Nature´s gate - Shampoo review

´Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself´.- Coco Chanel

Happy Tuesday y´all

My fav new shampoo is by Nature´s Gate and its an Aloe vera containing sulfate free shampoo. I swear, put aloe vera on anything and I may just buy it. But on the real, its a fabulous smelling (it reminds me of a fresh garden after rain has come - its a nice fresh smell. Green smell), great consistency having and thickish lather shampoo. My head feels so clean afterwards. I bought it on whim (at Discherm), I wanted to try out a sulfate shampoo and the price was reasonable (read cheap). 

My new fav shampoo - ´hydrates and restores normal to dry hair´

Ingredients

What it says on the back - ´Nature´s gate Aloe Vera shampoo gently cleanses hair while helping to restore moisture. Aloe Vera hydrates while our 7 Healing Hair Nutrients nourish, condition and soften hair. This superb moisturizing shampoo is gentle enough for everyday use, leaving hair replenished, manageable and silky smooth´.

It really does all of the above. I cant fault this.

Ingredients include
- Aloe vera
- Soy proteins
- Vegetable proteins
- Jojoba oil
- Borage flower seed oil
- Barley
- Avocado extract
- Coconut
-  Glycerin
- Vitamin C
- Vitamin E

This shampoo is vegan and not tested on animals. This will probably stay in my stash for a while and when my tresemme conditioner is finished I may go and get the conditioner to this shampoo and have those as my set.I am always glad when something works out product wise. It makes wash-days so much easier and nicer knowing my hair likes a certain product and it works well with it.

How I wash my hair
I first detangle my head either using my fingers or a wide tooth comb (sometimes I do a pre poo with coconut oil but that´s not always), then I wet my head and then put my hair into 4 sections. I like to do this on wet hair. Then I loosen one section, place shampoo into my palms and coat that section with shampoo. With my fingers I go in circular motions on my scalp not using my nails, moving slowing down the hair length to my ends washing that section scalp to ends then I rinse off and continue with all the remaining sections. Afterwards condition.  This is how I have been doing my hair for years. I usually do a final cold water 1 minute rinse when I am completely done.

When I add the mask, I wash with shampoo first, then add my hair mask and leave that on for a few minutes and carry on with my body or whatever and then when time is up, rinse that off and condition.

Disclaimer: I don´t work for Nature´s Gate. I bought this with my own money. Sharing is caring.



Smiles, Laughter and Shampoo

Flea Market buys

'Sometimes your joy is the source of  your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy'.- Thich Nhat Hanh

Happy Monday afternoon to you

So over the weekend mimi me and I went to a flea Martket which is held every first Saturday of the month. It was my first time at the Tuuthikeni (Fashion and Art) flea market. It was great. Great vibe, cool people, live dancers, nice yummy eats (which I didnt take shots off!!!!!) and great music and poetry. All in all, it was all good. Below are a few shots a did remember to take. 

My Maya (I was doing my nails and she wanted also) peeps those cute little toes!!!!!

A few dresses and skirts to buy

Rasta print

My mimi me rocking her African dress

This musician and his puppet had Maya dancing and clapping

 Leather hand made goods

More handmade goods

Pinata any one?

 I didn't buy a lot of stuff  and I came home with 2 books for Maya and 3 new earrings for me. I wanted to go just for the experience and see what it was all about.

What I came home with

Namibian books by Namibian authors. Doing my bit to support.

And these 3 lovely earrings!!!! The lady with the fro is is giving me life!!!!!

It was a good day. Just my love and I chilling and enjoying Saturday.

Love, Freedom and Earrings

My protective style

'Beauty is about enhancing what you have.  Let yourself shine through'.- Janelle Monae

Hi all

I wanted to show you my protective style before I have my wash day tomorrow. I have had this style in since last week Friday and only had to re-plait once. I tried to do flat twists and I failed, so the next best option was to plait my hair into thickish cornrows and tie them at the nape of my neck. Below are shots I took yesterday. 

Nice and thick

My version of neat rows

Not very tight but not loose either

I braided all the pieces together , wrapped the hair around itself and tied it to keep it secure and well moisturized. 

This style is great because it low maintenance, very little manipulation and off my neck. Its easy to apply my grape-seed oil at night and do a quick massage. I can spritz my water and oil over my hair and if need be do a full wash by just untying the back and co-washing the braids. Simple and easy. If i needed to dress this up, I could wear a funky scarf tied at the side, or add an Alice band and hair flower.

On a side note, the grey is too much for me. I may actually have to do a Henna and Indigo treatment soon. I am only vain when it comes to grey hair. lol

Have a great afternoon.

Peace

Stockholm metro art: Hallonbergen

'Tell me and I forget, Teach me and I remember, Involve me and I learn'.- Benjamin Franklin

Happy Wednesday!!!!

So last night I was looking through my folders and I saw I still had a few more metro art pictures that I didn't do posts on. So I want to add this to that online collection. So I present to you,  Hallonbergen station. This is on the blue line in Stockholm and its covered by children's drawings and painting which is said to convey a feeling of joy and happiness. This station was opened in 31 August 1975. Enjoy these cute and sweet drawings and tell me it doesn't bring a smile to your face. 

 Caution :  Extreme loveliness ahead. Be warned!!!!!!! 

So sweet!!!

Hej!

Getting onto the metro

Know how to play this?

Station

Wild horses?

Stop!!!

So colourful

This reminds me of when I was a kindergarten teacher and I would send crafts and artwork home with the kiddies, I had one mom take me aside and Beg me to please Stop. Lol she said she has 4 kids ( one set of twins - which were with me) and has  millions of artworks from them. Cant I just have a folder and keep the drawings with me and tell the kids I will  'send it by post' and perhaps never making it to the post office? I never did coz she was only one mother who asked me (and kids love leaving the classroom with artwork in hand running to meet their parents), But I can imagine coming home everyday to finding new drawings from your kids, how many pictures can you have on your fridge about mom, dad, me, Grammy and spotty the dog, a tree and 2 birds. And a happy sun. Always a happy sun.

Enjoy the rest of your afternoon.

Joy, giggles and artworks from special hands

Wonders of Grape-seed oil

'Be not afraid of Greatness: Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them'.- William Shakespeare

Afternoon my people

Grape-seed oil. Its my choice oil for  2015. I wanna keep things simple with my hair and I decided on just one oil. Grape seed oil. 

My 2015 oil

The many benefits of this oil is what drew me to it. Here are a few benefits to think on about maybe adding this oil to your hair care routine.

- Light weight ( its between jojoba oil and olive oil) but really light.

- It protects against moisture. Which in this hot weather Windhoek is experiencing I need all the help I can get.

- Its a great heat protectant. Which is kinda late now for me, but NOW I know. Actually, I knew this but I didn't take it along last year.  Moving along.

- Its great for reducing dandruff.  Meaning its wonderful for dry scalps.

- It prevents frizz

- It reduces hair loss: basically grape seed oil  which is extracted from cold pressed grape seeds contains anti oxidants that help to block the production of DHT which is a hormone that causes hair loss.

- Compared to other oils like Jojoba and Argan oil this is pretty inexpensive (read Cheap). Can be found at the food  (cooking and salad oils) section also.

Lastly for me, its a dual oil. Hair and skin. See this oil  contains high levels of Vitamin E which helps to tighten and tone the skin and this oil can delay skin aging by minimizing the damage caused by free radicals.

This is how I use my oil

I seal with it
I give myself nightly head massages
I also did a hot oil treatment with it.

So thats all on this great oil.

Laughter, smiles and grapes

Hair Mask review

'I am not lost, I just found myself'. - Anon 

Happy Monday everyone

So as promised here is the start of my many reviews, my hair mask. A new shopping mall opened in Windhoek called Grove Mall and inside was my new home away from home. Dischem. My happy place. After the yogurt place at Grove this is my happy place. So I needed something to help with my new repair program that I got going on and I searched the shelves for something, anything but it had to be CHEAP. Yep, I am about that life. I don't like to spend too much money and the yogurt place is upstairs and I really like that yogurt place. They have this mango sorbet and banana flavour with choco bits and this sauce....  I digress. So I found this hair mask from Natur Vital within my price range. 

Here is the deeds....

Natur Vital - Hair mask (sensitive) with Aloe Vera, Juniper and Pro vitamin B5. 

The organic grown Aloe Vera juice is rich in aminoacids, vitamins and minerals, which strongly enhance hydration and softness of the hair. They provide shine, elasticity and flexibility. Juniper tones the scalp and activates the hair root. 

It contains NO silicones, colorants, paraben preservatives or mineral oil. 

My new fav little jar (300ml)

This is the consistency 

soft and buttery 

easy flip lid for access

So how this works is,  shampoo hair and leave on  wet clean hair for 3 minutes - ' In just 3 minutes, restores lost vitality and moisture's hair, leaving it shiny and full of vitality'. I kept in on for longer than 3 minutes maybe about ten whilst I combed through my sections.

First thing I noticed was this smelled lovely. Herbish is the word I wanna use here. Its not for everyone but because I am used to putting smelling herby stuff in my hair it was lovely. You have to get used to it.

 Second thing I very quickly noticed was the slip and how the comb just glided through my hair. Honey child, it was like butter!!!!!!

I kept saying wow, this is so easy to comb through. My hair just worked so well with this mask. I added a bit more to my ends and covered my head for a few minutes with a shower cap to get some heat. Then I rinsed it out and co washed. I am sold. Y'all know me. It don't take much.

 I have only used it 3 times and I am sold. A little goes a long way so I will probably use this for February and March.

For me, I like it very much, inexpensive, makes my hair soft, smells nice and great slip!!!!

 Thats all she wrote folks.

Disclaimer: 
Everything was bought with my own cash and this is my honest opinion.



                                                                    Peace, Joy and Masks

Hair stuff.

'I'm going to make you so proud - Note to self'. 

Hi all....

Remember me, I took a very very VERY  long break from this blog and now I am back. Honestly, life caught up with me. Moving back, unpacking, packing away, renovations, flu, operations, failing learners licenses, job hunting, daycare for Maya, teething, potty training, words saying, hair braiding,  master cleanse doing, Winter, Autumn, Summer and Christmas and New years. I just didn't find the time to blog. But I missed blogging so I decided that this year I will MAKE time and well here I am. 

Onward. 

Hair stuff is the title of this post. My hair is/was damaged by heat. I must just face that fact and be honest about it. I was in denial. But tis true. I had my hair blow dried last year about 3 times and since there wasn't a natural hair salon in Windhoek (there is one now) every time I wanted to get my hair braided, the stylist would blow dry it first without proper heat protectant. So I was left with split ends and breaking hair. My hair is past arm pit length right now but I had to cut a few inches off due to split ends and fairy knots. 

I have 2 hair goals for 2015.

1) Get my hair past arm pit length. The real goal of coarse is by end of December 2015 to have mid-back length. 

2) Second goal, to have healthy, strong, beautiful and split end free hair. 

I have a new set of products that I have promised myself to stick too for at least the first part of the year  until May. I decided on May coz that my birthday month and I should have seen a change / improvement by them. So below are my new products that I use. I will in the course of the month do reviews on all of them.  ohhhh as a Bonus I added a picture of Maya for you. 

My new hair arsenal 

Sulfate free shampoo and silicone free Conditioner

Eco styler gel

Grapeseed oil. The only oil I am using for now. 

Placenta for my ends 

My moisturizers

Almost done with this one. Double Butter cream. Need I say More. 

Cantu loves

Aloe Vera and juniper hair mask 

And my favorite girl - Miss Maya in her African print dress. Fun fact, this was the only shot I could get from her. She refused to stand still for me. 

So Next week, I will begin by doing reviews on the above products as well as letting you know how I am treating my hair and getting it back to life and beyond the arm pits. Its been there for way too long now.

Happy 2015 and enjoy the month of Love.


                                                                     Peace, Love and Hair stuff