July 2019
Hey hey!
So, I haven’t deep treated in 5 years and my henna sessions have gone from optional spa days for fuller-looking natural hair, to absolutely necessary, hurry-the-hell-up-I-got-ish-to-do root touch-up sessions. I’m talking 30 minutes tops, from application to rinse, and usually only the crown, and usually only the front of my head… where people can see! Kinda how I only lotion my face and hands in the winter! Shameful! My hair is not a major priority anymore, and that’s okay. It’s still pretty healthy, thanks to my extremely *coughs* ‘low maintenance’ routine.
I was actually unaware of my lax ways until last summer, when the kids and I moved to the beach and I asked my happily retired parents to come with… for love, for life, for laughter, for child rearing, for meal prep, for grounding! Multigenerational livin’ rocks (most days, lol), until one of you goes natural and is all excited and stays watching youtube and reading old CurlyNikki posts asking about co-washes, pineappling, curlforming, hair steaming, t-shirt drying, hot oil treating, and various other super-involved throwbacks! One such throwback (for me anyway), is the brand Oyin Handmade. It was an all-time favorite for forever (I used to drive a country-mile in North Carolina to purchase it at a small boutique before they were in Target… that, and Blended Beauty! Remember them?!), and like many other products and techniques over the years, it got lost in the sauce. That sauce being my spiritual journey, lol, which raged from 2013 til 2018. Mom is presently in full-on product junkie mode and I definitely encourage it. She’s having fun, and it’s beautiful to watch. I remember being there. I told her of my love affair with Oyin’s Hair Dew back in the day, but told her that I didn’t remember the rest of the line being particularly memorable. I WAS SO WRONG. She bought the whole line recently, and I revisited the Honey Hemp Conditioner, and Oh. My. God. I’ve since thrown out all my tried-and-true cheapies, and even the more expensive, super thick and rich formulas, and invested in one big-ass pump bottle of Honey Hemp. My tub and hair shelf are looking real neat right about now!
This conditioner. It not only melts tangles in seconds (’cause behentrimonium methosulfate), it smells divine, and leaves my hair soft but clean. The slip is undefeated. I use it on Gia and Max, too, and Mom is feeling like the MVP. Having a new and super enthusiastic natural in the house isn’t so bad, after all!
Ingredients: purified water, organic aloe vera gel, behentrimonium methosulfate (and) cetearyl alcohol (emulsifier derived from colza oil), honey, virgin hemp oil, coconut oil, vegetable glycerine, hydrolized silk, citrus essences, fragrance, optiphen (preservative)
That’s all I got. If you haven’t revisited some old faves, you absolutely should. The smell will throw you back to a different, simpler time, and the results will be what you’d been looking for in all the wrong places. If you’re here, reading this, you already know what works for you. Get back to basics.
Standing with you in and AS Love,
Nik
