Hair Serum Recipe

Hello to all of my lovely naturals,

I remember using serum when I had a relaxer and all that I can remember is that it was super expensive and it smoothed my already straight hair. It was like $10.00 for that little bitty bottle. Now that my hair is natural and I am always looking for something to better define my curls by smoothing out the frizzes it is worth taking another look into. I am not all that familiar with the ingredients in hair serum but I am pretty sure that they contain chemicals and since I am not that into chemicals I decided to make my own. I have not tried it yet because I have to first henna my hair, but I will be trying it on this new hairstyle that I plan on posting on youtube. So I will let you all know the results in a couple of days.

Hair Serum Recipe Smoothes, Softens Coarse hair

Ingredients:
3 ounce Coconut Oil
1 ounce Castor Oil
5-10 drops fragrance or essential oils (optional)

Directions:
Mix oils in a 4 ounce bottle then store in a cool dark place.

Soooo try it you might like it and let me know

 

Always,

 

Verano

Coconut and Honey Hot Oil Treatment

Hey all my lovely naturals,

I am back....boy oh boy the holidays are always so chaotic so I had to take a week long break...but I am back and better that ever ; ) So with the break I had a chance to sit back and think about how the weather was affecting my hair and what was working and what was not working. One of the things that I realized is that it is so hard for me to keep my hair moisturized so I will be looking into different methods to keep it moist. Oh and I really enjoy having my hair in protective styles. Now between Christmas eve and Christmas I went to 4 parties...exhausting but def fun. Needless to say my hair smelt like smoke (which I was excited about) forcing me to wash it..I like trying out new things when it comes to my hair so the smoke forced me to try this new hot oil treatment. Some of you might remember that about a week ago I started giving myself hot oil treatments again. I like hot oil treatments because I don't wash/rinse the oil out I keep it in my hair and then style...this works perfectly for the winter time and especially when you are going straight into a protective style. Last time I used extra virgin olive oil, castor oil, and coconut oil, but I thought this recipe was worth a try. The only thing is that I am nervous about coconut oil freezing in my hair (which it will do) but other than that I liked the results and will use it in the future. I am not sure if it will replace my evoo because I am obsessed with it but its a nice change. Here is the recipe

4 tbls Coconut oil

2 tbls Natural honey

Directions:

Place coconut oil and honey in a small plastic bag and place the bag in a hot cup of water for 1 minute to warm. Apply to hair, wrap hair in a towel for 20 minutes. Wash then dry hair

Remember that I do not wash the oil out of my hair...my hair loves it so try it both ways and see what works for you.

try it out and let me know if you like or if you have any hot oil treatment recipes that work for you

Always,

Verano

Don't Forget the Hot Oil!

Hello to all of my lovely naturals,

So I must admit that I have been forgetting to do my hot oil treatments, well today I set aside the time to make sure that I did mine. Well if you all know me at all then you know that I did some research. Now I have been giving myself hot oil treatments for years now, but I have been doing it my own way. What I mean by that is that I don't wash the oil out I give myself the hot oil treatment after my wash and conditioning. This has always worked for me but I wanted to know if there were others out there that felt the same way. Some people suggested to just rinse the oil out and all the others suggested to wash it...keep in mind that the people that say wash it out are relaxed or have very straight hair. Since oil weights straight/fine hair down then maybe they don't want any excess oil, but I love oil and so does my hair. To continue on with my research I asked a couple of natural ladies and relaxed ladies the  one natural lady said that she was not really sure why we are washing out this oil. Another relaxed lady said "hey do what works for you". So that is what I will continue to do because washing out the oil is just crazy talk to me. Oh and my friend who is also natural was like "Well Verano, you know you are addicted to oil" Haha and she is totally right! Now that I was sure that I was doing what was right for my hair, I decided to experiment with what type of oils I wanted to use in my hot oil treatment. Check out the recipe below.

2 parts Olive Oil
1 part Castor Oil
1 part Coconut Oil

Warm this up in a pot..I don't like using the microwave because the heat is not evenly distributed. Oh and watch the oil because it will burn and keep in mind that you need to make sure that you have enough oil to cover your whole head..BTW this was too much oil for my hair but that is okay you can reuse.


So I parted my hair into four sections and within each section I parted into four sections. I took these sections and combed them and then massaged the oil into my scalp on down to the tips of my hair. After I completed each section I twisted into 2 twists. Let this sit for 15 min if you are going to rinse/wash out if not style as usual. I really liked the way that this made my scalp and hair feel. The only thing that I am skeptical about is that I have been hearing a lot of freezing coconut oil horror stories. If you don't have these oils (shame on you! ; *) then just use olive oil. Don't forget that during the winter dry months that we need to fully moisturize our hair. Oh and lucky for you naturals I am pretty sure that I need to clip my ends so I will post a demonstration vid on that in a little bit. Do you have any recipes for hot oil or do you like to leave the oil in also? Drop a comment and let me know!


Always,


Verano

Curl Defining Frizzies Free Gel

Hello to all of my lovely naturals,

Hey so in my never ending quest to stop using chemicals on my hair I have run into an awesome natural gel!!! and I love it. This weekend I put my hair in an afro puff and wanted to slick the sides down so I used this...it worked perfectly on my hair, I wish that I had thought to take some pics but I was was too busy to be thinking about that. So check out the recipe try it and tell me what you think.


Boil and strain flax seeds – they produce their own sticky gel. Add some coconut oil for shine, and you’ve got a curl definer with hold, so none of the crunchiness.




Thanks,


Verano

Clipping Your Own Split Ends

Hello to all my lovely naturals!

Just because you hair is natural does not mean you don't need to clip/trim your split ends. By clipping your ends you will ensure that you will have a healthy head of hair. Now that you are natural you are using less chemicals and heat on your hair so you might not need your ends clipped every 3 months, I like to let my hair tell me if I need my ends clipped. So there are two ways that I use to tell if my ends are damaged. First I take one of my twist outs and feel it from the shaft all the way to the end, if the end feels rough then I know that I need to clip my ends. The second way is that I pay attention to the strands that shed. If I notice that 5 strands have split ends then I know it is time. You are probably thinking why don't I just go to a beautician,well there are not many beauticians that know how to do their own hair they have been taught to only do chemically relaxed African-American hair and besides no one knows my hair as well as myself. In order to clip my ends I first wash my hair and condition it then I take a piece of my hair (enough to make small twists) two part twist it and focus on the very end of my twist. Any part that looks scraggley or where the hair thins out I cut. Once I am done I put coconut oil in my hand and un-twist my hair and wear it like that for the day. Oh yeah don't forget to use only hair sheers! Good luck naturals and remember you are the best beautician that you know!



Always,

Verano

My Miracle Elixir:Whipped Shea Butter

Hello to all of my lovely naturals,

As women we are bombarded with so many products that I think we tend to get overwhelmed. Well I know that I do, there are so many different products and oils out there and I want to try them all just to satisfy my never ending quest to find my "miracle elixir".Since we are always on the grind to find newer and better working products we either forget the ones that work for us or we never give them a proper chance cuz its on to the next.With that being said In the winter time I think that we need to go back to the basics. We need to use the products that give us the proper moisture and there is little room for error. That is why I am going to give you all my recipe for whipped shea butter it is my miracle elixir (it took my husband to remind me of this little fact) not only does it make my hair shine but it makes it soft and keeps it moisturized. I am not sure if I included this in my regimen but after I wash my hair and condition it I put my whipped shea butter on my hair immediately. So here it is


2 TBSP Shea Butter
1 TBSP Coconut Oil
1 TSP Olive Oil
1 TSP Castor Oil
1 TBSP Glycerin
1/4 TSP Honey (remember as a preservative)

Add shea butter,coconut oil, olive oil,castor oil,glycerin, and honey
mix in a food processor for about 5 min then freeze for about 10 min then mix again and ENJOY!!!!!!!

Once you use this let me know how it works for you


Always,


Verano

My winter regimen

Hello to all my lovely followers

So today I want to let you all know what I do to to keep my hair looking and feeling its best. I wash my hair once every week and a half to every two weeks. I use to only co-wash my hair (natural term for only using conditioner to cleanse your hair) but since I started making my own shampoo that has changed (check out the post on my home made lavender shampoo) I am in between conditioners right now, after educating myself on what silicone's do for your hair I started making my own deep conditioner. Ummm lets just say that I have not mastered that yet :/ So I am going to target this weekend to buy shea moisture organic deep conditioner and I will let you know how it works. Right now I am using Trader Joe's conditioner which is organic and works perfectly for my hair. I do a hot oil treatment once a month with olive oil. Oh and when I deep condition my hair I like to add a little coconut oil in the conditioner or whenever I feel that my hair is getting a little dry I will rub coconut oil on it (especially my twists that are some days old) right before I hop in the shower. Once I get out of the shower I part my hair into four parts then comb each section with my wide tooth comb, this is the only time that I comb my hair. Once that is all done I style and repeat every two weeks, please feel free to post what works for your hair during the winter months.





Always,


Verano