Product Review & Rave: Umberto Giannini Flirty Curls Scrunching Jelly

What? Umberto Giannini Flirty Curls Scrunching Jelly Works on Coily Type 4 Hair?! No way!

Man.. I dunno why I'm even sharing this. As I'm at risk of having entire shelves cleared out completely.  Please ladies, if this works for you as it has for me, do leave some for me. Pretty please.

                                         If those puss in boots eyes don't work. Nothing will!

What brought this to my attention was how revered this jelly was by quite a number of looser curlies. You only had to go on Boots website to see the vast number of reviews to understand that this had cult classic status. Curiosity got the best of me, as I started to notice that I shared a mutual love for certain conditioners with some of these looser curlies on a hair forum I frequent :p. So I felt, why the heck not. This just goes to show that hair type alone is really not a sole indicator of how efficient a product may be on your hair.
When I used to see this jelly on the shelf I would dismiss it for several reasons:
 1.) I didn't think it was thick enough for my hair.
 2.) The puny 200ml pink tube looked like something that would only be enough for half of my head and 3.) Priced at almost £5, for just 200ml, there was no way I was even going to go there.
That was until I meandered into Boots one day, while the 3 for 2 on hair care offer was on. That was it. I had quite a few quid on my advantage card so I was ready for a gamble. That blasted cute bright pink tube had me finally.

Marketing speech
"Long Lasting curl creator for defined sassy smooth curls. Still our favourite look for curls. This long-lasting curl definer will de-frizz, shine and create sexy romantic curls."

Ingredients for Umberto Giannini Flirty Curls  Scrunching Jelly
Aqua, xanthan gum, glycerin, propylene glycol, phenoxyethanol, acylates/palmeth-25 acylate copolymer, polyquaternium-11, peg-40 hydrogenated castor oil, sodium benzoate, dipropylene glycol, aminomethyl propanol, sodium methyparaben, parfum, benzophenone-4, coumarin, butylphenyl methypropional, alpha-isomethyl ionone, linalool, CI 17200

The 1st four ingredients work on my hair.  I must add that Phenoxyethanol the antimicrobial preservative is subject to controversial debates regarding it's toxcity.  I thought I should include this note as it's quite high up in the ingredients list.  (Dastychova, 2008). It was recently followed up on as an alternative to parabens when the parabens scare was at it's peak. So if you prefer natural ingredients, this may not be the one for you. As for me, I am used to debates in scientific circles.  Until evidence is conclusive, then I shall continue to use this. As for polyquaternium build up. I don't experience that with this product. It rinses out quite well & washes out easily for me.


Packaging
Bright pink tube.  I find this quite annoying, I wish it came in a jar or with a pump. Since I tend to apply the product in several sections, I need to return back to the tube each and every time I need some more. This texture is quite slimy so I get it everywhere on the tube each time I reach for it. This bugs me.

Texture
Definitely jelly-like, translucent with a pink overtone. Can be quite sticky, not surprising as xanthum gum & glycerin are two major ingredients so that was expected. Goes on slippery on my hair and gives me enough slip to ensure at least one quick rake before it starts to stiffen my hair. It even foams, but watch out for that. I notice I get foamy bits if I use too much and this may leave a slight grey spot. So use sparingly. You can tell the texture is quite resilient and concentrated, because I really wanted to rinse my hands afterwards because they felt coated. (Though that's how I am with most products.)

Smell
I have a love and hate relationship. On some days, I can't get enough of the scent. On others, I wish they could have gone a bit easy on the scent. It's sweet, maybe like bubble-gum? ( I'll be quick to state that this association could simply be made because of the pink tube. Argh! The power of branding!), then it's slightly reminiscent of vaguely androgynous  musky cologne. Sorry. I tried.

                  Umberto Giannini Scrunching Jelly  Review On my hair

I have been sleeping on this. BIG TIME. Sleep no more I shall!  Why am I crazy about this jelly? Like I said on nc earlier.  To me, It's a posher better marketed curl activator with HOLD. Yes it clumps my coils like a curl activator during application and eventually holds them in place when dried. I love my curl activators, but those babies have virtually no hold alone, So when faced with some shower steam the next morning, it's POOF like that creepy cat from Alice in Wonderland.  Though curl activators go wonderfully with Ecostyler Gel on Type 4 hair especially, I'll save that for another post.
What is the hold like? It's not helmet head mad stiff. But it's stiff and very firm, and has the potential to be crispy if applied too heavy handedly. It definitely leaves some crunch hence the scrunching in the name! Lol! It elongates my coils a lot before drying. I have never tried anything that made my hair  look like this. Ever. It's like it clumps my coils into much smaller groups, more representative of my actual texture. Get it?
Ok, think of what twist out's do. They clump hair into big groups right? Think Chunky Kitkat for twists/twist outs (I dunno why that's the 1st thing that popped into my head, blame Easter Eggs), while this jelly groups my hair into much smaller groups like Twiglets (again blame Easter. And no I do not advocate having chocolate and twiglets together.)
Since it clumps my coils in such smaller groups I know that I need to let this stuff really dry before trying to SOTC, otherwise it's instant coil-orgy = tangles. It gives great shine. I can easily get 3days with this jelly and by the 2nd day any hint of crunch is gone leaving the glycerin to take over resulting in extra soft still defined hair!  Again when it's time to get it out of my hair, I find that it washes out very easily.
Anyways apart from making you peckish or hungry. I hope you get the picture. . It just goes to show again that there are great products on the high street. Not everything has to be brought over from the States or even ordered online! This jelly is joining my Staples Group to be stocked up on during 3 for 2 offers! More pics here 

Reference:
Dastychova et. al. (2008) - Contact hypersensitivity to selected excipients of dermatological topical preparations and cosmetics in patients with chronic eczema. Acta Dermatovenerologica Alpina, Panonica, et Adriatica [17(2):61-8]

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.

Five Ways To Deal With The Oily Grease Stained Pillow Situation

                       

Do you notice a grease spot on your pillow where your head lays? Do you have to frequently wash your pillow cases sometimes up to 2-3 times a week to get rid of grease stains? Then you have an oily pillow ‘situation’

The oily pillow can be a common occurrence amongst ladies just trying to keep their hair moist. For naturals the frequent use of butters, pomades, oils, creams and similar emollients in order to keep the hair moist is usually the culprit.

As a kinky, coily headed natural I NEED my emollients 24/7 because my hair gets ridiculously drier than sand. As a result the issue of stopping the use of my trusty combinations of castor oil and curl activators can’t even be considered. Applying this mix at a certain time, wouldn’t make a difference for me because that combination is the business and lasts on my hair for at least two – three days before I need to re-apply again. I also have acne-prone skin that does not share the same love for castor oil as my hair does.  So dark coloured pillow cases would not be enough, because that would only solve the appearances factor. Here are some useful measures to take against the O.G.S.P.S! (It’s patented baby! ;))

How To Manage The Oily Pillow Situation (Temporary basis)

1. Put an old t-shirt or towel on top of your pillow.

2. Put more than one head covering on your head to absorb any excess oils.

3. Do both 1.) + 2.)   *_*

How To Stop The Oily Pillow Situation (Permanent basis)

4. Apply your pomade’s with a lighter hand! If you have a routine of applying your emollients just before bed, try to apply your emollient sparingly and even a couple of hours before bed. (This maybe helpful to those that prefer to use lighter emollients or oils with shorter life spans)

5. Sleep with a plastic cap on your head, and put your bonnet or scarf over that. (This is my favourite method, because it keeps Dafro very happy too).

                        

Now if you can’t stand the crinkling of the shower-cap. Which like myself I couldn’t handle, then consider purchasing shower caps made with a thicker more substantial durable material.

                        

 I love this particular brand because it not only comes with a thicker material but also comes in larger sizes for the big-haired ladies amongst us. Saving us the need to have to use  more than one typical shower cap at a time.These particular shower-caps do not crinkle half as much as the typical disposable caps and last twice as long for me. Or if you want to preserve the sexy and stylish self all the way to bed for the beau. How about this one by soap and glory I found at Boots for about £6?

6. A waterproof pillow cover may also help to increase the longevity of your pillow.

And for the stained pillowcase…

Getting out oil stains can be difficult. So here is what you can do.

You could wash the pillow cases with:

-       Bleach

-       Lemon juice

-       Vinegar

-       Or even just wash and lay the pillowcase directly under the sun. (For the sun to bleach naturally).

So... How do you deal with your O.G.S.P.S?

How To Wash & Go (Shingle) On Kinky Coily Type 4 Hair - A Simple Guide

Picture is my hair in a 1st day wash & go styled with Ecostyler Argan oil & Original Source Pear  & Avacado conditioner

Tools needed

1. A pair of hands with filed nails. (Chipped, rough nails are as good as a pair of scissors.)

2. Moisturising conditioner

3. Moisturising leave - in conditioner. (Whether or not you choose to use the same conditioner in (2) is up to you.)

4. Holding agent: Hair Gel/Custard/Pudding

5. Sectioning clips.

6. Spray bottle filled with water.


Optional tools

Shampoo and Deep conditioner if this current session includes clarifying.

Diffuser.

Shampoo brush.



Directions for Wash & Go on Type 4 Coily Hair

1. Section hair into four or more sections (depending on the length of your hair).





2. Apply moisturising conditioner generously to all sections, then allow this to sit. (It is at this point that I finger detangle using the shower spray)





3. Rinse conditioner from each section and immediately apply leave in (and oil included) on soaking wet hair. Ensure each section is entirely saturated from root to tip.





4. Step out of shower (or stay in if you prefer) with dripping wet hair and proceed to apply your holding agent to each section.





5. Install your part where you would prefer for your completed style now.





6. Starting with each section at a time. Select one section that you wish to start working on and part a smaller section about half an inch thick from the rest.





7. Take that 0.5inch section and spray it with more water.





8. Starting at the roots smooth on the gel and work your way up to the tips by keeping that section between your palms (for longer hair) or between two adjoining fingers (for shorter hair).





9. Keep doing this smoothing motion, until you start to see natural demarcations between the coils as they clump. Or as you start to notice the hair fall/relax (pun intended!) by itself.





10. For ultra* defined curls - On seeing the demarcations, piece apart each clump of coils from the rest of the smoothed section. (as if you were pulling a string on a guitar), smoothing that smaller section between your thumb and index finger as you do so.  
For just defined coils - Just smooth a section till it relaxes, drop it and move onto the next section.






11. Repeat (10) until all the clumps have been separated. Then proceed to the other sections.





12. When completed, do not touch so as not to disturb the coils and allow to air- dry or diffuse. Another optional step for more volume especially on the crown area would be to shake your head from side to side, and then back and front.

Examples of my wash and go's can be found here here, here and here.





With these directions I use the smoothing method, and not so much the raking method. With the smoothing method, I'm able to work with most heavier gels that stiffen up as I apply. (An additional tip, liquid styling gels applied on top of the heavier gel can add slip and even more definition if you have to rake.) I find that I am not able to rake once the gel starts to stiffen as attempting to rake through my hair leads to snaps & pops i.e. breakage.




I tend to favour heavier/ stronger gels for setting my hair. As they guarantee more longevity with the style and less tangles because they hold my coils in place in a co-ordinated fashion. If the coils are held in place then there is less likely to be tangles as the coils are not able to haphazardly mix up with other coils. It's all about keeping some kind of order. Twists or twist-out styles follows a similar logic, because the coils are kept in an organised clump.


I recommend a very good hydrating leave-in conditioner for wash & go's. Ideally it should be one that is able to coil up the ends of the hair or group the coils into clumps together immediately after applying to soaking wet hair and even better if it’s able to do this on dry hair! So test your leave-in on a small section of hair before proceeding to do the entire head. An additional layer of oil over that leave-in conditioner offers further insurance towards retaining the moisture in the hair, reducing tangles and even single strand knots.

If doing a clarifying wash. Coils may not clump as readily afterwards. I would suggest doing a deep-condition to return the moisture back to the coils and promote clumping once again. I love wash and go's and still do them currently to date.I hope to continue to do them in the foreseeable future.

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?

Second Day Hair : Wash n Go On Coily Hair Trial 3. Conditioner only

The previous night, I had put my from in 3 scrunchies again and wrapped it up in a shower cap (mainly because my hair had been so greasy from the excess castor oil) and my bonnet followed by scarf.

After removing all three hair coverings this morning, I noted that my hair was extremely soft. I rubbed about a £1 size of  Kenzia smoothing conditioner between my hands and used that to fluff out my hair with just my hands again.

Dafro looked very happy and was so SOFT and fluffy.
I'm going to co-wash my hair tomorrow and see how finger-detangling goes.
The next  day..

Wash & Go Trials on Coily Hair 3: Conditioner Only Method On Type 4 Hair

Teri's conditioner only method has been tried by many and praised for its effectiveness. I was drawn to this lady's success with this method on YouTube and decided to try it again.

Earlier on in my journey I had tried the conditioner only method with Tressemme conditioner (this is before they brought out the no-silicone versions) but didn't like :
* The way the conditioner irritated my scalp.
*The crisp way my hair felt after it dried,
*And the grey caste it left.
I decided to try it again with Kenzia conditioner mainly because this conditioner never left a grey cast with other wash & go's I had done with gel and had not irritated my scalp to date.
I applied this to wet hair in about six sections and layered some castor oil on top.
When it dried my hair felt quite soft to touch, quite shiny but greasy to touch!
I think I shall leave out the castor oil next time when using this particular conditioner as it seems like the Kenzia conditioner is quite oily by itself.

Wet with conditioner and castor oil layered ontop. (Sorry about the steamed up mirror!)

Just diffused, about 80% dry. A lot of shrinking observed, But lots of sheen.

First day was great, but I was not prepared for what was to come afterwards. The aftermath was not good I tell you. Click here.