GNC's Women's Ultra Mega: Loathing and Gagging

I'm not a resolution person. But on the first of 2014 I might or might not have committed to taking a daily multivitamin.

Originally I was headed to Whole Foods, but my travels took me to GNC instead. I bought a bottle of the Women's Ultra Mega without reading the reviews, because it's a vitamin! What's the worst thing that could happen.

Well I could open the bottle and instantly loathe the stench emitting from the bottle that I'm supposed to take two daily vitamins from.

Or I could take the first vitamin and gag from the overwhelming taste of vanilla and sugar (which doesn't help the stench). What is this compulsion that companies/customers have where everything has to taste "yummy" and "amazing" (two descriptors taken from reviewers on GNC.com).

And to add insult to injury these vitamins have sucralose aka Splenda! What the heck! Why does a vitamin need Splenda?

Next time I'm heading to Whole Foods or maybe I'll go back to my non-pretentious Nature Made. Hmph.

ETA: They're a little more palatable when taken with orange juice, but they're still the nastiest vitamins I've ever taken.

…order has been restored

  Made another stop at TJ's today and restocked!

Sigh.

Gah. I stopped at Trader Joe's to restock and there was not a single one left. Curse you PJ's!

Then I headed to Sally's to pick up Lottabody and another Curlformer hook. I was going to check the hook for burrs in the store, but I got distracted by a loud lady yapping on the phone.

So imagine my aggravation when I open the box and see the below!

The top one is a good hook,
the bottom is the one I bought tonight.

Sigh.

Curlformer Success....maybe?

Finally, a success!

Immediately after removal

Ecostyler Argan Oil is so far my favorite gel. Cheap and easily accessible. A win, win in my book especially for my currently BSL, dreaming of WL hair.

So it shouldn't be a surprise that my HG gel gave me a great CF set. I was willing to ignore the two that didn't set because the rest had body, shine and was soft yet defined. I wore the curls in a ponytail to work and was pleasantly surprised to see that the curls had fallen beautifully despite being in a ponytail for hours.

So why the maybe? Well, it didn't last overnight. BUT I think there may have been some user error on my part. As I do more CF sets, I learn more about what works for me and what doesn't. My hair will not dry with product after being in CF's for only 6 hours. 12 hours with an hour under the dryer is preferred.

I considered Pincurling like TheGabeFix on YT, but I was too lazy so I pineappled. I didn't like the results but my coworkers thought it looked great in a ponytail.

                                       

Long story short, I don't think my hair was completely dry when I took the set out. Five CF sets in less than 2 weeks has made me a little tired of the process so I'm going to clean my CF's and take a few days off. I still love them, but the process and upkeep has made me miss the simpler days. LOL. Plus I need time to search for Sabino Moisture Block and Paul Mitchell foaming pomade.

I also used the Matrix Leave-in and PM Skinny Serum.

Curlformer Fails

So I've been playing around with my set of Extra Wide, Extra Long Curlformers for almost 2 weeks now. I've had 3 major fails, 1 semi-fail and 1 semi success. Lets get the bad out of the way first.

For each set I used Matrix Biolage Leave-in and Paul Mitchell Skinny Serum.

1. Curlformers on Blowdried hair.

Unfortunately I have no pictures of this one so you'll have to take my word for it. But trust me, there was not a curl in sight, not even a wave. How my hair went in, is how it came out. LOL. I decided to get experimental on Christmas Day so instead of bouncy curls I had a bun. Ce la vie.

2. Curlformers + Jane Carter Wrap & Roll  Foam.

As soon as I took the Curlformers out

Later that night when I got back home!

This was great when I first took the CF's out. Two CF's didn't dry, but I was willing to tuck them under and KIM. What I couldn't ignore was that when I came home from work my hair had lost its oomph. It was no longer shiny, bouncy and defined. Boo.

3. Curlformers + Kiss My Face Upper Management Gel.

Errr, this just ran across my mind. It gave a nice soft hold, but was a little flaky. I'll revisit this with pictures later.

4. Curlformers + Garnier Fructis Pure Clean Gel. Horror of horrors.

I was originally going to do this set with Ecostyler Argan Oil Gel, but I saw this tucked in my stash and decided to give it a shot. I DC'd before this set with Matrix Conditioning Balm and thought I rinsed all the DC out. As I smoothed the GF gel through my hair I saw a few white spots, picked out what I could and KIM. I figured the rest would dissolve and wouldn't be obvious in the morning.





After an hour sans CF's, 10 minutes before leaving I decided to separate my curls. When I looked in the mirror I was horrified. Hard little white flakes had formed throughout my head. A little picking, scratching and frantic shaking wouldn't get them off as each one was attached to a strand. Washing was not a option due to limited time and 18 degree weather. So I held my head high, went to work and spent the day reclined so that I was never in direct light. HAM.

Initial Thoughts: Extra Wide, Extra Long Curlformers

I slept on 48 of these for the first time Tuesday night.

Ohh boy. What a restless sleep full of tossing, turning, flipping, adjusting....you get the idea. How I finally slept was using a small rectangular pillow on top of my regular pillow. Pic to follow soon.

However, I might say that these are more comfortable than the generic. This plastic/mesh is much softer and easier to bend. Hope that makes sense. The generics I have are harder and have no give. I don't look forward to sleeping on 48 of these again but I'd rather sleep on these than the generics.

I also tried to use the dryer once I had all 48 in but no dice. It can fit maybe 30 of the EWEL curlformers, which is kind of a bummer. Guess I'll dry in sections.

Do you need 48? I honestly don't know. I like having 48 because I can do small sections. I split my hair in half and use 23 in the front and 25 in the back.

Let me just say the Blowdried hair + curlformers was an epic fail. Not a curl in sight. No worries, I have confidence in my next test. I'm going to wet my hair like I should have and use some Ecostyler Argan Oil.

Curlformer Olympics

I have two packs of Extra Wide Extra Long (EWEL) Curlformers and their softhood dryer waiting for me under the tree!

Not my tree but close!

I can't wait!

I've purchased an extra hook, Jane Carter Wrap & Roll Foam and Kiss My Face Upper Management Gel.

I plan to use Matrix Biolage leave-in and Pul Mitchell Super Skinny Serum for each set.

Product Trials:

1. Blowdried hair with a little PM serum.

2. Wet hair + Eco Styler Argan Oil Gel

3. Wet hair + JC Foam.

4. Wet hair + KMF Gel.

Hopefully I can have my set perfect by New Year's Eve! 

Strand Tests: Why They're Important

The PJ inside of me loves getting new products. I used to run home, jump in the shower (or dunk my head under the tap) and slather on my new product.

But after the Aveda Disaster I had to stop doing that. Otherwise, I was going to end up with severely damaged, thin hair. If I did a test patch I could have:

• Saved myself HOURS, yes hours, of detangling
• Prevented the need to cut 2-3 inches of my newly BSL hair.
• Saved my hair from TONS of split ends and mid-shaft splits, most likely caused from poor detangling.

Now every time my PJ fingers get the urge to slather anything on, I just think Aveda and slow down.

Before I use anything on my hair, I do a test patch. My strand test section is below. I chose that spot because it's small, discreet and combines my 3C and 4A sections. Perfect. 

DOH! Do your own research!

One of the first hair bloggers that I looked up to was Curly Nikki.

2010- Although I was still transitioning at this point, her hair looked like what I imagined my hair would look like. This was just a guess because I had no clue what my hair looked like. As a child my hair was always blow-dried or in some stretched state. 

So, I went out and bought some of Nikki's staples, most memorably Herbal Essences Hello Hydration. I used it several times and each time it made my hair feel tangled, coated and gross. Wash day wasn't easy at a few months post, but it was extra painful with the HEHH. I came to my senses and tossed it.

2013- A few years later, I still followed Nikki's blog even though our hair has different likes. Now more educated about my hair, I knew that we had similar textures and fine strands. I saw a post of hers raving about AG products and rushed to Ulta to pick a few up. 

I got home, tried the AG conditioner and fortunately, the Aveda Disaster taught me to do a test patch. My test patch is a small section in the back that has my 3c and 4a sections.  Although it didn't make my hair a tangled matted mess, my hair felt horrible. No curl definition (which is how I tell if my hair is moisturized) and my hair felt off. I had HEHH flashbacks and put the bottle down. 

Although Nikki and I have similar hair and strand size, our porosity is totally different!

I'm Natural and I still use Protein.

Yup. During my hair research I read that only chemically treated heads need protein. Basically, the idea is that the keratin bonds are broken in chemically treated hair, whereas with natural hair, the bonds haven't been broken. So I took a protein break for a few weeks. I usually wash my hair once maybe twice a week with Trader Joe's Nourish Spa set. 

After a while, I noticed that my hair lacked definition and wasn't clumping as much. My hair is pretty fine/tangle-prone, but it was tangling more than usual. At this point I hadn't dealt with over-moisturized natural hair, so it took me a while to make the connection.

My natural hair needs less protein than my relaxed/transitioning hair, but it still needs protein. As a relaxed head I rotated protein and moisture every week. As a natural, I henna (which is a massive protein treatment for me) every 6-8 weeks and use protein twice in between.