Cherish My Daughter

Y'all know by now that I am the farthest thing from a product junkie. I'm a firm believer that if something is working for you then stick with it. Even if I wanted to spend my time trying new things for entertainment--I'm working with so many nappy heads I'd be broke before long. If I try something new and add it to our rotation of tried and true products--you can be sure that the product really made an impression on me. You've heard me mention my Scalp Stimulator Shampoo Bar by Bobeam Naturals. I love it on my locks but it works just as well for my entire family of loose haired nappies. I contacted Laquita, owner of Bobeam Naturals, to find out if she could recommend any of her other bars for my family. She was happy to send me several bars. I haven't tried them all yet. I wanted to use each bar for at least a month on all of the girls before making a judgement. Since we've all been swimming ALOT and washing our hair multiple times a week--this wa...

I picked this up after reading many positive testimonials by nappy haired people about it online. It's cheap. I had some concerns that it would dry out my girls hair because it DOES contain sodium laurate sulfate (SLS). We used it on all four girls. Here are my first impressions: 1. I was surprised at how much it lathered up on the first wash. 2. I was impressed with how much dirt it lifted on the first wash. 3. The hair felt squeaky clean after one lathering. Maybe a little too squeaky. So far, I've decided this is a strong cleanser. It is marketed as a daily clarifier but I would never use this to shampoo nappy hair every day. I need a clarifying shampoo to remove product build up and this shampoo did a good job. I only lathered once and was satisfied. As I style the girls' hair I will update about whether I notice any extra dryness.

There's some controversy about the use of castille soap as a shampoo. For example, popular YouTuber Kim , of KimmayTube tested the ph of Bronner's Castille Soap and found it to be much higher than the recommended range for hair (between 4 and 5). You can watch her explain her findings. She also did an informative series fraught with good visuals on understanding the effects of ph on hair. That said, I've been using diluted castille soap successfully for YEARS, but I've never tried Bronner's Castille Soap. I had a bottle of Trader Joe's Castille Soap . Turns out Trader Joe's formula includes Aloe Vera --which has an acidic ph---probably bringing down the overall ph of the product--perhaps balancing it for hair. The manufacturer recommends it's use as a shampoo right on the bottle's label. I did not get a chance to personally test the ph of my bottle, because by the time I noticed Aloe as an ingredient of my castille soap, the bottle was empty...

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I'm excited to introduce The Nappy Princess Spa , my tutorial videos in helping apply everything you're learning here. You can view the five part Hair Washing Series on our YouTube channel now. I'm working on more series to add, including styling. I know many of us need more than pictures to pick up a new skill. I hope you find my tutorials helpful. Your feedback is welcomed.

Nappy hair is full of loops, twists, and bends. Some people's strands swirl in "s" and "o" shapes while others angle in "z's". The important thing to remember when considering a shampoo is the degree to which the strands you are trying to cleanse curve and rotate from scalp to ends. The more dense the coilage , the more difficult it is for the natural sebum secreted from the scalp to wind its way down to the ends before wash time. This translates into dry hair. When you wash nappy hair, the goal is to remove dirt, dried sweat and product build up. It's important not to strip the hair completely of the precious natural sebum which promotes elasticity. Consider straight, wavy and loosely curled hair. When sebum is secreted from the scalp of someone with hair these textures, it meets little obstruction and travels down quickly and easily. This translates into greasy hair. A strong detergent is needed to regularly lift excess sebum which ...