Yesterdays braid was a five stranded with a twist beginning.
I find the twist beginning to be a good help to start off the five stranded braid: The rest of the hair is very easy to split into 2x2 and the entire braid is easy to keep separated in strands.
So since I didn't like the texture of the L'Oreal Everpure lasting moisture leave-in creme, I would have to add something to give it some slip. That weird glue-ish texture didn't do anything good for my hair.
But my last mixed product ended up in a major fail, so this would require some testing.
Left to right, the products I have available to mix into the L'Oreal: Pantene 7 in 1 perfector BB creme, L'Oreal Elvital extraordinary oil, Haken natural baobab oil, L'Oreal Elvital extraordinary oil oil-in-cream, Mane 'n tail moisturizer-texturizer conditioner and of course the leftoverTonymoly hair serum.
Patch-testing each option by mixing 1:1 with L'Oreal Everpure lasting moisture leave-in creme.
About 5 minutes after mixing.
Pantene 7 in 1 perfector BB creme: Smooth. Nothing abnormal.
L'Oreal Elvital extraordinary oil: Small "pearls" of oil but otherwise smooth.
Haken natural baobab oil: Larger oil patches but otherwise smooth.
L'Oreal Elvital extraordinary oil oil-in-cream: Smooth but some odd "marbling" effect like it didn't mix 100%, but didn't separate either.
Mane 'n tail moisturizer-texturizer conditioner: Small clumps.
Tonymoly hair serum: Larger clumps, like the two products couldn't mix at all.
About an hour after mixing and mixing it again.
Pantene 7 in 1 perfector BB creme: Still smooth. Nothing abnormal.
L'Oreal Elvital extraordinary oil: Same small "pearls" of oil but otherwise smooth.
Haken natural baobab oil: Oil patches seems to "gather" and grow in size, but the overall product remains smooth looking.
L'Oreal Elvital extraordinary oil oil-in-cream: Smooth but with the same odd "marbling" effect like it didn't mix 100%, but didn't separate either.
Mane 'n tail moisturizer-texturizer conditioner: Same small clumps.
Tonymoly hair serum: The larger clumps can't be dissolved or absorbed at all. Seems the two products can't mix at all?
Touching and smearing products to feel the texture.
Pantene 7 in 1 perfector BB creme: Nice consistency. Little on the runny side though. Would need something thicker if I want to use it as a leave in conditioner.
L'Oreal Elvital extraordinary oil: Rather runny. The little oil "pearls" seems to dissolve and reform quickly.
Haken natural baobab oil: Really good consistency. I'm a bit suspicious of the oil patches though.
L'Oreal Elvital extraordinary oil oil-in-cream: As I started to manipulate the product between my hands to feel the consistency, it started to form up these little "lumps" like the product is separating further. Little firm, lumpy patches that doesn't seem connected to the marbled effect from the oil patches. Something about the way it feels makes me think the L'Oreal Elvital extraordinary oil oil-in-cream was the culprit in the last Frankenproduct fail and was the product that caused the other products to break apart and be spoiled.
Mane 'n tail moisturizer-texturizer conditioner: The small lumps are still there. Even when manipulating it with my hands, the lumps doesn't want to break apart.
Tonymoly hair serum: The larger lumps were impossible to break. The test sample got the texture of a jellyfish or something. Lumpy, firm patches "sliding" around in something slippery. Kind of nasty really.
After much thought, I ended up mixing a batch using the Pantene 7 in 1 perfector BB creme and two L'Oreal Everpure lasting moisture leave-in creme (plus a bit from an almost empty one) and some pumps of the Haken natural baobab oil. So about a 2:1 of L'Oreal and Pantene. I used it after my last shower and it was good. A little bit too runny still, but it lost that strange glue-feel that I didn't like while maintaining some hold. So far it haven't disintegrated. *Squints at it suspiciously* On a side note, I'm glad I kept the TonyMoley bottle. The pump offers the good amount of product for me.
So, the name itself is pretty promising: Ever pure.
Sounds nice. Or slightly pretentious. Not entirely sure.
It brags of "No sulphates"! But hides a small * behind it. On the back of the product, it then adds "No sulphate surfactants". Okay then?
I'm not actually entirely sure what that means. Anyone?
To me it sounds like "None of this!*" "*Uh, well, none of this but yea, totally a lot of another kind of this..."
It also says "Respects hair fibre". Well, isn't that nice?
Again: What does that mean?
I'm about to give you all of my money
And all I'm askin' in return, honey
Is to make my hair nice
COSDNA actually agrees with the claims and spits out a nice ingredient analysis.
Two UV-protection ingredients, only a single acne and irritation-warning and except for the second to last ingredient, everything is in yellow or green for safety.
Not bad at all!
Now for the bad news: The smell and the feel.
The smell is fairly accurately like glue. On the front, it brags about botanical oils: rosemary and peppermint.
Why couldn't it smell like that instead?
Yuck.
I'm all for keeping away from unnecessary fragrances, but this product could seriously have used some.
Also, the texture is really odd. Like glue.
It seems to have a rather drying effect on my hair too. Like it sucks the moisture out of it and makes it dry faster.
