Hi Carlos,

Just a quick note to let you know that the Afrika Gold hair oils is great. My son and I have different hair textures, that means I usually need to purchase a different product for each of us. We have both been able to use the Afrika Gold with fantastic results. My sons dry scalp problem is no more - I assume that it's because the product is 100% natural. It is difficult to find black hair products in Vancouver - the availability of such a fantastic product in this city is fantastic. Thank you for developing this amazing product.

Deidre

I got the package first thing on tuesday morning. Thanks so much! It's a really great product, and I don't say that about many. Usually to keep my hair tame, it either has to be stiff from mousse, or really slicked down by oil. But it's not frizzy and actually soft.

Anyway, thanks again, and I'll look out for your products over here. Hopefully soon! (?)

Sincerely,
Eleyna

Dear Carlos,

Following my daughter's use of Afrika Gold for the past two months, the results are really excellent and her hair is becoming soft and shiny, and I really believe your product will further the stimulation process as her hair looks very much alive now and it no longer breaks. Unfortunately we are running out of stock and I kindly ask you to send me 10 cans this time.

Regards
Shakour
Geneva - Switzerland.

My unusual, naturally curly hair dries into an embarrassing thicket of fluffy 'fro. Fairly wiry and dense, it's tough to style because it always reverts unless I flood it with water and then load it down with styling stuff to keep it from migrating back as it dries. Even so, poor hair conditions can make the resulting locks disjointed and aneimic.

Chemical gels have worked well but are not only bad for me and the environment, but fragile, breaking into dry spray at the slightest force. With Afrika Gold, I've experienced tremendous gains in manageability, vibrance, and pliability, with a much richer look and feel. Massaging it into my scalp is almost shockingly invigorating. I feel that its unifying of my whole scalp's temperature, all over and all at once, actually helps me to think better. It's tank armor for my hair. After I use it, I feel like my hair's
fortified by healthful protection, impervious to environmental hazards. I mean, it's, hands down, easily, the best hair and scalp conditioner I've ever encountered, let alone used. It also does great things for skin, although can be a little shiny.

It's touted for Afro-ethnic hair, but I'm pretty much pasty white, although my hair is rather unusual. Incidentally, I've been using Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps (drbronner.com) as my shampoo (they offer a liquid, but I've just been using the bar (almond's my favorite)), and although they warn against that for possibly drying hair out, I feel as though that the exact opposite has happened to mine. I feel that it plays an important role in balancing potential asphyxiation of the skin caused by being smothered in AG's oils, but I could be totally wrong about that. I worry about dirt and buildup over time, though, and the Bronner stuff seems to do a good job of stripping the oils without leeching them out, giving a good balance of effect and circulation. Water, even hot water, does a poor job of clearing out the oils to keep the skin's surface clean, which is why I employ Bronner's physical detergent (not like chemical detergent!) action. Before I started using AG, I was using Bronner exclusively (except for styling), and it made my skin a lot healthier and my hair more lustrous. They're great products, if a some rather strange people. You might check them out, at drbronner.com.

Styling-wise, AG also has the added benefit, for me, of greater resilience, not being brittle like most chemical styling gels. A look
like mine with long tendrils easily betrays any contact, which will send most chemical gels into powder or flakes, and with my strong hair, it's obvious where a gel has lost its hold. Oil doesn't have that problem. It's emollient. It never sets and doesn't break like hardened coatings do.

As far as BedHead type products go, I don't have any personal experience, but I do know somebody who used them and basically there's no reason to use them unless you want a hairspray-type of absolutely rigid hold. What I'm saying is that as long as the goal is a paste or some kind of malleable coating, then using synthetics is indefensible because natural products deliver the same results, and a whole lot more and that's better, like not hurting you or the environment, and working *with* your body in a host of ways which chemical crap doesn't even pretend to (plenty of "natural" products do pretend to, but that's a whole different subject. Suffice it to say that AG is among the purest products I've ever encountered in the marketplace).

I have had some problems with it running down my head, though, in high-heat conditions, and fractioning locks into undesirable splinters, but I think that's because I used too much, so the liquified oil just made hairs fall away from each other and sag, whereas if I used less and just applied it to the outside, then the coating wasn't thick enough to flow out of place or weight anything down, but was still enough to hold locks. So, just in case that happens to you...

I've found that what works for me is to start from damp hair and coat the outsides by scraping AG over them, flat, and then running my hands over it a bunch to warm/liquefy it thoroughly (as opposed to trying to warm it in the tin (I'm too impatient (longer in a glob in the tin than spread out on my hair)), or work it in as a way to warm it (that wrecks the formation of locks by contorting the hairs relative to each other and torsioning their curls against each other), and then just working up some locks by rubbing the flat of my hand back and forth (my hair's sproingy enough that it from locks pretty much on its own).

My one quibble is the artificial fragrance, but my understanding is that AG is, upon request, available without.

Afrika Gold is fantastic, and, with a little care, versatile. I highly recommend it as nourishment for your hair, scalp, and maybe even your mind, even if you never do any styling with it.

monoman