Do you ever have a product line that just GETS you?
I mean REALLY, truly madly deeply, gets. You. For me right now, Oyin Handmade is heading the right way to be that product line—they literally hand make their products with love (it’s even in the ingredient list”>, their scent options run a great gamut, and the very name Oyin is Yoruba for ‘honey’ which I just adore.
I’m already in love with the Frank Juice because it smells like the physical embodiment of paying off all my student loans from the comfort of a Turkish bath, and made my currently crochet braided hair unbelievably refreshed. But seeing as I’m so enamored with their offerings for hair, I just had to try out their products for areas from the eyebrows down.
Oyin was nice enough to supply me with their Unscented Funk Butter as well as their Honey Water in exchange for an honest opinion on both, and I have to say a safer bet was never placed.
The Funk Butter
Y’all are my friends here, so I’m going to be totally honest. I generate a lot of stink. Ever since I was an itty-bitty April in diapers, I needed extra washes and baby-deodorant, and so I fully accept that I have to be more diligent about my diet and my hygiene than the average person. It is what it is.
But I say all that to say, I never in EVER would have trusted something that wasn’t my usual clear-gel extra strength to work for me. I’ve seen the ‘pit pastes’ and powders and so on, my Etsy jaunts and at the natural product meets I’m so fond of, but this is the first time I’ve put my faith in one, and I have to say, it was rewarded! Mostly.
The unscented Funk Butter goes on like a paste—you rub it between your fingers or in your palm to melt it into spreading a little more easily, and then apply all over your underarms. It took some getting used to—especially since you have to make sure that you haven’t missed any spots much more carefully than you would with a normal stick. But once it was on, I was GOOD! I spent my days with it running errands outside, cleaning house, being at Afropunk, and just generally flailing around in the heat to make sure I was using it to its fullest. That first day I kept my usual Secret Outlast in my pocket, but since then, I went forth with confidence! Double surprise, even on my cinnamon color skin, there’s not that much visible after it’s melted from my body heat, so tank tops were back on.
The only qualm I had about it was… I’m not 100% sure I can keep using it. While I didn’t experience any redness or swelling (phew!”>, I did have some irritation after the first day of use as I kept testing. However, this irritation was all in conjunction with using a new, fairly hardcore exfoliating bar that I hadn’t used on the first day. I’ve said it before in detailing how best to keep a product journal but keeping track of what all you’re using at once is super important to figure out what does and doesn’t work for you. As of writing, I have yet to use the Funk Butter without that bar, or long enough after using it to be sure micro-cuts weren’t the real culprit (the bar did leave scratches on other areas of my skin after all”>. But I wouldn’t reach for this after any trim days, and if I shaved or waxed, I’d definitely keep clear at least a day after. Because the butter contains baking soda, the good folks at Oyin warn of exactly the same thing!
Bottom line, I love the Funk Butter, and it works! I’ll need to keep experimenting, but I’m definitely eyeing the Black Cedar Fig scent for later!
The Honey Water
Hands up, who loves being ashy? Exactly.
It’s unhealthy, unsightly, and downright painful! So once again, being a fan of heavily textured washcloths, various exfoliants, and heavy body butters, I found myself surprised by the Honey Water’s very existence. It’s a moisturizer… with no oils.
Coming right out of the bottle, I tried to do as you do with butters or traditional lotion—pat dry, then humectant it up. But since the spray is a liquid, it was kind of strange getting dry just to spray down again and I was never all the way sure if I was actually covering myself or just dripping. This stuff DOES have a way of letting you know when you’ve gone over an area too much—you’ll get sticky. But spraying and rubbing in at a light perfume distance did the trick.
As far as sensations go, this wasn’t the most moisturized I’d ever felt—in fact, I thought I was incredibly dry still, but mirrors and the friends that aren’t afraid to tell you about yourself (EBONI”> don’t lie! I was ash free all day.
The verdict on the Honey Water is that I also love it, but there’s a “but”. This is what I’d use for moisturizing on summer nights only. The formula is great because it’s super light, but with the cracked skin of winter that comes from me sleeping a foot away from my space heater, I’m not sure it’s up to the task. But for those sweaty humid evenings, when you still need to be out and about but don’t need the SPF? This is ideal.
Bottom Line
I’m overjoyed with everything I got! Despite the learning curve on applications and the little caveats to each product, I’m not only happy with what I have now, I’m interested in more! You can find the Frank Juice and Honey Water in our shop, along with some other Oyin Handmade goodies, but for the full range, of products, you can buzz on over to their site. Happy hunting, curly-hair honeys!
