Blowout and Flat iron at home!

Hey there,

The original plan was to do my hair Friday night in preparation for an evening out on Saturday, but that totally didn't happen. Jenna got sleepy lol. I did, however, begin my wash day on Friday, it just didn't end there ;)...

1. Overnight deep conditioning with coconut oil and Alter Ego Garlic Treatment applied to the length, along with sweet almond oil applied to my scalp.
2. The next morning, I shampooed twice using the L'oreal Everpure Moisturizing Shampoo.
3. I then deep conditioned with Nexxus Humectress for 15 minutes using my heating cap. I know, it's been a while since Humectress and I have been together but I brought it out in preparation to heat style!
4. I allowed my hair to cool for 5 minutes, then rinsed out the deep conditioner.
5. I then applied Aussie Moist to my hair as a final rinse to check my pH and to assist in detangling.
6. After rinsing, I t-shirt dried my hair for about 10 minutes and got started.

Since I did my hair in the morning, that meant there was no time for overnight air-drying, or any of my usual low manipulation styles (I find when I use heat I get unpredictable results from some sets and twist outs), so I decided to straighten my hair! I haven't blow dried my hair since I began this hair journey in July '11, and I haven't flat ironed my hair since my birthday (end of October), so I figured why not!

1. To begin, I applied my leave-in, Silicon Mix Bambú and began to detangle after t-shirt drying. I used my Jumbo Rake comb to get out the big tangles and then blow dried in sections. I used medium heat, high speed on my roots to dry and straighten them faster and cool air on the rest of the length to make sure it didnt dry out.
   Where was the heat protectant? There is a ton of silicone in Nexxus Humectress as well as the Silicon Mix leave-in. I opted to skip additional heat protectant to avoid heavy hair.
   Also, why no oil after applying my leave-in? I avoid heat styling with most oils. I'm aware that that many of the oils I use are safe up to the temperatures that I use to heat style, but since silicone is safest, I just stick with that.
   
   
    
   
   
   
2. My roots were still a bit damp, so I let them dry naturally for about 2 hours. When they were finally dry, I began the flat-ironing process.
• In small sections, I applied a bit more of my leave-in to my ends to ensure a more moist result, and then along the entire length I applied the Redken Smooth Down Heat Glide.
• After allowing the remaining leave-in to dry into my hair (never flat iron wet or damp hair!), I took my 1'' Solia flat ironing and got to work.
3. I was pleased by the smooth results and how silky and soft my hair felt. Pheww, gone are the days of bone dry, stiff heat-styled hair!
   
   

For some reason I forgot to take a pic of the back of my hair. My hair held up pretty well for the evening; when I returned home I lightly applied the Mizani Butter Rich hairdress to my hair, very lightly sealed with pure argan oil and then wrapped my hair into 3 big pin curls. I'll snap a few pictures and return with those in a bit!

three pin curls 

 

The final results!
I am also happy to report that after taking down the pin curls and combing my hair out, it was still super soft and even after using a water based moisturizer the night before my ends were still smooth and straight. I'm hype! Maybe I have finally mastered heat styling! I'll see how my hair holds up for another day or 2 ;)

Thanks for reading :),

Salon Visit and Length Check

Good evening,

I planned to wash my hair this weekend, air-dry it and then trim it but I was feeling lazy and now that I am much closer to the dominican salon I went to during my pre-hair journey days, I decided to stop by. I figured I would carry on my wash day the way I normally do, pre-poo, wash, DC, etc so I did some work at home and then brought my desired products with me to the salon. Here are the steps and the products used for this wash day:

1. Pre-treated at home with coconut oil on my scalp and coconut/sweet almond oil on the length.
2. Shampooed 3x (she slipped that last one in smh lol) with Shea Moisture Moisture Retention Shampoo.
3. Deep conditioned for 20 minutes under hooded dryer with ORS Hair Masque (love this!).
4. Rinsed.
5. Applied leave-in (Silicon Mix Bambu), rollerset on gray rollers (2''?) and sat under the hooded dryer again for an hour.
6. Since I hate wrapping my hair, I just had my hairdresser apply argan oil and comb out the curls.

After I left the salon, I realized that my roots still had the dents from the rollers and I also needed to trim my hair. I applied Redken Smooth Down Heat Glide to my hair in sections and flat ironed my roots with my Solia 1'' flat iron on 300 degrees, dusting each section as I went along. So here are the final pics, and I guess this is my first length check since July. 

I would say that I'm mostly at armpit length, and now the layers in the back are a bit past that. While I still have way more trimming and maintenance to do, I am still hoping for bra-strap length by the summer.

Thanks for reading :),

Wash Day + Flat Ironing!

I hope everyone is having a delightful, or at least productive, Monday!

This was kind of a big weekend for me, my birthday is in a few days, and although I've been meaning to get to this for weeks, I've either been too busy or too lazy to begin the process lol. My plan was to do a full rollerset with magnetic rollers, let it air dry overnight and then flat iron my roots after it was dry. Last night I remembered why I put this off so long, because it really does take forever lol. Anyway, here are the wash day steps:

1. Pre-shampoo treatment with grapeseed oil and Carol's Daughter Tui Moisturizing Hair Smoothie on the length and coconut oil on my scalp. My hair was super dry, so I figured I'd add conditioner to my pre-poo to soften my hair prior to washing.
2. Shampooed once with Nexxus Therappe. To remove build up prior to heat styling.
3. Shampooed once with Shea Moisture Moisture Retention Shampoo.
4. Applied Nexxus Keraphix to damp hair and left it in my hair for about 10 minutes without heat while I showered. My hair felt super smooth and strengthened after use, Keraphix really is the best.
5. Deep conditioned with Nexxus Humectress for 15 minutes with heat, let it cool and then rinsed with cool water.
6. Then t-shirt dried, added my leave-in (Rusk Smoother, no argan oil this time) and then finger detangled. 
7. I then rollerset my entire head on medium sized rollers.
8. I left the rollers in for about 18 hours and then took them out.

 

The rollerset after it was completely dry.

Now after I took the rollers out, I did something that I haven't done in about 15 months, I used my flat iron! I used my 1'' ceramic Solia flat iron (it's pink!) on 300 degrees and began to flat iron sections the same way they were rolled the night before--that saved a lot of time. To each section I applied a small amount of Redken Smooth Down Heat Glide, combed through and then flat ironed. I am a huge fan of the results as well as this heat protectant!

My nape - the first completely flat ironed layer :)

 

The final results. This actually turned out far better than previously expected ;)

I am thrilled with my results. My hair is super smooth, light and my roots actually got pretty straight, so for 8 weeks post I am extremely impressed. This was an experiment to see how my hair straightened this many weeks post relaxer, as well as a trial run for birthday weekend. Prior to my hair journey this would've turned out to be a disaster. Hmm... now to see how I can manage this for the week (including gym time) will be fun lol.

Thanks for reading :),