My 1st Attempt at Nail Art Designing

I am always looking at creative nail art work on Pinterest and wanting to give it a try, but always talking myself out of it...until now.  For the past 2 weeks, I've been wearing the LacQit Cosmo to Go color, so I wanted to spice up the look.  Using 3 LacQit One Step Gel polishes, a dotting tool and nail tape (both purchased from Amazon.com), and a nail decal (purchased at Sally's Beauty Supply Store), I set out on my FIRST attempt at nail designing.

Items used

After deciding on a design, the application process was simple.  I used the nail tape to section off a portion of the nail so that I could add the Pop the Cork color.  I followed with using my dotting tool to add about 7-8 dots toward the lower portion of the nail to create a subtle burst of color with a combination of Road Trip with Rosie and Pop the Cork colors.

My amateur nail work!

Take a look at my demonstration video.

Shingling method using Gorilla Snot Hair Gel

These days, there are so many curling gels on the market offering those with natural hair a plethora of options.  I recently watched some fellow YouTubers demonstrate their application process using Gorilla Snot Hair Gel or Moco de Gorila.  I've been doing wash-n-goes using the shingling method for years using products like Kinky Curly, Uncle Funky's Daughter, Eco Styler Gel, and the list goes on (LITERALLY). So, it made me want to try this Gorilla Snot out for myself.

I purchased the Gorilla Snot Hair Gel at a local Walgreens for $2.99.  This gel comes in a few different hold/strength levels, so I picked level 9 out of 10.  I felt this would give me the hold I need without too much of a crunchy feeling or that helmet hair look after it dries.    Now keep in mind that this gel is used by various ethnicities, such as Hispanics or Latinos to create spike styles.  With that in mind, who would have guessed it would be suitable to maintain wash-n-goes of those of us with curly textures.

My impressions of the Gorilla Snot Hair Gel:

Display Look & Feel: The design of the container is cleverly funky yet very practical because it allows you to easily squeeze out the product due to the fact that the bottom of the container is also the lid.  This eliminates the need to turn the container upside down to get that last tiny weeny bit of product out.

Smell:  Very pleasant scent with a hint of lemon smell.

Cost:  $2.99 + tax....no further cost point analysis needed:-)

Gel Look & Feel:  This gel has a slime consistency.  It is sticky, but not as sticky as some other gels I've used.  As my hair was drying, I didn't have a sticky residue feeling on my face or neck, so that is a  plus.

Ingredients off the bottle: Water, PVP, Alcohol, PEG-150, Sorbital, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Triethanolamine, Carbomer, Cyamposis Tetragonoloba (Guar) Gum, Fragrance.

Hair Impact Review:  The Gorilla Snot Hair Gel is good, but the alcohol seems to have caused frizz by Day 2.  Although my curls remained defined, my day 3 hair had more volume than expected.  I decided to  lightly spritz my hair with water and add some of my shea butter mixture for moisture.  I repeated as needed on the following days.  Overall, I will continue to use this product and tweak my regime to see if I can reduce some of the volume and retain more curl definition throughout the week.

Day 1 results using Gorilla Snot Hair Gel

Application Process:

1. I applied Castor Oil and Lanolin Oil to wet hair from root to tip.
2. I applied a generous amount of Gorilla Snot Hair Gel to each section.
3. I smoothed sections of hair from root to tip to allow my natural curl pattern to take shape (Shingling Method).   NOTE: In some areas I used my Denman brush to help separate my curls. 
4. I allowed to air dry from morning until night.   
5. I pineappled my hair with a satin hair tie.  

Take a look at my application process and more pictures in my video.

Day 5

Refreshing an Old Braid-out Using Curl Popper

Sometimes you just don't feel like shampooing & conditioning your hair just to get a new style so you begin to realize that nothings wrong with reviving a style and saving time to do other things. Well, my hair goes through a lot of those "reviving" situations too not only save time, but also to reduce the chance of my hair and scalp being stripped during the shampooing process.

With this in mind, I decided to give the Curl Popper product another try to refresh an old braid-out.  This time, I just lightly misted my hair with water then mixed my shea butter mixture and Curl Popper together before applying to my hair.  This was applied to each section of hair before braiding.  Since my hair wasn't soaking wet, I let it air dry and slept wearing a head wrap. The next morning, my hair was completely dry and ready for take down.  I got great definition and shine!

In the days that followed, I just added a small amount of Curl Popper to wet hands then applied to each section and re-braided to maintain the style each day until time for my next shampoo & condition regime.

Here's my demonstration using Curl Popper to refresh an old braid-out.

Finished Results!

Check out my initial Curl Popper blog entry experience at:  http://thediydoctor.blogspot.com/2013/05/curlpopperreview.html