FRIDAY BREW: PRODUCT REVIEW-DARK AND LOVELY AU NATURALE EASY TWIST GEL N’ BUTTER

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I haven’t decided what cup of coffee I will be drinking today but just know it will be tasty. 

Today on the brew, I’m giving a product review of the Dark and Lovely’s Au Naturale anti-shrinkage Easy Twist Gel N’ Butter.I used this product in combination with a light hair milk and 100% raw Apricot Oil. This product was light, fluffy and went on pretty smooth. It has a nice creamy consistency and leaves no build-up. While I thought this product would elongate my curls and provide a bit of moisture because of the butter ingredients, it actually dried my curls and coils out and didn’t provide much elongation. I’m not sure if it’s because of the other products I was using or if was the fact that my hair was not damp enough for the product to be evenly distributed. My goals was to do a wash and go but because of the dryness I just twisted each section of my hair up and air dried. The touch and smell of the product is amazing but unfortunately didn’t do much for me in the moisture department.

Pros

  •  Smell amazing! I love mango’s and the combination of mango oil and bamboo is perfect. Took me back to my time in the Caribbeans. 
  • Smooth and creamy consistency
  • Amazing Slip
  • Not expensive
  • Easily accessible (Target, Walmart, Beauty Supply, Walgreens, Rite Aid)
Cons
  • Very drying, didn’t provide enough moisture, even in combiation with other moisturizing products.
  • Did not elongate my coils and curls
  • Did not provide much hold. 
I will probably give this product another chance and try it with a different combo of products and style it in a wash and go. I don’t usually give up on a product until after 3 trys. You have to give products a fair chance before tossing them or passing them on. 

Sincerely,

Deidra Marie

WHITE OFF THE SHOULDER DRESS

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Dress | Shoes
I kept it super simple easy breezy this weekend in my white off the shoulder dress. It was just that type of weather this weekend and I just couldn’t resist fresh whites with a pop of color. I have a bit of an obsession with the color white so it was really a no-brainer getting ready. NC weather has finally caught up with my wardrobe and I’m so happy about it. If I had it my way, it would be spring everyday and all day. So wishing I could put this weather in a time-capsule and never ever transition to winter days and black ice.
I decided to revisit my old stomping grounds (Downtown Raleigh) and soaked up some serious sun rays and now have a few brownish tan lines to prove it. You can do just about anything with this light, airy white dress. I kept it real simple this time around and added some blue tinted sunnies, chandelier earrings and finished the look off with my teal peep toe flats. This look is great for a warm day out at the park or for meeting up with friends for a brunch or coffee. What I love most about this dress is that it can easily transition to the perfect beach look; add a floppy hat and some cute casual sandals and BOOM, instant beach wear!
I’d like to end this post by announcing that all the votes are in and I’ve decided that Monday should no longer exist and it’s dreadful friends called Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday shall be excommunicated and can no longer participate in the weekday lineup. Unfortunately, there is just not enough room in the week for these days so I have no other choice but to amend them. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause to your weekday festivities but understand that it is simply for the best. <>
Just a little Monday morning humor. LOL, HAPPY MONDAY EVERYONE!
Sincerely,
Deidra Marie
Teal Stone Chandelier Earrings-New Delhi,India-Clear blue tinted sunnies-Charlotte Russe,

FRIDAY BREW

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If your like me, you know what it’s like to spend more than an hour tackling pesky tangles. This is the unfortunate nature of hair strands that are densely packed together. You may even find it harder to achieve optimal curl definition with strands that are so close together. I’ve learned to work with it but I wanted to share some of my helpful tips that I’ve used throughout the years to tame my dense curls and coils. It’s not easy dealing with all these strands but the time and effort I spend maintaining my mane is worth it in the end and I always experience amazing results when I follow these 5 tips.

1. SECTION OFF
If you have dense hair or curly hair in general, you’ve heard this tip before! Sectioning your hair is the best advice I can give you when detangling dense hair. Dense hair has a tendency to entwine with other strands causing pesky single strand knots and split ends. Section hair off during the detangling and styling process and it may save your strands in the long run from stress and will make the detangling process a whole lot less overwhelming.

2. USE A WIDE TOOTH COMB
They have all kinds of fancy hair styling tools that claim you will get fantastic results if you invest, but honestly, I always end up coming back to my ol faithful orange wide tooth come. Fine tooth comes will tear the hair out and I find that the Denam brush does the same. A wide tooth comb is the best thing for navigating through hair that is so close together. Strands that are packed together can miss out on moisture and nutrients if not detangled properly so using a wide tooth comb will help stretch the products you use to each individual strand.

3. USE THEM DIGITS
When I have a little extra time on my hands, I finger detangle rather than using the wide tooth comb. Finger detangling is a tedious process for me but I know I have a whole lot less hair shed with this method. I’m able to feel my way through difficult areas and resolve the problem head on, literally. This process is much gentler on the hair and gives me full control.

4. BE A CONDITIONER CHEAPSKATE
That sounds really bad but there is good reason for investing in cheap conditioners. Sometimes the only way you can get those pesky tangles out is by using obnoxious amounts of conditioner. Nobody wants to use their expensive conditioners for this so investing in a cheap one won’t make you feel like your just tossing your cash down the drain. Also, some cheap conditioners are actually very effective and are jammed packed with quality ingredients that soften and tame frizz. Tresemme Naturals, Trader Joe’s Tea Tree Tingle, Aussie Moist are a few that I’ve used strictly for detangling and co-washing.

5. USE OIL
Yes, I’m a bit of an oil snob and have tried a lot of different oils for detangling.  Oil softens the hair, makes it pliable and easier to work with. I typically apply oil to my ends because my ends are the problem area and get tangled the most. Dense hair tends to get pretty difficult to detangle at the roots so adding a dime size amount of oil to the roots loosens the hair and helps with the detangling process too. Oil helps separate hair and provides an amazing shine. Dense kinky hair is bound to entwine with other strands because the hair is so close together, so your mission should always be to use products that help separate each individual strand so that all the strands can benefit from the moisture and nutrients from your products.