What's Up With My HAIR?

Over the past week I have been experiencing some shedding and worst still, some breakage. I've not lost a significant amount of hair, but I want to nip this straight in the bud before I end up with a hair setback.

I think that the problem relates to my  last relaxer and I now think that I left the relaxer on too long, despite the fact that I carried out an Aphogee Two Step Protein Treatment the week before and also put oil into the relaxer.  I am, in the most part texlaxed, so I am wondering where the breakage is coming from.  I have unfortunately noticed some breakage on the left side of my nape.  The first 1cm up from my nape is about 1cm long so it's definitely broken off in this area.  **Grits teeth!**

Personally, I am not so worried about the shedding I think I can control that easier, but the breakage is a problem and I really don't want to have all my hard work break off all over my hands, clothes and house over the next few weeks. 

Soooooooo here is the plan of action:

STEP ONE:~ Strengthen My HAIR
1.  Ayurvedic Tea Rinse

On Friday 15th April I made up an ayuvedic tea rinse of Shikakai and Amla powder.  I mixed together two tablespoons of amla and one tablespoon of shikakai in boiling hot water from the kettle.  I then waited for it to cool and then strained the gritty bits out using an old pair of tights stretched over the top of the container.  I then poured this mixture over thoroughly detangled hair and left on for about 10mins.

STEP TWO:~ Up The Moisture
1.   Cowashing
After the ayurvedic tea rinse I decided to cowash my hair but this week I wanted to revisit Hair One conditioner which I have decanted into a jar as I hate the pump on the bottle.  Too much like hard work when washing your hair in my opinion....!

2.  Deep Conditioning 

I always deep condition my hair either when I am washing with shampoo or cowashing my hair.  I figure that as my hair is wet already......I might aswell....!   This time I wanted to seriously concentrate on getting some additional moisture into my hair, even if this runs the risk of over moisturising which can cause breakage, that could easily be rectified with Aphogee 2 Minute Reconstructor. 

I made up a deep conditioning concoction:


•  Bee Mine Bee*U*Ti*Ful moisturising deep conditioner
• 2 x tsps coconut oil
• 1 x tsps of castor oil
• 1 x tsp of hemp oil
• 1 x tsp of honey
• ½ tsp of vitamin E





I mixed this together and applied to my towel dried hair and slept with it on overnight underneath a showercap, a headscarf and a wooly hat, to stop me from getting a cold head whilst in bed.  I looked like a right idiot!!!   When I rinsed out the next morning my hair and looked felt great. 

STEP THREE: Stop The Shedding 

1.  Black Tea Rinses 

I decided to rinse my hair with black tea that I had made the night before by pouring boiling hot water onto 4 x PG Tips tea bags.  I poured this cold potion onto my hair and didn't rinse out with water.  I chose to final rinse with aloe vera juice which I hate the smell of (but love the effects when it comes to detangling the texlaxed portion of my hair) so I added some rosemary essential oil to make it smell a little better.  I add rosemary essential oils to everything!

I will be continuing these steps above for the next two weeks to see if the situation improves and amending if neccessary. 

Since Friday my shedding seems to have slowed considerably, which I put down to the black tea rinse but still the breakage continues.  I'm currently considering doing another two step protein treatment or henna for my next wash day when I plan to do my next length and thickness check - time permitting.

Hopefully something will work soon.

In the meantime, I am happy to report that my hair feels sooooooo soft.  I need to make sure I stop touching it  (",)

Ciao 4 Now