No Buy Challenge!!!!

All my Hair Products back in the fall

(I have soooo much more now)

WNHS Product Haul

As you can see from the pictures I have a problem.  I did not set out to own every natural hair product ever made, but..... well I think I do. Much like most additions it did not happen over night.  While I transitioned I gathered products very slowly, then I started attending natural hair events and started winning giveaways and learning of various natural hair companies and wanting to try new things as I experimented with my new all natural texture.  Fast forward a few months and I now have enough hair products to do everyone's hair in Louisville, Ky for at least a year. Ok that might be an exaggeration, but you get the point.  I know my weaknesses are cute packaging, a great smell and a good sale or free item with purchase. If a product falls into these categories I will buy it every time no matter how many products are currently in my stash. I am not the only natural out there with this problem it seems many of us turn into product junkies once become fully natural.  It really is hard not to.  Enter the Naturally Nu No Buy Challenge, in an effort to shrink my current stockpile of products I have decided to embark upon a self imposed no buy. This mean I promise I will not buy any hair products from now until the Black Friday sales the day after Thanksgiving.  Yes that is a LONG Time. But I know I can do it. I have also challenged some of my friends to this No Buy Challenge as well.  My friend and hair twin Haley of www.Derbycitynaturals.com has taken me up on my challenge. Trust me she has even more products than I do. Then there are those like my other bestie, Tanya10312000 on You Tube who refuse to participate but love to tease us about our no buy.  While I know it will be difficult for all of us to pass up great deals and new and interesting products I think it will be great to find creative ways to use the products we do have once our favorites start to run out.  I will be updating my blog with info on the challenge, but you can also follow what is going on with everyone ion the challenge or even join us yourself by adding yourself to my Facebook challenge page: Naturally Nu's No Buy Challenge. See you there

S/N

The current subscription services that I am already signed up for will continue. This does not count as me buying new products. We can also trade products with each other. There has been some of that going on already on the Facebook page.  Sharing is great!!!!!

National Natural Hair Meet Up Day: Presented By Derby City Naturals

May 19,2012

http://www.nnhmd.com

National Natural Hair Meetup Day was a day where beautiful ladies across the country gathered together on the same day to meet, mingle and show each other love all in the name of natural hair.  Locally Haley of Derby City Naturals (check out www.derbycitynaturals.com) organized the Metro Louisville meetup.  There was great food, various vendors, an awesome panel discussion with experts in hair, skincare, modeling and even a nationally known blogger.  There were tons of giveaways (OVER 30!!!) and the best part of all SWAG bags!!!!! There were two levels of swag bags. The was regular admission swag bag that contained numerous samples and 1 full size product and a VIP swag bag that had tons of samples and 2 full sized products. Both bags also had tons of coupon codes for products that were in the bags. Now which level do you think I got... You guessed it VIP!!!!!! Below you can see pics of all my goodies. Haley did a phenomenal job getting sponsors for the swag bags.  She truly went above and beyond to make sure this was an awesome event.  I  am still in awe of all her hard work.  I now have tons of new products to try and review for you guys. Not sure when I will get to all of them but I plan to start experimenting very soon.  So stay tuned between these items and all the stuff from the hair show I should be posting tons of reviews. 

View from the top of the inside of my VIP swag bag

all my samples and full sized products minus the coupon codes

Items I purchased from the vendors at the NNHMD

If you missed out this year no worries, there will another NNHMD next year on May 18, 2013.  Stay tuned to http://www.nnhmd.com for more details.  

Product Review: COCO Curls Moisturizing Styling Cream

Available at www.cococurls.com

8 oz $15 16oz $25

I was able to get mine at the World Natural Hair Show 2- 8oz for $20

It is thick and creamy and smells like butterscotch candy. Yum

From their website

"Coco Curls combines the properties of both  SHINE & MOISTURE, as well as HOLD & DEFINITION. A small amount goes a long way and works best with wet hair. You don’t have to worry about a white residue or greasy after affect – perfect for wearing a 2 strand twist style right out the salon! Coco Curls is made with all natural ingredients, that combine to nourish and strengthen natural hair." 

Ingredients:

Aloe Vera Juice, Shea Butter, Jojoba Oil, Coconut Oil, Cetearyl Olivate and Sorbitan Olivate, Hydroxypropyl trimonium Honey, Lactobacillus Ferment, Helianthus Annuus Seed Oil (and) Rosmarinus Officinalis Leaf Extract,  Dehydroxanthan Gum, Fragrance Oils.

Minnie's hair in 2 stand twists with Coco Curls

The back

Twist out results after keeping twists in for a week and a half

Side View- Great Curl Definition

She loved her hair. Yes those are feetie pj's lol 

Beautiful Curls

I stalk YouTube for product reviews.  Before going to the hair show I saw lots of vloggers reviewing the Coco Curls Moisturizing Styling Cream and all the reviews were very positive.  I also knew they were going to have a booth at the World Natural Hair Show so I decided this would be a great time to give it a try because not only could I buy it at a discounted price but I could also get it without paying shipping. Winning! I have to say the ladies that were working the booth were very friendly and eager to help. They were running a deal to buy 1 for $12 or 2 for $20. I love a good deal so I walked away with 2.  When I got home I decided my oldest daughter, Minnie, would be the one to test this product. The label says you do not need a leave-in and that you can use it for wash n go's or twists. So for an entire week Miana tried using it for WnG's  both with and without a leave in. The result was not very good. There was not much curl definition and lots of frizz.  So I decided to try it for 2 strand twists. SUCCESS!!!!! She washed and conditioned her hair and I applied Curls brand creme brulee as a leave-in conditioner and then CoCo Curls on top and I twisted her hair. The results were amazing. The first pictures are of the day after I twisted her hair.  She wore the twists for over a week and a half and then took the twists out.  While her hair was twisted NO extra product was used, no water, no sprays and no oils or butters. Her hair stayed moisturized the entire time.  She did not even add any more product to her hair after she took the twists out.  It was not until day 3 of her twist out that I took a small amount of the Coco Curls and rubbed it through her hair.  Today she is still rocking her twist-out and it still looks really good. Today is day 5 of her twist out.  So lets add this up she had the twists in for a week and a half and so far has had her twist out for 5 days, that is over two weeks on one application of the product and I only had to do her her one time!!! Winning again!!!  I can say we really like this product and will purchase it again. I don't think it works well for WnG's but it is outstanding for twists. I give this product an A+++++++++. 

May CurlKit Reveal

My May CurlKit

Available at http://www.curlkit.com

$20 per month superscription service

What I saw when I opened the CurlKit

All my May Goodies

MORE FULL SIZE PRODUCTS!!!!!!!

What Was in My CurlKit
- Sofn'Free Nothing But Curl Sealer -FULL SIZE
- Sofn'Free Nothing But Curl Wake Up Spray - FULL SIZE
-  Curly Canadians Hair Love (butter) - Deluxe Sample
- Bee Mine Juicy (spray)- Deluxe Sample
- Curl Prep Sweet Buttah  - Deluxe Sample
- Curly Hair Solutions Curl Keeper- sample packet
- KYNX I am Fierce Refreshing Leave In Conditioner- 2 sample packets
- 1 and Only Argan Oil Moisture Repair Conditioner- Sample Packet

If you have been following my blog then you know I have gotten some great "samples" this month from all of my subscription services.  And not to be outdone by the others CurlKit certainly delivered some surprises of their own this month.  This is my second month as a subscriber with CurlKit and the May kit knocked the April kit out of the water. The Theme for this CurlKit was Curls Run the World: International Edition.  Products from United States, Canada and the United Kingdom were included in this months selection. I got not one but two full size products, three deluxe samples and four sample packets.  I was soooo excited to get this CurlKit. As usual it was packaged in a beautiful sivler box with pretty pink tissue paper inside and a card describing all the goodies.  I also got some coupons to save money on the featured products.  You know I am a sucker for a good deal.  I absolutely love CurlKit and I think they do a great job giving you well known products and introducing you to new products to try.  The samples are very generous and give you the opportunity to really see if a product will work for you before you sink your hard earned dollars into products.  I can not say enough good things about CurlKit.  Now I need to get busy experimenting with these products so I can get some reviews posted for you all.  Please be sure to subscribe to my blog by putting your email in on the right side where is says "follow by email". Thanks yall !!!!!!!

May My Shade Of Brown Reveal

My Shade Of Brown Pillow Box

$10 per month subscription service

available at www.myshadeofbrown.com

The contents of my May My Shade of Brown Pillow Box

-  Nourishea  Mango Body Wash

-  Nourishea  Tea Tree Oil Shampoo

-  High Quality Organics  Premium Body Oil

-  Komplexx Blends Cosmetics Eye Light in Bronze

My Shade Of Brown is a monthly beauty subscription service geared toward women of color.  For a $10 per month fee they mail you 4-6 deluxe samples of beauty products to try before you buy.  If you like an item you can go to their web site and purchase the item usually at a discounted price or with free shipping. There are many services like this one (as you know I am currently signed up for 5 subscription services.) but what drew me to this one is it is for women of color so I expected to get things more suited to my coloring and that would look good on me.  There was only one color item in this shipment which was the eye shadow and it is in bronze, which does look really good on me.  This past month they were running a special for only $5 for your first shipment so this kit only cost me half of what I will normally pay.  The problem for me is I do get other subscription kits and so I have something to compare this to. I get much bigger samples from major name brand companies from my Birch Box.  Soooo I have to say I am not really impressed so far. I think I will give them one more month and see how the next shipment is before I cancel but if the next one is not better I will be cancelling this one.  Stay tuned to see what I get in my other subscription boxes for May. I have received shipment confirmations so I should be getting them in the next few days and I will do blog posts the day after I get them. If you want to make sure you don't miss any updates please subscribe to my blog on the right hand side and you will get an email every time I update it. 

2012 World Natural Hair Show

The 2012 World Natural Hair Show in Atlanta, GA was held this past weekend. To say I had the time of my life would be an understatement. This was my second time attending the WNHS and I must say this year was far better than last year. Last year I was pretty new to natural hair and still transitioning so I was trying to learn what products to use and how to "do" my hair.   However this year I had a whole new agenda.  I wanted to meet the people behind the brands that I have discovered over the past year and get great deals on products.  I  also wanted to meet many bloggers and vloggers that I follow. I did all that and then some, I even saw a famous actress in the mix.  The show was a huge success and my natural hair product stockpile has grown by leaps and bounds.

My WNHS Haul ; D

All the things I purchased except the 3 Shea Moisture products I gave my mom and the Jane Carter products that are on their way. 

As you can see from the picture I was able to gets tons and tons of hair products. Before arriving at the show I knew I wanted to get products from BASK, CURLS, Karen's Body Beautiful, Oyin Handmade and some raw shea butter.  Once I arrive I was lured in by the loud music, flashy lights and the aroma of great smelling products that just kept jumping into my bags : D.  And let's not get started on the the prices!!! Everything and yes I do mean EVERYTHING was offered at huge discounted show prices.  For example: CURLS had their 4 step CURLS Cocktails which are usually priced between $67-$79 show priced at $20!!! and yes they did sell out of these by the end of day 1.  There were other deals such as Shea Moisture products reg price $10 each were show priced 3 products for $20.  And lots and lots of free samples!!! All of the products in the front were all free products that were handed out. Beautiful Textures even gave away a swag bag with 2 FULL SIZED products if you "liked" their Facebook page. One of my favorites of the WNHS has to be Jane Carter.  Many of the Jane Carter products sold out due to the huge discounts but instead of saying oh well tough luck Ms. Jane Cater actually let you order at the show prices and is shipping the products to the customers for FREE!! Now that is customer service right there.  I was also able to talk to her personally and she is a very down to earth sweet lady. Great Job Jane.  The WNHS is definitely a great place to  learn about the new products coming out and to stock up on many of your staples. Look for reviews on these products coming soon. 

Me with one of my favorite vloggers makeupandbeautyjunkie on YouTube