View the tutorial here

Over the weekend I was trolling the net researching things about hair, when I came across a really gross article about soy sauce being made from hair.
Check it out here.

Yes, Grooooossssss. I actually think this is just a rumour. But still. Yuck!

Anyways…it got me thinking about Soy Sauce. Or, more importantly, Liquid Amino Acids.
Amino Acids (AAs) are the building blocks of protein, which is exactly what hair is; protein.
I also have Amino Acids in my fridge as I use them instead of plain old Kikkoman or tamari sauce.

In total there are twenty amino acids:
Alanine
Arginine
Asparagine
Cysteine
Cystine
Glutamic Acid
Glutamine
Glycine
Histidine
Isoleucine,
Leucine
Lysine
Methionine
Phenylalanine,
Proline
Serine
Threonine
Tryptophan
Tyrosine
Valine
Minor Amino Acids
GABA
Taurine

There are two types of amino acids:
1. Non Essential AAs – these are the kind that your body produces on its own.
2. Essential AAs – these are the kind that you must get from edible sources. Proteins such as chicken, fish, nuts, and (to a lesser degree) soy are all great sources for essential AAs.

From my research I’ve concluded that all AAs are important for hair health, but the following ones play the most important roles in hair:

Essential Amino Acid

Methionine

• A powerful antioxidant;
• A good source of sulfur which helps in the prevention of hair, skin and nail disorders;
• Prevents the premature loss of hair;
• Works in the body to detoxify many harmful elements;
• Works as a good anti-fatigue agent;
• Aids the breaking down of fats to prevent the buildup of fat in the arteries and liver.

Non essential amino acids

Cystine,

• Makes up 10-14% of the skin and hair, vital for healthy development of skin and hair;
• Encourages better recovery from burns and surgical procedures.

Cysteine

(Cysteine and Cystine are interchangeable; two molecules of Cysteine make Cystine.)

• Great Antioxidant and a natural detoxifier;
• Essential in growth, maintenance, and repair of skin and hair.
• One of the three main sulfur-containing amino acids, along with Taurine and Methionine.

Tyrosine

• Produces melanin, which is the pigment that gives the skin and hair its color;
• Vital to the body’s overall metabolism;
• Can improve your moods and is used to treat depression, insomnia, and anxiety.

Now let me just say; I LOVE AMINO ACIDS. I don’t know why, but they cheer me up. At night, C and I usually have a big salad and I always spritz on some AAs for flavor and almost immediately I get an uplifting effect from them. I get a little giddy. After looking around a bit, I think it has something to do with the Tyrosine.

So the burgeoning mixtress in me got all fired up. I decided to put AAs in my hair.

I thought about it a little more. I couldn’t just pour them on my head; I didn’t think that would work as they’re thin like water. So I mixed it up, and here is my recipe:

Yogurt - 2 parts
For the protein and the conditioning properties.

Baking Soda 1/2 part
To make my hair more porous.

Amino Acids 1/2 part
To see what they did.

I’ve used yogurt and baking soda before, mixing them with other things, and they were okay.

But together with the AAs – AMAZING!!!!

I sectioned my hair into eight parts and applied the concoction with my fingers, making sure to coat from root to tip. As soon as I put the treatment on I could tell something was different.
My roots! My roots started to clump together.

This has been my big “issue”; frizz – mostly at the roots. This treatment totally calmed the frizz down and made the roots behave the way the rest of my hair does. It has become curly from root to tip. I was floored by the results. I still am. I’ve done the treatment three times now over the course of a week and the results seem to just get better. I haven’t changed anything else in my regime and have been using Lustra Silk and my own handmade conditioner, or the Henna Wax Treatment, and co-washing every other day with Boots Coconut and Almond Oil Condish. But judge for yourself, here are the pics:

Click here for more on the Cherry Lola treatment

MORE POSTS ON THE CHERRY LOLA TREATMENT

This is my texture un-handled. I’m am 3c/4a hair type for those who care to know

An Average Twist Out

First treatment

First Treatment Results

2nd Treatment

2nd Treatment Results

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3rd Treatment Results

MORE POSTS ON THE CHERRY LOLA TREATMENT

Here’s where you can buy Braggs:

If you try this and it works for you – or if it does not – let me know!!!

I was on my lunch break strolling through Morrisons Supermarket last week. Whilst browsing the “beauty aisle” I came across this product. I’ve never seen this before- but I’m not a born and bred Brit so this may be a totally common item. I saw the words henna and the price of £1.59 for a pretty big jar, needless to say it was in my basket fast.

I gotta say, it’s pretty good. I used it for my twist out last night and it has pretty good hold and added a nice bit of shine. It smells nice and really moisturises. It has great slip. I think this would be a great conditioner for using Terri’s technique. It’s quite thick, so I’m going to try it out this weekend and see if it works. Overall- a great product!!

Okay, So I’ve been product testing for the last month. Here is my review of some co- washes. I do a co-wash every other day I found for my hair the following three work the best

In Third Place

Hello Hydration

No surprises here- It’s cheap, often on sale and available everywhere ( I bought mine 2 for 1 at Superdrug, I think it’s on sale 2 for 1 at Boots at the moment and recommended by a number of curlies on Naturally Curly.com as well a various bloggers. I think it works quite well at making my hair slippery enough to get the dirt out.

In Second Place

Pantene PRO-V RESTORATIVES Breakage Defense Conditioner

Not as great as the mask- (which by the way has been impossible to find lately… 7 shops and no one is carrying it.) but a pretty good co-wash. Not as slippery as the Herbal Essence though. I picked up this conditioner at Tesco for £2. 00 on sale. Right now at Boots you can get 2 Pantene products for £4

But the Ultimate, Number One :

Boots Coconut and Almond Oil Intensive Conditioner!!!!

This stuff is brilliant-just make sure it’s the one in the jar and not the regular bottle conditioner- there is mineral oil in that one. But the Intensive Condish worked amazingly. It really cleaned my hair, I could see it in the shower water!! And it left my hair feeling super silky and soft. And when i followed it with my homemade condish really turned out nice the next day too! And here is the best part. It cost £0.89. that’s right 89 pennies. I paid for it with the change hanging around the bottom of my purse. Brilliant!

I bought this product right when I went natural because a number of people commented and emailed me me about it. I bought the Curl Curl Boosting Spray because the Curl Cream was out of stock. I think it was 5 pounds. I bought 2, and then completely forgot about it. Last night, while going through all the stuff in bathroom I came across it. So I decided to give it a go on two strand twist last night and planned to do a wash and go tomorrow. At least that was the plan

I sprayed each section of hair with three spritz of Noodle head, twisted and sealed the ends with a tiny tiny bit of Shea butter. The results are really nice I think. It’s not as soft as the hand made conditioner, but is comparable to the Lustrasilk softness. Some of the curls that I had roller in turned out a little wonky but I suppose you can call that character. Plus my hair seems to have a lot more movement.

It has a bright coconut smell similar to sunscreen cream. And that were I starts to be a problem for me.

I like the smell! Unfortunately it’s a parfum, so while I spritz, small particles end up on my face and my face will have none of it. I think I mentioned before that I suffer from eczema. I usually have it under control but parfum really irritates it. So as much as I liked this product, I have to let it go.

Which is good news for you guys though. As I said I have two, which means one unopened on to giveaway! So if you are in the UK and you would like to try the noodle head ping me an email at hi@cherrylola.com. I’ll I ask in return is a short review of the product and if you can, a pic! I’ll announce the winner next week

Here are the pics:

Before Fluffing

After Fluffing

I had mentioned before, I think, that I would do a test of Lush henna blocks. So I decided to over the weekend because one thing about Henna Boy is that they take forever to send stuff and it’s it usually by courier that needs a signature so I was thinking that if the Lush blocks were good then it would be easier just to pop in after work.

So on Friday night I popped into Lush on Regent Street, which is a cool store- most of everything is downstairs, and discussed the various block with the sales girl. They have 4 types of blocks at £6.80- Caca Brun; Caca Marron; Caca Noir; Caca Rouge. After discussing the various kinds with the clerk I decided to go with caca rouge since it did not have Indigo in it. That’s how they claim to make the different colours, with various amounts of indigo and also the use of coffee in some blocks . The entire ingredient list for Caca Rouge is :

Red Henna (Lawsonia inermis), Cocoa Butter (Theobroma cacao), Fresh Organic Lemon Juice (Citrus limonum), Powdered Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis), Clove Bud Oil (Eugenia caryopyllus), *Citral, *Eugenol, *Geraniol, *Citronellol, *Limonene, *Linalool, Perfume

The process goes like this. Take the block and chop it into small pieces. Place in a glass or wooden bowl and near boiling water and mix until smooth. Apply to hair and wrap in cling film for 2- 5 hours for a reddish hue or leave the cling film off for more conditioning and less color. Rinse

Let me say this now. I give up on Lush. This product is truly inferior to the Henna boy Henna. Because they’ve mixed it with cocoa butter the block is really hard. But chopping it into little pieces isn’t what put me off. And it wasn’t the fact that it made far more of a mess. It was the wash out. The thing about Henna Boy is that they sift their henna 3 times. I read that on there site when I purchased the first time. I didn’t give it a second thought. Until I was in the shower for an hour trying to wash little bits of twig and stone and sand out of my curls. And still I found more in my hair the next day. And even with all that cocoa butter my hair felt dryer then ever. Probably from all the rinsing. I didn’t notice a change in the color.

Now I like the fact that it isn’t wrapped in tons of plastic. It’s not enclosed in anything. That’s the thing about Lush. If it doesn’t need to be wrapped it doesn’t get wrapped. Which is a policy I admire. But it’s official. I’m giving Lush up.

I am VERY happy with the results of the handmade conditioner I made at Plush Folly on Monday. I did a twist out on freshly co-washed hair yesterday and although the results weren’t as smooth as the Lustrasilk, this is fine with me because I seem to fluff until I get a little frizz anyways. It was softer. It also held up against some MAJOR hand in hair-itis. I couldn’t stop touching it! I also felt my hair had more shine. Over all a 10. So here’s the recipe

Oils Phase

25g Light Fast absorbing oil (like Rice Bran oil)
2g Vitamin E Oil
2g Orchid Extract
10g BTMS Wax

Water Phase

80g Spring Water
0.2g Silk Powder
4.g Panthenol

Final Phase

1g Microkill
30 drops essential Oil (I used Patchouli)

To make it: Mix the oil ingredients separately from the water and silk. Then adding the two over heat and mix until the wax is melted. Now when I say mixing , I mean MIXING- for about 35- 40 minutes. Then add Panthenol, Microkill, and then an Essential oil for scent. The recipe can be played with it works as sort o a base, and if you are going to use it right away (like within a week) you can skip the Microkill.

Some of the other women didn’t have to stir for a long as me. But I swear- even Sally, the owner of Plush Folly was mixing for me. Yes my arm got sore. yes it was more difficult then a trip to the store. Yes it was totally worth it. It was a great hair day. Here’s the Pics

BEFORE FLUFFING

AFTER FLUFFING

You can get all the stuff from Plush Folly. Or take a class and make it there- save on the clean up.

Yesterday was an amazing day. If you recall, I mentioned that I would be taking a few classes. I didn’t want to mention the place where the workshops were taking place until I knew if they were good or not. Since it was great, I will reveal : Plush Folly, in Hampton, about 45 minutes out of London from Waterloo Station. I took a class on how to make natural hair care products. They also have classes on cosmetic making and how to

It was an informative class, but what was even more amazing was stepping off the train and running right into another Natural! She was heading to the same workshop! As we walked I discovered she was Michelle, the previous leader of the London Natural Hair and Sisterlocks group! She also runs the online magazine Hair Affairs, and a Sisterlocks Salon. We laughed at what a small world it is, and I admired her locks (which are beautiful) and headed into the small shop. Inside were three women, one of which was… Another Naturally Curly! After exchanging names, I realized it was Ebony, who runs Naturally Sexy!

It’s not a small world – it is tiny.

During the work shop we concocted a saponified shampoo, a rich conditioner, a hot oil treatment, a hair mask and a serum. Very educational. Very fun. And everything we made was full of wonderful oils and herbs. The class was 90 pounds and ran from 10-4.

I’ll review each product I made as I use them. I think I’ll start with the conditioner which I will use as a leave in.