REVIEW & COMPARISON ECOSTYLER GELS

I know there are thousands of reviews on the infamous ecostyler gel. But I thought I'd add my two cents on the variant properties of the majority I have tried. So folks curious about the other Eco-varieties will know how they compare...

Ecostyler is popular due to it's price per quantity, availability and efficiency (depending on what you need it to do..)

So here goes..

BLUE (HOLD 5) : Smells like men’s shower gel. You know that smell that companies feel they need to give ‘blue’ coloured sports-themed showergels/shampoos/conditioners. Yah. That one. It isn’t overpowering, so I don’t mind it.  It dries with some firmness and the slightest hint of a crunch with a light leave-in. Not sufficient enough to smooth down my edges for a pulled back style like a bun or updo. Life-span for wash & go styles is not as long as life-span for gels with greater holds of 7 -10.

 

PINK (HOLD 7): smells like tea-tree oil. I guess because it’s supposed to come with an anti-itch formula. Clearly has anti-itching agents in ingredients. So that comes through. Gives good sheen.

 

ARGAN (HOLD 10): my favourite scent of all. Sweet light “flowery-ness”. I love the scent! Gives great sheen to my hair infact gives the best sheen out of all the gels for me. Dries with a crunch for wash & go styles if layered with a light leave in.

 

CLEAR (HOLD 10): Doesn’t smell of anything that I can remember. Keeps edges down. Dries with a crunch for wash & go if used with a light leave-in.

 

OLIVE (HOLD 10): smells like men’s cologne. Gives good sheen. Keeps edges down. Dries with a crunch for wash & go if used with a light leave-in.

I haven’t tried the black version. Simply because I have no interest in it. My favourite gel is the Pink for it’s minimised hold but efficiency in dealing with my slicked back styles and Argan oil, for it’s scent.

The hold of the harder hold gels can easily be scrunched out with some oil/pomade or powder rubbed between the palms. These gels tend to give me fat clumps, which unfortunately frizz up in a couple of days for me.They are easy to rinse out in my opinion, infact I actually like the slimy feel left on my hair as it is rinsed out! Why? Because it aids in finger-detangling. I also think these gels are great for the CG method if you are trying that. They form a great gel-cast around the hair thereby protecting the hair from environmental elements.

What’s your favourite gel?

BRITISH CURLIES SALE

Heads up!!
British Curlies is having a sale to mark their 4th year anniversary! It starts from the 26th till 28th!/ Till stocks last!

The Drying Series 1: How To Diffuse Afro Coily Kinky Hair.

Or rather, How I diffuse my hair.
One of the most common complaints of ladies trying to wash, style and go is how long the hair takes to dry. With popular products such as KCCC, Ecostyler gel drying times can take a day and a half to dry.
That need not be the case, unless you prefer to stay away from heat entirely.
I tend to diffuse if I need to be somewhere ASAP or sometimes if I just don't want to be stuck with a damp/wet heat for the most part of the day. In this pic tutorial I was using Queen Helen Curl Shaping Creme, a product heavily composed with humectants. For this reason, I decided to diffuse because I just didn't want to be stuck with a wet-head for most of the day, as experienced with humectant heavy stylers in the past.
I use a simple blow-dryer. The particular brand is Kokou. I picked this up from the local hair shop priced around £20 or so.

It's a hair-dryer, it's supposed to have grease marks!

The diffuser attachment I got from a local Sally's. Priced around £10.
I got a large cup, because I liked the idea of covering a larger surface area, as I felt that would take less time.

Attachment orifice

Separate components

Combined components

There really isn't an exact science but more of a strategy in how I choose to dry.
I dry on the warm setting in each section for about 20 seconds. I start with the crown area and work my way round in a spiral fashion around my head leaving my extremities last.

Warm setting control. Black = Cool, Red = Hot

I start and focus mainly at the crown because that usually takes the longest to dry. I don't linger so much around the extremities/edges, because they usually air-dry the quickest.

Diffuser cup further away on warm

Head bent upside down to show starting area.

Direction I diffuse around my head

Why tip your head upside-down? To create more volume on the top and prevent the flat-head-helmet head look. (No offense if that is what you go for.)
Then I use the cool setting to help close the cuticles and encourage better definition. I bring the cup much closer to my hair mimicking a scrunching method.

Diffuser much closer to 'scrunch' on cool.

               

                                                       Results...

Before diffusing (flash)

        Immediately after diffusing (flash)

  In sunlight afterwards (no flash)

                                              

Wash & Go Trials On Coily Kinky Hair 9: III Sisters Of Nature Curling Gelo

I used the curling gelo with a light leave in i.e. TIGI Peace, Love Earth e.t.c
Next time I think I may just use this underneath Ecostyler Gel to get the hold I need. The gelo on it's own delivers no hold at all.

2nd day, still 'very juicy', had not dried completely from the previous day.Learned this gelo is prone to whiteness when combined with my leave-in

Just soft fuzzyness whilst drying

2nd day, some whiteness still around my crown! Good thing I had no where to be over the weekend.

Pretty much dry now

Delivered shine

Hardly defined the most compliant area of my hair for clumping.  My nape lower  crown region.




Next time, I''ll leave out the leave-in conditioner and use just this instead with a harder gel on top.
You can find my in-depth review on this product here

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.

Review/Deal: Sally’s Salon Services Herbal Complex Conditioner

After browsing my local Sally’s beauty supply store looking for a decent ‘on the ground protein conditioner’ (didn’t find any by the way), I decided to make a purchase I’ve been putting off for a while. You see I had been eyeing a 5 litre keg of conditioner. 5 litres? Yes 5 litres. 

Like most curly/coily hair ladies, I can never have enough conditioner. So much that I usually prefer to buy my conditioners in litre sizes. Also with Tresseme Naturals 900ml conditioner offers at shops becoming a rarity and gradually increasing in price. It was time to invest in a better solution for Dafro. With 5litres at £11.99. That works out at 1000ml/1litre at approximately £2.40 for a great quality conditioner!! Thankfully I didn’t need to have a Salon Pro card of sorts to make this purchase.

Product Features of Sally’s Salon Services Herbal Complex Conditioner

• To be used after any colouring or bleaching treatment
• Formulated with Vitamin E which is a powerful antioxidant with hydrating properties.

This is probably that ‘treatment’ the stylist says is natural and strengthening for your hair whilst she massages your scalp, you know the one in the nameless bottle that you wonder about? (Off course only at the non- exclusive salon, because the exclusive ones only use branded recognized products *sniffs*)

Nehuuu..With this manufacturer recommending that this was to be used after a colouring or bleaching treatment - processes that are potentially detrimental to the hair shaft due to their bond altering effects. I knew I had to be on the right path.

They did not sell smaller samples of this conditioner, so I couldn’t tell it’s efficacy. There were no reviews online at the time of writing, so not much else to go by apart from my understanding of ingredients.

The ingredients list is relatively simple, but what I love even more is that the MAIN agents are within the top 5. This means that these ingredients exist in a much higher concentration. How many times have you picked up a conditioner purporting itself as argan/aloe/shea/potatoe e.t.c based only to note disappointingly that the supposed main ingredient is actually at the bottom of the ingredients list.

Welll that wasn’t the case with this one. What was the seller for me? The aloe vera gel and henna. 

Yes definitely CG, if you are into that.

Ingredients

Aqua (Water), Cetearyl Alcohol (fatty emulsifying conditioning agent ), Steartrimonium Methosulfate (anti-static smoothing agent (STM)), Aloe Barbadensis (Aloe Vera Gel) Lawsonia Inermis (Henna Extract),Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E), Parfum (Fragrance) Citric Acid (preservatives) Magnesium Chloride Magnesium Nitrate, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone (preservatives)  CI 19140 CI 42090 (colouring)

Texture

Medium-light texture.

 

Smell

I think of lime and greens with this one. I guess they were trying to go for a ‘herby’ smell. Either way I like it.

On my hair

It gave me great slip and allowed me to finger detangle fairly easily. Infact it was surprisingly very slippery and sudsy! Wow! I like very much. It smoothed down my hair quite a fair bit too. Overall it did a good job for me far more than I expected. But the killer for me, was the reduced amount of shedding I got. I got significantly less shedding that I usually do. Despite having not washed my hair in a few days.  Whenever this finishes I will definitely be returning back to Sally’s to stock up.

I doubt I shall be having any cold sweats as a result of conditioner shortage any time soon. Tressemme can move over.