Cowash Day!

Whoa. So my hair has been extremely dry the last few days, and my usual routines haven't even helped. As a result, I think it might be related to the flat ironing. I cowashed my hair using just Hair One Olive Oil.
I actually followed the directions for once [in a while. I usually don't need to because I DC differently now.] then rinsed it all out and added a lot more as a leave in [which is the same as my DC at this point.]

Few things of note happened:
I braided my hair instead of the usual way I separate it, which requires extra materials that I do not have [my hair breaks bands, claws and clips with ease]. The braids actually held! Twists usually don't, but the natural part of my hair at least never unraveled even under the rain of the shower head.
That worked extremely well and made me a happy camper. I will do it from now on!

Even with all of this my hair still felt a bit dry, so I applied a lot of coconut and grape seed oil. Then it softened up and I set it. It feels great now. I really wanted to try the heat thing, but now that I think about it, my hair has progressively been getting worse each week, and this was the worst it's been. Even though it's felt great the first day and a half, I've had to deal with dryness far beyond anything I've ever encountered. As a result of this I will no longer flat iron once a week.
Instead, I think I'll just cowash more often to keep moisture in my hair. I will cowash at least once a week, and wash once a week in addition to that. [Wash meaning with shampoo]. Instead of doing my lengthy moisturising and seal sessions, which now take the same amount of time as washing, I will just wash my hair that morning. I will have more moisture, and my sets will last longer. I remember that there was a time I cowashed twice a week for a few months and I remember my hair being healither, but I attributed it mostly to coconut oil. Coconut oil is great, but maybe the cowashing [well, I should say 'completely drenching the hair in water more often'] had a greater affect that I thought.
Anyway, here is my hair in a scarf. My hair wasn't completely dry, but I wanted to flatten the top anyway.

#9 Wash Day!

That number is SO off now. Whoops. Well, I've washed my hair at least once week. I started leaving in my DCs permanently instead of DCing, so I have to make sure to use shampoo at least once a week now instead of cowashing all the time. Last week, I cowashed because I was expecting to shampoo later, but I didn't. It actually worked pretty well, but I'm still a bit worried about doing that.

So, last night / this morning [weird sleep habits over break! Sorry] I washed my hair, air dried and flat ironed with a total of 4 products in my hair.
I shampooed with ApHogee for the first lather and Paul Mitchell Super Skinny for the second. Then I applied Hair One Olive Oil [I don't have much left anymore. So sad, but hey I have the Argan Oil version now, so that's cool.] and set my hair in Curlformers for about 3 hours. My hair was mostly dry when I took them out. I flat ironed the pieces that were puffy and dry, waiting for the pieces that were puffy and wet to dry before doing those [meaning I didn't do any pieces that were already very straight, because I've been very dizzy lately as a result of eating about one meal a day for the last bunch of weeks.]. I used Silk Element's heat protectant spray [NOT the Olive Oil version] It turned out OK. I mean, I like curls so this is actually kind of not my thing, but I'll probably just wet them and do another set tomorrow. Plus, my hair is so thin! :S
Once again, I am flat ironing ONLY to seal cuticles, at about 220 degrees. I've been so bored with the straightness though. I think I'll try various bunning styles. I did a sock bun a few days ago. It looked nice the first day and kind of meh following. I think the sock sucked the moisture from my hair. I need a real bun thing made of silk or something.

Boring picture. My phone's battery is dead I'll post one from the bathroom in a few hours!

That pony is so tiny. Weird to see my hair so flat and thin. O_o

Flat Ironing...can help retain length and moisture!?

Whoa, my readership seems to have jumped a bit in the time I wasn't posting. I wonder what that means O_o. Anyway, I've been really busy since there were finals and now it's summer break. I had a few things to do [I went to ACen, for one] but now it's very close to my birthday and I'm just relaxing.

So, I bought more Hair One, of the Argan Oil variety, since I said that's the only real hair product I'm going to buy more of, but Sally's gave me a free heat protectant, and I didn't have one before so I decided why not. So now I have Silk Elements' thing. I'll review it at the end of the month. I started attempting to flat iron once a week. Why!? You were doing so well, you might say. Which is weird, since you're talking to a computer screen. Cut that out.

Flat Ironing once a week, why?

Story:
Well...my hair had stayed at the same length for a few months now, even though I decided not to relax anymore. I know that yes, my relaxed hair is still fragile, but I've had growth where I've retained all length per month when I was flat ironing. I asked myself why, and decided to flat iron my hair for ACen [since I was going as Martha Jones. A character who wears her straight hair in a spiky ponytail, though my hair is longer and didn't spike as well >.>] When I did, I noticed that my hair was how it usually is when I [read: not my stylists] flat iron, it feels more mosturised, and smoother, but I still didn't see the most important thing. When ACen was over, I did a curlformer set with my usual homemade LOC [except the cream is actually Eco Styler Gel now, and it works *great* for a protein boost!]. When I took my hair out of the curlformers, it felt more mosturised than normal.  I realised what probably happened was that the heat makes my cuticles lay down for a much longer time than anything else.

Benefits of flat ironing [WHAT?]:
If I flat iron once a week at low [220-ish] heat, I can retain moisture better and longer because my cuticles stay sealed until my next wash, even after I have re-moisturised my hair to do a Curlformer set. While there are very few benefits for flat ironing, I do know that I've gained length while flat ironing far too many times a week, from back when I used to have heat junkie tendencies. I have been very afraid of it since then, but now I think it might help, because I also manipulate less when my hair is flat ironed, because I feel less of a desire to style it. So, all of this month I plan to flat iron once a week at low heat and see if my hair retains more length than normal. Though, in the future, I am planning on doing it once every other week at the most. Tl;dr low heat means better moisture retention and less manipulation throughout the week.

My regimen:
Well, I'm still trying to use up products that I got back when I was a product junkie. So, I've been unfortunately using things that don't work as well for my hair as my homemade products and / or Hair One, but here it goes.
Keep up the Protein: since I'm doing flat ironing again, I will do a protein DC probably about every other week [that seems to be the frequency my hair likes, as long as I use a protein leave in a few times a week].
Moisturize: as often as needed, even more than once a day if it comes to that.
DC once a week, or at least before every heat session. Do not ever flat iron without having done an intense moisture treatment beforehand. This is a general rule fore everyone.
Do a Set and Airdry: immediately after washing, set hair with no setting product and air dry in it. This way the hair will be stretched already and you don't use any more heat than necessary.
Flat Iron on low heat: Never above 300. I'll probably just stay at 220 in general, though. I'm not really trying to get it straight, the sets do that.
Optional--put hair back in set: This is the only way my hair will get completely straight. As mentioned before, flat ironing my hair doesn't tend to make it completely straight, the natural part is straight but still entirely too thick and noticeable. I'm usually okay with it, but I've found that putting my hair back in the curlformers right after the heat makes it get completely stretched.

Stay tuned for my latest wash day!

#8 Wash Day! Paul Mitchell Super Skinny and Keracare

So Monday night I used WAY too much Eco Styler Olive Oil on a headband curl set and my hair was hard and icky. I decided to wash my hair later that night.
When I started washing my hair, it was straight because of the Curlformers, but I'm used to my hair reverting immediately. It didn't! O~O. I think it's because there was such a thick coating of Eco, and I was almost worried for a bit, but eventually all of it reverted completely.
I washed with ApHogee Shampoo for Damaged Hair, then applied Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Daily Treatment and Black Tea. I took my shower, which probably rinsed a lot of it out. I didn't purposefully rinse, though. When I got out, I dabbed my hair clean with a shirt, then applied Keracare Humecto, and EcoStyler. I let it air dry overnight in Curlformers; however, my top left quadrant didn't dry properly, but I had to take them out for class. So that part of my hair is a bit poofy. Otherwise, the EcoStyler seems to be working: my curls haven't fallen at all yet--even with the hat, and my hair is SO moisturized I don't even understand. It looks [finally!] like all those wonderful ladies I follow on YouTube. It's so wonderful. I have a very badly lit photo [the camera is facing it, so there's always weird glare and lighting oddities] here, and I will post a better one after I've allowed my hair to get back in those Curlformers so it's all the same texture overall.

#7 Wash Day - Is It OK to not wash out your DC? First time using ECO Styler gel as well!

Thursday night, I washed my hair because I had some buildup and really wanted to do a black tea rinse. I made the tea, then created a mix using this: Garnier Fructis Triple Nutrition, aloe vera gel, honey, and grapeseed oil. The texture was incredibly weird, but I was only going to leave it in for an hour.
I shampooed with ApHogee Shampoo for Damaged Hair, applied the black tea from a spray bottle, then used the conditioner. I was going to leave it in for a few hours, but it was really late at this point so I just put my hair in Curlformers then went to bed. When I woke up my hair was so many kinds of amazing I decided not to wash it. It felt like I had been to the salon. It felt like when I flat iron except even a bit better.  I had tons of moisture and slip, but my hair didn't seem to have any extra product in it. I decided to flat iron my bangs and put them into a Curlformer again just to see the difference, but I got tired and only did two small spots.
The only difference between the flat iron and the other part was that the flat ironed hair couldn't hold the curl at all, even set overnight.
My hair is just amazing. It's now Monday and I have moisturized once, and even then I didn't *really* need to, I just wanted to use my two new products: I got an actual case of Curlformers [so now I have more than double--44] and Eco Styler Olive Oil gel.
Last night, I moisturized my hair with my normal liquid moisturizer, then added a bit of coconut oil, lastly the ESOO. I used the ESOO as the sealant because it's pretty thick and I think sealing before the ESOO might have poor results. Then, I applied the Curlformers.
It was perfect, I got to use sections of exactly the thickness I wanted, and had exactly enough Curlformers to do my entire head. Now if only I could figure out how to separate the wands after I'm done. Sigh. I think I just don't have the upper body strength.
I slept [mildly comfortably] with them in my hair and took them out in the morning. They don't feel much different than normal. They're a bit shinier. I was able to still flatten out the crown of my hair with a scarf, so I actually don't know how well the gel is going to hold. I used exactly how much was in the top the first time I opened it, so it might not have been much.
Mini-review of Eco Styler OO [I'll do a bigger one in the future, but I don't like doing real reviews the first few times I use a product] I really enjoyed applying the gel, because I could feel my new growth straightening out as I applied it, even without any force. It was great! I hope that I can get second or third day Curlformer hair, but I don't know. It doesn't feel hard or anything...We'll see when I update tomorrow!
So, hair day rating? 10:
I have healthy shine, my hair looks and feels moisturized and has slip, the style is wonderful and I can run my fingers through my newgrowth because having so many curlformers smoothed [not necessarily straightened in all sections] the ng. WONDERFUL!

My hair yesterday [no pics from today yet]

Hair Rambles: Shampoo'd and applied coconut oil...then LOC in the morning.

So I actually ended up with somehow sticky hair last night. To combat that, I shampoo'd, but I didn't DC my scalp has not been happy with me. Instead, I cowashed with Hair One and ApHogee's 2 minute, which I did leave on for a bit, but no more than 10 minutes. My scalp was just really really angry that day, probably from whatever made it sticky. I basically just applied a TON of coconut oil [Nutiva, my new one] to my hair and put it in curlformers. It was really soft this morning, but not quite moisturized enough, so I LOC'd this evening. I couldn't just allow my hair to be shampooed with no real moisture, after all.
I did it differently this time: I think the crazy new things I put in my L were too much, so I decided to minimize everything, now I know that I can successfully keep my hair mostly moisturized with only coconut oil, but it doesn't stay that way long enough so I've been LOCing. In this case, I decided to keep up the LOC, but only use a max of three ingredients per step. That sounds like a lot if you think of them as being separate  but remember, I make my own products so the normal like 15 ingredients per bottle is what I'm talking about. Now, I made my L out of only water, aloe vera gel, and grape seed oil. In that order, with 95% being water, two and a half pumps of aloe vera gel, and a quick squeeze of my grape seed oil bottle [mostly because I don't use this as much as I think I should. Ceramides are good, after all]. Then, my oil was only coconut oil. That's actually normal. Lastly, my C, which is usually [my homemade hair and skin lotion: raw shea butter, tea tree oil, grape seed oil, aloe vera gel, jojoba oil, and a little water] was only shea butter.
So today's LOC method: L:Water/Aloe vera gel/Grapeseed oil O:Coconut C:Shea butter
I sprayed it until slightly damp, then applied probably too much coconut oil [it was melting faster than expected, but my hair eats coconut oil like...well....water!], then applied definitely too much shea butter; I kept accidentally picking it up wrong because I couldn't use my normal disbursement method. Then, I put it in curlformers and let it dry for like an hour. When I took it down it felt great, and that was 4 hours ago. It feels even better now,  almost like it did that day I was having my best hair day ever, actually, if a little too shea-y. I went outside, though, and my hair was solid [moisturized, but frozen]! Too much shea, definitely, but hey, the curls stayed well, and whenever I went back inside it quickly calmed down and was bouncy in a few minutes, so I should be okay by tomorrow.
In the end: less is definitely better, my hair doesn't need a whole bottle's ingredients to be moisturized. It only needs five total! But yeah, I need a better way to dole out shea butter. I think I'm going to make my sections twice as big for now, at least, and clean out my other shea thingy.

When I put the curlformers in, I twisted the roots because I care more about straight roots than curls, and not twisting the roots was not giving me straight roots. Right now, my hair is smooth all over like I just have very thick straight hair. Before, it was clear that I was forcing curly hair to go straight, and that wasn't as good.

What I learned today: Only need a few things in LOC. Twist roots to get straight hair all over. My hair doesn't need to be DC'd after shampooing, but it does need intense moisture LOCs to pop back from it.

Update: Hair is still moisturized more than 24 hours later! Simplistic LOC FTW!

Hot oil treatment and DC

I used coconut oil, grapeseed oil and jojoba oil. I kept it on with a shower cap for an hour and a half, then I cowashed with VO5. I applied Keracare Humecto overnight and now I'm airdrying after applying a little bit of grapeseed oil. I had virtually no hair come out when I combed to put in the curlformers. The entire time, my hair felt extremely soft and full, and when I applied the Keracare Humecto, it felt amazing. I think I'm going to make sure I always have an adequate amount of oil on my hair, it seems like it'll help with combing at least.
Well, right now, my hair is definitely holding onto the moisture, but I'm not sure how long it will last, so that's a huge thing. It doesn't feel as good as last time, though.

Well, my hair felt a bit over conditioned this morning, but as of now it feels great. I did use a little bit of Biosilk Silk Therapy, just to remember what affect it has on dry hair. Right now, honestly, it just smells good. I'm sure it should be used on damp / wet hair anyway. I haven't applied much to leave in [though, I used a tiny bit of my new jar of Nutiva coconut oil; it's a lot thicker than the Trader Joe's one, hmmm] and the Biosilk. I think it's holding moisture pretty well otherwise.

I've noticed 2 things about my hair that I had sort of noticed but not thought much about before:
My hair feels / looks better / moves better when I compact it. When it's wrapped, or put in Curlformers, it just feels better. I'm not quite sure exactly what that means.
My hair feels a lot better when it's warmer, and harder when it's cold [not necessarily winter and summer]. I think this is because some of the products I use freeze at pretty high temperatures, so it's possible that could affect the hardness of my hair.