Product Review: Miss Jessie's Curly Pudding

Miss Jessie's Curly Pudding

Available at select Targets and many online retailers

8 OZ for $22

Has the consistency of well pudding

Smells sweet and fruity <~~~ I liked the smell

Ingredients:

water, parafinium liquidum, glycerin, triethanolamine, fragrance, carbomer, PEG-12 dimethicone, dipropylene glycol, silk amino acids, aloe barbadensis leaf extract, avocado oil, shea butter, sweet almond oil, jojoba seed oil, macademia seed oil, oleth05, ethylhexyl methoxycinnanate, disodium EDTA, DMDM hydantion, ext. violet 2

I got this product at a product swap sponsored by www.derbycitynaturals.com (<~~~~~ my fovorite blogger and a great friend) Now there is a great deal of hype out there about Miss Jessie's products. Their marketing team does an amazing job.  They are everywhere on the internet. If you are into natural hair at all there is no doubt you have heard of them.  Last year at the World Natural Hair Show in Atlanta they had one of the largest booths and even had models walking around handing out free Miss Jessie's t-shirts.  Despite their numerous adds I have been very hesitant to use any of their products because I am a self admitted ingredient snob. I refuse to use petroleum, mineral oil, sulfates or any kind of 'cone (different forms of silicone) in my hair, no exceptions. And the SECOND ingredient is parafinium liquidum, which is the fancy name for mineral oil.  I'm sorry no thank you Miss Jessie. (note I tested it in my daughters hair not mine. I'm so wrong for that) Another problem I have is the expensive price tag. How can a company use cheap crappy ingredients and charge such a hefty price.  Again no thank you Miss. Jessie's. But again I did not pay for this product it was given to me at a product swap so I figured hey I'll try it in KK's hair and we will see how it goes.  

So I washed and conditioned her hair I used both Curls brand shampoo and conditioner (you can find reviews of those on this blog too) I dis not use a leave-in conditioner on her hair as the products instructions say to apply to freshly washed hair.  I used the shingling method and then had her shake her hair vigorously. 

The slip was pretty good so it was very easy to distribute through the hair even without the use of a leave in conditioner. The pics below show how KK's hair looked right after application.   Her curls were very defined and pretty frizz free. I was a little surprised at how good it looked.  I'll be honest with the ingredients I did not have high expectations.  The last picture shows her hair after it had dried completely.  Meh, it was just ok for me. While the curls are still pretty defined her hair felt crispy and very dry. In fact it felt dehydrated again I go back to the ingredients there is not much there that nourishes the hair so I'm surprised.  So you be the judge is it worth the $22? And that's what's Nu today.

The 1st four pics below are right after the Miss Jessie's Curly Pudding was applied. The last pic was about 6 hours after application and hair was completely dry. 

Final Look 

Minnie's Transition to Natural Hair

My oldest daughter, Minnie, was born with a head full of thick pretty curls.  As a matter of fact she left the hospital with enough hair to put into ponytails.  I have always loved how thick and pretty her hair is.  At the age of 7 I let my hair dresser talk me into putting a texturizer in her hair.  She reassured me it was not a relaxer and she would retain her most of her curl pattern and this would make it much easier to comb her hair.  Because Minnie was going to be in her Aunts wedding I decided it would be a good time to have it done because her hair would look nice for the big day.  BIG MISTAKE.  Over the course of 3 years I watched my daughters mid back length hair go to a chin length bob.  I still have so much guilt for allowing her hair to be relaxed. I have learned so much more about natural hair in the last year and a half. I wish I had known the tips and techniques then that I know now she would have never had to go through that. Oh well you cant change the past.  But once we as a family decided to go natural in 2011 we have not looked back.  Minnie was the last to cut off her relaxed ends.  So after 13 months of twist outs, braid outs and rollersets on Friday March 16, 2012 I cut off the remaining relaxed ends.  The pics above show her typical twist out look and then her before pics right before I cut her hair.

After her BC was done she was so excited.  Since then she has mastered her own wash and go's.  She is loving playing with hair accessories and trying new products. I am so excited that she has embraced her God given beautiful curls. She told me that most of the girls of color at the elementary school have "fake" hair. I love that she is not afraid to be different. And that's what's Nu today

After her first "texturizer"

After her 2nd "texturizer"

Notice the breakage

With her hair in a Bob and her last "texturizer"

After the BC

WnG with KCCC 

100% Natural Minnie

Curls Goddess Glaze WnG

So you all know that I love Curls Brand shampoo and conditioner. So I wanted to review some of the styling products for you as well. As much as I love trying new products and giving you all the information my hair said " ummm I don't think so". Not because it does not like these products but because I have experimented with so many different products in the last few weeks. Enter my youngest daughter KK. I usually keep her hair in two strand twists because they last 2 weeks in her hair and she really likes how they look. She does ask me to do WnG's sometimes and since it's been really warm I decided I could let her wear her hair "out" and give you guys a review too. Winning!!! ;D Previous to this I had tried WnG's using KCCC and they looked great on her. So this time I went total Curls Brand on her. Curls has two different lines. Their salon line is available with many online retailers and on their website www.curls.biz. They also have a retail line that has less expensive ingredients and can be purchased at select Target stores and all Sally's Beauty Supply stores.(Sally's is offering $1 off all Curls products for the month of March.) Most of the retail products range from $7-$10. The salon products range from $10-$20

How I did her hair
First I washed her hair with the Curls retail formula of the Curl Cream Cleanser. Next I conditioned her hair with the Curls salon formula Coconut Sublime Conditioner. Next I sprayed her hair with Curls retail formula of Lavish Curls Moisturizer. Lastly I used my fingers to rake quarter sized amounts of Curls salon formula of the Goddess Glaze. Her hair came out really defined and soft. I could not believe how soft her hair was. I kept playing in her hair because it felt so good. Below you will find pics of how the gel looked in my hand, this was the amount I raked through the sections. I sectioned her hair into 4 sections by the way. I actually forgot to take pictures of her hair until the third day!!!! So the pictures below are after three days. Each day she just spayed a little of the Lavish Curls on her hair and shook it a little and was on her way. I really liked the way her hair came out and that she was able to get multiple days out of the style and she is a wild sleeper too. She does wear a 100% silk scarf at night but it comes off most nights. So overall these products get an A+ for a great WnG.

Darcy's Botanicals Products

4oz $12  Plum Kernel Nectar
Available at www.darcysbotanicals.com
And many other online retailers
Also available in Louisville at Go Natural Boutique

I love love love every product I have ever purchased from Darcys Botanical. For starters almost every products is $12 and they all smell amazing.


Let's start with the Plum Kernel Nectar. This stuff is amazing!!!!! It is a light oil that smells like a warm vanilla custard even though there is no fragrance added. I use this product two ways. First to seal moisture I spray about 5 sprays into the palm of my hand after I have applied my leave in conditioner. I rub my palms together and lightly run my palms over the top of my hair and then I apply my gel of the day. This helps seal in moisture and keeps my hair from getting that crunchy feeling that gel can give you. The second way I use the Plum Kernel Nectar is as a refresher. On the second day after I have applied my gel and for up to the fifth day I will get my hair wet in the shower, not soaking wet, I just stick my head under the water real quick and then shake my hair to revive the curls. Once out of the shower I spray my whole head evenly with the Plum Kernel Nectar and I'm done. My hair is left feeling soft and smelling great. This is certainly a Product I never want to be without. Darcy does have other spray oils available on their website but this one is by far my favorite.

Daily Cleansing Cream $12 for 8 oz or $20 16oz

 Pumpkin Seed Curl Moisturizing Conditioner $12 for 8oz or $20 for 16oz

I love both of these products. The Daily Cleansing Cream is a sulfate free low lathering cleanser.  It is thick and creamy and feels very much like a conditioner.  The smell is like sweet candy.  I really enjoy using this on my hair it leaves it feeling soft and full of moisture.  Following up with a conditioner in certainly optional with this cleanser.  The Pumpkin Seed Curl Moisturizing Conditioner is actually the first product from Darcy's Botanical that I tried and after one sniff I was hooked.  It smells exactly like fresh baked pumpkin pie. I love it! It has great slip and does a wonderful job at adding moisture to your hair. My hair is left feeling like I have used a deep conditioner. This is one of those must have products. This is one of the conditioners that is always in my shower no matter what.  

Curling Cream Gel 8oz $12

Madagascar Vanilla Styling Cream 8oz $12

Avocado and Wild Plum Twisting Cream- Glycerin Free 8oz $12

The styling products are just as great as the oils, cleanser and conditioner.  I have used the Curling Cream Gel on my oldest daughter for braid-outs and they turned out great. It smells like a watermelon jolly rancher and is like a creamy runny gel. For her very thick transitioning hair it worked great (see pic below)  I have used the Madagascar Vanilla Styling Cream for twist outs on my youngest daughter. It is very thick and great for hair that craves butters. (see pic below)  The Avocado and Wild Plum Twisting cream is excellent for twisted styles. It is like a thick lotion and keeps the hair twisted and seals in moisture very well.  I can leave my daughters twists in for two weeks and not have to add any products to her hair. (pics below)

Minnie with braid-out done with the Curling Cream Gel

KK with a twist out done with Madagascar Vanilla Styling Cream

KK with twists done with Avocado and Wild Plum Twisting Cream

Birchbox Monthly Beauty Subscription

Birchbox is a monthly subscription service. For $10 per month they send you various fragrance, beauty, accessory and hair samples and sometimes full sized products to try. I love products and I love trying new things so for only $10 a month heck yea I'll sign up. I have to tell you I was very unimpressed with the first box I got in Feb and actually thought about canceling the service. See the pics and list for what I received. Now I got my second Birchbox today and OMG!!!!! I am so glad I did not cancel. I love this box. So I have not tried any of the stuff yet. But I had to come and show you guys what I got. I will include a list of all the items in each. if you are interested in signing up you can go to www.birchbox.com

Oh so in other news I also joined Curlkit today which is the same kinda thing but for curly hair ppl who wanna try different products it's $20 per month and you can sign up for it at www. Curlkit.com

So I'm thinking of doing a giveaway would you all be interested? And if so what kinda giveaway would you like?

First Birchbox
Colorescience glow and go travel puff
Eye rock designer liner
Juicy Couture Viva La Juicy
Jouer pink lip gloss
Show Stoppers double sided tape in black and nude


2nd Birchbox
Essie nail polish full size in as gold as it gets
Twirl perfume by Kate Spade
Kerastase Elixir Ultime
Twistband hair tie
Tarte natural matte lip stain in lucky

Curl Junkie Beauticurls Conditioner

Curl Junkie: Beauticurls Argan and Olive Oil Daily Hair Conditioner

Purchased from Curlmart.com 12oz $19

This conditioner has become a fast favorite. I purchased this from curlmart along with 3 other Curl Junkie conditioners about three weeks ago (reviews for those coming soon).  Curl Junkie is another company that puts amazing fragrances in their products.  The smell is a very tropical exotic fruit smell like mango papaya or something.  I really like it a lot. the slip is amazing.  I would tell you that it made de-tangling my hair easy but I cant tell you that because after distributing the product through my hair I did not have any tangles. My hands just slid right through my hair, and I have super thick hair so that is saying something right there. The conditioner is a little expensive in comparison to some of my other favorites but I feel like it is well worth it.  I will definitely re-purchase this product.  I can not say a single negative thing about it. As a matter of fact because I liked it so much I purchased 3 more Curl Junkie products from www.Aveyou.com those reviews will be coming very soon. 

Ampro Olive Oil Gel

Not sure where you can buy this or how much it retails for.  I got 5 free samples with my Curlmart order and this was one of the 5.  I really had zero expectations for this product.  I did not expect to like it. Now I do love getting stuff for free so I was very happy to see such a large sample included in my order.  I did use it to slick my hair back into a high puff and I also used it on my daughters hair when putting it into a ponytail and I was pleasantly surprised. I thought it would be one of those gels that holds your hair down but makes it hard and stiff and makes flakes when you comb it out.  I was totally wrong.  the hold is very soft and it even felt like it helped to add moisture to my hair. Huh from a cheap gel? really? Yes and my hair was soft after I took the puff down. I could not believe it.  I really like this sample and I did not think I would at all.  Thank you Curlmart for the great sample. 

Review: Donna Marie Curl Cream

Donna Marie Curl Cream

Product available at numerous online retailers

This was given to me by my friend and hair twin Haley of derbycitynaturals.com <~~~~~~ best blogger ever!!

So yes I am currently experimenting with lots of products, not sure my hair is enjoying the process as much as I am right now. Ok so let's get into it. One thing I can say about all Donna Marie products is they smell amazing!!!!!!!!!!! The curling cream smells like vanilla butter cream frosting. yummy yummy yummy. For that reason alone I wanted to love this product. Before I start with my likes and dislikes about this product I would like to put this disclaimer out there: I knew going into this that my hair prefers gels and not creams. On the Donna Marie website it says that you can use this product for wash and gos (my daily style, yes even in the winter) and that there is no need to use a leave-in due to the amount of butters in the product. Again this was given to me to review so I said sure. After co-washing my hair this morning I did my usual sectioning into 6 sections and applied this product and shaking my hair as I went along. This product is very strange in that it appears very moisturizing and like it would glide thorough my hair with ease.. hmmm O-o not the case. Getting it into my hair was not difficult but it does not have good slip so that made running it through my very thick hair a little challenging. When all was said and done I was left with almost no curl definition and lots of frizz. My product free freshly washed hair had tons of curl definition so this actually took that away and left me with just frizzy hair. So I did what I always do when my hair looks questionable.... I pulled it back in a puff. I will say that once it started to dry I think it looked better than when I first applied it. But there is no way I would pay money for this product. Now it might work better for a twist out or a braid out but it is a fail for a WnG on my hair. Stay tuned for many more product reviews to come soon. and that's what Nu today

My hair right after application

My hair about 2 hours after application

Jessicurl Confident Coils First Impression

Jessicurl Confident Coils

$14.95 for 8oz

Can be purchased at www.jessicurl.com or www.curlmart.com

This was given to me by my hair twin and best blogger ever Haley of derbycitynaturals.com

As you know I have been doing lots of experimenting recently.  I was getting a little bored and very curious about other products so I decided to step out on my first love and have a few hair affairs.  Enter Jessicurls Confident Coils.  I have tried a few of the Jessicurl conditioners and really liked them. But I had never tried one of the stylers, so I jumped at the chance to give this one a try. The consistency is of a watery cream gel. I co-washed my hair and applied Curls brand Cashmere Curls as my leave in and then sectioned my hair into 6 sections and applied the Confident Coils in the same manner as I always do raking and shaking as I go. I love the curls it gave me. As you can see in the picture my curls are popping.  It did not react well with the Curls Cashmere Curls leave in.  This picture was taken 2 hours after application of the product and my hair is still white. I did this WnG at night and about 3 hours after this pic was taken I wrapped my hair in my 100% silk scarf and went to bed. The next morning my hair was very dry feeling and frizzy there would have been no way to get second day hair. Again this may have been due to the leave in. I may experiment with this product further to see if it would do better with a different leave in.  So right now I would have to give this product a C+ because it does give really good curl definition..  

My hair 2 hours after application. 

My Favorite Rinse Out Conditioner

Curls Coconut Sublime Conditioner

Can be purchased at www.curls.biz also available at other online retailers or locally in Louisville KY at Go Natural Boutique (www.shopgonatural.com)

8oz $16 or 32oz $30!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As you see I buy the 32oz

I can not say enough good stuff about this conditioner.  This was one of the very first all natural conditioners I tried when I was transitioning to natural about a year ago. As you know I like variety with the products I use. As a matter of fact at any given time there are at least 4 conditioners in my shower, but this is always one of the 4.  This is hands down my favorite go to conditioner that gives me consistent results and at $30 for 32oz it will continue to be a staple for me.   Ok so let's get into why I love it so much aside for the huge value.  The smell is a sweet coconut custard smell that is not overpowering at all.  The slip is what really sells it. The slip of this conditioner makes de-tangling a breeze.  When I was transitioning de-tangling was much more difficult because I still had below the shoulder hair and it was difficult to de-tangle the hair where the natural texture met the relaxed hair. This line of demarcation is also very fragile so I needed something that would help make the process go smoother and this conditioner fit the bill. Now that I have been 100% natural for 7 months today I still use this conditioner regularly because I can put it in my hair and use only my fingers to de-tangle in the shower and the process is very easy.  It also has all natural organic ingredients that leave my hair not only feeling very moisutized, soft and tangle free but smooth.  When I use this conditioner it's like getting a head start on controlling frizz for my styler of choice that day.  For all of these reason I will never be without this conditioner.

You can also buy Curls products from Target, select Rite-Aid stores and now Sally Beauty Supply !!!!!

I will tell you these Curls products are very good but they are a little different that those available on the Curls website. Curls markets these as being more affordable versions of their salon line. I have used most products from both lines and both are great. So go out and try them for yourself and see what you think.