Co-Wash - 21 Feb 14

Co-wash day and third DC of the week, I know this challenge only recommends 1-2 but my hair loves the three a week routine. I am cautious though, I make sure I give my hair a bit of light protein through the week to make sure I don't get overloaded with moisture and end up with mushy, limp hair.

[1] DC'd on dry hair w/ SDVS, KC, honey, EVCO, EVOO, almond oil in four sections for 45 mins w/ heating cap

[2] Applied MegaTek to scalp for 5 mins

[3] Rinsed and co-washed w/ SD Whip My Hair

[4] Detangled w/ HE Hello Hydration under running water

[5] Final rinse w/ SD Wheat Germ Conditioner

[6] T-shirt dried for 30 mins

[7] Applied Darcy's Daily Leave-In & air dried while lightly finger detangling

[8] Detangled in sections using Sagemann's Magic Star Jumbo Rake

[9] Moisturized w/ HH Marshmallow Springs (out of stock) & sealed w/ grapeseed oil

[10] Scalp massaged w/  GM and LG Bald Spot Treatment to temple 

Results: My hair really doesn't like GHE or baggying overnight, my hair always seems weighed down in the morning even after completely dry. I DC'd w/ using heating cap and decided to use KC in the mix cause I LOVE, LOVE, LOOOOVE how it laid down my cuticles and made my hair shine for once. Mixing it with a more moisturizing conditioner really did the trick, my hair felt so good and my cuticles were laid down. From now on i'll be a staple in all my DC mixes. No changes with the way my hair feels with SD Whip My Hair, still a fan. I decided to use HE Hello Hydration to help with detangling to remove all shed hair or else my it would have been a PAIN to detangle later. Used the SD Wheat Germ Conditioner as a final rinse, mainly to try to use up the rest of it. I don't have any complaints but can't really see the benefit but it does provide a little slip, I prefer a little more. Loving the ceramides though. No changes with the leave-in, moisturizer or sealant, still staples. Learning to be a little less heavy handed with my moisturizers and sealants and it's paying off. Breakage is still at a minimum, a strand or two on wash/co-wash days and my shedding is low too. Even though I haven't noticed much growth using GM, my scalp is loving it, I haven't had an itchy scalp since I been using it. 

Wash Day - 20 Feb 14

Wash day and second DC of the week! Got my Kanechom Ceramidas in the mail the other day, can't wait to try it out.

[1] Prepoo with Burt's Bees Super Shiny Grapefruit and Sugar Beet conditioner, EVOO, EVCO, avocado oil and almond oil in four sections

[2] Washed with NTM Cream Lather Shampoo in same four sections

[3] Applied Roux PC

[4] DC'd with Kanechom Ceramidas Hair Moisturizing Cream with heat for 30 minutes

[5] Rinsed, applied SD Wheat Germ Conditioner and detangled

[6] T-shirt dried for 30 minutes

[7] Applied Darcy's Daily Leave-In and air dried while lightly finger detangling

[8] Detangled in sections using Sagemann's Magic Star Jumbo Rake

[9] Moisturized with HH Marshmallow Springs (out of stock) and sealed with grapeseed oil

[10] Scalp massaged with  GM and LG Bald Spot Treatment to temple

Results: I had to go back to prepooing with conditioner and oil, my hair can't handle oil only. Also because I have way too many products that I don't use and this is a good way to work them in my regimen. I picked Burt's Bees Super Shiny Grapefruit and Sugar Beet Conditioner. I used it before but it was meh but smelled great. I prepoo'd on dry hair and didn't use a heating cap, just left it in for an hour. My hair felt so good when I rinsed it out. I don't think it melted tangles like this last time I used it, not at all. I think I'll stick with using the rest as a prepoo only, too bad they don't make it anymore :(. I didn't use my regular shampoo (CON Argan Oil Moisture & Shine) because I didn't feel like my hair felt a little coated after prepooing with oil so I went with my oldie but goodie, NTM Shampoo. My hair felt clean like I wanted but definitely not stripped, it never makes my hair feel like that. I applied the Roux PC to each section and left on for about 30 seconds, I hear this helps the DC take better. I've been using this on and off for about two years, almost exclusively for a year and I have no complaints except that my hair doesn't really like it mixed in my DC. I lightly finger detangled while rinsing it out and I experienced no major tangles or shedding. I actually rolled out the heavy duty Pibbs dryer and DC'd for about 30 minutes on medium heat without a conditioning cap. My hair felt a little crispy but that's normal for me when using my dryer. When rinsing I was only able to finger detangle while under running water, this conditioner doesn't provide much slip for my hair. I had to use my SD Wheat Germ Conditioner to even be able to lightly detangle with my shower comb. I'll need to follow that DC up with something like HE Hello Hydration so I can remove shed hair. After my first 30 minutes of air drying my hair felt soft and that's exactly what I was looking for. And after my hair was completely air dried my hair was a lot smoother. Something I never witnessed before--my hair was super shiny! As to the softness, my hair did feel a little less soft than when I use HH Pink Grapefruit Punch Conditioner but overall I'm satisfied! I might decided to mix a little of KC into a more moisturizing DC for added benefit. Nothing new to mention about my M&S products, they still do the trick.

By the way, I'm currently storing all products without preservatives in the refrigerator, hopefully this will slow down any issues with the product going bad. Any other ladies store their hair products in the refrigerator? If so, did it work?

Co-Wash - 17 Feb 14

First DC of the week! 

[1] DC w/ HH Pink Grapefruit Punch Conditioner (out of stock) w/ added EVCO, avocado oil, glycerin and AVJ with heating cap for 45 mins

[2] Co-washed w/ SD Whip My Hair in four sections

[3] Detangled w/ SD Wheat Germ Conditioner under running water

[4] T-shirt dried for 45 mins

[5] Applied Darcy's Daily Leave-In and air dried while lightly finger detangling

[6] Moisturized w/ HH Marshmallow Springs (out of stock) and sealed with grapeseed oil

[7] Scalp massage w/ GM and LG Bald Spot Treatment to temple

Results: I hate, hate, HATE having to jump in AND out of the shower on wash days so I'm back to DC'ing first on co-wash days. Since I was DC'ing on dry hair and didn't have a free spray bottle to fill with water I decided to use a watery DC that would be easier to apply to my dry hair. My hair wasn't dry but I wanted to try this conditioner with my regular add-ins. This conditioner makes it so easy to apply to my NG, I think I actually prefer watery or creamy conditioner compared to thicker ones, especially on dry hair. After rinsing the conditioner out my hair felt so good...moisturized and soft, but the true test is the way it feels once it's dry. Magically this conditioner did provide slip this time, I almost felt tempted to detangle without my instant conditioner but I didn't want to chance it lol maybe next time. After rinsing the DC out with cool water I used SD Wheat Germ Conditioner on each of my four sections and left it on for about 5 mins to help with detangling. Ok, so I've FINALLY found how to use SD Wheat Germ Conditioner on my hair.  When I applied it to my hair and NG it almost felt like a co-wash conditioner, it kind of lathered up. I immediately felt the slip from this conditioner and when I got ready to detangle it melted my tangles almost as well as HE Hello Hydration! :) My ends did feel a little rough though, not sure what that was about. I applied my leave-in and air dried with my hair loose and lightly finger detangled until I was sure all of the knots were out. Surprisingly...there wasn't many. My hair felt soft and strong at the same time. I parted my hair in four sections and detangled with my large tooth Sageman. I usually have to use my finer toothed comb too but I guess detangling in the shower was adequate. Once my hair was completely dry I applied my HH Marshmallow Springs to each section and barely a drop of grapeseed oil to each section. I'm trying so hard NOT to be heavy handed with my moisturizers and conditioners, I don't want heavy hair but I want to make sure that each strand receives it's TLC lol, it's definitely a challenge. Lastly I applied my GM to my scalp and massaged it in, then finger combed into a loose twist and tied it up for the night. Overall, I'm happy with today's DC and co-wash session. 

Problem: I'm wearing a bun on a regular basis (military) and I never wear tight buns but the other day I discovered that my nape is getting thin on the sides. Tomorrow I'll be experimenting with a looser bun to prevent thinning in that area and in the meantime I'll be applying LG Bald Spot Treatment to that area to increase growth. Any other ladies have any issues like that?

Weird

As I was twisting my hair up for the night I realized that my hair seems to be thinning out near the nape area, probably because of the buns I wear all the time and the scarf is probably not helping. From now on I won't be wearing donut buns, I'll try a looser bun with the ends just wrapped around. Soon as I saw my that my hair was thinning I applied some LG Bald Spot Treatment with Sulfur on both sides of my nape, hopefully the thinning stops and my nape grows back in full. I have high hopes for the LG treatment, seems like my right temple is growing in.

Wash Day - 15 Feb 14

Today's wash day and I really am not feeling it today. After promotion testing and with the start of classes this semester...I'm pooped lol.

[1] Prepoo'd with EVCO for 2 hrs
[2] Applied MegaTek to my scalp
[3] Shampooed with CON Moisture & Shine Shampoo with Argan Oil
[4] Applied Roux PC
[5] DC'd with HH The Deep C
[6] Final rinse with SD Wheat Germ Conditioner
[7] T-shirt dried for 30 mins
[8] Applied Darcy's Daily Leave-In
[9] Finger detangled
[10] Moisturized & sealed
[11] Detangled

Prepoo: I finally decided to give prepooing another try.  Since I wasn't using my EVCO to seal with anymore (love grapeseed more) I used it to prepoo with for about 2 hours. I sectioned my hair in four sections like I do for everything and applied the EVCO to my scalp and massaged it in and then to the length of my hair.  I'm trying out a new way for using MegaTek (at least it's new for me lol).  I hear a lot of ladies are using it by applying it to their scalp before they wash and leaving it on for 5 minutes--today was the first time I actually remembered to do it.

Wash: I wanted to try a different shampoo today but thought 'why change a good thing?'.  My wash days are so predictable now since I added the CON to my regimen, no reason to change it. I did one section at a time, rinsing out the EVCO and shampooing each section.  I used Jeni's method to reduce tangles: washing hair in sections, using color applicator bottle to dispense shampoo and holding ends while massaging scalp. After rinsing out the shampoo I applied Roux PC for 30 seconds and detangled under running water.  Not a lot of shedding.  My hair felt different, like it was coated...it didn't really feel clean.  I don't know if it was because of the prepoo but I'll try it a couple more times before I come to any types of conclusions, maybe I need to prepoo with a mixture of oil AND conditioner when I use sulphate free shampoos.  It seems like whenever I prepoo with just oil it leaves my hair so tangled.

DC: I'm used to applying A LOT of DC to soaking wet hair but decided to try a different way, applying it on damp hair.  To do this I leave my hair in sections and air dry for about 10-15 minutes.  I think I like this way a lot better. I'm trying to use up most of my stash and I don't want any of my new products to go to waste (no preservatives) so I'm using HH The Deep C with no heat or steam.  This is the second time I used it and I still have no complaints besides the fact that it doesn't really help with slip.  The directions say to finger comb the conditioner through your hair, yeah aight! NO WAY can I do that lol.  I initially thought the little 4 oz jar wouldn't be enough for one use but I barely put a dent in it the first time so I expect to get about 4-5 uses out of this jar.  I didn't follow the instructions, I need to DC for at least 30 minutes, I didn't use any heat or steam.

Leave-In: I still don't know how I feel about the HH Marshmallow Springs leave-in, I don't think it helps to detangle my hair at all but I'm real curious about how it would work as a moisturizer hmmmmmm.  I think it would definitely be light enough to use for flat iron days.  I used Darcy's Daily Leave-In instead.

Results: I ended up doing a final rinse with SD Wheat Germ Conditioner mainly because I need to use it lol It ended up providing a little slip but I didn't dare touch that shower comb, I'll save the detangling for after my hair is at least 80% dry.  Maybe next time I'll consider detangling after I prepoo so I remove the shed hair before I wash.  My hair feels soft and strong, not mushy at all.  I moisturized with HH Marshmallow Springs and sealed with grapeseed oil, this time using less of the moisturizer than I usually would.  I want to see how my hair responds with a dime size amount per section LOL! I'm so heavy handed when it comes to applying products, but I noticed that my hair is weighed down by the second day of application.