Product Giveaway - African Pride Leave In Conditioner

Hello --

It has been a year since I started to really get disgusted with the ritual of relaxing my hair. I went for a touch-up last June and not only was I not please with the health of my hair but my stylist wasn't either.

I then started my internet search for healthy black hair and wound up with a ton of information from some very intelligent, courageous, devoted women on youtube, various hair care forums, blogs, etc.

I was motivated. I was afraid. I've had my hair relaxed since I was 19. Could I really give it up? My agonizing went on for some time. Did I really want to go through all of that hair shedding and experimenting with my hair? Even as a kid, I had my mother around to figure out what to do with my hair.

I also had damaged hair and was unsure if I would ever be able to grow healthy hair again.

So fast forward to today... these are my observations - my hair is healthier. Although I don't have much in length, I have a full growing hairline. Not that I really had an obvious problem but I guess I did because I haven't seen my hair grow so thick.

I am moving away from heat styling and salons.

I know that most products are hype.

I also realize that just because I don't relax my hair anymore doesn't mean I will instantly have longer hair. I stumbled across a comment someone had on their blog recently and I really appreciated their honesty. They said that their healthy bsl hair took about 10 years to get it to its peak, current condition.

So here I am a year later, still learning about my hair. I hope that although I don't have the prettiest blog, plenty of pics or have all the latest products that I can at least share some good information with others.

Well -- to celebrate a year of healthy thoughts and welcome the summer - here is my first giveaway.

I cannot keep products that I am not using. So I have a USED bottle of African Pride Herbal Healing Leave-In Conditioner. I've used this product a few times. More than half is left in the bottle. I haven't used it in a few months and hope someone else can use it.

So all I ask is the following - follow my blog, post a comment on how you feel about your own hair journey (happy, unhappy, still experimenting, etc.) and most of all I am paying for the shipping so please only participate if you are in the states!

You have until next Sunday, June 21st. I will select a winner on Monday, June 22nd. Good Luck!!

Product Review - African Pride Herbal Healing S & C

I think it was about 1998 to 2000 when my relaxed hair was in its really healthy and growing stage. One of my key products was African Pride's no lye relaxer. At the time, I didn't have a stylist and I had to rely on myself to take care of my hair. So for some reason, I was struck by the design on the box and made the switch from my usual Cream of Nature relaxer. I became a big fan of their relaxer. I also believed that I used African Pride's grease too. Yes, I too was a big fan of hair grease. I did feel that their products were good quality and helped keep my hair looking, feeling good and growing. This was actually one of the few times in my life, where I was always asked who does my hair and what products do i use.

So when I was fortunate to have won a contest for African Pride's latest products I was very pleased.

I received their relaxer, shampoo and conditioner.

This review is about the shampoo and conditioner.

I've been using this shampoo weekly since November. Although it has the herbal specs in it - i do not feel it was a great shampoo. My hair felt dry after washing. I was expecting better results.

I feel the same about the conditioner. It is a leave in and I was expecting it to leave my hair moisturized. It did but just a bit. This conditioner has bits of herbal specs in it, too.

Both products have a pleasing light scent, light color and a listing of many herbs.

It took me awhile to get these reviews up because i just wanted to like them. I wanted to say that these were good products and I would love to buy them - but I cant.

The shampoo has been passed onto my sons. I asked their opinion and they said it was like any other shampoo.

Although these products retail for about $4-5 each, I would just get suave or vo5 for less than $2....