Giveaway Time!!!!!!

Hooray Giveaway!!!!
We have reached 200 facebook fans which leads me to believe that its time for a giveaway!!!

There will only be ONE prize winner! The winner will recieve 2 free full size products of their choice!!! (accessories and custom items are excluded giveaway is products only)

Heres what you need to do to enter you only NEED to do one of these things to get entered..however you can get extra entries by doing all of them!!! Please Leave SEPERATE COMMENTS to tell me each thing you have done to enter! please leave your name and email in the comments so that i have a way to contact you!
Entries will be taken through Oct 8th at midnight (est) any entries made after midnight will be excluded. One winner will be drawn at random and notified on sunday oct 9th.

1) become a fan on Facebook and share this giveaway

2) Follow this blog 

3) Follow me on twitter and tweet this giveaway

4) Visit my shop on Etsy and add me to your favourite shops
Thats it folks each completed task will get you an entry! Everyone loves free stuff!!!

Please remember to leave seperate comments and a name and email address where you can be reached

 

All Black Soap Shampoo Is Not Created equally...

I get this question a lot .... what makes your shampoo different from this other one? and I cant entirely answer this question or I'd have to kill you lol but I am going to do my best to explain why ours is different and why some should never be used on dreadlocks.
My black soap shampoo IS RESIDUE FREE!!! this is not something that all black soap shampoos can boast about (even though they might try). Soap making is a scientific process...and while a lot of folks think you can just add water to black soap and throw in some butter or oil they are so very WRONG!!! I've seen this so often its crazy!! First of all adding oil or butter post liquefaction is NOT I repeat NOT residue free! and while some of those oils and butters might be good for your hair applying them to your hair in this fashion is just a bad idea! you can almost always tell the shampoos that have added oil post liquefaction because THEY SEPARATE yes thats right if you see a funky layer of grease on top your shampoo whoever made it doesn't understand basic chemistry. Now black soap can and will settle but this is different than separation I'm talking about the butters and oils separating from the liquified soap and floating on top this shouldn't happen and the only reason it does is because oil and water do not mix so your getting a product that is either too much water or oil that has not been distributed properly either way your wasting your money.

If you have locks its no big secret that you really need to pay attention to what you put on or in your hair. Dreadlocks have a tendency to hold on to stuff,lint,dirt,oil,etc...so you don't want to be washing your locks with something that is predominately unsaponified oils! and if you have caucasian locks washing with something overloaded with oil may in fact ruin your dreads especially during the early stages.

It seems like a lot of people are trying to jump on the dreadlocks and natural hair bandwagon over the past few years and just because you can sell something doesn't mean you should! When i first started selling my product on etsy there were no other sellers who sold such a product but over the last 4 months I've seen 10 new sellers crop up selling "black soap shampoo" some of them may be fine others look a little questionable. Do your research! I'm a very real person making these products and im always willing to answer questions! Ask questions, whats the shelf life of your product? do you use preservatives? look at the volume of sales the seller has. do they keep the product sitting around for months before they make a sale? whats the ratio of soap to water? I get questions all the time and i always answer ASAP I'm not just a seller im a buyer and i know the things that i want answered. Don't be afraid to ask and do your research!!

The Beef With Bronners?

ok so I've seen a lot of what i feel is misinformation over the past few months about Dr bronners soap and dreadlocks. Ive seen quite a bit of info saying its bad and never wash your dreads with it because it leaves residue and i really feel that this is rather inaccurate. Ok so the reason people are claiming its bad is because its superfatted let me take a moment to explain to you what that means. Superfatting refers to the amount of oil and or fat in a batch of soap. Soap is made my combining a mix of lye and water with fat. if you have too much lye you can have a real problem on your hands every single lye molecule must have an oil molecule to attach to so 90% of soapmakers will err on the side of too much oil rather than too much lye. therefore almost ALL soap (especially handmade) is superfatted to some extent that means particularly if you are using a bar shampoo its superfatted to an extent (unless the soapmaker you buy from just happens to have a chemistry degree) does that mean its bad or leaves residue on your hair nope.. no it doesn't. Superfatting can also refer to adding extra fats at trace (trace is the point during soapmaking where the lye and oil have combined to make a semisolid texture) adding fats at trace creates a more emmolient rich final product this also is not bad for your hair or dreads as long as they are MATURE! dreadlocks and hair require a certain amount of oil to keep your hair healthy and your scalp sane! is dr bronners the best thing for your hair or dreads no it really isnt its rather drying IMHO and its hard to get the dilution ratio right but if you like it use it! I had my first set of dreads for a number of years and i used bronners exclusively for the first couple years until i perfected  making the perfect all natural dread shampoo and i definately had not one single bit of residue or build up!
i hope this helps you any of you confused folks understand !
blessings !!!

washing your dreads and hair

Ok so i get this question a lot "are your shampoos safe to use everyday?" and my answer to this is NO! there is no such thing as shampoo that is safe to use everyday. First off all your scalp produces sebum to nourish your hair it has to travel from your scalp down the hair shaft and if your washing your hair everyday you are probably doing more harm than good. often times people have dandruff and think washing everyday is the only way to fix it actually your making it worse dandruff often times isn't from dry scalp at all its from an over production of sebum which happens when you are constantly washing and your scalp thinks it needs to produce more sebum for your hair but the sebum isnt getting to the hair ya dig? the answer as strange as it sounds is to STOP washing!!! ok so u gotta wash sometimes and for those times i suggest you use a shampoo with rosemary and lavender or neem oil or even rosemary mint.I really wont recommend anyone wash more than 3 times a week between washing if you cant stand the way your hair looks get creative with scarves,wraps,tams and updo's let your scalp adjust and i always recommend rinsing with apple cider vinegar which you make by adding 1-2tbsp to 2 cups water pour it over your scalp and hair let it sit for 5 mins and rinse well. (no you will not smell like vinegar if you have rinsed properly)


 Washing dreadlocks everyday is not only entirely unnecessary is down right dangerous! ok so if you have dreads you should already know how long it can take for your dreads to dry and for those of you with very long locks that can sometimes be days. Matted hair left wet from washing it every day and never fully allowing it to dry IS going to mildew and mold i dont care what you wash with if your hair remains wet constantly its gonna get funky it will in fact start to stink and mold and mildew will cause dreads to essentially rot which can lead to dread loss. But you will just use a blowdryer you say...WRONG there is no possible way you can get the core of your dreads dry without physically burning the surface its just not possible. you can buy a bonnet style dryer or attachment that you can use to help the drying process if your in a hurry but unfortunately these things werent made for big ass locks.

bottom line hair isnt dirty every day so stop washing it! the only people who tell you washing everyday is good are the folks making the pantene commercials and reality is they only want your money......

just a litte intro to me,my shop,and my life! welcome and thank you for reading!

Hello everyone my name is Heather i am a 33 year old stay at home mom of 5. I am a minimalist, tree huggin,dread head with a serious passion for natural minimalist beauty and fashion. I currently am the owner and artist behind www.etsy.com/shop/vitalgoods where i make and sell natural hair and skin care products. I have been making African black soap shampoos for nearly 8 years now but it wasn't until recently that i realized that i realized there was a market for this and that i could share my love,my art,and my creations with other folks longing for something natural and actually beneficial for their dreadlocks!
I work very hard at living a very minimalist lifestyle,and living simply hoping that i can help others to simply live. I'm not new to dreads i am  currently on my second set i had my first set for a number of years and cut them symbolically,marking a new beginning in my life it would be 2 years before i started again.My first set i started entirely with backcombing but this time i wanted to simplify and decided to go with the neglect method and now my dreads are nearly 9 months old...good things come to those who wait. Any way dreadlocks are special to me for many reasons and i really want to help others with their journey as well. i work very hard creating and developing the things i put into my shop,my recipes were not thrown together overnight,ive been doing this for a while and i don't sell anything i don't use myself. dreadlocks require little to no maintenance and you don't need to buy anything i make you could definitely live without it but the bottom line is the products i create are good for your dreads and are beneficial in many ways.Lots of time,trial and error,and a whole lot of love and energy go into my products! I am very OCD about quality i use a higher soap to water ratio than any other sellers out there and that i can absolutely guarantee! We were the original Black soap shampoo seller on etsy and others may imitate but cant come close,making black soap into shampoo isnt a matter of tossing some soap into water and adding some oil that doesn't work! trust me i know ive tried everything and i know what does work!
As you get to know me you will come to realize that money doesn't motivate me,nor does greed,or envy. I will never hesitate to recommend other products to someone if mine doesnt fit their needs! I buy mostly handmade everything from laundry detergent to mama pads and i know where to go and who to talk to when you want the best!
Ive never written a blog before and i will try to hone my skills here with time,i decided to start this blog as a way to get to know my customers,help others when needed and just talk about life in general im a very candid person and im honest to a fault so if you want to know just ask if i know ill tell u like it is thats just the way i am!
please come vist me at the following links please ! i almost always have discount codes on facebook and i quite frequently like to hold give aways!

• www.etsy.com/shop/vitalgoods
  www.facebook.com/vitalgoods
  www.etsy.com/shop/needleandthedamage
  www.facebook.com/needleandthedamage