I got a sample of mixed chicks over 6 months ago from a little
boutique near my house that sells all sorts of cool stuff. Unfortunately, I only got one little bubble each of the shampoo, conditioner and leave in. With such a small quantity I was unimpressed with what it did for my hair. It smelled great but did not give me notable results.
This past weekend however, I was at an outdoor festival and saw a woman with tight curls "similar" to mine, that seemed VERY defined and shiny. So I complimented her and asked what products she used. Mixed chicks (!) with IC gel layered over it. I thought to myself, "ahhh of course. Gel on top of it. Perhaps therein lies the magic". I found a salon near my job that carries Mixed Chicks (I won't mention their name because they do not do "my type of hair" even thought they sell Mixed Chicks products) and held the small $20 bottle of conditioner in my shaking hand. The sympathetic natural haired black woman behind the counter asked if I had tried their product before.
I told her my saga and she said "well- you could buy that $20 bottle, OR you could try another sample."
"You have samples?!" I almost squealed.
She turned to the low shelves behind her and murmured "Yeah, girl your hair is just going to drink this stuff up- let me see how much I can give you."
I ended up leaving with a small bag containing 4 bubbles each of the shampoo, conditioner and leave in.
So I gave it another shot. I actually shampooed, which I seldom do, just so as not to have any other variables to consider if my results were bad.
I then used two bubbles of conditioner, which did not seem like quite enough to give me good detangling slip factor.
Then I used a bubble of leave-in all over, and distributed another bubble section by section just before applying the IC gel in the same manner.
Results: My hair is NOT like that girl's hair- lol. After worrying about the possibility that the white coating would not dry clear, it did, and it did define my curls. It was almost as if I had shingled my hair. It lasted 3 days and felt moisturised and only moderately crunchy. My curls don't form ringlets. They are more free form, kinky and prone to frizz. My hair is also very thick and fine, so I still had a full head of tight slightly fuzzy curls.
I must admit though. I really did like the leave in conditioner and am contemplating splurging on the big $50 bottle for the winter. A nice, creamy, heavy leave-in conditioner is hard to come by. I have tried using several different regular conditioners as leave-ins, including Yes to Carrots, and it's not quite the same after a day or two of re-application. I really like Paul Mitchel's Leave in called "The Conditioner" though.
I used that and some of a HUGE 32 oz. tub of Pink Eco styler gel I scored for under $4 and created an impressive streached fro this weekend.
My "bang" is back. More on the trim later!