Nak Thickening Shampoo and Conditioner - A review

When I thought about getting back into blogging and writing I wasn't thinking about doing reviews again too but blogging is usually inspired from what's happening in your everyday life and for the past few months, a lot of my thoughts have been on my hair...or the decreasing amount of it, to be specific.

After having Zia last October, I experienced the 'normal' post pregnancy hair loss but this time around, it hasn't stopped falling out. I've chalked it down to Breastfeeding hormones and the severe lack of sleep which of course triggers my anxiety. My hair (and my self-esteem), I felt, was in need of some much needed TLC. With that, I decided to splash out on some quality hair products.


What made me buy this product?

I'm going to be 100% honest. I had never heard of these products before but someone I follow on Instagram (who has real experience of hair loss) mentioned that if they ever went through the same thing again, they would try these products. She posted a link to where they could be purchased from. It's an Irish hairdressers, Pelo hairdressing so I thought perfect, I'll give this product a go and even better that it's being delivered from just down the road so I won't have to wait too long.


Delivery

I ordered the set on Sunday expecting it to arrive by Tuesday. I knew they wouldn't get the order until Monday but was guessing next day delivery. Tuesday came and went. I bought items online from the UK also on that Sunday and they arrived on the Wednesday. Still no sign of my Pelo order. I emailed the company to ask about delivery times but heard nothing back. I was pissed off because I was trying to hold off washing my hair thinking the new shampoo was going to arrive any minute. On Thursday I finally caved and bought a different shampoo/conditioner locally. Good thing I did as the Nak products didn't arrive until Friday at 4pm. The salon is less then an hour from where I live so that kind of delivery times just doesn't work for me. I know we are living in an age where we expect things yesterday and that's not always possible but 5 full working days for delivery is an absolute no no from me.

Obviously if you are ordering from them, check delivery times for where you live. This could have been a once off oversight on their part.



The Product

I'm going to cut to the chase here. This product did not work for me and I will tell you the main reason why. I was searching the market for something nourishing (only) and what I mean by that is, I wanted a product that was all about making the hair healthy. What I wasn't looking for was an artificial thickening shampoo/conditioner/leave in spray. In my opinion, that's what this is. Yes, it ticks the boxes for ingredients that are healthy for your scalp and hair but ultimately the goal with this is to make your hair feel like it is thicker. Feel being the operative word.

I wasn't expecting this product to solve my hair thinning problems because that's a biological issue but I just wanted to feel like I was doing something good for my scalp, the hair I do have and all the new hair thats growing back. This product had the opposite effect.

For most expensive shampoos a little usually goes a long way. Not with this product, especially if you want your hair to feel clean. I always shampoo twice anyway but using normal amounts of this product will not leave your hair feeling clean. In fact, after using this, you can will notice a serious amount of residue left behind and its horrible. For some reason and this just might be my hair, it creates horrendous tangles in the top of my hair, especially at the front. The first time I used it I was like arrrrrggggg what the ..... I was thinking, I can't believe I just paid 60 euro to put this crap in my hair. I've used it 5 times now (yes I went back for more tangle torture). I wanted to give it a proper shot. Each time I got the same result, tangles and residue. Googling the product afterwards, something I really should have done before buying it, I found out that Nak products contain amodimethicone and PEG-12 dimethicone which are non water soluble silicones and cause major build up on your hair. This is so true for the Nak Revitalise Thickening Shampoo and Conditioner. I'm going to finish the bottle because I've paid for it but absolute won't be repurchasing.

The leave in treatment has been used once and I won't use it again. The nozzle doesn't work effectively with its end goal, to get to the roots. Instructions say to pump it into your palm and massage into the roots. Using this method you can barely manage to get any into the roots at all and lets face it, it's just going to be the 3rd layer of product sitting on your hair anyway.


One positive

When your hair is dry it does feel soft and you don't notice the build up as much.


Have you tried these products or is there another one you would recommend?




Kel x

And then there were 5 !

Woah, 5 years since I first started this blog and 5 Petit's in total now.

When I first started blogging, I was 30 and had just had my second baby. I am 35 now and have 3 beautiful girls. I stopped blogging not long after I started because I ran out of time, or so I thought. What really happened was I thought that others things were more important and maybe some of them were. Over the past year I have thought so much about the blog and would mentally write blog posts in my head. I felt weirdly compelled to share things that were happening in life. Mostly because I was  probably thinking someone would find humour in the struggle of me being a new parent again or get something out of hearing me lambaste the mortgage process.
I wouldn't say I am that well up on Social Media but I did get into snapchat for a while and used it as an outlet to offload the random shit that would enter my head from time to time. People don't seem to use it as much anymore though and have migrated over to Instagram. I had to get my husband to show me how to use it...him that can't operate Facebook is now an insta pro (apparently). Instagram scares me a little to be honest. I feel like I could be sillier on Snapchat and tell my embarrassing stories without actually feeling embarrassed. I look at instagram and know when I see things like #woken under a picture of a glass of wine that the crowd there won't want to hear my skirt splitting, boob flashing stories. Maybe 1 day lol

Getting back to the blog, as I say, things have changed and I've been itching (literally and I 'll fill you in on that story soon too) to get back on here to my online diary. I've never written for loads and loads of people to read. I've always just kind of written for myself and thats what I'm going to continue doing. That said, if you do stop by, say hello :-)

I've spent the evening reading back over some of my older posts and I'm like wow, I had time back then and judging by my posts all I did was paint my nails and mess with my hair (jokes)

I'm sure my posts will be few and far between but it's good to be back ya'll !

Kel x

Tried and Tested - Homemade Foot soak

In the middle of winter, dry heels is not something that I normally fuss (tis the season of tights) about but my feet have been so dry lately that I needed an intervention. I remember seeing a quick fix home-made remedy on facebook during the summer and as I had all the ingredients in the house, I decided to give it a go.

Here is what you will need:

There are no fancy methods with this. You literally throw everything together in a basin and soak your tootsies for about 20 mins.

Did it work? Yes and no..

It softened the hard skin on and around my heels all right but I think just soaking them in the warm water for that long would have done exactly the same job. There was no notable peeling or removal of dry skin. Your feet feel tingly and refreshed but that's about it I'm afraid. To really get polished heels, you would need to use more vigorous methods, like filing or using a chemical peel.

The overbearing smell of vinegar in the bedroom just isn't worth it



Have you tried this foot soak before?

Kel x

The BIG Reveal - Irish Beauty Bloggers Secret Santa

Good morning and a very merry 4 day countdown to Christmas to you!

It's the 21st of December which means it's Secret Santa Day! Can I get a whoop whoop
Before I get into things I just wanted to say a big Thank you to Aisling from Total Makeup Addict for setting the whole thing up and adding me onto Santa's list last minute.

This was my first year to get involved and if any of you have read last years Christmas post you will know that I'm not that into Christmas. (I'm a strange one alright). Anyhow, this year I promised to try and get into the spirit of things and the Secret Santa task gave me just that opportunity. There has been a serious buzz on  twitter over the past few weeks and I've really enjoyed keeping up. Some of the gifts that were sent look great and people went to a lot of effort. I'm looking forward to seeing what was inside those perfectly wrapped presents.

My Secret Santa to me . . .

Champneys Cracker Collection

4 x 50ml bottles of bubble bath.

Distant Shores Bubble Heaven
Mediterranean Bliss Bubble Heaven
Exotic Retreat Bubble Heaven
Oriental Opulence Bubble Heaven

With two kids I don't get much time for Baths these days so I look forward to cracking these pretty gels open 'one day' lol

Noel Essential Oil

 Thank you Zoe Fitzpatrick! (Zoecoco.com)

Me to my secret recipient . . . 

I was matched to Sarah Priestly Keogh of Flame Coloured Skies

I would be lying if I said I found the task of buying something that Sarah might like easy. I wanted to make sure I got her something that she might genuinely be interested in. Unfortunately for me, Sarah's blog was set to private so I couldn't have a read of that without risking giving myself away. I managed to find her on pinterest so I used her pins as inspiration. 

For Sarah, I purchased a pretty Paris notebook, as she likes to sketch. The Paris connection relates to her love and admiration for models. Paris being the fashion capitol of the world, I thought this was fairly apt.

Sarah's love of Lana Del Rey popped up somewhere (her blog title!) so I researched some Lana makeup tutorial videos to see what look she goes for. With that in mind, I purchased 2 lip products so that Sarah could recreate one of her favourite singers looks.

Last but not least, I got Sarah some sparkly festive nail polish...fun Christmas nails and nail accessories.

I really hope you liked your gift Sarah.

A very Merry Christmas to Sarah and Zoe.... 

Til next year!!

Kel x

Budget Beauties #1

Ya'll know I'm a buyer of mainly budget friendly products. While I love Chanel and YSL among others, I gotta be honest and tell you, I'd be totally punching above my weight with those babies. The Chanel logo alone makes me go weak at the knees, but I've got to wait for special occasions (Birthday & Christmas) to add Chanel to the collection. In the meantime, my focus is on the likes of Catrice, NYX, Essence, Rimmel etc.

If, like me, you scan the posts of beauty bloggers on a daily basis, you will note that a lot of BB focus on the budget friendlier products also. If they are going to appeal to the everyday girl, they've got to have some budget friendly options in there too :-) . Among my favourite posts are dupe posts, where the blogger compares high end products to something similar and more affordable. Cha ching!!

I don't buy makeup every single month. I wish I had the money too. So I'm not going to post 'monthly favourites' posts. As I add some budget beauties to my stash, I'll keep you posted!

Here's a peak at the treats I picked up recently.

Milk Anyone?

Ah, the fine art of milking oneself. A skill I have perfected over the last 5 months. (Compared to the difficult days, the ones I live right now seem pretty perfect to me)

Breastfeeding and me

Milk coma - Baby Petit :-) x

I breastfed my first child for literally 3 weeks before throwing in the towel. I was tired, scared, worried, sore, fed up, young etc etc.... A 7 year gap between babies gave me enough time to forget I didn't enjoy it much the first time around and allowed me the chance to have another go. I was more determined this time around to stick at it and whether I went down the route of bottles again, I was always going to breastfeed for the first few days anyway. 
I was lucky and my little one latched on quite well from the very start. Her nickname is the 'little monster' (boobie monster, to be exact). She loves her grub and was never going miss a drop. I decided to just take it day by day and see how we both got on. 
Oh man, there were days that I struggled. The worst part of which was the fact that I didn't know which aspect of feeding I was struggling with.

Pain: Yes I was sore. I know all the experts say that if you are sore then you are not doing it right. I don't believe this. I think everyone is sore at the very beginning. If something has to break through thick skin, i.e. milk through the nipple...it's gonna get sore. Plus, you have a baby sucking the life out it 24/7. Anyway, Lanolin cream will be your 'breast' friend (see what I did there lol) in the first few weeks and no new breastfeeding mum should be without it. 

Tired: I was tired, but compared to my first post baby experience I actually felt grand and pretty on top of things (that means I managed to get dressed occasionally) 

Feeding in public: Never bothered me and I had no negative experiences either. 

Feeding schedule:Ah ha! Sweet baby jesus......Why did no one tell me I would have no life. This, for me is exactly where the problem lay. For 6 weeks I struggled with this big time. I just kept thinking, why did nobody warn me. When my little one was about 4 weeks old, I fed her and then went to collect my other little girl from a friends. I was gone for 30 minutes. When I got back, my husband was pacing the floor with a screaming baby. It is in that very moment that I realised I couldn't leave the baby. (Unless I expressed beforehand....this could never happen as she constantly drained both breasts)
Ssssshhhhhh, I can hear loads of breastfeeding mums shouting at me telling me their child fed every 3...maybe 4 hours. Great, fantastic..for you! I'm just saying, my little monster wanted boob all day every day :-) 

Now I will admit here that I focused so much on getting breastfeeding right that I kinda ditched a sleep routine. Big mistake as poor Petit baba was unable and unwilling to fall asleep anywhere but on the breast. 

Anyway, once I realised, that I was no longer able to just get up and go, or that such things as 'cluster' feeds existed, I started to chill out a bit. So what, I can't get up and put a wash on. So what, I can't change the beds today....So what, I didn't get dressed. 

Once I had made peace with things, I rejigged a few other things too. I focused more on nap times which in turn gave me a little, predictable break. I made sure, that when I did get dressed, I wore something that had easy access to the boobs plus was comfortable for me to hoist up and down all day. At 4 weeks, the nipple pain eased and at 6 weeks was completely gone. The let down discomfort was not as noticeable and my breasts no longer became engorged as quickly. 

6 weeks to now..... I LOVE BREASTFEEDING. ! All those happy endorphins being released with each feed has me feeling great. Yes, it's hard when your sitting up in the middle of the night alone, feeding your little one but embrace it. Time passes so quickly and you will not have the opportunity with your little one again. There are many years of sleep ahead for me but only this one opportunity to Breastfeed baby Petit. I get such a buzz out of picking her up and watching her little head bob around until she finds her liquid gold. 

I look at how much she has grown and stretched already and think, wow, I grew that little beauty inside of me and then nourished her til now. 

With my return to work date looming, I have started to wean her off the breast. I do hope to keep feeding her morning and evening after I return to work but we will see how things go. For now we are both happy out :-)

How was your experience of breastfeeding?

Kel x



*(Each to their own, I'm not concerned with whether you breastfed 1 child or 16 children. This post holds no judgement and I would appreciate the same in return)

Sweet Soul Sunday

There is a gap in the clouds and the sun is peaking through. What a beautiful Sunday morning. I'm sitting back, a cup of tea in hand and listening to the sweet soul sounds of Sam Cooke. 





Check out some of my favourite tracks:

Bring it on home to me

A change is gonna come

Twistin' the night away

Chain Gang

Cupid

She was only 16

And 1 more . . .  Dreamlover

Are you a fan?

Kel x