I just realized I never posted this...
Coconut Milk is a natural, very moisturizing, light protein conditioner. I used Trader Joe's version because it was $1 and...I was there. This stuff really defined my curls in a way I never thought possible. Once again, I believe I might be 4b instead of the 4c I originally thought I was was, and this product is a lot of the reason why. I used approximately 1/2 of the can, and it was fairly thick / creamy and went on like any store bought DC. I left it in under a shower cap for a few hours and washed it out to reveal glossy [well, in comparison to the utter and complete dullness that is my normal wet texture], moisturized hair.
This stuff elongated my natural curls because of how moisturizing it
was, and though I'm not too big on the importance of this; it actually
made my edges soft and flat. Seriously, this is the best deep conditioner I've ever used and it's just coconut milk.
I swore I was going to buy more of this and DC with it every time, and then that totally didn't happen for months, because I forgot. I recently bought more [Thai Kitchen's version, though] and have decided to also use it as my water based leave-in [as opposed to the oil one, and the cream, but I don't do LOC that faithfully anymore do to my 7 inches of natural hair waiting to revert from a set, lol!].
Anyway, this is my DC now, barring any crazy result from the light protein [my hair loves protein, so honestly, this is probably best since I keep forgetting...]
Healthy hair!
Monday, January 20, 2014
EVOO and Castor Oil: my two new amazing staples!
Over winter break, I finally got my hands on some extra virgin olive oil and some castor oil. The olive oil was just the best looking/price one at the store I was at when I thought abuot it, but the castor oil I specifically went to the natural store near my house to obtain.
EVOO is one of the three oils scientifically proven to have a small enough structure to actually penetrate the hair strand. This is a type of moisture. Most people argue that moisture can only be obtained from water. I completely disagree with that, but I do think hydration can only be achieved through water. Of course, I don't think hydration is necessary in all cases, but I do think some form of moisture are necessary for healthy hair growth.
Because of the penetrating property of EVOO [which is shares with coconut oil, another oil I adore as you all know, and avocado oil, which I have never used] I decided to add it to my leave-in. My leave-in used to be coconut oil, for moisture and grape seed oil for its reported ceramides and sealing properties. Now, I have added EVOO to the mix.
My last post was about flat ironed hair—and I apologize for the lack of pictures [my phone is...broken, driver-ly speaking.]—but I could never keep my flat ironed hair moisturized. The cuticle was just too closed for anything to penetrate. This mixture not only moisturised my hair, making it softer, silkier, shinier and more well defined, but it also made my hair weightier.
I said at least a year ago that I love it when my hair feels full and weighty, because it seems like the moisture has been trapped within my hair and it just feels healthy. Well, when I got home, I put the new mix on 1/4 of my hair, and just castor oil on 1/4 of my hair. When I came back a few hours later, the ponytail with the EVOO on it literally fell, hard, out of the holder. It actually surprised me, and made me jump a little because I expect my hair to be molded to the shape of the holder. I'll get a little swing/bounce, yes, but my hair, especially at the root, does not like to fall. This fell like it was actually wet. My hair clearly loved the EVOO and I will continue to use it every day that I need more moisture.
Castor Oil is packaged in one of two forms. Black, and...whatever non-black is called. Black castor oil is castor oil where the ash from the bean was also added to the mix. It is believed [though not proven] that the ash from the plant is also helpful for hair, so many like to purchase black castor oil. I had no such ideas about the ash, and honestly, it sounds like it smells bad. Do not get me wrong, I will definitely try JBCO or something in the future, but I simply did not feel like it was necessary. Castor oil is naturally yellow-ish and smells very nutty. I'm not a fan of the smell, but it fades quickly. Since I use it at night, I don't have to smell it after putting my scarf on anyway.
The paragraph above mentions me putting castor oil onto 1/4 of my hair. That part of my hair felt a lot softer than the 1/2 control and 1/4 EVOO mix. It felt smoother and was much shinier. I loved the results, because it seemed to really help my cuticles flatten properly. While it felt better than the mix, I knew it wasn't actually penetrating.
So my new routine for when I do not want to add water to my hair is to use my mix and follow it up with castor oil to seal. My ends look healthier and healthier every day.
I also use Castor oil as a scalp massage. I've heard it can help growth, but most importantly I have no oil in my scalp, and I've realised that dry scalp could be causing some of my issues. Now, every night I do a very short scalp massage with a small amount of castor oil, and my roots are seriously loving this new attention. They're much softer and more malleable now, and I have a lot less flakes than I did before. I plan to add castor to my face wash in the future, and I might let you guys know how that works as well.
Overall, though I didn't think this would happen, both of these oils are now my staples and the sheer amount of moisture they've only contributed to my hair makes me much happier with my progress.
I have a new hair product that I will write about in possibly a month, it is a DC and I got amazing results last night, [my mother bought it for me] and I also repurchased coconut milk [Thai Kitchen] and used that. I know that together they resulted in just the best hair ever, but I don't know if one of them contributed more or less, so we'll see!
Have great hair days, lovelies!
EVOO is one of the three oils scientifically proven to have a small enough structure to actually penetrate the hair strand. This is a type of moisture. Most people argue that moisture can only be obtained from water. I completely disagree with that, but I do think hydration can only be achieved through water. Of course, I don't think hydration is necessary in all cases, but I do think some form of moisture are necessary for healthy hair growth.
Because of the penetrating property of EVOO [which is shares with coconut oil, another oil I adore as you all know, and avocado oil, which I have never used] I decided to add it to my leave-in. My leave-in used to be coconut oil, for moisture and grape seed oil for its reported ceramides and sealing properties. Now, I have added EVOO to the mix.
My last post was about flat ironed hair—and I apologize for the lack of pictures [my phone is...broken, driver-ly speaking.]—but I could never keep my flat ironed hair moisturized. The cuticle was just too closed for anything to penetrate. This mixture not only moisturised my hair, making it softer, silkier, shinier and more well defined, but it also made my hair weightier.
I said at least a year ago that I love it when my hair feels full and weighty, because it seems like the moisture has been trapped within my hair and it just feels healthy. Well, when I got home, I put the new mix on 1/4 of my hair, and just castor oil on 1/4 of my hair. When I came back a few hours later, the ponytail with the EVOO on it literally fell, hard, out of the holder. It actually surprised me, and made me jump a little because I expect my hair to be molded to the shape of the holder. I'll get a little swing/bounce, yes, but my hair, especially at the root, does not like to fall. This fell like it was actually wet. My hair clearly loved the EVOO and I will continue to use it every day that I need more moisture.
Castor Oil is packaged in one of two forms. Black, and...whatever non-black is called. Black castor oil is castor oil where the ash from the bean was also added to the mix. It is believed [though not proven] that the ash from the plant is also helpful for hair, so many like to purchase black castor oil. I had no such ideas about the ash, and honestly, it sounds like it smells bad. Do not get me wrong, I will definitely try JBCO or something in the future, but I simply did not feel like it was necessary. Castor oil is naturally yellow-ish and smells very nutty. I'm not a fan of the smell, but it fades quickly. Since I use it at night, I don't have to smell it after putting my scarf on anyway.
The paragraph above mentions me putting castor oil onto 1/4 of my hair. That part of my hair felt a lot softer than the 1/2 control and 1/4 EVOO mix. It felt smoother and was much shinier. I loved the results, because it seemed to really help my cuticles flatten properly. While it felt better than the mix, I knew it wasn't actually penetrating.
So my new routine for when I do not want to add water to my hair is to use my mix and follow it up with castor oil to seal. My ends look healthier and healthier every day.
I also use Castor oil as a scalp massage. I've heard it can help growth, but most importantly I have no oil in my scalp, and I've realised that dry scalp could be causing some of my issues. Now, every night I do a very short scalp massage with a small amount of castor oil, and my roots are seriously loving this new attention. They're much softer and more malleable now, and I have a lot less flakes than I did before. I plan to add castor to my face wash in the future, and I might let you guys know how that works as well.
Overall, though I didn't think this would happen, both of these oils are now my staples and the sheer amount of moisture they've only contributed to my hair makes me much happier with my progress.
I have a new hair product that I will write about in possibly a month, it is a DC and I got amazing results last night, [my mother bought it for me] and I also repurchased coconut milk [Thai Kitchen] and used that. I know that together they resulted in just the best hair ever, but I don't know if one of them contributed more or less, so we'll see!
Have great hair days, lovelies!
Flat Ironing Once a Month!?
Firstly,
sorry for disappearing. I honestly haven't been doing much of anything
with my hair since starting to use home made products and being swamped
with classes. Even over Winter break I didn't do much to my hair. :(
So you guys know how lazy I am and the fact that flat ironing simply takes me way too much time. I decided to change it up, though, because I knew I wasn't going to do anything to my hair the last month of school [loads of things, including finals] and flat iron. I knew it would probably only last until I got home because, as you also know, my hair gets REALLY dry a few days after flat iroing and I just DC it.
It didn't! So, I DC'd per normal [which for me was shampooing with ApHogee Shampoo for Damaged Hair → I have now used all of this! It was really good but I'm going poo-less [except my clarifier for if I do something crazy, but that should be a few times a year as opposed to once every two weeks.] so I will not be repurchasing. I DC'd with Silk Elements, added a ton more as my leave in [I either do this or simply don't wash out the DC.]
I flat ironed with a medium amount of heat protectant, instead of the loads I used to use [paranoia, man!] and did it at 220°-280° in the sections my CF set came out in. All in all I probably did slightly more than those 42 sections, and my hair felt and looked amazing. It had slightly more swing than just a CF set and was much shinier. You know, normal flat ironing stuff.
At night I applied generous amounts of coconut oil before my various sets, which included headband curls and bantu knots. As it turns out, this generous application of coconut oil really helped my hair stay moisturized. Instead of being afraid of weighing my hair down, I allowed it to finally take in what it so desperately wanted and I ended up going the full month before washing my hair again!
This was about a week into break, when I decided, what the heck, I'll flat iron again and see if my new oils [next post will be about these] will work even better, or if this was a fluke. I flat ironed again, same temp but even less [still probably too much, you guys have NO IDEA how much I was using, lol] heat protectant, right after a DC with Hair One Argan Oil [I will not rebuy HO! I know, this was my only HG product, but I've realized now that my home made products are good enough that I will not need to repurchase this. It's a great feeling!]
My hair had less swing than before, and was just as shiny as when I took it out of the CF. In fact, I almost didn't flat iron because my hair already looked and felt great from the intense moisture. Once again, I didn't care about weighing down my hair [and I've learned that my hair doesn't actually get 'weighed down' in the less movement/stiffness category, but it does actually weigh more, causing it to move more and be less stiff! Amazing!] and I used my new oil mix.
Wow. Once again, this oil will be my next post because I feel like it deserves it's own topic. They're two oils you've probably [almost definitely] heard of but I only just got them.
Halfway through, my hair was great, but I thought something was missing. I realized it was protein, so I did a really ghetto version of a protein treatment and my hair literally got softer every single day until I reached this weird peak of amazingness that was so awesome I could not keep my hands out of my hair. Unfortunately, I couldn't sustain it, but I remembered how much my hair loves the protein [this was mostly hydrolysed wheat] and I'll use it more often. I need to buy a protein treatment, since it's so difficult to naturally make products with small enough protein molecules to penetrate, but I couldn't find what I wanted [Aubrey Organics GPB].
In the end I only went two / three weeks with this hair because I just really wanted to play with my natural hair texture again, but it looked great, and I got tons of complements every time I went out.
I will not be flat ironing again any time soon, but it is great to know that I can do it without causing dryness, especially with the time it takes to flat iron my hair!
Have great hair days, guys and gals!
So you guys know how lazy I am and the fact that flat ironing simply takes me way too much time. I decided to change it up, though, because I knew I wasn't going to do anything to my hair the last month of school [loads of things, including finals] and flat iron. I knew it would probably only last until I got home because, as you also know, my hair gets REALLY dry a few days after flat iroing and I just DC it.
It didn't! So, I DC'd per normal [which for me was shampooing with ApHogee Shampoo for Damaged Hair → I have now used all of this! It was really good but I'm going poo-less [except my clarifier for if I do something crazy, but that should be a few times a year as opposed to once every two weeks.] so I will not be repurchasing. I DC'd with Silk Elements, added a ton more as my leave in [I either do this or simply don't wash out the DC.]
I flat ironed with a medium amount of heat protectant, instead of the loads I used to use [paranoia, man!] and did it at 220°-280° in the sections my CF set came out in. All in all I probably did slightly more than those 42 sections, and my hair felt and looked amazing. It had slightly more swing than just a CF set and was much shinier. You know, normal flat ironing stuff.
At night I applied generous amounts of coconut oil before my various sets, which included headband curls and bantu knots. As it turns out, this generous application of coconut oil really helped my hair stay moisturized. Instead of being afraid of weighing my hair down, I allowed it to finally take in what it so desperately wanted and I ended up going the full month before washing my hair again!
This was about a week into break, when I decided, what the heck, I'll flat iron again and see if my new oils [next post will be about these] will work even better, or if this was a fluke. I flat ironed again, same temp but even less [still probably too much, you guys have NO IDEA how much I was using, lol] heat protectant, right after a DC with Hair One Argan Oil [I will not rebuy HO! I know, this was my only HG product, but I've realized now that my home made products are good enough that I will not need to repurchase this. It's a great feeling!]
My hair had less swing than before, and was just as shiny as when I took it out of the CF. In fact, I almost didn't flat iron because my hair already looked and felt great from the intense moisture. Once again, I didn't care about weighing down my hair [and I've learned that my hair doesn't actually get 'weighed down' in the less movement/stiffness category, but it does actually weigh more, causing it to move more and be less stiff! Amazing!] and I used my new oil mix.
Wow. Once again, this oil will be my next post because I feel like it deserves it's own topic. They're two oils you've probably [almost definitely] heard of but I only just got them.
Halfway through, my hair was great, but I thought something was missing. I realized it was protein, so I did a really ghetto version of a protein treatment and my hair literally got softer every single day until I reached this weird peak of amazingness that was so awesome I could not keep my hands out of my hair. Unfortunately, I couldn't sustain it, but I remembered how much my hair loves the protein [this was mostly hydrolysed wheat] and I'll use it more often. I need to buy a protein treatment, since it's so difficult to naturally make products with small enough protein molecules to penetrate, but I couldn't find what I wanted [Aubrey Organics GPB].
In the end I only went two / three weeks with this hair because I just really wanted to play with my natural hair texture again, but it looked great, and I got tons of complements every time I went out.
I will not be flat ironing again any time soon, but it is great to know that I can do it without causing dryness, especially with the time it takes to flat iron my hair!
Have great hair days, guys and gals!
Sunday, September 1, 2013
First wash day of the Fall Semester: First ACV and Black Tea in a long while...
So I've done my hair a few times since the last time I posted, but because of the ridiculous humidity, and the start of college, I haven't been doing as much and it hasn't been staying straight by any definition of the word. I mean, I have enough natural hair to reach my chin at this point [pulled, not with shrinkage] and it's refusing to blend. I've done deep conditioning, my normal leave-in deep condition, tried wet and dry hair, done the LOC method, all of the above with Curlformers. I've tried blow drying the hair in the CF but it's just not getting dry in less than 12 hours, and I've even attempted to flat iron [I only did my bang. I didn't work at all so I figured I'd stop there.] and nothing is blending these textures. It's crazy, and my room mate has officially hit all the questions, good and bad, every natural haired gal gets. Before this I was pretty happy with my hair but now I'm a little freaked out by how people might view it. I was given a little support from some friends so it's not like I'm going to go back to relaxing, but still, unnerving.
It's Labor Day weekend so I decided to go home and do my hair, seeing if the whole being inside in an air conditioned place [we have no AC in the apt] would help, plus the fact that I accidentally left my black tea and apple cider vinegar at home. I brewed some black tea where the water had some apple cider vinegar, and left it to steep overnight.
Wash:
I prepoo'd with coconut oil for a little bit [hour or two? I just didn't feel like washing until really late last night], then I shampooed with ApHogee Shampoo for Damaged Hair, mostly on my scalp because my curls hate shampoo. Then, I deep conditioned overnight with Garnier Fructis Triple Nutrition 3-Minute Miracle. Last time I used this, I mixed it with a bunch of things and DCed with it for a few hours. It was amazing. This time, I didn't mix it, and it was merely OK. Anyway, the next morning [about 08:00. I have early class again this year, so I'm used to it -______-] I rinsed my hair out a bit, then sprayed on the ACV/Black tea mix, let it sit for a bit, then rinsed everything out before pouring the mix on my head and letting that sit for a bit. I rinsed it again, then proceeded to use my Hair One: Olive Oil [I still have some left, but I can't pump it out anymore. I unscrewed the top and dug it out with my finger.] as a leave in conditioner while detangling and applying Curlformers, finishing at 09:00.
Results:
At about 15:00, I took them out and my hair was actually dry, unlike the last few weeks where it took more than 12 hours. Furthermore, it is completely stretched and the natural hair is totally blended, which I wasn't getting before. It's also the softest it's been in the last few months, and even my mom noticed! I don't know if it's the AC, the ACV or the black tea, but at the least I'm going to keep up the latter when I return.
Extra:
Something new I learned a few days ago, is that my natural hair loves to be detangled wet, which my relaxed hair really couldn't stand. Hopefully I'll be able to lose less hair by dampening it.
Now, we'll see how long it takes before my hair reverts. Good day everyone, and have a happy healthy hair journey!
I cowashed a few days ago and my hair seemed to like it. The fact that this wash was pretty easy I think can be attributed to the cowash. I want to do them more often, but if my hair takes so long to dry, I won't be able to with my schedule. I really enjoy cowashing, though, so we'll see.
I still have four curlformers in my hair from sections I made too that I had to redo. When they're done, I plan on taking a picture! Honestly, though, it looks like all other ACV/BTR CFs I've ever done.
It's Labor Day weekend so I decided to go home and do my hair, seeing if the whole being inside in an air conditioned place [we have no AC in the apt] would help, plus the fact that I accidentally left my black tea and apple cider vinegar at home. I brewed some black tea where the water had some apple cider vinegar, and left it to steep overnight.
Wash:
I prepoo'd with coconut oil for a little bit [hour or two? I just didn't feel like washing until really late last night], then I shampooed with ApHogee Shampoo for Damaged Hair, mostly on my scalp because my curls hate shampoo. Then, I deep conditioned overnight with Garnier Fructis Triple Nutrition 3-Minute Miracle. Last time I used this, I mixed it with a bunch of things and DCed with it for a few hours. It was amazing. This time, I didn't mix it, and it was merely OK. Anyway, the next morning [about 08:00. I have early class again this year, so I'm used to it -______-] I rinsed my hair out a bit, then sprayed on the ACV/Black tea mix, let it sit for a bit, then rinsed everything out before pouring the mix on my head and letting that sit for a bit. I rinsed it again, then proceeded to use my Hair One: Olive Oil [I still have some left, but I can't pump it out anymore. I unscrewed the top and dug it out with my finger.] as a leave in conditioner while detangling and applying Curlformers, finishing at 09:00.
Results:
At about 15:00, I took them out and my hair was actually dry, unlike the last few weeks where it took more than 12 hours. Furthermore, it is completely stretched and the natural hair is totally blended, which I wasn't getting before. It's also the softest it's been in the last few months, and even my mom noticed! I don't know if it's the AC, the ACV or the black tea, but at the least I'm going to keep up the latter when I return.
Extra:
Something new I learned a few days ago, is that my natural hair loves to be detangled wet, which my relaxed hair really couldn't stand. Hopefully I'll be able to lose less hair by dampening it.
Now, we'll see how long it takes before my hair reverts. Good day everyone, and have a happy healthy hair journey!
I cowashed a few days ago and my hair seemed to like it. The fact that this wash was pretty easy I think can be attributed to the cowash. I want to do them more often, but if my hair takes so long to dry, I won't be able to with my schedule. I really enjoy cowashing, though, so we'll see.
I still have four curlformers in my hair from sections I made too that I had to redo. When they're done, I plan on taking a picture! Honestly, though, it looks like all other ACV/BTR CFs I've ever done.
Monday, July 29, 2013
#10 Wash Day [dilution of shampoo test] and LOC today [Pic of LOC results]
[Broken laptop, btw guys]
I shampooed my hair Sunday, and I had some serious oily buildup so I shampooed even though it makes my hair fail. I actually diluted the ApHogee Shampoo for Damaged Hair with my cowash conditioner VO5 Strawberries and Cream, then I cowashed [I really hate the feeling of shampooing, so now I cowash immediately after]. I followed it up with ApHogee 2 Minute since I haven't used protein in a while, rinsed that our when I finished showering, and applied Keracare Humecto. I don't wash out my DC anymore [as mentioned above] so I put my hair in Curlformers and went about my merry way. When I took my hair down, it was a lot softer and shinier than it had been, but it had crazy hold and I wasn't expecting that. I actually got really nice second day hair, for the first time in a while. I think it was the protein treatment.
Anyway, this morning I was told I needed to go out, so I decided to do a really quick LOC session where I would use Curlformers to get a nice, cute, quick [well, two hours waiting but only about 10 minutes of work] style. L: I used my normal spritz, O: an oil mix that actually contains every oil I own (I made it for doing HOT, but I haven't done any in a long while, so I'm trying to use it up], C: and I used a tiny dab of raw shea butter to seal. When I took my hair down it felt like a dream. It was extremely bouncy and moisturised, in fact, I was worried it was still wet for a minute, there. I haven't been able to stop touching it all day! Anyway, here is a picture.
I know you can't tell, but it looks and feels like I stepped out of a salon. I'm extremely happy with how this turned out and I'm going to try and figure out exactly what caused this sudden change. Anyway, stay sexy, my friends! :P
I shampooed my hair Sunday, and I had some serious oily buildup so I shampooed even though it makes my hair fail. I actually diluted the ApHogee Shampoo for Damaged Hair with my cowash conditioner VO5 Strawberries and Cream, then I cowashed [I really hate the feeling of shampooing, so now I cowash immediately after]. I followed it up with ApHogee 2 Minute since I haven't used protein in a while, rinsed that our when I finished showering, and applied Keracare Humecto. I don't wash out my DC anymore [as mentioned above] so I put my hair in Curlformers and went about my merry way. When I took my hair down, it was a lot softer and shinier than it had been, but it had crazy hold and I wasn't expecting that. I actually got really nice second day hair, for the first time in a while. I think it was the protein treatment.
Anyway, this morning I was told I needed to go out, so I decided to do a really quick LOC session where I would use Curlformers to get a nice, cute, quick [well, two hours waiting but only about 10 minutes of work] style. L: I used my normal spritz, O: an oil mix that actually contains every oil I own (I made it for doing HOT, but I haven't done any in a long while, so I'm trying to use it up], C: and I used a tiny dab of raw shea butter to seal. When I took my hair down it felt like a dream. It was extremely bouncy and moisturised, in fact, I was worried it was still wet for a minute, there. I haven't been able to stop touching it all day! Anyway, here is a picture.
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Egg review:
O_O. You guys. The egg stopped my breakage with a big red "Nope.jpg" sign.
I have had huge breakage problems all of my journey, even using loads of products that are supposed to help. They usually help some, but I'd never gotten down to the sort of breakage most of the people I follow talk about until now.
I broke four hairs this morning. Four. That's unheard of for me. Usually, that means I was running my fingers through my hair at some point in the day [usually the morning to clump or seperate curls], and four hairs broke off just from touching it. No. I parted my hair in two sections to flat twist it. I combed one half, lost two hairs, combed the other, lost two.
I probably should have tried the ApHogee Two Step, because it's an extremely hard protein, but I assumed that since I do normal protein treatments every few weeks, and/or the ORS Mayo monthly, it wouldn't help. This egg is exactly what I needed. I'll have to see how frequently / infrequently I need to do these treatments, because I've seriously not had such strong hair before without a good salon visit.
The weirdest thing is that it doesn't feel different. Normally, my hair feels different after a protein treatment, it feels stronger / fuller or something, but with the Nutiva coconut oil and other things I'd been using, I was already getting that feeling. That's another reason I thought protein wouldn't work, but other than that the only thing I did was accidentally leave a little of the black tea + apple cider vinegar in my conditioner, and it wasn't very much of that anyway. So, with all other options out of the way, it has to be the egg.
So, can egg protein penetrate hair strands? Well, I have hair that takes forever to absorb things but loses them quickly, we'll say high porosity, fine/medium [I'm beginning to think my hair is medium thickness because it doesn't do the things most thin hair can do] thickness, but densely growing, transitioning hair, and the egg protein got in. That is not to say that your hair will react the same, but maybe if it has the same qualities as mine it will.
Sealing Level Up!?
My hair is also much shinier, and it still looks very moisturized today even though it's been 24 hours since that drying fiasco. [My hair used to look insanely dry whenever I air dried. Then I started setting and it got a bit better, then I started using CF and it got a lot better, but still the max I could get was 24 hour moisture locks.] That, however, could be do to the fact that I've realized how much my hair likes oils when it is wet and started to use oil and shea butter to seal instead of conditioner. So it's either the protein is holding onto the moisture, the fact that I've been cowashing only since a week and a half ago, or the water / oil / butter LOC keeping the moisture in. It's probably a combination, but either way it's awesome.
I have had huge breakage problems all of my journey, even using loads of products that are supposed to help. They usually help some, but I'd never gotten down to the sort of breakage most of the people I follow talk about until now.
I broke four hairs this morning. Four. That's unheard of for me. Usually, that means I was running my fingers through my hair at some point in the day [usually the morning to clump or seperate curls], and four hairs broke off just from touching it. No. I parted my hair in two sections to flat twist it. I combed one half, lost two hairs, combed the other, lost two.
I probably should have tried the ApHogee Two Step, because it's an extremely hard protein, but I assumed that since I do normal protein treatments every few weeks, and/or the ORS Mayo monthly, it wouldn't help. This egg is exactly what I needed. I'll have to see how frequently / infrequently I need to do these treatments, because I've seriously not had such strong hair before without a good salon visit.
The weirdest thing is that it doesn't feel different. Normally, my hair feels different after a protein treatment, it feels stronger / fuller or something, but with the Nutiva coconut oil and other things I'd been using, I was already getting that feeling. That's another reason I thought protein wouldn't work, but other than that the only thing I did was accidentally leave a little of the black tea + apple cider vinegar in my conditioner, and it wasn't very much of that anyway. So, with all other options out of the way, it has to be the egg.
So, can egg protein penetrate hair strands? Well, I have hair that takes forever to absorb things but loses them quickly, we'll say high porosity, fine/medium [I'm beginning to think my hair is medium thickness because it doesn't do the things most thin hair can do] thickness, but densely growing, transitioning hair, and the egg protein got in. That is not to say that your hair will react the same, but maybe if it has the same qualities as mine it will.
Sealing Level Up!?
My hair is also much shinier, and it still looks very moisturized today even though it's been 24 hours since that drying fiasco. [My hair used to look insanely dry whenever I air dried. Then I started setting and it got a bit better, then I started using CF and it got a lot better, but still the max I could get was 24 hour moisture locks.] That, however, could be do to the fact that I've realized how much my hair likes oils when it is wet and started to use oil and shea butter to seal instead of conditioner. So it's either the protein is holding onto the moisture, the fact that I've been cowashing only since a week and a half ago, or the water / oil / butter LOC keeping the moisture in. It's probably a combination, but either way it's awesome.
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
EGG! + Another cowash + bad hair day! [Pictures, for once!]
I finally decided to try using egg as a deep protein conditioner. I also decided to try DCing overnight again. It's been a long while since I've actually DCed, I usually just leave in the DC and everything works well, but I have noticed that if I do it for too many weeks in a row, it stops working, [around the second week?] so then I just DC instead, and restart the pattern. I knew I needed to DC because I was using a hard protein conditioner; and egg conditioning has been compared to using ApHogee's famed Two Step [instead of 2 minute], which is intense and requires immediate moisture or you will get breakage. So I did the egg, mixed with a tiny bit of raw honey, and left it on for about 45 minutes to an hour while watching TV.
Egg [With a bit of honey]:
Putting on the egg was a lot more difficult than getting it out. I now understand why people usually mix it, but I will not do that in the future because the egg is already so strong. You know how uncooked egg likes to stick together? Well it was like that. There was no way I was getting more than like a teaspoon of egg at a time, and I tried using different grabbing methods /utensils. In the end, it just took a lot longer than a regular DC would have taken to put on, but it wasn't horrible or messy. It was pretty sticky on my hands, but that was in part due to the fact that I hadn't melted the raw honey. Then I washed it out.
Left is side that had egg on it at the time, right is before I did those. As you can see, I do things in braids now, but as of this afternooon, I have clips! Finally! So that'll make everything a whole lot easier!
Cowashing [Since last week, I have decided to cowash twice a week, shampoo every other week]:
I used VO5 Moisture Milks Strawberries and Cream conditioner to cowash my hair, sense I've been doing a cowash only thing. My natural curls are getting more defined as the days without shampooing pass [I can only tell when they're wet because my hair is always stretched, but yeah, definitely more defined], so I might actually keep this up longer than I was planning. I'm definitely skipping this weekend's wash.
Then I did a black tea and ACV rinse, which I definitely did not wash out all the way [accident] before applying Silk Elements Megasilk as an overnight DC.
Hair as I started to put the DC on it. Left has it, right does not.
Bad Hair Day?:
So...I get up, wash out the DC, add some Grape Seed Oil and some Raw Shea Butter and start to put in my Curlformers, and about 30 minutes after I finish my mom calls me saying, 'We have errands, so if you want to come you need to be ready in 3 minutes". Well, I love going out because I'm a huge nerd who does programming and never leaves the house [yay stereotypez]. But my hair is still very very wet.
Products Mentioned List: [new section! I didn't necessarily get them from the links, but it will always be the version in the picture.]
Raw Egg [Just...eggs from a store...nothing special at all]
Worked extremely well. I'll probably do this once a month. This is the best protein treatment I have ever used, including the ORS Hair Mayo I really like, so at least I have a very cheap replacement!
VO5 Moisture Milks Strawberries and Cream -- Got this from a food store that had a hair section. .72 cent there. Don't pay more than $1. This is amazing at cowashing. Firstly, you can use as much as you want because you don't need to worry about price [looking at you, salon brands] and it gives so much slip and smells so delicious. I'll keep buying this for cowashing, and it's one of the two 'made' products I'll keep buying.
Black Tea -- Can't find a link yet, no brand that I can remember. I'll try again and update. It was 100 bags for $1. I'll probably try Lipton next, though. It works well for shedding and making the smell of ACV slightly more tolerable. [I mix them.] It also gives shine and holds moisture a bit better [I've heard the caffeine makes protein stick longer, which makes moisture stick longer, so that...sort of makes sense?]
[+]
ACV, I actually got mine from GNC. Either way, never pay more than like 3 bucks for this. It smells horrendous, even worse than the ApHogee stuff people complain about. It's so bad that I will never buy it again. It's so useful, though, and cheap, but I've heard that Aloe Vera Juice works the same way [note: Aloe Vera Gel, does not. ACV is a ph balancer, and a clarifier, AVG is a good moisturizer, but ACJ actually has the proper ph levels--I'll need a new clarifyer, though]. Maybe if I ever start buying essential oils and can mask the smell, I'll try again.
Silk Elements Megasilk Moisture Treatment -- This goes on sale all the time. Only buy it if it's on sale. Mine cost like $7, I think. Can only be bought at Sally Beauty, I think. This is a good conditioner if you've got it on sale. It works really well, it smells nice, and it moisturizes better than lots of salon brands. I really like it, and if I didn't have Hair One to fall back on [and if it didn't cost MORE when it's not on sale O_o. I'd never seen the real price before today. $15? Cray] , I might even consider buying it again.
Grape Seed Oil -- about $7-8, but it's common and you can probably find cheaper and more expensive ones everywhere. I love grape seed oil because ceramides are awesome and because my hair loves using oil as a serum, especially coconut, jojoba, or grapeseed.
Raw Shea Butter: link coming soon. I love raw shea butter for hair and skin care. I use it in my lotion, and it's much better than other lotions to the point where I've tried to use other lotion and it's just depressing. Especially because theirs usually smells better :(. In hair, I use it as a sealant with light hold. My hair loves this stuff as a sealant.
Curlformers, bought from Sally Beauty Supply because it's slightly less if you're a member, and no shipping. I love these. We know this. I mean, for Cthulhu's sake: I don't have to comb my hair, it keeps it stretched for the entire week so I have no tangles to deal with on wash day, it's a great style, it's PERFECT for transitioning. I learned today how badly my hair needs to be stretched at all times, I'd taken it for granted because I didn't have that much ng before I got them, but they are almost necessary. I mean, I can think of how I could do this without them, but given that I've tried before, several times, to stretch more than 4 months [that was my average throughout my entire relaxed life, really], but it always got so bad. I have experienced none of those issues since buying these. Also, sexy hair, shine, so much bounce and movement...it's a dream. They're a dream. OK. They're not paying me. I wish they were. Honestly, I wish they were giving me those Extra Long and Extra Wide so I wouldn't have scraggly ends the first night >_>.
New items that aren't tested much:
100 Large Clear Hair Polybands: I don't do regular hair things [like the Goody Ouchless bands] anymore because the stuff inside is disgusting and my hair keeps making it come out [if they get stretched too much; almost all have], and the part that connects them breaks my hair [it's not metal, but it still snags. In the end, it's the same as just having metal for me]. I need to get silk ones, but I lose these too much. I have small black hair elastics, which cannot be used to hold even a fourth ponytail, so I use them to tie my ends, or hold tiny sections in place. They're great for that because they break way before doing anything bad to my hair, whereas normal bands just break my hair. I have about 500 of them, so literally I just pull my hair down / the elastic down and the elastic pops off without bothering me, then I trash it if it's broken. It's a much better system for me since they're cheap and easily replaceable, whereas the others are not. Plus, the material feels like it probably doesn't suck the moisture from my hair like regular bands. These stretch a lot more, so I'm enjoying them so far.
Conair Metal Hair Clips, pack of 12:
I dunno., Nothing special. They're medium sized, duckbill-y and metal. They're MUCH better than the various ways I've tried and I don't see them getting broken. I usually do 4 parts, so 12 means I can keep them in seperate groups and I'll have some if any get lost. Wewt wewt. They are extremely bendy, tthough.
Egg [With a bit of honey]:
Putting on the egg was a lot more difficult than getting it out. I now understand why people usually mix it, but I will not do that in the future because the egg is already so strong. You know how uncooked egg likes to stick together? Well it was like that. There was no way I was getting more than like a teaspoon of egg at a time, and I tried using different grabbing methods /utensils. In the end, it just took a lot longer than a regular DC would have taken to put on, but it wasn't horrible or messy. It was pretty sticky on my hands, but that was in part due to the fact that I hadn't melted the raw honey. Then I washed it out.
Left is side that had egg on it at the time, right is before I did those. As you can see, I do things in braids now, but as of this afternooon, I have clips! Finally! So that'll make everything a whole lot easier!
Cowashing [Since last week, I have decided to cowash twice a week, shampoo every other week]:
I used VO5 Moisture Milks Strawberries and Cream conditioner to cowash my hair, sense I've been doing a cowash only thing. My natural curls are getting more defined as the days without shampooing pass [I can only tell when they're wet because my hair is always stretched, but yeah, definitely more defined], so I might actually keep this up longer than I was planning. I'm definitely skipping this weekend's wash.
Then I did a black tea and ACV rinse, which I definitely did not wash out all the way [accident] before applying Silk Elements Megasilk as an overnight DC.
Hair as I started to put the DC on it. Left has it, right does not.
Bad Hair Day?:
So...I get up, wash out the DC, add some Grape Seed Oil and some Raw Shea Butter and start to put in my Curlformers, and about 30 minutes after I finish my mom calls me saying, 'We have errands, so if you want to come you need to be ready in 3 minutes". Well, I love going out because I'm a huge nerd who does programming and never leaves the house [yay stereotypez]. But my hair is still very very wet.
- Blowdrying?: So I grabbed my mom's blowdrier [I've only ever blow dried my hair, in any way, about 5 times. Including this one and a few weeks ago when I tried the same thing] and started. But her blowdryer is old and doesn't have a 'cold shot' button, so I couldn't cool my hair down without waiting. I tried this, but just like last time my hair didn't get dry, though I did a much better job in those three minutes [plus the two she gave me] than any other time I've blowdried. Still, not doing that again. It was useless.
- Flat Twisting and eggs, result: Now I have even more love for my curlformers. Normally I do not style my hair when wet because I get huge breakage, but I figured the best way to keep my hair stretched was to flat twist, so I did. I'm still not good at flat twisting, I don't seem to have the strength to pull it taught, so I knew it wouldn't be very straight in the end, but no real choice. I made it look as cute as possible and we headed out. But I had to detangle wet hair to do this. I lost less than half the hair I usually lose, when my hair is dry and straight. [NOTE: I do not comb my hair on wash days. The Curlformer sets do a great job of getting rid of the vast majority of tangles in my hair.] So the egg worked amazingly! Even better than the treatments I've bought, which is good because the main reason I tried this is that I'm running out of them. My mom said the hair didn't look bad, just kind of puffy. We were both surprised by the huge shine the eggs gave me that I normally don't have unless my Curlformer sets have dried. So, bonus points there. Seriously though, my hair tangled up on itself like nobodies business and I was unhappy that I had to take out my CF. But it was worth it because I got to leave the house. Yay!
[I LOVE butterfly clips, but have 0 clips at all {too poor}, but it was metal and worth it because it wouldn't break like the last one :S. Then I realized it's probably not big enough for my hair either way.] I might still return and get it, it is one of the bigger hair claws that exist. Instead, I bought [for less than $5], 100 hair elastics [the clear ones that are larger, I have tiny black ones that I use to tie ponytails] and 12 large metal clips. So I finally have clips!
Got back home at 21:00~ish, put my hair in Curlformers, and I haven't taken them out yet.
Products Mentioned List: [new section! I didn't necessarily get them from the links, but it will always be the version in the picture.]
Raw Egg [Just...eggs from a store...nothing special at all]
Worked extremely well. I'll probably do this once a month. This is the best protein treatment I have ever used, including the ORS Hair Mayo I really like, so at least I have a very cheap replacement!
VO5 Moisture Milks Strawberries and Cream -- Got this from a food store that had a hair section. .72 cent there. Don't pay more than $1. This is amazing at cowashing. Firstly, you can use as much as you want because you don't need to worry about price [looking at you, salon brands] and it gives so much slip and smells so delicious. I'll keep buying this for cowashing, and it's one of the two 'made' products I'll keep buying.
Black Tea -- Can't find a link yet, no brand that I can remember. I'll try again and update. It was 100 bags for $1. I'll probably try Lipton next, though. It works well for shedding and making the smell of ACV slightly more tolerable. [I mix them.] It also gives shine and holds moisture a bit better [I've heard the caffeine makes protein stick longer, which makes moisture stick longer, so that...sort of makes sense?]
[+]
ACV, I actually got mine from GNC. Either way, never pay more than like 3 bucks for this. It smells horrendous, even worse than the ApHogee stuff people complain about. It's so bad that I will never buy it again. It's so useful, though, and cheap, but I've heard that Aloe Vera Juice works the same way [note: Aloe Vera Gel, does not. ACV is a ph balancer, and a clarifier, AVG is a good moisturizer, but ACJ actually has the proper ph levels--I'll need a new clarifyer, though]. Maybe if I ever start buying essential oils and can mask the smell, I'll try again.
Silk Elements Megasilk Moisture Treatment -- This goes on sale all the time. Only buy it if it's on sale. Mine cost like $7, I think. Can only be bought at Sally Beauty, I think. This is a good conditioner if you've got it on sale. It works really well, it smells nice, and it moisturizes better than lots of salon brands. I really like it, and if I didn't have Hair One to fall back on [and if it didn't cost MORE when it's not on sale O_o. I'd never seen the real price before today. $15? Cray] , I might even consider buying it again.
Grape Seed Oil -- about $7-8, but it's common and you can probably find cheaper and more expensive ones everywhere. I love grape seed oil because ceramides are awesome and because my hair loves using oil as a serum, especially coconut, jojoba, or grapeseed.
Raw Shea Butter: link coming soon. I love raw shea butter for hair and skin care. I use it in my lotion, and it's much better than other lotions to the point where I've tried to use other lotion and it's just depressing. Especially because theirs usually smells better :(. In hair, I use it as a sealant with light hold. My hair loves this stuff as a sealant.
Curlformers, bought from Sally Beauty Supply because it's slightly less if you're a member, and no shipping. I love these. We know this. I mean, for Cthulhu's sake: I don't have to comb my hair, it keeps it stretched for the entire week so I have no tangles to deal with on wash day, it's a great style, it's PERFECT for transitioning. I learned today how badly my hair needs to be stretched at all times, I'd taken it for granted because I didn't have that much ng before I got them, but they are almost necessary. I mean, I can think of how I could do this without them, but given that I've tried before, several times, to stretch more than 4 months [that was my average throughout my entire relaxed life, really], but it always got so bad. I have experienced none of those issues since buying these. Also, sexy hair, shine, so much bounce and movement...it's a dream. They're a dream. OK. They're not paying me. I wish they were. Honestly, I wish they were giving me those Extra Long and Extra Wide so I wouldn't have scraggly ends the first night >_>.
New items that aren't tested much:
100 Large Clear Hair Polybands: I don't do regular hair things [like the Goody Ouchless bands] anymore because the stuff inside is disgusting and my hair keeps making it come out [if they get stretched too much; almost all have], and the part that connects them breaks my hair [it's not metal, but it still snags. In the end, it's the same as just having metal for me]. I need to get silk ones, but I lose these too much. I have small black hair elastics, which cannot be used to hold even a fourth ponytail, so I use them to tie my ends, or hold tiny sections in place. They're great for that because they break way before doing anything bad to my hair, whereas normal bands just break my hair. I have about 500 of them, so literally I just pull my hair down / the elastic down and the elastic pops off without bothering me, then I trash it if it's broken. It's a much better system for me since they're cheap and easily replaceable, whereas the others are not. Plus, the material feels like it probably doesn't suck the moisture from my hair like regular bands. These stretch a lot more, so I'm enjoying them so far.
Conair Metal Hair Clips, pack of 12:
I dunno., Nothing special. They're medium sized, duckbill-y and metal. They're MUCH better than the various ways I've tried and I don't see them getting broken. I usually do 4 parts, so 12 means I can keep them in seperate groups and I'll have some if any get lost. Wewt wewt. They are extremely bendy, tthough.
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