Product Review- Honey and Oats Shampoo Bar
Good afternoon! After yesterday’s mini-rant, I am coming at you today with a product review.
Today’s review comes from the Etsy store Bobeam- Natural Products by Laquita. This is what she says about her shop:
Bobeam's specialty is shampoo bars made with all natural ingredients and they can be used on all hair types, including locs. The shampoo bars contain no SLS or SLES, detergents, surfactants, or sulfates. They are all-natural, 100% vegetable soap, non-comedogenic, hypo-allergenic and biodegradable. Feel free to check my ingredients on www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/
Bobeam from the Ghanaian language Twi means 'the way it was created' and it characterizes all of the shop items - they are all handmade.
The product I am reviewing is the Honey and Oats Shampoo Bar
Taken from her Etsy store
This is what her shop says about this bar:
Pamper your hair with honey and oatmeal :o) This 4oz shampoo bar is made with oatmeal and honey, and will leave your hair super soft!
It's packed with honey and smells good enough to eat!
Oatmeal - There are several DIY oatmeal hair shampoo/rinses for your hair - here’s a way to use oatmeal without the mess or trial of rinsing it out of your hair.
There are traces of tiny grains of oatmeal in the bar which gently exfoliates your scalp and rinses away clean.
Honey adds shine and is a humectant, which means it holds moisture. It is a natural antiseptic full of antioxidants. It also provides softness and shine.
It is packed with vitamins and minerals such as magnesium, potassium, calcium, sulphur, iron, zinc and vitamins B1, B2, B3, which aid in hair growth.
*Shampoo bars can be used as body soaps as well*
*Shampoo bars are unscented unless specified*
Packaging: This bar came in plain cardboard colored packaging. It was also wrapped in saran wrap, which I greatly appreciated.
First impression: No scent (On her site it tells you that unless it is stated, everything is unscented), which, I am not sure how I feel about this. I love pretty smells, but I understand the draw for people that are allergic to such things. I really like how this bar looks. It is layered with a solid layer, then an opaque layer.
First use: When I use solid shampoos (only kind I pretty much use now), I break off a piece and using a downward motion, I rub the shampoo on my hair. I would say this bar has a medium lather. I also used it instead of my normal body wash.
First use thoughts: My hair felt clean, and didn’t feel stripped. It cleared my hair of any buildup I had (and I had a lot; thanks a lot Cantu Shea Butter! *coughs*), and my hair felt good afterwards. It doesn’t really add any additional moisture to my hair, but retains what I have. My body felt good as well. My body (as well as my hair) dries out really easily, and this didn’t strip any moisture and make me feel as if I have scleroderma like some washes do.
Continued use thoughts: I like this shampoo, I like it so much, I threw out the bottle of stuff that I purchased a while ago (Skala I think it’s called). This works much better for me. Sometimes when I am rinsing my hair, shampoo gets in my mouth. With the Skala when it got in my mouth, it was this nasty chemical taste. Horrid. I don’t get that with this shampoo bar. Yay!
One thing I would want to see with this bar is maybe some sort of scent. That is just me though, I know there are people out there that would appreciate the fact that this has no scent to it.
Other than that, this is a good product. It lasts a long time, a little bit goes a long way, and it is good for both your body and hair.
A semi-fight on the Twitter
Note: I didn’t intend on having an entry today. I was going to wait until Wednesday. There is going to be one on Wednesday as well 
This entry could also be entitled “I’m too old for this shit.”
I don’t use the actual Twitter application. I use a program called Hoot Suite. It allows me to have different streams that I don’t have to switch back and forth to view. The top ones that I show are my general stream, the hash tags for natural hair and the hash tags for Indianapolis.
I was reading yesterday when this little gem came through:
SHOUTOUT to all the Hoes claiming #TeamNatural because they can't AFFORD the REMY, ACRYLIC, LASHES, AND A HAIR STYLIST.
At first I just blinked. I was confused. I responded to the girl (not woman, GIRL) asking her why would anyone want all of that crap on? That is a ton of artifice. Even if you weren’t natural, that is a lot of stuff. If you met someone with that stuff on, and then took it off they wouldn’t recognize you.
Her response:
I'm guessing your a broke bitch
Um, no, I was just trying to figure out what the heck is going on in your head. I didn’t say much after that, just told her, no, I was not broke, nor a bitch,and I was trying to get into her head and understand the need for all of that.
Her response:
lmao why would u think I would consider explaining anything to u
Then she proceeded to poked fun at my AVI. She went on to say that maybe I should wear all of that.
Honestly? The child is 22 years old. Her twitter background is of her boobs and face with blond hair cascading down (she’s black) her back. It makes no difference what she thinks and what she does. But the fact of the matter that I got caught up in this nonsense, what does that say about me? And did I really get caught up in it? I wanted an honest and logical answer to where her thought processes were on this. Guess I am the stupid one for thinking that this bitch (and yes, she is a bitch) had home training or common sense (when she said she had to get back to work, I may have said she probably worked in the world’s oldest profession. She never said anything back, so she might not understand what I was inferring.)
From now on when I ask a question to someone on Twitter, I am going to look at their profile. If they have boobs all over the place, I’m just going to disregard. I’m too old for all this nonsense.
I made it myself
Where have you been!?
Hey guys!
So if you haven’t noticed, I’ve been gone for about a week. No entries, nothing. I’ve been posting periodically on Facebook and on Twitter but that is about it. Explanation? Well, my summer semester ended. It was the one before we go back to school for fall semester. I have about two weeks (only one at the time of writing this) before I jump back into school. Not to mention I have been kicking up the internship/job looking into high gear.
I decided to take a little break and use what little time I have to chill, and just.. be. Ever since the spring semester life has been so frantic for me. There are always deadlines and assignments due. Not to mention the housework and job hunting.
I am back though, and I am here. I have a review planned for this week as well. Here is to a new semester and a new lease on life!
Cheers!
Question of the day: What have you been up to? Are you super busy and overwhelmed?
Hair styling attempt
Anyone that truly knows me in real life, knows that I should generally leave hair styling to the professionals. If it ain’t simple, it ain’t me. I am very creative, but when it comes to my hair sometimes, I. JUST. CAN’T. WIN.
But damn it all if I was going to let this stop me! No! I was going to give it a go!
I started by watching this video:
She is amazing with hair.
I figured “Hey! I know how to flat twist! I know how to two strand twist. Simple pimple right!?”
Um. No.
First off, my hair is not as long nor as thick as hers. So while her style was all thick and gorgeous, mine was thin.. and you could see parts of my scalp, making me look like I had bald spots. No bueno. The second thing I had issues with were these:
Yeah.. the bobby pins. They were awful. Whose hair is that thing going to hold!? They all came like that. Loose and just, not good. In my defense, I did not know this when I purchased them. Scunci just had two bundles of bobby pins in the package. They had a rubber band around each bundle, so you couldn’t tell that these things were simply useless pieces of metal .
*sigh*
But I persevered. These are the results:
Yeah.. not the greatest.
Things that I have learned from this:
- I’m going to have to learn how to adjust hair styles to my hair. The flat twists on the side needed to be bigger and there needs to be a smaller amount of them.
- I NEED BETTER BOBBY PINS
- I need to figure out how to get my hair sleeker.
- I need to figure out how to part better (I was parting the best that I could, and then my hand cramped up and I was like, forget this.)
- More than likely, it could have been better if my hair was stretched beforehand. So maybe I will band it next time, because I will be trying this again!
You live, you learn.
Tell me about your hair mishaps! Have you tried a hair style you saw somewhere and just completely missed the mark?
Of Wigs and Cancer.
I’ve never been a huge wig wearer. I’ve had a total of two. One was one my mom never wore that I loved. and the other was a birthday present.
Me and Meagan in Florida… Blurry, but you get the idea.
Birthday present wig.
I know there are some naturals out there who are entirely anti-wig. And that is fine for them. I am not anti-wig, nor will I ever be, because of the story I am about to tell you.
A few years ago, I worked at a doctors office. The job wasn’t the greatest, but it paid me, and allowed me to do a little IT work. The best part of the job was my co-workers.
There was an older lady that worked there by the name of Mary Lou. I love Mary Lou. She is everything I hope I can be when I get older. One day I came in, and noticed Mary Lou’s hair. It was shorter, and hand blond highlights in it. I told her it was a cute style. She smiled a little, told me thanks, and went on her way.
Apparently a lot of people complimented her on her style. It upset her, and a couple of people found her crying.
That is when I found out that Mary Lou had cancer. She was getting chemo treatments, and was losing her hair, so she decided to wear a wig. I am not entirely certain, but I am guessing she was just feeling a little down about her hair.
“Cheer up Mary Lou!” I said confidently “Plenty of people wear wigs all the time. Yours looks great. Heck, even I wear a wig every once in a while.” She seemed surprised at this notion, and pretty soon it got dropped.
The next morning as I was getting ready for work, I pulled my birthday wig off of its stand, and styled it before plopping it on my head. I walked in to work, proudly, head held high, and marched straight into the office Mary Lou shared with two other women.
The other two ladies (who are also my friends) clapped and hooted. But Mary Lou.. she got teary eyed. She gave me a big hug and whispered “Thank you.”
I will never forget that as long as I live.
Mary Lou passed away a year and a half ago. I had a rough time last week. I was just thinking about her and missing her ribald sense of humor very much. In one of the books of the Anne of Green Gables series, Ruby GIllis dies. After the funeral Davy says “Ruby was a great girl to laugh. Do you think she is laughing in heaven?” Anne assures him that she is. I hope Mary Lou is up in heaven giggling at my every day antics.
No matter the reason, wearing a wig is alright by me. Just make sure you hold your head up and smile, and be proud of who you are and what you do.
Omega Man
Have you ever heard of this movie? It is basically the original ‘I am Legend’. You see, the movie was originally a book. The more current movie, while based off the book, is only based off the bones of the book. Omega Man is closer to the book.
I am not here to talk about remakes and the like. We are sitting here watching this movie, and it is set in the mid to late 70’s, which means all the black people have afros. They are shaped much differently than we have them now. I don’t even know how to explain them. They are more of a triangular shape, while the afros of today are rounded. Let me see if I can find a picture.
This is actually from the movie. You can’t really tell it here, but it looks like her hair isn’t even curly. Maybe it is because has has a blowout.
Times change, but styles are usually just recycled. There are often little changes, but for the most part things, are recycled. The shape of her afro is interesting to me. Ours today are more rounded. Even the guys in the movie are almost triangular.
What about the Afros you have seen? Do you think they look different now than they did in the past?
PS: She turns into a crazy bitch at the end. Sad.
Summer Switch up.
With the heat being as unbearable as it has been all summer, I quickly found out that my normal routine was not working. I used to be able to wash-n-go freely. Not really the case right now. Plus, the shea butter mixture from Belle Butters that I use on my hair was becoming to heavy. Right now my routine is as follows (if I don’t have any products that I am trying out):
Co-wash with whatever conditioner I am on (Wash hair once every two weeks)
Detangle while still damp
Moisturize with a combo of Ori Organics leave in condition and Kiah Alexandria leave in conditioner.
Two strand twist
Leave two strand twisted until I have some place to go.
Do you have to do anything different to your hair when the seasons change? Also, How are you beating the heat?
Protective styling in this heat.
This has been a crazy week. I take a medication that, if not taken early enough, will keep me up all night. I took it within the normal range on Tuesday, but I was still up until 7:30am Wednesday. I slept for three hours, and went about the rest of my day. Around 7pm Wednesday night, I started getting incredibly drowsy. Unfortunately, that was not a great time to get drowsy because we had to go to the grocery store. When I say HAD TO. I mean had to. We didn’t even have milk. The past two weeks we had gone out to eat. It feels good to have groceries in the house again.
While at the store, I saw something a little… inappropriate, and I feel the need to say something about it. I understand that a lot of skinny girls (not skinny just skinny as in Paris Hilton, but skinny as in average) are wearing rompers this summer.
I don’t really like them. They look cute on people, but they just aren’t my cup of tea. Not to mention that I am shaped like a barrel (or a duck) and it just wouldn’t look right.
Anyway, Jeff and I are shopping and I see a couple ahead of us with their little girl in the cart. The mom is wearing a romper similar to what I posted, but it is made of a different material. What I notice the most is that her left butt cheek is hanging out. Not a hint of it, THE WHOLE THING. Then to make matters worst, she drops something and lets it all hang out! Really lady? Really? Way to set an example for your baby girl. Meh.
Anyway, she was probably eyeballing me like I was crazy as well. It was 98 degrees out yesterday. The heat index made it feel like it was 108 degrees. I was clad in jeans, a black shirt, AND A KNITTED BLACK BEANIE/BERET.
I know, it sounds insane. It is hot as hell outside, what am I doing in a knit cap? Currently my hair is protective styled in two strand twists. As I have stated in the past, my hair is never lovingly parted into two strand twists, I co-wash, detangle, and moisturize my hair. I then two strand twist it all haphazardly, then seal in the moisture.
Not the prettiest picture of myself, but you get the gist.
Unless I have somewhere I have to be (mainly job interviews), those twists do not come out of my hair until it is time to co-wash again. I don’t want them to get ‘loc’d’ up, so I take them down again to co-wash. As a result, when I go out some place that doesn’t really matter, I have a hat on. I won this beret in the winter from Revealing Beaute and it has been a godsend. However, I think I need more options.
I need to learn how to do up-dos. I attempted one before an interview, and it failed horribly. One major thing I have to take into account is that they are time intensive. I have to make sure I have the time to sit there and part and flat twist and everything.
Another option, is more hats. Did you know I know how to crochet? Yep, that and I can do basic knitting. Well, I can do the knit stitch when it comes to knitting. Because the purl stitch is just a backwards knit stitch, it messes with me. My thoughts are to purchase some lightweight yarn and make a couple of caps of my own. I know there are a few hat patterns in the stitch and bitch book I own. I am also a member of Ravelry, you can get a ton of patterns from there for free. I also have a binder of printed out patterns. I just need to get back into it. I also need to purchase lightweight yarn. I have a ton of yarn, but it is all blanket, afghan, baby blanket stuff.
What about you? How do you protective style? What kind of hats do you wear in this oppressive heat?
Earring Haul
I was bored sometime last week, and looking for some earrings, so naturally I went to Sarenzo’s Beads. I have been eyeballing her thread earrings for a while now, and finally picked up a pair.
Isn’t that cute?
I also got these large wooden ones. Jeff says they look like wagon wheels. He is very anti big earrings. But that will never stop me.
When I opened my package There was an additional set of earrings in there. She has a deal where you buy a certain amount you get one free. I am not 100% sure I reached that amount, or if she was just being extra sweet (because she is a total sweetheart), but these were in there and I love them very much! There were actually the first ones out of the three that I wore.
Love them!
Excitement abounds!
This week so far has been a good week for me. I have had a job interview, and have a few more on the horizon. Yesterday’s job interview we met at a restaurant, it was totally casual, and I didn’t worry about much of anything (hair included). Tomorrow’s interview is more professional, so I am thinking about my hair.
Recently I learned that I CAN flat twist. I was excited by this knowledge. I am seriously considering doing an updo for my interview tomorrow. In order to do that, I would have to start on my hair tonight. However, I have class tonight, and won’t get out until 9pm. After I get home, it will be around 9:30-9:45. So I am going to get started after this entry.
All I am going to do is wash, deep condition, and detangle my hair for right now. I will part it and twist it into a few large twists. I’ll wear a hat to class and just go to sleep like that. I will be sure to take lots of pictures of the outcome of my hair. Right now, I need to go hop in the shower and get ready and everything, because I do need to go to the library before class, and it is in the opposite direction of my school. There is actually a library that is sort of on the way, but whenever I request books, I have them sent to the library closest to me, which is in the opposite direction of school.
When you have an interview, do you do anything special with your hair?
I remember reading at one point that Brokey Mcpoverty straightened her hair for interviews, and if she got the job, she would walk in au natural.
Espionage Cosmetics
