The Maximum Hydration Method and Protein Treatments

So I haven't posted about my hair in a while. I started doing the Maximum Hydration Method (MHM) over winter break this past year, and it's been amazing. My curls are defined, and my hair has swing and bounce even when it's dry. My shrinkage isn't nearly as bad as it used to be [though it's still real. People are even attempting to correct me about my hair length. -__-]
Here are some picture of my hair right now:

I'm getting great results even though I've missed a bunch of days. [I'm at almost 30, I think, and I should be probably more than twice as much as that at this point.] I can literally take my hair out of the scarf and just shake it out. It's pretty wonderful. As a result, I haven't been posting too much because I'm following someone else's regimen. However, I can post about what I do specifically.


Step 1 — Baking Soda:
So you're supposed to do a Cherry Lola Treatment first, which I have never done and do not really feel like buying the ingredients to actually preform.
I used to use TreSemme Radiant Volume, but that version seems to be gone. It was by far the cheapest way to follow this regimen. Instead, I now use Trader Joe's Tea Tree Tingle conditioner. I'm not a fan because it's quite tingly overnight, but it's the cheapest conditioner left by far.
I mix about a tablespoon and a third of baking soda, and 1 oz of conditioner with water.
I recently started adding a bit of coconut milk even though coconut oil is supposed to be avoided, because it works really well for me personally and is a great way to stretch the conditioner [Trader Joe's is only about $1 for a can.] I have not yet had any negative affects, only positive so far. We'll see if buildup becomes an issue, but I think the baking soda should really take care of it.
I put the mix in a colour application bottle and apply it to my hair, making sure to get the hair as wet as possible in the process, then leave it on for about 15-25 minutes. I do detangle lightly.

Step 2 — Deep Condition and detangle:
I ended up needing to get a different conditioner because I couldn't access Trader Joe's for a little while and purchased Kinky Curly Knot Today. This stuff is amazing and I wish I could afford to get it all the time [maybe with the new internship... fingers crossed] I have it pretty heavily diluted with water, and it has very good slip and conditioning performance. Because it can be diluted so much, it actually lasts longer than Trader Joe's, but it costs more either way because I'd run out of it well before the 4-5 bottles of Tea Tree Tingle I could get for the same cost. I just pour and smooth this into my hair in four sections while detangling and sleep with it overnight under a shower cap. On the weeks where I decide to use a comb or brush to detangle, this is the step in which I do that. If I can't do overnight deep conditioning, I'll put a hat on and deep condition throughout the day, usually until about two hours before whatever even I need to go to, but no less than one hour. I use one of those Turbie Towels [?] as a roll to catch the water.

Step 3 — Clay:
I use Calcium Bentonite clay because it's the cheapest where I live. I mix about 3 table spoons of clay, a teaspoon of raw honey and a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil with enough water to fill an old clay mask container. [I gave a review of the hair mask a while back. It was nice, but this is actually better. It doesn't smell as good, of course.] It is pretty watery, so I make it the night before and it thickens up into a creamy paste for the next day.
I apply it onto my hair in four sections and let it sit for total of at least fifteen minutes. Adding the oil and honey doesn't seem to change much, to be honest, so in the sake of keeping my honey, I think I might stop adding that part.

Step 4 — Leave in:
Kinky Curly Knot Today super diluted with coconut milk in a spray bottle. Very straightfoward.

Step 5 — Gel:
I make gel using flaxseeds [about two teaspoons] and a teaspoon of xanthan gum. I boil that in with a lot of water [more than 20oz], stirring the xanthan gum in slowly. I strain it after taking the heat off and throw it into an old Aloe Vera Gel pump bottle. It's amazing. I absolutely love that it adds weight and gives just enough hold to look gorgeous and shiny without being hard and crunchy.

Step 1.5 — Protein:
So I struggled with this for a while. I couldn't figure out how to get protein in. I bought the Soy Aminos as were suggested, but they smell horrible [my hair isn't Americanized Chinese Food, but it totally smelled like it was,] and didn't actually help my hair feel any stronger. I determined that this regimen is meant for people with protein sensitivities. Since [as you might know from previous articles] my hair is no such beast, [low porosity, 4b and 4c, medium thickness and high density] I believe I can use Gelatin. Gelatin is a hydrolysed collagen, [but not as small as 'hydrolysed collagen itself.] that is a very strong protein. I used about 10 grams of Knox Gelatin [that should be about 1.5 packets. You should almost definitely use less than this.] in 1/3 of a cup of water. After boiling it, I used the same bottle as for the baking soda and put it on, leaving it for ten minutes. I might have done more but I had class this morning and wanted to transition to deep condition before that happened.

So now you know what's been going on with my hair. It's amazing and I love that it falls when I take it out of a ponytail, without being stiff. This is wonderful. I've been getting great reviews and other African American women have asked me what I'm doing.
Truth be told it's very tedius [it took 6-8 hours my first week, 5 the next month, 3 until this month and it's been about 2.5-3 now, not including when I decide to add Curlformers. I do that much less now, because my hair looks great even without it! :D]

Healthy hair to you all!