My Experience with Rainwater

Like any other natural I'm always looking for new things to try out with my hair, but I kind of hit a slump with that. I don't really have to funds to go out and buy new products every other week and even if I did I put myself on a product fast (my bathroom cabinet can't take all those products) so buying anything was out of the question. Anywho... Thursdays are my designated wash days (I skipped last Thursday thanks to laziness) so there was no question of whether or not should I wash my hair.
So once I got home and sat around for a little bit, procrastinating of course I then decided to wash my hair. But then I heard the thunder and seen the lightening... *sigh* that's the disadvantage of staying in North Florida, at any given time there will be a random thunderstorm. So I couldn't wash my hair because I find it dangerous to be near any kind of water while it is lightening. I then decided to mope at the fact that I couldn't wash my hair when an idea hit me! Rainwater!
I have tried numerous times to wash my hair in rainwater but every time I catch the water I leave it outside for weeks until the mosquitoes occupy it. This time I decided once it finished raining I would get the buckets and immediately wash my hair. So I set two buckets outside and came back for them an hour later after it finished raining. When I came back this is what I had..

How all that dirt got in there I don't know but I took care of that!

Honestly this takes a lot of patience....

Almost there...

Yay!!!No more dirt...it only took me no more than 20 minutes to do it all.

BENEFITS OF RAINWATER

Okay so I know some of you all maybe wondering why the heck she wants to try rainwater? Well here's a little spill. According to some sources rainwater which is "soft water" washes your hair better than tap water which is "hard water". It also is said to help cleanse the hair better and some people rave about how it makes their hair softer after a wash. I don't feel like getting all into it so here's a little article right here about it.: http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/style/can-you-wash-your-hair-with-rainwater.htm

MY EXPERIENCE 

I really wanted to use the rainwater throughout my whole washing process but I didn't catch enough (I'll use a bigger bucket next time) so I decided to use it after I did a deep condition. I did my deep condition with "Organic Root Simulator Olive Oil Replenishing Pak"  I love that stuff, leaves the hair feeling great and is easy on the pockets. So after I let the conditioner sit on my hair for an hour I rinsed it out with the rainwater. That was VERY tedious, trying to dip that water out that small bucket on my head wasn't any fun...next time I just may use a pitcher and pour it on. Lol. Anyway it was enough water to get all the conditioner out. Am I happy with the results? Well to be quite honest I didn't feel an immediate difference, my hair is always soft after I rinse so I couldn't tell if the rainwater had made a difference. I added Kinky Curly Knot Today Leave-In in my hair and I then noticed a difference. Instead of my curls drying hard they do feel much softer and my curls are actually a little more defined. So I guess the rainwater does live up to the hype. 

WILL I USE AGAIN  

I'll continue to use rainwater because 1. It's free 2. I do believe the benefits of not using "hard water" will help my hair out in the long run and 3. It's all natural. Although I'm not one of those naturals who searches high and low for all natural products, I do believe it's good to use them . If I could change one thing about this experience is I'll use a bigger bucket so I can use it for all my rinses (I use do 2 when I wash). 

Well that was an interesting way to put a spin on my normal regime, will you be trying rainwater in the future? Let me know! -Krystal 

A little Update!

Hello how is everyone? First and foremost welcome new followers!!! I hope you enjoy the content thus far. I'm sorry that I haven't been posting as often. But SO much has been going on. School has me SO tied up at this point, thank God it will all be over with by next Thursday and I'll have a two week break before the Fall semester, so I'll be posting a few stories. My camera situation hasn't gotten much better but I have been working along with it. I'm also trying out new hairstyles so we'll be seeing a lot of that lately. So I'm wrapping up this rant right about now because I still have a paper I need to get back to writing. Lol. Just decided to give a little update. Thanks for your support and patience! -Krystal

Stretching my hair, Getting the most out of my growth

When you are natural you learn quickly that shrinkage is. I know as a natural we are told to embrace our shrinkage but sometimes you can't help but become aggravated with it. My issue with my shrinkage (my hair shrinks a LOT) is after my hair drys there is literally nothing I can do with it but wear an Afro. If I want to style my hair in it's dry, shrunken state it will more than likely involve me losing a LOT of hair because my hair is so tightly coiled it's almost impossible to comb through. So because of that I style my hair when wet, which is not bad but after I wash my hair I become lazy and would rather not be bothered with trying to style it. But recently I discovered the power of heatless stretching! What you do it get elastic bands and wrap them around your hair while it's wet causing your hair to be stretched rather than shrunken when it dries. I like this method because it doesn't require me to use heat and it elongates my hair and it helps me style my hair when it's dry. Here are some pictures of my hair before, during and after stretching.

Side View: Wet and Before Streching

Front View: After I stretched my hair and fluffed it out. Please ignore my face, I was just being goofy. Lol

Back View: All stretched out. 

Front View: Stretched...wonder could I wear this anywhere 

Side View: After I took the bands off.

Top View: After I took the bands off. I actually liked the definition I got from streching. If I parted it better I would actually wear this as a style. 

Before Stretching: My fro is getting BIG!  Again ignore this pose and face I was feeling myself a little TOO much. 

Side View: Stretched

Note: I'm doing this on my phone so I don't know why these pictures aren't in order -____-. I really dislike the Blogger app but it's extremely convenient.  

Also products I used on my hair while stretching is Castor Oil and Cantu Shea Butter Leave-In. Both left my hair soft and smelling lovely! Well that's all for this post. I hope you found this helpful! -Krystal 

Sampler's File: Aubrey Organics AND Kynx

Yes ANOTHER free sample well sample"s" in this case. In seems after I just got my goodies last week I opened my mailbox this week (Monday to be exact) and in there are two little packages containing Aubrey Organics and Kynx. My first reactions was excitement and then the second was "Not again! It's going to take me 2 months at LEAST to try out all this stuff." but it's all good. So lets see how the goodies look why don't we?

Aubrey Organics

So as you can see Aubrey Organics is very generous. I went on their website, emailed them and they then replied and asked for my address and two weeks later they sent the samples that they choose (yep I had no say so in what they sent me. Lol ) But I am satisfied with what I got.

One of the samples they sent me was Lavender Ylang Ylang Shampoo and Conditioner and it is for all hair types. 

I also got Honeysuckle Rose Shampoo and Conditioner which is for dry hair. 

And I also have the Camomille Luxurious Shampoo and Conditioner which is also for all hair types.

This is a little odd pile.In this pile I have the J.A.Y Desert Herb Shampoo which is for Dry and Damaged Hair, for some reason I did not receive the conditioner with this. I also got the B5 Design Gel which is styling gel and conditioner. And last but not least I got NuStyle Organic hairspray that is suppose to hold your style in place...trying this should be interesting seeing as NOTHING holds my hair in place. 

Knyx

Prior to my adventures with free sampling I had no idea about the brand Kynx. But I heard some fellow naturals mention it and I decided to contacts them. Their website is www.knyxhaircare.com and I contacted them, they sent me a kick reply and 2 weeks later the samples came in. The first thing I noticed about them was a LOUD smell but it's a nice smell! I hope it leaves my hair smelling that nice. In the above picture in the larger container that is their "Leave in Moisturizer", according to the website it's for hydrating the hair and it can be used alone or with a styling gel or cream. 

In these two little cute pouches I have "I am Unique: Texture defining gel"  which is suppose to be used on wet hair for curl defining. And in the other pouch I also have another sample of "I am Fierce: Refreshing Leave-In moisturizer." well I find that weird... but that's good, I'll probably get coverage all of my head with both the container and pouch they gave me. 

Well that's all folks! I will be having a field day with all these products! Remember to contact these companies yourself. You'll never know what you'll get. -Krystal