Why The Afro By Nature Curl Maker is the Best Thing for Curling 4C Hair
Afro by Nature is proudly Nigerian and their Curl Maker has been a staple in my stash for a couple of years. The first time, I received this (and the banana conditioner) from the owner who wanted my opinion. I loved the results so much that I repurchased the large size. Yet somehow I still didn’t do a review or Instagram post about it. Kind of like that artist you love, whose every lyric you know, but you keep them to yourself? How bad of me. Here we go.
The Afro by Nature Hi Definition Curl Maker comes in a white pump bottle, it’s a thin clear gel and smells... milky, like milk sweets. Unexpected, but not mad at it.
Ingredients: Aloe vera gel, marshmallow root extract, flaxseed gel, slippery elm, coconut oil, extra virgin avocado oil, optiphen plus.
Stellar list. Clean.
How I used it: braidouts and twistouts.
On the bottle it lists every kind of curly style possible. If you’re on the brand’s Instagram, you’ll have been tantalized by videos of single coils. With what looks like a quick flick of the wrist and a slick of the curl maker, it transforms even the wildest, undefined fros into tame springy curls.
If you have the patience for this, try it. Me? Never have. You see wash & go, straw curls, finger coils, any kind of tiny curl- I have neither the patience nor the desire. If I were to try any of the above though, it would be because of the Curl Maker.
My Results
I’ve had many successful braidouts and twistouts in my life, but the results from this product amazed me. I couldn’t believe it. Looook. The twists above became this the next day:
Twistout:
Even my bangs laid down. That never happens! There’s a reason I’m called Afro Medusa 😄
Usually I have to be extra careful separating sections with any curly style because my hair loses curls easily. One wrong move and boom, my fresh curls default to an afro. The difference with this product is that I can separate my hair freely without losing the curl. Do you know what it means?? To touch and pull and fluff my hair and still have defined curls.
Braidout:
This was the result of 9 single braids. Oh and not a single crunch whatsoever. My hair remains soft, yet defined as heck.
It won’t replace your favourite detangler but it definitely helped me with the process, which is no surprise considering it has marshmallow root and slippery elm.
Where to buy: afrobynature.ecwid.com in Nigeria. It costs N3500 for a 250ml bottle.
Psst! They’re coming soon to the UK!
Giveaway Time!
I’m giving away two bottles of the Curl Maker to two people who read my blog. It’s limited to Nigeria only, sorry. All you have to do is follow me on Instagram and leave a comment below on this post, with your IG username and what style you want to try with the product. If you don’t use Instagram, fair enough. Just say so in the comments and complete the rest. C’est tout! I will announce the winners on September 1st.
Affordable Nigerian Hair Products: Shanyi Organics Review
First Post of 2020! I'm laughing at how excited I am to be back in my space.This is a review and I’m doing a giveaway too so please read through okay?
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Photo: Shanyi Organics instagram: @shanyiorganics |
Shanyi Organics is a Nigerian brand of hair products.
They've been making affordable hair products since the earlier days of the natural hair movement in Nigeria. They've rebranded twice, I think, and each time they’ve improved quality and packaging.
They unveiled their new line and spoiler alert, I'm impressed. The ingredient lists make me so happy. It shows real work. I'm a diy-er and none of them is something I can throw together in my kitchen. More than that, the products work. So proud of them because I've watched them grow and now their products can compete internationally.
Let's do this in the order in which you might use the products:
Shampoo: The Deep Cleanse 2-in-1 Conditioning Herbal Tea
First of all, it's not black soap based. This is me leaping up and punching air because our prayers have been andsweredt! Finally, a Nigerian brand breaking away from black soap. We'll talk about all the whipped shea butters another day. No hate on either one, we just need more options fam.
Ok, back to the review. Tea is the right word because of its consistency- it's quite thin and clear, not cloudy or creamy.
Ingredients: Deionised water, sugar beets, soap nuts, coco betaine, glycerine, decyl glucoside, PQ 7, jojoba oil, vitamin E oil, botanical extracts, essential oil blend, citric acid, preservative.
colour: golden amber
smell: peppermint. In fact the entire line is Lavendar and mint so that's what they smell like. I like minty stuff so this is right up my alley.
Action: Lathers gently, enough suds to clean without stripping. If you decide to pour half the bottle on your head, then you may get barrels of foam. Believe me, that is not necessary.
I don't ask too much of shampoos so it upsets me when they cause dryness and tangles. Just clean and go your way. This one delivered and added the bonus of a tingle, thanks to the essential oils. Brownie points Shanyi, because tingly shampoos are a joy to my scalp.
Since cowashing has fallen out of favour with the natural hair oracles, this shampoo is mild enough for those who wash frequently but don’t like to cowash.
For a simple weekly wash, one lather was enough.
When my hair had buildup + lots of oil in it, I rinsed and repeated twice.
Results: Clean, smooth hair + a happy scalp.
Deep conditioner: Goodbye Breakage Deep Restorative Smoothie
Pink, thick, minty. You can see the herbs in this DC and in their other conditioners, but they’re all very smooth so you can’t feel them on your hands or see any residue in your hair.
Now it's thick, but still quite water-based so it sank into my hair quickly and felt light, like a leave-in. I was doubtful at this stage because most of my favourite DCs go on creamy and heavy so I thought this won't work well. Boy was I wrong.
Ingredients: deionised water, manshanu butter, chebe powder, psyllium husk, jojoba oil, sweet almond oil, aloe vera extract, D-panthenol, lanolin, biotin,hydrolysed silk proteins, PQ 47, BTMS, Cetyl alcohol, botanical extracts, essential oil blend, preservative.
Results: When I rinsed off, my hair felt soft and fluffy and hydrated. I noticed less breakage too. Colour me impressed.
Leave-in conditioner: Knot-Free Moisturising Milkshake
This is supposed to moisturise and detangle.
Ingredients: Deionised water, coconut milk, aloe vera gel, shea butter, lanolin, botanical extracts, sweet almond oil, vegetable glycerin, cetyl alcohol, BTMS, essential oil blend, preservative.
Again, pink and minty. Medium thickness, pourable. Reminds me a lot of 'pink oil' from childhood, but much better quality and ingredients.
Results: I found it properly softening and hydrating, whether on damp hair after deep conditioning, or on dry hair during the week.
I detangle at every step of wash day, starting from the pre-poo stage so I can't speak much on its detangling properties by itself as my hair is already detangled at this point in wash day, but this entire line easily made my hair tangle-free.
Really happy with it.
Syler: Curls Delight Curl Sculpting Souffle
Thickest girl in the crew. pink. Minty.
Ingredients: deionised water, shea butter, cocoa butter, flax seed gel, aloe vera gel, argan oil, almond oil, glycerin, Cetyl alcohol, botanical extracts, essential oil blend, preservative.
Results: Made it easy to twist my hair smoothly. Very hydrating. VERY. My hair felt soft for ages and stayed moisturised for days. Fixes dry hair right up.
The downside to all this moisture? Hair that takes forever to dry. I've used it twice on wash day and my hair was still damp the next morning so my curls did not form. Next time, I'll use this on dry hair and see how it works out. Or I’ll use my hooded dryer.
A+ for moisture. Missing script for definition. I will update.
Oil: Growth Magic Hair & Scalp Elixir
Ingredients: palm kernel oil, castor oil, hemp seed oil, jojoba oil, cayenne pepper, neem extract, amla extract, onion extract, ginger, garlic, horsetail extract, henna, stinging nettle, liquorice, essential oil blend, vit E oil.
It's pale yellow, liquid at room temp and semi-solid in the cold because palm kernel oil has similarities to coconut oil.
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Semi-solid because it’s the middle of winter |
Use it for all the things oils do: scalp massage, seal in moisture, pre-poo/detangle, stimulate edges, did I leave out anything?
Daily Moisturiser: Moisture King daily Hair Juice
Ingredients: Deionised water, aloe vera juice, lemon grass extract, sunflower oil, vitamin E oil, castor oil, glycerin, preservative.
So wash day is over. This one is for keeping hair moisturised until next wash.
It's in a nifty spray bottle, pink, minty but also a bit lemony and you can smell the aloe I think. it comes out like a very light liquid jelly and it sinks in quickly.
Results: soft, moisturised hair with no buildup. Exactly what I want. Maybe it's the cold but these days I don't like to use straight water to moisturise. I want something a bit thicker that won’t spray on my neck or shoulders. This checks all the boxes.
There is not a single bad product. I'd repurchase every single one of these proudly Nigerian products.
To buy: shanyiorganics.com
The entire range costs N15000 ($42). The shampoo, leave-in and hair mist are N2500 ($7), the DC and styling soufflé are N3000 ($8.40) and the oil is N3500 ($9.80) which I think is great value.
These are my honest thoughts. I received the products courtesy Shanyi, but I have received no payment or compensation for reviewing them.
I'm hosting a giveaway on Instagram from Shanyi Organics. They asked me to give away two of my favourite products but it's been tough choosing, it took me weeks to give them an answer. I eventually decided on the Deep Restorative Smoothie and the Growth oil because I think they're essential.
The rules are easy as pie (I hate giveaways with too many instructions).
I am @naijagirlnextdoor on Insta. Thanks for reading and participating!
XX
NGND
Hairstyle Inspiration: Silver / Grey Box Braids
My first time doing grey box braids, they were short and crocheted in. This time, I went for full on silver box braids. I was going on holiday to Istanbul and in the spirit of hot girl summer, they are long; down to my bum. ayyy!
I used two different brands of grey braiding hair. The first brand is African Dream. Believe it or not, I’ve been holding on to two packs of this hair for four years. They were left over from my first grey box braids in 2015. Got it from Pak Cosmetics in Finsbury Park, London. They have a website now, pakcosmetics.com
Colour codes for the grey extensions I used are 51 and 44.
44 is darker, it's a steel/gunmetal grey mixed with silver. 51 is my favourite. It’s lighter, with more silver in it.
For reference, colour 60 is pure silver, almost white. The jury's still out on 60.
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Source: ikickshins.net From left to right, 51, 60 and 44 |
Both brands are quite scanty so and I had to compensate by making very big sections at the back. Next time I'll do six packs. If you go for a much fuller look normally, I suggest eight packs.
I ended up loving the dimension that the darker grey added so I think I'll add one or two colour 44 packs again the next time I do these silver braids.
The colour completely changed my look and sometimes my personality even. Lol. If I don't have all silver hair when I get old, I'm going to be so mad. Haha.
I can't believe how much attention this hair got in Istanbul. I lost count of the people who told me they love my hair. It was described as original, authentic, so nice, beautiful.
They’re so generous with compliments. I got countless “you’re so beautiful” everyday. My confidence is flying right now.
Some wanted more information, "Is it extensions?" Yes.
"Which part is your hair?" The black bit.
"Who does it for you?" I do it myself.
"Really?!" Yeah, mhmm.
"Will you braid for me too?" I laughed.
"No, I'm serious." His beautiful face was serious.
Unfortunately I was leaving for England the next day so I promised to braid his hair on my next trip.
Next time you see this face, he'll have beautiful braids framing it.
It was an exciting trip to Istanbul. I have a post in the works with lots of tips and valuable info to share if you plan to visit that beautiful city.
So, would you try grey / silver braids? What's your go-to holiday hair?
Please like, share and let's talk in the comments. <3
xx,
NGND.
The Best Places to Visit this Summer
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London, Summer '15 |
NEW YORK
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