Wash Day: Prepping for Relaxer

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It has been a long time since I’ve cleansed my hair with an actual shampoo. I’ve been mainly incorporating moisture in my hair by doing co-washes and deep conditioners. I shampoo my hair every two weeks but during this whole time, I’ve yet to experience product build-up. But, this wash day, it was mandatory to wash my hair since I’ve been constantly moisturizing and sealing my hair, co-washing and all the other craziness. I’m so happy that this stretch is coming to an end because school is about to start and I want a fresh look!

I pre-poo my hair using coconut oil on my scalp and twists overnight. It left my hair feeling very soft. I washed my hair using Herbal Essence Hello Hydration Shampoo. My hair did not feel stripped, just very soft still. I mainly focused the shampoo on my scalp and let it come down my hair as it was being rinsed out. Some of my twists were unraveling but I’m going to take it out during the week for my relaxer.

I’m proceeding to do a medium/hard protein treatment so that my hair can be strong enough for my relaxer process. The protein treatment that I’m using is Africa’s Best Hair Mayonnaise. When I used their relaxer kit years ago, their hair mayonnaise never smelled as strong as the big container does. The smell was very weird but not so pungent that I didn’t want to use it. I deep conditioned with heat using Laila Ali Conditioning cap for about an hour. After rinsing it out with warm water, my hair still was feeling soft.

It was around three in the morning after I rinsed it out. So, I immediately grabbed Aunt Jackie’s In Control Conditioner and applied it on my hair. I’m doing this so that I can get a balance of moisture and protein.

I decided to leave this conditioner on overnight because I was soo tired. I know you’re wondering why I decided to do it so late. The reason why is because I had a lot of things to do during the day and I wouldn’t have time to do anything. I was thinking that it wouldn’t take me so long to wash my hair but obviously, I lied to myself.

In the morning, I rinsed it out under cold water and the results were the same. I t-shirt dried my hair then added my trio of water, Africa “Shea” Butter and Hollywood Beauty Crème. Since my hair is already in a style, I just added gel to my edges to lay them down and let my hair air dry. Since it’s really hot in Charleston, it took about an hour and a half to dry. Here is a picture of the final results of my hair:

How was your recent wash day?

Relaxer Preparations

Instead of having to write this long blog post about preparing for a relaxer and relaxer day, I just decided to do a picture for you guys. My prep for my relaxer day is really simple. Please tell me if you like this picture idea or not.

Wash Day: Mini Twists

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Whew! I know it’s been a long time since I posted a blog about my wash day. I’m here to explain it all. Here is a post where I talk about why I haven’t posted a Wash Day blog in a while. Trust me, it’s something that you do not want to miss out on. Lol. Okay Tamara, get to the point! I have my hair in mini twists until my relaxer day for low manipulation styles. I’m really trying to get used to it. So far, it has been going great for me! Here is a post where I talk about my hair accomplishments and challenges for this relaxer stretch.

Today is going to be a DC day since I’m going to cleanse my hair Saturday to prep for my hair for my relaxer day. I’m going to post “How I prepare for my relaxer” up soon so please stay posted for it! Can you believe that it has actually been close to 3 weeks since I last cleansed my hair with shampoo? Make sure you check out my last post! The crazy thing about it is that I haven’t experienced any product build-up. But, that will be the maximum time where I will go without washing my hair with shampoo.

Lately I have been watching one of my new Natural ladies on YouTube, Naptural85 on how she maintains her mini twists. There are a lot of videos on how she maintains it so, I’ll just link you to her channel. But, my hair is in need of some moisture so I’m going to add a bit of conditioner. Just to tweak it up a bit.

Products Used: Keep in mind that I only used a bit of conditioner in each section so that it will be easier to rinse out the next morning.

• Water
• Coconut Oil
• Aunt Jackies In Control “Anti-Poof” Conditioner.

I divided my twists within sections and sprayed my hair with water, added coconut oil then the conditioner. It’s just like how I’ll moisturize and seal my hair but added some plastic wrap and a shower cap so my natural body heat will steam my hair to better moisturize it. This has helped me out a lot since I do not have the money to buy any steamers, although I really want one, especially the Huetiful Steamer. I did decide to leave this on overnight. Sorry that I didn’t have any pictures before I put the shower cap on, it was really late and I just wanted to lay down in bed.

Results: My twists felt really soft. Since I’ve decided to put the mini twists in my hair, it has been taking well to all the moisture I put into yet. I do moisturize and seal my hair 2x a day and it seems to be working well for me!

I rinsed out my hair with cold water since my hair has been steaming overnight and allowing my cuticles to open. I t-shirt dried my hair for 15 minutes and my hair was well moisturized. Comparing it to my other wash days, I made me know that moisturizing and sealing 2x a day really helps my hair out a lot. I proceeded to do the L.O.C method since my hair still had a bit of water on it. I used Water, Shea Butter and Hollywood Beauty Olive Crème. I have been using this trio a lot and it helps to aid into keeping the moisture in my hair.

Since my hair is already styled, I do not have to do anything special to it besides laying down my edges so I’m air drying.

It only took up to two hours for my hair to completely dry.

How was your recent wash day?

Protective Hair Style: Mini Twists

I couldn’t find ANY protective hairstyles for my hair. A lot of people recommended me to different routes but it seemed as if nothing would work for. I thank everyone who gave me their advice, it really meant a lot to me! I was watching Naptural 85 Mini Twist video and I decided to try it out. And viola! There you have it. This is time consuming but I’m keeping them in until the week of my relaxer. Here is a post where I talk about my hair goal accomplishments and challenges from this stretch.

I started off with 100% Naked Air dried hair OMG! The reason why I haven’t been posting lately because it took me a long time to get the bananas out of my hair from my last wash day which  didn’t post since it was a disaster.

Alright so, I wanted to try out something new which was a banana hair mask. I have used bananas in my hair before so I decided to give it another try since I’m not in school for the summer. So, I blended the banana until it was very smooth, added some honey with some coconut oil, avocado oil and grapeseed oil. The mixture had no lumps in it at all. It seemed as if my family did not know me until I decided to start deep conditioning my hair. I was being asked to do a lot of things so I eventually had to deep condition overnight. In the morning, I went to rinse out my hair and I noticed that my hair was dry. I wrapped my hair in plastic wrap and a shower cap for extra protection and it stayed in place during the whole night. I didn’t understand what was going on.

So as I started washing my hair, I felt dry clumps of bananas in my hair. I was so upset that I rinsed out the mixture the best way that I could and then added Renpure Originals Coconut Cream Conditioner to my hair and detangled. As I was trying to air dry, my hair, my father sent me on a quest to do something for him. So, then, my hair was 100% dry and I gave up for the night. I tied my hair up then went to sleep.

Let’s just say that before I began this protective style, it took me a very long time to get the excess dried banana from out of my hair.

Products Used: I decided to use the L.O.C method since my hair had no product in it whatsoever and I wanted that extra moisture.

• Water
• “Shea” Butter
• Hollywood Beauty Olive Crème

I started off into small sections and moisturized and sealed to help me get any more dried bananas out of my hair. This was a very long process for me because I only had time to do it during the night because I help take care of my niece while my sister is at work. This literally took me 3 days to twist. But a lot of people tell me that it looks really nice and this is the only protective style that I have done where it is easy to keep up with and doesn’t unravel throughout the night. I’m thinking that mini twists might become a staple protective style for me until my hair grows or I find something new.

Happy Hair Journey!

Tamara

Relaxer Stretch Goal Completed

I remember that I tried to do monthly goals but each month, they were thrown out of the window because I either forgot, I was busy or just sick. But here is the good news: I finally made it to my four month post relaxer goal on August 12. I never thought that I wouldn’t make it because I’m still learning my hair and trying to get it back to health.

I know it’s been over a year since I decided to take care of my hair but I had some set backs. There have been times where I didn’t moisturize and seal up to weeks or didn’t maintain my hair during the week. The worse of all, if I did moisturize and seal my hair, there would be times where I didn’t sleep with a bonnet. I know it’s very bad that I didn’t and it’s causing more damage to my hair but hey, I’m not perfect so please don’t judge me. :)

There have been some good times and bad times during this goal:

• I suffered a lot of split ends leading to breakage. But, I ended that around graduation time where I got a major trim.
• I did notice that my hair is getting thicker because my hair was really thin in the beginning of my hair journey and now, it’s thicker and looking healthy. Even in my pictures, there is a difference in my hair.
• Protective styling was the worst for me! Each time I did a protective style, it would go horribly wrong. My protective style would only last for a day or two but once those days are over, I have to either co-wash it or find another style of choice.
• During the end of my stretch, I decided to start my hair journey over which was the best decision. I was highly ignorant to healthy hair in the beginning. All I wanted was to find out which products were best for my hair, how to maintain it. All I just wanted was for my hair to grow out long.
• I incorporated moisturizing and sealing 2x a day. Another good decision that I made because moisturizing and sealing once a day was not working for me. I began moisturizing and sealing in smaller sections and when I sprayed my hair with water and grab for the oil to seal it in, it would feel dry. Now that I moisturize and seal 2x a day, my hair stays moisturized.
• Washing my hair bi-weekly was really good for me. In the beginning, I mainly used sulfate based shampoos. My hair use to feel really stripped until I started using a pre-poo where my hair would be clean but still soft to the touch. Usually in a week, my hair is still moisturized, soft and it doesn’t have any product build up. I also shampoo my hair bi-weekly because I incorporate co-washes and deep conditioners throughout the week to up-keep until the next week.
• My last thing I want to mention is that I loved the fact that I’m working on incorporating moisture in my hair. Mainly all of my products are moisturizing shampoos, conditioners, deep conditioners and daily moisturizers. I’ve decided to do that because my hair doesn’t stay hydrated, it’s always drying out, etc. I do get protein conditioners but only when needed. I’ve seen and read so many things about when to determine that the hair needs protein so I’m well aware of incorporating protein in my regimen.

My next stretch will be from August 30 to December 20* (Depends on my hair). Here are my goals for this stretch:

• Keep my hair hydrated
• Think of protective styles that last for the month
• Baby the crown of my head
• Make sure that I’m properly taking care of my hair

My stretch is ending soon on August 30 so make sure that you stay close for another Relaxer touch up!

Wash Day: Protective Style Ideas?

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This wash day was very hectic for me. My wash day began on Monday but sadly I got really sick so I had to continue on to Tuesday.

[0] Detangle ha within 4 sections. My hair was really dry so I had a lot of shedding so I thought it was time for a protein treatment.

[1] I grabbed my Ion Hard Water Shampoo and washed my hair within sections. I can admit my hair felt a bit stripped but it was still soft. I didn’t get any tangles because I stretched out my hair as I shampooed my scalp.

[2] I then proceeded to get my Profectiv Mega Growth Anti-Breakage Strengthening Deep Conditioner. I then grabbed some Grapeseed Oil and added some of it inside of a bowl. I warmed it up in the microwave for 15 seconds then applied it to my hair.

Side Note: For those who do not know, this is a protein based conditioner.

[3] My original plan was to leave the conditioner on for 3-5 hours, but I got really sick so I just left it on overnight. In the morning, water from my hair was dripping down my face a bit. My hair feels really soft and manageable.

 

[4] I washed it out under cool water and detangled in the shower.

[5] I t-shirt dried for 15 minutes then added my leave-ins using the L.O.C Method. The products that were used are my hair mist, coconut oil and Garnier Fructis Leave-in Cream.

[6] I air dried using the scarf method then proceeded to blow dry using cool air because my hair is different lengths in the front.

 

Here is a difference of the way my hair looks in natural light versus flash? Is there a major difference?

P.S.: Does anyone know what I can do to make my hair in the front grow because no matter what do, it stays the same. It’s even causing my ponytails or any other protective styles look a mess in the take down process.

How was your recent wash day?