Why You Shouldn't Use Commerical Haircare Products

When it comes to haircare, I have to be really careful because a lot of brands out there like to use toxic and oil stripping ingredients. A lot of people don't realise that shampoo and conditioner are the two products that have the most harmful ingredients in them. My scalp is very sensitive to SLS (Sodium Laureth Sulfate, that stuff that makes it foam, it's found in shampoo, cleansers, body washes, etc.); it makes me itch and turns my scalp red. Before I knew what the culprit was, I just thought that the itching was normal.

When I came across a natural brand (which I will be reviewing soon), it didn't foam up very well and after a day, it made my hair very oily. To me, a shampoo was supposed to foam up, that was what I was told, so I stopped using it and went back to commercial shampoos and continued on with the itchy scalp.

After a while I got so fed up that I decided to do some research. It turns out, that when you use a natural shampoo with no foaming agents, your hair will be greasy for the first 2 weeks. Why? Because your scalp is trying to adjust itself back to the way it's supposed to be. It's trying to push out all of the drying ingredients that you have put on your head for so long and calm itself down. Your scalp is not supposed to be stripped of all it's oils, it shocks it and makes it produce more oil than it should, just like your skin would with a oil stripping cleanser.
I also found out that SLS is so powerful that it is used to clean out the engines of cars. Why are you putting that on your scalp and face!? That is too abrasive. The oil on your head and on your skin is not like an oil from a car. Stop using it!

Commercial shampoos and conditioners are purposefully made to be drying to your hair to make you buy more of their products, like anti-frizz serums, "natural" oil treatments made from "argan" (they only have to have a drop to be called an argan oil treatment. They are bulked up with more toxic ingredients. Don't buy.) Products that claim to have been "infused" with argan; have hardly any in there. The brand is just jumping onto the bandwagon to make you part with your money.

One such culprit is L'oreal with their Precious Oil Treatment, the precious oil being argan, which only has a small concentration of argan oil in there. It has also been bulked up with olive oil, sunflower oil and carrot oil, to make it feel more oily, so the consumer feels like they are using a luxurious product. The main ingredients are cyclopentasiloxane and dimethicone/ol which are silicone-based conditioning agents that smooth hair, and make it look shiny. Doesn't argan oil smooth out hair and make it shiny? So why have they got these ingredients to make your hair look shiny? Because they have hardly any argan oil in there.

Argan oil is very expensive. I wonder why they don't actually release argan oil on it's own? Oh yes, because it's expensive, and it works, so you wont have to buy so many of their products to improve your hair condition. That's why.

Another culprit is Moroccan Oil. Their oil treatment does exactly the same thing. And guess what? The first two ingredients are our little friends, cyclopentasiloxane and dimethicone and another silicone has been added; cyclomethicone. The fifth ingredient is Argan Oil, but it only takes up less than 5% of the product, so it's practically useless, and the sixth ingredient is Linseed Oil.

You can buy 100ml of PURE 100% Argan Oil that is both organically certified by the Soil Association and cold pressed for £14.40 from Fushi. Whilst a 100ml bottle of Moroccan Oil is £31, what a rip off! You are paying for silicones and a brand name. I suggest you bin it.

A lot of research is needed, by you, to find products that work for both your skin and hair, and that are safe too. The reason these brands use these ingredients, and it is a fact, are because they are cheap. They don't care if they are unsafe or do nothing to improve your hairs condition. They only want your money. It's the cold hard truth.

Have you found any natural products that work for you? What is your stand on commercial brands and their ingredients. I would like to know your opinions. Comment below!

Missha Vita Matte BB Cream Review

Hey everyone, today I will be reviewing one of Missha's BB creams. This is the Vita Matte BB Cream, there are two, a gold and silver one. The silver one has a matte finish, whilst the gold one is more moisturising. It only comes in one shade unfortunately. It is a tanned colour, but once I blended it in, it oxidised and changed to suit my skintone.
This BB cream comes with; SPF 20 PA++ and claims to be suitable for sensitive skin. Yay!

Sorry for the bad phone pictures. Again.

The one I have is a sample size (Of course) with a screw on cap which the larger size has too. I like pumping action though! :(
After squeezing it out, I can see that it has a grey-ish undertone mainly due to the SPF in it. When looking at it, you wouldn't think it was that thick, but when you start blending it in you realise that you need a lot more effort. I'd say the coverage is medium. It covers up your little bumps, but not those blemishes that you've squeezed and picked. You'll need concealer for that. I have dark circles and it does cover them up a little, but I still needed concealer to well... conceal them.

Here's the blending process for you.

Spreading it out...

Blending...

Blended! See, changed to suit my skintone. Magic!

Now, onto the challenge of applying the BB cream. I've had little adventure with this, trial and error, but that's the fun part, eh?

Round one.
I tried it with a stippling brush at first, put a little bit on the back of my hand, dipped it and swirled it across my face. It felt like there was nothing on my face, didn't look like it either, do you know why? Cause it was all on the frickin' brush! I managed it dab some of it onto my face, but it was incredibly hard to blend in because it is so thick and the bristles are flimsy. Not recommended!

Round two.
Tried it with my fingers this time. This came out pretty well, but since the cream is so thick, you really have to work it in to be able to blend it across your face. This ended up with me having a sore face afterwards because you really have to pull at your skin. But after the sweat and tears my face looked shiny and felt pretty sticky, and still after I patted it in. I had to put powder over my face to stop it from looking as shiny and feeling sticky.

Round three.
I tried it with a foundation brush this time. I liked using the foundation brush because it gave an airbrushed look and didn't feel as if I was wearing make-up after I patted it in. No stickiness or shiny-ness! Woo! The downside to this is that you have to use a lot more than usual, and sometimes it looks as if the brush is just pulling it around. But afterwards the finish looks amazing, even without powder. But when I put powder on, ooh la la!

It doesn't have that much of a matte finish, there was a slight sheen, and I had to powder throughout the day because my face became like an oil slick. I definitely would not recommend this for summer time as it is too thick of a consistency, I would recommend it for winter time instead.
But other than that, it is a good BB cream if you don't need that much coverage. But for the rest of us imperfect mortals, I'd say look elsewhere.

Have you tried this BB cream out? Did it work for you? Leave a comment below!

Nanas' B - It's My Secret! Cleanser Review

My review for today is for a skincare product from Nanas' B that is endorsed by the K-Pop boy band SHINee and Sulli from f(x). The version I have is a foam cleanser for normal skin and comes in a blue plastic packaging.

A lot of you probably haven't heard of it because I think it's exclusive to South Korea. Now I bet you're wondering, "How on earth did you get a hold of it then?". Well, luckily for me, I have a Korean friend who very kindly sent this to me.

Now, on with the review!

The packaging is very simple, with 'Nanas' B' in lower case at the top with a 'B' in a quotation bubble. Their little tagline 'It's my secret' is also on the bottle with the 'hangeul' or 'hanja' translation underneath, and then there's a little description underneath which I found funny.

'Angel's tear controls sebum and troubles, purifies your skin effectively.'

Angel's tear? I never knew angels existed, but okay.~ If it brings in customers, it's fine by me.

Now on with the product itself. When I (eventually) squeezed the product out it was very creamy and had this very nice pearly sheen to it. When I started working it through my fingers it felt oily; but once I put it on my face, it kind of felt like I was putting moisturiser on as there is no foam. The next day I tried it, I put more water with it and it started to lather up in my hands, but not a lot.

Now, after I had washed it off I felt very clean which is good, but then, when I went to touch my face I couldn't move my hand! It wouldn't slide across my face. I can't find an ingredients list, but I'm certain that it must have a high percentage of alcohol in it because my face got extremely dry afterwards, and I have combination-oily skin, especially in the summer. Now this is the normal version, I can't even begin to think what would happen with the oily version.

It took me quite a while to pin point what it smells like, and I'm still in that process. I keep on sniffing it, and I right now I have two conclusions. One, I think it smells like aloe vera. But on the other hand, it kind of smells like shampoo. Maybe? I don't know. I'll get back to you on that one.

Have any of you tried this product? If so, what did you think? Skincare product outcomes differ from person to person, so if it doesn't work out perfectly for me, you never know, it could work for you.~

Toodles~!