Deep Conditioning To Prepare For a Sucessful Wash N Go

DO YOU SEE THE DIFFERENCE WHEN YOU DEEP CONDITION?

It's been a long time since I've taken the time to deep condition my hair. I really see the difference when I do a deep conditioner. My coils show up differently. Without a deep conditioner, my wash n go's are harder to define, has extreme shrinkage, is less shiny. Let's face it, our hair loves, craves, can't get enough of oils! Keeping your hair hydrated, and then coated with the right oils will keep your length. Not only that--it will put to a stop those "bad hair days", due to dry, dull, lifeless hair.

Coils With Just Water. This is my Hair Texture Without ANY Product

It took me several times to figure out how to do my ideal wash n go. At some points of my hair growth journey, my hair wasn't at a good "length" or "shape" to do a nice wash n go. I've done posts on the wash n go, with many technique options. I feel that the foundation for a successful wash n go is: firstly, trimmed ends, and secondly, well conditioned/moisturized hair. This will get the coils to pop from roots to ends. Bypassing the unintentional frizz (sometimes I choose to include frizz in my wash n go).  

So the next picture is after I did a deep conditioning treatment (mayo, eggs, avocado, extra virgin olive oil)--blend well, or avocado chunks will be hard to remove! I kept it on for about 20 minutes while wearing a plastic cap or two. The mix didn't feel all that great while in my hands, but my hair loved this intense oil infusion, and I'm pretty sure it will show it's approval over the next few days of my wash n go wear.

Wash N Go Mostly Dry. Coils Spring Into Action After Deep Condition Mask

 

 

 

The deep conditioning mixture I used (everything from my kitchen), is tailor made to hydrate, nourish, and is filled with proteins and vitamins. This will help with elasticity, strength, body and shine. The fat soluble nutrients of the mayo are great for shine and deep conditioning properties! Any time you feel like you're struggling with dull hair that doesn't have shine, this mix could be the solution (if you don't just have product build-up). I think you can see it in the picture, but my hair definitely has shine, define, and feels very soft. It's still a little damp, but will be all dry by the morning.

HOW I DID MY WASH N GO

I used Giovanni Conditioner to define my coils. Underneath the Giovanni Conditioner is the Shea Moisture Curling Souffle. The technique used to apply these products was to simply coat the hair section by section (4 sections total). I wanted some more length this time, so I'll stretch it tonight by wearing a low, banded ponytail. If I wanted more body, I would "pineapple" it on the top of my head.

I bought some Haas avocados (buy 1 get 1 free), and wasn't able to eat it before they spoiled. I was so disappointed! But I put these avocados to good use. One went into my hair, and the other is going on my face tomorrow.  I've been having very dry skin as the weather gets cooler, and I'm not used to that. Just like my hair, my skin appreciates true moisture.

I'm gonna wear this wash n go through to Saturday. Hubby thought I looked "very cute", so I'll take that as a sign that he liked the results I got from the wash n go (the Victoria's Secret Sexy Bra doesn't hurt the whole scene either LOL).

Hair With Only Shea Moisture Curling Souffle. More Oils!!

FINE HAIR: Going From Flat Ironed Straight Back To Coily Without Tangles

 FINE HAIR: FROM STRAIGHT TO CURLY WITHOUT TANGLES

After 2 weeks of wearing her hair straight, Miss Dimples was ready to get her coils back. Yes, at 5 years old, my girl has decided that she rather prefers her coils. She had the biggest smile on her face after her hair responded to the water in the way that it knows how.

I'm not sure what went down during her straight hair styling at school, but she always came home a bit frizzy. Lets face it, she's always coming home frizzy, but with her hair straight, the frizz just seemed more exaggerated. Oh well, whatever it was, I'm glad she feels more at home with her coils, because her hair is not the type to be close friends with heat.

FINE HAIR: CARE OPTIONS WHILE STRAIGHT

Her hair easily tangles, also, some of the ends were "matted" in the process of straightening, and is prone to breakage if combed dry, I didn't comb her hair while it was straight. 

This is just a few characteristics that I feel are common of the different hair densities, textures, etc. Like I always say, "Listen to the hair".  Not combing her hair did not effect her styling. Mostly her hair was in ponytails (cleaned up with a soft bristle brush). Small amount of gel used at the hairline to try to "hold it down" during the school day. Moisturized daily with the Jane Carter Nourish & Shine (good stuff). Focused on the ends.

Working in Sections Helps Avoid Extra Tangles

FINE HAIR: BACK TO CURLY PROCESS

I didn't just wet her hair to revert it back. Why not? Her hair just needs one good excuse to tangle up! Here's What We Did:

1) Rub Tresemme Anti Breakage Conditioner onto the ends of her hair, then put it into 4 sections.(This made it possible to section the hair without breaking the dry ends).

2) Saturate each straight section with the Tresemme. Even after the hair was saturated, it still stayed straight. I'm guessing the Nourish & Shine created a coat that was not quickly penetrated by the conditioner.

Shampooed/Conditioned, Can You Tell Which Section Has No Leave In?

3) Rinsed out one section at a time. As the conditioner was rinsed out of 1 section, then I shampooed that section with Giovanni Smooth as Silk Deep Moisture Shampoo. Concentrating on the scalp, I gave her a good massage with the balls of my fingertips.

4) After each section was shampooed, I used the Aphogee 2 Minute Reconstructor as a protein treatment.

5) Detangle the hair in Sections, then rinse out the Aphogee.

6) Her hair was placed into 4 Plaits and towel dried with a microfiber towel and/or t shirt.
At her nape area, I noticed a section of loose curls that I don't recall being there before. I'm not sure if this is heat damage or just because product still remains on the hair shaft. I find that after a flat iron session, it really takes a good mud wash to remove products that were flat ironed onto the hair. Also, product remaining on the hair for 2 weeks without any water may prove to need more than one quick wash.

Possibly Heat Damage or Product Still Sits Into the Hair Shaft

I plan to do a Cassia Obovata Treatment and a steam session on her hair this weekend. I didn't have time to do a deep condition to her hair when I reverted her hair back to coily because I had to do it on Monday (the Dr. King holiday), and was still running around on schedule that day.

FINE HAIR LEAVE IN MOISTURIZER:

I did something differently this time with her leave in. It may have not been the best time to do this, but I've been wanting to see what her hair is like without any leave in product. Yeah, pretty scary, but I did it to half of her hair. On 2 plaits, I used the Jane Carter Nourish & Shine Leave In. On the 2 other plaits, I used NOTHING. Once her hair dried, you want to know what the difference was between the two sections? Appearance: SAME   Feel: The section without product felt silky   Movement: SAME

Have You Used Little to No Product on Your Hair after Your Wash/Condition Session? It would make a great baseline to establish the true needs of your hair. Without seeing it "naked", you may not really get to figure out what you hair may or may not need. I plan to try this soon. Real Soon.

Rock Your Coily Hair: Using The Tightly Curly Method

The Tightly Curly Method Adds Shine, Define, Hold and Moisture to Natural Coily Hair

  

 Pretty much the whole month of October was spent trying out the tightly curly method. This method was created by Teri LaFlesh, and is outlined on her popular website tightly curly.com, as well as her book titled "curly like me".  We used the Giovanni 50/50 Moisture Conditioner as our styling conditioner. 1 thing we did differently was to shingle on the Shea Moisture Curling Souffle (it has great oils in it and a light flax seed hold). I saw the difference when I did that versus when I didn't.

Quickly let me just say, this method allowed me and my little one to wear our coils. The method primarily entails the use of conditioner to coat the hair. Typically, you would rinse out your conditioner and style with a leave in moisturizer. But she reviews in her book and on the site the type of conditioners and their ingredients that would work well as a "styling conditioner" that you would leave in the hair. The weight of the conditioner stretched our coils a bit. So we were able to have a little length to work with. Additionally, the coat of the conditioner provided a sheen or shine. The style was easily manipulated and refreshed in the morning.

Coils are "set" by the Tightly Curly Method

THE TIGHTLY CURLY METHOD & MY COILS

Little Girl's Natural Hair & Easy Styling with the Tightly Curly Method

Our "aftereffects" of the tightly curly method? Soft and luxurious hair like butter. After 1 week of keeping our hair coated with the styling conditioner, our reward was soft and easily styled hair.

We will be doing this method from time to time (weather permitting). This style takes all day to dry, so it's best that you do it in the morning and allow it to air dry that day. Some of the main benefits of this method: 1) Low Manipulation (length retention),  2) Deep Conditioning, 3) Protective Coat of Moisturizer on Hair. Any Downfalls to this method? 1) All day to dry,  2) Use of A Lot of Conditioner! I can't think of any other issues as of yet.

FINAL THOUGHTS: I ADVOCATE USE OF ALL NATURAL PRODUCTS. THAT BEING SAID, THE ONLY CONDITIONERS I WOULD TRUST TO LEAVE ON MY HAIR/SCALP (AND MY LITTLE ONE AS WELL) WILL ONLY BE ALL NATURAL.

Defined Coils with the Tightly Curly Method