Monoi Collection - Carols Daughter {1 Month UPDATE}

I have been using the Monoi Collection from Carol's Daughter for about a month now. I have done 5 washes and deep conditioning with the Monoi shampoo, Monoi Repairing conditioner and the Monoi Repairing Mask. I was able to do 4 out of the 5 washes with the Monoi collection kit that I bought from Sephora for $29 after taxes. 


After using this product for a month my curls are looser and more uniform. Its almost like my curls are getting their body back. My hair is not tangled at all after I wash and condition and I am now able to completely blow dry my hair on a LOW setting and it take me less than 30 mins. I am able to wash my hair, condition, blow dry and flat iron my hair with ease in less than an hour and a half. This full event would normally take me at least 3 hours and a hair dresser at least 2 1/2. My hair feels softer too. My hair is still breaking but I have noticed that it is very minimal. I am finding less and less breakage when I comb my hair and no hair in my blow dry attached comb when I'm done.




My Conclusion:


I love this product! I don't think it can really get much better than this. If you are looking for a product that will soften your hair. THIS IS IT! If you are looking for a product that will strenghten your hair THIS IS IT!


My only con is that you have to rinse your hair for a long time to get all of the product out. If not, your hair can well greasy and weighed down even after a blow dry and style. The Monoi oil is a great product to use for you hair and skin. It smells amazing and it really detangles and streghtens. I did further research on the oil that makes this Carol's Daughter product so special and I ordered a body to use on my body and skin. I will do an update on that as well.

You can purchase Carol's Daughter products from:


Carol's Daughter's Website
Carol's Daughter @ Sephora

Croc Infrared 1" Flat Iron.. Worth The Cost?

It was time for me to get a new flat iron. Having Type 3/4A hair my main concern is heat damage to the follicle causing brittle and/split ends. I had a Gold N Hot for years and YES it fried my hair smh. While I was in Esthetics school, the girls suggested that I get a GHD flat iron from Cosmo Prof. The claimed it was the best. It worked great for about 9 months but then shorted out.

I went to Ulta during a sale to see what I can find (because Cosmo Prof was closed) and I found the 1" Infrared flat iron by Croc (it was 30% off.) The normal price is around $165 but I paid about $115 plus tax.

The box states:
"Maximum Infrared Benefits: maximize any effect of styling or treatment for optimum results within shorter time.

Dual plate technology: provides faster heat up more evenly.

Auto Shut Off: activated when no movement is detected in 40 minutes.

Style Versatility: floating plates create vivacious curls, flips and straight hair.

The Hottest Temperature available: maximum temperature up to 450 F (230 C)

Nano Titanium Plates with Ceramic Heater: generates plenty of Negative Ions that seal moisture, add silky shine on hair, and longer lasting style.

Infrared Benefits on Hair: Keeps moisture balance on hair. Prevents hair damage and dandruff. Stimulates hair growth. Protects color treated hair. Removes hair bacteria and hair odor. Keeps natural healthy hair by sealing moisture and adds silky shine."

First Impression:
I liked the price, it was on sale! And I liked that the box states that it helped prevent hair bacteria and odor with the infrared. I knew that was a fact because it does the same for skin. However, I wasn't sure about the "prevents hair damage and dandruff." claim. I'm sure that the ceramic and titanium plates help prevent hair damage but I'm not sure how the infrared prevents dandruff. I can understand how direct contact with infrared could help prevent dandruff but umm... Using a flat iron is not going to give you direct infrared contact to your SCALP especially with the infrared light down the middle of the plate sooo I don't know about that claim...

First Use:
I sectioned my hair off and applied to a small section of hair. The flat iron glided over my hair very easily and left it very soft and straight. My scalp felt great because I didn't have any tug and pull when using this flat iron. The only draw back is that the handle gets very hot if you use it on the highest setting and it can become uncomfortable to use. I also kept turning the iron off because of the placement of the on/off and on button.

Second use after blow dry:
I noticed after taking the time to open the instructions that I have to actually turn the infrared on! (lol) oops! You have to turn it on and then press the on/off button to activate the infrared technology. After that, it worked even better than the first time! My hair doesn't have that flat ironed smell and my ends are really smooth. I flat ironed my whole head in 35 mins. I LOVE this flat iron. I would definitely suggest it!

Why I Started This Blog

Hi, I'm 30 years old and I have completely virgin natural hair. Yea yea yea… I know it's unbelievable but it's true. I have NEVER had a perm, relaxer, texturizer, rinse, color, and/or chemical straightening or altering in my life. My mother learned very early in my life that I'm pretty much allergic to everything (penicillin, amoxicillin, codeine, aspirin, sulphonamide, tetracycline and many more……) I'm also allergic to latex, lanolin, lye, soy (mildly), bismuth oxychloride, D&C Red 7 CA Lake, bananas, and eggplant. And probably a lot of other things i haven't discovered yet. So as you can see finding skin products, let alone hair products are extremely hard for me.


As a child my mother used Nivea lotion in my hair and would french braid or braid multiple singles in my very thick long hair. This worked for many years until I got into Junior High where these kind of braids were no longer "Cool." My mom started sending me to a beauty shop every two weeks for a simple wash and press. This went on for years into adulthood while occasional alternating weaving to avoid having dealing with my own hair.


One day, I looked up and I was 30 years old rocking a nice human hair weave, not because I don't have long hair and not because it's hard to deal with BUT because I really don't know how to handle my own hair completely on my own. I have biracial Type 3/4A. My hair is borderline loosely curly to tighter more structured curls depending on what part of my head your looking at. My hair is very indecisive to say the least. In the recent past I had to take some medication that caused dryness and brittleness to my hair. Instead of dealing with it, I had the stylist cut my hair to a little bit below my ears and sew in a good weave. Now, 6 months later, my hair is back past my shoulders and I want to end the cycle. It's about time that I've learned how to care for my hair AND find products that will help keep my hair healthy and happy. I no longer want to learn my hair peace in the hands of stylist that spend less time with my kind of hair than I do. It's time for me to take control of my hair happiness. This is my journey for my promiscuous but virgin hair.


** The picture is of me when my hair was in a very healthy state. This is my goal. More pictures will be added later but right now I'm using my iPad to upload blogs while my MacBook is being repaired at the Apple.

Monoi Collection - Carols Daughter

I had heard some good things about the new Monoi Collection by Carol's Daughter. I looked up and read a few reviews on Amazon and on Carol's Daughter's website. After reading that most of the reviews were good, I decided I wanted to give it a try. I had used Carol's Daughter's Hair Milk in my daughter's hair and had used Tui Collection for about a year or so.


I went to my local Sephora and bought the Monoi Repairing Collection box for about $29 after taxes. The Monoi Repairing collection is advertised as making your hair stronger and longer. "Stronger, Longer, Invincible Hair! 1 Use. 13X longer life. Prevents breakage by 96%." This collection is targeted at repairing and strengthening hair with a "Tahitian Recipe for All Hair Types." The box contains a 4 fl oz. of the Monoi Repairing sulfate-free shampoo, a 4 fl oz Monoi Repairing conditioner and a 2 fl oz jar of the Monoi Repairing Mask.


"The stronger your hair is, the long it lives, and the longer it will grow. That's why the strand-strengthening Monoi Oil-an ancient recipe mad from the rejuvenating Tahiian Tiar Garrenia and Coprah Coconu Oil-is a must-have to help repair fine, delicate, or chemically-treated hair. Combined with fortifying and anti-breakage ingredients, the complete collection works to undo damage already done and prevent more from happening in the future."


Advertised ingredients:
Monoi Oil: Provides all over conditioning from root to tip *it also states on the box "Guarantees the purity, quality and use of authentic Monoi De Tahiti Oil*


Hibiscus Extract: Helps improve detangling when hairs wet


Bamboo Water: Helps reinforce your hair's structure from the inside


Pantheons: Helps to reconstruct your cuticle


Hydrolysis Silk: Helps fortify your hair against future damage




FIRST USE:


My first impression:
I liked the smell. Not to strong, not overbearing and even though its possible that it IS artificial, there's no classic artificial perfume scent.


Shampoo:
*I pre-wash my hair with a generic colorless, perfumeless, clarifying shampoo so that my hair will get the full benefit of the products I use.*
The texture of the shampoo is not very thick. Unlike the Tui Collection it took over 2 or 3 minutes to get a lather. My hair sucked up the shampoo so fast that it wouldn't lather without using about 1/4 of the bottle. While shampooing my hair I definitely know why the box states over and over to rinse well. The shampoo felt almost slimy and was very hard to wash completely out. It took about 5 minutes to get it completely washed out. I notice very quickly that my hair was very soft and my curls were looser than normal when I wash my hair. I was able to comb my fingers through my wet hair with little effort and tangle.


Conditioner:
Unfortunately, I was not too impressed with the Monoi Repairing Conditioner. It may have reinforced what the shampoo had already done but it didn't feel like it did too much. It was very moisturizing, however. It seemed to have detangled my hair a little more but not much more. Again, it took very long to wash it completely out.


Repairing Mask:
After rinsing the Monoi Repairing conditioner completely out with luke warm water I applied the Monoi Repairing Mask. It was not what I expected after using the shampoo and conditioner. I thought at least the mask would be thick and give good coverage but it wasn't. I had to use the whole jar to condition all my hair. Unlike the shampoo it did not absorb into my hair and took some massaging to get it into my hair from root to tip. I used my heated cap to give a 15 minute deeper treatment as suggested on the box.


Blow dry:
I was very surprising by my next step. My hair is very thick and curly and at the slightest hint of dryness combing the hair in the middle of my head out is like a scene out of The Color Purple. But after rinsing the Monoi Repairing Mask and towel drying I was able to comb though my hair very easily. I was even able to blow dry my hair completely dry on the Cool/High setting. I normally use a heat protectant but I wanted to get full results from the Monoi Collection.


End result:
I would suggest trying this product if you have thick and/or damaged hair and you need good moisture. I would suggest following up with a light oil while blow drying if you are going to use heat. Be careful when rinsing these products out. If they are not washed out thoroughly it can leave your hair feeling greasy or even slimy. It may take some extra time but the full benefit of these products are worth it.


I will follow up next week with my thoughts after the second use.