Pre-relaxer Wash Day

Hey ladies,

This post is a day late because I fell asleep lol. This my last wash day before I relax my hair, at about 9 weeks post. Sometimes I'm just not sure when all this new growth comes in, but as usual it surprised me lol. My hair has been doing okay, my scalp has been a bit flaky but not particularly itchy which is def a good thing seeing as I'm planning to relax tomorrow. I washed and blew out my hair last night, in hopes of keeping the tangles at bay so no one has to rip through my hair while relaxing. Here are the steps:

1. Applied sweet almond oil to my scalp and dry deep conditioned with Aunt Jackie's Curls & Coils In Control Anti-Poof Moisturizing & Softening Conditioner (review on this soon, it does indeed moisturize, soften and it smells delicious!), for 30 minutes under a heating cap. 
2.  Shampooed twice with diluted L'Oreal Everpure Moisturizing Shampoo.
3. I then applied Aussie Moist and let it sit for the remainder of my shower and then rinsed in cool water.
4. After rinsing, I t-shirt dried for about 30 minutes, applied leave-ins (silicon mix bambu/ogx argan oil of morocco healing dry oil) and detangled.
5. I blew my hair out using the yellow bird hairdryer mentioned in a previous post, and after each section was dried, I sprayed some of the organix oil on my ends. 
6. After my hair was complete, I put 2 of the gray 11/16 gray flexi-rods on my ends, put on a sleep cap and went to bed.

Results!

 

I should be relaxing in the next few days, hopefully all goes well! I'm looking forward to a good trim, haven't trimmed since November... I think it's time lol

This is also my first wash day experience post, the ladies at Saving Our Strands are building a healthy hair community and I love it!

Thanks for reading :),

Wash day

Alter Ego Garlic Treatment Giveaway open 'til the 15th!

Hey there,

I've been a bit under the weather the past few days, but I finally got together some energy to do my hair on Wednesday. It was feeling a bit coated since my last wash and it was also dry as a desert -__-. I also realized I couldn't remember the last time I actually clarified my hair, so I figured it was definitely about that time.

1. Pre-pooed with sweet almond oil on the scalp and the length for a few hours without heat. Not sure how many hours, def took a nap :).
2. Shampooed once with Neutrogena Anti-Residue and then shampooed again with Shea Moisture Moisture Retention Shampoo. 
3. Deep conditioned with Aussie Moist with heat for 20 minutes.
4. I allowed the conditioner to cool, then rinsed and finger detangled in the shower under cool water.
5. I applied my leave-ins, Silicon Mix Bambu and argan oil and detangled using my seamless combs. 
6. I then airdried my hair loose, and put it in a bun to go to sleep.

On Thursday night, i had enough energy to do a full flexi-rod set. It certainly has been awhile, here are the results:

 

  

 This set was done on dampened hair  (using a spray bottle) and the following products:

1. Bee Mine Deja's Hair Milk
2. Bee Mine Hair and Scalp Moisturizer (scalp only)
3. Moroccanoil Hydrating Styling Cream
4. Optimum Amla Legend 1001 Oils Cream Night (canopy, edges and nape only)

My hair was super soft after the initial wash day, and I actually got to skip a night of moisturizing (almost unheard of for me!). It still feels pretty good now. These pictures were taken at the end of a humid, rainy day. I think my little curls held up quite well.

Thanks for reading :),

Relaxer Update #4

Hello all!

I know I'm late but I certainly do hope that all of you had a delightful thanksgiving! I relaxed my hair on the 18th after a 12 week (!) stretch. This stretch didn't go too badly. I had very little demarcation line breakage, which for me is rare (I usually start to get that around 10 weeks). I was reflecting on what was different this stretch that seemed to leave my hair in better condition. I increased my co-washing, reduced shampooing to once a week, utilized styles that ensured smooth ends while air-drying (flexi-rods, pin curls, etc) and mostly just low manipulation styles. My ends held up well, but since I wear my hair out most of the time, I will dust my ends just to reduce tangling and for aesthetic purposes :).

As for my relaxer, it was the same process outlined in my last relaxer update. The relaxer processed well, though I did burn a bit, and that of course is something that I certainly could live without lol. Here are my relaxer results:

(looking the crankiest lol)

I let my hair air-dry and bunned for a few days until wednesday night. On wednesday night I co-washed with aussie moist and let my hair dry to about 80% and then put in flexi-rods (the 11/16'' gray ones for the body and the 3/4'' blue ones for the front of my head). Those were my results :). My hair seems to be past armpit length and I think it may be below shoulder blade (BSB) at this point. I'm hyped! I think I finally found a great way to manage my hair while being able to enjoy the progress I've made. I will be dusting, straightening and doing a length check shortly. I want to see how this stretch treated my ends. If they aren't too crazy, 12 week stretches may be my new thing :o).

Thanks for reading :),

Wash Day

Hey there ;),

My hair was due for a wash on Tuesday after a hard weekend of time spent at the gym. It felt a bit waxy, so I decided to use a mild sulfate shampoo to clean off the silicone. These were my wash day steps:

1. Pre-poo with coconut oil on my scalp and the length, with heat for 30 minutes. 
2. Shampoo one time with the Neutrogena Triple Moisture Cream Lather Shampoo. This is one of the few sulfate shampoos that I still own. It was mild enough to clean my hair without stripping it.
3. Shampoo one time with the Shea Moisture Moisture Retention Shampoo.
4. Deep conditioned with Aussie Moist with heat for 30 minutes.
5. Rinsed and t-shirt dried for 10 minutes.
6. Applied leave-ins: Silicon Mix Bambu Leave-in and argan oil on my ends. I have really been enjoying the silicon mix leave-in, review next post :).
7. Lightly finger detangled, then combed through when hair was about 70% dry to complete detangling.
8. I then let my hair air-dry to about 90%, applied the Giovanni Direct Leave-in and added seven 11/16'' gray flexi-rods to my ends.

I left the rods in overnight and put a hair net on to keep them all in place. I much prefer to add some type of roller on wash days now, even if it's just to my ends. My ends stay smoother for longer periods of time, I notice less breakage, fewer tangles and I don't have to moisturize my hair as often throughout the week when rollers are used. I'm most likely going to continue to set for the duration of this stretch, and since flexi-rods require far less manipulation than magnetic rollers I will most likely be using those.

Fortunately, I was able to snap some pics of how my hair turned out during the day. Here are the results:

 

 

Note that one flexi-rod that was left lol, but thats about all the hair I roll on those rods for really loose curls,
and then put them into a hair net to keep them from flopping around too much

Thanks for reading :),

Wash Day -- New Products + Flexi-Rods

Hey there,

So I have been slipping on my posting a bit recently. My mind has just been all over the place recently, but luckily I have been keeping up with my hair routine even though I haven't been posting much. For whatever reason, this weekend's wash went extremely well. I feel like I've performed this wash tons of times, but it somehow turned out really well. This wash day went down on saturday afternoon (I know, mad late lol) and here are the steps:

1. Overnight pre-poo treatment with Kinky Curly Perfectly Polished Hair Oil (I've used this a few times, still not impressed--especially not for the price, but I'm making it work) and coconut oil.
2. I rinsed out like 15 hours later and shampooed twice with diluted Shea Moisture Moisture Retention Shampoo. I recently started diluting this shampoo, more on how and why next post!
3. I deep conditioned with Organic Root Stimulator Hair Masque for 20 minutes with heat.
4. After the conditioner cooled, I rinsed it out and finger detangled under running water.
5. I t-shirt dried for about 10 minutes, then applied my leave-ins: Silicon Mix Bambu Leave-in (love this!) and argan oil.
   I must confess, I think adding the leave-in may have been too much protein for my hair. It didn't break while detangling, but it was far more tangled than usual, it was also a bit dryer too. 
6. I finger detangled, combed my hair out and let it air-dry loose.
7. When it was about 90% dry, I moisturized with Deja's Hair Milk and sealed with a combination of argan oil and the Jane Carter Nourish & Shine. 

After doing that, my hair was super hydrated, smooth and tangle free and for whatever reason it remained that way until Sunday evening! On saturday night and sunday morning all I did was run a bit of argan oil through it and that was all. My hair had been straight all weekend, so when I arrived I decided to toss some curls in it because you see, i recently FELL IN LOVE with flexi-rods! Why didn't anyone tell me these things were so amazing lol?! It makes my hair look like a full magnetic rollerset in a fraction of the time.

So last night, I lightly sprayed my hair with water, finger detangled and applied Mizani Butter Rich Deep Nourishing Hairdress (I figured I'd give my Deja's Hair Milk a rest for a bit) in sections. I then rolled my hair onto eight, 11/16'' gray flexi-rods, put on a hairnet and called it a night. As usual I was running late for work (lol), so I couldn't snap pics this morning but I took some when I arrived home.

 

 

I'm shocked at how well these held up after being done on mostly dry hair! 

I'm sold on the flexi-rods :).

My hair is also super moisturized and still bouncy with a great smell. Mizani FTW lol. I'll use this a few more times and then I'll review it, but if the results continue to look, feel and smell this good, this may just become a staple.

Thanks for reading :),