New York Wash Day

        My trip to New York is nearly concluded. It has been a roller coaster with more ups than downs. My best friend completed  the TACP indoctrination course (so proud!), I partied with Beyonce at Dave & Busters (thanks to my talented cousins), reconnected with family members and a friend. Got more familiar with an "adopted" family. I nearly drove myself crazy driving to different New York City boroughs but I spent time with loved ones.

        This trip really motivated me to become a better me. "Be the change that you wish to see in the world" I believe this starts at home. I want 2014 to be different and better than 2013 (obviously).

         Remember how eager I was to wash in soft water!? Well I've been loving it. I took an opportunity to give my hair a chance to feel the soft water. I didn't bring many hair products, (the ones I brought, I didn't want to use) so I borrowed a lot of the items listed below:

• Prepoo with Hello Hydration and Organix Renewing Moroccan Argan Oil
• Shampooed with Dove Shampoo
• Rinsed
• Cream of Nature Moisture Extreme Conditioner for five minutes
• Rinsed
• Towel, then t-shirt dried for an hour
• Applied Beautiful Textures Moisture Butter Whipped Curl Cream and argon oil mixed with my oil mix, section by section. Divided my hair in four and divided each section into four as well. And I proceeded to two strand twist my hair.
• Left the twists in over 24 hours. The last two hours I added two flexirods.
• I untwisted in the car because I was ready for big hair!

       My hair felt excellent. I need to continue using Beautiful Texture. Two days later, I don't know what to put in my hair to moisturize it. I originally picked up Beautiful Texture moisturizer for myself, but I decided to add it to one of my sisters gifts. I had a ball buying her a good handful of hair products. I actually can't wait for her to tell me what is hit or miss.

Happy Holiday's Everyone!

Aku

Bantu Knots for New York!

     12/13/13

       So I'm going to New York. I decided to wash and super deep condition my hair before my flight tomorrow. I was torn between flat ironing my tresses or doing a flexirod set OR Bantu knots. The commonality was I wanted my roots stretched.

12/16/13
       I opted for jumbo knots and I flat ironed the roots a half hour before I left. I will be in NY for almost two weeks. I CAN NOT WAIT TO BATHE IN SOFT WATER!

•  This wash I prepooed
• Clarified using ORS Creamy Aloe
• Deep conditioned for at least three hours. Neutragena Hair Mask and a little KeraPro Restorative Treatment 
• In the last 40 minutes, I added my Jazzing Clear Rinse. 
• T-shirt dried for two hours or so
• Giovanni Direct Leave-In and my oil mix to detangle. 
• 40 minutes to detangle and my hair ball was small
• Applied a few Bantu knots. I always accidentally made the knots bigger in the back. I always seem to do that,  I hate how the curls compare to the curls in the front. 

My curls look so luscious here

       Left them in over night and the back didn't dry completely. How do I salvage this? Loose bun. Before removing all the knots I sat under my heating cap for twenty minutes. 

      OMG if I knew I was going to New York this month, I would have went to the Dominicans to get my hair touched-up. I'm even debating on getting a corrective relaxer. It has been 4 weeks...I need a hair analysis because I don't know what to do.

     Lately I've been reading about women whose trouble area is their crown and the back of their hair has a life of it's own. I've even started saying the same thing about my hair. BUT I never had an issue with breakage or rough roots at the crown until I stopped getting my hair done at the salon.

      Yes, I wanted to be a DIY lady, but not at the cost of my hair. I honestly feel it's too late (here I go again), and I just have to suck it up and keep going with this self-texlax stuff.

This is my current stash, pre-New York! Shampoos to the left,conditioners in the middle, treatments next then leave-ins and serums. I finished and gave away many products this year. Down to 25 products give or take. Missing my staple
shampoo and a legit moisturizer. 

After two planes and a half hour car ride. My hair
was a wild mess. I didn't mind it at all, however it
was dry. Just dry, like I didn't deep condition
 for 3 hours. 

Can you all see how laid my hair was. LAID TO THE GWADS! Nov. 2012

        I need a moisturizer ASAP. It's cold out here. Last week my weather was a high of 20 and low single digits. The moment I leave, it's mid 40's and 30's all week. Now in New York it looks there will be two-four inches of snow tomorrow. Looks like a homework day to me. 

        Back to moisturizers, so far I have Cantu Shea Butter Creamy Hair Lotion, One 'n Only Argan Oil Curl Cream, Hawaiian Silky Miracle Worker and Neutragena Triple Moisture Silk Touch. I want to buy them all! Going to pick up a liter of Giovanni shampoo from TJ Maxx. Perhaps I'll look into a holding product. 

What do you guys think about the moisturizers I chose?

PeaceANDlove

Aku

Week 2 Blog Entry

Hi Readers,

       I am currently enrolled in a Master's program and I take my classes online. The winter session has begun and I am two weeks in. The professor (Professor Artz) for one of my courses requires a blog and some entries, so I will use my blog to do a few assignments. I actually started this blog after taking a previous class with Prof. Artz. I will still update you all on my hair journey and life. School is a part of my life so here it goes.

      I am always up for learning new things. The course investigates the relationship between ethics and decision-making and then “examines optimal ways to communicate both processes and results to various stakeholders.” As a person who would like to manage others, this class purpose is important. In business, decisions you make can affect a lot of people. During this course I will also learn ways to respond to ethical dilemmas and effective ways to communicate my response. People view ethical behavior different, so approaching others about their behavior may be awkward and challenging. So I look forward to learning effective responses.

Class Objective
Students who successfully complete this course should be able to:
1. Describe major ethical issues in business and approaches to understanding business ethics.
2. Compare different levels of analysis in ethical conduct and obligations.
3. Explain common problems in ethical decision-making processes.
4. Investigate methods to integrate ethics with optimal decision-making processes.
5. Recommend communication strategies for ethical aspects of decision-making processes.

       The objectives seem interesting enough. I feel ethics start from the home, but I could be wrong. Something may be ethical to others and that same thing could be dead wrong to another person. I feel this class will provide me many examples of major ethical issues in business history. This is important to learn because history has a way of repeating itself. Number says I should be able to compare different levels of analysis in ethical conducts, I am not to sure what that means but I am assuming it has to do with The Seven Layers of Integrity text. I like the way the book breaks down each layer before reaching the end. Ethical issues in business happen time and time again, I am sure we all have witnessed something unethical at work. I think it will be nice to explain the problems in ethical decision-making processes. The objectives don't look easy and they don't look difficult but help from classmates and Prof. Artz will be welcomed.

        I have taken an ethics class in my undergrad years, I didn't expect to really examine the dilemma. I thought this course would be “don't do this” “do this” type of course. But according to the objectives and purpose, it will be much more than that. The course seems far from dull to me. I started watching the Enron movie, and I find myself smirking and shaking my head.

Wash Day. Late Post

Hi guys I'm late. I know. I'm working on creating a more productive schedule. Also I will be using this blog for school. Don't be alarmed, I am still on this healthy hair journey.

Here is my latest wash day-

1. Prepooed with Hello Hydration using heat. Still lacking a staple shampoo, I used my sulfate free ABBA volumozing shampoo. I never need volume, so I rarely use this. I watered it down pretty well. 
2. Rinsed off my prepoo and and yea rinsed my hair. After that I deep conditioned for 45 minutes with AgeBeautiful and Kerapro. I wanted to do a hard protein, but the thought of a long wash day was so daunting.
3.  Rinsed it out and t-shirt dried for almost two hours. 
4. For my leave-in, I used Giovanni Direct Leave-in and Lacio Lacio(protein), I sealed it with my oil mix. Which is running low, I need avocado oil ASAP. 
5. Detangling wasn't too hard. My hair still has more texture than I would like but not much I can do about it. 

Here we go again! 

        This post is nearly three days late. Today I am going holiday shopping for some loved ones. I plan on rocking that 4-braid messy up-do. Last time I did it, I was so tempted to just leave it in for as long as possible. I don't know why I didn't. I might have felt the style would get old after a few days. However, I think it's a great protective style! 

Right after deep condition...don't you just want to cut a few
inches!? 

The shrinkage is kind of real right here

My stash is at an all time low. I need shampoo and a serious moisturizer. I think I will blog about these two topics soon.







Peace and Love yall
Aku

Messy 4-Braid Up-do!

 This morning I woke up with some time to peruse the blogs I follow. Thank goodness I did! KLP over at Saving Our Strands brought this up-do to my attention. I am not really an up-do type of chick but it looked so beautiful on her hair and the directions were simple enough, I decided to give it a go. Directions can be found on her blog. I did the Green House Effect for an hour or two with Giovanni Direct Leave-in and water. Applied my oil mix and proceeded to attempt this do. Four braids, pin 'em and receive compliments!

After being under my scarf for 15 minutes

Hair a few hours later

Next time I will try and be a little messier but I really loved this posh look. Red lips and pearls to pull it altogether! I can not wait to see what KLP has in stored for the rest of Hot Holiday Hair. 

Before bed, I will remove a few pins and and put my scarf on. Tomorrow I will either have a braid-out or wash my hair.



"It always seems impossible until its done."
Nelson Mandela 

Peace and Love everyone
Aku

Feeling My Hair!

This bun lasted all day. Two Ouchless holders and one bobby pin. Before bed I made a low loose bun with an old scrunchie.

My head looks so big, the hair doesn't help.

I was feeling this bun, MAYNE!

A little thinner than I prefer but I digress. 

My shower was fogging up the mirror.

I miss this cut. I used to love layers!
June 2012

Love and peace

Aku

Lye Self-Relaxer, Finally!

      Okay okay okay I have coarse hair. The first step is admitting it. Last touch-up, barely did anything to my hair. I decided this time to use a lye relaxer because I hate the way no-lye ORS made my hair feel. I used Silk Elements lye relaxer in the brown jar. I didn't add anything to it. I based my scalp with Vaseline and grape-seed oil. Coated my strands with Garnier Fructice Fight the Fall and grape-seed oil. Dividing my hair in sections while detangling the roots took forever and a half. I think I was basing and detangling for two hours.

       Okay so the jar says 15-18 for normal hair and 15-22 for coarse hair. I did a test strand for the first time in my whole hair journey. However I became impatient and washed the relaxer out after 10 minutes. 

Smoothed it a lot, rinsed it out and it wasn't really relaxed. So I decided to work for the 15-18 minute slot.

       I have a huge fear of bone straight hair (laughing out loud). And the thought of overprocessing, oh heck no! So it took me ten minutes to apply to the back of my hair ( I should have done the front first, to learn how the back would take). After the 10 minutes, I went back to the beginning and applied more Silk Elements to the roots and the old underprocessed hair. Smoothed and smoothed and smoothed for 7-8 minutes. Rinsed it out, Agebeautiful Strengthening Treatment for my mid-protein, neutralized 3 times once for over five minutes. Rinsing the relaxer out, I could still feel mucho texture...sigh. Took a break before I finished the other half of my hair.

       Applied the relaxer for 11 minutes, went back smoothed and smoothed for 8 minutes. The front of my hair takes to relaxers much better than the crown and back so I was a little concerned that I left the front on too long. Did the same rinsing pattern as earlier. Deep conditioned with KeraPro and ORS for 45 minutes. 

Forgot to tea rinse and I totally think I needed it. I feel as if I experience more shedding during touch ups. 

       Okay I scratch my head. I do. Nothing crazy, if it itches I scratch it (nothing chronic). I know there's no scratching before a touch-up, I could never follow that rule. That being said I did base really well but I still felt some burning in certain places. I could of based my neck better, lesson learned. 

       Man I never smoothed so much in my life. I have to make some changes now that I can admit my hair is crazy coarse. I always knew it was thick but gee wiz. I did the best smoothing, it's just my hair needed more processing time. I'd hate to go over 22 minutes. Sigh I don't know. 

Lol that back of my hair is so resistant. 

My hair looks red huh?

 Never in my life have my ends looked so bad and uneven.
I want to cut my ends to my armpit.
Flat ironed 3 days after the touch-up.

This is the texture I want all around, but the back has a
mind of its own. 

I planned on cutting my hair months ago. Like a serious cut. I want to start fresh. The healthiest part of my hair is almost 4-5 inches longer than the crappiest part. The crappy part (crown and back) is so unhealthy. I know it's debatable, cutting all over or just the unhealthy part. I hate thin looking ends like nothing other. So I have my scissor in tow... 

Love&peace 

Aku

Touch-up in 12 Hours!

          In about 12 hours I will base my scalp and start the touch up process. I am nervous and excited at the same time. I wanted to section off my hair in one inch sections tonight but I have all day tomorrow, soooooo time for bed. Going to get a good nights rest so I can be bright eyed tomorrow. My last wash was 3 days ago more of a co-wash. I rinsed it out with Apple Cider Vinegar.  I actually did a hard protein using my Aphogee 2 Step. Detangled the next day.

Sigh, tomorrow could go great or terribly terribly wrong.
Aku

2013 Liebster Blog Award!

        The first time I heard or noticed the Liebster Blog Award was when Uchenna Ezeonyeka (natural and healthy) and KLP (Saving Our Strands) nominated me (Thanks ladies!). I researched and researched (Google search). I learned The Liebster Award is a blogger to blogger award chain letter that allows readers to get to know just a tad bit more about other bloggers that they follow. There are many different rules I came across. I'm going to stick with these:

Requirements:

1. Thank and link back to the blogger(s) who presented the award to you
2. Paste the award on your blog
3. Each person must post 11 random things about themselves (optional).
4. Answer the 11 questions that the tagger set for you.
5. Choose 5 bloggers who you would like to give the Liebster Award (they have less than 200 followers)
6. Let the recipients know about their nomination by leaving a comment on their blogs.
7. Create 11 questions for the bloggers you have tagged with the award to answer.

KLP's questions: 

1. Why did you start blogging?

       I had a lot of free time and it is so much easier to track my hair's progress.
2. Who was your first hair crush?

       Shorty2Sweet59. Years ago I watched her video and learned about texlaxing. Her hair left me in awe!
3. What are your favorite ways of using products that suck?

      I like to give them away to my sister and hope they can work for her.
4. What was it like when you received your first follower?

      It made me smile. It is such a great feeling, from the first follower to the next, they always make me smile.
5. What has your hair taught you about life?

       Some people can treat you differently depending on how your hair looks. I know when my hair hair looks one way, people take notice. 
6. Where do you see your blog in 5 years?

       OMG ummmmm hmmmmm not sure. Hopefully I will have really mastered my hair and I'll be able to help others.
7. What's the best thing about blogging?

       All the lovely bloggers. Everyone is so friendly and it's another way to socailize. 
8. What does your blog name mean to you?

       It's not all about my hair, honest. This names means exactly what it says, I get so fixated on my hair but my life consists of more than my hair.
9. How do you deal with negative feedback on or about your blog?

      0_0 I haven't had any yet...but I would try and take the high road.
10. How personal do you get on your blog?

       I try to keep it professional but I love sharing. I think about future businesses and companies that I want to work for who may stumble onto my blog. I don't want to be inappropiate. My baby sisters read my blog too!
11. How many pushups can you do?

      Twenty and more with a rest.

Uchenna Ezeonyeka's questions:

1. What single quality do you most appreciate in people?
   Sense of humor. I love to laugh and I love making others laugh.
2. Why did you start blogging?
   I had a lot of free time and it is so much easier to track my hair's progress.
3. What you know now, what advice would you give your 13-year-old self?
   I would've told myself “Don't half-ass school!” I guess I'm hardest on myself. Currently trying to maintain a 3.5 GPA on my Master's.
4. One interesting fact about yourself
   I'm a huge Bob Marley and Knicks fan!
5. How many times do you post per week?
   One :( I want to post twice but it doesn't happen.
6. How do you balance life, blog, social media ?
   I prioritize in my head or at least I try to, school first.
7. What are three things you cannot live without?
   Music, fruits and movies
8. What is your most prized possession?
   Oh man these questions are hard. I don't think I have one. I love being alive more than anything.
9. Describe yourself in three words.
   Easily excited
   Inquisitive
   compassionate
   4 words sorry
10. What is your guiltiest pleasure?
    At the moment, Army Wives on Netflix...don't judge me lol

         I don't follow many people (shame on me, I still feel so new to the hair community) and the people I do follow have already been awarded. Everyone who has read this post please share your answers to my 11 questions in the comment section. I'm very interested in reading your answers and link your blog while you're at it. 

Nominations

Frankie at hairmemoirs

Janae Francis at Caring for my Hair

11 questions for everyone

1. Why did you start blogging?
2. When did you start blogging?
3. Guilty pleasure?
4. Favorite cookie?
5. Chocolate or Vanilla?
6. How do you balance life, blogging and social media?
7. Who is your hair crush?
8.  Last movie you watched?
9. Do you work-out?
10. Favorite hairstyle?
11. Any siblings?

Bantu Knots Take 2!

1. Deep Condition/ Prepoo with KeraPro Restorative Treatment For Extra Dry Hair
2. Shampooed and Rinsed with very watered down Miss Jessie's Creme De La Curl Cleansing Cream (trail size)
3. Mango Black Tea rinse
4. Jump out the shower, Towel dry for five minutes, applied my oil mix (Castor, avocado, sweet almond, grape seed and olive oil) and Aphogee Keratin & Green Tea Restructurizer
5. T-shirt dried for two hours
6. Separated my hair in four sections and banded each section with one-two hair ties 
7. Proceeded to apply jumbo Bantu knots to each section. I used my LottaBody Set-in Lotion as a holding product. The leave-in for this wash was non-existent. Just sticking to my oils these past two washes.

Bantu Knots after Ladies Night Out!

The take down.

Babilon Kay did the most loveliest Bantu knot curly fro. I didn't pick my hair as much as she did because I was running late but I will be doing Bantu knots again. I want to get that curly fro. It's been three days and I didn't keep up with the knots. 

The Fall semester of school is finally over for me. I have a week till the Winter session begins so perhaps I'll touch-up my hair one of these days. 

Wash Day- Strenghtening Treatment AKA More Protein?

This wash I wanted to skip the shampoo. But I prepooed pretty heavy, super heavy with Hello Hydration and castor oil so shampoo would be needed. I was hoping to detangle my hair with all the amount of conditioner I used but it didn't really happen. Clumpy hair. Here's the wash-

• Rinsing my hair was a breeze
• Shampooed with watered down Creamy Aloe Clarifying Shampoo
• I could have stopped right there but I decided to try my new buy. I towel dried and applied AgeBeautiful Strengthening Treatment. 
• Sat under my hooded dryer for 30 minutes. 
• Rinse, oil rinse, rinse 
• Towel dry.
•  Aphogee. Keretin Reconstructor
• And T-shirt dried for an hour
• I took my time detangling. I'd say about two hours it took me. It was all good I had mucho TV shows to watch. 
• My hair was huge 
• Bunned and went to bed. 

Pre-poo

Texture

BIG HAIR

It's a jungle back there

The huge hair is getting to me. Hidden under all that hair is an afro. By the third day, I'm having so much trouble putting my hair up before the gym. Currently baggying my hair and in the morning it may be more manageable. It looks like I need something more for my new growth, let the research begin! 

I don't know if it's my camera or my phone or my laptop but my pictures don't look clear and the color is off. Another research topic!

LoveandPeace

Aku

Wash Day-Just a Little Protein

I finished my staple shampoo. It was a sad moment. My Giovanni Smooth as Silk. I don't know what I'll use next wash. This wash I focused on protein. I really wanted to do another hard protein treatment but it hasn't even been four weeks. 

Washed with Giovanni Smooth as Silk Shampoo. After, that I deep conditioned with ORS Replenishing Conditioner and Joico K-pak Deep Penetrating Reconstructor. I applied my Jazzing Clear rinse and sat with my hooded dryer for a half hour. Brewed some Mango Black tea before my trip back to the shower. 

This wash I had more shed hair than the previous wash days. What are you going to do? Rinsed out my dc's and clear rinse. Did my tea rinse and hopped out the shower. T-shirt dried for an hour. Applied my Hello Hydration mix and sealed with grape seed oil.

Looks nice, but it wasn't detangled. 

This wash I did the dumbest thing, I skipped properly and thoroughly detangling my hair and put two French braids in. It was not easy but I wanted to go to bed and have a braid-out the next day. SMH two days later, I'm still detangling.

I finally purchased castor oil (Walmart brand) which I used to detangle. I went to Sally's to buy more Aphogee (2 Minute and 2-Step). Instead I purchased AgeBeautiful Intense Straightening Treatment. Probably should of bought shampoo, but I'm sure I have shampoo in my stash that needs to be used up. 

Almost 9 weeks post. Subconsciously prepping for a touch-up but not sure when I'll do it. Some parts of my hair have about an inch (less) of new growth and other parts are just chilling. Do I skip those parts when I touch up my hair?  After this touch-up, I plan on a super long stretch. 

One more week left of my semester!
Goodnight readers
OneLove
Aku

My First Ladies Night-In!

     So last weekend I planned a last minute Ladies Night at my home. I invited two ladies that I'm just starting to get to know and another lady who I've never met but heard about. It was time to put myself out there.

      Back story-I moved away from all my friends and family several months ago. When I decided to move, I wasn't too worried about making new friends. However, I miss my friends a lot. So after several months of being friendless, I became even more homesick. Blogging has helped and I'm grateful for it. At the moment I don't work, instead I'm working on my Masters degree at home.-End of back story. 

      So I've never hosted anything like this but I felt like a natural. I made two lists, and I just kept adding more and more stuff as my excitement increased. Food and games were my must have.

       I picked up some flowers and a pumpkin for added decor. I picked up a fruit tray and made a honey-yogurt dip to go with it. I added carrots just in case people hated fruits. I bought crescent rolls and Lil' Smokers and decided to roll up some pigs in a blanket with the help of my partner (he helped a lot). I decided to have the ladies wear red and black tops, I wanted black and orange but do you own an orange top? I had red and black plates and sauce bowls to go with my theme.

    

  At the grocery store I couldn't decide between pumpkin muffin mix or pumpkin cookies mix. Cookies! With cream cheese frosting and red sprinkles. Lemonade Spritzer (lemonade and club soda) and Apple Cider Sangria for my wine lovers.

    
      So food and drinks were set. Now what would I do when the ladies stopped eating? Icebreaker games! After we got to know one another, I had Jenga, Boggle, CatchPhrase, and 2 deck of cards. We didn't use any of them. We did a lot of getting to know one another over food. We ended up playing a two games of Famous Face (not sure the real name of the game, so many variations).

          Now believe it or not, there are people in the world who have not watched Grease. I KNOW I KNOW CRAZY?! Two of the ladies had never gotten around to watch this classic. I did plan for a movie at the end of the night and we all agreed on Grease. I had to constrain myself from singing and dancing to all the music. It wasn't easy.

       My all time favorite blogger is Rachel Wilkerson. She has written many posts about making new friends. The amount of attention that today's culture spends on how to find a boyfriend or a husband is pretty crazy to me. Not too much material how how to find friends and make the relationship work. A friendship, just like a romantic relationship takes effort. I am no relationship expert, this is just common sense. What I love most about Rachel's posts are her readers and the comments they leave about moving to a new city alone or making (or not making) new friends.

        Even my friends I left back home, staying connected to them requires effort. We all have our own lives and we all get busy. I try to text or call people who haven't seen me in months. I know when I visit, it'll be great times.

        

        I've never had trouble finding friends, I think that it is mostly due to the fact I love being my own best friend. I do a lot of things solo even before I moved away. But really there is nothing like ladies night. You and a bunch of other ladies who have some common interests. The conversations are fun and you learn so much about yourself and others. The ladies had a great time and we all look forward to doing it again. Next time I will ask for their help instead of running the show.  

So I say all this to say cherish the good 

friends you have and don't be

 afraid of making new ones!

pEACE&lOVE

Super Easy Wash Day

My last wash day was too easy. No getting in and out of the shower for me. I had a lot to do so I wanted this wash day to be quick and painless. Here it goes:

1. Deep conditioned/prepooed with my all time favorite KeraPro Restorative Treatment.
2. Clarified with diluted Creamy Aloe. 
3. Tea rinsed with pineapple black tea.
4.  Cool water rinse and my wash day was nearly complete.
5.  T-shirt dried for an hour. 
6. For my leave-in I used my Hello Hydration mix (water, sCurl and Hello Hydration)  

      After Brushed my edges with water and Aloe Vera gel (I do use this occasionally but my edges have a mind of their own plus they get wet every day). Tied my scarf around it and lightly detangled.

       My hair loss was noticeably smaller than other days. Perhaps, it's the tea rinse? Before bed, I removed the scarf and applied a couple of twists to my hair. Pinned them up and went to bed. I re-twisted the next night with just four. After that, I'm bunning before bed (moisture and seal first).

A little after T-shirt drying.

A little edge action going on.

Detangled

How much new growth does that look like? I'm not
100% sure.

My pinned up twists the next day.

This faux bob couldn't even make it past the
car ride to the grocery store. It was a good
try. 

PeaceandLove

Wash Day-Banana Deep Conditioner and Miracle 7 Leave-in

        Hi readers, I know It's been a while. Last month of school,trying to buckle down along with socializing with others. So it's been 10 days since I blogged and I went 10 without washing my hair. OHHHHH I KNOWWW JUST GROSS, but it really wasn't, it was a nice little stretch. Last wash (a few days ago) I used my Giovanni Smooth as Silk product line. I tea rinsed, banana to deep condition and I used a new leave-in.

Giovanni on deck plus water for the shampoo
and my lovely pineapple black tea.

Sally's gave me this sample
size leave-in

Here I am with banana in my hair, nbd

Dried and detangled. These ends have to go!

I'm thinking a good 2-3 in cut. I'm a little
scissor happy. 

The next day I put 6 flexirods in after
moisturing and sealing. 

I just wanted to cut that last section off.
Not sure why I banded my hair,
 it ended up in a bun.

Monday

Wednesday I put 5 flexirods in (for 2 hours)
but this time I used my 
LottaBody Setting Lotion.
Love this product.

      So a while back, I was in Sally's, and the girls gave me a sample size of Miracle 7 Leave-in Mist. I was skeptical but I must say I liked it BUT I only used it once. It has a creamy watery texture and the first ingredient is water. So I used it to detangle and used my Giovanni Leave-in plus water to moisturize my hair daily. 

       I blended a banana and some water, strained the mixture and applied it from root to tip. I actually made two mixtures that day, I spilled the first all over my cloths and floor. No use crying over spilled banana. Sat under my dryer with the banana mixture for less than an hour **Update**alternating between the warm setting and the cool setting** As I was washing it out, I was like "OMG I love how my hair feels. I must write about this!" Then I came out the shower to see the banana didn't wash off as well as I thought. So I went back in. **Next time I may skip the dryer**

        Sigh, I loved what the banana did (moisture to my dry roots and made my hair feel softer and I think I noticed a little shine) but I found hair strands that still had banana mix in them. If you Google banana in hair, there are tons of distraught women who couldn't remove the banana chunks for days. So I considered myself lucky. Next time I will blend the mixture longer and I won't force all the banana bits through the strainer. 

   

        I need a deep conditioner, I've been avoiding it because I still have a lot of my Neutrogena Triple Moisture Deep Recovery Hair Mask, but I don't want it anymore! I believe I am six weeks post, two more weeks to think about what to do with this hair. 

        Has anyone tried Silk Elements MegaSilk Relaxer? The reviews are awesome. That may be my next buy, plus KeraPro Restorative Treatment, new applicator bottle, castor oil and a seamless comb. I have been literally fiending (feening) for castor oil. I want to see the effects in action!

        I hope everyone is well! The weekend is here, have a great one!

PeaceANDlove

A~