Reasons to visit le coil:

*images via le coil

Still playing catchup to what’s been floating around the blogosphere/Internet over the past few weeks due to my lack of computer.  A handful of product reviews that I wanted to bang out the door are still waiting in the wings, along with a few e-mails that I have yet to respond to (bear with me!).  But with no Spotlight last month, I felt it only necessary to hodgepodge this month’s finds and goodies!   Small favors that I’ve been diggin like crazy, mainly because of how well they worked, how yummy they smell and how much I’m looking forward to trying out even more from these lines!

Lately, the PJ in me has dimmed ever so slightly, forcing me to race past all the Sephoras that are loitered throughout the city…all the pretty & chic boutiques that line the avenues of my neighborhood, but most importantly all the on-line boutiques that have bombarded me with e-mails proclaiming SALE 50% OFF + FREE SHIPPING! ARrrgh!!

But you know what, as frustrating as it’s been…I’ve still been good.  I’m still dipping into the stash that I currently have (which is STILL a heaping mound of whatnots), and every so often I will indulge in a small treat. 

One of the things I’m instantly attracted to whether it’s the dawn of winter or the height of summer is a smooth & nourishing lip balm.  Since I was a small kid I’ve had a thing for their cute packaging (umm…Hello Kitty!), ability to smell like watermelon, tangerine and all the other fruit drinks I had in my lunchbox growing up.  Naturally though, you begin to choose favorites and preferences emerge when your doctor uses words like ‘winter itch’, or ‘eczema’.  I know!  How could they.  But turning this negative into a positive, I was able to explore the world of Lip Butters!  I’ve found favorite vendors from Etsy,  Anita Grant, Bath & Body Works, and my new favorite, Honey House. 

What I like best about this line is their natural approach to producing bath & body products.  From their honey filled soaps to their signature moisturizing Bee Bar, a hand and body lotion bar, all their goodies look and feel like a serious treat for your skin.  I snagged the signature Bee Bar, (vanilla scented) & the Vanilla Almond Lip Butter which does an amazing job in keeping my lips smooth for hours at a time.  The lip butters come in either a tube or tin for easy carrying.

 Like a kiss to the lips… Pomegranate oil has been added to the Lip Butter tubes for its anti-aging and anti-inflammatory qualities. Other superior Natural Oils are Shea, Jojoba & Kukui Nut to soften, moisturize and protect. What a relief for dry, cracked lips! Other flavors are: Apple Pear, Mango, Peppermint, Vanilla Berry, Natural, and Mandarin. Try them all!

Right now I’ve got my eye on the lavendar scented Beer Bar, the Honey Blossom Soap and the vanilla berry lip butter.  They have several distrutors throuhgout the northeast, click here to find a store.

My next find has been a staple in my routine for the past few months simply because it’s managed to work better than any face wash, face polish, facial scrub I’ve tried over the years.  In the past I’ve sampled from St. Ives Apricot Scrub to Origin’s Never A Dull Moment  face polisher and neither has left my skin as clean and fresh feeling. Zaja Natural’s Dead Sea Mud Foaming Face & Body Scrub is honestly one of the best in making that ‘at home spa’ experience come to light. I purchased this months ago during a PJ frenzy along with their Amber Sandalwood Spa Soap Bar, and could not believe how much dirt and grime it sloughed away to leave me with and oil free T-zone and a clean face.

Descrip:

A wonderful skin confection that you won’t be able to resist diving into. Made with pure handmade cream soap, genuine dead sea mud, camelina meal, strawberry seeds, grape seeds, jojoba oil, pure cane sugar, dead sea clay and rhassoul clay. Formulated to lather into a soft creamy texture and gently scrub away all your worries without scratching or irritating your skin.

Dead sea mud has so many minerals that are just wonderful for the skin and has been used for many centuries are part of a daily beauty regimen. Camelina acts as a skin defoliant and opens up the pores so that the cleanser can take the bad stuff out of your skin so the good stuff can go to work. Rhassoul volcanic clay contains a high percentage of magnesium plus silica, potassium, calcium, iron, copper, zinc and lithium, the wonderful elements that we need to survival and purification. Added scrubbies to gently exfoliate dead skin cells so that your skin can begin to renew itself and reveal the gorgeous skin within. Couple this with our plain unscented unrefined Shea butter or our Pure Monoi De Tahiti oil and your skin will glow and you will look and feel great!

I use the scrub typically once-twice a week before going to bed.  I take a small scoop with my finger. which is really all you need to cover your entire face, and massage the mud until it becomes a frothy, creamy consistency.  By then, I move in circular motions for 3-5 minutes, cold rinse and apply moisturizer before heading to bed.  In the morning my face is clearer, and my pores look significantly smaller.  It truly does feel like a spa moment after that final rinse because of how FRESH & CLEAN your face becomes.  Zaidat, the creator and owner of Zaja Naturals has an AMAZING collection of bar soaps, butters, deodorants…and all are handmade! Soap names include the delicious sounding Coconut Cream Pie Soap & the Blackberry Vanilla Musk soap…all on my ‘get’ list.

 If you’re an avid Etsy shopper, stop by her shop and DO NOT sleep on these goodies.  The only problem you’ll find is the overwhelming need to buy up everything on the site because it all sounds and LOOKS yummy!  You can also visit her original stomping ground @ zajanatural.com.

If you guys have any Etsy sellers to shoutout drop me a line @backtocurly@gmail.com, or leave a comment down below, I’d love to hear any new discoveries from the handmade community;-).

I hesitate to post this because I think some writers should just have more sense.  NYmag.com recently profiled Anthony Dickey for their fashion blog, The Cut, and had this to say:

Even in a city as diverse as New York, women with textured hair need to search long and hard for a salon that can specialize in their hair, or one that has a token stylist who is able to work with it. Fortunately, hairstylist Anthony Dickey has a new salon called Hair Rules New York (named after his line of textured-hair-care products) that caters to all hair types, from nappy to silky. Having worked with everyone from Michelle Obama to Sarah Jessica Parker, Dickey (who already has a waiting list) and his staff are prepped for any hair challenge. We caught up with the lovable stylist while he was putting the final touches on his first salon (which opened earlier this month) and chatted about how he hates shampoo and why people call him Dickey.

Credit: Melissa Hom

If you spotted the word(s) that helped raise the hairs on the back of my neck, you might feel me on this.  You can read the rest of the interview here. But nonetheless, it’s still a smidge exciting when a Salon opens up, particularly one that caters to the needs of a marginalized group…curly/coily/textured femmes!  Earlier this month Anthony Dickey, of the famed “Hair Rules” collection, opened a salon here in New York that seems to show some promise in terms of evening out the play-field, allowing more options  for those seeking to have their naturally textured hair played with.   According to Dickey, “It’s all about diversity. I’m for the kinkiest of the kink to the finest of white hairs that fall flat to the scalp. I’m for everything and everyone in between.”

If you’re in the NYC area:

Hair Rules New York, 828 Ninth Ave., nr. 54th St.; 212-315-2929

It’s towards the end of July,  Summer has hurriedly reached it’s halfway mark…and somehow…someway, I still find myself baffled each time I take down my twists after a wash+condition+style cycle.  I’d want to hearken this all to a ‘glutton for punishment’ mindset…me knowing & listening to the humidity forecast before applying my first styling product, yet still floored when ‘poof’ is the only scenario starring me in face.

Alas, this morning I took the final hint, and realized if first day hair comes out looking like five day old hair…it’s still alright.  The blazing sun/heat yesterday tore through my twists to dry them in air fashion, but…maybe a bit too well.  My strands were endlessly parched after taking down in the a.m., leaving me weary of adding any kind of butter/moisturizer/curl cream.

Finally getting down to the bare bones of my sample poo bar from Chagrin Valley.  My Tea Tree and Neem bar has lasted well over four washes…a plus considering the intial size of the bar and the scope of my hair. Washed with the bar this week, but also decided to use up the palm-ful of Oyin’s Honey Wash leftover from many moons ago.  LUV this stuff for softening & cleansing my hair the only way curly/coily hair should be cleansed…gently/nourishing.  All good stuff.

AOHR, the only conditioner left in sight after the past few weeks of using up the goods.  Detangled, smoothed on condish in sections…twisted, and DC’d for a couple hours while I exited to the laundromat.  Multitasking is the only way I know how to do Sundays, and thankfully my hair was treated to a much deserved DC after nixing on it last week.  Before rinsing, applied old fav ACV to my scalp a ( added Hairveda’s CoCosta Oil), massaged in the scalp…cold rinsed and dug deep to find my old bottle of KCKT.

Applied KCKT, under Donna Marie’s Lock & Twist Pudding.  After the twists were fully dry,  the ends were a bit dry/under-moisturized, sealed with Afroveda’s  Ginger Almond Twist Butter.  The ‘do’ this morning  was less moisturized than what I’d been used to after using the KCKT + Donna Marie Combo.  HUMIDITY!!

How does one argue with your hair… to lay right, suck in that moisture…but not too much! Stay low…avoid the frizz, play nice with the other coils.  I can’t…and as I type…my place has  suspicously reached Sauna like temperatures.  Here’s to whatever tomorrow will bring;-)!

Edit:  After perusing some old posts, I did notice the same problem after using  KCKT + the lock twist pudding.  A combo of excessive humdidty with these two probably…not a good thing?!  

How to Be Fierce

The blogs are a buzz….Twitter is over capacity (but what else is new), Michelle Obama’s new do has been pushed aside entirely because Solange Knowles decided to shed some pounds by using some shears.  If you don’t know what the big deal is, chances are you’ve never done it, are curious as to why someone would…or envious that she looks amazingly beautifully sans hair.  So, is hair really just…hair?  Obviously not.  For the love of all that is natural…refrain if you can from calling her, crazy, stupid, narcissistic, retarded, ugly, selfish, clueless, crying out for help…’bald is beautiful’ is hardly an argument,… it’s a given.  A better question to ask is…how does it feel to be so liberated?  Where can I get me some of that confidence?

I interrupt my sabbatical (hi y’all!) to bring you an ABSOLUTE must in product reviews.  →Last week my wallet and I finally broke down and bought a new laptop, so my lovely bambina filled with RAM and gigabytes should be arriving in the coming days;-)!! ←But, you know what…this past week something bit me…and it was something I hadn’t felt in a good while because of my economical defunct status. My focus over the past few weeks has been to consciously use up, re-purpose most of the products I already have in my PJ stash. The goodies I’ve been able to find have really made me smile…well, half because I was finally starring at the disposition of being a product junkie, and the other half mostly had to do with the kid in me…continuing to find something new each time I dug my hands in to pull something out. A small thrill really, because I’m enjoying sampling and using these jars up, finally seeing the empty bottoms!

Anywho, ignore my will to ramble and let me bring to light the goodness I’ve found in Darcy’s Botanicals. Last week was what I’d like to call a ‘naught’ week, meaning humidity shumidity was kicking my hair from the backside, so that by Friday afternoon I had to call upon The Process a tad early. Normally my Sunday’s are set aside for this time consuming task, but my ever growing bouffant was seeking too much unwanted attention. The intent though was to keep the process shortest and sweetest by a quick wash with Chagrin Valley’s Neem and Tea Tree Poo Bar. Nixed on any DC because I was already a bit vexed about the idea of detangling my hair after a long day’s work;-). Nonetheless, the chagrin soap moisturized and cleansed my strands quite effectively…enough for me to bust through, using Darcy’s Coconut & Lemongrass Transitioning Crème, and the Madagascar Vanilla Styling Crème.

Detangler

As a fairly light hair crème, the Coconut & Lemongrass was surprisingly effective in detangling the knots and snarls my hair developed over the span of a week. Light, yet a little goes a long way. I’m not a huge fan of the lemongrass scent (great for stir frying, not my hair), yet the coconut made up for it. The crème comes in a sweetly convenient pump bottle, which made detangling breezy, and honestly less messy! With the enormity that is my hair, I’ve gradually developed a routine of not caring what product flies on the wall of my kitchen area or my sink…but this whole ‘pump & apply’ routine I nailed down was snazzy even for me.

I followed with Darcy’s Madagascar Vanilla Styling Crème….my new ‘ohm’ product! I had a full 8 oz. jar to play with, which was plenty because again, a shmitz goes a long way. The crème is thick and smells heavenly, truly like some of the best vanilla bean goodies you’ve always wanted to try but haven’t. I’m also marginally convinced there’s a hint of bourbon scent as the product site hints to, but you’ll have to be the judge.

Yum-0!

Descrip:

Our hand whipped Madagascar Vanilla Styling Creme is an all natural hair butter cream for moisturizing, styling and conditioning your natural coils.

It absorbs instantly into hair to replenish much needed moisture, provide softness, sheen & encourages health hair growth.

This highly moisturizing creme is very thick & concentrated so a little goes a long way. It is perfect for type 3-4 naturals:)

It has a very thick concentrated buttercream consistency with the sweet smell of gently infused African Madagascar Vanilla that is truly heavenly! Our customers love the scent. Many say it smells like vanilla ice cream, some say it smells like a sweet bourbon vanilla, depending upon how long we infuse the vanilla:)

Once you try it, you’ll be hooked!

WHAT’S IN IT?

Organic Palm Oil, Organic Aloe Vera, Organic Madagascar Vanilla, Vegetable Emulsifying Wax, Candelilla Wax, Organic Castor Oil, Rice Bran Oil, Organic Jojoba Oil and Potassium Sorbate.

 

The ingredient list is 100% natural + 100% Vegan.  At $12 for a nice sized 8oz jar, this styling crème is pocket friendly and will thankfully last for the better part of a few twisting sessions. Because I wanted to cut down on time, I did make fewer twists, opting still to part the hair into four sections, then continuing to twist each sub-section (about four-5 twists per section). I unraveled each twist the following morning and couldn’t keep my paws off of each well defined, moisturized coil! A good indicator of moisture, at least in my hair, is of course the feel, but most importantly a look that I’d want to describe as vibrant. My natural hair color is a deep brown that burns a bit brighter in the Summer months, and yet there was a richness to my hair after using the crème that was unmistakably due to a higher level of moisture.

And because convenience is always a factor, products from the line can be purchased directly from the site, darcysbotanicals.com or if you’re an avid Esty purchaser from there .   The lovely owner, Lysandra has recently unveiled several new goodies, including a detangling Hair Milk and a Deep Conditioning Mask.  To read more great reviews from this line, do check out the fab Amina over @ Coup de Coeur.  One of her Spotlights was on Darcy’s Botanicals, and after her fantastic review I placed my order;-)