mrsgemini - 09 June 2011 08:54 AM

CrystalTips - 08 June 2011 03:28 PM

Interested to hear how you get on with your new stash, mrsgemini. I really like AOWC - I find it very moisturising and it is great rinse out/DT condish for me in winter and when my hair feels ultra dry. I’ve run out at the mo but I will def be replacing.

I really liked the AOWC poo & cond, more so than the AOHR version, as my hair felt even softer & more moisturised after using it.  I didn’t mind the strong perfume either.  To be honest I like all the AO poos & conds I’ve tried though & will be able to rotate them as needed & as my cash allows.

Just looking at your flickr pic dated 11th May.  I know you said it looked “bigger” cos you hadn’t used FSG but I think the shape and length are just perfect.  Such a contrast to the inverted shape at the back.  It works so well.     
But,  I’m so totally jealous I’m gnashing my teeth here…....     I never thought I’d hear myself saying this, but…....... I wish I had that much hair which grows so quickly.  (hah, I’m never satisfied !)

I note you didn’t use flash though so does the pic accurately reflect your hair colour now or not?

It’s a PITA trying to keep the shape of the bob tho’, Mrs Gemini. My layers over the crown area and the front ‘fringe’ are a bit too short this time - the shape isn’t quite right, v annoying!

I don’t feel the camera captures the true colour often. The 11 May pic is kinda where I’m at but the sun has made the old highlights a little more yellow - which I’m not loving!

CrystalTips - 10 June 2011 08:07 PM

mrsgemini - 09 June 2011 08:54 AM

CrystalTips - 08 June 2011 03:28 PM

Interested to hear how you get on with your new stash, mrsgemini. I really like AOWC - I find it very moisturising and it is great rinse out/DT condish for me in winter and when my hair feels ultra dry. I’ve run out at the mo but I will def be replacing.

I really liked the AOWC poo & cond, more so than the AOHR version, as my hair felt even softer & more moisturised after using it.  I didn’t mind the strong perfume either.  To be honest I like all the AO poos & conds I’ve tried though & will be able to rotate them as needed & as my cash allows.

Just looking at your flickr pic dated 11th May.  I know you said it looked “bigger” cos you hadn’t used FSG but I think the shape and length are just perfect.  Such a contrast to the inverted shape at the back.  It works so well.     
But,  I’m so totally jealous I’m gnashing my teeth here…....     I never thought I’d hear myself saying this, but…....... I wish I had that much hair which grows so quickly.  (hah, I’m never satisfied !)

I note you didn’t use flash though so does the pic accurately reflect your hair colour now or not?

It’s a PITA trying to keep the shape of the bob tho’, Mrs Gemini. My layers over the crown area and the front ‘fringe’ are a bit too short this time - the shape isn’t quite right, v annoying!

I don’t feel the camera captures the true colour often. The 11 May pic is kinda where I’m at but the sun has made the old highlights a little more yellow - which I’m not loving!

Yes I can imagine the bob shape soon needs trimming back into shape with your hair growing so quickly   One of the things I really liked about that pic was how the individual ‘fringe’ curls fell round your face so, if they’re part of the other areas that have been cut a bit too short this time, I can understand your frustration.  It’s the consistency thats difficult to achieve in all aspects of caring for our hair, including the cut.  I’m still sat on the fence about whether to get mine trimmed yet or not.  I’m so nervous about (1) choosing a hairdresser, and (2) letting them trim it.  I know I’ll have to get my act together soon tho’ 

Trials with CJ-CIAB are going well.  I seem to get better results if I don’t fully rinse out all the conditioner (I tend to use either Tresemme’s Natural or GFR&S)  then dab off a little of the excess water before raking a tiny amount of CIAB on each separate section of hair.  After air drying this leaves a bit of a gel cast which I can easily scrunch out.  Occasionally I use a bit of heat for a few minutes to hurry the drying process along, but as I don’t have a diffuser I end up holding the hairdryer a full arm’s length away so as not to fry my hair!   
Doing things this way seems to leave my hair fairly soft with some shine which is fine by me.  I sometimes then apply organic coconut oil to the ends to help seal them down a bit.

If I use too much CIAB it leaves me with a firmer gel cast and duller looking hair even after scrunching out, so the trick, for me anyway, is not to use too much of it when I apply it after dabbing off excess water.  Unless the weather is wet of course then I need the extra product to help guard more against the frizzies !

Decided to have a go at getting 2nd (& 3rd ??) day hair.  Tried this a couple of months ago without success but, after re-thinking my methods & products     decided to give it another go.  I know my hair needs moisture every day but I got fed up of dunking it under the shower every single morning, not to mention the time it takes to air dry.

So I got myself a small spray bottle & filled it with water and about 6 or 7 small blobs of GFR&S cond.  Shook it so the water looked a bit cloudy & used some the following morning.  After a good spray (upside down) & a rake through with fingers, I blotted the excess water then raked CJ-CIAB through (upright this time) in 3 separate sections before leaving to air dry.  Result:  Fantastic - lots of curls, some shiny too, decent sized clumps & not much frizz at all.  Mind you, this hot dry weather could have something to do with lack of frizz   And, half the drying time.  Brilliant.

Plus, when I got up this morning I still had some curl definition left instead of looking like I just got pulled through a hedge backwards   Sooo, happy hair day.

mrsgemini - 27 June 2011 11:24 AM

Decided to have a go at getting 2nd (& 3rd ??) day hair.  Tried this a couple of months ago without success but, after re-thinking my methods & products     decided to give it another go.  I know my hair needs moisture every day but I got fed up of dunking it under the shower every single morning, not to mention the time it takes to air dry.

So I got myself a small spray bottle & filled it with water and about 6 or 7 small blobs of GFR&S cond.  Shook it so the water looked a bit cloudy & used some the following morning.  After a good spray (upside down) & a rake through with fingers, I blotted the excess water then raked CJ-CIAB through (upright this time) in 3 separate sections before leaving to air dry.  Result:  Fantastic - lots of curls, some shiny too, decent sized clumps & not much frizz at all.  Mind you, this hot dry weather could have something to do with lack of frizz   And, half the drying time.  Brilliant.

Plus, when I got up this morning I still had some curl definition left instead of looking like I just got pulled through a hedge backwards   Sooo, happy hair day.

Excellent news, mrsgemini! 

Finally plucked up enough courage to get in touch with hairdresser Matthew James in Birmingham & make an appt to see him on the 13th of next month.  Looking forward to meeting Matthew (so many great reviews on the Forum about both him & his expertise), getting the ends of my hair trimmed ever so slightly & some idea of a suitable shape/style for me.  Not having seen my curly hair for over 20 something years until Jan when I went natural & CG I haven’t got a clue  

Need to add this review to my own Curl Diary -
Made the journey from Lancs (240’ish miles round trip ) on Tues to see Matthew & have my first trim since going ‘curly’ & ‘CG’ in Jan this year.  After 7.1/2 months of growing out I needed it, plus I wanted to start shaping my hair into some sort of style.  We decided on an inverted bob shape although the sides still need to grow a lot more yet.  Patience needed for that…...

With all his great reviews on the forum, I decided to see Matthew ‘cos I wanted to experience for myself how a knowledgeable & expert hairdresser deals with curly hair.  The end result was just fantastic!  I am Soooo pleased.  Even though I was apprehensive at first Matthew soon put me at ease during our preliminary discussions.  Other reviewers have written about the processes Matthew follows and my appt was the same, but I’ll just mention a few things that were important to me :- 

- He asked what I liked & disliked about my hair prior to cutting.
- He is objective & discusses the pros & cons of styles etc.
- He shares his hair knowledge with you.
- He cut my hair whilst it was dry.
- He never once used a comb/brush.
- The Deva products have a lovely clean & fresh scent.  (Just can’t buy them in UK yet!)
- He taught me how to use clips to put some height at the roots.
- Prior to seeing Matthew, I didn’t really understand about the amount of products to use, eg: conditioner and, more importantly, gel & scrunching out the crunch to develop the style afterwards. 

In fact the gel & scunching bit really surprised me!  It’s something I’ve never got the hang of.  I was totally shocked & delighted at the difference this made to my hair & the style.  In fact, as I was on my way out of the salon afterwards, one of Matthew’s other clients leant over to me & said how fantastic my hair/style looked.  I was in shock ‘cos no-one has ever said that to me about my hair in my life!!  Even today I went into a local cafe with a friend & the young girl behind the counter said how lovely my hair was.  Think my jaw dropped open…....

- I managed to get Day 3 hair following Matthew’s instructions.  That’s Never Ever happened before.

Now I need to remember the techniques he used & practise them until I get similar results.
I will definitely be going back to see him in a few months time.

It’s been a while since I last posted, but I’m still carrying on with my ‘curly’ journey.  It’s 4 months since Matthew James trimmed my hair (thank you, thank you ) & although the style has grown some I’ve decided to let it grow a bit more before my next trim so that I can start experimenting with tying it up, or back or something - not a clue how to though     I’ve not even tried pineapple-ing overnight (may not long enough yet)  No doubt hubby will think I’ve lost the plot when I do try, LOL.  But I do need to give pineapple-ing a whirl soon though cos the longer my hair gets, the more of a candyfloss head I am when I wake up in the morning.  Mmm, not a great look !   

Recently been trying one or two new products (Boots Naked Rescue Intensive Care Shampoo & Cond & Deva Curl poo & cond)  I’m also using the Deva AnGel but it doesn’t have a lot of hold once I scrunch out the crunch.  I do like it though & at least it’s introduced me to using a gel so it’s ok for the time being.  The Naked Cond makes my hair feel sooo soft and the perfume is lovely & light.  The Deva products seem to agree with my hair too, although the Cond’s perfume isn’t half as nice as Naked’s. 

Without a doubt curly/wavy hair is unpredictable so I’m still find it frustrating that, once hair is dry, the end results differ each day -  often for no apparent reason that I can think of.  Some days frizzy like a huge candyfloss cloud, and some days more defined & in control.  I’ve no doubt the weather has some influence here.

I’ve been struggling to get decent clumps over the last few weeks as well.  I’ve tried cold finishing rinses, upside down rinses, scrunching my hair upwards once all products have been applied, diffusing using the pixie method etc but nothing seemed to work.  Then today I decided to apply a pre-Christmas colour using H&B’s Naturetint;  I kept to the Rules & timings on their leaflet & used each product as instructed.  And what do you think happened (apart from livening up my hair colour I mean)  Yes, I got Fantastic clumps !!!  Why?  How could applying a hair colourant influence clumping?  This all goes to prove that I’ll never understand my hair

Anyway…...today I got a delivery from the emporium with a couple of new products to try out - love doing that.  Got some DB Pumpkin Seed CMCond & Shea Butter Whip.  Also got a freebie sample of Hairveda’s Cocasta Shikakai Hair Oil (lovely)  but there’s no info as to how to use it.  I’m confused cos there seem to be 2 separate compartments each with oil in.  Am I supposed to mix both oils together & keep in a separate container?  Anybody know?    Can’t wait to experiment with all my goodies over Christmas & New Year.

Have a very Happy (curly) Christmas everyone. x

Hi Mrsg - nice to see you! Have a great Christmas too x

curlyhairmich - 22 December 2011 08:06 PM

Hi Mrsg - nice to see you! Have a great Christmas too x

Thanks CHM, best wishes x

Hi Mrsg,

Can I offer a suggestion for clumping? Hey that’s a rhetorical question, I’m going to anyway! I have found that’s can get better clumping if I do the following.

- soaking hair, fresh from shower and leave in applied
- double over and assuming scrunching position
- reach for a vent brush (yes, a brush! But it’s ok very wet conditioned knot free hair and wide toothed brush… No damage to be done)
- gently glide brush through soaking hair and you should see big clumps form, it may ‘straighten’ but do not be afraid!
- you only need about three strokes to see the dripping clumps in front of you… Oddly enough they will be the thickness of the space between each vent… So really very clumpy. But don’t fear, you can now break them up a bit.
- gently lift them towards your scalp and squeeze to remove some of the drips, if your hair wasn’t soaking when you brushed then your clumps may not have worked.
- add gel and gently squeeze, scrunch that in too. I find a scrunch and pump help keep clumps, forms curls and removes moisture…
- you can then use a curl towel to remove further water and add more product if you wish.
- try it, I’d be really interested to know if it works for others too.

Happy Christmas

Julia - 23 December 2011 09:49 AM

Hi Mrsg,

Can I offer a suggestion for clumping? Hey that’s a rhetorical question, I’m going to anyway! I have found that’s can get better clumping if I do the following.

- soaking hair, fresh from shower and leave in applied
- double over and assuming scrunching position
- reach for a vent brush (yes, a brush! But it’s ok very wet conditioned knot free hair and wide toothed brush… No damage to be done)
- gently glide brush through soaking hair and you should see big clumps form, it may ‘straighten’ but do not be afraid!
- you only need about three strokes to see the dripping clumps in front of you… Oddly enough they will be the thickness of the space between each vent… So really very clumpy. But don’t fear, you can now break them up a bit.
- gently lift them towards your scalp and squeeze to remove some of the drips, if your hair wasn’t soaking when you brushed then your clumps may not have worked.
- add gel and gently squeeze, scrunch that in too. I find a scrunch and pump help keep clumps, forms curls and removes moisture…
- you can then use a curl towel to remove further water and add more product if you wish.
- try it, I’d be really interested to know if it works for others too.

Happy Christmas

Hi Julia, and thanks for your suggestion.  I’m definitely going to give your method a try next time I have a problem with my clumps forming - probably in a couple of weeks time!      I’m not worried about using a vent brush while I’m in the shower & my hair is soaking wet with cond applied. 
 
I must admit though I’m still puzzled as to why applying a hair colourant yesterday made such a huge difference to clumps forming.  Maybe it’s something to do with the structure of the hair being altered by the colourant, but hey, I don’t really know anything about that side of things.

Have a lovely Christmas x

Had my 2nd trim with Matthew James in Birmingham last Saturday.  My last one with Mat was mid August last year so I was well overdue!  Seems my hair was in good condition though so I must be doing something right

Once again he did a fantastic job and I’m absolutely LOVING it.  He really is genuinely keen to help us ‘curlies’ achieve our hair goals. 

I just wish he was nearer to where I live!  But hey, this time I travelled by train to Birmingham so arrived in a relaxed state rather than frazzled after driving down the M6.  It’s the train again for me next time too… 

Hey mrs gemini, would be great if you could get some pics up of yr Matthew cut. I went last November and loved it, going to try and get again in the summer, wes hould all have a Matthew James in our hometowns, that would be great lol.