More random product tips, from my wallet to yours

So, for one thing, NaNoWriMo is fast approaching (as in, midnight this very night) and I'm bracing myself; you may see some conspicuous changes soon. To clear my mind, I crafted a fluffy fluff post about hair & ~beauty~.

As you know, I find myself more interested in making my own damn hair products just because it usually ends up cheaper & better for my skin AND hair. If I can't make it I'll at least go halfway and buy natural products. So I finally got in my order of liquid black soap, which I LOVE.

This is a good intro to what black soap is, what it's made of, and what it can do...for YOU! Also where you can start getting it & what to look out for. I got a bottle of liquid black soap from Lucky Vitamin for about $4 plus 5 shipping & handling so not too bad, it's a 16 oz bottle. Since I also use it as shampoo this is a pretty good size. The only think I'm worried about is in the ingredients it says "black soap concentrate" and I'm like "wtf is that supposed to mean?" Yeah okay whatever, anyway.

It's also got rosemary in it, which I should have checked on before I went off and bought some rosemary oil. Whoops!

Anyway, not only does black soap not contain any sulfates to dry your skin & hair out, but it leaves it soft and conventional wisdom says it clears up skin problems! My skin is totally flawless so I've never noticed. You can also get it in bar form by the way, if that's what you prefer.

It smells excellent and lathers pretty well, even in my thick ass hair. It leaves my curls nice & clean and soft, which is great because I just bleached my hair and I need all the help I can get for at least a week.

In addition, since I'm out of my usual Cantu shampoo & conditioner, I...needed some new conditioner! I randomly stumbled on this Honey/Sage conditioner that has threatened/promised to tame my frizz. Jury's still out on this, and most of all I'm not too fond of the smell. It's kind of...plasticky, which I think is bad if it's supposed to be ALL NATURAL. It's nice and thick but a rather small bottle for $8 I thought, so I guess we'll see.

Although I will admit honey & sage together is a good idea. And...wait, don't I already HAVE some honey? Holy shit, I can make this! And now you can too because I did the google legwork and found a nice simple recipe to make your own.

Lastly I bought some lemongrass oil and rosemary. I'm using the rosemary--yes on it's own and yes it's tingly--as hair oil since, again, I've finally run out of my Africa's Best. I think the rosemary works pretty well, I might add a little to the honey/sage conditioner and give it a boost. If you want to use rosemary as a nice gentle hair oil I'd pair it with some olive or jojoba oil.

I'm not totally sure what I'm going to do with the lemongrass oil. I might use it with my black soap, if anyone has any ideas let me know.

And that's about it. Hopefully I've inspired you to get ~crafty~ or at least go out & spend money.