Spiral Solutions Firm Hold Gel

I'm at a loss. With the addition of this magnificent Firm Hold Gel from Spiral Solutions, I have stand-by holy grail products in every category. I've got an awesome deep treatment (SS Deeply Decadent), cleanser (Deva No Poo), Rinse Out (Darcy's Botanicals Pumpkin Seed), a couple leave in's (Jasmine's Babassu and SS Deeply Decadent), a couple curl enhancers (SS Curl Enhancing Jelly, Donna Marie Miracurls Jelly), and a perfect, firm holding gel (SS Firm Hold Gel). My PJ may be finally ready to settle down and commit to some long term relationships with products.

Gels are really tricky I think. There are so many ways they can go wrong. Take a leave in, for example. It can be too heavy, or too light. It can have too much slip, or not enough. It can have the wrong ingredients for what your hair likes. But other than that, there's not too many ways to mess it up. With gels on the other hand, there are infinite ways to go wrong. Everything from the ingredients (humectants or no, protein or no, PVP or no, polyquats or no, etc), to the application (too much and you'll get sticky, too little and you'll frizz), to the distribution (hard to get it even when just scrunching), to consistency, to hold, etc etc etc. Since it's the last thing you put on your hair (other than perhaps a butter to scrunch out the crunch with), I think it's pretty critical to find a good gel if your hair needs one.

The Spiral Solutions Firm Hold Gel is the first gel I've ever encountered that does not leave my hands sticky after using it. This is huge for a couple reasons. 1) It's just nice. It doesn't make you feel the need to wash up after doing your hair. And 2) if it isn't sticky on my hands, I can feel confident that it won't be sticky in my hair. Most commercial gels are made with ingredients derived from plastic polymers that are meant to be a bit tacky. That's what gives them hold when they are so cheap. But, take a look at the ingredients for the Spiral Solutions Firm Hold Gel:

Ingredients: water, dehydroxanthan gum, hydroxyethylcellulose, polyquaternium-4, fragrance, brocolli seed oil, silk amino acids, panthenol, aloe vera powder, benzylalcohol-dha, vitamin e, sea algae extract, dead sea salts, citric acid

Nothing to be afraid of in there that would make it sticky. Polyquat-4 might raise some hairs on your neck, but remember, the lower the 'quat number, the easier it is to remove. Polyquat-4 essentially evaporates from your hair on its own. Here is a must read on gels and their ingredients from the Curl Chemist.

The consistency of this stuff is interesting. It will shake a bit like jello if you bump the side of the jar. Here is a picture of the product in my jar of it. The first thing you'll notice is that it's not clear like a typical gel. Obviously, it's impossible to get a feel for the consistency from a still, but I think you can tell it's not like a normal gel. When you rub it onto your hands, it spreads out into a more clear film. It distributes really well though since it's not thick. It's so hard to describe! It's thin as far as gels go, but it has a definite presence/consistency to it. It smells just like all the other products in her line -awesome. It doesn't linger on me as much as I'd want it to actually.

The directions say you can "scrunch a small amount through wet hair" or "can also be applied to dry hair to smooth frizzies." I've only used it on wet hair for hold because my hair just doesn't like anything applied when dry. This stuff has really nice, clean hold. It doesn't feel sticky when drying, but still creates that film cast or mold or whatever you want to call it that holds your curls in place during drying. It holds up very well under diffusing, and the dry time with it was significantly (like 5 minutes) less then when I was using a different gel with the same base products.I really like this stuff. It leaves my hair feeling productless, which is awesome. It also manages to provide very firm, crunchy hold for me. The crunch goes away very easily though, and I use just my bare hands to get rid of it. The above picture is using the gel over the Curl Enhancing Jelly, and it's a bit frizzy because it was taken after I went out in the rain. I've consistently used it over a leave in and curl enhancer with good results.

I generally use about 3 peas worth on each side and then another nickle size blob upside down. So the amounts are actually smaller than what I would generally use with another gel. I find I just don't need quite so much with this as I do with a typical clear gel. I then scrunch out some water with my Curls Like Us towel, and apply a little bit more FHG. The weather in the time I've been using it has been dews around 15-30 range. There has been some rain, and it held up pretty well considering how much I have to walk around outside as a college student. It doesn't provide curl enhancement for me beyond what the Curl Enhancing Jelly does. I haven't tried it without a curl enhancer underneath yet.

All in all, I think this is a solid product. It gives good hold, shine, lacks the tacky stickiness of many clear gels, and it's consistent for me in a moderate variety of weather conditions. I'm hoping this one holds out through the humidity of the mid Atlantic summer. Then I will be truly in love

Spiral Solutions Protein and Moisture Treatments

Sorry to leave you all hanging there for a little while!!! I recently had some serious laptop issues (R.I.P hardrive and systems board) but luckily at my school, school provided laptops through financial aid get free repairs while you're a student. Otherwise that repair would've had a huge price tag.

But now I'm back up and running and I'm very glad! It's difficult to read Curltalk on a regular basis using an ipod touch! While I was gone, I've been having some fun with 2 new products from SpiralSolutions, the product line made by one of Curltalk's own, as I detailed in my previous post. This line has all but clinched the title of my favorite curl product line ever. I say all but clinched because I still need a gel. And my Firm Hold Gel, the missing product, should be here tomorrow according to USPS tracking. But the Curl Enhancing Jelly (now offered in a 12 oz size!!!), the Deeply Decadent Moisture Treatment, and the Repairing Protein Treatment are all in my product stash for good.I actually had some problems when I first tried the protein treatment. Here are the ingredients:

Water, hydrolyzed keratin protein, collagen amino acids, ricebran oil, hydrolyzed wheat protein, stearyl alcohol, behentrimonium methosulfate, cetyl alcohol, behenyl alcohol, glycerin, mentha piperita (peppermint) leaf extract (and) yucca leaf extract (and) equisetum arvense (horsetail) leaf extract (and) urtica dioica (nettle) leaf extract (and) melissa officinalis (melissa leaf extract), sodium pca, panthenol, aloe vera powder, guar, hydroxypropyltrimonium chloride, benzylalcohol-dha, fragrance

It's pretty packed with protein. It comes in a cute little 4 oz bottle with an applicator tip. Unlike the vast majority of protein treatments, it doesn't smell disgusting. It's actually quite pleasant smelling. Smells just like the other products. A perfect complement to them. I love how the whole line has the same fragrance notes. This lends itself to layering so easily!

The directions say that you can use it once or twice a month, or more frequently if you have damaged/protein thirsty hair. I know that the creator of the line uses it once a week. She recommends following it up with a moisture treatment (such as the Deeply Decadent Moisture Treatment!). The bottle says to apply to clean, damp hair and leave in for 5-10 minutes, then rinse it all out. Follow it up with a really rich conditioner to restore the softness.
When I first used it, I left it on for longer than described (more like 15-20 minutes). Shame on me. My hair did become very hard (as I expected from a powerful protein treatment). I rinsed it out, and followed it with the Deeply Decadent as a rinse out and left some in afterward. The softness never really came back. This led me to think that maybe it was the Deeply Decadent that had made my hair dry stiff as if there was gel. After some thinking, I realized that I've been giving myself regular doses of protein. I was putting coconut oil (has protein in it) 2-3 times a week as part of my homemade DT regimen. I think my hair really just didn't need as much protein as this treatment offers. Leaving it on too long probably didn't help. So I think I may have had my first protein overdose reaction. My hair recovered quickly. The next day, things were back to normal, and my hair looked great. I then decided that it must not have been the Deeply Decadent that made me feel so stiff after the protein treatment, but the protein treatment itself, giving me more protein than what I actually needed when I used it. I will keep my protein treatment and use it again in maybe another couple weeks.

On to the Deeply Decadent Moisture Treatment!
Ingredients:
Aloe vera juice, behentrimonium methosulfate (and) cetearyl alcohol, shea butter, jojoba oil infused with amla, shikakai, brahmi, maka, comfrey root, nettle, thyme and rosemary, olive oil, agave nectar, meadowfoam seed oil, stearyl alcohol, argan oil, cupuacu butter, glyceryl stearate, cetearyl alcohol, carrot seed oil, caprylic/capric triglyceride, achillea millefolium (yarrow) leaf extract, salvia officinalis (sage) leaf extract, equitsetum arvense (horsetail) leaf extract, utica dioca (nettle) leaf extract, lavandula angustifolia (lavender) flower extract, benzylalcohol-DHA, fragrance, citric acid

I am no longer doing my homemade DT 2-3 times per week as I was. Deeply Decadent has officially replaced that. There are several reasons for this.
1) It's just as, if not more, effective to use the Deeply Decadent overnight in terms of how moisturized my hair is for the next several days. This (without the protein treatment beforehand!) leaves my hair really soft and shiny

2) It's a lot less messy. I just get my hair wet in the sink, work this through until my hair feels saturated with it, and go about the rest of my night. My hair spirals up while drying! It's really incredible. I should've taken a picture at some point of it. It dries stiff. But I sleep on it, and shower in the morning, so this is not a problem for me. The directions say to rinse it out anyway, so the stiffness is not surprising/cause for concern
3) It smells way better than a mesh of my other conditioners with oils! Smells just like every other product I have. Really unique scent. Light and not overpowering but present.
This product is very thick. It makes Aubrey Organic's Honeysuckly Rose look like water. It'd be literally impossible to get out of a bottle, so it's a good thing it comes in an 8oz tub. It's very rich, creamy, and thick, but somehow, it distributes so easily. I just get my hair wet, and rake it right through. No yanking or combing needed. It's got fantastic slip. Many like this as a rinse out. I personally prefer my Darcy's Pumpkin Seed Conditioner for this, so I have been using the Deeply Decadent not only as an overnight DT, but also as a leave in before the Curl Enhancing Jelly. Really works fabulously as a leave in because it's got great slip, it makes my hair spiral, and you only need a little bit for it to be effective. It leaves my hair light and bouncy and shiny and well moisturized. At as DT, I probably use around 2 quarters worth. Not much at all. As a leave in, 2 dimes.

Here is the hair I'm used to getting now. Here's my routine:
1) Overnight DT with Deeply Decadent
2) Wash with Deva No Poo (still my one and only cleanser)3) Condition with Darcy's Botanicals Pumpkin Seed Conditioner
4) Rake in Deeply Decadent right side up (one dime), then upside down (another dime)
5) Part the hair6) Super soak
7) Apply lots of Curl Enhancing Jelly. At least 2 pumps on each side and another 2 upside down
8) Scrunch out extra water with Curls Like Us cloth
9) Apply a nickle sized blob of Curl Enhancing Jelly and a pea size blob of Herbal Essence's Set Me Up to towel-scrunched hair (to replace product that was taken away by the towel and to ensure good hold for diffusing)
10) Diffuse
11) Have fabulous hair day
From earlier this week (that snowflake is drawn on our communal bathroom mirror with dry erase board pen!):
Now, the reason I posted the above pic from Monday is so that you can see in just one week how much doing the Deeply Decadent treatments every night has been really helping with shine, definition, and frizz reduction. Even though I like my hair in the above pic, I like it better in these from yesterday:

This first one is right after diffusion and scrunching out the gel crunch:


And below is a picture from that evening (after being out and about all day) so you can see how well it holds up. Lost some volume, sure, but the definition and shine is still going strong

Spiral Solutions Curl Enhancing Jelly

Wow. Wow. WOW! That is all that can be said for this product. This product makes me want to put every other styler I own on the swap board!

The history: There is a member on the CurlTalk boards called runnerchicki who frequents the Type 2 hair board (the wavy hang out). Thus, unbeknownst to those of us who do not visit that board very often, she has been developing her own line of products with the collaboration of those sneaky wavies who have been getting samples to try and critique! Those wavies have been hogging all the products!!! Bring out the pitchforks!

But, the 2 forum's "dirty little secret" is out now. Runnerchicki has opened an Etsy shop for her line, and considering that products have been literally selling out as soon as she posts them, I'd bet that it won't be too long before she has a company of her own (if she wants one, that is).

Here are the products that she makes. Obviously, with these things selling like hotcakes, you've gotta watch the shop for a few days and hope for some luck! These descriptions are taken from her store page:

CURL ENHANCING JELLY -- Spiral Solutions Curl Enhancing Jelly is an aloe vera based gel designed to enhance curls and waves and discourage frizz. It has light hold, and can be used on wet or dry hair with no stickiness or tack. It is an excellent base layer for other styling products.

FIRM HOLD STYLING GEL -- This contains a higher concentration of styling agents than the curling jelly for a firmer hold and extra protection from humidity. Can be used alone, layered over the curling jelly, or even mix them together if you are in a hurry. It has a clean feel that never leaves your hair feeling producty or gunky.

EMOLLIENCE-- A very rich hair butter so a little goes a long way. This is a truly luxurious blend that absorbs very quickly and leaves a wonderful silky shine behind. This is a dense butter... no water, no fillers. Just pure exotic butters and oils blended to perfection.

REPAIRING PROTEIN TREATMENT -- Strengthens damaged hair and helps fortify the shaft to prevent further damage and breakage. This is great to use before and/or after chemical processing. Use once or twice a month to keep hair strong and healthy. Very damaged hair or hair that is subjected to frequent heat styling may benefit from more frequent treatments. This is a strong protein treatment that delivers real results.

DEEPLY DECADENT MOISTURIZING TREATMENT -- Rich and thick as a cream, this conditioner restores moisture, softness, and shine to dry hair. Highly recommended for use after the Repairing Conditioner. Ayurvedic herbs and botanical extracts condition your hair, soothe the scalp, and penetrate deep to nourish the hair follicle. This is a protein-free treatment for all hair types. It can be used as often as desired and is also safe to use as a leave-in if your hair is really craving moisture.


These have all been in stock since the store opened.

The following are listed as "Coming Soon"

Moisturizing Mist: spritz this on your hair for a boost of moisture and to perk up tired curls. Re-activate your styling products and refresh your style in between shampoos

Mostly Mango: all of my butters do double duty as hair or body moisturizers and this one is no exception, but I LOVE this as a body butter. Mango butter is the major player in this thick, rich cream and makes your skin feel amazingly soft and hydrated all day

Simply Shea: Shea Butter is probably nature's most perfect moisturizer and this cream is shea in all its glory. Rich, creamy, luscious whipped shea and a touch of scent...what more could you ask for?

Gentle Cleansing Cream: a sulfate-free foaming cleanser that cleanses the scalp and removes product build-up without stripping valuable moisture. This is also a wonderful shower and shave cream

And there is a daily conditioner that she says is the inspiration for the entire line which hasn't been released yet. Talk about leaving us hanging :P

The curly world is absolutely clammoring for these products and poor runnerchicki, who makes everything completely by hand, start to finish, every bit of it, is keeping up as best as she can!

But on to the purpose of the post. I managed to snag a bottle of Curl Enhancing Jelly on of the first stocks. I actually think I may have gotten the last or second to last bottle because it went out of stock right afterward. Lucky me!

The packaging is really classy. Pump bottle, really easy to use, beautiful label. The scent is really subtle and pleasant. It's not thick but not thin in texture. Just like a jelly should be.

I applied this stuff over Jasmine's Babassu Butter Cream, which is quickly become an HG leave in for me. I raked in 2 nickle sized puddles of the leave in, then just scrunched a tad more in for good measure. I super soaked my hair, then applied one full pump (comes out to about a quarter sized puddle) to each side and upside down (so 3 puddles in all). I then applied a mix of Bioterra Gel and Herbal Essences Set Me Up gel. This was a mistake. I underestimated how much hold the jelly has alone. I definitely didn't need the Set Me Up. The crunch was pretty tricky to work with. The second day I used it, I used only the Bioterra. Much better! The jelly doesn't leave my hands sticky. This tells me that it's all good stuff in it, no fillers or funky polymers or polyquats or anything. Just good, natural, quality ingredients. Can't go wrong with that.

I allowed it to partially air dry, then diffused to totally dry since I had to go to a job interview (I know, I'm insane for trying a new hair product before an interview, but alas, I couldn't resist!). Here are the pics. This first one is from the first day (with the Bioterra and Set Me Up). As can see, there's no frizz. The curls are enhanced, just like the product says it will. Absolutely perfectly soft and touchable. Best hair day in a long time

This picture is from today. I used just the Bioterra on top and let it completely air dry. Not diffusing affects my curl tightness, so the lack of curl tightness is not due to losing the Set Me Up. Purely because I didn't diffuse.I'm currently planning to order the Firm Hold Gel. So if it restocks and one of you take it, it's on!!

Wholesale Products

Over on naturallycurly, there's been a sort of stink going on lately about companies using bases while claiming to lovingly hand create their formulas and slave over the bottles in their kitchens. Luckily, some smart curlies have been taking advantage of google and have found that there are very cheap bases which, we think, these companies may be using. Obviously we can't be certain, and we don't want to tarnish any company's reputation, but there are cheaper ways to get some nice products.

One of the biggest suppliers of cosmetic bases online is called Essentialwholesale.com. There is a mind boggling amount of products, ingredients, additives, and even packaging on this site.

There are some remarkable similarities between Essential Wholesale's Simple Aloe Jelly and Amourai Organique's Duchess of Curls Curling Jelly (this hyperlink will take you to the page listing the ingredients for all the Amourai products). Obviously, it's alleged that the coincidence is a true link between the two. But they have the same exact ingredients in the same order, just without the fragrance. You can buy it by the half gallon or more here, or you can participate in the co-op hosted by a naturallycurly member here to get smaller amounts by splitting the sale with some other curlies.

Another similarity that's been found is between the Hoity Toity Hair Masque, the Amourai Knight in Shining Armor Masque, and the Essential Wholesale Hair Masque. Also, there have been wholesale versions of Jasmine's Shea Butter Rinse Out and Jasmine's Babassu Butter Cream Conditioner

Here's the math on this stuff. It's really incredible:

Amourai Duchess of Curls: $15 for 8oz
Compare to:
EW Simple Aloe Jelly: $22.05 for 1/2 gallon (64 oz!)

So if you were to buy 64 oz of the Amourai, you'd pay $120. Yikes.

Hoity Toity Hair Masque: $14 for 8 oz
Amourai Knight in Shining Armor Hair Masque: $15 for 8oz
Compare these to:
EW Hair Masque: $21.40 for 1/2 gallon (64 oz)

If you bought 64 oz of the Hoity Toity, that'd be $112. And 64oz of the Knight in Shining Armor will run you $120

As I said earlier, the bases of two Jasmine's Beauty products have also been found. Keep in mind, unlike Amourai Organique, whose owner claims to have spent "6 months" in her kitchen developing her line, Jasmine's owner has never claimed to lovingly hand create every formula. I could see continuing to support Jasmine's, but I will never endorse Amourai again.

Jasmine's Shea Butter Rinse Out: $22 for 16 oz
Wholesale from Ingredientstodiefor.com: $9.75 for 32 oz (1 gallon [128 oz] is available for $27.50)

You can get 32oz for less than half the cost of 16 oz. Half the product, twice the price? Incredible. If you bought 1 gallon of Jasmine's, you'd pay $176.

Jasmine's Babassu Butter Cream Conditioner: $7.50 for 4oz (there are larger sizes available, but as of this posting, the product is sold out on the website, so I can't list the prices for those)
Wholesale from Organic-Creations.com: $18.00 for 1/2 gallon (64 oz)

If you bought 64 oz of the Jasmine's, you'd pay $120.

As you can see, with some work, you can buy generic, wholesale products that, as curlies are reporting, perform exactly the same, for significantly less. Why pay someone to add scent and repackage something for you? Or a better question: why pay that much to have someone do that? Maybe if it was a few bucks I'd pay the extra to not add the scent myself, but it's drastically more. Really revealing how much people will gouge prices for what (probably) isn't their own work.