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Skin care

Dry Skin? The Best Shea Butter Mix for Skin

by Evenes Ruth Mafupa
written by Evenes Ruth Mafupa

It’s always expected right? I have had dry skin all my life, more so in winter. My skin becomes so dry and chapped, it starts flaking. That’s right. Flaking. What to do? You may ask. Well I refused a long time ago to get used to it. I gave my life to finding out what could help my skin get some relief. I asked around, googled and even asked beauticians who stand at some very prominent shops to answer all questions on skin. You know, those that gave you a make-up makeover before covid struck and we were banished to the wearing of masks. And to my shock, surprise and may I say absolute delight, every product they recommended had some Shea butter in it.  The same Shea butter that I had lots of. That was the anchor ingredient.

Of course I took that as law and no need to say, in all products I got for my skin, I would check if Shea butter was one of the ingredients. True story. And I still do. Somehow, for me, other butters are not as potent as Shea butter on my skin.  Anything with Shea butter became my holy grail and is still to this day.
But in winter, I always need the real McCoy. The actual Shea butter on my skin. And to date, that is what does the most. It may have a few added ingredients but Shea butter is not only the anchor ingredient but the main ingredient. I am talking of more than 50% of the product is Shea Butter.

Here is the best way to mix Shea butter for the skin.

The Recipe/Ingredients

Shea body butter recipe

N.B: All measurements are in grams and I gave you measurements for 0.5kg (500g) and also 1kg incase you want to make for the whole family.

The method.

  • You will need a bowl to do the mixing in.
  • Melt the Shea butter slightly in a microwave or double boiler until it is soft and mushy
  • Add the grapeseed oil, coconut oil and olive oil bit by bit while mixing with a fork.
  • Whip the mixture until it is lighter in colour but still sticky. Do not over whip though.
  • Add the vitamin E and the Lavender and whip slightly until it is mixed well.
  • Pack into sanitised dry jars. Caution, if the jars still have water, your whipped Shea butter will mould. So, make sure the jars are clean, sanitised and dry. That will keep the integrity of your whipped butter safe.

You can use the whipped Shea butter for 12 months. However, store it in a cool dry place, away from direct sunlight. And, you may need 4 x 250ml jars to pack your whipped Shea butter. It kind of doubles in size once whipped.

I get asked this question a lot. You can buy Unrefined Shea butter from Natural Moisture.

How do you whip your Shea butter to use on skin? Please share.

I told you my skin products have loads of Shea butter in them. In the video, I am showing you my skin routine when it’s not so cold. You will notice I have summer clothes on.

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DIYHair careNatural Products

Make your own Chebe & Karkar Butter

by Evenes Ruth Mafupa
written by Evenes Ruth Mafupa

That’s right. You can make your own Chebe and karkar butter with just 4 ingredients. Now that Covid-19 is making movement risky and going into shops to get this and that for hair care not so good an idea, sometimes trying your hand at being a mixtress wont hurt. And today, I’m showing you how you can make your own Chebe and Karkar butter so that as you self isolate/quarantine, you don’t derail your hair goals. You can actually make this simple mixture and apply on your hair before doing African threading or jumbo braids. You can shop all the ingredients online at Natural Moisture. No need to get out of the house. Receive the package at your door and wash your hands soon after receiving it. In fact, make it a habit to wash your hands thoroughly with soap pretty often and stay clear from touching our face as much as possible. I know, easier said than done right?

Chebe and Karkar butter

As I said, I only use 4 ingredients and these are, Shea Argan Leave in Conditioner from Nashe Organics which is there to moisturise the hair. The unrefined Shea butter gives the mixture the buttery texture and that is what helps the mixture earn the name butter. All thanks to Shea butter. The Chebe powder and the Karkar oil are the rest of the ingredients. It’s called Chebe and karkar butter for a reason after all. It’s because this butter actually has those 2 ingredients in it. Ha ha ha. Okay. Let’s get on with this. Watch the video will you? I promise, I can’t really put what I do here because it ends up being just one word. Mix. You see. So, to really get what I do, watch the video. Subscribe, thumbs up the video and comment and let me know what you think.

Do you also use chebe powder? how do you use it? I find making it into a butter much more practical. I know some people infuse karkar oil with chebe powder and then use it as a spray. Not sure how it works. Would love to know though if you are the spray kinda girl. Also, what are the other stuff that you are doing while you self quarantine? I know I will still be working because my work is mostly online and is a perfect work from home job.

Keep informed, stay safe, protect yourself and your loved ones by being responsible and washing your hands regularly. Corona virus is real. Don’t panic, just get to know what to do and do it.

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Chebe Powder
HairNatural Products

My Chebe Powder Experience

by Evenes Ruth Mafupa
written by Evenes Ruth Mafupa
Chebe Powder

Chebe Powder

I heard about Chebe Powder for the first time, early last year, in 2018 and I didn’t even know what it looked like and had never set my eyes on it. A lady that comes to our natural hair salon, Nashe Hair Studio, often asked us to stock it and she vowed not to get it from any way else. She wanted to get it from us.  Let me brag a bit here. Because of our amazing service when it comes to natural hair products and online shopping, our clients sometimes, literally beg us to stock some product brands. Another customer actually told us that she knew where we could order it from in bulk but she preferred dealing with Natural Moisture when it comes to natural hair care products. How awesome is that?

So, since we didn’t know nothing about Chebe, Google is our friend. We researched and found out the crazy hype that was going on about the Chebe powder. After being natural for a good 8 years now, I have seen these hypes come and go and really, I thought this was one of those and did not pay too much attention to it. After watching the videos of those women from Chad, I was only thinking of the fact that their hair was obviously of a looser curl than ours and who knows, it’s probably in their genes to have long hair. For real, to me it was just a craze that would pass. But when I used it, my views were quite swayed. Maybe it’s not all in their genes after all. And according to Miss Sahel, the hair along the hairline is not long because they do not apply the Chebe powder to it. However, all the hair that has Chebe applied to it, has less breakage. This I understand. However, my question here has been the hair growth cycle  that everyone has genetically determined. If mine is 2 years, the length can never get to that of a person who has 6 years in the growth phase. However, arresting breakage is a big step in growing longer hair. At the average 6″ of hair growth a year, in 2 years, a person should have about 12″ of hair if there is no breakage. And in 3 years 18″. Wow! Let me not get too carried away.

 

As months went on, some clients started bringing it with them to the salon to have their hair braided after applying it. That is when I managed to see, feel and even smell Chebe for the first time. These clients also told us of the amazing results that they were getting since thy started using it and that aroused my interest even more. Their hair looked super healthy. Although some of the hair was quite tangled and I blame that on how they were applying it to their hair, all in all, the Chebe powdered hair looked strong and healthy. I had to try this Chebe powder thing. And I did.

A bit of background. If you are living on mars, you probably need an introduction to Chebe Powder. Well, in July 2017, Miss Sahel posted a video on Chadian women and how they use Chebe powder and why it is a secret to their long hair. If you have not seen the video, well, you can watch it here. Miss Sahel Chebe Video. And looking at the lengths of hair these women are dealing with, you can understand the craze. However, I would like to clear some things before we get carried away. Chebe powder is not applied on the scalp so there is no way it can make your hair grow faster. It is supposed to arrest breakage because it is applied on the hair shaft.

What is Chebe powder

Chebe Powder

Chebe Powder

Chebe powder is actually made of a number of ingredients with the main ingredient being Lavender Croton which is what is called Chebe or Chewe in Chad. Another type of the shrub is also called Lavender Gratissimus and grows in most parts of Africa, in Zimbabwe it is known as Gunukira. The Chadian women then grind the Chebe seeds mixed with cherry kernels, Mastic gum, clove and some perfumes to make what we know as Chebe Powder.

And that is what we sourced for and in no time, had it delivered to us, straight from Chad. At a huge cost of course. That is how we started selling Chebe powder and that is when I had a chance to try it on my hair as well. Which was late last year. And now, I am telling you my experience.

I have used Chebe powder for about 5 times to date and I do it the busy natural way. There are a number of ways that one can use Chebe powder. You can do it to the book like what Miss Sahel shows in the video or apply it more or less like a hair mask which you will rinse out later or do it like I do. Mix it with my sealing products and leave  it on my hair for the week.

How I use Chebe powder.

Chebe mixture

Chebe mixture

Ingredients.

1 Tbs Chebe Powder

1 Tbs Nashe Organics leave-in conditioner,

1/2 Tbs Nashe Organics Unrefined Shea butter

1 tsp Karkar oil or any oil of choice. At first I  used to use castor oil.

I mix all the ingredients together in a small container or jar and then, after my hair is washed and conditioned, I apply the Chebe mixture onto my hair as I do African threading to stretch my hair or some twists. I keep them in for about a week and then wash my hair and re-apply the mixture. That’s it.

Chebe mixture

Chebe mixture comes out more or like this.

My experience with Chebe powder.

What I have found out though is that, making the Chebe mixture, saves me so much time in the application process. I am a real sucker for quick tricks to get my hair done in the shortest time possible. In this case, I just need to apply one thing to my hair and that is the mixture. My leave-in conditioner is water based and that keeps my hair moisturised through out. The Shea butter and the oil also help with sealing the moisture in and helping Chebe powder to stick to my hair for longer. How cool is that? Instead of applying the water, then then Chebe powder and then the oil and, and. I’m getting tired just writing about it. After applying the Chebe mixture, I do chunky twists, chunky braids or African threading and then I leave it on my hair for about a week before taking it out, washing and repeating the process. I normally wear a cap, a wig or if my twists are neat enough, I will leave them out.

covering up for African threading

covering up for African threading

Afro Wig

Afro Wig

My results from using Chebe powder.

Not sure if my hair growth can be attributed to Chebe powder but yes, my hair has grown so much sometimes I’m even shocked it is this long already. Not much thickness I’m afraid. It is still the way it was before when it comes to that. However, I have noticed way less breakage and my hair is relatively softer after taking out the twists. And the only thing that I can attribute that to is the Chebe mixture. I have noticed as well that Chebe powder and my scalp are not exactly friends. This does not come as a shock though. When I was doing my research about Chebe powder, I read that there are some people, like me, who have sensitive scalps who may trigger dandruff if the Chebe gets to their scalp. This I noticed was the case with me when I applied Chebe powder and then did flat twists which I know now was not a good idea. My scalp got so itchy it was not funny. I had to take out the twists prematurely and wash my hair. So if you are like me and have a sensitive scalp, then you may want to take precaution and not do styles that will transfer the Chebe powder on your hair to your scalp. All in all, I am happy with Chebe powder.

hair growth with Chebe powder

hair growth with Chebe powder

Have you used Chebe powder? What do you mix it with, if you do mix it with something? I may want to try your combination sometime. I would also like to read of your experience with Chebe powder or Karkar oil. Let’s have a conversation.

Love

Eve

 

 

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Hair careHairstyles

Real Life: A Roller Set flop

by Evenes Ruth Mafupa
written by Evenes Ruth Mafupa

I had not used rollers to stretch my hair since January 2011. But recently, I decided to dust off my rollers and use them one more time. As you can tell from the post title, I didn’t like my results. In the past, I used to stretch natural hair with way better results. So this time time, I was expecting the same. I know now what caused the flop but then, when I was styling my hair, I was oblivious to the fact that I risk having my hair look like this given my choice of products. I am sharing this with you so that you don’t feel discouraged when your intended hairstyle does not come out the way you wanted it or visioned it. I have those moments so many times and often, as a blogger, I tend to show you the ones that came out really nice forgetting that in real life, flops are part of the package. And I am also hopping you  don’t make the same mistake I did as I will tell you what caused my hair not to stretch fully.

The wash and conditioning of my hair went really well and instead of blow drying for straighter hair, which is what I wanted, I opted to use spiky rollers. All went well but the leave-in conditioner that I used has glycerin in it. It does not have much. And I know now that just a bit of glycerin in my styling products will produce this. Now, this product is perfectly fine on wash’n’go’s, twist outs and braid outs because it makes my hair feel so soft for days. But for straight hair, umm, I have to look elsewhere. Next time I will try whipped Shea butter. If you know of a product that is close to natural as possible and is good for straight hair, let me know in the comments.

This is the process I followed with the hope of straighter hair the next day

1~ set hair in rollers 2 ~ Removed rollers, hair looking awesome 3 ~ wrapped my hair to preserve straightness 4 ~ Covered hair with a scarf to protect hair and preserve style 5 ~ Next morning. Had to put it up in a high puff

1~ set hair in rollers
2 ~ Removed rollers, hair looking awesome
3 ~ wrapped my hair to preserve straightness
4 ~ Covered hair with a scarf to protect hair and preserve style
5 ~ Next morning. Had to put it up in a high puff

So when my hair turns out like this, a pinned style or a high bun/puff is normally my go to style and I will wear that style with so much confidence you will think that was the planned style all along.

Thank you for reading this far. That’s all from me and please follow my more up to date posts on Instagram and twitter  on @ruthmafupa and Facebook on Natural Sisters. Did you know I have an online shop that sells products for natural hair? Well, now you know. From Shea butter to satin scarfs and bonnets. We all that at Natural Moisture. We deliver all over the country as well. shop at www.natmoisture.co.za We’re actually running a special on all Shea butter products until end of October. SO hurry and get your Shea butter today

Have a blessed weekend and keep smiling. Smiles are infectious. You will definitely change a life whilst you are at it.

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Hair

6 Styles with Mini Marley Twists

by Evenes Ruth Mafupa
written by Evenes Ruth Mafupa

 

Playing in my hair is my pass time or rather I make time to play in my hair. he he he. I really did enjoy the Mini Marley twists that I had recently and of course I loved styling the twists as well. In this video, I show you 6 different styles that I did without using any accessories. Just the hair. I hope you will enjoy it. Don’t forget to comment and tell me which of the 6 styles you liked most
Blessings*

 

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Hair careQ&A

Q & A: How can I make my hair soft?

by Evenes Ruth Mafupa
written by Evenes Ruth Mafupa

Softer hair

This is one question I get asked the most. Notwithstanding our hair is so different and the answer may not be one size fits all, I have tried to answer the question here. I hope it will help you. Here goes…

What makes hair hard to the feel is either, lack of moisture, product build-up, damage to the hair shaft or the kinky structure of the hair which naturally has cuticles that do not lay flat to the hair shaft making the hair feel rough or hard. So what can be done to make hair soft? Let’s address these causes.

If you use a lot of product on the hair, a 2 in 1 shampoo or conditioner only, co-wash, will not clear the build-up. So you may need to do a proper shampoo for cleansing at least once a month. Otherwise the other washes can be done using a conditioner only. Clearing product build up is important in order to get other products applied on the hair to have the intended effect. If there is product build up, any product added will just sit on top of the hair shaft and will not penetrate nor benefit the hair in any way.

For moisture retention, after shampooing, make sure to condition the hair. You can also leave the conditioner in your hair for longer, 15 to 30 minutes for deep conditioning. Try to smooth the hair down the hair shaft when rinsing out the conditioner. This will encourage the cuticles to lay flat. After rinsing out the conditioner, apply some leave-in conditioner and then seal with a butter and/or oil for sheen. When using butter and oil, make sure you use very little because using more may cause unnecessary build up making your hair hard and flat (not shiny). Always add some moisture to your hair by spritzing with a water based spray at least once a day unless you are wearing your hair straight. This will keep the moisture levels up most of the time.

Smooth your cuticles down as well when applying the conditioner, butter and oil to encourage it to lay flat. Chunky braid or chunky twist your hair to stretch. You can also do African threading, flexi rods, perm rods and many other hair tools to stretch the hair. I find that chunky braiding or twists make it easier to smooth the cuticles down as you braid or twist the hair. After drying, my hair is normally much smoother and softer.

If the hair is damaged, deep conditioning alternated with protein treatments will help to nurse it back to health. Deep conditioning can be done weekly or every time you wash the hair with a maximum of 2 protein treatments a month. Make sure to follow a protein treatment with some conditioning to make the hair feel softer as protein treatments, though they make hair fuller and stronger, they have a tendency of making it hard as well.

You will also need to do an investigation to find out which products work well with your hair. Try and use one of each category for 3 consecutive washes and see the results.

I hope I have answered you fully. If not, or you need more explanation, please write your questions in the comments below instead of writing me an email. That way, I will not have to answer the same question several times as this may take a lot of time. If you have more tips on making this kinky hair softer, please write those as well in the comments section.

God bless

Ruth sign

 

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FeaturedHair careSalon Shouts

A day at Pako Style Hair Salon, Johannesburg

by Evenes Ruth Mafupa
written by Evenes Ruth Mafupa

When I can, when time allows me, I avail myself to training people especially stylists in salons how to take care of natural kinky hair. Recently, my hosts were Pako Styles owned by Pat.  You see, our stylists have been trained to work with straight hair. Either they relax it, perm it or heat straighten it just to work on it. We can’t blame them for this for indeed that has been the trend for many years. We would particularly visit the salon for such services and so the training schools would formulate the syllabus to meet the demand. But now, things are changing and my hosts noticed this in their patrons and decided to equip their stylists with the theoretical and practical knowledge on how to continue taking care of their clientele who were now going natural.

ps7

The training was in two parts. Firstly it was the theory for about an hour and then the rest of the day was spent on the practical part of the training. From washing hair, trimming ends, doing cornrows on hair that has not been stretched in any way, doing Bantu knots which I learnt are also called Zulu knots, a wash and go on 4 c hair which unfortunately I discovered I do not a photo when I wrote this post, and all that good stuff that we do to kinky hair, making sure breakage is minimized as much as possible. I used Natural Moisture products throughout the training except for the conditioner and in instances where the desired style needed gel.

ps3ps2

While I was there, one of the patrons of the salon, who had come for her relaxer asked me to do an in-plait on her hair. Some of the ladies were also asking if I was going to be a regular, at least once a month to cater for their natural hair needs to which I pointed out the reason for training the resident stylists so that they too will be able to take care of natural hair.

ps4ps8

On this day, mine was a day well spent although my feet were aching like no one’s business. I have a desk job so standing all day was hectic for me. I suppose as one works standing more, the feet get used to it. It was really nice though working in a well equipped salon like Pako Style and the ladies were so nice to work with as well. I enjoyed it. Will definitely do it again, soon.

Would you be interested in attending the next Kinky Hair Care Training? Follow me on Twitter or sign up to our newsletter so you will be able to get the details in real time. You can also contact me if you would like me to come to your salon.

If you want to visit Pako Styles hair salon they are at 27 Coubrough Rd, Noordwyk, Midrand | Tel: +2711 074 6263 | Mobile: +2782 921 7325 |

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Hair

African Threading: Stretching Natural Hair

by Evenes Ruth Mafupa
written by Evenes Ruth Mafupa
African threading on natural hair: Stretching natural hair

African threading on natural hair: Stretching natural hair

Kinky hair is particularly difficult to work with and often requires a lot of patience because it tends to tangle easily especially when not stretched. So if I need someone to work on my hair, I normally prefer pre-stretching it to keep all the drama and pain at bay. In the video below, I show you how I stretch my hair using  mangongo, mabhanzi or amapondo, commonly known as African threading.

Please watch the video to see how I do it. One thing I  need to mention though is that yarn is quite drying to the hair. I therefore coat the yarn with Shea butter to combat the dryness that it may cause to my hair. Any oil or butter will do though. I also try and take the threading out before my hair is completely dry so that my hair isn’t too dry and brittle when combing out. If going for straight hair, I will re-thread it after detangling and combing through. I will keep this second threading until my hair is completely dry. If just stretching my hair, I will bun it and wait for the time to put my hair in the desired style. I hope the video is clear enough. Let me know what you think.

[supsystic-slider id=2 ]

Blessings!

Ruth sign

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Events

Event Alert: Harare Hair meet up

by Evenes Ruth Mafupa
written by Evenes Ruth Mafupa
ru

My hair this Sunday

Finally it’s all systems go for the Harare meet up and as much as it has been so difficult to set up because of my geographical location, I am excited to tell you that we are going to meet on the 4th of July 2015 for the first ever meet up organised by Natural Sisters outside of South African soil. And what better place to do that than my beloved second home country, Zimbabwe. For the last two years, I have received numerous messages and emails from Natural Sisters’ readers in Zimbabwe asking for a meet up and here it is. I hope the first of many. I have partnered with hair bloggers and other people in the hair space resident in Zimbabwe so brace yourself for a morning of fun, information, hair goodies and also getting your questions answered. If you are on our newsletter list, you probably know about this event already although the date has been shifted to the next weekend from the one I stated on email. Please see event poster below.

poster

It is because of you that I am doing this meet up in Harare, Zimbabwe and I hope you are going to come out in your numbers and support my effort. Here are more details of the event,

Date: 4th July 2015

Time: 9 a.m to 1 p.m

Venue: 42 Pat Palmer, Owen Drive, Cotsworld Hills, Mabelreign, Harare

Cost: $5 per person

Bookings and payments, call

Mrs Chakuzira ~ +263 77 241 0601
Mrs Makani ~ +263 77 251 1164

First 30 people to book will each get a goodie bag worth $10 and there will also be lot’s of spot prizes to be won at the event. So hurry and book now.

Natural Moisture will have products at the event with a 10% discount on everything. What a day, what an event. I am looking forward to meeting you there and those staying outside Harare, if you can, do make an effort to attend. I am telling you, yours will be a morning well spent and you will be so glad to attend.

I am going to be Harare from the 2nd of July and if you need a private consultation, please write me an email and we can get it off from there.

Zimbabwean resident Natural Sisters’ readers, see you there. Follow me on twitter @natmoisture and do like our Facebook page to stay connected and know what I am up to. I am also on instagram as @MsMuphy. If you have not already, subscribe to our newsletter list, Then you will not miss a thing about the happenings at natural sisters.

Many blessings to you and yours 🙂

 

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Hair

My Updated Regimen: 2015

by Evenes Ruth Mafupa
written by Evenes Ruth Mafupa

It has been long since I updated you on my current regimen which has since changed from what I used to do back in 2014. As I learn my hair more and more and as my lifestyle changes, I tweak things as I go along so that my regimen suits my lifestyle and I do not end up neglecting my hair. I have quite a heavy schedule right now and while I like the MHM, my lifestyle does not allow for such because of time constraints. So I have come up with a routine that is kind to my hair while being done in the shortest possible time. Picking some things from the MHM and making it work for me though I minimise the gel styling as this gives me more single strand knots than I can manage.

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