Hello all. I know it's been a long time since I tested out any new products and I know you have been patiently waiting. lol. So thank you.

Recently I tested out a couple products by Taliah Waajid. You can find her products at most Walgreen Pharmacy's. Waajid has been caring for natural hair since 1988 and her products are all made with natural ingredients. I tested the Curls, Waves and Naturals line Curly Curl cream and the Kinky, Wavy and Natural line Herbal Style and Shine. I washed and conditioned my hair and used the Curly Curl cream to twist. Here are some pics.





Overall, I liked how my curls turned out. My curls were soft and defined but my hair felt like there was something on it. You know that feeling? When you can tell there is product in your hair but it's not too overwellming? But you can still tell? That's what my hair felt like. But it looked good. lol. I think I'm going to give the products another try and see if I can get over the feel of my hair because it looks so good.

I also retwisted my hair using Dax Pomade. Curly Nikki tried it and she loves it. Read about her experience here.

Like the Taliah Waajid products, I like how my curls turned out. But the product made my scalp itch like a mother. I didn't really put any of the product on my scalp but I was scratching, and scratching all day. I know I'm not supposed to scratch but I just couldn't help it. Jamilla from College Curlies had a similar experience with another "grease-like" product. Read more here. Honestly, I'm not sure if I will continue using Dax. I don't think I can get over the itchy scalp. Here are a couple pictures of the results.




What new products have you tried lately??- azureDizzle

Hey all. I finally tried the Miss Jessie's Curly Pudding. And I must say I really liked it. I have heard a lot of mixed reviews about this product. Some people love it, some hate, hate, hate it. But I am glad that I tried it for myself. I did a twist out the curly pudding and it turned out great. Here are a couple comments that I have about the product.

I used a creamy leave-in conditioner under the Miss Jessie's via the Mop Top Maven. I also used a very small amount of Miss Jessie's for each twist and I mean not even covering my index finger. My twists and curls came out uber soft. It was amazing. But I would say my curls were a little too soft. When I took out my twists, they were defined but a little frizzy in some places. Next time I am going to use a little more of the product and see how it turns out. Over all, I think Miss Jessie's is a keeper.

Rating: * * * *

Sidebar...I left my camera cord in Houston like a dummy...so I'll update with the pictures I took as soon as I can.- azureDizzle

Hello All!! I have some new tips and tricks to share with you. I tried my first Co-Wash this past weekend. I have read a lot about other naturals "co-washing", which is a method of cleansing hair without using shampoo. The conditioner gently cleanses the scalp while adding moisture to the hair. I tried the co-wash after wearing my hair in a poof for a couple days. I used VO5 Peaches and Cream Moisture Milk Conditioner. I used this conditioner because it is cheap ( $1.00 a bottle!!!) and I can use a lot of it without hurting my pockets. The conditioner really softened my strands and after my natural curls were extra defined. Im calling this method the "Co-Wash and Go". After I co-washed I added Oyin's Juices and Berries Leave-in Herbal conditioner and did a small hump in the front. I think that I will be doing co-washes more often. They are easy and quick and leave my hair soft and manageable. Here are some pics!





I know a lot of you have heard of Miss Jessie's Curly Pudding. It's been all the rave. But I have heard a lot of bad reviews about it. So I was kind of scared to try it...plus I didn't want to fork out $30 for a jar. However, I was watching a couple videos from The Mop Top Maven, who uses Miss Jessie's for her twist outs and braid outs. I have never uses a "butter" or "pudding" type product for my twist outs. I tend to be apprehensive also because I don't know if these types of products will work with my hair "type". But I think I'm going to give it try. Nikole of The Mop Top Maven has also used Bee Mine Bee Hold Curly Butter and Komazza Care Curl Coconut Hair Pudding. She used these products by first using a leave-in conditioner on the hair and then adding Oyin's Burnt Sugar Pomade before adding the butter based products. I'm going to try these products soon and report back to you. Mean while here are a couple tutorial videos from The Mop Top Maven, showing how she uses the Miss Jessie's and Bee Mine Bee Hold Curly Butter. - azureDizzle

Sidebar...hey all!! Hope you had an amazing weekend. My weekend was awesome because I found some new goodies to share with you.

You may not know this but I am obsessed with nail polish. Almost as much as I am obsessed with hair products. I have re-discovered an oldie but goodie in the nail product market. Sally Hansen!! If you are like me, you love finding great deals on great products. As of now, I don't have an OPI budget even though I love their vibrant polishes. So, while at the drug store one day, I discovered the "Xtreme wear" line by Sally Hansen. Sally Hansen is known for their strengthening system for nails. This line has bright, vibrant and long-lasting colors that are a must have year round and they are less than $3.00 a bottle!!! The polishes last nearly all week without chipping, which is a phenomenon in itself. So check them out next time you are at your favorite drug store.


Left to right: Wet Cement, White On, Sun Kissed, Fuchsia Power, Cherry Red, Lacey Lilac, Plum Power, Rockstar Pink, Blue Me Away!, The Real Teal, Going Green

I also picked up some new hair products by Cream of Nature. I love Cream of Nature products. They specialize in moisturizing dehydrated hair. Us curlies need to make sure that our hair is moisturized to minimize breakage and uber dryness. The shampoos are amazing at detangling curly, un-ruly hair and the herbal smell is awesome. I picked up the Lemongrass & Rosemary Leave-in Cream Conditioner and the Jojoba & Olive Oil Moisture-Active Deep Conditioning Treatment. I used the leave-in last night to do a dry twist out on week-old hair and I turned out great. I loved the lemongrass and rosemary scent!! It made my hair smell amazing. Here are some pics.




I will keep you posted on how the deep conditioner turns out. Have you purchased any new products that you find to be AMAZING??? Let me know- azureDizzle

Hey all!! I hope you've been doing well. Lately I've been testing out a few new products on my hair. Some were good...others were #EPIC fails. Here are a couple new things that I have tried.

Carol's Daughter Hair Milk Lite- I heard about this product from a couple of my friends who said they loved it. So I decided to try it. I strongly disliked this product. I don't know if it is because of my hair texture that it didn't do what I wanted but it made my hair really greasy. Even after I sat under the dryer for forever, my hair still felt wet. When I took the twists out, my hair felt like there was massive product on it. The hair milk just didn't work for me. But if you use this product regularly, what do you like about it?? What does it do for your hair??

Lottabody- I loved this product. One of my hair dressers uses this when she does roller-sets and she had told me about it years ago. I used this product to retwist my hair a couple weeks ago and it turned out great. I loved the definition of my curls when I took my twists out. I sectioned my hair, sprayed it with water and then sprayed it with lottabody (use half lottabody and half water). This is a product that I will def keep in my arsenal. You can find it at Sally's for 6 bucks for the medium bottle. This is one of my cheap but awesome products. Love, love, love it.

Flexi Rods- I usually use perm rods to roll the front of my hair. I saw on Curly Nikki that she uses flexi rods to do her Twist n Curl. So i tried this. The flexi rods took longer to dry and I eventually reverted back to my perm rods. So i think Im going to stick with those. But I do want to do a Flexi-rod set eventually. Flexi rods run around 9 dollars a pack. Which I think is pretty expensive for rollers, especially if you have a lot of hair. But once I get my money up Im going to try them out.

Deep condition- Usually I condition my hair in the shower. But I wanted to try a deep condition. So I put the conditioner on after my shower and sat under the dryer. I wanted to see if it made a difference in the feel of my hair. My hair is soft but it was soft before. lol, So I may try an actual deep conditioner and see how it works. I think I'm going to test out Paul Mitchell Super Charged conditioner. I'll let you know how it works.

I have been watching a lot of video tutorials lately and here are some styles that I want to try.

Flexi Rod Set
Bantu Knot out
Flat-Twist out.
Dry twist out.


This week Im going to try a dry twist out/re-twist and a roller set with big rollers. Im going to take a couple pics of my hair to show you. Oh and I still need to show you pics from my birthday extravaganza weekend. So stay tuned.

Let me know what new products that you have tried and either liked or disliked. Im curious to hear what new products and styles that you have discovered. Holla!!-azureDizzle

How many of us are on a tight budget?? How many of us also like to keep it fly and fashionable, especially when it comes to your hair?? Well I know I do. Lately I have found a lot of awesome deals on hair products. Remember that when it comes to your hair, you don't have to spend a lot of money to get quality products. The other day I found a Giovanni Direct Tea Tree Treat Shampoo and conditioner set at TJ Maxx for $12.99. Just the shampoo alone at Whole Foods is around $8. It also came with a Moisture Protective spray which is awesome. The tea tree shampoo and conditioner made my scalp tingly and gave my hair a refreshed clean feeling. Another sweet find is the Eco Styler Olive Oil Gel. Its around $5 and it comes in a HUGE jar. You only need to use a little bit for your twists so it will last forever. I use this product in the front of my hair when I do my twist outs. I put the gel on, twist my hair and roll the ends on perm rods. The only draw back I have for this product is that if you use too much, you will have gel flakes when you take it out. I love that it makes my curls really defined, which I need in the front of my hair. I continue to use Paul Mitchell sculpting foam in the back of my hair. If you have different textures of hair on different parts, it's ok to use different products to get the desired look/style you want. What budget friendly products or stores do you like???-azureDizzle

Hello folks...hope you're having a good hair day!! Like I promised last trip to the salon, I tested out the "twist out", inspired by the Mop Top Maven (www.themoptopmaven.com). I think it went well over all. Here was my step by step process...


I used mostly Paul Mitchell products. I used Paul Mitchell (PM) Clarifying shampoo to get all the nastiness out of my hair before I used PM Tea Tree Lavender Mint Moisturizing Shampoo. Clarifying your hair once a week is good, so that you can make sure you don't have any built up residue and so that your hair can be better moisturized from the shampoo and conditioner. I made sure I dangled my hair with the conditioner in. It makes it 10 times easier after shampooing to keep your hair dangled.


This is what my hair looks like after shampooing, conditioning and detangling. A little scary. lol


I made a part on the side so that I can have a little swoopage (you can also part your hair down the middle). Some people start from the back and work their way up with the twists. I like to see what I'm doing and it is a little easier for me to start on the side. But whatever works best for you. Part out a section and clip the rest of the hair up. I used PM Volumizing Sculpting Foam to twist my hair. Usually I use the regular sculpting foam by PM, but I wanted to try the volumizer just to see if it will make any difference. The only difference was that the volumizing sculpting foam made my twists hard at the ends which I didn't like. But, when I took the twists out my curls were still soft. So it is up to you whether you care if your twists are a little hard or not. I twisted the hair with a generous amount of the sculpting foam. You actually dont need a lot of foam for each section. I used quite a bit in the picture (ooops).


I usually make my twists pretty small because I keep it twisted for a couple days before I take them out. This time I made them a little bigger. But you can even make them bigger than this. Play with the sizes till you find one that works best for you. Another tip is try your best to make the 2 parts of the twists even so that they stay together better. You don't want to have one skinny part and one fat part and try to twist them together. It doesn't work too well. Sometimes I have to use a sponge roller on the twists (mostly in the front) so that the twists stay together and so that the ends are cured when I take out the twists. It all depends on how your twists curl at the end. When you take out the twists you don't want straight ends. You want everything to be curly.


Here is the finished twisted look. I took the rollers out a little too fast, so as you can see the ends are straight. Next time I'm going to keep the rollers in longer.


To take out the twists I use my fave product ever in life: Bio Silk silk therapy. I use about a dime sized amount and rub it all through the twists. Make sure you get the ends too so that they don't get frizzy. I took out the twists and separated the pieces to create fullness. I fluffed and shaped and was ready to go. (if you have a small small curling iron you can curl the ends if they are straight. That's what I had to do. But if you use rollers and the ends are already curled you shouldn't have to use the curling iron).

Let me know what you think about the process. What products do you like to use to do a twist out? What techniques to do use? Please share!!! I love to learn new things.-azureDizzle

There hasn't been a Sidebar Salon in a long time but I know Brie-Z did one on natural hair a while ago so I'm going to piggy back off of her. Well a lot of my close friends have been "going natural" and I myself have joined the ranks. I haven't had a relaxer in about a year and a half. It wasn't really a conscious effort. I just didn't get one for a while because I really didn't need one...and everything kind of fell into place from there (lucky I know). But now that I am natural I have been paying more and more attention to what others have been doing with their natural hair. Brie-Z has been natural for a long time and I have gotten many tips from her. My sands Jasmine has been natural for a long time too. She was one of the first people who told me about certain products for natural hair like Miss Jessie's. My distant sands A.Yancey (www.fancyayancey.com) has also gone natural and she has given me some awesome hair tips too. My bestest Ruth and my friend Tess have also joined the ranks of the "natural hair army".

Recently, my bestest told me about "the MopTop Maven" and I checked out her blog and channel on YouTube (www.themoptopmaven.com. She has wonderful video that shows her 'hair journey" that shows her journey from relaxed hair to natural hair. I love discovering new things to do with my hair but my only dilemma is TIME. As a law school student I do not have 2 hours to devote to my hair so I try to do as little as possible to my hair, so that I save time and still look bomb.com. I looked at a couple of the tutorials that The MopTop Maven has made and I love the things she is doing with her hair. She has tutorials on "twist outs", "braid outs" and much more. The products she uses seem amazing. I have been doing twists in my hair lately and I like them a lot. One because they are low maintenance. Two because they are funky and cute. Once I twist them, I don't have to do Anything to my hair for a week (except maybe re-twist a couple. The picture above is from the first time I twisted my hair. All I did was wash and condition it in the shower. Then comb it out. Then I sectioned it off and used Paul Mitchell Sculpting Foam (LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS STUFF) and twisted each piece. With it wet, the twists stay together better so I make sure I have a spray bottle with water in it. After about a week I usually take out the twists but by then its time for me to wash my hair again. I'm going to keep you all posted on new things that I discover. Im going to do a twist out and try the new tricks that I learned from the Mop Top Maven. Those of you who know me know that I love Paul Mitchell products and I swear by all his stuff. Like seriously, Paul can do no wrong in my book. Im going to branch out a little bit and use some of his products that I have not used before and used the Mop Top Mavens tricks. I am a creature of habit and don't stray far from known territory. But I'm going to try it for the greater good. I will let yall know how it goes. Wish me luck. - azureDizzle

PS: What products do YOU love for your natural hair??? Share, share, share!!!! Please, please, please!!!