Review: Darcy's Botanicals Natural Coils Curling Jelly

I got this as swap from a forum member on British Curlies. She was offering it at a discounted price so I moved in for the kill.  Was it worth it? Read on…

Regular Price: £10.95 for 8oz.

Availability: British curlies and Etsy. Only available online in the UK.

Ingredients shown in picture below: 

Packaging: It comes in a simple white jar with a white screw top. I personally think the packaging was inadequate. Which brings me to my next point.

The Texture: Very liquidy snotty texture, infact so liquidy that I ended up pouring out the jelly into my hands everytime I need some. Otherwise dipping my hands into the jar would have been as useful as dipping my hands into a jar full of water. On that note I must say this. Do not let the watery texture of this jelly fool you. With this stuff a little went a long way for me.

Scent: I didn’t feel like mine smelled of anything. I think I must have got the unscented version. Despite this  I believe I  still got a faint whiff of something that reminded me of paper glue. The faintness I actually liked because it gave my leave-in conditioner olfactory dominance.

Darcy's Botanicals Natural Coils Curly Jelly On my hair..

Pros: 

On applying this to my hair with my leave-in i.e. Hawaiian silky gel activator +castor oil + aloe vera gel mix, it seemed to get absorbed into my hair almost immediately. I liked that it gave a tiny bit of slip. It dried fairly quickly around my ends, but about 3-4hours later it was mostly 80% dry. It did not give me a flash dry effect. There was no crunch, but there was a light hold. I got second day hair with this. On the second day, my hair had about ½ its definition and some hold.

In terms of elongation, it did not offer any of that. My hair shrunk, but stayed in place.

Cons:

Flaking - I noticed some flakiness whiteness around my part section where I may have possibly being a bit heavy handed.

Price - I wish this was £10.99 for 16oz rather than 8oz. If it was I would put this in my staples list.

Repurchasing probability - I liked the light hold and effectiveness of this jelly. But I shall only re-purchase this if it is on sale at a cheaper price. Because I have other stylers which are just as effective and cheaper.

If you are looking for a  styling product with stellar natural ingredients or a stickler for natural ingredients in your hair products .Then I would recommend this product to you.

Review: Garnier Fructis Style Ultimate Survivor Gel with Cactus Extract

This Garnier survivor gel is not for the faint-hearted it really does have an extreme hold
This gel is serious stuff. If you can't stand hard hold gels, I suggest you stop here.

Garnier Fructis Style Survivor Gel ensures 24-hour hold even in the most extreme conditions. Contains extracts from the cactus plant and a citrus fragrance combined with the non-drying formula keeps hair styled, strong and residue free

Smell: Light citrusy scent. I find it pleasant.


Price: 200ml for £2.50-£3.50 from ASDA/Boots/Tesco/Superdrug. Usually on offer 2 for 1 at Superdrug/ASDA

Texture: pearlescent opaque with a slight grey tone. Not sticky, mucousy or gummy. Almost seems to disappear between my wet palms as I rub them together


Ingredients: Aqua, Polyester-5, Glycerin, Niacinamide, Phenoxyethanol, PEG-40 Hydrogenated castor oil, PEG-70 Mango Glycerides, Triethanolamine, Limonene, Benzyl alcohol, Linalool, Propylene Glycol, Caprylyl Glycol, Acylates/Steareth-20 Methacrylate copolymer, Pyrus Malus Extract/Apple Fruit Extract, Sorbitol, Disodium EDTA, Citral, Citrus medica, Limonum extract/Lemon Fruit Extract, Opuntia Coccinellifera Extract/Opuntia Ficus-Indica Flower Extract,Amyl Cinnamal, Parfum/Fragrance (FIL C47405/1)
(Actual ingredients on my tubes. I have noticed varying ingredients online.)

Application on my hair: it went on quite tame-like, giving me no indication of its powers apart from showing me some serious coiling/clumping upon application.

This gel did not seem to have a lot of reviews online for women's hair not to talk of afro kinky coily natural hair. I reckon that it may not be considered by most ladies, as going by the video ads alone this gel appears to be  marketed and targeted to mainly men, or people wanting to create 'spiked styles'

 
Garnier Fructis Survivor gel is most likely one of the hardest gels I have tried to date. It claims to resist humidity and frizz and holds that promise.  Even after I went to the gym and had a rigorous sweat-fest my hair was still defined. Most gels would render my hair a straight up fro after a session at the gym. To put this into a better perspective for some ladies- this leaves Ecostyler gel -Krystal (hold 10) behind in the dust.

When it dries, the CRUNCH is CRAZY!! My hair gets very HARD! 
So hard that when I lay my head on my pillow at night I would hear my hair rustling ! In the mornings I would spray a glycerin/oil/water mix to re-shape my hair and it always suprisingly moulded back into place easily. I easily got 5day hair with this and could have easily kept going. The only thing is that my hair just didn't feel nice to touch initially. It felt hard to touch and would not scrunch out easily with just any oil. (After a few days it gradually relented it's hold).

Another surprising property of this gel was how it rinsed out extremely easily with just water from hair. My hair did not feel sapped of moisture or parched as I rinsed.If using this alone I'll be recommending that one uses a much heavier leave-in. (Do the combo test on hand for potential white residue)
The Survivor gel has indeed survived and gradually snuck itself into my styling routine as a 'top-upper'/finisher. Basically after I use most gels to style a wash & go. I apply a wee bit of this on the top of my crown to address the harder to define and easy to frizz areas.

I would really recommend this if you are serious about making your wng style last for ages.This gel would guarantee that longevity  If you want your coils/curls/kinks to stay controlled with military obedience then this gel will do exactly that for you..Plus a little will go a long way. Otherwise, If you can't stand the crunch then run!...... Far away as fast as you can. 

My hair with Garnier Fructis Survivor Gel.

Review: III Sisters Of Nature - Curling Gelo (Comparable to Kinky Curly Curling Custard!) - Errr

Cost : £9.99
Availability: Ebay & Some Local Hair Beauty Stores.


Product Description

III Sisters of Nature Natural Curling Gelo helps to define and elongate your curls and enhance your hair's natural wave pattern.Formulated with all natural ingredients to give the best conditioning, strengthening, nourishing, softening styling treatment, the Curling Gelo naturally brings out the lustrous shine in your curls and waves.
Curling Gelo is very concentrated to give it that added value. The natural humectants inside the Gelo naturally extracts moisture from the air keeping curls/waves/kinks/knots/twists soft to the touch, moisturized, and healthy.


Directions
Apply the Curling Gelo to wet hair. Make sure to thoroughly shampoo and rinse hair. Use your fingers to apply the Curling Gelo all over your hair. Finger style to achieve knots/knaps/kinky/tight coils.

"Curling Gelo keeps your hair frizz free, leaves no greasy residue, keeps hair moisturized, and allows for long-lasting curls,waves, and twists."

Ingredients

Water (Aqua), Vegetable Glycerin, Polyquaternium 37, Polyquaternium 10 and PEG 14, Polyquaternium 7, Polysorbate 20, Sea Grape Extract (Vitis Vinifera), Argan Oil (Argan Spinosa), Avocado Extract (Persea Gratissma), Oat extract (Avena Sativa), Sage (Salvia Officinalis), Chamomille Extract (Anthemis Noblis), Bay Laurel Extract (Lauris Noblis), Phenoxyethanol (And) Caprylyl Glycol, Fragrance (Parfum).

Smell 
Sweet smell-like cotton candy


Texture

Like 'jellified' sprite/7up. It looks like Ecostyler Krystal - with the transparent jelly look.
It's lighter in texture than the former but more filmy. Infact very filmy.




On my hair
Since it claims to match up against KCCC, lets compare shall we?


Like KCCC
Smoothes onto my hair very nicely and even delivers a little slip. (like KCCC)
Excellent coil clumper. (like KCCC)
Gave my hair alot of shine (like KCCC)
Sweet scent (not comparable in notes to KCCC, but sweet all the same)
Goes white on application with most of my leave-in conditioners. i.e. TIGI cherry almond, Andrew Barton, EO conditioner (like KCCC)
Took a long long time to dry. (Definitely like KCCC!)


Unlike KCCC
Clear transparent look (unlike KCCC)
Filmy not slimy/goopey (unlike KCCC)
Smell is sweet, but does not smell like KCCC
This gives no hold whatsoever. Only one day hair achievable with some clumped coils, after that its all frizz.(not like KCCC, KCCC gives hold for a few days at least)
Not comprised of all natural ingredients, though some included.





To maintain and also because it still wasn't completely dry on day 1, I put my hair in a shower cap overnight. The next morning my hair was very "juicy". So mushy that the coils quickly dispersed into fluffy poofness when I attempted re-shaping. By the end of day 2. My hair was very soft. Problem is, I didn't like the film it left on my fingers every time I played in my hair.
This is nothing but another curl activator in my eyes. It defines like one, looks like one, feels like one and lacks hold like one.
It falls short of KCCC in a major way as it fails to deliver the hold /stiffness that partly renders KCCC one of the top natural styling gels. It also falls short on the ingredients. Packed full of polyquats.
I dunno what it is about the product, but every time I use it I just want to wash my hair immediately after. I think the last test would be to try it with some Eco-styler gel on top.
If you want major hold, then this is not for you. If you want softness, shine and sweet-smelling products  then this maybe the one for you.
You can find pictures of my hair with this product here.

Wash & Go Trials On Coily Hair 8: Komaza Califia Pudding & TIGI

Freshly applied on wet hair. Really pulls down the coils, partially eliminating shrinkage.

Damp, very little clumping.

Still damp.

80% dry. Still with visible brown patches.

Pretty much dry now

                                                                       Fin.
                                                                     

Staple Hair Products For My Coily, Kinky Type 4 Hair Easily Bought On The Ground (UK)

I was thinking of following up my initial post March favourites, but thought that maybe redundant because most of the products in my March favourites are also in my April Favourites and will most likely be around for the following months. I have a few new additions, so let me know if you would like a more in-depth review if  there isn’t one already on my blog.

 It’s fun to try new products, but it’s important to have those staples you can fall back on when you can’t be bothered to experiment/just don’t have the time, suffered adverse reactions from past product experiments, are just done with product experimenting (a phase I go through from time to time) or simply broke! Lol.

For new naturals, I understand how expensive it can be to find moderately priced products that are easy to get and effective, I've been there. So for that reason, I would like to share my staples that have been chosen for being: 

1. Effective on my hair. (You know the saying, “What works for me and so on”)
2. Possessing moderate - cheap prices.
3. Easy to pick up on the ground. (Yup no shipping, online transactions. Attainable same day!)

So from L-R; 

Schwarzkopf Gliss Oil Nutritive Shampoo Cleans effectively without stripping. Costs £1 and can be found at Poundshop/99p stores.

Tresseme Naturals Silicone Free Conditioner: Crazy Slip, conditions wonderfully leaves my hair soft during and after rinsing. Between £2.50-£5.00. Lowest during BOGOF sales at Superdrug, Boots, ASDA, Sainburys, Tescos.

Andrew Barton SOS Help Me Twice a Week Conditioning Mask: crazy slip. Effective for Dafro as a co-rinse, leave-in (combined with castor oil) and deep-conditioner. Smells like cookies/gingerbread. Found only at ASDA to my current knowledge and some smaller pharmacies with a much smaller range. Buy mine priced 2 for £6/£8 during ASDA offers

Vatika Egg Protein Hair Mask: Does a good job of strengthening my hair, without giving me hard hair. Ok slip. Suds easily so I use as a co-wash and rinse out. Buy from black hair care shops and even spotted at Superdrug. Costs between £3.50 - £4.99.

Ecostyler Pink Gel: Cheap effective styling gel. Clumps, defines, weighs down & holds my coils in place keeping tangles away during WNG styling. Smells like tea-tree oil. Gives me multiple day hair. Gives firm hold, not too hard hold like Olive/Krystal/Argan versions. Can pull back a decent bun with this unlike the Blue Ecostyler. 946ml massive tub costs £2.99 from my local black hair care shop.

Aloe vera Gel: smooths down my cuticles like no other, especially when they are quite bushy. Gives very light soft hold for WNG. Great base staple leave-in when mixed with castor oil. £4.99 from Holland & Barratt. I bag these and stock up during the BOGOF/ Penny sales.

Hawaiian Silky Curl Activator “Dry Look”: always layered with castor oil, makes my coils clump like crazy and keeps my hair moisturised for at least 2 days. Smells like candy. Costs between £3-4 for a 454g tub. Also available at my local black beauty hair shop.

Castor Oil: All round staple for it's Conditioning/Detangling/Sealing properties. I can buy this stuff from the local shop, but since the dude and myself use this from head to toe, I buy it in litres. Can be found at my local hair product shop in 250ml bottles priced at £2.99. Even spotted at some branches of Tescos in Asian food aisle. (I buy my litres off Ebay/Amazon)

Umberto Giannini Scrunching Jelly:  Lovely styling gel for my WNG. Great effective coil clumper. Gives me multiple day hair. Available from boots just under £5 for 200ml tub. A bit pricey so I stock up during 2for1 offers.

Recent additions not in pic: 1/05/2012
*Sally's Salon Services Herbal Complex Conditioner.
*Taliah Waajid's Mist Bodifier Spray as a refresher.

Wash & Go Trials On Coily Hair 7: Keracare Butter cream & Keracare Defining Custard - FAIL

I suppose a wash & go trial with the Keracare butter cream and defining custard was inevitable. It's usually expected for products along the same line to work together.So here it is!

DRY HAIR!! THE WHITE FLECKS DID NOT DISSIPATE!

                                                Those white specks are dried! Dried! :S

Had to head out to the shops, and didn't have time to wash this mess out, so pulled back it into an emergency bun

                   Looking closely. White flecks still there. This mix was such a FAIL!

I can't get over my hair in the 1st pic! My hair happy looked so good! I could not wait to see how it would dry.  I used Australian Organics conditioner as a light leave- conditioner (I always use a leave-in conditioner. Sorry, I couldn't exclude this.) added the butter cream on top of that to my hair in 4 sections sparingly (even though I know that the defining custard  can be seriously drying). Afterwards went back and applied the defining custard in much smaller sections. Probably 12 overall i.e. each quadrant was divided again into three. I left this to air-dry. I loved the way it dried as the day went by, but the white specks refused to completely disappear. I pressed a towel on the visible white patches, but no change. Diffused on moderate and then cool temperature, I looked about 60 with the white flecks in my hair. I washed it out as soon as I got back home.
Verdict > Keracare defining custard + Keracare Butter Creme = Project Fail!
Click for other past attempts with Keracare defining custard with a only a light leave-in conditioner - TIGI, and then with Hawaiian Silky curl activator .
So far, the best combo with the Keracare Defining custard for me has been to use it with a curl activator.

Wash & Go Trials On Coily Hair 6: Umberto Giannini Flirty Curls Scrunching Jelly & HS Curl activator

The HS curl activator was mixed with some castor oil & Aloe veral gel. This is second day hair. On my way back from Easter Sunday Service.

   

Wash & Go Trials On Coily Hair 5:Curl Junkie Curl Assurance Smoothing Lotion & Blue Ecostyler Gel.

I wore this wash and go for 3 days. I applied the smoothing lotion immediately after a co-wash in the shower on soaking wet hair which was sectioned into 4 quadrants. The CJ smoothing lotion is a great coil clumper for me and has great slip. I came out of the shower,sectioned the 4 quadrants into a smaller sections then globbed on the gel.  I started from the roots and then smoothed the gel down to the ends. Lightly raked/separated (not pulling down to ends) My coils were popping everywhere and any visible whiteness left by the smoothing lotion dissipated quickly within an hour on the tips! The crown as usual needed a little bit longer. This is a great combo.

For nightly maintenance, I put some butter/oil on the ends and tied up in 3 scrunchies aligned vertically like a mo-hawk. Then put on my shower-bonnet combo. In the morning I removed scrunchies, shook and fluffed.


                                                               Pictures show second day hair.

Review: Beautiful Textures Curl Control Defining Pudding

Price: £3.99 at Local BSS

Availability: Online and local shops including Paks.

Packaging: happy bright orange psychedelic looking design which is definitely attention grabbing and Funky! Kudos to the design team!

Marketing speech: For mixed textures, curly wavy, kinky-coily, Frizzy. 
The kinky coily & frizzy part definitely sounded like it was for me.
Ingredients:Aqua, Glycine Soja Oil/Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil, Argania Spinosa Nut Oil/Argan Oil, Cocos Nucifera Oil/Coconut Oil, Olea Europaea Fruit Oil/Olive Oil, Butyrospermum Parkii Fruit/Shea Butter, Mangifera Indica Seed Butter/Mango Butter, Rosmarinus Officinalis Leaf Extract/Rosemary Extract, Dimethicone, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract/Aloe Vera, Phenyl Trimethicone, Panax Ginseng Root Extract/Ginseng Extract, Glycerin, Polyquaternium 11, Steareth 2, Steareth 20, DMDM Hydantoin, Imidazolidinyl Urea, Sodium Carbomer, PEG 150 Distearate, PEG 12 Dimethicone, CI 15985/Yellow 6, Parfum/Fragrance, Benzyl Benzoate, Benzyl Salicylate, Coumarin, d-Limonene, Hexyl Cinnamal, Lyral, Methyl Ionone Gamma.


Scent: this smells amazing! I don't mind smelling like this all day. That mango, tropical scent just makes me happy. It's for this reason that I have tried to make this work.
Texture: creamy, deceptively seems quite heavy.
On my hair: With all those ingredients, you would wonder how this could possibly go wrong? But it did!As a definer for my Coily hair? This stuff is deficient. It didn't make my coils pop. Infact it was more like a coil wrecker! Because I tried this on wet hair straight after a co-wash when my coils were still popping and BAM Beautiful Textures came and bamboozled them out of the way as soon I smoothed it on. For a wash n go on Coily hair. I wouldn't recommend this. Maybe I will re-visit this in the future for twist or twist-outs. I really really wanted to love this product, but it just wouldn't work for me. Has it worked for you?