIR CLEAN AND CONTINUE TO MOISTURE. I WILL ALSO BE ROCKIN FLAT TWISTS IN ALL DIFFERENT DESIGNS AND WASH N GOS. MAKING SURE TO KEEP UP MY DEEP CONDITIONING TXS AS WELL AS MY BENTONITE CLAY, HENNA AND ALMA TXS.
MY EMAIL INFO IS KEISHARPH@COMCAST.NET

Unknown said...

I absolutely love summer! lol its my fav season. As a new natural( I Bc'd on March 11, Almost a month!!:) Yay ME!! This will be my first summer natural, but I plan to do many many many two-strand twist styles( which are great for growth and protection) and hair treatments. I love my evco, its light and smells like cake! LOL One more tip for the ladies with the twas like me, is when co-washing or detangling, you dont have to use a comb. You can simply use ur fingers to go through your hair.this works great on short hair. Im still in the process of trying new products and one thing for sure that I've learned is that Im a MAJOR product junky.. smh.. any-who I hope this helps and btw i really enjoy ur blog, don't stop :)

Anonymous said...

This will be my first summer natural as I big chopped Dec 18, 2009. For the warmer months, I plan on being more consistent with my deep treatments. I'm going to add vegetable glycerin into my spritz' and mixtures for extra moisture. I will cowash every other day if not daily and always use a good leave in and seal. Last but not least I will continue to sleep on my satin pillowcase!

Unknown said...

My Summer hair tips - Well I just recently did my bc 4 months ago and whats been working for me is keeping my hair in 2 strand twists throughout the week. I keep my twists moisturized with 2 spray bottles: one filled with water, glycerine, olive oil and jojoba oil that i spritz on my hair every morning and one filled with hello hydration and water that i spritz on my hair every night....I also put a few drops of vanilla extract in this one because I love the scent. I dont know if thats helping or hurting my hair though :S. It keeps my hair moisturized until the weekend when i take out my twists to wash and deep condition my hair. I retwist with shea butter and seal the ends with coconut oil. I also sleep with a satin bonnet on every night. Its soo hard keeping my hands out of my hair during the week but I truly belive low manipulation has been helping my hair grow! :)

Unknown said...

WOW! I have this product at home and wasn't even using it because your products have me spoiled! LOL

Laquita said...

Lol@KeeKee - thanks :o)