Hair Find: YLE Virgin Hair

Hey guys! as I stumble across certain things that relate to fashion and beauty, I like to share it with you all and I recently came across this company here in JA that specializes in selling virgin hair extensions. Now if you're new to the whole hair game, virgin hair is NOT the typical 'pack' hair that you would normally get in a beauty supply store (which is either synthetic, human or 'Remi' hair). Virgin hair is, as the name states, unprocessed hair that is cut directly from the donor's head so therefore it should have all the cuticles attached and aligned and most importantly it should not have undergone any type of chemical or non chemical alterations. Virgin hair is perfect because of it's durability and versatility. You are able to treat it as if it were your own hair so you can dye it, wash it, swim in it, flat iron it, etc and it should react like ...well... real hair :) Now because virgin hair is of such good quality, it tends to attract a very high price point, but it's an 'investment' because the hair can last through several sew-ins and once you take care of the hair, it will maintain it's original texture.

Now, enough blabbing, on to the company. I haven't purchased from them but from the looks of it they seem pretty legit, their ambassador is Yanique Barret, host of Magnum Kings and Queens and owner of the Material World clothing boutique and their prices seem pretty reasonable for virgin hair. If I do order from them in the future I'll be sure to fill you guys in on it, but for those girls who wanted to try out virgin hair you can contact them through their Facebook.

 

Dyed hair

Ambassador Yanique Barrett donning their curly hair

Debbie
xoxo

Thank You

We wanted to take this time to thank everyone who cast their vote for Exotic You during the week long voting period, it means a lot to us. We might not have captured first place in the public votes, but we are extremely happy nonetheless that our blog been so well received and this is what motivates us to continue making posts for you all. In our eyes we have already achieved a great deal....Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

New Hair Goodies

Hey beauties, over the past few months we've collected some new hair goodies. Some we've never used before and others are repurchases. If you see anything that you would like us to review, just leave a comment.

Shannon's Hair Goodies:

1. Creme of Nature Argan Oil - Oil Treatment

2. Creme of Nature Argan Oil - Moisture & Shine Shampoo

1. Tropic Isle Living Jamaican Black Castor Oil Hair Food

2. Tropic Isle Living Lavender Jamaican Black Castor Oil

3. Tropic Isle Living Jamaican Black Castor Oil

1. Organic Root Stimulator Olive Oil - Edge Control

2. Organic Root Stimulator Olive Oil - Smooth-n-Hold Pudding

3. Organic Root Stimulator Olive Oil - Oil Moisturizing Hair Lotion

Debbie's Hair Goodies:

1. Shea Moisture Deep Treatment Masque
2. Cantu Shea Butter for Natural Hair Deep Treatment Masque
3. Cantu Shea Butter for Natural Hair Coconut Curling Cream

1. Aloe Vera Oil
2. Aussie Moist Conditioner
3. Tropic Isle Living Lavender Black Castor Oil
4. Tropic Isle Living Black Castor Oil Hair Food

1. Revlon Perfect Heat Tourmaline Ceramic 1" Styling Iron

Toodles,
Debbie & Shannon

Self Esteem.....

...... What does it mean to you?

Debbie

VOTING PERIOD EXTENDED

Hello everyone, the Jamaica Bloggers Association (JBA) recently decided to extend the public voting period until midnight this Wednesday, January 16, 2013. We would sincerely appreciate it if you would continue to vote for us until then; just click on the logo below and it will take you directly to the voting point.

THANK YOU!!! once again to everyone who has voted for us and will continue to vote for us. If you have problems with the site registering your vote, wait several minutes and continue to click the "Click To Vote" button until your vote is registered and the number increases; sorry about that guys.

Debbie & Shannon

We Are Nominated - Jamaica Blog Awards 2012

Exotic You is officially a finalist in the Jamaica Blog Awards and we have been nominated for the Fashion and Beauty category. We are extremely excited and grateful for all the support that we have received over the past year. The voting period is January 8 -14, 2013 and we ask that you continue to support us. We would also like to send out congratulations to all the other nominees and we wish them the very best of luck!

You can cast your vote here Jamaica Blog Awards

Thank you Everyone!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We have been a little MIA over the holidays, but with travel ,school, work and life in general we have had zero time to make posts, but as the new year rolls in we want to wish you all the best for 2013; this is the year to start afresh and achieve all that you set out for this year so whether it's buying a new car or going after that dream job that you've always wanted, GOOD LUCK in all your endeavours! and stay tuned to even more great things from Exotic You for 2013.

Take Care Guys!!
Debbie & Shannon

1 Day...2 Events! (picture heavy)

Two weekends ago we decided to attend a few events that were going on over and luckily for us we could kill two birds with one stone so we attended both the Health, Home and Garden 2012 Expo as well as the Beauty and Health Care Expo 2012. Expos such as these are a great way of finding out what the Jamaican market has to offer as it relates to health and beauty of course, and as Jamaican beauty and fashion bloggers we figured these expos would be right up our alley.

Health, Home and Garden Expo 2012

Admission: JMD$500 for adults
Venue: National Arena
Date of event: Rescheduled to November 9 - 11, 2012 because of Hurricane Sandy

Overview:
This event was not exactly our cup of tea as it was more geared towards home improvement, gardening, furniture and home decor, and companies which manufactured or sold specialty home related items. Now don't get us wrong it was a fantastic event, well executed and very organized. The floor plan allowed you to walk around with ease and besides the huge array of home/house related booths there were also banks, insurance companies, health test booths, etc. There were also live demonstrations, giveways, discounts and free sampling from Lasco and other food booths. When we own our own homes then we can appreciate this event even more, but it was great to see the wide variety of home decor items and companies that are in Jamaica, you actually don't need to go shopping outside of Jamaica if you're looking for unique pieces because it's all here! It was interesting to see how fashion actually inspires home decor as well. Our favourite booths were Matahari, they had gorgeous, but very expensive home decor items and also Custom Furnishing and Joinery Limited they have exquisitely made custom furniture/cabinetry/closets...virtually anything!

Shannon & I at the Flow booth

Matahari

Custom Furnishing and Joinery Ltd.

Beauty and Healthcare Expo 2012

Admission: FREE
Venue: Pegasus Hotel
Date of event: November 11, 2012

Overview:
*Kiss Teet* (as we say in Jamaica). Where do we start? We were expecting a whole lot more from this even quite honestly and we were not impressed to say the least. The booths showcased the typical hair products that you would normally find in beauty supply stores in and around Jamaica and the prices of the products were not reduced at all, for us an expo should showcase products at a cheaper/discounted price and honey these prices were not cheap. It was a bit crowded and when we initially arrived we were greeted by a very loud person performing on stage... ah boy! Apart from a very crowded L'oreal booth, we did not see any other makeup retail booths and there were not many locally made natural hair and beauty products being showcased besides Tropic Isle (manufacturers of Jamaican black castor oil products). We were hoping that it would have been more of a learning expo, but it was simply a showcase of products...with hardly any samples of these products and, how do you classify this as a beauty expo when it seemed to be more centered around hair and hair care products, what about makeup, nail care, etc? The highlight of the night however was meeting Youtube guru JamaicanMakeupArtist at the Motions booth and receiving some free goodies (which we cannot mention *wink*).

Hope you enjoyed!
Debbie & Shannon

Blogaversary Giveaway !! [CLOSED]

 Hey guys we're back and extremely pleased, happy and over the moon excited to announce that our wonderful blog will turns one today November 21, 2012. This is a great milestone for us and we figured that we would host our very first giveaway to commemorate the event, sooo here are the rules:

1. This giveaway is open to JAMAICAN RESIDENTS ONLY, sorry guys but hopefully we will be able to host international giveaways soon

2. You must be a follower of our blog and like our Facebook page (we will be checking!)

3. Be over 18 yrs old or have parental consent to enter the giveaway because we will need your address if you are chosen as the lucky winner

4. FINALLY, you will need to leave only one comment under the BLOGAVERSARY GIVEAWAY post here on our blog OR on our Facebook page stating what type of blog posts you would love to see from us.

You can begin entering in the giveaway between today Wednesday November 21, 2012 and it will close midnight Wednesday December 5, 2012. We will announce the winner on our blog and Facebook page and we will also be contacting the winner personally through his/her Facebook account afterwards. If you do not respond in 48hrs it will go to another person so be on the lookout guys!

Now the piece de resistence... THE PRIZE!!

Wanna know what's inside? check out our video below to see the goodies that we'll be giving away :)

Good luck everyone and remember to spread the word about our giveaway!!
Debbie and Shannon

Taking a Little Vacay

Hey guys we just wanted to announce that we'll be taking a short break from the blog, but not to worry it's all for a greater cause ;) stay tuned for more fun and exciting topics and in the mean time you can get acquainted with some of our older posts.

Stay safe and I'll see you soon...
Debbie

Hair Check Up: Protein vs. Moisture

Hello everyone!! Today I wanted to highlight a very important factor when it comes to taking care of your hair, so whether you have chemically relaxed tresses or you're a 'naturalitsa' , as I like to say, your hair requires a good balance of protein in order to maximize growth or improve the overall texture or appearance of the hair itself, now Shannon had previously delved into the topic of Protein vs. Moisture and how to determine which of these your hair desires/needs. The first question that should pop into your head is...How do I determine whether my hair needs more moisturizing or protein based treatments? Well here's a video Shannon did demonstrating how to test your hair in order to determine what exactly your hair needs.

Once you've determined what your hair needs here's a few suggestions on what products can help to remedy your dilemma.

We hope that this helps guys, until next time...
Debbie

Beauty Find: Hair, Skin & Nails Vitamins

Every girl wants to have the perfect skin, gorgeous flowing hair and beautiful nails; unfortunately we aren't always born with these great attributes but we should at least should try to take care of what we have right? So I came across these vitamins in my local health food store and I decided to pick up a bottle after I had thoroughly drilled the sales associate about the benefits and the efficacy of the vitamins, she actually said she used them and it helped her with her traction alopecia.

The bottle runs for JMD$1297.67 plus tax and there are 75 tablets in the bottle. The recommended dosage is 3 tablets per day so this entire bottle should last for 25 days. It's of course loaded with vitamins and minerals and certain herbal extracts such as Echinacea leaf and Horsetail extract. The associate also highlighted the fact that results may not be seen immediately and I might need to actually use more than one bottle to see significant results, but I actually have no problem with this so I decided to give it a try.

In future posts I'll let you know how this works out for me, but in the mean time has anyone ever tried these type of vitamins, and what were your results like?

Until next time friends...
Debbie

NB. With any non prescription vitamin/medication that you wish to take, please consult with your physician before you take it ...OK!!

Hair Find: The Perfect Bun

I'm not much of a hair person, but I have been noticing that the ballerina bun is becoming all the rage in hair fashion lately it's regal yet can be playful and sexy as well, but sometimes it can be a bit difficult trying to achieve the perfectly coiffed bun, but there's a solution! I came across a video by Sonia of SCCASTENEDA on Youtube and she demonstrated how she achieved her perfect bun.

These strange contraptions are pretty good at creating a bun and they run in various sizes so even if you have shorter hair this will help you out. You can shop around on Ebay to find this set and it's super cheap (USD $1.00). Here's Sonia's tutorial demonstrating how easy it is.

 So whatever your hair type you can definitely achieve the look, and get playful with it as well add braids, a scarf, headbands, whatever it may be just to jazz up the look!

 Hope this helps guys
Debbie

Clip In Extensions 101

Hey guys I decided to experiment a little with clip in extensions so I figured that I'd do a pictorial to show you how I made them

Here's what you'll need

1. Bundle/pack of hair. I'm doing a full head of clip ins is so I used two packs/bundles of hair. If you're trying to achieve more volume for your own hair you'll need only one pack.

2. Regular sewing needles (hair weaving needles will be too big)

3. Sewing thread

4. Hair glue

5. A pair of scissors

6. Wig clips

7. Blow dryer (not pictured)

Now to help me demonstrate, I introduce to you Sally my mannequin head (lol)

STEP 1: Starting at the back of your head, take the weft and measure the width of that part your head. To make it easier, you can part your hair and measure across the scalp to better determine the correct width. This is the way you should determine the width of all your tracks from this point up to the crown of your head as pictured.

Weft placement at the back of the head

Weft placement at the center of the head

Weft placement at the crown

STEP 2: Now notice I did not cut the weft after I measured the width of my head  because I am going to double my tracks, as you will see in the next picture. Now it's totally up to you if you would like to cut the weft at this point or if you would like to  make doubled or even tripled tracks. The length that I measured for this next track is 12 inches (which is about the middle of my head) so for a doubled track I actually just folded the weft over.

 STEP 3: I subsequently cut the weft and put it aside, then I measured out the tracks for the rest of my head until the pack/bundle of hair was finished.

STEP 4: After I determined the lengths of all the tracks and doubled them, I moved on to applying the glue to the weft. I laid the hair out on a flat surface and applied the glue to the entire weft, being careful not to get the glue in the hair itself. I use glue to bond the track because it helps to seal the weft and stop shedding of the hair.

STEP 5: Now starting with the two ends of the track slowly begin squeezing the weft together.

STEP 6: Take the blow dryer and proceed to dry the glue while continuing to squeeze the weft together to  ensure that it is well bonded. After you have done this, apply extra glue to the tips of the weft where  it had been cut. and then continue to blow dry the hair.

STEP 7: Now it's time to begin sewing the wig clips unto the weft. You will need about 2 - 3 wig clips per track depending on the length. Even if you're not so good at sewing this will be a cinch, in the pics below you'll see how to I sew the clips to the tracks.

 STEP 8: Voila you're done with everything! Now just leave out a little of your hair at the crown to cover the tracks and corn row the remaining hair on your head and randomly attach the extensions and you should be good. Two bundles of hair yielded about 7 doubled tracks for me.


I have yet to install mine but this is how they look on Shannon. Clip ins are a great way to experiment with different hair colours and hair styles.

Hope that helped, and if you have any additional questions I will gladly answer them.
Debbie