~*~ REVIEW: Pantene Ice Shine Conditioner ~*~

My one-year hair tracker entry is quickly approaching!! :) I'm having tons of fun chronicling my hair journey here! I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it!

Today I've got a review to share! It's long-overdue and it's for one of my favorite conditioners- Pantene's Ice Shine conditioner! I first heard about it over on LHC, and after reading much praise for it, I knew I just had to check it out! I'm so glad I did!!

Pantene Ice Shine Conditioner

-The Lowdown-

Ice Shine is a coney conditioner, meaning it has silicones. There are a lot of people who choose, for various reasons, to avoid silicones in hair products. Some types of silicones can build up on the hair quickly and make it limp or dull. Some people don't like silicones because they experience dryness or because they can seal in (or seal out) moisture.

There are actually a lot of different types of silicones out there- some of them are extremely difficult to remove and require a strong detergent-based shampoo, while others are water-soluble and much easier to wash out. Just like there are many kinds of oils, there are lots of different silicones, too!

Ice Shine contains silicones that typically don't build up as quickly, and do not require a very strong detergent to remove, so it is perfect for daily CO-washing. I find that is is excellent to aid in detangling my hair and works especially well during times when I wear my hair down more often.

-The Ingredients-

The ingredients are as follows:

Water, Stearyl Alcohol, Cetyl Alcohol, Stearamidopropyl Dimethylamine, Fragrance, Benzyl Alcohol, Dicetyldimonium Chloride, Glutamic Acid, Bis Aminopropyl Dimethicone, Disodium EDTA, Panthenol, Panthenyl Ethyl Ether, Citric Acid, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone

-How to Use-

I personally like to use Ice Shine either one of two ways. I either do a full co-wash, or I only use it on my ends when I need some extra detangling.

To do a co-wash, I like to get my hair damp, then thoroughly saturate my hair. I massage the conditioner in well to all parts of my hair, including my scalp. I make sure the conditioner is well-distributed before I rinse it out! I wait about 10-15 minutes before I wash it out, then I apply a small amount to use a leave-in to prevent tangling. My hair always ends up mega-smooth, amazingly soft, and very, very shiny when I use it!!

Alternatively, if I don't do a CO-wash with it, I just like to use it on my ends as a leave-in conditioner. The cones in it help really well to keep my hair slippy and smooth! This is especially useful for times when I want to wear my hair down, but don't want to deal with so many tangles and frizziness!

My hair really does like this stuff. It's a good product and I highly recommend you try it out if you're okay with cones. And even if you're not- this might be a perfect product because the cones in it don't tend to build up as much and won't require a strong detergent to remove! :)

They also have a silicone-free shampoo that's also in this line of products. It works well for when I need to shampoo before I henna my roots, or just need to remove buildup once in a while.

You can buy it here:

http://www.drugstore.com/pantene-pro-v-ice-shine-conditioner/qxp392062

It's also readily available in most drugstores or supermarkets in the US.

Until next time!

~*~Hair Tracker Part 5: January 2013~*~

Happy 2013!  It's time for this month's hair tracker update!

I measured and I'm at...

21.5"! 

As I expected. I haven't had to trim in quite a while now, except for my bangs, of course. My hair's starting off the year healthy, happy, and in wonderful condition! I've got a few hairs that are solidly 22", but I decided to just say I'm at 21.5" for this month. GROW HAIR GROW!

Until next time!

~*~Hair Tracker Part 4: December 2012~*~

It's almost the end of 2012! Whee!

Lots of stuff happened this year. So here is my final hair tracker update for 2012. 

21"!

My hair's grown a lot this year, and I'm so happy! My hair is in a million times better condition than it was before I cut it off from waist-length to bob. It's thicker, coarser, shinier, softer, and tends to tangle much much less now that I ditched the strong dyes and heat. I also love the color I have now towards my roots- the copper color I've always dreamed of, and tried achieving so many times before, but never successfully.

My routine's been pretty simple, and looks like this:

CO-wash daily with Suave Naturals Cherry Blossom Conditioner

Shampoo as needed

Apply Pantene Ice Shine to length as needed for detangling benefits

Apply Nightblooming's Triple Moon Oil to length and ends

Apply pea-sized amount of Nightblooming's Panacea Winter hair salve to the bottom inch of my hair

Wear my hair up daily

Sleep in a satin sleep cap

Every three weeks, I like to do a full head henna treatment with a dilution of about 65-75% henna to 25-35% cassia with herbs blended in. It works beautifully and helps strengthen my hair.

So what do I want in 2013? It's only a few days away, after all, until the start of an exciting new year.

• Trim less- I'd like to be able to only have to trim once every other month
• Achieve shinier, smoother hair- should be easy once this dry winter weather's out of the way!
• Grow to 27" by the end of the year- I'm on track to hit 27" by next December, provided nothing prevents me from doing so...
• No heat for the whole year, not even for special occasions

Well, that's all for today. I'm probably going to be back in January, maybe with something new and interesting? Who knows? 

Until next time.

~*~Hair Milestone!~*~

Good evening! Wow, I am so excited today!

I've reached a wonderful milestone- for me, at least.

I can now do a (decent?) English braid, and I CAN FINALLY USE A HAIRSTICK AGAIN!
I've been so excited to be able to use a hairstick again, and so I can finally justify the inevitable, upcoming wave of hairtoys I'm about to purchase (and post here, of course).

Take a loooook!!!

My braid. It's a bit...untidy, mostly due to the layers. But at least it's a braid!

The bun I made. It's a bit messy.

Another view.


Woo! What a great discovery! I've been wearing my hair back for a while so I haven't gotten much of an opportunity to experiment with my hair, but I'm glad I did today!

~*~Hair Tracker Part 3: October 2012~*~

Wow, I have been so, so busy these last few months. I'm going to update today and show everyone how my hair's been growing! I'm so happy! I'm not going to worry so much about being right on the 22nd with my updates from now on, but I'll try to aim for around the same time each month. LHC's been down a lot lately, which leaves me no place to share all my exciting hair news! :( So I guess I'll just share here!

My measurement comes out to...

20"!

I've done a few small trims to even out my hair a bit from the layering I did back in February when I cut my hair, so naturally, I lost some length... but I'm really excited! 20" was what I wanted to be at by December, and it's only October! :D Here's a length shot:

I'm almost able to pull all of my hair back, except for one or two strands in the front that slip out, but I'm so, so close it's so exciting! My hair is in awesome shape, too! It's come a long way from February- it's grown four inches since then! Yay!

Okay, so check out these roots:

Everyone that's commented on them really likes them. I'm starting to wonder if maybe I might keep the black ends of my hair from this point onward? It seems like a lot of people really think they're cool. The color is super vibrant red in outdoor lighting. I've discovered that it's a difficult color to photograph. It's kind of fickle and varies drastically in different lighting. It looks like a dark blonde/brown in some lighting, in others, yellowish orange, and in the sun, bright red.

Well, that's all for today. I'm going to be putting up a new review soon, so keep an eye out for that.

~*~Green Tea: My Alternative to Regular Shampoo~*~

Many people, especially people who choose to grow their hair long, will often opt to shampoo less. For many, shampooing too often can lead to the scalp over-producing oils to compensate for the oils lost during regular shampooing. Many shampoos have very strong cleansers (Sodium Laureth Sulfate, for example) that can be too harsh for daily usage.

So what do you do when the hair needs cleansing, but you don't want to use shampoo? For me, personally, I like to use green tea.

Hooray for Green Tea!

Green tea makes a great cleanser for those times when you want your hair to be nice and clean, but don't want to use a strong shampoo to get there. Green tea has lots of great antioxidants and vitamins that can help you on your way to healthier, better-looking hair, and, it leaves your hair squeaky clean!

My favorite way to prepare green tea for hair rinsing is to fill a large container with near-boiling water. I then add several (usually three) of my favorite green tea bags to the water. I personally use Lipton's green tea since it's inexpensive and really easy to find (Every grocery store around here carries it!). I steep it and cover it with a towel until it is cool- you don't want to pour scorching hot tea on your scalp, after all!

In the shower, I usually start off by lightly conditioning my hair to detangle it- this is important for me because pure green tea without any other ingredients does not add slip to the hair, so it's imperative that I get the knots out of the way before I do a tea rinse. After working the conditioner through my hair and getting the tangles out, I take a small cup and pour the green tea through my hair, using the large container to catch any excess. I repeat this process- probably about 15 times, until my hair is saturated with green tea.

I gently work the green tea into my hair and carefully massage it into my scalp. Don't overdo it, because, as
I stated before, green tea doesn't have anything to give the hair slip, and being too rough can cause the hair to tangle.

After working it through my hair, I rinse with water and lightly condition again. Viola! Squeaky clean hair!

You can add other ingredients to your tea rinse to change the effects of it- some people add ingredients to give a more conditioning effect, or other herbs to give a strengthening effect. Whatever you choose to do, if you're looking for something that can cleanse the hair gently and effectively, give green tea a try!

~*~Neglected No More!~*~

Oopsies! I kind of let my blog gather dust there for a little while. But have no fear! This month, I'm going to be sharing my wonderful hair progress-(And believe me, it grew! ^^) on the 22nd, as I promised in my first post. I suppose I was just not very consistent since, well, I didn't really think there was a lot of interesting stuff to share about my hair growth.

With short hair, I don't really have a lot to share with everyone, since I can't do a bunch of cool updos and I don't have a need for fun hairtoys, but I think that once it gets a little longer, my blog will be full of fun and exciting updates!

I hope you're looking forward to my update on the 22nd!