Thursday, January 28, 2010

Rethink What Matters with Bare Escentuals

Bare Escentuals is launching a new campaign, and it’s not something that you need to run out and buy. It’s a thought, it’s what you feel, it’s who you are. The campaign is called “Rethink What Matters.” The idea behind the campaign is what really matters to you, and what makes you feel that it’s important?

Every week, at Rethink What Matters, a new question will be posted. This week is “Rethink Your Environment.” Every week 500 instant winners will be selected, and the prize will change weekly. This week the prize is bareMinerals Blush. Last week, I won a full-size mascara. Fabulous!! I love free beauty products, and I love to share my thoughts and opinions.

Every week when you participate in the “Rethink What Matters” campaign, you’re not only entered to win the fabulous prizes of the week, but your also automatically entered to win a Grand Prize, so check it out!

In conjunction with the “Rethink What Matters” campaign, I will be featuring a Giveaway, of a Get Started Kit, right here on How’s My Hair? I’ll release details about the Giveaway coming up, so check in often to find out how to enter!! Feel free to leave me comments about the topic of the week, I’d love to “Rethink” things here too!

FTC, blah blah.

Dear FTC:
Products are sent to me to try, and share my thoughts with my readers. The fact that a product was sent to me for free in no way effects my opinion, either good or bad. If I don’t like a product, I have no problem saying so. It’s in my best interest as a blogger to be honest about things, if my readers think I’m a liar, they’ll stop reading. If something doesn’t work, I don’t want other women going out and spending their hard-earned cash on it, when there are so many fabulous things out that that are worth every penny. If something is awesome, and I truly like it, then I have no problem telling my readers that.

Just because products are sent to me to try, doesn’t mean I’m going to review them. If they’re mediocre, and I think there are better things for the money, then I probably won’t bother writing about them at all. Why waste my time, and my readers with products that just don’t cut it?

Xoxo,
Mrs. Blacksten

Review: Murad Energizing Pomegranate Cleanser


Hi gals, it’s time to forgo talking about hair for a minute, winter is the time to worry about my skin. I have truly combination skin; dry cheeks, and an oily t-zone. It bites. I have to constantly monitor my skins’ reaction to new products. Some products work beautifully at clearing up my blackheads, yet they dry out the rest of my face. On the other hand some products work great at moisturizing my dry spots, but they only add to the oil in my t-zone. Enter: Murad Energizing Pomegranate Cleanser, which I got from the fabulous Meg at Megs Makeup.


I need a cleanser that will keep my oil at bay, and not zap my skin of moisture. This cleanser is doing a fantastic job of it. Instead of using harsh acne fighters, it contains Witch Hazel to absorb oil without drying out skin. It also contains AHAs to gently exfoliate, which mean glowing skin. Fabulous!

Normally, I’m not a huge fan of super foamy cleansers, as they contain sulfates, which strip skin of essential moisture. Murad Energizing Pomegranate Cleanser is amazingly foamy, yet doesn’t leave my skin feeling tight and dry. It just leaves my face feeling clean.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Review: V05 Tea Therapy Vanilla Mint Tea Conditioner


Hello gals, I’m in love again, and I’m not afraid to admit it. I love V05 Tea Therapy Vanilla Mint Tea Conditioner. It smells fabulous, and is a great, really cheap co-wash.

I haven’t broken up with my beloved No-Poo, but I am having an illicit affair. I alternate between the two, depending on what I’m in the mood for. I cleanse my hair everyday, I just like clean hair, I like a clean slate every time I fix it. No-Poo contains actual cleansing ingredients, and it’s not exactly cheap. I love it so much that I’m paranoid about running out of it. So I started looking for alternatives, or things I could use in conjunction with it.


Hello, V05 Tea Therapy Vanilla Mint Conditioner! I love, love, love vanilla anything. I scoured my local stores for a bottle, and was unable to find any! So I then scoured the internet and Overstock Drugstore carries it, and if you order a 3-pack, you save slightly more. I think I paid $1.30 or so a bottle, which is ridiculously cheap. When I finally got it, and used it, I was hooked! I like it more than Suave. It’s thinner, which allows for more even distribution. It almost has the consistency of a cream rinse, but it still gets frothy like Suave. I can’t say enough about it, if you co-wash, and are looking for more conditioners to add to your arsenal check out V05 Tea Therapy Vanilla Mint Tea!!!

Saturday, January 9, 2010

My henna journey....

Hey gals, sorry I didn't update sooner, things have been hectic. So when we last left off, I was loving my henna color, but hating the way my hair felt. Frankly, I haven't found a solution to this. My hair does feel better than it did, but it still doesn't feel normal.

I redid my henna, a couple days ago, to deepen the color, and even it out. Once again, the color is fabulous, far better than anything I could achieve with box color. However, my hair still feels sort of tangly, it doesn't feel dry at all. It's really strange.

With that being said, I should explain now, once you henna your hair, all bets are off. Henna deposits itself, by getting into your hair cuticle, and staying there. So if you had porous hair before, your hair may not be so porous anymore. The henna helps fill in some of the ridges, making your hair have a smoother surface. The products that seemed to work for your hair before, may not work anymore. Simply because henna changes your texture and porosity. My hair is ridiculously smoother feeling, even though it's tangly. Strange, I know.

My hair, post-henna, doesn't seem to want to absorb conditioner so easily. I think I may have to rethink my entire routine. Sadly, I don't know if my hair loves Deva No-Poo anymore, however, I love it so much, I'm gonna keep trying for awhile. Hair can sometimes take a few days to a week to adjust and settle after coloring it with henna.

So the verdict: I love henna, even if my hair is sort of tangly. I know it's far better for my hair than anything I can get in a box. I also know that the gorgeous red won't wash out, and need to be redone once a month. Henna is actually making my slightly thicker, which will allow me to grow it longer. And an added bonus, since I am a hair dye loving fool, and I typically change my haircolor every few months, I know I can't do that anymore. I am forcing myself to stick with a color, which is much healthier for my hair in the long run.

I promise to post pics soon, my camera is MIA at the moment.

Friday, January 1, 2010

My Henna'd Hair: Day 1

Okay, so I dyed my hair with henna last night, and of course, I have Ronald McDonald orange hair at the moment. I'm not concerned about it, since henna takes 3-5 days to oxidize. I know this isn't what my hair will ultimately look like, and if need be, I can always henna again to deepen the color some.


I am concerned however, with the fact that my hair feels ridiculous. It's tangling, and feels just weird. So, I looked all over the Henna For Hair forum, to make sure my hair wasn't having some awful reaction to the henna. It turns out, that it isn't all that uncommon for your hair to feel like this at first, especially if you already had dry hair, or chemically-treated hair. Both of which I have. It probably also didn't help that I used almost all lemon juice as my liquid, when mixing the henna. I could be experiencing two things; either I didn't get all the henna out of my hair, and it's causing the aforementioned problems. Or, my hair is super ridiculously dry from the lemon juice. I don't think that it's the first option because I have literally low-poo'd my hair 5 times, and co-washed with Suave probably 10 times, maybe more. I should've known better than to use the lemon juice. So, next time I henna, I'm going to use straight tap water to mix it, and then add some more conditioner to my mix before it goes into my hair.
 
So the upside, my hair does seem somewhat thicker, and has more volume. Also, I don't seem to have lost any of my curl pattern, which I was concerned about.
 
Besides the tangles and dryness, I'm happy overall with how it's coming along. I'll continue to update on my journey into henna!
 
Happy 2010!!

Goodbuy 2009 at Sephora

Goodbuy 2009 at Sephora

Posted using ShareThis

Basic Hair Care Tips: Do This, Don't Do That

Hi Ladies! I thought I would just do a really quick basic hair care tips post for you today. I know when I was first researching how to prop...