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Hello curlies :o)

Oh how I love peppermint! There is something to soothing and relaxing about peppermint. I used to drink peppermint tea allll the time, reminds me of my momma :o) This makes me want to incorporate peppermint essential oil into my hair regimen now. Think I may just do that…

So this awesome find was a little 2 oz. sample I received in my bag of goodies at the B-more expo from Koils by Nature. It is the Soothing Herbal Curl Defining Peppermint Gel. I REALLY appreciate when companies provide samples that contain enough product to actually test and get a feel if it works for you. I mean it’s great that companies offer samples but most of the time they are just a teeny scoop. I’m like, what am I supposed to do with that!? lol It’s never enough to really be able to use it but this 2 oz. sample definitely allowed me to decide if I would buy a full size or not (I would!). On the website, this gel is $8 for 4 oz. and $16 for 16 oz.

Product Description

This is hair gel contains no alcohol and will not dry out your hair. Herbal Soothing Peppermint Gel will provide your hair with great hold and is excellent for defining your natural curl, two-strand twist and excellent for smoothing your edges. The Shea oil & honey will keep your hair moisturized, soft, and lustrous & the peppermint essential oil, will cool, cleanse, and stimulate your scalp. Soothing Peppermint Gel works great in combination with the Nourishing Hair & Body Butter. *No Alcohol, *No Flaking, *No Artificial Color

Ingredients

Herb infused distilled water infused, aloe vera juice, Shea oil, grapeseed oil, macadamia nut oil, *Jamaican Black Castor Oil, carbomer,*organic marshmallow root,*organic slippery elm bark, *Jamaican Black Castor Oil, potassium sorbate, willows bark, lemon & peppermint essential oils, citric acid.

I wish I had more of this! I’ll have to buy to full size! I used this to do a two strand twist-out and it allowed my twist-out to last all week (I did re-twist it twice). It gave a really nice *soft* hold to my curls and allow my hair movement and was light and fluffy. I think my favorite part about this product was how well it held down my edges! I have some super thick edges that are in the process of growing back (I realized my bonnet was breaking them and stunting the growth! I don’t use it anymore for this reason) in to so they normally are not long enough to reach my twists in the front but this gel laid them down flat and made them look really sleek and nice! When I untwisted my hair, I applied a little coconut or Vatika oil to soften it and add some shine to it. My hair did look a little dull at first but I still loved the results. Check out the flicks below:

This is fresh, untwisted hair NOT separated yet.

Separated twists with coconut oil lightly applied

I also didn’t have much frizz at all either and it’s been really humid lately due to the rain we’ve had. I also was able to just tie my scarf around my head at night and fluff in the morning without disturbing the curl pattern and flattening my hair. Amazing lol I didn’t have enough to use this for a wash-n-go but I imagine it would be awesome! It didn’t flake and wasn’t crunchy at all. It has moisturizing ingredients and smells sooo yummy! The consistency is more of a liquid, creamy gel and not a thick, giggly gel.

I’ve been impressed with the products I have tried by Koils by Nature so far! Will definitely be buying the full size products once I use up some of the products I already have :o)

— What have some of your experiences with gels been like? Would you give this a shot?

Howdy :o)

Today’s post is another product I got from the Baltimore Natural Hair Care Expo. It is the Moisturizing Shealoe Leave-In Conditioner by Koils by Nature. I got a free small 2oz sample size when I stopped by their booth at the show. The owner was so sweet and she gave me a little demo by actually applying some to my hair :o) I love that this company is another local merchant located in Temple Hills, MD (I swear the DMV is flourishing for naturals!!)

Here is the description and ingredients of the product from Koil’s website:

Moisturizing Shealoe Leave-In Conditioner is an excellent creamy herbal infused creamy conditioner and detangler intended to smooth the cuticle and remove knots, snarls, and tangles from thick kinky textured hair.

Ingredients

Distilled water infused with horsetail, nettle, calendula and burdock root, aloe leaf juice, cetyl alcohol, Behentrimonium Methosulfate, *organic slippery elm bark, *organic marshmallow root, aloe butter, Shea butter, macadamia nut oil, mango fruit extract, *organic extra virgin olive oil, grapeseed oil, *Jamaican Black Castor Oil, guar gum, kosher vegetable glycerin, ProVitamin (B5), Vitamin E, potassium sorbate, willows bark and essential oils.

I reeeeeallly like this product!!! I put this in the same category as Karen’s Body Beautiful Sweet Ambrosia ( <—-I haven’t expressed my love for this product on my blog just yet because I am currently out but I will when I re-up! Been a fan for YEARS….so for those of you who love and know this product, you know what I mean).

Ok so back to the matter at hand…the Shealoe Leave-In applies soo well and evenly. It’s texture is creamy, medium-thick and very emollient which made it smooth onto my hair really well. I used it on clean, damp hair for a twist-out and loved that I didn’t have to use very much. It has a spectacular amount of slip which made finger detangling sooo easy. It has a sweet, strawberry-ish candy-like scent (I think lol), I can’t think of something it smells like to give a better description lol but I do know that it smells good!

My twist-out was AMAZING. It lasted an entire 5 days without having to re-twist and I didn’t really have to re-moisturize either!! I don’t think I’ve ever been able to do that before (NOTE: I did do an amla paste treatment the day I initially twisted so that may have contributed to the long-lasting curl definition). I was able to just put a bonnet on my hair each night, re-fluff in the morning and my curls were still very defined. Mind you, the weather has begun to be hot and humid and my hair still wasn’t really frizzy! I definitely will deem this as an all year round product and would be awesome for doing twists on dry hair as well.

One thing though, when I first untwisted my hair, I then realized that the product was really rich in oil (it’s sometimes hard to tell when you apply to wet hair) so next time I’ll make sure to use even less. I think it was the Jamaican black castor oil (which I am ANXIOUS to try on it’s own when I can get my hands on some!) When using new products, you have to sort of gauge how much you need to use.

The only thing I can say turns me off a bit about this product is the price…it’s $22 for 12 oz. of product but I suppose it is worth it because it really is a great product and little goes a long way. I will definitely purchase the full size once I run out of the sample size.

Check out some pics of my hair below!

The first pics are of my hair when I first untwisted the next morning (Wednesday), BEFORE I separated the twisted sections:

Here are some pics AFTER I separated the sections and fluffed:

And finally, here are pics of my hair 3 days after the initial twist (Friday):

I look a little crazy here lol (above) but I know my hair looks super short but that from 1) the angle and 2) I just took off my bonnet so it’s a little flattened. My hair tends to “grow” throughout the day due to humidity levels and me fluffing it