Hey Ya'll !! I'm back! Once again, a late blog post - I am so sorry about that. I've been meeting deadlines for almost 16 years now, give me a break PLEASE! LOL. 

Anyways, this past Friday I posted a photo of my soaking wet curls after JUST SHAMPOOING my hair. The photo went VIRAL. It broke my 'like' record by reaching a record 4,158 likes. It was reposted on about a dozen natural hair pages including Curl Box. Everyone was raving about these curls that I literally just snapped in the shower lol. Heres the photo if you haven't seen it already...

Beautiful ain't it? So I know you want know what was this magical shampoo (because yes, I give it the magical factor)? Who is it from? What kind of sorcery is this? I know you're thinking, "she lying, that wasn't just shampoo! she prolly pre-poo'd with some fancy oil"... well I didn't do any of that. I had just came home from the beach and my 4A/4B hair was in its full tangled, dry, salty, and crazy state. I had received these products (who's name I shall reveal very soon) a few weeks back. I put them to the side because I wanted to wait to put them to the test. What better test of quality and effectiveness than beach hair? I hadn't been able to do my extensive research on this brand before they were given to me so I'm not gonna lie - I was a little bit worried. However, this brand out stood about 95% of my shelf. After just one use, it has earned it's way to my top 5 favorite brands EVER. 

That brand is.....*drum roll PLEASEEEEEEE* ... come on ya'll I need more energy!! ...It's..... 

ELAINE HAIR & BODY PRODUCTS

Never heard of it ? I was betting on that. But the crazy part is, the quality of these products leaves some of your most popular favorites in the dust - no shade. I mean really, my mind was blown away. To the left, You are looking at the Elaine Hair & Body low porosity collection. It is made SPECIFICALLY for low porosity hair. She also has a line curated for High Porosity hair, AND a skin care line which I will talk more about in a separate post. Most type 4 hair is low porosity. The biggest complaint from type 4 naturals is that it is really hard to retain moisture. Hence why many of us are afraid to use shampoos (which can be drying), and go through heaven and high waters to find products that help us to retain moisture (even giving up and making it ourselves). Elaine has cracked the code and has answered all of our dry hair woes! 

Pictured is the Clarifying shampoo, Deep Conditioner, Hair Mask, and regular rinse-out conditioner. Not pictured above (but featured in the gallery at the end of this post), is the Leave in conditioner and Hair Moisturizer. We're gonna walk through each and every product that I have used. You'll get to see the texture of the product, and get a real deal review on each individual product. Here we go... 

Side Bar: One thing I loved about this brand first hand is that they didn't try to use fancy names and marketing gimmicks to showcase their products. I kind of get tired of the grandiloquence of some brands. Just tell me what it does on the bottle and leave me alone. I mean what the heck is the difference between "Curl Moisture Cream" and "Hair Moisturizer" ? Or "Moisturizing detangling shampoo" and "Shampoo" ? Like we don't need all the unnecessary wording. It's all just to get us to think theres a huge difference between what this and that does. Anyways - I digress. Back to these products... 

First up, the mastermind behind the viral photo!!! - The clarifying Shampoo

 This is the secret behind the curls in the photo. My first impression when pouring this liquid in my hand wasn't all that great actually. I felt that the product had too watery of a consistency and would probably take a lot to have a real impact on my hair. However, I was wrong on the latter part. A little truly goes a long way. The amount shown in the photo is actually too much for one section of my hair (when parted in four). The product does give suds, and both clarifies and moisturizes your hair (crazy because you usually have to compromise between the two). As you saw in the photo, my curls were shining, bouncy, and JUICY without any conditioner! If you'd like to know, African Black soap is the clarifying ingredient in this product. My only constructive criticism would be that I would much rather this bottle have an applicator tip for easier application. I hate to lose my precious gem when it runs down my arm while trying to apply it ! Other than that, there's not much to say besides this product is perfect. It's THEE perfect shampoo. I mean you really can't go wrong with this. What are you waiting for sis? Go order it now! 

My next step was the Hair Mask 

 At this point I am still in the clarifying phase of my wash day. The active ingredient in the hair mask is Bentonite Clay. It's purpose is to detoxify your hair, which I absolutely needed since I'd been swimming in New York City Beaches (I love the ocean but only China gets worse than that lol). 

I was a little worried about how my hair and scalp would react to this product. I have never used bentonite clay in my hair. I know a lot of naturals do bentonite masks in their hair with Apple Cider Vinegar but the combination is simply too harsh for my sensitive skin. I was also expecting for my hair to look and feel stripped and dry after using. Again, I was wrong. Surprisingly, this clay hair mask is actually really moisturizing. I definitely felt my curls were "cleaner", but they were in fact MORE defined when I rinse out the mask. With this product you need to be pretty liberal and make sure that you coat every strand of your hair so that not toxin is left behind. Use a heat cap for about 20-30 minutes but PLEASE do not leave this product in for hours or over night. PLEASE! This is NOT a deep conditioner! Overall, this product is outstanding, and it has definitely earned itself to my 'must haves' list for whenever you want to detoxify your hair of all that build up. (Casey!, this one's for you lol - that's my cousin y'all, follow her @keshij0 for make up tips! ) 

*** In a separate blog post, I'll talk about when you should detoxify your strands. Your hair is talking to you in it's own unique language, it takes time to learn to understand it*** 

The penultimate step was the Conditioner (Rinse Out) 

 At this point, I'm thinking "come on, so far two TOP OF THE CHART products, it really can not get better than this" .. then... it did. I'm going to keep this very very brief. The slip and moisture of this conditioner is UNMATCHED (I'm so sorry to any other brand I love, but this takes the cake as THEE BEST RINSE OUT CONDITIONER I HAVE EVER USED IN MY ENTIRE LIFE). I honestly, truly didn't think I needed to go on with the final step (deep conditioning), my hair already felt luxurious after this. My hair felt like SILK. It felt like a fresh tub of spread butter (you know when the top of it looks so smooth and you don't want to ruin it). This is just amazing. Seriously.. nothing else to say but TRY IT.. ASAP. (P.S - the hair mask is not a NECESSARY step and I don't recommend doing that weekly - in a normal wash day, your second step would be this conditioner). 

My only complaint? Elaine.. can you please make a special 16oz bottle just for me? I will love you forever. Secondly, curl box should've given you your credit! They need to feature you! 

And the final step of my wash day.. the Deep Conditioner 

 And then there was #ANOTHER1. THEY (DJ Khaled voice) said Elaine couldn't get another top of the chart product, SO SHE GOT ANOTHER TOP OF THE CHARTS PRODUCT!!!! Ladies.. just buy this deep conditioner and thank me later. Like You see the consistency. Not too thick, not too thin. The slip? The moisture? Everything is just absolutely amazing about this. Again.. Elaine.. please.. make me a 32oz LMFAO- I'll pay for it. PLEASE!!!!! (okay I'll need a LITTLE discount because you know I am a broke college student lol but you know!) 

Okay ya'll so that concludes the products that I used on my wash day with Elaine Hair Body. Below are the 2 moisturizers that come with the collection. If you have 4C hair and prefer thicker moisturizers, go for the hair moisturizer. If you're like me and prefer thinner consistency leave in's, go for the leave in conditioner. My final thoughts? Just buy the whole collection and throw everything else you own away. If I wasn't such a product junky, I'd probably choose to use these products exclusively for the rest of my life. Honestly. The ingredients, the scent, the integrity of the brand - it's all amazing. I can't wait to see this brand grow. It is in fact a black owned, woman owned, small owned business. Don't let the giants with good marketing teams fool you, there ARE better choices. 

See you again soon! 

Love, Light, Liz