Sheabutter Cottage Tucuma Hair Butter Review

A quick note: For some reason, blogger has pretty much disabled my commenting ability (and, from the look of my e-mails, that of anyone trying to post under a name/URL or anonymous). I am so sorry about this and will try my very best to get it sorted (but this might be in the hands of the google gods).

Given all of the Sheabutter cottage love, we figured we'd hit the ground running and review yet another of Akua Wood's products from the Cioccolatina range: Tucuma hair butter.




image borrowed from http://www.akuawood.co.uk/

  Rating: 5/5, available from Sheabutter cottage in 35g and 80g pots with prices starting from £5.95 (+p&p).

Suitable for vegans, super creamy and lightly scented with monoi de tahiti oil, this is one of our favourite conditioners. In fact, when we plan to have a lazy weekend, we like to comb this product into damp hair after a shower  (using a wooden comb, available here) and leave it for 12-24 hours as a nourishing hair treatment.

We love it, so much so that we're letting the ingredients speak for themselves:

Tucuma Butter: From the seed of the Brazilian Tucuma palm tree, tucuma butter is high in vitamin A, rich in lauric, myristic and oleic acids which makes it an amazing mosituriser, emollient and conditioner that is suitable for the hair and skin.
Myristic acid soothes the scalp, while vitamin A, lauric and oleic acids enrich the hair imparting a healthy gloss and bounce!

Sapote oil: Rich in vitamins A, C, iron, and potassium. Sapote oil softens the hair helping to improve manageability. It also helps to impart a healthy sheen and is excellent for naturally curly hair. It nourishes the scalp, helps to alleviate skin conditions, and One study found that sapote oil can help stop hair loss caused by sebhorric dermatitis (but we can only find the reference in the link).

Monoi de Tahiti oil: This oil smoothes the hair cuticle, penetrates and moisturisers the hair, improves shine and makes hair easier to comb.
Avocado oil: The powers of avocado oil are so supreme that this is going to take bullet pointing!

• Vitamin A promotes healthy follicles,
• Vitamin B6 maintains hair colour and shine while helping to prevent hair loss
• Vitamin E is a poweful moisturiser and antioxidant that helps to increase blood flow to the follicles and scalp, helping to promote healthy hair.
• The lecitihin from avocado oil helps the oil penetrate the hair and skin, helping to increase and maintain moisture in the hair help
• The essential fatty acids help to nourish the hair, keeping it silky smooth.

As well as all of this loveliness, avocado oil contains additional nutrients, amino acids, and minerals such as magnesium, copper, and iron. All of which are great for repairing dry and / or damaged hair and maintaining beautifully conditioned hair. Did I mention that it also acts as a natural sunscreen?
Panthenol: is a form of vitamin B5 and binds to the hair shaft, strengthening and sealing the hair making it easier to manage and comb through.
Squalane: helps to protect, moisturise, condition and strengthen the hair.
We think it's safe to say that this has got to be one of the best foods for hair out there. According to the product page, people love it, one lady has even used it on her babies' hair with beautiful effects.
 
We've had an 80 g pot for just over 3 months now, split between the three of regular users, we still have half a pot left. The texture is smooth, and you only need approximately 1 teaspoon per application. The first time that we used it we all noticed that the hair was a bit dull upon drying and got shinier and shinier throughout the day. Now the effects are more immediate.
 
If you want to check out another review, Pwetty Bambi has reviewed it with pictures here and we've got to say that it is looking good (btw, how cute is her blog???).
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P.S. If you're interested in buying one of the ingredients I have put in links to the ones available for sale from Sheabutter cottage.

Ingredients: Astrocaryum tucuma butter, Monoi de tahiti oil, Castor oil*, Sapote oil*, Avocado butter, behentrimonium methosulfate & cetyl alcohol, Olive squalane, Panthenol, Tocopherol (vitamin E), Vegetable glycerin.
* organic ingredients.

It's official: Ken and Barbie are O-V-E-R

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Inspiral Artisan Raw Chocolate Box Review

Rating: 4/5. Available from Raw Living for £7.95 (+p&p)

After Amy Levin's class, I decided to investigate the world of raw chocolate a little more. Sure, I've had conscious chocolate and bars from the raw chocolate company, chocolate from raw living and (unfortunately) shazzie's chocolate. That one was a dissapointment. I'd heard people say how bad it was, but I really wasn't prepared for just how bad it was. I was tempted to drink a pint of bovril just to get rid of the nastiness.

With this in mind, I apprehensively purchased Inspiral's small chocolate box. Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised. There was no ganache filling, which was sad but it was a nice selection & it was easy to share.

Flavours & reviews:

• Goji Nut Lived up to it's name, if you're not a lover of goji you might not want to go near it, but if you're on the fence about goji then it's mild enough to pleasantly surprise you.
• Plain White Chocolate and Dark Chocolates tasted a bit biscuity, I don't know how this happened but it messed with our heads a little. Em Loved it, but L and I were too confused to make our minds up.
• Barleygrass mint was packed full of flavour. But the barleygrass topping didn't add anything to the chocolate but colour.
• White raspberry had a pleasant flavour, which didn't linger. It would be great if you were going to eat the entire box in one sitting, but it doesn't leave much to savour.
• Raspberry and rose was the overall winner. So flavoursome and smooth. The only niggly downpoint is that the aftertaste is of essential oil. But that's only a tiny negative!

All in all it would make a cute gift or a nice treat for yourself. But we're not sure that it would be a guilty pleasure or qualify for repeat purchase.
Allergy alert: Contains nuts!

Have you tried Inspiral's raw chocolates? What did you think?
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