Wash Day - Henna & Flat Iron

Since my hair wasn't feeling the greatest after taking down my crochet braids, I knew this wash day had to be an extra loving one. I decided I wanted to henna my hair before doing any more protective styling so I knew that needed to be on the agenda, too. 

{1} Divided my hair into about 7 sections. Pre-poo with hot oil (grapeseed, olive, safflower) and Aubrey Organics Island Naturals Replenishing on the length of my hair. I left it in overnight with a plastic cap and scarf. 

{2} Next morning, shampooed with CON Argan Moisturizing. Ended up lathering 3 times because it didn't lather initially, and my hair wasn't feeling very soft & clean after the first time. It felt pretty good after the third time though. 

{3} I sat with towel wrapped hair for about 15 mins to soak up excess water.

And then... for the second week in a row I found my new growth coiled up on itself. Ugh. It's not quite a tangled mess, but it gives the appearance of being matted and can really freak a girl out if she's not careful! Last week, I thought maybe this whole effect was due to my hair being braided up in crochet braids for about 3 weeks. Nope! With it happening again, I know it's simply a new, disrespectful habit that my new growth has picked up. And I am not a fan. I'm only a little over 9 weeks post, but umm... this new growth is serious! Which is awesome, but it meant I had to detangle my hair before I put henna in it so it wouldn't just be all clumped together as I was trying to apply it.

{4} Finger detangled for close to an hour!

{5} Henna! I used a new kind, Godrej Nupur Mehendi, which is a pretty popular brand with 9 extra Ayurvedic ingredients added to it. I've been wanting to try it for awhile. I mixed it up the day before - using my usual henna recipe, except I only added a spoonful each of honey and Tresemme naturals conditioner for the second mixture. 

{6} Deep conditioned with Silk Dreams Vanilla Cream Moisture Dream and Organix Argan Oil Moisturizing deep treatment for about 1.5 hours with a plastic cap & scarf. 

{7} Rinsed my DC with cool water and did an ACV rinse with cooler water.

{8} Detangled with ease. I am sure the smoothing effect of the henna helped keep my hair from getting tangled again. I didn't really loose any hair, which is normal on days when I henna, too. #reasonsIlovehenna!

{9} I applied Aphogee Green Tea & Keratin, Elasta QP H2 and Organix Anti-Breakage Coconut Milk Serum as my leave-ins. 

{10} Tension blow dry on low

{11} Flat ironed on medium heat with Babyliss Pro Titanium

I flat ironed solely because I wanted to check my ends. I didn't use a lot of heat or get it completely straight since I wasn't trying to do a length check and knew I would be sweating it up soon. I must say I am LOVING the thickness of my hair!! With my nape progressing nicely, I feel like my hair is going to a whole new level of health. Yaaay!! Unfortunately, I was right about my thin bone straight ends... they're ready to go. I think they're begging me to chop them off, even though I was really tryna go for the gradual trimming. I just HATE the sight of those ends in comparison with the rest of my hair. They're probably not even that bad, but I just prefer the look of fresh, thick ends. We shall see when I relax next month. 

How was your wash day this week? Check out other wash day experiences at SavingOurStrands and JustGrowAlready! 

28 comments 9 weeks post, flat ironing, henna gloss, henna treatment, wash day

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Stylist Visit for Flat-Ironed Hair

A few days after my matted, tangle-ridden wash day, I decided to pay my stylist a visit to straighten my hair. I felt like I didn't want to risk dealing with any issues that may arise from my new growth too soon after that three hour detangling session. My hair patience had been exhausted. My straight hair is easy to manage and I knew could avoid washing again for a solid two weeks.

I decided after my last salon visit that I would only go to her once my hair was already detangled so that she could just blow-dry and style it however I wanted that day. I figured it would make for a quick and easy appointment. I deep conditioned over night, rinsed, applied my usual leave-ins (Elasta QP Silk H2 and Aphogee Green Tea & Keratin Restructurizer) and detangled. I kept my hair in sections (see pic below) and headed to my appointment. I made sure I went while it was still a little damp, too, knowing she would be blow drying it.

I know some stylists don't like it when they're not in charge of doing everything to your hair, but mine was great about it. She actually sounded excited when I reminded her I just wanted her to blow dry and flat-iron it. She joked about how my hair felt extremely clean, asked what leave-ins I used and got started. About 40 minutes later she was done!

Once again, she used the Babyliss Pro Titanium Flat Iron and I was in love. This will definitely be my next flat iron purchase. It only took one heat pass to get my hair straight. A few times I felt her go for a second, but anything that can take my hair from huge to looking like a fresh relaxer with one pass is a winner in my book. It wasn't frying my hair either (read: not too hot and burning it). My hair felt great, didn't smell burned, wasn't getting snagged... it's hands down the best flat iron that has ever touched my strands. Can you guys tell how much I want it?! LOL!

air-drying in sections

Anyway, I was very happy with how this visit turned out. No somebody-else-is-detangling-my-hair stress and I was in and out in less than an hour. She commented about the great progress I am making with the health of my hair while growing it out, especially that nape, and gave me some welcomed advice. I think I will do my visits this way for awhile. I do not mind washing my own hair, but the blow drying and flat ironing/curling part wears me out! This is a great happy medium for me.

I wanted my hair completely straight so I could assess its state and progress after having box braids. Plus I hadn't straightened it in a couple months so I just wanted to enjoy it. When I say my hair was straight, I mean it was bone straight. People kept asking me if I had just got a relaxer. I thought it looked great, at the same time, it made me realize I'm kinda over my bone straight days now. That's so funny to me because I used to live with my hair super straight like that and I LOVED it. Now I'm like this stuff is too flat... where's the volume?! Oh, and let me just say now I somehow almost completely failed at getting good length check pics during close to 2.5 weeks of straight hair. I have to see if I have at least one good one. Shameful I know. Def got a couple selfies to share tho :) But I think I had some good time to think about my next move as far as my hair is concerned. Now, to relax or not to relax or when to relax, those are the questions!

8 comments 20 weeks post, flat ironing, salon visit, stylist

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Visit to a New Stylist!

I finally mustered up the courage to try out a new stylist! I know a lot of ladies on hair journeys are very anti-stylist and all DIY, but I'm not one of those. I LOVE having my hair done by someone else, as long as I can trust them with it. I am a reformed every-two-weeks-in-my stylists-chair kinda girl. I definitely don't see myself going back to that life, but sometimes I just do not feel like doing all this hair myself. So it would be nice to have someone to go to during those times. I love the feeling of my hair being washed - scalp massaged, and straightening time cut down so much. The last time I flat ironed my hair, my arms got tired and I felt like I didn't even get the back as straight as I usually like it. Although, to me, that says I've made great progress (yay!), it also is what ultimately pushed me to try out a new stylist.


So, one of my sister cousins have been going to this stylist for awhile. Her hair always looks so nice and she raves about her. The lady was even giving her good healthy hair advice. She told me she's seen a number of naturals get their hair done by her as well and she always does a great job. Sounds great, right? I thought so, too, so I went for it and I'm very glad I did. I pre-pooed overnight to prep for my salon visit. Since I had recently relaxed, I knew my hair just had a good protein treatment so I went for a moisturizing pre-poo with Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose Conditioner and grapeseed oil.

As soon as I sat down in her chair and started talking to her she was getting points in my book!

Her: "Are you natural?"

Me: "No, I'm relaxed, I just like to leave a lot of texture in my hair."

Her: "Oh that's great! I do the exact same thing to my own hair."

Score! I felt a little relief at that point. She washed and deep conditioned my hair with KeraCare products. After rinsing out the conditioner, she separated my hair into about 5-6 sections (score!), braided each loosely and sat me under the dryer (on a medium setting). When she started putting my hair in sections, I have to admit ya'll... I was impressed. I've never seen a stylist work in sections. I thought to myself wow she really does know how to handle my hair and let my hair guard down some more. When my hair was at about 75%, she started detangling and blow drying my hair section by section on a medium heat setting. She also applied a CHI leave-in/heat protectant. She went on to tell me whenever she has a client with my length of hair or longer, she knows it's best to work in sections or everything will end up a mess.

She then began to flat iron/spiral curl my hair. She pretty much did both with only one heat pass on the majority of my head. There were a few times I felt her go for a second pass on some sections. But two heat passes max is not bad to me. There are times I have do that myself in certain sections. She really took her time with my hair throughout the whole appointment. I appreciated that; especially because she didn't let the fact that more of her clients were coming in cause her to rush to finish up my hair. Most of all, I loved my hair when she was done! It was soft, bouncy, and I knew that even once the curls started to fall it would still be pretty.

final results [click to enlarge]

Overall, it was a great experience and I will definitely be going back. I watched her take the same care with each one of her clients so I know it wasn't just a one time deal. Not only did she support my whole healthy hair/I want about four more inches of growth mission, but she also believed in it! She was giving me advice on what she thought would help maximize my length retention and even complimented the health of my hair. So I officially have a new stylist! Not to mention the fact that my hair lasted for longer than two weeks. I used flexi rods at night to maintain it, and even once I got to the point of combing it and wrapping it up at night, it was still curly. Awesomeness!

hair after a few days and after a week

How do you all feel about stylists? Anyone seen one recently? 

5 comments flat ironing, salon visit, stylist

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Wash Day

Saturday's wedding hair/last protective style!

I had a great wash day this weekend! I got home Saturday night planning to go through all my usual steps. My hair felt great so I skipped the pre-shampoo (pre-poo) treatment I usually do.  

I shampooed my hair with Shea Moisture's African Black Soap shampoo and Creme of Nature's Moisturizing Argan Oil shampoo. I mixed both shampoos with some water in an applicator bottle. I've been doing this for awhile now and it just makes things so easy for me. I can put the shampoo mix directly on my scalp, clean with my finger tips, and the suds get the length of my hair clean as well.  

Next I applied my deep conditioner. I tried a new one this week: Shea Moisture's Deep Treatment Mask, from their Organic Raw Shea Butter line. I got this about a week ago and had been waiting for it to go on sale for a month or so. I thought this would be a good time to try it out since I was planning to flat iron my hair. After I saturated my head with it, I put some grapeseed oil on top of it. I placed a plastic cap and two scarves on my head thinking I would sit under my bonnet dryer, but that didn't happen. I laid down and fell asleep so quick!

When I woke up the next morning, I rinsed out the deep conditioner and did an apple cider vinegar rinse, rinsing with cool water. Usually at this point my hair feels so soft, but it wasn't as soft so I got kinda skeptical about this new deep conditioner. I put a t-shirt on my head and laid back down for about 30 minutes. Then I applied my leave-ins: Aphogee's Green Tea & Keratin Restructurizer and Elasta QP's Feels Like Silk H2 and detangled my hair. At this point, my hair was probably about 75% dry. 

my hair blown out

I could not find my heat protectant at all! So, I applied a little of Organix Macadamia Dry Styling oil to my hair from root to tip before blow drying. I blew dry my hair on medium, which didn't take very long at all. Finally, my hair felt so soft and strong! So I will be trying it out again. It might be perfect for when I'm about to use heat or need a strengthening treatment. I, then, flat ironed using the chase method for the first time. With this method, you place a brush close to your roots and as you begin to brush the length of your hair, you "chase" the brush with the flat iron. This is supposed to separate and smooth your hair as you flat iron, enabling you to use only one heat pass. It worked perfectly! My hair was soft, smooth and oh-so-whippable! It actually felt like it was done by my stylist. I will probably forever use this method now.

This is the first time I have used any direct heat since December. My hair thanked me for it. I was so ready to give up on protective styling and run my fingers through my hair. The funny thing is my hair looked so pretty to me, but it started getting on my nerves not even half way through the day! Ha! It ended up in a pony. I tried to wear it out on Monday to work and the same thing happened - it was getting in the way and I put it in a bun. How's that for irony? I can't believe I am not used to wearing my hair out anymore! This challenge has changed my habits more than I thought it would.

Here's part of my flat iron results. I will wait to show the full length in my final protective styling challenge update. I am pleased with my progress to say the least!

 

4 comments acv, apple cider vinegar rinse, chase method, deep condition, flat ironing, wash day

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