~*~ REVIEW: Nature's Gate Aloe Vera Moisturizing Conditioner~*~

As promised, I've got a nice little review for everyone today.

This is Nature's Gate's Aloe Vera Moisturizing Conditioner.

Bottle, picture from the Nature's Gate website

-The Lowdown-

I've tried some of Nature's Gate products in the past. My first trial was their chamomile shampoo and conditioner. I liked it, since it was gentle for my hair, but I wasn't really wowed by it and it didn't compel me to buy their products again.

Until one day when I was in my local grocery store, I spotted this conditioner, advertised as moisturizing for normal/dry hair. Well! I do love things that are moisturizing, and it smelled pretty good in the bottle, so I figured I'd give it a try.

-The Ingredients-

Water, Glycerin (Vegetable Derived), Stearyl Alcohol (Vegetable Derived), Cetyl Alcohol (Vegetable Derived), Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride (Vegetable Derived), Benzyl Alcohol, Stearalkonium Chloride (Vegetable Derived), Panthenol, Hydrolyzed Soy Protein, Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Borago Officinalis (Borage) Seed Oil, Tocopherol Vitamin E), Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Aloe Barbadensis (Aloe Vera) Leaf Juice, Hordeum Vulgare (Barley) Extract, Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Flower Extract, Persea Gratissima (Avocado) Fruit Extract, Viola Tricolor (Pansy) Extract, Sesamum Indicum (Sesame) Seed Oil, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Hydroxyethylcellulose (Plant Derived), Potassium Sorbate, Citric Acid, Fragrance*.

(Taken from their website)

-How to Use-

This is a thick, creamy conditioner. I use it daily as part of whatever washing routine I choose to do. For CWC, that's  a light coating of this conditioner prior to shampooing, then a liberal amount afterwards.

Right now, I CO-wash with Suave Naturals Wild Cherry Blossom conditioner as my initial cleansing/detangling conditioner, and then follow it up with this as my final conditioner and leave some in on the bottom portion of my hair after rinsing. I am careful not to leave too much in, however. On my fine/medium hair, too much can make it look stringy and clumped together.

I do not like to use it alone as my only CO-wash conditioner. If you have drier hair, then you might be able to use it as your only step in a CO-wash routine. I find that using it alone causes my scalp to become slightly greasy, so I avoid that by using my other conditioner first.

-My Thoughts-

This stuff works really well- it does definitely do what it promises for my hair. It also smells really, really good. It is my go-to conditioner for my daily conditioning needs, and my preferred conditioner for herbal mixes, deep conditioning treatments like SMT, and leave-ins. It's my little hair multitasker!! I've completely switched from my Ice Shine to this stuff because I like it much more.

My results have been wonderful. My hair is very shiny- the shine is sort of like what I get when I use a coney conditioner, just minus the buildup potential.  I do not find that I have issues with the proteins in this conditioner- they do not seem to make my hair dry or tangly. I have been using it daily for probably the last 6 months.

The drawbacks- it is kind of expensive. It's about $7.75 per 18 oz bottle at my local store, but you can save some money if you buy it in bulk off Amazon, which is what I do. This stuff is so versatile and is really great, so I'm okay with spending a little be of extra money on it. However, the price point could make this prohibitively expensive if you wanted to CO-wash exclusively with it, or if you have very long hair. My hair is not even BSL and I go through a couple of bottles a month. I also do not really like it as my only conditioner in a CO-wash routine. It goes along great with my "cleansing" conditioner, however.

In short, it's a wonderful conditioner. It's great if your hair needs lots of moisture and it smells amazing! I highly recommend it. :)

Here are some links to check out:

Aloe Vera Moisturizing Conditioner at Nature's Gate website

Buy on Amazon

Thanks for reading!! :)

~*~Hair Tracker Part 8: January 2014 and a Happy New Year!! ~*~

Happy belated New Year!! I've been very, very busy lately and have not had the time to really take care of my blog. But, I'm happy to come back to report that, yes, my hair has, in fact, grown since my last update. And I'm going to share a few pictures with everyone!

The picture on the left is from December. The picture on the right is this month. I measured my hair at 24" today. I've cut off a bit to straighten my hemline some. I prefer the look of a blunt hemline, but have never really taken the steps necessary to maintain it! Well now I know how to properly self-trim, and I'd say it doesn't look too bad at all! It's a work in progress.

This year, I really want to make it to waist, which is about 30" on me! I guess that means I'll have to hold off on the scissors if I really want to make it there. Maybe it'll be my Christmas present this year? Fingers crossed...

Next month'll be my 2 year blogging anniversary (!!!), and I have a few reviews that I've got in the pipeline for some new products I've tried (and fallen in love with!), plus my updated routine... And maybe I'll even have a hairstick review or two?

Thanks for reading!!

~*~Hair Tracker Part 7: August 2013~*~

This is kind of late- like, really, really late! My apologies.

My hair has not seen a substantial amount of growth since February because back in June, I took off about 2 inches or so. I'm pretty solidly at 23" now, and I don't think I will need to trim for the rest of the year because my hair's in really really good shape.

23"

So I guess I'd better revise my hair goals for the end of the year..originally I'd planned to grow to 27"...though uh...now that doesn't look so feasible! I'd be really happy if I were at a good 25", which I believe, is BSL for me.

Comparison between February of this year and this month. Notice the texture change and the gradual disappearing black dye.

I'm still really happy with my hair though. It's in good shape and is growing well. The only thing I want to change about it is the color- the red is building up and is a bit darker than I'd like. It's beautiful and definitely red, but I think I would be happier if it were a more orangey copper color. I dunno. We'll see.

I've also noticed my texture is looking more and more like 1c rather than 1b. I'm washing daily with a sulfate-free shampoo and conditioning, but it could also be due to the fact that I wear my hair up almost constantly and my hair just loves to hold a curl or wave from anything. We'll see how it continues to grow, though!

Until next time...

~*~Hair Tracker Part 6: February 2013 & 1 Year Anniversary!! ~*~

Hello! It's time for February's Hair Tracker Update! And this one is extra-special! It's been one year since I first started this feature of my blog!! I am so excited to share my photos for this month because I'll get to see, side-by-side, my progress for one year!!

I am currently at

22"!

and interestingly, some of my longer hairs are getting close to 23"! How exciting!

I am so happy! My hair is in such good shape and I love it! Here's a side-by-side comparison showing February of last year and this year!

My hair's grown a lot since then- about 6", including trims! I'm so happy! My hair's so red now, too!

Well, let's hope I can get some good growth in this year, too! And we'll see how my hair looks next February! (Hopefully a little closer to my goal, eh? Here's hoping...)

On another note, I've got a few exciting new things coming up soon! It's not likely I'll have a hair tracker update for March, so I'll probably see you guys back in April with that. But I'll definitely be around. I've got some new updates and reviews I'm excited to share with everyone!

Until next time! :)

~*~ 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.