So I don't use shampoo unless my hair feels really coated. I co-wash almost every time I wash, and I leave in my deep conditioner. I make almost all my products and at this point nearly all my remaining products [none of which I will be repurchasing, as I have home made recipes I like] are all natural. It's weird how this happened, because I just wanted to save money!
My hair loves natural things: I've never used a store bought DC that worked better than coconut milk, I've never used a leave-in better than EVCO/EVOO/Grape seed oil mixed, I've never used a sealant better than shea butter [if I need hold] / castor oil. While silicones never seemed to really mess up my hair, they didn't do much to make it look or feel better either. Sulfates just make my hair rediculously frizzy, so I stopped using those as well. Leaving in my conditioner is the only way for me to have hair that is moisturized for more than the first 24 hours after I DC and still not even more than 48 hours! I ended up inadvertantly doing CG/TCG with natural hair products without even knowing what they were until about 2.5-3 years into my journey!
It's not like my hair is great, and I sometimes use shampoo and silicones. I'm not officially doing any of this, but it's usually to correct a problem and then I usually have to correct whatever problem was caused by using those products -____-.
I will say, though, that these practices have finally started to show some results.
My hair never looked wet when it was until
this week. It always looked dry even when soaking wet. Using coconut
milk and [this new product I just got] as well as cowashing with VO5 without having
shampooed at all for a few months seems to have improved my hair's ability to absorb
water. This is great! I thought it was just a textural issue and not a
moisture one, but this is actually defining my curls [they even CLUMPED FOR A FEW
MINUTES last night!] and improving my moisture. My hair's feeling and appearance is more constantly good as well; my hair is now flat iron glossy from
roller sets! I can consistantly make it soft every day, so I don't have the 'oh crap' moment in the morning when my hair feels horrible and I have no idea how to fix it.
Shine/Gloss/Sheen: The absolute most I could get before was light sheen, after a set or flat iron. I would say a shine is when your hair is reflecting bright white, and a gloss is when it looks 'done' but not necessarily blinding. I
will say that I'm okay with sheen, I actually prefer it because it looks
healthier in my eyes, but I never realized my hair could actually be like this without heat. I'm going to BC at the end of this year [that is a definite "Yes," I'd previously been struggling with cutting off my relaxed hair, because I care too much about my natural hair and I wanted the relaxed hair to take all the damage, LOL. That's horrible, isn't it?] I know that my hair will be long enough for me when this year is up, so maybe I'll do it on NYE or something. [Assuming the castor oil doesn't make it grow so fast that I can just cut it on my b-day or something. That'd be really cool, but I don't know if castor oil will really make my hair grow any faster and I'm not counting on it.]
I played with my natural hair during my wash last night—no sections since I left my clips at school—and I really love it: I loved it poofy, defined, whatever,
it was just great all around!] I want my natural hair to be as healthy as possible when I
BC, so I'm very glad this natural no-unhealthy-products thing is
working.
So I'd recommend people try the CG/TCG methods, if they can't happen into working products like I did, because those methods are tried and true, and obviously for good reason if I accidentally started them!
Monday, January 20, 2014
Coconut Milk - My Official Natural Conditioner
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!
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!
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.
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