Shea Debacle - Why it Hurts

I think I'm finally all caught up on the debacle surrounding the latest Shea Moisture advertising campaign.  Basically, they filmed a series of commercial spots around the "inclusive" theme of "Hair Hate" and they have released them all willy nilly - exposing an overall lack of sensitivity to the needs of their own primary market.  Many current and prospective customers are very upset and hurt while dealing with feelings of betrayal and abandonment. Scathing comments and testimonies are going up on Youtube, Twitter and Facebook, prompting a series of apologies and explanations from the company, which are then inciting further sentiments of disappointment and "You. should. have. known. better" scolding.

Personally, I am numb. I was admittedly a product junkie who ran to scoop up Shea Moisture Products (SMP) when they were released or when there was a BYGO sale at Walgreens. However, like many of my fellow highly textured tress possessors, I would have flocked to any product line that was available on the ground, ingredient centered, and offered any promise of efficacy on my coils. Before Shea Moisture it was KCCC at Whole Foods, preceded Carols Daughter at Macy's. Black owned, targeted product lines with formulas heavy enough to coat and protect my hair from breakage and dryness were worth spending my hard earned money on, worth blogging about, worth posting about on social and worth the space in my bathroom.

Why? This consumerist behavior feeds into the the entire concept and pathology behind "Hair Hate". I won't preach to the choir but when a woman gets self confident enough to try to embrace her natural hair texture when NO ONE has ever done so, any glimmer of caring or empathy becomes an oasis in a dessert. Or in this case, a mirage. Relinquishing unhealthy self image beliefs and behaviors is HARD, and some vestiges of it remain in the quest to tame, smooth and detangle the number and letter ranked micro curls and zig zags many naturals find them self faced with yet unprepared for. We're thus constantly on a quest to re-educate ourselves and personalize our hair care depending on what we discover at our roots. We build communities to shore up support, we rally to banish preferences for looser curls, we uplift and we create sisterhoods like only we can. Like everything we do, those sisterhoods are coveted by others who have no such defining feature or experience to share, so we defend our spaces.

And we end up here. We've painstakingly embarked to redefine our beauty standards and routines. We're in the middle of a battle with ourselves and the dominant culture. We're building businesses and centering ourselves. It's delicate work and betrayal can not be tolerated. Not by our men, not by our elders, and not by those who have pledged to serve us. The outrage caused by a "natural hair company" creating a mere snippet of media that equates our plight of acceptance and journey to re-educate ourselves with the plight of any woman deciding on a mere hairstyle is palpable. We are battling powers that go beyond style down to challenge our mere existence as humans worthy of love and respect. We have to ground our feet against an omnipresent current insisting that we CHANGE or hide who we are. That is not the same as being insecure or having trouble accepting "imperfections". This is known. Let me add my "They should have known better". Yet still I am numb.

We've been at this for decades now, some of us. Before there were products available on the ground, they were on the internet. I think any one of us who has been natural for over 2-3 years (15 for me), even amidst the plethora of new product options, has debated coming up with our own product. And again; why? Because nothing truely works for long. SMP were great, until I remembered that shea butter accumulates residue on my hair, thus the loss of efficacy, so now I need the clarifying shampoo (OOOoooo JBCO Shampoo), and now I need a deep conditioner (OOoooo Superfruit purple bottle something), and now I need to fight the frizz, (gel...flake free non-drying gel anyone?) The cycle goes on and on as does the search for the holy grail product after the one you thought you loved stops working or has a disastrous formula change (is my face breaking out?). So I have been off Shea moisture for a while, though Nubian heritage does have a scent I love. Whatever. What even is the goal? Is it to come up with a signature style? Something easy and pretty and reliably duplicable? Or are we growing it long? Longer? Longest. Too long, big chop time. No, the goal is to be comfortable and confident in our own bodies. The goal is to become familiar with our hair's natural proclivities and predict and create desirable results. The goal is to accept and love what God gave us by the act of working WITH it and not against it. So the whole Hair Hate vs Hair Love is really at the root of this whole war. Those are representative trigger words at the deepest level. This is complicated.

What I already know, what we all already know, is that they still can not center US at the core of "Hair Love" and have the message translate to the very people who hate us. The very people who make us hate ourselves. The concept of acceptance that we thought SMP was riding with us on, had to be simplified and diluted down to a conversation about hair styles to be synthesized into a 2 minute spot suitable for mass media. Which is just sad. It just pokes the sadness that rears its head after every survived micro aggression or pang of wistfulness followed by guilt when admiring some flowy bundles. Or the sadness that may result from failing execution of a coveted style that's not right for ones actual hair texture (wash and no? defined twist doubt?). Acceptance is an ongoing process in the face of external AND internal adversity and it often hurts without any extra poking. They poked a Tyrannosaurus.

I was excited for their brand, albeit one I was a bit distanced from, because I saw the baby line come out, then saw body care and "lighter formulas" start popping up in various aisles throughout the local drug stores. I thought to myself, now that Black business is going somewhere! Hair dye? Makeup?! Go head!! I was routing for you - we were all routing for you! If anyone had the knowledge of our plight coupled with the brand power to center us in a conversation about beauty we thought it could possibly be SMP!! I was ready to see African women with brown skin and naturally straight hair smile from my TV to discuss the "Light" formula line for straight or fine hair. Or the Latina touting the new wavy hair formula. AKA "This brand knows moisture because they were birthed by and for those who needed it most, and now they can expertly extrapolate their foundation goals to the greater market."

We've seen the reverse all our lives - "This brand knows how to make your hair oil free and shiny, they can expertly extrapolate their foundation to the alternative market and...remove...less oil...? And replace it with poison-oil...wait...we mean cocoarganshea extract..."

I, personally, was hoping we were finally seen by a brand as "beautiful enough" to be given a chance at the center. But this disappointment is not new. I'm hurt and disappointed because I now have to abandon my hope for what they could have done, who they could have been in the name of true love... I'm VERY well well acquainted with who they are. They are still a black owned business, they are still available on the ground, and their ingredients still aren't total trash. And I'm just sad.

Nubian Heritage and Shea Moisture, winning in the game?

So Shea Moisture and Nubian Heritage is winning in the game. They just released a hair color product to rave reviews, including the art on the packaging.

I feel like this and also the rave reviews and success of Curly Nikki's book Better than Good Hair are indicative of a shift in power as of late. WE can be successfully marketed to AS WE ARE, and not in a way that sells us a version of ourselves we can only "aspire to." It brings me joy, makes me smile, makes me believe we are getting a step closer to my whole "it's just hair" mantra. I love the energy.

I found this interview part 1 and part 2 and I can really respect the whole business model, and the fact these products are available on the ground, at Target and Walgreens for me, and AFFORDABLE.  Walgreens stays having a BOGO on these products :-)

I've posted about their products quite a a few times on this blog and I will some more :-)

Particular favorites of mine are the smoothie, the heat protect leave in (I now LOVE the strong smell, and even bought the lotion) and the wrap mousse gave me the best press yet after a roller set. I'm trying to figure out the gel and souffle and the milk was a little too light for me.  I am also still avoiding products that are primarily coconut oil based.  My skin is not giving me any wiggle room on that :-/

So is anyone going to try the hair color? What are your favorite Shea Moisture/ Nubian Heritage products?

They also make lotions and soaps. How do you like those?

Sale! Shea Moisture Coconut & Hibiscus Curl & Hold Smoothie

Thanks for the heads up Afroglitz!
Target is having a great sale on the Shea Moisture Coconut & Hibiscus Curl & Hold Smoothie - 12 oz.

I really like this stuff as a leave in. It's on the heavier side, so a little goes a long way. I have chilled on it because of the coconut oil, but if your skin is not reactive like mine is, this may be a winner for you.

$4.98 Online Price

Reg:$9.99- Save $5.01  (50%)

Question Answered - Dull Hair?

Check out the email addy on the side bar! itsjusthairblog@gmail.com. I opened a new account so I can have more interaction from the blog :-) Email me your questions and I will try to answer them privately or in a new post.  I got this one today:

My name is Sarah and I have hair that is very very dense like yours and my hair is very curly when it is wet, but when it dries (during a wash n go) my hair is dull and looks dry (even when it may not be dry). I would truly be a product junkie if I could afford it, but I can't so I have researched products on you tube experiences.

So far, like I said, your hair is more like mine than any other I have seen, but your hair is shiny and not as frizzy as mine when it dries. I watched the video about "kiss my face" gel and castor oil. Is this better than eco styler? -because I love eco styler, but once it dries my hair frizzes and looks dull and dry.

Also, are there any other products you can recommend to decrease frizz and add shine?

Hi Sarah!  I hope the following helps.

There are two things that may be going on with your hair.

Certain types of natural hair can tend to have more Sheen than Shine.  Sheen is an overall sparkle rather than a reflective shine in light.  Cottony, fine, and porous hair types can tend to be this way.  It doesn't reflect much light, but it can sparkle brilliantly with sheen if its moisturized well.  I don't know if your hair is more sheeny than shiny, but my hair is more shiny than sheeny when its clumped together.  Its fine and dense but when it clumps it reflects light.  (When I say shiny I'm not talking straight hair silky shine. I don't have that either. I'm talking about light reflecting shine!)

Read more here or here.

But I believe you when you say your hair is like mine and the frizz is something else.  Frizz can rob your hair of what shine it has.  So point 2- I think technique is the key factor to defeat frizz, and employ as much shine as possible.

Smoothing the product onto the hair is defense mechanism 1.  I don't like to get too technical because I'd be lying if I said I understood the exact mechanisms by which this works, but it does help a lot when you smooth the hair all in one direction.  You can start smoothing when the conditioner is still in your wet hair.  Once the section of hair is detangled, use your fingers to smooth the hair down in one direction.  I kind of rake my hands through but as my fingers pass through the hair I squeeze them together to smoosh the hair between them together. I get all of my hair smoothed in a downward direction and then rinse with COLD water.  Well, as cold as you can stand it at least.  That helps seal the hair cuticle/keep the little surface flaps closed.  At this point its good to add a light oil to the hair- in the same downward and minimally disturbing way.  This further seals in the moisture from the water and conditioner.  Depending on what concoction I am doing my wash and go with, I will sometimes add a leave in after this, and maybe even a thicker oil even after that.  OR I just mix all the rest of the products in with the gel.

When I use the KMF gel I use a waterbased leave in (like shea moisture curl and style milk), smoothing it through again in all one direction.  Then I use the gel and Castor oil mixture on top of that.  I like KMF/castor better than the Eco styler gel and get less frizz and crunch when it dries, and for days after.  I get the elusive "silky" curls like in the picture. Again though, I smooth everything through, any gels, any leave ins, in one downward direction.  And I always use some sort of oil- castor agrees with my skin.

For instance, the Kinky Curly line is kinda self contained and does not play well with other products, including oils.  My hair will look shiny and smooth on the first day when I use it, but I feel like looks dull after a day, and it also gets frizzy faster than a KMF wash and go does.  I think the oil assists in keeping the flaps down, and adds some surface shine. I don't use KCCC much any more.

I also know that if I just use conditioner (even most leave ins) alone and let it dry that my smoothing is quickly undone as my hair dries and shrinks.  It needs to clump so that the high texture of each individual strand does not show individually- thus producing sheen more than shine.  So for me- the gels are very important for the shine factor.  For some types of hair though the gels just don't work in that way.  I would surmise that the surface of hair that has little shine is just very fragmented, like, the curl has curls, and the plains of those little turns are what make the sparkles.  Whereas shiny hair can be tightly coiled but the surface of the hair in the coil is smooth, and can lay flat on the hair next to it, and so forth and thus clump.

If you try smoothing and the clumps still come apart as your hair dries I'd say you may have hair with sheen.  Sheen is beautiful when it is embraced.  Just keep your hair moisturized with water and oil and try to avoid damaging it!

Traction and heat damage can also make those little surface flaps stay up or break off.  Damaged shiny or sheeny hair will not emit anything :-(

Pressing damage years ago robbed my hair of all its luster and I ended up cutting it all off.

*Edited to add*
Also- almost forgot- make sure you are removing any product build up from your hair, at least once a month. I use a shampoo like Trader Joe's Tea tree tingle, or Shea Moisture's curl and shine shampoo.  A good protein conditioner like Renpure or Joico K-pak also seems to fortify my hair and make it more likely to shine.  I use those once a week for about 10 min. 

A few of my favorite things

Aside from my KMF gel, Castor oil and plastic ponytail holders, there are a few other items that are always at short reach lately.

Hair! 

"Honey I'm Strong" conditioner by HE.
This conditioner has even more slip than the other Herbal Essence conditioners I've liked in the past. I've tried not to make HE my go-to however, because of the ingredients and strong smells.  Yet this one has a much lighter smell and the slip is unmatched.  It also seems to coat my hair, or have an actual protein/enriching effect within a few minutes.  It has the coating effect that KMF mistreated has, but with the slip I so desperately need.  Winning formula for me, and the cost and on-the-ground availability puts it close at hand.

Nubian Heritage Honey Black Seed Heat Protect leave-in cream
Though I don't press my hair or use direct heat that often, I picked this up a few months ago and was perturbed by the STRONG fragrance.  However it works wonderfully as a regular leave in and the smell quickly grew on me.  So much so that I also use the Honey and Blackseed lotion all over!  I now use this leave in instead of the Shea Moisture smoothie.  It costs about the same and a little goes a long way.  It provides great slip and long lasting moisture.  And now, for me, a smell that I love.

Nubian Heritage heat protect Keritan wrap mousse
I used this for my last two roller sets before pressing my hair.  It works so much better than Gel!  it's much lighter so my hair dries faster and it helps me layer in heat protectant before the flat iron hits my hair.  I get no flakes, just shiny light hair when I take the rollers out. Granted, I don't quite have the kind of hair that roller sets straight, so I still have some frizz and bumpy/loopy parts (can't wrap it) BUT it gets it close enough that one pass with the flat iron as I take each curler out is enough to smooth it out, but not loose the entire curl set by the rollers. It smells like nothing, and comes out as an easy to control and apply foam. I'm smitten.

Makeup!

Revlon Just bitten in Charm

I am a huge fan of stains because of my braces.  Lipstick can transfer onto my brackets at any time and is hard to remove without a trip to the bathroom. So I prefer stains. Over the past year I've tried them all and I have a few favorites, but most of them don't fare well in my purse and can't be applied without a mirror and precision.  These, on the other-hand, are a huge crayon lol.  Pretty foolproof.
Yet I still am not confident applying the darker colors without a mirror to make sure it's even.  This color, "Charm", is super light - lighter than my natural lip color.  BUT it actually stays put for hours, unlike the other stains which often don't come in light colors - and when they do they wear off quickly. I also wear "Precious" often, which is a little cooler. I can put these on like a lip balm and I can't go wrong with it.

Mode Nail colors and polishes
The difference is night and day when I use a Mode basecoat or topcoat vs any other, even with any other polish.  Mode polish does not stink and it does not chip.  It wears off, like it rubs off, but it doesn't chip and peel like most other polish.  Its cheap at $4 a pop and they have lots of colors. I keep seeing beautiful colors at the drug store and inevitably pick one up but unless I'm using a mode base and top coat I never get my money out of it.  Which makes me wonder if I should just stick to mode colors, period.  I have a mode (winter-not-doing-my-feet) nude on my toes and its growing out! Not chipping or peeling off.

Mode Mineral powder foundation and Kabuki brush

They have my color! I'm a yellow gal and they have a yellow powder! I've actually been using this powder for over a year and JUST ran out.  I ordered more and got the recommended Kabuki brush.  OMG.  I love it. love. it.  I previously used a MAC brush that I paid waaay too much for, as I am not really into makeup and brushes and such to begin with. I don't have any idea which it is- the salesgirl "sold" it to me.  It's cool.  But it is not this big soft, fluffy beautiful brush.

I'll stop there for today but I may keep doing these posts periodically. I have more makeup and even some bath products and home products that I can share if you all are interested!

3 blown out up-do styles

Here are a few collages of the 3 styles I created on my blown out hair. Overall - HATED IT... lol.

My hair is very fine, aka spiderwebby, when blown out. It is extremely fluffy and reactive to moisture, pressure, wind... Thus I could wear no "out styles" without anticipating full reversion within hours, leading to knots and tangles. So instead I kept it twisted or braided up, and I kept the ends tucked. I'm not sure how to explain exactly what I did! It may be clear from the different angles in the picts, but just let me know in the comments if I can clarify anything.

In my hair I used Hairveda's almond Glaze  At night I added some Shea moisture wrap foam stuff (not impressed- will remain unnamed...) to keep the 5-8 braids I would put in from getting too dry, and to encourage them to set stretched. I included picts of the am takedown texture/look at the end of this post.  Once I even touched the "chunks" they began to frizz out, so I was never able to wear it out :-(

3 styles:

Shots of the size of the night braids and take down in the AM.

Reversion within minutes!!!

Up ya go...

Alicia and her mini-me- One Year after the BC!

Here is an update from Alicia who you last saw here, cutting 6 years of hair off.
Here she is, one year later!

I did it!  I have reached my 1 year nappiversary   

Even though this is my second big chop it was like learning how to walk all over again.  I am more informed via Youtube and inquiries with darling Nauralista this go around but I sill needed to find what works for me.  And I am still fine tuning.

For the 1st 3 months of my big chop I elected to try the curly girl method with what I believed to be unsuccessful results.  I co-washed 1 - 2 times a week with Suave Naturals and Tresemme Naturals and rocked only wash n go's.  By the end of the 3rd month my hair felt uber dry and didn't seem to be retaining length.  For moisture I rotated b/t Kemi Oyl's Shea butter pomade, Jane Carter Daily moisturizer, and whatever else was in my cabinet.  After not seeing and feeling what I knew my hair had done with my 1st big chop I quit the curly girl.  

For the next 6 months I washed my hair once a week with Zuresh full body cleanser.  I absolutely love this stuff.  It foams up great and leaves my hair feeling clean and smelling great.  Lucky for me I found some time to peruse Youtube and stumbled across KimmayTube's channel.  I was more than impressed with her technique, formal presentation and design of her channel, and logical and practical content of her information.  It just made sense, and to top it off we had the same hair type so I instantly became a fan.  

Protective styling was the band wagon I jumped on for the next part of my hair journey.  My regimen became washing and deep conditioning once a week with Zuresh and Tresemme Naturals, then applying KimmayTube's homemade leave in conditioner and doing small double strand twists.  I would do a twist out on the 2nd day and repeated this every week.  That KimmayTube leave in conditioner is the truth.  My hair was very soft, shiny, and felt my healthier than the curly girl method.  I finally began to see some growth.  Thank God lol.

My current routine still includes Zuresh, Tresemme, and Kimmay's leave but now I do a pre-poo with olive oil and switch up the conditioner to Garnier Fructis Fortifying Conditioner with Shea butter, Olive oil, & Argan oil (or aloe I can't remember) and now and again and do flat twist after the wash instead of double strand twists cuz momma is pressed for time!  I have also added Black castor oil to my routine, just on my edges to help stimulate growth there again. 

All and all I'm very pleased with my hair growth and feel.  I expected a little more growth than this but I have discovered that your body (and hair) goes through changes after you have a baby that may not be in the most desired direction. 

Speaking of baby.  Not only have I tasked myself with maneuvering my own hair journey but my infant daughter as well.  The change in her hair over the course of a year has been nothing short of drastic.  She went from the soft cute curly baby hair to fro and kink like her momma by the time she turned 7 months.

I am glad I taught myself how to braid from the 1st big chop - once her hair texture changed I went right into protective styling for her.  Use a simple Suave shampoo for her wash  and Talid Waalid kinky wavy kids detangler for moisture.  It's a struggle just to wash her hair so I do NOT condition her hair.  Go straight in styling and detangle each section as I part her hair for her conrows.  Since Kimmay's leave in has been good to my hair I have now switched from Talid Waalid's detangler to Kimmay's leave in for my daughter as well.

 Her hair growth is AMAZING.   At 3 months, she began to bald in the back of her head due to always lying and sleeping on her back.   It had me so nervous.  A routine of washing once a week and protective cornrow styling has proved to be the best option for her at her age and getting maximum growth.

How cute is the baby!!??  Any additional advice for Alicia?

Length updates

It's still Growing!

Now that the summer is done I have had to trim the knots of the ends (yes I still get those suckers!!) and I plan to get back into protective and "dry" styles far more often.
I trimmed it last week- a good inch all around, but you can't really tell.  Here it is before I trimmed it.

This is after I took that weave pony tail out and it was all mostly straight from being gelled back so enthusiastically lol.   It looks almost like a blowout, maybe even straighter than that in the very front.

Here it is on a random work day. I had used the Shea moisture line here, including the Souffle(which must be new and I can't find a link for! but check The Good Hair Blog's review) and curl smoothie. The Souffle is VERY intersting and a review is forthcoming. I'm not sure how to use it yet, but I like it in theory (weird I know). It is greasy and not best suited for my wash and goes. I got it at Walgreens if you can find it.

Partial updo on roller set hair

I want to grow my hair our for the next 2 months, particularly in back in preperation for my next summer cut.  I decided that the best way for me to do this without driving myself crazy meanwhile is to experiment with up-dos for a few months.

I roller set my hair on as few large rollers as I could manage- which still ended up being a lot lol.  I used Giovanni Direct leave in, Organix Nourishing Coconut Milk Styling Mousse (winner!) and Shea moisture's spray oil stuff (scored from last week's Walgreens sale). I sat for at least 2 hours and it was alllllmost dry when I went to bed.  I put it in large double strand twists with large purple flexible curlers at the ends. 

This morning the back was still too frizzy to wear out into the overcast and HOT day here (over 80!) so I devised this updo.  I didn't have time to style the back.  But I will do that tonight to try and get a few days ouf of this style before switching to another up-do. The front is just a HUGE, loose double strand flat twist.  I took the end of it and coiled it around to make a "flower' and used a bobby pin to secure it.  The sides are regular flat twists.

 

hehe- homeboy in the BG is like why is this chick taking picts of herself on Metro...

I got a compliment on the train on the way in from a fellow natural- so I feel encouraged to keep this one up for a few days :-)

I also feel like my Native American blood is showing up today lol.  Maybe it's the jewelry or the changed texture of my hair. The Cherokee is in there pretty prominently all the time waiting to bust out!  I see it in my cheeks and in my Grandmother's pictures- RIP.

Buff with a twist, possible protective style

I have been a wash and going fiend, even throughout the winter.  My dingle coil method works so well I just can't stop!

The trade off is that I may need to trim a bit more than is optimal for growing my hair out.  I am on the fence whether I really want to let it grow crazy, or keep it at a controllable bra-strap length.  I don't even really know that the fairy knots won't win out, as my hair is very fine and splitty and knotty as it gets older.

But meanwhile, I know the wash and goes need to be bunned or twisted as they get a few days old.  I have been defaulting to a half back look or something like in the picts below. The good old BUFF, with a twist or two in front.  The twist is necessitated by the fact I was even letting my bang grow out (alas, I trimmed it this past weekend in a fit of blindness).

It's a quick style I can leave in for a few days, getting me 7-8 days between washes.

Its just a big flat twist on both sides.  By placing the twist a little further back, the sections that create it are visible and create extra detail as you see below. 

So onto product real quick.  I decided to try out the Nubian Heritage Repair and extend Shine Gel.  You may notice that bit of extra shine in the pictures.  That stuff is shiny indeed.  But its very much like the Shea Moisture Souffle.  It's Sugar based, sticky and greasy and I feel like although there is potential, I can't quite figure out how to use it. The shine is excellent, the hold is medium, but it is moisturizing. Has anyone had any use mixing or using one of these products?  Let me know. I will continue to try things until I run out. I'll post shortly the experience I had mixing it with KMF gel.