Curlformers Review + Giveaway

Giveaway December 19, 2013-January 3, 2014

I think we all know what curlformers are unless you have been living under a rock. Curlformers are a styling tool that offers an easy and fun way to create gorgeous curls without damaging the hair because heat is not required other than to dry the hair if you choose. Curlformers came about in 2008 when Hair Flair Ltd. in conjunction with Sally Beauty Supply launched this cool hair styling accessory.

The video below demonstrates how to use the curlformers and softhood as well as shows the results of my daughter and I using the curlformers on our natural hair.

Tips for using curlformers:

1. For natural girls, after you wash/condition etc. use Lotta Body Setting lotion mixed with water. The amount of water depends on how hard you want your curls to be. The more water you use, the softer the curls will be. This will help your curls hold and last longer OR use As I Am Twist Defining Cream. It produces awesome results. You can see me use it on my daughters hair here.

2. Load both of the rods first, then do 2 at a time. It will make the process go much faster.

3. If your curlformer doesn't curl properly, Don't take the hair out to start over. Run your thumb down the middle of it and release it. It will curl perfectly into place. You can watch our quick how to video here.

4. Keep a spray bottle handy. Curlformers apply smoothly to damp hair.

5. I found that with our thick natural hair, the softhood took a very long time to dry the hair. I suggest the softhood for fine/thin hair.

GIVEAWAY

Long Corkscrew Curlformer Set

&

Softhood (Dryer not included)

PRIZE: We will be giving away one Long Corkscrew Curlformer set (Retail $58.95) and one Softhood (Retail $15.95) to one winner!

DATES: The giveaway starts on December 19, 2013 and ends on January 3, 2014.

What you must do to win:

You must enter via Rafflecopter below. The first 2 options are mandatory to qualify. The 2 required options are: 1. Subscribe to Brown Girls Hair Youtube Channel. 2. Follow @BrownGirlsHair on Instagram. All of the other options are not required, but the more you do, the better your chances to win. If you choose to tweet, you can do one tweet per day for extra entries. Be sure to include @BrownGirlsHair in your tweets. READY....SET....GO.....

Good Luck!

If you already have curlformers, please share your hair style pictures on our facebook page. We will also share your pictures on our Instagram!

**This giveaway is sponsored by curlformers.com**

a Rafflecopter giveaway

**This giveaway is sponsored by curlformers.com**

Pillsbury Reindeer Cookies

Pillsbury Reindeer Cookie

I was surfing the web today looking for a Christmas treat that my daughter and I could make for our friends and family. I came across this cool reindeer cookie idea above on Pillsbury's site.

Raining Hot Coupons.com

As I searched Pinterest, I found someone else's version of the cookie that used M&M's for the eyes and nose above on raining hot coupons.com. I like the M&M idea better!


I got the instructions below from Pillbury's website. This is for a large amount of cookies.

• 60 min
• total time1 hr 25 min
• ingredients4
• servings60

Ingredients

1

roll (30 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated gingerbread cookies

120

small pretzel twists

120

semisweet chocolate chips (about 1/2 cup)

30

candied cherries, cut in half, if desired

Steps

1Heat oven to 350°F. Divide dough in half; refrigerate one half until needed. With hands, shape one half of cookie dough into 7 1/2-inch-long triangle-shaped log. (If dough is too soft to cut, place in freezer 30 minutes.)

2With thin sharp knife, cut dough into 30 (1/4-inch-thick) triangular slices; on ungreased cookie sheets, place 2 inches apart. Place 2 pretzel twists on each triangle near corners for antlers.

3Bake 7 to 11 minutes or until set. While warm, lightly press 2 chocolate chips into each cookie for eyes and 1 cherry half for nose. Remove from cookie sheets. Let stand until chocolate chips are set, about 15 minutes. Repeat with remaining half of dough. Store between sheets of waxed paper in tightly covered container.

I'll post a picture of our cookies when we make them this weekend! What's your favorite Christmas treat to make and eat? By the way do you remember our reindeer sock bun?

You can see the tutorial here!

As I Am & Curlformers on Natural Girls Hair

This video shows me using As I Am products with curlformers! You can view the written product review here.  It gives more details about the products used and how they effected our hair.

As I Am Product Review

As I Am Products

I purchased all of the products at a local Sally's Beauty Supply Store with my own money. This review is not sponsored by any company.

It is truly my own opinion and experience with these products as all of my product reviews are.

I have used these products on 3 different heads, My Daughters, My Mother's, and Mine. I am going to give you the results of each person's hair while using the products and after the products were used.

All of the products in the As I Am line smell exactly the same!

Coconut CoWash

How I used it: I washed our hair with the cowash just as I would with shampoo.

My Daughters Experience

The cowash cleaned her hair well. It left her hair with a warm fresh coconut scent. Her hair felt soft and well conditioned. It didn't take a lot of product to saturate her hair.

My Mom's Experience
I did not use the cowash on my Mom's hair.

My Experience
The cowash cleaned my hair well. It didn't take a lot of product to saturate my hair. It took less than my daughters of course. I used about 3 to 4 tablespoons full on my whole head.

Would I purchase this again? YES hands down. It works amazingly for us!

Leave In Conditioner

How I used it: I put our hair in 4 sections and applied it to our wet hair section by section. It was easy to tell if I covered an area because it made our hair soft.

My Daughters Experience

It made her hair feel soft. It made detangling very easy.

My Mom's Experience

I did not use the cowash on my Moms hair.

My Experience
The same as my daughters. It made my hair feel really soft and detangling was a breeze.

Would I purchase this again? YES, I am on bottle #2 now because my son used the first one up!

Twist Defining Cream

How I used it: I used this to do a curlformer set and twist out. I applied it after the leave in conditioner on damp hair. Then I brushed it through with a goody vent brush. Then I applied the curlformers for the set or twisted the hair for the twist out style. 

My Daughters Experience

It provided incredible hold to her curls, twist, etc without drying her hair out or flaking. This cream is truly the best holding product that I have used to date. Her curls were soft, bouncy, and shiny! I even found that when I use this on her ponytails and take down her plaits, they are wavy like a braid out! Too cool!

My Mom's Experience

It provided a great hold to my Moms twist out as well. It didn't leave her hair feeling heavy and loaded while holding her twist together.

My Experience

It held my curls as well. I used this on a curlformer set and I was pleased with the shine, softness, and bounce that my curls had. 

Would I purchase this again? YES. This works wonderfully on curl sets, twist and braid outs! This really makes my daughters hair look really shinny. It also adds moisture to. A little product went a long way.

Smoothing Gel

How I used it: I used it both on wet and dry hair to lay down the edges.

My Daughters Experience

When I used it on her dry hair, I found it to flake up once it dried. When I used it on her wet hair to do the curlformer set, there was no flaking and it held well. I have found that this works better on wet hair in small amounts.

My Mom's Experience

I didn't use this on my Mom's hair.

My Experience

I did not use this on my hair because I didn't like the flaking that it produced on my daughters dry hair.

Would I purchase this again? No. I will stick with the eco gel. It's cheaper and does a better job for us.

Double Butter Creme (not pictured)

How I used it: I put it on our curls, twists, etc after they were dry. I used it as a moisturizer as needed on dry hair.

My Daughters Experience
This cream does an excellent job of keep her hair moisturized during the day. I apply it daily on her hair. I have skipped a day at times and her hair is still in good shape. It doesn't take a lot of this cream to get the job done. It's smooth and keeps her hair shiny and moisturized between washes. 

My Mom's Experience

I didn't use this on my Mom's hair.

My Experience

My scalp is naturally oily so I don't normally apply any moisturizer to my hair. I applied a very small amount of this to my curlformer curls and I was pleased. I like that it didn't way my hair down and it didn't make my hair feel oily but it complimented the other products in the line by adding moisture to my curls as the days went by. It did bring life back to my curls once they were 3 days old.  

Would I purchase this again? The verdict is still out on this one. I will have to use it a few more times in different weather conditions to determine if this will be a stay in my hair product arsenal.

Final Thoughts

Overall my hair loves As I Am products. It brought back the bounce and body to my hair that I had in my perm days. I really love that about it. I also like that all of the products smell the same. My hair holds a constant coconut fragrance that is soft and pleasant. Even on wash day our hair still smells good!

It works wonderfully on my daughters hair too! I really love the leave in and the twist defining cream on her hair. I can't wait to do a full twist and braid out with this product on her hair soon.

I also plan to purchase the shampoo and other products that I have not tried in this line. 

**You can view me using the products in my dauthers hair HERE!

Christmas Holiday Hair Accessories

If you are looking for some cute unique hair accessories for the holidays, Apples Eye Designs has some really nice ones in their Etsy shop! Check them out and hurry to buy so that you can have them in time for your Christmas events! Use the coupon code below for FREE shipping until December 31, 2013!

Christmas Tree with Pearls

Reindeer Hairbow

Christmas Bow

Christmas Tree

Click here to purchase and use coupon code Chirstmas2013 to get FREE shipping until December 31, 2013!!

Quick Curlformer Tutorial Natural Hair

Brown Girls Hair

This is a quick tutorial on how to use curlformers. These are great for all hair types including natural hair! In this video, I used the Long Corkscrew Curls.

The softhood featured in this video can be purchased for 15.95 on Curlformers.com!

Twist, Braid, Snap Review & Giveaway

Twist Braid Snap is an online store that specialize in all of your little girls accessory needs. 

It was started with the goal to provide a variety of children's hair accessories at a great price with superior customer service.

No matter what the hair type of you little one maybe, they carry the perfect accessories for all types! They have head bands, hair snaps, barrettes, hair clips, hair beads and more. Our personal favorite are the hair snaps!!

You can see our review of the great products on the video below!

**This just added** Twist Braid Snap has provided a discount code just for my readers BGH20 for 20% off all products from Nov26 - Dec 2nd!! Yippie!!

GIVEAWAY 

PRIZE: We will be giving away one $25 gift certificate for TwistBraidSnap.com to one winner!

DATES: The giveaway starts on November 20, 2013 and ends on November 30, 2013.

What you must do to win:

You must enter via Rafflecopter below. The first 4 options are mandatory to qualify. The 4 required options are: 1.Visit TwistBraidSnap.com then leave a comment here on the blog stating what hair accessory you would like to try. 2. Like TwistBraidSnap on Facebook. 3. Like Brown Girls Hair on Facebook and 4. Follow @BrownGirlsHair on Instagram. All of the other options are not required, but the more you do, the better your chances to win. If you choose to tweet, you can do one tweet per day for extra entries. Be sure to include @BrownGirlsHair in your tweets. READY....SET....GO.....

Good Luck!

**This Giveaway is sponsored by Curlformers.com.**

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Flexi Rod Set on Natural Girl

Brown Girls Hair

This is the hair style that I put her hair in after taking down her box braids. I took them out over a period of 3 days (weekend). I started taking them down on Friday night for about 2 hours. I started in the rear and worked my way to the top.  Then on Saturday night I did about 3 hours and Sunday it took an additional 2 hours or so. Why it took longer for me to take them out than it took for my good friend to put them in is beyond me! LOL! 

On Sunday after 2 hours of taking braids down, I washed, deep conditioned, finger detangled (while the conditioner was in) and wide tooth comb detangled (after conditioner was rinsed out). Then I did a Flexi Rod Set on Brown Girls Hair. I didn't show the results in the video because it got really late and her hair still wasn't dry so she ended up sleeping with some of the rods in the back of her head : (! She said she slept good. I made sure her sides were dry before bed because I know that she sleeps on her sides and not on her back. 

This style lasted for 2 weeks...well she's still wearing it this week. I just keep it moisturized and put it in one or 2 pony tails.

I decided to add water to the lotta body because I wanted her hair to have hold, but still be soft and not hard. That made it easy for me to brush (not comb) her hair into the ponytails.

How To Use Annie Spiral Rods Tutorial

Brown Girls Hair

This is a quick tutorial on how to use Annie Spiral Hair Rods. I show how to use them in both directions. The white rods spiral to the left and the blue rods spiral to the right.

I had to do them a couple of times to get adjusted to using them. It seems hard at first, but after a little practice, they are easy to use. Doing this video was my first time using them, that lets you know how fast you can catch on.

Use these on wet hair. I washed and conditioned her hair first. Then I added lotta body setting lotion mixed with water in a spray bottle to her hair. Then I added Shine hair polisher instant repair and put the rollers in her hair. 

**One tip to remember, you have to use the right amount of hair for them to work smoothly. You can't use a large amount of hair in each roller. It has to be a small section of hair.

I love the results and plan to do her whole head with them soon!

*Madame You* Best Natural Hair App Available

Happy Monday Brown Girls!!

I was searching for a good natural hair app last week and I came across one that I am so excited to share with you. It's hands down the best app that I have seen on the market for a natural hair community. There goal is to provide a platform where you can share hairstyles and discover products with a community of girlfriends.

One of their main goals is for you be able to match up your hair with hairstyles and products that are most fitting for your hair type! Now that's cool!

It is called Madame You. It is very NEW. It was founded by the 3 lovely co-founders of Techturized Inc. Jess Watson, Chanel Martin, and Candace Mitchell.

Watch the video for more information on these lovely ladies!

If you like to get in while a project is on the ground, this would be one to jump on. They are based in Atlanta and are super friendly. When I found the app, I e-mailed them to let them know how much I like it and they were are so friendly. Be sure to download the app and upload your hairstyles to get involved in this community that will soon be one of the best resources available.

This is how the app looks!

Icon

Madame You App

Screen Shot of App

MY Profile

Download this App NOW!! Don't miss being apart of this!

www.madameyou.com
https://www.youtube.com/user/Techturized

November Hair Goals + October Goal Results

Brown Girls Hair

October Goal Results

I can't believe October is gone. It went by so fast. My daughter got her box braids on October 4th (Goal #1) and the journey with them has been very successful. She still has them today. They have remained fairly neat all of this time.

Each week I would moisturize her scalp (Goal #2) with the grease concoction that we posted here. She doesn't have any dandruff flakes and her braids are in very good shape. She could probably keep them for at least another week. I did use the braid spray a couple of times, but not enough to give a far review on it so I will reserve that review for later.

Sock Bun Nov 1, 2013

This past weekend, we went to Memphis to celebrate an accomplishment with my big brother.**He was inducted in the Hall of Fame for 26 years of service with his job.** We are so proud of him!

I decided to redo the braids in the front to make them look neater for the Hall of Fame event that we were attending. I ended up doing half of them because I ran out of time. Her hair still looked nice.  I decided to style it in a bun for the event. (pictured above)

Although she could wear them for another week, I will be taking them out this weekend. Both of us have immensely enjoyed not having to comb hair every week. We will certainly be doing these more often. The six hours it took for her to get them here was well worth the 5 weeks she has worn them :)!

Styling her braids (Goal #3) was very interesting. I will have a video posted soon on some of the styles that we did. I wanted to be more creative than doing the traditional 2 plaits, flexi rods, etc. and I found that to be a little challenging because when I did the styles, they didn't look the way I wanted them to :(! I did manage to do a few styles so I'll have to put them in the video series as promised. It will post sometime next week.

November Hair Goals

I am still working on getting my daughters hair back in tip top shape. We have tackled the dry hair and dandruff issues. Now I want to keep the focus on her hair staying healthy. Her hair thrives when there is no manipulation (combing) so I'm going to keep it in a protective style for this month as well. 

I plan to take out her box braids this weekend, wash and deep condition her hair, moisturize it, get her a trim, then put it in twist for the next few weeks in November. (She got her last trim in May). This year I'm trimming every 6 months instead of once a year.

What are your November hair goals? Would you like to join me with our protective style challenge?

Here are a few pictures of the Hall of Fame event.....

Brown Girls Uncle

Brown Girls Grandparents

Just Us

Natural Hair Salon Road Trip Atlanta

The SistahChick & Our Natural Kids will be joining a few of our their friends in Atlanta for a Natural Hair Salon Road Trip on Saturday, November 2nd if you are in Atlanta, please join them!

Natural Hair bloggers, vloggers and product   makers @TheSistahChick, @SwarthyDaisy, @MahoganyKnots and @KoilsbyNature will ride together in style in a 2013 Kia Sorento sponsored by @Kia_PR!!

They will be making stops at 3 natural hair salons in Atlanta and you are welcome to join them at one or ALL of the locations listed on the flyer.

For the 1st stop they will be visiting The Good Hair Shop in Lithonia, GA. There  TheSistahChick will be speaking to salon owner and professional stylist Kiyomi Rollins about natural hair care and maintenance for children.   

TheSistahChick will be there from12:00p -1:30p with Kia sponsored gift bags as well as product samples from The Good Hair Shop's own Numa line of handmade products. Please bring your kids out for some goodies and natural hair knowledge.  Light refreshments will be provided.  Space is limited and registration is required for each stop.

KIDS ARE FREE with a registered adult!!  

SUBMIT A QUESTION FOR TheSistahChick TO ASK STYLIST KIYOMI AND YOUR NAME WILL BE ENTERED IN A DRAWING TO WIN A PRIZE FROM ONE OF THERE SPONSORS!!!

(2 Prizes available:  Full Size Set of JessiCurl Products or A KiDz BoXx!)  Submit Questions to OurNaturalKids@gmail.com OR through your Our Natural Kids inbox.  Drawing will be held on Monday 11/4!! You DO NOT NEED TO ATTEND THE EVENT TO WIN ONE OF THE PRIZES.  YOU JUST NEED TO SUBMIT A QUESTION!!

Please see the rules regarding Give Aways

Click the link for registration details for Atlanta Natural Hair Road Trip and for more information.

https://www.eventbrite.com/event/8980921177

This post was created using information sent from Our Natural Kids e-mail campaign.

Luv & Learn Your Hair Tour

The flyer (created by Yolanda Renne) says it all! The Luv & Learn Your Hair Tour featuring Taren Guy, will be held in Atlanta on November 10th from 6pm-10pm. You can purchase your ticket for $15 here. If you are interested in being a vendor the fee is $250. 

If you live in the Atlanta area this is an event that you don't want to miss. I plan to be there and I hope to meet you there!

My Top 5 Favorite Inexpensive & Expensive Product Lines

The following are lists of MY favorite inexpensive and expensive product lines. I am listing them in order of the ones I like best. The best are listed first.

My Top 5 Inexpensive Product Lines

1. TRESemme- I like using their shampoo and especially the conditioner on both my daughter and my hair. It's the best cheap conditioner around. Read more here. The conditioner has more slippage than Suave and leaves our hair soft. You also get more bang (product) for your buck.
2. Suave- I also like Suave's shampoo and conditioner on both of our heads, but TRESemme is much better to me. 
3. Smooth N Shine- I use the Curled Up Mousse for my wash and go's when I'm out of the Kimble Curl Revitalizer listed below. I also use the Instant Repair Spray on Polisher when I flat iron my hair.
4. Garnier Fructis- This is one of the first non-child product lines that I used on my daughters hair. It worked great, especially the conditioner. I don't even recall why I stopped using it.
5. Just For Me (moisturizing lotion)- This was the first moisturizing lotion that I found to work on my daughters hair when she was 3 years old to give it the shine and moisture that I was looking for at the time....AND the price tag was perfect. I used this to replace using the expensive hair milk by Carol's Daughter below. I haven't tried the other products in this line as of yet. Click here to watch me use it.

Over The Years

My Top 5 Expensive Product Lines

1. As I Am Naturally-This is my newest found love!! I absolutely love the co-wash in both of our hair. It gives my hair so much body like I had in my perm days! The leave in is awesome. The twist defining cream works well and the smoothing gel is good on both of our heads. I'm looking forward to trying the other products on our hair. I love it so far.
2. Kimble Beauty- I have not used this product line on my daughters hair, but my hair LOVES it! My favorite product in this line is the Curl Revitalizer. I use it in the summer for my wash and go's. It keeps my hair moist and shiny while providing a light hold to my curl pattern with no flakes! I purchase mine at Target.
3. Bee Mine Products- I've used several of their products you can read my review here. You can watch me use the moisturizer here. I didn't repurchase the moisturizer because it made her hair soft, but it didn't moisturize it. 
4. Carol's Daughter-My favorite product in this line was the hair milk. It is the very first product that I found (when my daughter was 2 years old) that work to help me be able to comb through my daughters thick course hair. I remember like yesterday how excited I was the very first time that I used it on her hair. Priceless! I stopped using it because it was too expensive.
5. Cara B Naturally- This is a really good product line for babies and toddlers because it is all natural, tear free, and was created with them in mind. We did a review on this product line here. It worked well on my daughters hair and she loved it because it didn't burn her eyes lol! I used this line to do this twist out!

This is my opinion of the products that work best for my daughter and I. Your list may be different and that's fine. Different products work for different heads, especially dealing with natural hair.

**If a product is not on the list, it's because #1- I haven't tried it or #2-It didn't work for us.

Do you use any of the products on our lists? Are any of them your favorites too?

Natural Baby Hair Care

Brown Girl with Dad 

Lately, I've had a lot of people asking me about hair care for their baby. It's such a joy and a blessing to give birth to a beautiful healthy baby! There is so much to celebrate, yet so much to do. Giving birth is over now it's time for the real work, being a Mom!

If you are a first time Mom, you are happy but now that the baby is here, you may have tons of questions on what to do? You worry about doing all the right things because you want the very best for your bundle of joy!

Well let me tell you, hair should be the least of your concerns with your newborn. Yes, you should wash and care for your babies hair to avoid cradle cap etc, but you shouldn't be overwhelming yourself with too much concern over your babies hair.

Why? because your baby is changing and growing so fast, I think you should be enjoying those moments. The first smile, the first time they say mommy or daddy, you know all of those milestones that they have in the first year of life.

Brown Girl with Mom on her Birthday!

Your babies hair is going to change just like everything else during the first few years. You don't yet know the hair type of your baby because the "real" hair isn't there yet. Yes, it may fall out, yes it's common for babies to get bald spots in the back where they lay on it. Don't worry about that, it will grow back. I promise! :)

If you are looking for a good hair product line to use on your newborn, I recommend Cara B Naturally because it's all natural, tear free, and made for kids of all ethnicity's. I reviewed it here.

Trust me, when your baby quickly becomes a toddler, that's when you should start looking more in dept into hair stuff. Until then, enjoy your baby!! They don't stay that way long! Take it from a Mom of 4, That's what I did!

Brown Girl at 1 month old!

Halloween & Party Hair

This a very easy way to add color to the hair without using chemicals or items that have to be washed out of the hair. You can use ribbon, but it's more expensive. 

Items Needed: 

Yarn(soft) or Ribbon & Scissors

This is perfect for parties, halloween, and sporting events!! 

How To Do It

1. Prepare the yarn by cutting pieces twice the length of the hair. 
2. Add it to the hair by putting the midpoint of the yarn close to the root of the hair and tie a knot (see video).  
3. Style & Go
4. To remove it, if you tied a knot, cut it out being very careful not to cut the hair. If you made one single tie, gently pull them out.