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 :),

2.5 year update

Hello all!

It's been too long! Life has gotten shockingly busy, but it's time to get back to doing things I enjoy, like blogging. I'm going to jump right into it...

It's currently the middle of a super cold and snowy winter in nyc, so my hair has mostly been in a bun or under a hat, which has been excellent for retention! This weekend, I decided to blow my hair out to give my scalp and edges a break from all of the bunning, here's my wash day in pictures:

Pre-Shampoo Treatment:
I applied sweet almond oil to my scalp to help with the dryness from the week. To prep my hair for washing and heat styling, I decided to use the ORS Hair Mayonnaise as a light protein treatment on hair that had been lightly moistened with a spray bottle. I then added a light coating of sweet almond oil over the conditioner, put on a plastic cap and put on my heating cap for about 30 mins.

Wash:
I shampooed twice with the L'oreal Everpure Sulfate-Free shampoo (diluted with water in an applicator bottle for easier application). After rinsing, I used Aussie Moist conditioner and let it sit with a plastic cap over it for the remainder of my shower. I then rinsed and detangled my hair under cool water and did a final cold rinse. I then t-shirt dried for 30-45 minutes.

Post-wash and styling:
After t-shirt drying, I applied my leave-ins (silicon mix bambu and organix argan oil of morocco weightless healing dry oil)   in 4 sections to detangle. After that was completed, I began blow drying using the Conair Yellow Bird blow dryer on cool air for the length, and warm air to dry the roots. Before drying my ends, I applied a bit more of the silicon mix bambu. After each section was dried, it was pinned away and I spritzed some of the organix spray oil on the section.

Here are the final results:

  

Yay! So I was quite pleased by the final results. I haven't clipped my ends since November, but from all of the bad winter weather protective styling they've been doing quite well! I did a lot of trimming and cutting last year to get my ends together, and it seems to have gone well. The last pic im showing my bra strap, so i believe as of right now I am grazing bra-strap length! Fingers crossed for reaching bsl by my next relaxer (if the weather stays this bad I should be good, lol).

Thanks for reading :),

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 :),

Birthday Time ;)

Happy Sunday!

I turned 24 on Thursday, so I celebrated the occasion last night :). Good thing I did a trial run of heat styling the week because a few adjustments needed to be made. I basically followed the same wash day techniques from last time (excluding Keraphix because that shouldn't be used weekly), including deep conditioning with Nexxus Humectress, rollersetting and then flat ironing. I then flat ironed just my roots since the rollers left my ends so smooth. I have a hair pic from the party, but since I was running late (as usual lol) I couldn't take pictures before I left :p.

And some pictures of second day hair. The first time I flat-ironed, I completely forgot how to maintain straight hair and I used the wrong moisturizers and didn't set it at night, mostly due to laziness yet again lol. This time around I remembered to set it, and what to use and I didn't go too crazy. I do now remember why I hate heat styling my hair, my hair is sooo much drier after. This time, however, I put small 3/4'' flexi-rods in my bang and I pin-curled the rest of my hair. At night I applied coconut oil to my scalp and some argan oil to keep my ends moisturized. This morning I used a small amount of Mizani Butter Rich Deep Nourishing Hairdress on my nape and ends and sealed with argan oil and applied Organix Moisturizing Macadamia Oil Dry Styling Oil to my nape (which btw, smells super good, is very light and I love it :). Here is my second day hair:

 

I think I did a better job of managing my hair this time. It's still soft, flowy and moisturized. Although I love the look, my hair just isn't a fan of direct heat so I won't be doing this often.

And to all of my ladies on the East coast, be safe!!


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 :),