Hair Regimen Part 2: application

The last post explained my hair journey and the products that I am currently using. This one will describe to you (as detailed as possible) how I handle my hair each week and between washes. 

PREPARATION

I am already behind as this is technically week 3 of my journey. But I hope to get better at documenting things in the future. I wanted to take more glamorous pictures of my hair growth. But I forgot to do so yesterday when I did my hair. So....you will have to see me in my pijamas!! To not bore with the pictures I only posted pics of one side of my head. Meaning the bangs, front, sides, and back are shown, but not on both sides. Mainly because the hair is the same length on each side of my head! Also, my hair is layered, which is why it's different lengths. 

My goals in this hair journey are:

1. To grow out my bangs
2. To reach below bra strap length
3. To maintain healthy hair

In the interests of time (and space) I will only detail what I do now and not what I've done in the past. The point is to start fresh anyway!

STEP 1:

Each week before washing my hair I detangle with conditioner. Depending on my mood I will detangle in the shower or out. For the past two weeks I've detangled out of the shower. Mainly because I feel guilty about wasting water and since I feel guilty I rush. You cannot rush through detangling! Doing so will lead to breakage and the pulling out of your hair. Be patient with those knots.

I smooth my hair with the conditioner, focusing on my ends. Then I run my fingers through my hair gently. If I come to a knot, I stop, apply more product, and massage the knot out. I don't just run my fingers through the knot. I might as well use a comb then. The objective is to be gentle with your hair. You want to free up your naturally shed hair without compromising the rest of it.

I detangle in sections. The number of sections varies but I try to keep them small and manageable. Not too small, or I'll be detangling all day!

STEP 2:

I leave the twists in my hair while I shampoo giving special care to wash my scalp well and rinse well. I also squeeze the twists to make sure all the product is removed but I don't undo them. Otherwise I'd have to detangle all over again.

STEP 3:

Once I detangle and shampoo I deep condition. Right now I'm using a Shea Moisture product from their raw shea butter line: deep penetrating masque, and I do like it. It smells delicious and is nice, thick, and creamy. I'm not sure if it does anything super special to my hair though. So I doubt I'd buy it again. Typically, I just add olive oil and honey to my normal conditioner. I love this mix! It makes my hair feel incredible. In fact, I might just go back to this next week to truly compare. I deep condition anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 hour.

STEP 4:

After such, I apply an herbal rinse (check out Hair Regimen Part 1: journey and products for the recipe) to my hair and leave it in. I do squeeze out the excess water but I don't rinse it out. Then I proceed to apply the kimmaytube leave in (recipe in Part 1) and put my hair in big twists to air dry. I also oil my scalp at this time.

THE NEXT DAY:

• I apply moisture in the form of water or my Giovanni leave in conditioner
• A moisturizer
• Seal with oil

ADDITIONAL CARE

Every four weeks I give myself a caramel treatment and a hot oil treatment (both recipes in Part 1). Although not on the same weekend, I alternate. This weekend I will do a caramel treatment, while the week before last I did a hot oil treatment. I also apply protein to my hair in the form of my Infusium 23 Leave in. But I want a stronger one. I'm just not sure what to try so I am open to all suggestions! Leave a comment!

That's it. Tonight I will put my hair in smaller twists. I sweat a lot at yoga today so my scalp is a bit dry. I will apply my leave in condtioner, a moisturizer (probably the Qhemet Biologics) and then my shea butter cream. This week I am going to try to keep the twists in all week until it's time for my wash. My hair still feels moisturized and looks moisturized but my twists are fuzzy at this point. Plus, I still have to run tomorrow. So I will try to put them in smaller ones and helpfully this will help the frizz factor.

ONE FURTHER THOUGHT:

I haven't decided yet if I want to do a Day 3 wash/rinse or not. The weather is warmer now. So I sweat more even when not exercising. I just want to make sure that my scalp stays clean. However, I want to manipulate my hair as little as possible. Last week I did a mild rinse with apple cider vinegar. This week if my scalp itches I might consider it. I am going to try to keep my hair in ONE style all week to lower manipulation as well.

Any questions, comments, suggestions....leave comments!

Today there won't be a Daily Fitness Tip....sorry. I just don't have time. However, tomorrow will be blog posts as usual so don't miss out on what's coming next: YOGA!