Wash Day :)

This is my first full wash day update! This wash day actually started Friday night, and began with a pre-shampoo treatment with coconut oil. I dampened my hair with a spray bottle prior to applying the coconut oil, then tossed a plastic cap on and put my tired butt to sleep lol. About 15 hours later I decided to stop watching Netflix and start washing my hair. I shampooed twice with my favorite sulfate-free shampoo, the Shea Moisture Moisture Retention Shampoo. I then deep conditioned on damp hair with Nexxus Humectress for 15 minutes under my hooded dryer. After my hair cooled, I rinsed out the conditioner and lightly detangled in the shower. 

I then t-shirt dried my hair for about 20 minutes to get rid of the excess water. I then applied my leave-ins-- I applied the Rusk Smoother Passionflower and Aloe Leave-in to the length and pure argan oil to the ends. This combo after a moisturizing deep conditioning leaves my hair very smooth, light and moisturized. This is also the time when i do the rest of my detangling, I finger detangle after adding leave-ins to my damp hair. My hair isn't a huge fan of extensively detangling in the shower and trying to do that to dry hair just leads to breakage, so after many months i figured out that damp hair was best for me :). I also applied my 50:50 mixture of coconut and sweet almond oil to my scalp at this time, my scalp was angry with me this week so it needed extra love <3.

My hair is about 60% dry here, this is after adding leave-ins.

I then proceeded to let my hair air dry completely, and then I sprayed it with some aloe vera juice/water to make sure my cuticles were snapped shut.

The image to the right is my final result, yay my hair is back to being big, soft and happy :). Now time to go mess it up at the gym lol!

 What's your favorite moisturizing deep conditioner that leaves you with soft, happy hair?? 





Thanks for reading :),

 

Product Review: The Science of Black Hair

This is my first product review, which is ironically not actually a hair product lol. This review is about a book that has certainly revolutionized my view of hair care. The Science of Black Hair by Audrey Davis-Sivasothy is an amazing source of information on all things pertaining to textured hair. When I first began my hair journey, many of the things I read were opinion pieces and just techniques that others found that helped them to successfully achieve their hair goals.  For me, its important that I understand the basics of a system and why a certain approach would fix a specific problem. The Science of Black Hair began with discussing the structure of the hair and scalp, as well as the most common mistakes made when trying to take care of textured hair. The book then moves into a full explanation of various healthy hair practices, as well as a full chapter based on the importance of hair product selection (as well as a great suggested list of products). The author also does a great job of debunking common myths (i.e. the idea that black hair can't grow), as well as putting a name to common phenomena, like the shoulder length plateau. Many of the techniques of protective styling, low manipulation styling and smart heat use are all covered in this book--its like the encyclopedia of black hair health. I would say that this book is invaluable to anyone who is just starting their hair journey, or to veterans who would like more information on how to take their successes to the next level. I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone regardless of their hair's condition, after all there's always room for improvement ;).

*Note: I felt it particularly important to mention this book because later on when I make notes or write posts relating to specific hair care topics, this book, as well as a few of my favorite hair sites: Black Hair Planet, Hairlista and Keep It Simple Sista, are where I have gathered the bulk of my information.

Rating: 5 out of 5

Thanks for reading :),

Tech Talk: An unexpected co-wash...

Hey there ;)... Today was a random wash day for me, although I usually do a full wash day on mondays (complete with shampoo and deep conditioning), today I opted to do a quick co-wash instead. Co-washing, or conditioner washing, is washing the hair using conditioner only, skipping the shampoo step. Co-washing is great way to clean the scalp without stripping the scalp and hair of vital moisture. Simply saturate the hair in water, be sure to thoroughly rinse the scalp and massage it using the ball of your fingers the same way you would while shampooing. After the scalp and hair have been thoroughly rinse, apply conditioner to the length of the hair (avoiding the scalp) and leave it on the hair. I tend to leave my conditioner on my hair for the length of my shower (or 10 minutes, whichever comes first) and cover my hair with a plastic cap. This is a valuable technique to all hair and scalp types, except that with an oily scalp conditioner shouldn't be added too close to the scalp or else the hair will have a weighed down or matted appearance when it dries.

Today I did a coconut oil pre-poo (more on that later!) and I chose to co-wash with Aussie moist. Not only does Aussie moist smell ridiculously good, it's also ridiculously moisturizing and its under $6! After rinsing it out, and t-shirt drying, I applied my current favorite leave-in, the Rusk Smoother Leave-in, then lightly finger detangled and then let it air dry. When it was about 70% dry, I added a few drops of argan oil to the ends to smooth them out. Here are the preliminary results:

Please excuse the choppiness in the back, I was laying on it in bed... lol... 

almost bedtime for me :).

Yay for quick washes. Whoever came up with the co-wash idea is a genius... That's all for now!

Thanks for reading :),

The intro/Relaxer update 1

Hey there, my name is Jenna and I am addicted to hair pornography. I figured I'd now try to make some of my own ;) lol. I'm kidding, but welcome to my blog. This will mostly be about a hair blog, but later on I'm sure I will add other topics. I this to be the a logical approach to hair, skin, health and other things. Anyway, onto my very first post :)

This is my first relaxer update. I relaxed on Sunday, at 10 weeks post. Over the last 9 months since I began this hair journey, I have tried to find as many ways as I possibly can to make the relaxing process less traumatic for my strands. I'll run through my entire relaxer day routine, which actually begins a few days before :).
3-4 days before: wash with a sulfate shampoo, use  a medium protein reconstructor (nexxus keraphix) and follow up with a moisturizing deep conditioner using heat.The night before: make sure hair is detangled, coat previously relaxed hair in coconut oil as well as make sure that my scalp is not damaged or flaky.
Relaxer day:

1. Base scalp and line edges and ears with vaseline to protect the skin against relaxer burns.
2. Relax using gentle treatment relaxer in normal strength. I still relax bone straight, but i leave about 40% of the texture in my nape area because the texture back there is finer and it sustains more damage from relaxing than the rest of my hair.
3. Relaxer is left in my hair, including smoothing, for no more than 20 minutes.
4. After the relaxer is rinsed out, I applied Organic Root Stimulator Replenishing Pak for 3 minutes then rinsed.
5. The neutralized twice using the shampoo included in the gentle treatment relaxer kit, then used the Creme of Nature Neutralizing Shampoo and left that in for 10 minutes to completely halt the relaxer process.
6. After rinsing, I deep conditioned with Aussie Moist 3 Minute Miracle for 15 minutes, with heat.
7. After letting the hair cool for a few minutes, I then rinsed that out with cool water.
8. Next, I t-shirt dried my hair for about 15 minutes to remove the extra water.
9. Then applied the Rusk Smoother Leave-in, detangled with my fingers and let it air dry loose. 

Here is a post relaxer pic when it is about 75% dry and mostly finger detangled:

Not only will I be investing in a camera soon (lol), I will also take a picture of the back of my hair when it is completely dry and add it to the post.

Thanks for reading :),