In my past blogs I have brought up the topic of dangerous chemicals in beauty products and how organic beauty products are better for you. So I thought I would dedicate a post to one of my favorite hair products that I have used for the past four years. This hair care line is known as Earthly Botanical. It's an all natural line that is contains "earth friendly ingredients." Everything from the ingredients to the color of the shampoo is natural and consists of highly active Certified Organic Botanicals. On the product website the company provided a list of what you will find in the entire line of Earthly Botanical products (as well as what you will not find).
Here is the list below:
Sulfate FREE cleansers (nothing to strip out your hair color)
No MEA's, DEA's, TEA's (EthoAlamines can or are carcinogenic)
NO Parabens, DMDM Hydantoin or UREA (Formaldehyde releasers)
4 Certified Organic Botanicals,the heart beat of our Proprietary blend.
Moisturizing and Conditioning Proprietary formula's (to provide the performance that your precious locks demand)
Concentrated formulas, a little goes a long way! We call thisVALUE
Plant based proteins to add tensile strength and visible shine
No Artificial Colors Added (we use natural coloring, if any at all)
pH Balanced for hair and skin (ranges 3.5-5.5)
Decorative Kraft boxes made from 100% recycled Kraft boxes with Soy ink.
Vegan & No Animal Testing or Ingredients
Made in the USA
Available at Fine Salons & Spas
The one thing I really enjoy about this product is the performance. After using these products for so long, I can definitely tell a difference between cheap shampoo/conditioner and the good quality stuff. My favorite shampoo and conditioner from this line is the jojoba shampoo and the restore conditioner. When you first apply the restore conditioner it has tingling feeling on your scalp which I love because it makes my hair feel refreshed. The jojoba shampoo contains jojoba extracts that work to dissolve clogged hair follicles so that your scalp can "breathe" to help promote hair growth. If you want nice hair you have to give in a little and spend the extra money because no matter what those L'oreal and Pantene commercials say about the performance of their products, a $5 shampoo will not do the job.
Another great thing to try out is their product duality. You can use it has curl enhancer for curly/wavy hair or you can use it as a smoothing cream to help smooth out your hair and either go for a blow-dry or straightened look. The overall quality of this line speaks for itself and it's definitely worth trying out!
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
The Evolution of Tools
With today's innovative technology, it seems like
anything is possible when it comes to new hair styling tools. Sometimes I wonder
how would I style my hair without our modern day flat irons or how would I curl
my hair without a curling iron. This stirred up some curiosity on how women
used to style their hair before our time and so I decided to do a little bit of
research.
Since my mom went to school for hair and make-up I decided
to ask her about hair styling back in the early 20th century. She
told me I could read about it in these really cool books she used for school.
The book was called From Flappers to Flivvers... and it was
about all about the 20's decade. It shared personal stories from individuals
who lived through the 20's and certain events that happened. As I was reading I
found a section that had to do with hair and fashion, which was exactly what I
was looking for! Reading through personal stories, it seemed like bobs were the
"cool" thing to have during this era of flappers.
Many women were cutting off their long locks for boyish looks. For the women
who kept their hair longer they used to "rag curl" their hair. Here
is a quote that I thought was interesting from a woman who shared her daily
experience with rag curls."Starting
at our scalp, we'd wind a section of hair neatly around a long rag, then wind
the rag up over the wound hair and tie the ends in a not. It wasn't too
comfortable sleeping on all those knots."
Another style that was common during this year was the
"finger wave." This was a very common hair style for women who had
shorter hair or bobs. I remember my mom telling me how it was challenging to
finger wave in beauty school because it took a lot of time and skill, so I
wasn't surprised when I read that women in the 20's wanted
"permanents." permanents are what we call a “perm” now-a-days, which
is when you use chemicals to permanently curl your hair. "In
those days, women getting permanents had their hair wrapped around little metal
rollers. The electric machine that did the "magic" was a huge
monstrosity with larger tubes into which the rollers fit. The tubes and rollers
were so heavy that customers put bath towels behind their necks to keep their
heads from falling backward!"
As you can see from the two passages, styling hair was a
lot tougher and probably more painful than it is now! One thing that I
asked myself while reading through the book was why did most women cut off
their hair? I remember learning about flappers in school, but my memory was a
little foggy so I went and looked it up on the internet. After some reading,
the information came
flowing back. The roaring twenties, of course, were all about women and
their new-found freedom! This was the era where women got the right to vote,
work, and have some fun on their own. In a way they felt like they now had this new freedom to make their own choices and this was shown through their fashion sense. Before this time, women were to be covered up with long dresses and their curves were to be accentuated. In addition their hair was kept long and pinned up. Then
after the war, women began wearing loosely fitted short dresses that showed off
their legs and hid their curves. They cut off their hair and wore dramatic
make-up. Their style in a way greatly corresponded with political events that
taking place at the time. With all this freedom, it seemed like women rebelled
and society saw this through there drastic changes in fashion and appearances.
The cool thing about the beauty industry is that
there are so many new products that are out on the market. Whether it's hair,
make-up, or clothes there is always something new! This weekend I went back
home from spring break and I was talking to my mom and she told me about this
new way of curling your hair with the twiddle
stic. It's something I have never seen before so I thought I
would share this video on how it works.
Nearing the end of my spring break it turns out that my
stepdad surprised me with these hair styling tools. I tried this out for the
first time and my curl lasted all night! Like everything else, beauty products
and hair styling tools have evolved over the decades. But one thing I have
noticed about fashion as well as hair styles back in the 20's and now, is that back
then people made fashion statements that seemed to be influenced by politics
and events that were currently happening. Whereas today we don't see much of
that influence on fashion. The way I see it, the trends that are out there
today are just a modernized version of the past. For a while the 80's came back
and bright colored tops and leggings were on the runway, and now 50's inspired
hair styles are making its way back.
In my opinion, I feel like our
younger generation isn't really effected or influenced by political issues. I
read a few articles on my generation which is referred to as "Generation Y"
and compared to the older generations it seems like we don’t show that we care
much about government affairs. Of course there are still people out
there who are passionate about politics and are willing to spread their
opinions, however, a lot of people I know do not have much of strong opinion on
political issues today. Personally, I do not follow politics nor do I know much
about it. I feel like because people don’t show that they care as much as they
used to there isn’t a political influence on our fashion trends these days.
