Here Comes the Sun + Old Favorite[s] July 27, 2009

It’s towards the end of July,  Summer has hurriedly reached it’s halfway mark…and somehow…someway, I still find myself baffled each time I take down my twists after a wash+condition+style cycle.  I’d want to hearken this all to a ‘glutton for punishment’ mindset…me knowing & listening to the humidity forecast before applying my first styling product, yet still floored when ‘poof’ is the only scenario starring me in face.

Alas, this morning I took the final hint, and realized if first day hair comes out looking like five day old hair…it’s still alright.  The blazing sun/heat yesterday tore through my twists to dry them in air fashion, but…maybe a bit too well.  My strands were endlessly parched after taking down in the a.m., leaving me weary of adding any kind of butter/moisturizer/curl cream.

Finally getting down to the bare bones of my sample poo bar from Chagrin Valley.  My Tea Tree and Neem bar has lasted well over four washes…a plus considering the intial size of the bar and the scope of my hair. Washed with the bar this week, but also decided to use up the palm-ful of Oyin’s Honey Wash leftover from many moons ago.  LUV this stuff for softening & cleansing my hair the only way curly/coily hair should be cleansed…gently/nourishing.  All good stuff.

AOHR, the only conditioner left in sight after the past few weeks of using up the goods.  Detangled, smoothed on condish in sections…twisted, and DC’d for a couple hours while I exited to the laundromat.  Multitasking is the only way I know how to do Sundays, and thankfully my hair was treated to a much deserved DC after nixing on it last week.  Before rinsing, applied old fav ACV to my scalp a ( added Hairveda’s CoCosta Oil), massaged in the scalp…cold rinsed and dug deep to find my old bottle of KCKT.

Applied KCKT, under Donna Marie’s Lock & Twist Pudding.  After the twists were fully dry,  the ends were a bit dry/under-moisturized, sealed with Afroveda’s  Ginger Almond Twist Butter.  The ‘do’ this morning  was less moisturized than what I’d been used to after using the KCKT + Donna Marie Combo.  HUMIDITY!!

How does one argue with your hair… to lay right, suck in that moisture…but not too much! Stay low…avoid the frizz, play nice with the other coils.  I can’t…and as I type…my place has  suspicously reached Sauna like temperatures.  Here’s to whatever tomorrow will bring;-)!

 

Edit:  After perusing some old posts, I did notice the same problem after using  KCKT + the lock twist pudding.  A combo of excessive humdidty with these two probably…not a good thing?!  

The Process April 27, 2009

It’s a Bee-U-tiFull day outside! In fact, this entire weekend was amazingly nice…for April at least.  I’m talking about 90 degree weather! It was a much welcomed change…but eh, only for a bit.  Definitely forgot about the dreaded ‘H’ word…Humidity!  Well throughout yesterday I was muddling about as if that strange funk in the air wouldn’t affect the outcome of my hair. Well…this morning after taking apart my twists I quickly remembered.

The plan was to wash, DC and style as usual.  Cleansed my scalp with Alaffia’s Neem Shampoo, then washed my hair with Oyin’s Honey Wash…followed up with my tried and true Curl Junkie, Curl Rehab for a DC.  I left the DC in after detangling for a good hour because I’d failed to DC last week and my hair was excessively parched.  After rinsing the condish I applied KCKT and followed up with Donna Marie’s CoCo Curling Butter. 

I clipped the roots to hold the frizz down, sat under my bonnet for an hour 1/2 -2 hours, woke up this morning, applied Afroveda’s Hemp Lock & Twist butter to seal ends and began untwisting for the beginning of the work week.  After untwisting I did add a smidge of KBB hair cream…it adds a softness to my hair that generally lasts a good two days AND…the smell is lovely (lavendar vanilla)!

Alright, so I’m untwisting…and I’m shaking and separating my hair as usual.  Once the twists are out, I hang my head upside down, give a good shake back and forth…then up and down to have much of the do fall into place and fill in those pesky gaps.   I shook…I shaked…I looked in the mirror and found my problem.  ~Frizz~!!  And I’m not talking..your general, run of the mill, slap some creme on and go bout the biz frizz…I mean, looking like five day old hair type frizz!

So in my haste to get out the door and make it to work on time…I slathered as much hair creme as my hair could stand, put on a head band and walked out the door.  My theory:

•  Humidity.  It was darn near 90 degrees when I started and ended my wash/styling session.
•  Donna Marie’s CoCo curling creme.  This was the first time using, and while applying I did not have good hair vibes.  My hands formed an odd white, pasty consistency that dried on some parts of my hair.  I’d call it residue of some kind, not sure.

 

But all in all, it could’ve been worse! These days, as long as my scalp is clean, hair is clean, I could always worry about the styling essentials later.  What’s frustrating is knowing the amount of time that went into what I saw before me this morning! To be honest I’m not even sure I’d want to revisit the CoCo Creme by Donna Marie anytime soon.  The Lock & Twist works like a charm, and I automatically assumed this would as well. Ha!

Will I try it again….Hmmm.  My next game plan could be to try a different leave-in and maybe avoid using it in high humid weather.  TBD!

The Process March 9, 2009

This week I wasn’t expecting to experiment too much with anything extra ordinary, pretty much wanted to try my hand at consistency…see if I had what it took not to open that new jar of buttercreme.  Overall I did good! I pre-pooed with some leftover conditioner I’d wanted to finish for a while, and went a head and mixed my ACV rinse.  Still adding the Khoret Amen oil, but also mixing in some vitamin E oil I’d found underneath my mound of bottles.  I’d purchased the vitamin E oil at the beginning of this year and seriously forgot I’d had it! My scalp towards the end of the week was beginning to act up again…a fault of mine because I’d forgotten to moisturize regularly with my coconut oil…and I was undoubtedly stressed at work.  Stress is always a huge factor, relative to the health of my scalp, something I’ve tried to keep a handle on but failed miserably this week. 

So added to my mix went the Vitamin E oil, which if what ‘they’ say is true, will help to stimulate my scalp, improving blood circulation.  To help the process along I massaged my scalp while the ACV rinse was in my hair for a good five minutes, making sure to move in circular motions…basically just enjoying the experience! A scalp massage is a fantastic stress reliever btw! 

After rinsing the ACV, I followed with a final wash of  Oyin’s Honey Wash.  A palmful was all I needed to distribute evenly and work up a good lather. I spot checked the crown of my head for that stripped, overly clean feeling and happily found zilch! I picked up on this habit late last year as a way to distinguish which washes/rinses/conditioners were doing the best job at cleansing/conditioning my hair.  I simply create a part down the center of my hair, stopping midway and sort of inspect for buildup, moisture etc. This week I had zero buildup, and found that my hair was shinny and well moisturized. 

Spot checks also help me in figuring out exactly which conditioner or DC to use for that week.  Usually I can figure it out the day before I wash, sort of just by keeping tab on how my hair progressed for the week, and yesterday I found love again in Aubrey Organics Honey Suckle Rose.  This was only my second time using this conditioner, and I’ll be honest it was sort of on a last/ second chance trial basis.  The first time I used this about a month ago after hearing rave reviews from the blog community,  I’d finally buckled and purchased while at the Vitamin shop (where it’s considerably cheaper than at other distributors btw!), came home…DC’d and was left very unimpressed.  At the time I couldn’t figure out why my hair didn’t react well to all the great and natural ingredients found in the conditioner, I just decided to move on.  And yet I still had more than half a bottle left, so I opted for a second chance, and was blown away by how great it worked!

I guess it’s a go-figure type thing….? What could I have done differently this time around…I’m not entirely sure…I detangled my ends with a wide toothed comb, applied the AOHR, then ran my denman through to further detangle.  I donned my conditioning cap and sat with it for 30 min before rinsing, and was surprised at how well my hair came together…and by this I mean I had virtually no frizz and my curls behaved by curling!  They honestly seemed to enjoy the combo of ACV + Honey Wash + AOHR. 

To style I applied KCKT followed by Donna Marie’s Lock & Twist Pudding.  This morning I wore my twists to work for the first time in a long time because I was a tad bit tired to unravel them.  Losing that hour of sleep is not pleasant! But again, my hair has tons of  shine and is moving beautifully…honestly I couldn’t find a better product to twist my hair! It’s easy to apply, and to apply you need very little.

 

On a side note, my internet is down this week….Arrggh! And I’m lagging behind on some product reviews I need to push out the door…some uppers and some downers I found while reviewing my old stash of things, so hopefully I can bang those out in a few days. 

 

Countdown to Spring: 11 Days

The Process Saponified March 2, 2009

The results of my wash and twist session this week are still TBD because my hair is currently still slightly damp and in twists;-). It was a long weekend and I ended up waiting until the last minute to do my thing, but I still managed to pat myself on the back simply because I washed and twisted in record time this week!! Those who’ve ever had to sit/stand in front of a mirror with the daunting task of twisting for 2-3 hours knows of the burden I speak.  I clocked in at 1 hour 15 min this week, just in time to sneak in a snack before heading to bed.

I pre-pooed this week with some leftover Millcreek Jojoba conditioner I’d wanted to finish for some time, then followed with my ACV rinse.  I’m continuing to add my Khoret Amen Oil from Carol’s Daughter to the ACV because it seems to be a win win, cuts back on the vinegar smell and the natural oils are always an added benefit.  

I nixed on the co-wash this week and opted for a honey wash, courtesy of Oyin Handmade.  I picked up a bottle while at one of their distributors here in BK and loved the ingredients, the fact that it doubles as a body wash…and the smell is yummy!  It’s a ‘wash,’ but not a shampoo, it has no harsh chemicals, sulfates or cones, but delivered amazingly well! Honey is of course it’s main ingredient, along with organic aloe vera gel, jojoba oil, walnut oil, glycerin extract, grapefruit seed & green tea extract. All the goodness is saponified with castile soap making the consistency creamy and almost silky once applied to the hair.  It suds up almost immediately and is quite easy to apply.  I hardly used more than a small palm full to get the job done which is an immediate added bonus.  I picked up an 8oz bottle for ten bucks and have no regrets! I haven’t used a hair wash/shampoo since last year when I stopped using shampoos with harsh detergents, but this was a surprise treat nonetheless.  After rinsing the honey wash, my hair felt ridiculously soft and conditioned.  I was honestly a bit taken aback at how pliable my hair became.  My curls were well moisturized which meant they were well defined and separating on their own before detangling.  It’s never an option for me not to DC or semi DC, but the way my hair was feeling after using the honey wash, I was seriously considering. 

But I had yet to detangle, so I added my Curl Rehab DC and detangled into small sections, sat under a conditioning cap for 25 min, rinsed with cold water then applied KCKT & began twisting in sub-sections, this week trying Afroveda’s Curly Custard.  It’s aloe based mixed with jojoba, coconut and lemon oils, shea butter and other essential oil blends.  My hair is still in twists so I can’t gage on the day after moisture factor, but when I was applying I had good vibes.  It went on smooth, and moisturized well enough. I’ll take the twists out tomorrow for a better review.

Overall my favorite find this week is hands down the Oyin Honey Wash! I’d even venture to day it’s more like a hair wash AND conditioner in one, so in the summer for quick & easy wash and go styles this would work fantastically well!

 

Hope everyone had a great weekend! And if you’re along the east coast buried under several inches of snow….we’re almost there;-).