Wash Day-Why I Don't Tea Rinse Every Wash

A well known fact about people on any HHJ- everything that works for others will not always work for you. 

I've incorporated tea rinses (coffee rinse this year) into my regimen years ago. However, tea rinsing does not give me the great results other hair lovers sees. I used to tell myself "self think about the hair you may lose if you don't do it." So I've stuck to it and the results have never been dramatic. If tea rinsing doesn't work for you, don't fret, you're not the only one. 

On with the show.

1. Detangled and hot oiled with EVOO, avocado oil and grapeseed (lost lots of hair, not a happy camper)
2. Washed my hair with a sample of Miss Jessie's Super Slip Sudsy Shampoo 
3. Black tea rinse (steeped for hours)
4. Applied my new jar of Neutrogena Triple Moisture Hair Mask
5. Sealed with avocado oil (this bottle went so fast!)
6. Rinsed out after an hour
7. Towel dried and UH NO!  My hair was gross! Just sticky! Hopped back in the shower used some Head and Shoulders 2 in 1 sham/condish. The results were better. Definitely clarifying next week. 
8. Tee Shirt dried
9. Giovanni Direct Leave-in (my go to fit the past few months) sealed with my oil mix
   

It doesn't look that bad but it's constantly dry.
My best friend has been a spray bottle
filled with water. 

The texture, I'm pretty much over it. 

I ordered free miss Jessie samples from their site a month ago. This time I decided to try their shampoo. This particular one I tried does contains sulfate. However, a little really goes a long way, I still have shampoo left over for another wash.

My oil mix was accidental. It started as just grapeseed oil but I would pour too much avocado and EVOO in my hand. It had to go some where, can't waste oil. 

I finally purchased a deep conditioner. I've used the Neutrogena Triple Moisture Hair Mask before but I can't remember how it made me feel. I really wanted their leave-in but I can't find it in stores. 

That gross hair feeling- did I not rinse correctly? Does Miss Jessie's shampoo not like my hair? Did I apply too much oil? Does my new DC sit on my strands? 

I'll try the DC again next wash and not the other stuff.

I detangled in sections and put two strand twists in (8 jumbo twists) pinned it up with a scarf and went to bed. In the morning, I untwisted and flat ironed the roots/underprocessed hair with my Chi Iron Guard heat protectant. 

My camera has not been producing the greatest pictures and the bathroom light does not help either. I'm working on it, honest.

Is there a HHJ favorite that doesn't work for you?

Love&Peace

Aku

I Think I Need to Meditate.

        I miss meditating. Who or what is stopping me? Myself, shame on me. It won't be like my last attempt. I feel like I just need to chill out more. I want to focus on building a legacy and on school. Lately, I've been out of focus. Stressing over the small things and it's been pouring into my relationships. My goal is to stop over over-thinking, so let's start today! 

            

                     Goals for life: 

• Continue working-out (CrossFit, hey now!)
• Continue drinking water
• try and get a 4.0 
• Meditate
• Make everyday great
• Develop mindfulness

"Make it a great day or not, the choice is yours"
Love&Peace
Aku

Avocado Deep Conditioner Take 2!

So I tried the avocado deep conditioner- I loved it!
I went 10 days trying not to fuss over my hair and I was waiting for my new hard water filter. The filter didn't come till the after my wash day but my hair seems to be cooperating. This wash I really wanted to focus on moisture.

• Pre-pooed with Garnier Fructice Fight the Fall to battle shedding and sealed it with avocado/ grape seed oil.
• Rinsed it out after a few hours
• Applied my avocado mix. I had a hard time blending the avocado so I added water, honey and EVOO. After I was done battling with my blender I put the mix in a strainer and proceeded to strain.(the mix looked so much better than my first attempt.)
• The mix went on easy. I applied it in small sections and twisted my hair when I was done. 
• I coated my hair with a clear rinse. It really does something wonderful to my hair.
• Put my plastic cap on. Half hour with no heat and another half with heat.
• Rinsed it out with a little help of Head and Shoulders 2 in 1 (very little, like a dime size for my whole head)
• Aphogee Keratin Spray
• T-shirt dried for an hourish
• Applied leave-in and oil.
• Put my hair in two French braids, pinned the ends and went to bed.

Avocado mix and Jazzing Clear Rinse

I wanted to leave the braids in for days but I couldn't resist a braid out the next evening. It was date night!

My filter is here. My old braid out is doing fine, not sure when I'll touch my hair yet. Still a little bummed about my hair.

My best friend and my french braids at the Tough Mudder.

Apart from watching another mud run (Tough Mudder), I did the scariest thing I've ever done in my life. Here's a video of what it looks like. I don't have a video of myself, plus I probably wouldn't post it because I made such a terrible face :)








Enjoy the rest of your week!
Peace&Love
Aku

Is Smoothie Season Over?

August was not my best smoothie month. I spent two weeks on vacation with no homemade smoothies. And September, I think my smoothie obsession has subsided. 

 Before I went away, I did some smoothie experimentation. I have a big packet of vanilla whey protein, that I'm supposed to take after my workouts. However, whey protein (in my opinion) is disgusting. Throw it in a smoothie! Great idea right? No, it was still gross. The first picture on the left is my tall glass of strawberry whey protein. It was so frothy and protein-y. YUCK. 

After vacation, I went to the grocery store and picked up:

1. Light Yorgut
2. Cut pineapples
3. Cut cantaloup
4. Kiwifruits
5. Oranges 
6. Bananas

Clearly I was going to have a smoothie party with myself. Recently I cut the amount of yogurt I use to about half and added more ice. I ended up eating the oranges and kiwifruits (sidenote* I think kiwifruits give me a bad acidic reaction, I can't figure it out but they are one of the most acidic fruits)

Cantaloupe, pineapple and bananas.

Found some frozen strawberries and tossed them in for one last strawberry infused smoothie.









So has anyone noticed the price of fruits lately? Strawberries are a dollar more and those are my favorite! The weather is changing, no doubt about that. Here in the Midwest, there's really only two seasons- summer and winter. I sooo miss the leaves in New York, I miss that whole scene. But this extended summer is not that bad. However, I'm ready for pumpkin flavored everything and hot chocolate!

Peace&Love
Aku

Hair Bummer- Touch-up Update Sorta

Hi Readers, 
         I want to thank you all for stopping by and reading, I appreciate it a lot. I've been taking care of my hair for quite some time and everyday I learn something new. I've had hard times and fun times with my hair and overall, I try to keep in mind that I'm not just my hair. 

Sooooooooooooo I gave myself a touch-up two days ago -___- My hair seems to be in shock.

After I drenched it with Avocado Oil

• Porous hair- low or high I don't know anymore?
• Hard water due to 4 month old filter?
• Over-processed?
• Protein overload?
• Severely under-processed?

I narrowed my hair problems to these to few items (it's really a lot of items).
If I had to pick, it would be low porosity, severely under-processed hair and I just ordered a new shower filter. It's just bad. I'm in love/hate relationship with my hair. I've been waiting for the hate to pass so  I wouldn't sound sad blogging.

But it's not my hair's fault. I do admire my hair for it's resiliency, it has seen many bad times and has managed to not completely turn over and die. I love my hair's color and thickness but its resiliency really ties it together. 

I apologize about the poor
picture quality.

Once you begin to take care of your hair, you develop a different kind of relationship for it. You are in charge of what happens to your hair. So I'm pretty bummed with myself, after two days I decided to go back to the hair salon for a corrective relaxer. I want to continue the rest of my wash day at home. I have six weeks to decide. 

In the meantime, I'm going to be really low-key with my hair. The shedding has come back and it's pretty ridiculous. Hot oil treatments and tea rinses will be back. I may incorporate baking soda just once to my deep conditioner.

The first six inches of my hair is just thick, full, dry, tangled and brittle. There's plenty of texture everywhere, putting my hair in a bun or ponytail is a task.  I added a minute or two to my application process but it wasn't enough. ORS No-lye for 16 minutes from start to rinsing off. I keep telling my friends I'm going to cut it all off (I can be dramatic), but I don't think that would make me feel better.

What do you do when your hair gets you down?

I tend to research and obsess. But that doesn't really make me feel better. Happy hair stories make me feel better. 

Peace&Love

I Can't Wear a Helmet, I Just Did my Hair!

Yesterday, I woke after sleeping in and decided to try Bantu knots. This is my first time doing my full head and I immediately thought of KLP, a pro Bantu knotest. 

Looks like I'm going to need some hair products because these barely Bantu'd. I applied my Shea mix to each section and left the knots in for a few hours. It took a little over an hour to install the knots.                                                                                                   Go Karts and bowling were the plans for the day, sweet! But then I was informed that we'd be riding the bike today...but I just spent an hour doing my hair, I can't wear a helmet! I digress. 

                   How to wear a helmet with for long or short hair:

1.  Medium scarf
2. Low bun (pony tail will result in tangled ends)
3. French braids! 
4. Or be like me and say screw wind damage and let your hair blow in the wind (but still wear a scarf)

Of course, these tips aren't written in stone. I've never experienced helmet hair with the tips above, my hair just sort of bounces back to life once I let it out. At the end of the day my hair smelled like exhaust and barely had any waves going on. Overall, I had fun bowling and trying not to get killed on the go kart track. 

I need more defined Bantu knot results.

Peace&Love 

Aku

Wash Day with Homemade Avocado Deep Conditioner

*Long story short, I ended up re-deep conditioning my hair after this wash day*

       A friend mentioned that she used avocado to deep condition her hair. She only had great things to say about the homemade deep conditioner. It left her hair moisturized and it was natural. I did some research and watched a few YouTube videos. What's the worse that could happen? Let's get started!

I'm ready. Oh I went back to tea rinses, black tea
in my Tupperware. 

There are so many variations of avocado mix for the hair. Starting with one avocado and a teaspoon or tablespoon of olive oil. I decided to add more stuff to that mix, (Possible mistake number 1) I added a teaspoon of mayo and a dollop of GVP Moisturizing Conditioner. Sigh...so I mashed up the ingredients with a spoon (possible mistake number 2). 

I should've left the mix au natural and I should've blended the avocado!! I blend all my other fruits! OH EM GEE there were chunks of avocado all over the bathroom floor. I was not pleased but I kept matting the mix onto my hair. I put a plastic cap over it for two hours or so. I spent half the time under my hooded dryer and the other half without heat.

This is my hair with my avocado mix

My avocado mix

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Oh man, I didn't even want to think about washing my hair out. Side eye* I co-washed it out with GVP Moisturizing Conditioner. Towel dried my hair and I knew I didn't like the results. Immediately I wanted a leave-in that would sink into my hair (I don't have one, that's another post for another day). Maybe I didn't make a mistake with the avocado mix, I did use the ORS Creamy Aloe shampoo twice in August.


It wasn't the shampoo because the very next day I applied water and KeraPro Restorative Treatment to my dry hair, sat under my hooded dryer for an hour , washed it out and I felt like my hair was finally deep conditioned. Sadly I finished that $10 jar of DC. 

So I didn't get any great results from my avocado mix but I will try homemade avocado again. I can't knock it just yet. 

I am not a kitchenista...
Has anyone tried avocado or mayo in their hair?
Peace&Love