Wash Day

Friday’s are wash days for my 2 yr old and I. Because I get off work early on Friday it gives me extra time to get us both done. In the event hubby wants to go out I will move wash day to Saturday… because of my process it normally takes hours for me to be done. This is primarily because I let my hair dry after washing then I style it in twist.

I start by washing my daughter’s hair with my castile soap mixture This is the first time I’ve tried the castile on her hair. Because I consider myself a simplist I do the bare minimum to her hair. For a long time this meant that all I did was co-wash her hair weekly and deep condition it monthly. I’m changing because I really don’t see her hair flourishing like it should be. It may be the fact that she takes her bonnet off in the middle of the night but I’m going to treat her hair like mine minus the essential oils Because of allergic reactions and skin irritants I’ll begin to introduce these one by one in the months to come.

For convenience and smooth sailing I wash her hair in the kitchen sink. Today she thought she was Beyonce… Check out my baby shades!

After washing her hair I squeeze the access water out of her hair. Because she is only two years old and lacks patience I do not let her hair dry then haul her back to do the DC, once I dry her hair off with the microfiber towel I immediately apply the DC mixture. Again it is the same thing that I use minus the essential oils. So I mixed one batch for both of us but since I do her first I left out the essential oils. I apply the mix thoroughly to small sections of her hair, then detangled that section and twisted. My daughter ended up with six twist. I then put her cap and let her return to her adventures.

I could not resist posting this one. 🙂 I told her to smile and this is what I got. She is too much for me!

After I sent my daughter on her way I proceeded to wash my hair with the same cleansing mixture. In the past I have never twisted my hair prior to washing. Primarily because I didnt have enough hair :). While I didnt do it today either I may do it next time.

Can y’all see that grey…lol It wont be there for long. Once I’m done researching coloring natural hair safely IT WILL BE DESTROYED…lol. Anyway back to the day’s work..I dried my hair with a microfiber towel and let it air dry. I do this so my hair will not be filled with moisture thus able to take in more of the deep conditioning benefits. I apply the deep conditioning mix to sections of my hair from root to end. I make sure the hair strand is saturated. The root of our hair is just as important as the ends. While the ends are fragile cause they are the oldest part of our hair strand the root deserves attention because how we start it off determines how healthy it will be. Neglect no part of your hair. After applying the DC mixture I then detangled the section with a large tooth comb then twist. This is the only time my hair is combed (sometimes I do comb with a smaller tooth comb if I am styling for a twist out…not too often). I put on my cap and returned my attention to my daughter’s hair because by the time I was finished my head and some other household things it was time for her to be rinsed.

During this process I also lost some hair.

I untwisted a section at a time and rinsed the deep conditioner out of my daughter’s hair. I used conditioner to assist with getting the mixture out. I retwisted it as I went along. I used a microfiber towel to pat her hair dry…I wanted to keep most of the wetness since water is the best natural moisturizer. I then applied The Mane Choices Hair Butter for moisture, shine, and nourishment then I sealed with Jojoba oil. Then I styled it 🙂

After styling my daughter’s hair 45 minutes was up and it was time for me to rinse my hair. I untwisted my hair and used conditioner to rinsed it out – I didnt do it by sections like with my daughter cause I was tired and was loosing energy. My hair felt so good…I’m almost sure i heard it say “thank you” :). I didnt dry my hair, I moisturized each section using The Mane Choice Hair Butter. Normally I seal at this point but today I was going to be using flax seed gel to do my twist for my twist out and that mixture has some added benefits that I did not want to lock out by sealing.

After doing the things above my daughters and my hair feels soft and very manageable. We both have shine which I’m sure is a combination of the honey and The Mane Choice Hair Butter. I’ve never had shine until using this butter. It would shine after a DC but once I styled it…poof it was long gone. Now I actually maintenance the sheen for a day and a half. So to keep it up I normally apply a small amount of the Butter daily. There’s one pic below of my daughters hair, trying to keep track of her growth.

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Essential Oils

Essential Oil are a major part of my hair care regimen. Their benefits out way not incorporating them in your journey. And most of them double up as some other life aid from skin ailments to sleep remedies….the benefits are endless. They are very strong and have to be used in small doses; however you have to go by the amount of the liquid you are adding it to. So if you have a small mixture you only want to put a few drops. If your mixture is large then you can add more. If your skin is very sensitive then use a small amount and adjust as necessary. I use most of these in my deep conditioner mix and if I have an itchy scalp I will message my scalp with one that is beneficial for dandruff and itchy scalp (most of them :))

Tea Tree Oil

This was the first one that I tried because I suffer from dry scalp and dandruff. It works wonders for itching and dry scalp. I found out that it also moisturizes my hair a great deal.

Lavender

I originally purchased this for my daughter’s hair for its cleansing properties. I would put one drop in a small spray bottle and spray her hair once a week. I no longer do this with her hair because with kids less is best. It too is helpful with dandruff and itching as well as promoting hair growth.

Peppermint

Stimulates blood flow to the hair shaft which in turn helps with growth.

Rosemary

Helps with dandruff, flakes, and itchy scalp. It also stimulates hair follicles.

Sage

Stimulates hair growth

There are many more however these are the ones that I have tried thus far to target my problem area’s and to promote growth.

Keeping Moisturized Hair

Without moisturizing our hair it will be damaged beyond recognition!  This is the key to healthy hair whether you are natural or relaxed.  Unmoisturized hair not only looks dry but it actually is and as a result split ends will development.  Unmoisturized hair will be weak, brittle, and eventually break…all… off.  People who wonder why their hair stagnates may be suffering from an unmoisturized mane.  When you moisturize and how you moisturize will depend on your specific hair needs…no two people are the same.  This is one of the those things you will certainly have to experiment with early on in your journey, to find out your hair’s moisture requirements.

There are many ways that our hair gets moisturized: butters, creams, oils,  conditioners, deep conditioning, baggy method, and primarily WATER.  Most of us have been training to look for the ingredients in our hair products and water should be a key ingredient.    This water supply should be gained applying topically to the hair and consumption.  What we put in our bodies is shown in our hair and skin.  Your skin and hair will be hydrated and will be visible and provide for an overall healthier you.

A great way to moisture is to make sure your product contains a humectant.  Humectants pull moisture from the air into the hair which in turn help keep hair moisturized (it has an opposite reaction in dry climates…there it will pull moisture from the hair). Here are a few natural humectants that are pretty easy to get your hands on: honey, glycerin, glycol, and aloe vera.  As part of my regimen you will notice that all of these items are included either as a daily moisturizer or as a DC.

Now once we get the needed moisture to our hair we have to keep it sealed.  Sealants are discussed at Moisture Sealants.

A well sealed moisturized mane has to be kept so and this is achieved by wearing a satin/silk cap to sleep.  Sleeping in the satin cap will not cause friction like cotton or other fabrics.  This friction causes the hair to break.  In addition to breaking hair the moisture we attempt to seal will be stolen by cotton whereas silk or satin will not rob us our moisture.

Moisture Sealants

One of the best things we can do for our hair is to keep it moisturized. This is a vital part of having a good healthy head of hair. It’s a vital part of retaining length. It’s a vital part to make our strands healthy. It’s a pretty big deal. So we know how to moisturize our strands and this post will talk about how we can keep that moisture in the hair.

OIL, Oil, oil is the key to keeping the moisture locked in our hair. Oil is a natural sealant. It coats the strands so that the moisture is trapped in and will not be released into the air. Some of these are also carrier oils.

The primary part of the hair strand that you should seal are the ends, however depending on what type of oil it is I will normally coat my entire strand from root to end because oils are also good for our scalp. Some oils that have work wonders for my hair are below.

EVOO – one of the first I tried…it was poppin among youtubers…lol. Extra Virgin Olive Oil is a great moisturizer and useful in homemade deep conditioner. It helps to strengthen hair as well. It is not apart of my regimen now but it does work. I started trying other things and stuck with those I felt my hair needed most.

Coconut OIl – my first love with oil. This is also great for moisturizing and deep conditioning. Others use it to pre-poo…I’ve never tried it for that purpose but I’m sure if so many swear by it that it works. I presently use it as part of my deep conditioning

Jojoba Oil – helps with split ends, it’s a fabulous in a deep conditioning mix, and it is good for dry scale. Almost forget that it moisturizes as well. I use this to seal with presently.

Grapeseed Oil – moistuizes and helps the hair shine. I presently seal with this also, I rotate between it and the jojoba oil.

Vitamin E Oil – This is a SUPER oil! It has so many benefits for hair, such as hair growth and loss prevention, it repairs split ends and it helps with moisture. I currently use it to seal and to message scalp.

These are the only ones that I have tried thus far, in the future I plan to try others such as sweet almond oil, carrot seed oil, and avacodo oil. Shea butter is also used as sealant, however I’ve never used it for that purpose.

Dandruff… Oh no u will not

Okay so in anticipation of winter I have been thinking about changing my regimen due to the temperature. This has nothing to do with catching a cold. I do not believe that you catch a cold from going outside half naked or wet hair… Colds come due to bacteria. Okay that being said, let me tell you why I AM concerned about the extreme temperatures that we may face here in Maryland 🙂 I STAYYYYY cold!!! There is no way I am going to leave out of the house with a wet head which will lead to me being colder 😦

So I started playing with twist out to see how long I could go without washing restyling my tresses. This is what I did two weeks ago: Friday washed and did DC. Sunday twisted my hair with moisture mixture. Rocked twist out Monday thru Wednesday. Wednesday night my hair started itching bad! So Thursday morning I co-washed and again on Friday morning. So my test revealed that my hair needs moisture on the 3/4 day. So the next week (this week) I planned ahead to watch on Thursday. Like clockwork my hair started itching on Wednesday, again it was a bad itch. As I went to rub my scalp I noticed a patch of dandruff at the top of my head. 😦 😦

So I’m going to amend my regimen to start oiling my scalp with jojoba oil, tea tree oil, and vitamins during the days I don’t co-wash.