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Wednesday, July 28, 2010

To Gel or not to Gel???

In order to discuss my thoughts on using gel for my girls I have to back up and give you a little history on myself...

You may have heard me say before that I am a minimalist, that I don't like using a lot of products. I think this just comes from my childhood. My mom never used hair products on us as kids and I don't remember seeing her use a lot of hair products on herself. She also didn't wear a lot of makeup and to this day, I don't wear any!

As a teenager whenever I would get my hair cut the stylist would comment on how beautifully healthy my hair was. I never had split ends. I always attributed it to the fact that I rarely used hair products OR heat to style my hair. One time in high school I attempted to get a perm, this ended up going very badly and caused quite a bit of damage to my hair in the process! So in order to return to my super healthy hair status, I have continued to be a minimalist when it comes to heat and products for myself. I do use them, but not every day, and not in large amounts.

I also suffered from horrible acne as a teenager and no matter what kind of makeup I tried, it always made my skin break out 3x worse! I would love to have hid my zitty face behind a pretty makeup mask, but it just wasn't going to work. So I was forced to accept myself exactly the way God made me. I embraced my skin and tried to step out in confidence every day au-natural! Things haven't changed since then. I still suffer from acne breakouts with rare occurrences of a clear looking complexion, and I still don't wear makeup except for when going to a wedding or special occasion. Then I slap on a bit of mascara because it is the only makeup I own! There is actually a lot of freedom that comes from not having to worry about people seeing you "without my makeup on!"

So that is me. I am so used to this minimalist approach, it makes me cringe to goop anything on MY hair or skin. I find it just as difficult to goop stuff onto my kids! Being prone to having an oily scalp myself, it took me awhile to get used to the idea of SPRAYING OIL ON my girls hair! DAILY! But I have obviously come to understand that they have very different hair and skincare needs than I do, so I have adjusted. And yet, I still balk at the idea of owning and using 20 different kinds of products on them to keep their hair healthy. I like to try to keep things simple!

So let's talk about GEL. When I first started doing cornrows on my girls I was following all the recommendations from the mom's on the yahoo group. They suggested using gel for styling, so I used it. I really liked using Jamaican Mango and Lime (JML) Locking Gel because it felt light and non sticky and it smelled yummy. I was using other JML products at that time too. (Steph used to sell them at Snapaholics until they changed their ingredients and added a bunch of yucky stuff!) Eventually I got sick of using the JML gel because I felt like it caused a lot of gunky buildup around the base of her braids. Which led to a lot of difficult detangling and removal of product when we took her style out. Which did not seem healthy for her hair - especially around her delicate hair line.

So, I decided to see what would happen if I went without it. I found out that if I wasn't using gel I definitely need to be sure the hair was VERY wet when styling or it would look really messy - even right after I finished styling! It turned out, using just water, or water and coconut oil, seemed to be a good option. Her hair looked great when I was done styling it, and I didn't have to deal with the gunky buildup when I took the style out. And I remember thinking at the time, that the braids stayed looking nice just as long.

But somewhere along the line I started to notice a difference. Maybe I just wasn't paying attention before, maybe something changed, I don't know. But now when I style V's hair without gel her braids seem to get fuzzy very quickly. I like to leave her styles in for 3 to 4 weeks, and they have only been looking nice for a week or less! Not good!

So I have now tried the Taliah Waajid (TW) Lock It Up gel when cornrowing a few times and I have been very pleased with the results. I don't feel like I get as much yucky buildup with the TW gel and I get a lot more longevity with my styles. This is a good option and I will probably continue to use the TW gel in the future, but that isn't stopping me from doing a little more experimenting...
(This post is being edited to note that this TW gel is NOT an ALL NATURAL product. It contains Carbomer 940 and a few other things that may be questionable. I am still comfortable using this on my daughter, but if you want a 100% natural product, than this may not be the right choice for you.)

The last time I styled V's hair, in the Criss-Cross Cornrows with a twist, I tried something new. I had made a body butter out of Coconut oil and Shea Butter. It was my first time making anything like this and it was very simple and turned out well. But I didn't like using it on the girls skin because it takes FOREVER to soak in. I didn't want them to sit on or touch anything for an hour! I decided to see how it would do in V's hair. When I put in the "Blast from the Past" style I used the body butter and her hair looked SO healthy and shiny. When I took the style out two days later to put in the cornrows her hair felt super healthy and soft! So I used the body butter again when putting in the cornrows. Again, her hair looked super healthy when I finished the style, but unfortunately, about four days later it was a fuzzy mess! I think the body butter is great for styles that are going to be in a short time, and is really healthy for the hair, but it doesn't have the staying power that gel has.




So, I am looking forward to trying the Tate's gel on V this weekend when we put in a new style. I will keep you updated as to how I think it works!





Do you have a gel that you have used and love? Something with natural ingredients that still does a good job?


Katie

19 comments:

  1. How funny... I have been going through the same thing as you. I just braided my daughters hair last night and tried flaxseed gel. I got the recipe off of youtube and made it. I am going to see how her braids hold up. I would advise not to use too much because it can make the hair "crunchy". I wet down her hair, used my shea butter & coconut oil mix, and then added some flaxseed gel. I hope it works because it is inexpensive and from what I hear the seeds can be saved and reused.

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  2. as a new mum to doing AA hair you now have totally confused me :) [not hard to do] I am doing E's hair every week because a: its a mess about 20 mins after I do it and b her hair clips won't stay in

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  3. @stottfamilyblog - I am so sorry! This wasn't a very definitive post was it? I will keep you updated as to what works for me, but you have to remember that everyones hair is different and what works on my girls, might not work on yours :) How is that for helpful? lol!

    - If you want a gel to help with the messy hair I do recommend using the TW gel. They also have a children's line that I haven't tried yet. And, if your daughters hair is shorter and you are still getting used to working with it, I think it is perfectly reasonable to be styling weekly. I just don't have time for that!
    (Katie)

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  4. What I use on my daughters hair when I braid is the Proclaim Crystal Ice sold at Sally Beauty. It is more of a pomade than a gel and it gives a really nice shine, but I'm not sure about the ingredients. I want to find something that works just as well with better ingredients.

    -If you have time could you make a list of some of the ingredients that you stay away from?

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  5. @misharp - We will have to get back to you on that one! Sounds like a GREAT idea for a future post! Check back soon :)

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  6. My daughter has locs and I never use gel, just oil or leave-in conditioner.

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  7. I'm wondering if I could use gel to make her little whispies look better than just fuzz? How would I do that?

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  8. I don't like using gel on my hair or my little one's. I do use Carol Daughter pomade on our twists and braids and even though it's pricey...I love it for both of us. It has a slight hold and gives a little shine also.

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  9. We love Bee Mine Curly Butter when we do styles. It is the only product that will hold her styles.

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  10. Sometimes I use a little Shea Butter. Usually I don't use any product though. I have used the flax seed gel, but not with long styles, yet. (and I heard that flax is estrogenic, so you wouldn't want to use it everyday, even tho it's natural. :( )

    I can't imagine leaving a style in for 3 or 4 weeks though! About 4 days is our MAX! lol

    I've been compiling a list of companies that I think are worth looking into more, as far as ingredients - there are actually more than I thought! I'll be really curious to see what you find, too. :)

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  11. Hi Katie. I live in France. I looked for the TW gel and finally ordered it from a french website. The packaging is different then yours but I thought it'd be the same product. I received it yesterday and was expecting to try it on my daughter's hair but found out it as carbomer940 inside, wich is chemical and non ecological ingredient and feel quite disappointed as the website mentionned a "natural" gel. It also mentions "fragrances" wich sounds (and smells !) quite chemical to me, doesn't it ? Is the gel you are using any different or does it also contain carbomer940 and "fragrances" ? Thanks very much Katie.

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  12. @Aya - Hi Aya, I just pulled out the gel to check it and you are right, it has carbomer 940 in it. I have to admit I never really looked at the ingredients. I also never held the jar up to my nose to sniff it. I think the scent is very faint, because until I held it to my nose, I never realized it had a scent! It says it has Fruit6 Fragrance. I am very sorry if you feel mislead. I will add a note to this blog post letting people know that this is not a 100% natural product.

    I try very hard to use natural products, but I have not throughly researched all of the "good" and "bad" ingredients. Like I mentioned in this post, I would prefer to not use gel at all and tried using coconut oil in its place. Since that didn't really work, it leaves me wondering if you have to sacrifice one for the other. Either chemical free with not a lot of staying power, or deal with a bit of chemicals if you want a strong hold????

    In double checking my other TW products they do not contain the carbomer 940. Everything in the conditioner looks totally natural except maybe "fruit bio-flavonoid" but I don't really have any idea what that is! The same goes for the mist bodifier but that one isn't as clear about the ingredients because after they list a bunch of good stuff, then the fruit bio-flavinoid, it says Ancient African Herbal Formula. I don't know what that is, but I don't think the ancient Africans had a lot of chemicals????

    Again, my apologies if this post was misleading.
    Katie

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  13. Hi Katie, My daughter is mixed and I find her hair to be very curly but thin.. Is there anything that would help thicken it up? Some people say to cut it but I don't want to.

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  14. @Anonymous - I'm sorry but I don't know if I can be much help here. I really don't believe cutting her hair would make it any thicker. Some of us just have thiner or thicker hair naturally. If she is still quite young, be patient :) I know it's hard, but as she gets older I am sure it will fill in more.
    Katie

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  15. Thanks very much Katie, no worries. I'll give it a try anyway. :-)

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  16. @Anonymous

    Stay away from any kind of thing that advertises itself to be a hair thickener and has lots of odd ingredients, especially HORMONES. bad news. thick or thin hair is probably largely genetic, but also related to nutrition. good nutrition will help it thicken up!

    Steph

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  17. Great blog! We use Mineral Indulgence products, I have researched the ingredients in the kids products we use and feel safe using them. It's probably possible to make these mixtures yourself since its shea butter and other products. The sulfite free shampoo is especially nice, we use it weekly along with the hair smoothie and detangler. But the friz is a problem still. Sounds like we should be adding something daily to keep that down, which I have not been doing.
    Natalia

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  18. Try to stay away from products with -cone -cate and anything w alcohol which dries out natural hair...Dilute regular conditioner w H2O and use as leave-in conditioner...I've made a spritz of H2O/oliveoil and use this to keep the hair moist and oiled and it works well when braiding... Perhaps with less intricate hairstyles it would be easier to change braids more frequently. One week is the longest these should be left in.

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  19. Personally, I have always loved the gel look. You just have to buy the right type of gel. I use the curly hair gel similar to TW. It does wonder for my hair. Thanks for all the tips.

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