After I took my Senagalese twists/crochet braids out, my hair became unhappy. It seemed fine at first, but by the end of the day, it was just SO thirsty!! It didn't matter what moisturizer I put in it either. The dryness was unreal. So I decided to co-wash just a few days after washing to try to infuse some moisture into my strands. I went straight for my moisturizing staples that never let me down, too.
{1} Divided my hair into 8 sections.
{2} Applied Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose & Island Naturals Replenishing conditioners to my hair and braided each section. I also applied some Umberto Deep Treatment Masque to the last few inches of my braids. I want to start trying the protein layering technique on my ends.
{3} Put on a plastic cap, scarf, and deep conditioned overnight.
{4} Rinsed with cool water (still in braids), squeezed the excess water out and followed with an ACV and aloe vera juice rinse. I don't rinse this out.
{5} Towel wrapped my hair to soak up the excess. I could already tell how much better my hair was feeling at this point.
{6} Doing one section at a time, I detangled, applied my leave-ins (Elasta QP H2, It's A 10 Miracle Leave in & Organix Coconut Milk Serum), and blew my hair dry on low. Didn't take very long at all and my hair felt great!
{7} Set my hair using my new Caruso steam rollers! I got these to replace the terrible Con-air ones I was gifted awhile ago.
Honeysuckle rose to the rescue! That plus the ACV and Aloe vera juice rinse left my hair pillowy soft and moisturized. For days ya'll! Why I stray from my tried and true I'll never know. I promise next time my aloe vera juice runs low, I'll re-up before it empties. I can't go without it anymore. I love when my hair turns out so soft I can't stop touching it!!
For my first time using the Caruso rollers, I really like them! I didn't try to blow dry my hair straight so, of course, it ended up HUGE as the day went on! Lol I should be used to that by now, huh? But I still liked it! At first, I thought the process of steaming the rollers one at a time would take forever, but it definitely is an easy process. These are keepers for me!
Oh, and my MacBook is finally back up and running! Yaaay!! So, I'm glad to be officially back and linking up with the #washdayexperience this week. Be sure to check out other wash day experiences over at SavingOurStrands and JustGrowAlready! How was your most recent wash day?
I went for a very simple co-wash this week. And by simple, I mean I didn't really want or have time to do much so I threw some conditioner in my hair :)
{1} Finger detangled my hair and divided it into 4 sections.
{2} Applied Tresemme Naturals conditioner and grape seed oil. Put on a plastic cap and scarf for about 30 minutes.
{3} Rinsed my hair and wrapped with a towel for about 10 minutes to soak up the excess water.
{4} T-shirt dried for about 30 minutes.
{5} Applied my leave-ins (Elasta QP H2 and Organix Anti-Breakage Coconut Milk) and detangled.
I went light on the leave-ins because I got some new hot/steam rollers that I wanted to try, but they didn't warm up like they were supposed to so that was a bust. I'm gonna try them once more before I give up and take them back. Maybe I just got a bad batch?
{6} Let my hair finish air drying and put it in a bun.
Pretty quick and easy! I had this whole plan to long-term protective style for the summer, but it has yet to happen. I was doing so well for awhile there! I am really just enjoying my hair and roller sets right now though. I was quite disappointed about my hot rollers not warming up very quickly! I have never used hot rollers before so I was pretty excited about trying them out. Hopefully the next time I try will be a different story. So, this week I ended up not really doing anything special, but I really liked my big, fluffy bun.
I decided to go for a quick co-wash since I hadn't done one in awhile and they were working so well for me. I want to try out a cleansing conditioner, but since I haven't picked one up yet, I proceeded like a regular wash day minus the shampoo step.
{1} Finger detangled and divided my hair into 8 sections.
{2} Pre-poo: Applied Paul Mitchell Tea Tree Moisturizing Conditioner and oil mix (grape seed & coconut) to each section and braided it. Put on a plastic cap & scarf for a couple hours before rinsing.
{3} Towel wrapped my braids to soak up the excess water for about 20 minutes.
{4} Deep conditioned with Aubrey Organics Island Naturals Replenishing and Tresemme Naturals conditioners for 2 hours.
{5} Rinsed with cool water followed by ACV & Aloe Vera Juice, which I did not rinse out.
So after I towel wrapped my hair again, I totally passed out. I don't know how long I had been sleep before I woke up long enough to put on a satin cap and went right back to sleep. The next morning, I woke up intending to finish my hair as usual, but I was pleasantly surprised by the state of my hair when I started taking out my braids.
I had THEE softest hair ever!!! Like pillowy soft hair! Aaahhh with NO extra leave ins. An unplanned experiment gone amazingly right!
{6} My hair was still a little damp so I sealed with some coconut oil and rocked a braid out.
That was it! Apparently, my hair truly loves the ACV and Aloe Vera juice combo. I never would have guessed that using it alone as my leave in would allow my hair to feel so great. It lasted for a couple days, too. The rinse is officially a staple! Although I probably won't make passing out with a wet head a common practice :)
I opted to replace my normal wash day with just deep conditioning (or co-washing). I really haven't decided what to call it because I'm not truly using a conditioner to cleanse my hair as most ladies do when co-washing. One thing I am sure of is that adding these days of doing nothing but deep conditioning my hair really seems to be helping it retain moisture in this winter weather. Could it be because I'm using less shampoo or because I'm using more conditioner? Not sure yet.
{1} I sectioned my hair into 4: down the middle in the front & ear to ear in the back. I've stopped parting my hair down the middle of my nape during wash days in an effort to continue its improvement.
{2} Applied Aubrey Organics Replenishing Island Naturals and grapeseed oil to my hair, covered with a plastic cap and scarf for a few hours.
{3} Rinsed with cool water, sprayed ACV mix, and rinsed with cold water after a few minutes.
{4} T-shirt dried for an hour.
{5} Applied leave-ins, Elasta QP H2 and Aphogee Green Tea & Keratin Restructurizer, and detangled my hair (still in sections).
{6} I re-wet my hair, added a little Eco-styler gel and flexi-rod set my hair using blue, orange, gray and a few purple rods. I ended up using about 35 once I was done.
{7} Let my hair air-dry overnight. When I went to remove one the next morning, it still felt a little damp at the root so I put on my bonnet dryer on low for about 15 minutes or so. I didn't want a repeat of the last time.
{8} Removed the rollers and separated my curls using some Organix Anti-Breakage Coconut Milk on my fingers.
Loved the results! So happy I decided to try to get better at these rollersets. I couldn't believe how much my results improved just with the second attempt. Also, this was my first time using the Aubrey Organics Island Naturals on its own and my first impressions of it are pretty swell. Aubrey has not let my hair down yet. My hair felt great, my curls were so bouncy and soft... it was a good hair day for me :)
A few days after last week's wash day, I decided to deep condition, or "co-wash", my hair. It had actually stayed soft and moisturized up until this point, which has led me to believe that the oil-rinsing technique I tried helped me retain moisture. I'm going to try it out a few more times before I give an official verdict though. Experimenting with co-washing is also something I feel may help my hair retain moisture during this dry winter season.
When I have done this in the past, it's pretty much just like my pre-poo or deep condition steps during my wash days except it stands alone. So, all I did was put a combo of Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose, Organix Morrocan Argan Oil Intense Moisturizing Treatment and Vatika Coconut oil on my dry, sectioned hair and let it marinate for a few hours under a plastic cap and scarf. I kind of did this on a whim so I wasn't up for making a whole ordeal out of it with multiple trips to the shower. My hair felt great after rinsing with cool water and that is when I figured I would give tension blow drying a go. I applied my leave-ins, Aphogee Green Tea & Keratin Restructurizer, grapeseed oil, and Shea Moisture Shea Butter Restorative Conditioner, to each section as I detangled.
My hair was already sectioned into 6, 3 in the front & the back, so I went section by section with the blow-dryer on low-heat. (Unfortunately, I couldn't find my blow-dryer that has the cool setting on it. I'm going to give myself one more search before I resolve to buy a new one :) I've had the one I used since college anyway.) I put enough tension on the length of my hair to stretch my new growth and began drying my roots with a sweeping motion of the dryer. I didn't try to dry the entire length of my hair and it didn't take me very long to do my whole head. I expect I could shorten that time, too, once I get the technique down. My hair still felt great after I was done and I could definitely tell the difference in my roots. I did not try to get it truly straight though, just loosen up that coiled new growth!
I still had huge hair after all was said and done, but it was much easier for me to work with. You can see the difference it made in the before and after pics above. This is definitely something I'm going to continue practicing to help keep my roots stretched.
