HOTD: Hair of the Day

This is my very first HOTD post!  Today I was having such an incredible hair day that I had to share. I couldn't wait!

I did what I said in my last post about preparing my hair for bed. I just applied a dab (literally a dab) of Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie to the ends and then put them in chunky twists.

This morning I had to run (I did 8 miles) so I put a headband around the perimeter of my head and then my workout headband. When I showered I wrapped my hair in a scarf so that the condensation wouldn't frizz my hair out.

After I got dressed I untwisted and this is what I was left with.

This is by far the absolute BEST twist-out that I have ever had! I was so excited when I saw my hair! I hardly ever wear my hair out, as in I  never do, because I don't like how it looks. It's usually frizzy, dry and has no movement.

The curly girl method is doing wonders for my moisture retention with very little effort on my part.

The only thing I had on my hair was the conditioner from when I detangled my hair. With the CGM I don't rinse out the conditioner I apply to my hair to help me detangle. To put in the twists I just applied some gel.

I wore my hair out yesterday and today without applying anymore products. Tonight I'm going to try putting it in a bun to see how my hair looks. However, I'm going to wear a protective style because I said I'd only wear it out twice a week.

Tomorrow I should re-wet my hair but I think I will wait until Friday afternoon to redo my hair. I'm loving this style and can't wait to try it again next week!

Don't you love it when you have a complete hair success day?

Curly Girl Method: Week 3

While I'm enjoying the CGM method, I find that I don't have time in my schedule right now to "shampoo" twice a week. I'd prefer to re-wet my hair after my initial "shampoo" day so that my hair stays nice and soft but it's not possible.

Here's another style that I wore last week after I did my wash and go. It wasn't that cold outside so I just decided to go with the flow. I wasn't convinced of it's "cute-ness" (yea, I made up a word) but my husband liked it.

This week I put in my pre-poo/deep conditioner on Sunday but I was too lazy to rinse it out. So I just slept with it in my hair. I rinsed it out and shampooed with my conditioner and detangled on Monday. The detangle process is much easier and faster when I do my hair twice a week instead of once a week. Hopefully I have more time in the summer.

However, this week we are going through a cold spell, so I knew I wasn't going to wear my hair out wet. So I put it in some medium-sized twists and wore my beanie. This afternoon I took them down to rock a twist out and I loved the results! This is going to be my go-to style until the warm weather starts.

I will do my hair, twist it up and leave them in for 24 hours. I will rock a twist out for 1-2 days, then after that I will put it in updos. The only thing I had on my hair for the twists was my leave-in conditioner, and some gel. I got the best twist-out results I've ever had.

The pictures below don't even do it justice. It looked nice and full and defined and super soft. These pictures show what my hair looked like before I separated the twists.

I didn't put any oil or anything on my hands when I separated the twists because my hair was incredibly moisturized. The CG method is the best! I then separated them and what I ended up with is below.

I haven't decided how I'm going to prepare my head for bed yet. I will probably put it in a bun (got the idea from a youtuber) or twist it back up in bigger twists.

Then tomorrow I will wear it out and then following days it will be up until I wash it again. I'm truly loving this Curly Girl Method journey.

Week 34 Hair

Another freestyle updo that I rocked this week. It's actually just another version of this style. By the end of the day some of the bobby pins were annoying me. So the next day I wore the ends in a clip to use less bobby pins. It was a success.

Nothing new this week with the hair. I didn't put in the dry twists until Tuesday since I was loving my previous updo style so much. For that reason I was able to keep my hair in for Saturday. I took the twists out Saturday night and then washed my hair after running this morning.

Depending on how the week develops I will either install the dry twists on Monday or Tuesday.

There's only about 34 days until I do my next length check! 

It'll be after my marathon in February. I'm excited to see what growth I was able to maintain!

In addition, I will probably do a reassesment of my products thus far. I'm running out of some stuff and I want to try some new stuff.

Week 35 Hair

Detangle with conditioner

Shampoo

Deep condition

Kimmaytube Leave In

Twists

Week 15 Hair

Adapting to new surroundings is not only hard on the mind and body, but also on the hair!

Googleimages

Last week I had to use my Bear Fruit Hair leave in conditioner because I didn't have a chance to pick up aloe vera juice for my kimmaytube leave in. (It sucked) That kimmaytube leave in works like magic.

Although I do really like Bear Fruit Hair products. At least the ones I've tried are amazing.  The Desert Moisture leave in and the Banana and Avocado deep conditioner are incredible. I will probably try something else once I finish with them but I would definitely buy them again.

I'm almost out of the deep conditioner actually and have no idea what product to try out next.

So all suggestions are welcome. 

I'm thinking of purchasing a Giovanni product online. I love their light moisture conditioner as part of my kimmaytube leave in.

Anyway, I bought some aloe vera juice last week and made my mixture yesterday. That all went smoothly.  

What didn't was the entire hair washing procedure. 

Since I had already showered I didn't want to get in again just to wash my hair. Instead I had to lean over the tub. We have a super tall tub and it doesn't have one of those removal shower heads I've grown to cherish in Spain.

So that made washing annoying. I had to detangle at the sink, which was messy. It also took me twice as long. From now on I'll just have to get in the shower.

A good thing is that my mom has one of those hair dryers. I've been wanting to use one since I started my HHCJ. This weekend I'm going to buy a protein treatment from my local beauty supply store and sit under the dryer for 30 minutes or so. I plan to do this every week for a month. After that, if I see results, I will continue to do it twice a month.

I'm not experiencing breakage but I haven't been incorporating protein into my routine. There has to be a balance of protein and moisture and to date there has only been moisture.

My twists are in now and I hope to stretch them until Friday like I did last week. I did one of my updo styles on Friday for work and also on Saturday since I went out.

Almost forgot...

I changed my shampoo and conditioner. I had to leave them in Spain when I moved so I purchased the Trader Joe´s Tea Tree shampoo and a Suave conditioner as my detangler.

They are ok but once I finish them I will probably try something different. I do, however, like the Trader Joe´s Nourish Spa conditioner as a detangler. It is so nice and creamy. That will be purchased again.

That's all for now folks.

Week 16 Hair 

• Shampoo
• Detangle with conditioner
• Deep condition
• Kimmaytube leave in
• Twists

Week 7 Hair

They look so innocent don't they? Don't be fooled! (googleimages)

 That banana-mango deep conditioner was a complete DISASTER! Do  NOT and I have to repeat, DO NOT ever, ever, EVER try that recipe. I haven't gotten around to it yet, but I plan to rip out that page and/or burn it. (I put all my hair recipes and things I want to try in a diary type book).

First: 

The mango would not stay in my hair. It was falling all over the place. The recipe said to mash it but I guess it really should've been pureed.

Then 

I could not rinse the banana pieces out of my hair! I was panicking last week because I had all this gunk in my hair that would not come out! Even today washing my hair, there were still some pieces left!

Last week I had rinsed it out and then applied my herbal rinse. I look in the mirror and see all this gunk in my hair. I didn't take pictures simply because I was desperate. I try to pull the pieces out but my curls wouldn't let it go.

• So I apply some more shampoo and work it in really well. No help. 

• On top of the shampoo I apply some conditioner because it has good slip and maybe the banana pieces will slide off. No help. 

• On top of the shampoo and condtioner I apply some of my scalp oil to it. That has even more slip so the pieces should definitely come out then! No help. 

I was smoothing my hair so much at this point that some banana pieces did fall out into the sink by default. But the DISASTER was by no means solved.

 The worst part is

that this was at 2am. I had to do my 2-hour run that night because we were out all day. I didn't go until 1030pm and then when I got back I started my hair. Well, with trying to get the banana pieces out, and then giving up and just twisting my hair and hoping it wasn't noticeable (it wasn't) I didn't end up going to bed until 5am!!! Yes, people, I didn't go to bed until 5am and had to wake up at 11am. 

I WAS A COMPLETE MESS FOR THE REST OF THE DAY AND I HAD TO MEET PEOPLE FOR LUNCH!

Suffice to say, I wanted to body slam the person who invented that recipe and then decided to put it on the world wide web for all to see!

Of course I'm back to my Shea Moisture deep conditioner today. Because even though I don't like it that much, at least it smells good and there are NO BANANA PIECES!!! Thankfully, no long term damage has been done to my hair but I did waste a perfectly good, ripe, mango and banana!

Oh the trial and error of natural hair!

Week 8 Hair 

• Shampoo
• Detangle with conditioner
• Deep condition (Shea Moisture!)
• Herbal rinse
• Kimmaytube leave in
• Twists 

Hair Regimen Part 1: journey and products

Shampoo. leave ins, and regular conditioners: I have yet to try the VO5, the Suave or the Trader Joe's nourish spa.

Moisturizers: The water bottle has plain, tap water in it. I haven't tried the Qhemet Biologic's product yet.

Oils: My shea butter cream is in the circle container and the two little bottles are my essential oils, rosemary and orange.

Styling products: Scissors to trim, bobby pins, gel, hair clips and the pH testing strips.

The (condensed) Beginning

Before starting college, I put braids in my hair. I didn't know when I would get my next relaxer. In a new state, a new city, living on campus, perhaps there was nowhere to buy a relaxer or get one put in. Of course then I didn't know the term "transitioning", but that's what I was doing. I transitioned until about March of 2003, exclusively in braids. 

After my hair was cut I wore twists mostly, since that's all I knew how to do. I wasn't creative when my hair was straight and I suppose I was less so with it natural. When I was sick of twists I'd ask someone to put it in braids and I'd wear them for as long as I was able. Sometimes even a puff if I felt adventurous.

The Tragedy

The summer of 2004 I got a trim from a place near campus. Instead of a trim it was, essentially, an unwanted hair cut. I was left with only one inch of hair on my head! I panicked! I kept pulling on it, convincing myself it was shrunken because it was still wet. Nope, when it dried there was still only one inch of hair on my head! I wore braids, again exclusively, until I felt like my hair was at a comfortable length for me to wear it out. I was definitely ashamed of my short hair.

In 2007 I got my hair colored. It was a light brown color, which I definitely enjoyed. It was time for a change. While in England studing for my MA I noticed my ends felt really dry. So, I decided to go to the hair shop for a trim every six weeks. I must have read somewhere that said this was the "right" amount of time to wait. It was washed, conditoned, blown out, and then flat ironed each time. My hair did grow but I didn't retain length. The color was being trimmed off slowly but surely.

The Epiphany

When I graduated in 2008, my husband and I started making plans to leave the country. We arrived in Spain in March 2009. That's when I initially decided I needed to start being proactive about my haircare. We lived in a small town where there were few, if any, people of color. So I had to learn how to take care of my own hair. 

I researched online, found homemade deep conditioner recipes, hot oil treatments, caramel treatments and the like. There were few herbal stores around. But I went to the few I could find to pick up natural products. I was focused. I made sure to do my hair every week. At this time I wore my hair out 90% of the time and only wore twists occasionally. I guess I just wanted to prove to myself I was comfortable with my hair.

Discovering Youtube

This process worked for awhile. I would shampoo on a Sunday, condition wash (co-wash) on a Wednesday, do hot oil and caramel treatments every four weeks. My hair was also deep conditioned every week. I even bought some scissors to clip my ends when I felt I needed to. Right after a wash my hair would feel soft and manageable and glorious. This would only last two days. Then my hair would feel dry, brittle, look dull and ashy and I couldn't wait until the next wash.

I thought this was the normal condition of my hair. I didn't discover there was a problem until I discovered youtube in April of 2011. I learned about pH levels of the hair and products. I knew I had to find a good moisturizer or it would start to break off. Of course there was nowhere in Spain for me to buy these products and to ship them was a small fortune.

Healthy Hair Care Journey

Luckily, I got to visit my family in the US (thank you mom for buying those tickets!). I was prepared! I sent package after package after package to my mom's house. I bought things from all kinds of websites. I even made sure to stop by Walmart to get some cheap conditioners. I also had my younger sister pick up things like coconut oil and flaxseeds. I was on a mission.

When I got back I started my healthy hair care journey. This is week three and I already notice the difference in how my hair feels and looks. It isn't dry or ashy. My husband said that my hair looked darker and that's because it's finally getting the moisture it needs! I was shocked that at the end of the week my hair was not a disaster. Usually it looks like it needs to be washed and re-styled asap! But my hair looked fresh, moisturized and soft! I know I'm on the right path.

Current and Future Products

As I've said before, the purpose of this blog isn't only to help myself. It's to help anyone and everyone who needs it. So below (in recipes) are some things I use in my hair that I really like. Above you can see the pics of all the products that I use. Tomorrow I will tell you how I use these products by detailling my current hair regimen.

So far I really like the Shea Moisture, curl and style milk. It is light, smells delicious, and leaves my hair soft, moisturized and not greasy. I also like the kimmaytube conditioner (recipe below). Mainly because I don't have to add more product to my hair until day three after my wash. Even when I exercise and sweat! However, there are still some products I would like to try in the future:

• Qhemet Biologics--Honeybush Tea Soft Gel

•  Bee Mine Products Inc.--Deja's Hair Milk and Juicy Moisturizing Daily Spritz

• Identity Hair and Skin Care--Nature's Silk Hair Lotion

• Giovanni--Giovanni Direct protein deep conditoner

• Vegetable glycerin

•  Lavender and grapefruit essential oils

•  Jojoba oil

• Saw palmetto (used to prevent hair loss) and catnip (used to stimulate hair growth)--both are herbs 

Don't worry, I will be sure to use what I have now. I realized when taking the photos that I have A LOT of things right now to keep me satisfied these first three months and beyond.

Recipes

Kimmaytube Leave-In

1oz (or 2 Tbsp.) your favorite leave in conditioner

2 Tbsp. aloe vera juice

2 tsp. jojoba oil

2 tsp. castor oil

Put this on your hair (concentrating on the ends) right before you style.

Hot oil treatment

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1 Tbsp. coconut oil

1 Tbsp. grapeseed oil

1 Tbsp. shea butter

You will probably have some left over but I also put this mix on my scalp. Just heat to warm and put on wet or dry hair in sections. Leave in 20-30 minutes, rinse, then shampoo. Great as a detangler as well.

Caramel treatment

6 Tbsp. honey

6 Tbsp. olive oil

2-3 overripe bananas

3 Tbsp. molasses

4-6 Tbsp. water

1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

1-2 Tbsp. cornstarch (depending on how thick you want it to be)

1 tsp. wheat germ oil (can be substituted for any other natural oil of your choice)

Place all ingredients except the water into a blender, blend until smooth. Add water bit by bit if the misture is too dry. Sieve to remove the banana bits. Pour mixture into a suacepan over medium heat, stirring constantly. You don't want to "cook" the mixture but you want the cornstarch to cause it to thicken. It only takes a few minutes. Add more water if it's too thick or more cornstarch if it's too runny. You want to end up with a caramel colored mixture that is the consistency of a thick batter. If it's too think it will drip from the hair. Put it into a container. This is enough for two applications. To apply, divide hair into three or four sections and put generously on the roots and all the way to the ends. Cover hair with a plastic cap, let sit for 1-2 hours or overnight for really dry hair. Wash with sulfate free shampoo and deep condition. Freeze the remainder until you are ready to use it.

 Herbal rinse

2 Tbsp. horsetail (treats brittle hair)

2 Tbsp. sage (treats brittle hair)

2 Tbsp. rosemary (stimulates growth)

1 Tbsp. lavender (stimulates growth)

1 Tbsp. camomille (softens hair)

Put the amounts in a pot with water, bring to a boil. Then lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Once it's cool pour over hair after you shampoo and deep condition and don't rinse out. This makes my hair smell really good! (The kitchen as well when it's cooking). Be careful though because it can stain your bathtub.

Shea butter cream

(Put in 1 Tbsp of all the ingredients. You can use any essential oils and regular oils you like.)

shea butter

olive oil

grapeseed oil

vitamin e oil

almond oil

coconut oil

rosemary essential oil

orange essential oil

castor oil

honey

Mix everything together with a hand mixer or a blender. It will come out nice and creamy.

Be sure to check out Part 2 tomorrow!