Lye is Back in My Life!....It's Not What You Think!

My last post I promised some news well here it is (cue trumpets!!!) I am starting my own hair care line specifically for women with kinky, curly and wavy hair!!! As most of you already know I mix my own products, leave in-ins, hair gels and I've been happy with them and my friends have too, so much so that one friend said I should be selling this stuff and she would be my business partner and ....... was born! I can't release the name because we haven't trademarked it yet aaahhhh the legalities begin. Soooooo based on my recipes we've got our leave in/ spritz, gel and of course we needed a shampoo. This is where the lye comes in. For those who don't know, you need lye in order to make soap yes that same lye we have shunned for years but this time to help create a product that would nourish our hair not violate it. The results were nothing short of disastrous!!!!! All our fault too during a key process when you mix the lye with the fat (our fats are all vegetable oils like jojoba, coconut oil, borage oil etc.,) in a pot where the concoction should then cook over 2hours tightly covered! We brilliantly already had the burner on and the mixture bubbled over and a mini explosion occurred. I thank my guardian angel that protected us from some serious world of pain and disfigurement. This hasn't dampened our spirits like that old adage if you don't succeed at first try, try, try again and that is exactly what we are doing. We know where we've gone wrong and trust that is not happening again. But I have to say this process is fun (not the explosion bit) as I've never ventured in entrepreneurship before and I do love hair. So far I'm happy that we've been able to only use organic ingredients and the wonderful herbs, oils and butters, the mixing, the coming up with recipes and also the feedback that we're getting from our informal test bunnies and yes I did walk up to perfect strangers to ask them to try our things (can't trust my friends, they'd only tell me they love the stuff). So any folks out there willing to be test bunnies (just the States, sistah has got to budget) let me know. We're aiming to launch by June 2010, cross your fingers for us because we're falling a bit behind our schedule. I've left some fun photos of my business partner and I, the wonderful ingredients for our shampoo (borage oil, macadamia nut oil, kui kui nut oil, jojoba oil, avocado oil,camelina oil,coconut oil and olive oil and all organic too ladida!) and the sad, sad, sad state of events that followed. We called it a day ate some pizza, had some wine and enjoyed Dancing With the Stars Lol!

P.S. One oil that I am still love, love, loving!!!!!! is Shea Nut Oil. I used it as one of the oils when I was making the spritz leave in and I noticed the difference my locs are soooo soft and smooth. I would recommend it for a hot oil treatment if you want a change up from the olive oil, coconut oil or whatever oil you are using.

P.P.S. I know this is a long post but if anyone ever has any questions about the oils, herbs or butters I mention give me a shout and I will happily answer your questions.