23 FEB 12 PROGRESS

Surprisingly I've been sticking to my hair regimen :). My new regimen consists of DC'ing 2-3 times/week and co-washing 1-2 times/week. I also incorporating baggying into my regimen. I have to say my hair is LOVING it!

Hair Changes:
- more manageable
- SIGNIFICANTLY less shedding
- almost no breakage (saw a strand today)

I recently clipped a little less than a 1/2 inch off my ends and my hair thanked me for it lol. Clipping my ends made my hair a lot easier to manipulate. I guess eliminating some of those scraggly ends minimized the possibility of them getting tangled on each other, which in turn reduced breakage. I plan on clipping my ends at least every other month or as needed so I doubt if I actually see much growth.

I tried Tresseme Naturals Conditioner on a co-wash day, it was decent but I think I like HairOne better because of the slip it provides. I think I'll switch off between the two on co-wash days.

I'm considering not wearing buns to sleep at night. That broken strand I saw today has me kinda freaked out lol. I just M&S and decided to comb my hair back as if I was going to put a bun in my hair but instead twisted it into one big twist and pinned it up. I can definitely notice the growth compared to back when I was consistently doing that.

I am still opting to use LIGHT heat on my hair (blow drying on cool setting and pressing) I am not as good as other ladies are when it comes to air drying while stretching past 2 months. I find that my hair sheds SOOOOO much while I'm air drying and it increases the chances of breakage...at least for my hair.

I have to admit, I haven't been COMPLETELY following my regimen lol I haven't had time to incorporate the black tea scalp rinse. It's just so much in-and-out the shower on DC days already as it is. Plus my shedding is not even an issue at this moment so I don't really see the need. I am still giving my hair light protein treatments weekly, either as a prepoo or adding a little to my DC. I haven't experienced any hard hair since my 1st and last protein overload :).

As for vitamins, I'm currently taking fish oil, vitamin C, biotin, garlic and iron supplements daily. I need to up my water intake smh lol if I ever remember to actually buy some lol.

BAD RESULTS...

I guess the old saying IS true...what's good for goose is not always good for the gander (I think that's the saying lmao). Well I tried the Hairlicious DC recipe and it did not work (see the previous post).

When applying the DC my hair felt wonderful and felt the same after applying heat but when I began to wash out the DC I could tell immediately that I my hair would be hard to detangle...and I was right :(. After rinsing I applied the ACV but that only seemed to make it worse! I could not comb thru my hair even with running water. I was horrified...and even more so when I started applying my leave-in and realized that I still could not comb thru my new growth. I tried spraying my moisturizer mix...didn't work...tried Mane 'n Tail Detangler...did not work :(.

After reading more blogs and soliciting help from my DC buddies I realized that I had been using too many ingredients in my DC mix. Main reason this can turn out bad is because you are not aware how some ingredients in different hair products will interact with each other. I also discovered that the main ingredient of my DC mix is NOT a moisturizing conditioner...sounds familiar eh (remember my Olive Oil conditioning fail? lol)? I had been using Silk Elements Megasilk Cholesterol Conditioner as my main ingredient in DC's for over a year and never really noticed any problems...only now when I'm 4 months post relaxer and desperately in need of a TRUE moisturizing conditioner that has a ton of slip. Lol in my defense, I was getting this conditioner confused with the Silk Elements Megasilk Moisturizing Treatment smh...thoughts of how much damage I have caused not knowing. Luckily I ordered some of the real thing two days ago along with a 5lb tub of Keracare Humecto Creme Conditioner :). I plan on using ONE deep conditioner in my DC mix from now on...wish me luck!

PROTEIN TREATMENT & DC'ING WITH OILS

So I told you I joined a hair challenge (Deep Conditioning Challenge 2013) on Hairlista.com...this is the first challenge I joined that I actually am finding motivation & dedication to stick with it :). I posted the regimen I plan on using...YES I plan on DC'ing at least twice a week lol. This is going to take a lot of my time but I know it'll feel worth it once I'm done and see the results of all my hard work, patience and time.

Today I did a protein treatment using JOICO Deep-Penetrating Reconstructor and DC'd using Hairlicious's recipe...this is the first time I've DC'd using measurements and more than one oil.

I'm also thinking about trimming my ends today...???

ADJUSTED REGIMEN

So I just joined a Hairlista challenge: Deep Conditioning Challenge 2013...YAAAY ME! :) I'm hoping to be able to retain moisture better and reduce shedding. Wish me luck!

Friday
1) Prepoo w/ protein using Joico DPR
2) Shampoo w/ Kenra Moisturing Shampoo w/ garlic
3) Apply black tea rinse to scalp for 45 mins and rinse
4) Apply DC Mix w/ heat for 45 mins:
- 12 tsp of Elasta QP DPR-11
- 3 tsp of Roux Porosity Control Conditioner
- 4 tsp of AtOne Botanical Reconstructor Conditioner
- 4 tsp of vegetable glycerin
- 4 tsp of honey
- 4 tsp of EVOO
- 4 tsp of coconut oil
- 4 tsp of JBCO
- 4 tsp of macadamia oil
5) Rinse w/ cool water
6) Rinse w/ ACV mix (1/4 ACV and 2 cups of bottled water) for 3 minutes
7) Rinse w/ cold water for 3 minutes
8) Apply Bee Mine Deja Milk
9) Apply heat protectant
10) Air dry to about 75-80%
11) Blow dry on cool setting
12) LIGHTLY press w/ warm comb (NOT hot)
13) Moisturize w/ mix of S-Curl No Drip Moisturizer, VO-5 Moisture Milk, aloe vera juice, vegetable glycerin, rose water and water
14) Seal ends w/ coconut oil
15) Apply JBCO to scalp
16) Bun!

Saturday
1) Apply moisturizing mix to hair in sections
2) Seal ends w/ coconut oil
3) Baggy ends w/ conditioning cap for 1 hr
4) Bun!

Sunday
1) Co-wash w/ Hair One Hair Cleanser Conditioner
2) Apply DC mixture w/ steam for 45 mins
3) Rinse w/ cool water
4) Apply Bee Mine Deja Milk
5) Apply heat protectant
6) Air dry to about 75-80%
7) Blow dry on cool setting
8) LIGHTLY press w/ warm comb (NOT hot)
9) Moisturize w/ mix of S-Curl No Drip Moisturizer, VO-5 Moisture Milk, aloe vera juice, vegetable glycerin, rose water and water
10) Seal ends w/ coconut oil
11) Apply JBCO to scalp
12) Bun!

Monday
1) Apply moisturizing mix to hair in sections
2) Seal ends w/ coconut oil
3) Bun!

Tuesday
1) Apply moisturizing mix to hair in sections
2) Seal ends w/ coconut oil
3) Baggy ends w/ conditioning cap for 1 hr
4) Bun!

Wednesday
1) Co-wash w/ Hair One Hair Cleanser Conditioner
2) Apply black tea rinse to scalp for 45 mins
3) Apply DC mixture w/ heat for 45 mins
4) Rinse w/ cool water
5) Apply Bee Mine Deja Milk
6) Apply heat protectant
7) Air dry to about 75-80%
8) Blow dry on cool setting
9) LIGHTLY press w/ warm comb (NOT hot)
10) Moisturize w/ mix of S-Curl No Drip Moisturizer, VO-5 Moisture Milk, aloe vera juice, vegetable glycerin, rose water and water
11) Seal ends w/ coconut oil
12) Apply JBCO to scalp
13) Bun!

Thursday
1) Apply moisturizing mix to hair in sections
2) Seal ends w/ coconut oil
3) Baggy ends w/ conditioning cap for 1 hr
4) Bun!

** Trim ends once every two months & record progress

2013 HAIR GOALS...

01 FEB 13 LENGTH CHECK...

So I washed my hair using Kenra Moisturizing Shampoo (garlic added for shedding), DC'd w/ mixture of Silk Elements Mega Cholesterol Conditioner, Neutrogena Triple Moisture Deep Recovery Hair Mask, AtOne Botanical Reconstructor Conditioner, vegetable glycerin and a little Joico K-Pak Moisture Intense Hydrator for weekly protein (w/ heat for 20mins), air dried till about 80% dry, applied Neutrogena leave-in and heat protectant then blow dried on cool setting. My hair is responding in a positive way...It likes! I'm experiencing far less shedding both in the shower and more importantly, less during daily manipulation. I stopped touching my hair so much, mainly because of the thickness since my last relaxer. I'm still moisturizing and sealing at night but instead of pinning hair up at night to give it a break from the ponytail I instead bun it up at night...which means I'm only manipulating my hair at night. I wanted to moisturize and seal twice/day but I'm not fooling w/ my hair in its thick state smh @ that lol. I really do think the garlic addition to my shampoo is really working...I wonder if I could add it to my DC w/o my hair smelling like garlic??? Maybe I'll give it a try... I saw few strands of broken hairs but not anything to be alarmed at, I'm sure it's caused by my heavy hand lol. I'm still not trimming my ends, waiting to I acquire a little more length...maybe when I reach FULL APL, hopefully soon . I'm
noticing that my edges seem to be growing back too :)! The only thing I'm thinking about changing is the light pressing, but it's becoming more and more difficult to put my hair in a ponytail, ESPECIALLY when I have bangs smh should have never did that. Anyway, here's a couple pics from my last wash...