Here’s Why You Have Dry Hair in Colorado

woman with side view of curly hair

Back in 2009 I did the big chop.  I transitioned for nine months before finally cutting off all of my relaxed ends.  I was left with a teeny fro and started experimenting with all sorts of hair products.  At that time there were only a few online resources like blogs and hair forums.  There were Youtube videos but not anything like the hair tutorials we have today.

Everyone talked about what worked for their natural hair and I found it odd that a lot of those things didn’t work for me.  I finally realized that people who lived in other climates had different hair issues than what I faced here in Colorado.

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5 Awesome Hair Products with Aloe Vera

potted aloe vera with text overlay

This year I celebrated my ten year natural hair anniversary.  That’s right, I’ve been natural for ten whole years so you can only imagine how many products I’ve tried.  After all of the trial and error, I can finally say that I have a pretty good idea of what works for my hair and what doesn’t.  I may try a new product here and there but I’ve been using my daily products for a while now.  

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Scalp Psoriasis and Hair Growth Update

side view of woman with curly hair

Earlier this year I wrote a post about how scalp psoriasis led to a major hair setback last fall.  I ended up losing a lot of hair due to all of the daily shampooing and detangling it took to keep my scalp under control.  After a few months I was left with see through ends and breakage.  It was disheartening because my hair was actually in really good shape before my scalp went out of control.  As a result, I decided to give myself a trim and move forward with an updated healthy hair routine.

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Summertime Slim Down — On My Way to a Healthier Me

Green Smoothie
with Kale, Apple, Cucumber and Banana

This year I’ve been learning lots about the importance of eating a diet heavy in fruits and vegetables.  I even found out a thing or two about juicing and how beneficial it can be.  Still, it took my upcoming summer vacation to finally get me motivated to lose some weight.  I’ve been telling myself how great it would feel if I could just lose the 7-10 lbs. that have been keeping me from looking my best.  There are all sorts of reasons why I fell off of the exercise wagon so I’ll save the long story.  Thankfully my diet only needs a few tweeks here and there because my family and I eat pretty healthy.

After watching the movie, Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead,” earlier this year, I decided to start juicing more.  At first, there was a bit of a learning curve but I’m used to it now and can whip up a glass of juice for breakfast with no extra fuss.  I’m happy to say that it helped with my psoriasis which was crazy out of control for most of the winter.  One of my favorites is a green smoothie with Kale, Cucumber, Apple and Banana.

Now that my skin is looking better, I’ve been trying to exercise more in hopes of losing a little extra cushion around the middle and thighs.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m thankful that I’ve been around the same size for years.  It would be nice though to not have to rely so much on help from shaperwear when it’s time to dress up.  Plus, I want to have more energy to help me get through these long summer days with the kids.

As for my hair, I’m hoping that the cardio and strength workouts will lead to a faster metabolism.  This in turn can lead to faster hair growth (maybe).  So for now the Wash n’ Go hairstyle is super easy for me.  Since I use a heavy gel product like Eco Styler, I can just wet my hair in the shower to reactivate my style.  Co-washing is also pretty easy because it removes most of the product without stripping my hair or causing my curls to go into shock.  Sometimes I even use a light oil on my hair either in the shower or right after to seal in the moisture and combat dryness.  The wash n’ go style is so much easier now and great for the summer.

Review: Hollywood Beauty’s Olive Creme for Dry Hair

One of the most popular topics over at the K.I.S.S. hair forum (or any forum for that matter) is which moisturizer works best.  For a long time the word “moisturizer” was a bad word in my newly natural regimen.  I had become accustomed to avoiding products that contained mineral oil and petroleum which is often found in “moisturizers” for curly, relaxed and afro textured hair.  Still, the homemade spritzes and butters I learned how to make were either too heavy or too wet for my hair depending on the style.  For a while I started using leave-in conditioner to moisturize and sealed that with one of my favorite oils.

Finally, I decided to purchase a product to add to my regimen after reading a suggestion in one of the discussions on K.I.S.S. .  That product was by Hollywood Beauty which I have to admit was never a brand I thought of ever trying.  I guess I assumed that there would be a lot of the “no-no” ingredients in their products.  I was surprised to find that their Olive Creme was mineral oil and petroleum free.  Instead I found ingredients like, Olive oil and Calendula extract.  I decided at $4 (USD) it was at least worth a try.  I’m on my fifth jar now and can’t say enough about it.

The Ingredients:

Deionized Water (Aqua) , Isopropyl Myristate , Glycine Soja Oil (Soybean) , Olea Europaea Fruit Oil (Olive) , Stearic Acid , Stearyl Alcohol , Glyceryl Stearate , Vitamin E (Tocopheryl Acetate) , Matricaria Extract (Chamomilla Recutita) , Calendula Extract (Calendula Officinalis Flower) , Vitamin B (Yeast Extract) , Macademia Oil (Macademia Ternifolia Seed) , Vitamin A (Retinyl Palmitate) , Coconut Oil (Cocos Nucifera) , Rosemary Extract (Rosmarinus Officinalis Leaf) , Sage Extract (Salvia Officinalis Leaf) , Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid) , Great Burdock Extract (Arctium Lappa Root) , Triethanolamine , Methyl Paraben , Propyl Paraben , DMDM Hydantoin , Imidazolidinyl Urea , Fragrance , Yellow #5 (Cl 19140) , Blue #1 (Cl 42090)

My son likes to call it, “Yoda Creme” because
of the pale green color

While the ingredients are not 100% natural, I still find that this product does a good job of keeping my hair moisturized without leaving a heavy, greasy feeling.  I’m not gonna lie, I didn’t really expect much from the Olive Creme but it is now one of my staples.  It even works well when my son’s curly (3b/3c/4a) hair is starting to get the, “frizzy halo”.  I just spritz his hair down with water first and then apply the creme throughout his hair and we get another two days of soft curls before wash day.  He dubbed it “Yoda Creme” because of the pale green color and we still call it that.  


I of course love to add it to my Argan Oil Eco Styler Gel along with some Castor, Coconut and Grapeseed oil for my DIY Eco Styler Custard.  I also use it after applying my leave-in conditoner when I pull my hair back or braid it up for air drying.  The only thing I would complain about is the scent.  It’s not like some of those other products out there that smell good enough to eat.   It just has this faint, old fashioned women’s cologne smell or something.  It doesn’t matter because I just ignore the scent.  I can always add some fragrance oil to it to make it my own.  I’m just glad to have found a product that works well and is affordable for me and my family.