Thursday, October 31, 2013

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

Thursday, October 24, 2013

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.
IMG_9271
Giovanni on deck plus water for the shampoo
and my lovely pineapple black tea.
IMG_9311
Sally's gave me this sample
size leave-in
IMG_9272
Here I am with banana in my hair, nbd

IMG_9284
Dried and detangled. These ends have to go!
IMG_9285
I'm thinking a good 2-3 in cut. I'm a little
scissor happy. 
IMG_9298
The next day I put 6 flexirods in after
moisturing and sealing. 
IMG_9288
I just wanted to cut that last section off.
Not sure why I banded my hair,
 it ended up in a bun.
IMG_9302
Monday
IMG_9314
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~


Monday, October 14, 2013

How Did I Forget About Protein Treatments?

     I've only done two hard protein treatments this year. And I can't believe I forgot how much I love Aphogee Two-Step! I've been moisture focus and touch-up focused it slipped my mind.   

Just a few of the products I used for the wash day.
Shampoo, deep condition and leave-ins  are missing. 
  
Hair with Aphogee Protein two-Step
Hair after DC, shampoo and tea rinse. I gathered up the
trouble area with my plastic hair clip
  1. I detangled and deep conditioned (or prepooed) my hair with ORS Replenishing Conditioner for two hours in four twists. 
  2. I put Miss Jessie Slip Sudsy shampoo in an applicator bottle with water and washed my scalp, roots and hair. 
  3. Hopped in the shower to wash everything out. Added a little more Miss Jessie. 
  4. Tea rinsed with this wonderful Pineapple tea. A gift from Hawaii. 
  5. Towel dried my hair and generously sprayed my Aphogee Two-Step all over my hair. 
  6. With the help of my blow dryer, my hair got hard. I follow my hard protein treatment instructions to the T! Please please do the same. I never had an issue but I always followed hard protein directions.
  7. Hopped in the shower and stood under my filtered shower head and applied the Aphogee Balancing Moisturizer. It lathered pretty well rinsed. 
  8. For some reason I decided to add GVP Humectress Conditioner. Idk no why. 
  9. Hopped out the shower, towel dried, then tee shirt dried for a half hour
  10. Applied Giovanni leave-in and Organix Coconut anti-breakage serum (a little too much) and proceeded to air dry. 
  11. I didn't detangle until the next morning. I actually got my wide tooth through my hair with minimal shedding. The breakage has halted. I rarely use a comb to detangle because I feel it actually causes unnecessay breakage.

    I love leaving my hair in tee shirts but I 'm afraid I
    have to cut down on the time. I think I
    let my hair sit in a tee too long.


 The picture of the back of my hair, is hard to look at. Definitely didn't want to put it up. Alas my hair is not perfect and I look forward to my comeback. 

Wore my hair down twice :( . I moisture and seal every day. Giovanni mixed with water and grape seed to seal. Massage my scalp every other day. Bun and scarf my hair for bed. 

I actually don't know what I'll do next wash.  I am so glad I used Aphogee this wash. I wished I used it sooner.
I will probably continue to wash my hair the way I did it in the video (which was last week's wash day)


Readers did I go picture crazy? I need to find the happy-medium.
Love&PEACE
Aku

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Garlic Treatment and Clarifying Wash Day

Shedding, When does it end? I heard about Autumn shedding but I don't believe my hair knows it's Fall. However, it's shedding. 
OHEMGEE That garlic and oil stunk!

This past weekendI pre-pooed with EVOO infused with three cloves of garlic and Garnier Fructis Fight the Fall. It smelled so gross, very potent. Put my hair in four twists. I put ORS Creamy Aloe in a color applicator bottle with water, and shampooed/clarified my hair with the twists in. Hopped in the shower and rinsed the pre-poo and shampoo out. Towel dried my hair and applied Neutragena Triple Moisture Mask to my hair.

Every time I touched my hair, my hands had small broken pieces of hair on them. I was in denial at first but it seemed the more I applied, I'd still find pieces of hair on my hand. I pouted and went under my hooded dryer for a half hour. I wanted to flat iron my hair but it's not its normal self lately. However, I prepped for flat ironing but delayed if for a few days. I really don't know why I ended up flat ironing but it made it easier to see where the most damage on my head was. 


Left: the trim/cut from July, slight "W" going on
Right: Beginning of October. Can't wait to cut those thin ends!



The middle back above my nape. It's bad back there. After flat-ironing I could see a slight "W" shape at from the back. I'm blaming it on the fact it's underprocessed and the roots are so tightly packed compared to anywhere else. Heat protectant, heat protectant of course I used Chi 44 Iron Guard before using my flat iron. 










Immediate Hair Goals


  • Baby the toughest part of my hair
  • Protein treatment- medium protein for now. 
  • GHE (Baggy Method)- with water
  • Inversion Method- I thought this would help when it comes touch-up time. Hopefully I'll be able to see a difference from real new growth and the old new growth. I don't have the highest hopes but what the hey! I think I will stick to my gut and skip this step actually.
  • Low manipulation styles-mostly twist-outs
  • Take garlic supplements for shedding



  • Peace&Love Everyone!
    Guess what day it is! Hump Day!

    Saturday, October 5, 2013

    Hair Breaking Point

    Hair breaking point, the light in your head that goes off saying "You don't have to do this to your hair."

    Do you remember how bummed I was about my hair last month? Shaking my head, I absolutely hated the difference between my underprocessed hair and the straight half. I wasn't sure if I reached that breaking point. That point where seriously I'm so over relaxers and texlaxing. Perhaps it's because I tend to over-think.

    I personally know a few people who have big chopped. One was so angry after a trip to the salon gone bad, she chopped off her hair after some weeks. She had hair much longer than mine. I wondered what was going through her mind, I wonder how that breaking point felt once reached. It's been a month and I'm no longer that bummed. I'm even enjoying the texture and rethinking the corrective texlax. 

    Sometimes I feel like other people like my hair more than I like my hair. Those are the people I tell "I'm cutting my hair off." Of course they object. I've been talking that junk for months maybe years. When I really think about it, would I actually big chop? My hair has always been at least neck length. Even before my first relaxer, my hair was bountiful (I wish I had a picture.) The lady who did my hair had her work cut out for her.

    Sometimes I wonder why I didn't stop her for putting that relaxer in. It was my fifth grade graduation gift, a relaxer. Shaking my head. I wanted one so bad because having my mom do my hair every week was painful. Either my cousin braided it, I had extensions but most likely the hot comb :(( She did her best with what she had. Had we both known what to do with my hair, I'm sure my hair situation would be different.

    Yesterday I found myself watching Naptural85 hair videos. I stumble upon them once in a while. She has such lovely hair. But I think, would I want that everyday? Maybe half the time. OMG BUT IT'S YOUR NATURAL HAIR! I have friends who aren't black or African American and they chemically straighten their hair. No one makes them feel like it's wrong. But I'm sure you've all seen the debate in the black community. This is the hair that grows out of my hair but lets separate women some more and talk about hair texture. Shaking my head.  Anyways, I love big hair. I love natural hair, I love thick relaxed hair I even love a good a weave. 

    Anyways, I'm not sure how the hair breaking point feels. At the end of the day I do love my hair. But when it comes to big decisions, I always over-think and wait 30 days to see how I feel. If I did reach the breaking point, I would've got rid of my hair already, right? No, I am however toying with the idea of never applying a relaxer to my hair. This year with my hair has been up and down. Hard water, stress, severely underprocessing twice! I don't mind not being 'natural' but I do mind worrying about what I'll do for my touch-up. I know I'm new to the self touch-up game, I can't give up just yet... I CAN'T QUIT!

    To keep myself motivated I enjoy watching Prettywitty77 and thehappyhairshow. Although I don't think they have the same hair as me, I just love their hair!!! These ladies tend to their own hair and they also have up and downs. I think I will stretch my normal 7-11 week stretch and see how I feel then. 

    I hope I'm allowed to use this video.

    Just some thoughts. I can talk for days, but I won't haha
    Peace&love
    Aku