Tangles

Ever since I did the brahmi treatment and conditioned afterwards, my hair has been super dry and hard to detangle. During yesterdays wash there was way too much hair in in the wide tooth comb while detangling in the shower. My hair was saturated with conditioner and even though I was under the stream of the shower, it was really hard to detangle and I lost a lot of hair :(

How NOT to detangle...I really wanna hand this lady a wide toothed comb and tell her to start from the ends and work her way up gently lol

What have I learned from this...let's see...don't use things my hair doesn't like for the sake of using them up. I've used the brahmi treatment before and it made my hair strong just like last time - but this time it was just overly strong? which led to the dry, tangled hair I'm dealing with now days after. I think this happened because the mixture I used was way more concentrated (I didn't use water this time, only oil and condish). I even did a co-wash just now but no luck. Hopefully it gets better when it dries. Until then, no combing, and lots of deep conditioning.

Actually come to think of it, I've been using a lot of protein products lately so maybe I have protein overload?? *lightbulb*  Tomorrow I'll wash with a diluted shampoo, and do a long moisturizing DC session. Final rinse with Porosity Control Corrector and Conditioner. Hopefully this helps.

TGIF: Weekend Hair Plans

Well it's Saturday now and I really hope everyone is having a great weekend so far...I plan on getting much needed R&R after this hectic week...here's my hair plans:

Friday: Shampooed and conditioned with Dove Damage Therapy Intensive Repair Shampoo & Conditioner (bought it because it was on sale for $2.99, regularly $8). Moisturized with S-curl.

Saturday: Moisturized with S-Curl a few times...Dove's "weightless moisture formula" made my hair feel dry...but soft and flowy. Also loving the soft, clean scent.  Anyway I knew the s-curl wasn't cutting it so I sealed it in with Dax light pomade and that did the trick. Yes I'm still using and loving this stuff. Earlier this week I flat ironed my hair and Dax did the trick to give my hair some extra weight and shine. As opposed to being slightly dull, dry and frizzy (I think it was like this because I clarified right before flat ironing..note to self: for sleek, shiny results, hair needs some type of moisture left in before you flat iron so don't use a clarifying shampoo).

I was organizing my product stash and I have a few bottles and things that are almost finished...So yeah...it's Brahmi treatment time! I used up the rest of my brahmi powder in a treatment consisting of: Brahmi powder + the rest of my Tresemme Naturals conditioner + the rest of my Vatika Oil + One n Only Argan Oil Moisture Repair Conditioner. I applied the mixture to my hair outside in the backyard because I remember how messy the treatment can be. And it was quite messy and unappealing but I just kept thinking how much it would help my hair in the long run...

Benefits of Brahmi Powder:
- Cools the scalp and induces sound sleep
- Controls dandruff
- Makes hair long, dark, Dense & lustrous
- Strengthens hair roots

So now as I type this, I'm sitting with the Brahmi in my hair. Random sidenote - all of my hair doesn't fit under this shower cap :o guess I'm gonna have to upgrade to grocery bags? or use 2 shower caps at a time (one to cover the front and one to cover the back, with overlapping between the 2 caps. I dunno yet.

Whenever I decide to rinse this out, I'll do the usual routine: shampoo, condition in the shower, and apply my leave-ins and air dry as usual.

Sunday: I plan on co-washing and air drying....haven't done that in a while

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As for my hair, it's doing well. I'm 6 weeks post tomorrow...wow how time flies it feels like I just got one last week or something. I don't feel a lot of new growth yet. I'm thinking about going to the salon to have my hair done (washed, blow dried, flat ironed) for back to school next week.

Tip: Diluting Shampoo

I've been diluting shampoo by putting it in an applicator bottle with some water, and applying it directly to my scalp.

Benefits of diluting shampoo:

- Applicator bottle lets you get directly to the roots and scalp
- Shampoo becomes less harsh
- Makes thicker shampoos easy to spread and lather
- Use less shampoo and save money in the long run

I think I first found out about this method from Traycee from KISS, but I forgot about it and didn't think of trying it until I saw one of BuildableBeauty's youtube videos recently. I must say this is a great tip so had to share!

Back to School Hair Regimen

 School is starting back up again in about 2 weeks. I already know from now that my hair will take a back seat to everything else. So here is my bare minimum regimen for the fall semester:

Weekly:
1) Prepoo and baggy before washing (optional)
2) Shampoo with a sulfate shampoo
3) Protein treatment or deep condition with every shampoo
4) Apply leave-in conditioner
5) If doing an air dried style (braidout, twistout, bantu knots etc), then moisturize and seal. If using a hot tool to style, then only use heat protectant and/or CHI SIlk Infusion.

Nightly (maintenance depends on hairstyle):
Straight: apply serum, wrap, scarf overnight.
Curls: no product. Do pin curls and wear scarf overnight
Air dried style (braidout, twistout, bantu knots etc): Moisturize and seal, re-braid, and scarf overnight.

As Needed (maybe weekly, maybe never...depends on how my hair feels and what I have time for): Co-washing, Porosity Control, clarifying, black color rinses, trims.

Weekend Wash Day

Pre-pooing overnight with JBCO+pep oil in a bun

Last night I doused my hair with vatika oil and a mix of JBCO+peppermint to scalp only. Put it in a high bun and let it soak in overnight under a plastic cap. So I guess this is baggying, pre-pooing and hot oil treating in one step, cool beans.

Now it's the next morning. Time for wash day, here's the plan....

1) Shampoo with diluted HE CMH shampoo (2 lathers)
2) Condition w/ One n Only Argan Oil conditioner
3) Final rinse with Porosity Control C&C
4) Leave-in Aphogee Green Tea & Keratin Mist
5) Air dry with a scarf and let the back hang loose

Thoughts/Blabber: It's been 6 days since my last hair wash. I'm glad I could go so long without washing considering the amount of products I caked on during the week. Next wash I will only use 1oz of shampoo diluted with 1oz water...this time I used 2oz shampoo diluted with 1oz water (3oz total) and it was too much

JBCO makes my hair ridiculously soft. I need to repurchase a new bottle soon since my current bottle is almost done..

I did a lean back in the shower and my hair reached waist :o I should be there before 2012. Or blunt MBL if I become scissor happy. Either way, I'm excited

School is starting soon. I'm going to tweak my regimen for less washing and less manipulation in general. The semester gets so hectic and I already know from now that my hair will take a back seat to everything else. So I need to think of a solid bare-minimum school regimen...

Moisturizing and Sealing Combo (unpopular)

Today my hunt for a cheap, protein-free, effective daily moisturizer ended. I decided to revisit S-Curl. I also purchased an unpopular sealant to match: grease...

Super Light Dax Pomade. Sealing with natural oils is nice because they're light, but lately I need something heavier. Sweet almond oil and jojoba oil were too light, and JBCO is a too heavy to use as a daily sealant. Oyin Burnt Sugar pomade smelled so yummy and was nice but its super expensive where I live, and also I found it to be grainy and a little hard to spread. The dax spreads really easily and literally melts in my hands. So I think this product is the happy medium. It's unpopular, but I think my hair will like it in the long run...

Ingredients: Petrolatum, Lanolin, Sweet Almond Oil, Aloe Vera, Avocado Oil, Jojoba Oil, Sesame Oil, Wheat Germ Oil, Safflower Seed Oil, Peanut Oil, Cottonseed Oil, D&C Green #6, Fragrance.

And here's what my hair looks like after moisturizing and sealing with S-curl and dax in 4 sections, then braiding each section and un-braiding after an hour. My hair feels soft and moisturized, but not damp or wet at all. I'm looking forward to seeing how this combo affects my hair over time.

After moisturizing and sealing with S-curl and Dax. I feel so old school lol. Not in love with the way my hair smells, but it sure feels good. I haven't washed my hair in 5 days so its weighed down in these pics.

What are your thoughts on grease? Anyone else using it?

My NLV's

NLV, a term coined by Ebony over at Longing 4 Length, stands for Non-Length Victory...which are other accomplishments that are made while you are caring for your hair in between those length goals.

So here are my NLV's lately....

- I've perfected the art of air drying. Depending on what products I use and how long I leave the scarf on for, I can get my hair to dry sleek and smooth for a nice bun. Or really big and fluffy with lots of volume. Or anything in between. No matter how I do it my edges are sleek and smooth just how I like it.

- I finally learned how to wrap. I always heard youtubers talking about how they've been wrapping their hair forever and how easy it is to maintain their hair when it's straightened. The first (and last) time I tried wrapping I was left with a sore hairline the next day. Well after my most recent relaxer I decided to give it another shot, and it worked great. Its because I used a wide comb to wrap instead of a paddle brush like how many youtubers do.

- I can safely say that I found staple products. The only reason I try new things is to keep it interesting. For example I'm more motivated to deep condition if it means trying out a new product. But at the end of the day I know the products that my hair adores.

- I'm no longer obsessed over showing my length. Actually I've been "over" showing length since APL. By this, I mean not constantly pulling at my braidouts all day to show more length. Or making sure every hair on my head is pulled tightly into a ponytail to create the fullest bun I could on SL hair. Nope, just throw it in a bun (usually with no comb, just fingers) and it's already full. I still care about length, but I'm not obsessed about showing it all the time.

- Thickness victory: it now takes 2 loops with an ouchless band and my hair is held tight. It used to take 3 or 4 loops. I've also had to upgrade my butterfly clips to the larger ones, because my hair laughs at the small ones now

Air dried ponytail

- My bangs can finally be tucked behind my ear! The awkward bang length is over!!

- 100+ people actually look at my blog. Thanks to everyone who checks out this blog, leave comments, give suggestions, or just lurk. It makes me wanna post more pics and update more often!