The Bleached Blonde Natural Hair Survival Essential: Yes To Carrots Leave In Conditioner with Argan Oil

Don't worry, Giovanni Direct Leave In, I still love you. But I have found a very close second, if not tie, for a leave in conditioner for natural hair. 

Every since dying my hair blonde, my hair has turned extremely diva -- it's is now temperamental, flakey, very thirsty, brittle, and dry basically all the time. I also find my hair to be happiest when it is straighter and/or wavy rather than curly. The problem is...I am fairly lazy, so straightening my hair everyday is not a realistic option.

Lately, for a serious boost in moisture and maleability, I've been LOVING Say Yes To Carrots' Leave In Conditioner with Argan Oil. I love everything about it -- the texture, consistency, feel on my hair (and even on my skin), and the smell. It feels like a creamy, heavier lotion. It is not has heavy as an oil or butter, but thicker than the Giovanni Direct Leave In. It has a light, fresh, powdery smell as well as a powdery finish so it doesn't dry so oily. Even if you run it into your fingers, it dries a bit more powdery soft than oily. It really does leave my hair feeling as soft as it was prior to dying, especially when I wear it in a straight style. 

The only possible negative I've found with this product is that it does not always mix well with gel based styling products. I would not suggest mixing this with heavy amounts of Kinky Curly or Eco Styler, for example. If you do cocktail this product, go lighter with the products and use a lot of water.

Anyway...this has definitely been a bleach blond survival staple in my natural hair toolkit as of late. And I highly recommend this product! 

Of course, you can't know if this will be good for your hair type until you try it for yourself...

I am upset to hear this...but I've heard this product might be going away soon. Not sure what I will do without it...it is currently on sale here on yestocarrots.com  for a little over $5. A great price! 

This product is 96% natural with a rediculously long slew of natural extracts and few hard to pronounce unfamiliar ingredients. I also like that it is paraben free, petroleum free, SLS (Sodium Lauryl Sulfate) free, & cruelty free! If Yes to Carrots is actually bidding this leave in farewell, it's a big mistake!! 

Contains:

• Argan Oil
• Sea Kelp Extract
• Keratin 

Ingredients:

Water, Cetearyl alcohol, Behentrimonium chloride, Safflower seed oil, Candelilla cera wax, Olive oil, Shea butter, Argan oil, Macadamia seed oil, Coconut oil, Radish root ferment filtrate, Pomegranate extract, Green tea leaf extract, Carrot root extract, Sweet potato extract, Spirulina extract, Orange extract, Honey extract, Sea kelp extract, Soybean seed extract, Hydrolyzed keratin, Hydrolyzed soy protein, Tocopherol, Glycerin, Guar hydroxypropyltrimonium chloride, Capric Triglyderide, Glyceryl stearate, Citric acid, Dihydroxypropyltrimonium chloride, Sodium hydroxide, Sodium borate, Potassium sorbate, Phenoxyethanol, Fragrance. 

*Many of the extracts and oils are organic 

This is definitely up there on my top leave in list with Giovanni and Kinky Curly Knot Today. I liked it before I dyed my hair, but find that it works particularly well on dyed damaged hair. If your hair is undamaged  then its possible you won't notice much of a difference between this and your already favorite leave in. 

Tell me how it goes if you try it out!

It's Beginning to Feel Like Fall

A sea of mums at Eastern Market, Detroit

Adventures in Latidoe Stamp Making + New Packaging

A little excited and little nervous that I may have found an (other!) new obsession: stampmaking.

This is something I've always wanted to try out but never actually came around to buying materials and testing. You don't need fancy materials to make stamps...you can use styrafoam, tooth picks and paint. But I wanted to start off with a stamp for my up and coming store that I keep promising the world...and figured might as well get the good stuff.

thepaperplace.ca, nationalartcraft.com

I picked up this stamp making kit from Michaels for $15. It includes a 4x6" rubber stamp base, tracing paper, and a carving tool with two different blades. 

First I played around probably too long with stamp ideas. 

Then I traced the one I liked onto the tracing paper. To transfer the image to the rubber stamp, I traced over the design with a pencil.

Cut it out, flipped it onto the stamp then rubbed the back so the pencil would transfer.

Once the basics of your design are transfered you can go over details again with a pencil to make them more clear. And then of course remember that whatever areas you carve out will be white space. I tried to shade it in so that all the pink space would be what I had to carve out.

The blade just snaps into the tool. Then you just start shaving away...

My stamp is small so I just cut off what I needed.

Then tested it out! It's in now way perfect...but I think that's what makes handmade stamps special. They have a crafty made at home feel to them and for a line of hand crafted accessories...I think the stamp is pretty true to my 'brand' (if you can call it that)! 

I'm still thinking up a presentable and cost effective way to package things. I like the simple brown paper look...so I might do something like this. 

Maybe down the line I'll start making and possibly selling handmade stamps...might be fun :)