Monday, 18 March 2013

Wash Day Diary @ 11 Weeks Post: 17.03.13





"I can't believe it's been a whole week since my last wash day when I took out my crochet braids.  Time sure does fly - I was hoping to apply this sentiment to my wash day today and make it hassle free and speedy!"






My starting point was my 7 day old bun and these are the steps I followed (with a few pictures):



1.  Sectioned my hair into four and finger detangled each section.

Starting point of my week old bun.  There is not pony tail holder or hair grips in my hair

2.  I made my conditoner mix which consisted of EVOO, honey, Alter Ego Hot Oil Treatment, Aphogee 2 Minute Keratin Reconstructor, Roux Porosity Control, Silk Amino Acid Powder and Aloe Vera Juice and placed the bowl of conditioner in the sink resting in hot water from the tap to warm it slightly.

My conditioner at various stages of the mixing process whilst it was sat in a warm water bath.

My new growth at just a few days shy of 12 weeks post - it's crazy!  I think the last set of crochet braids were succesful in helping my hair grow.   TOP RIGHT: This is the front of my hair BOTTOM LEFT:  This is the top of my head, directly above the back of my head BOTTOM RIGHT:  You can clearly see how 'scalpy' my hair is at the back  of my head!  My hair in this section is a) finer and b) less dense that it is in the other areas


3.  Next I applied the conditioner in one inch secitons starting at the nape, as though I were applying relaxer *messilly*!  As always I started at the roots, applied to all 1 inch partings in that section and then  using a squeezing motion I distributed the conditoner at my roots [which had by now warmed up and thinned down so it has more slip and is easier to push/pull down the length of my hair].  I then applied conditioner to the ends to make sure they are thorougly covered before adding more to the length of my hair to cover any strands which are not already coated in the conditioner mix.

I apply the conditioner using my finger tips to apply to the sections of hair which have been finger parted, I tend not to use a comb in my hair on wash days until I detangle after airdrying slightly.  My hair doesn't do well with being combed when it's soaking wet.  I finger detangle prior to applying my deep conditoner to dry hair and I slightly finger detangle in the shower under the running water.


This is the end result after adding the deep conditioner.  The conditioner left in the dish is the amount I used on the final section and is pretty much the same amount used for all sections.  I am heavy handed when applying my conditioner but I like to make sure that every-single-strand of hair is coated in conditioner as I only do this once a week.

4.  I then covered with a plastic bag then a scarf and went about my business for an hour.  After an hour I decided to remove the plastic bag from my hair and sat under my steamer for 15 minutes.  After my time under the steamer I immediately replaced the plastic bag to trap the heat/moisture and kept the conditioner on for a further 2hrs or so with a towel on top.

5.  I then rinsed out the conditioner in the shower whilst my hair was still in four twisted setions.  Working section by section I rinsed the conditioner, applied Hair One Cleansing Conditioner to the roots, retwisted the section and then moved to the next.  Once I got to the last section I squirted some Paul Mitchell Super Strong Treatment into my palms and ran this down the length of my hair and the ends.  I only added this additional protein step because a) I plan to blow dry my hair next week [using the tension method] and b) I plan to relax my hair next week.  I then rinsed this out after about 3 minutes and followed up with a peppermint tea rinse [cold] concentrating on my roots and I didn't rinse it out.  Lastly I decided to do an ACV rinse [after I got out of the shower so I just did this over the sink] then covered my hair with a towel for 5 minutes to soak up excess moisture.

TOP:  My hair right before jumping in the shower and rinsing and cowashing my hair. I threw away my shower filter head as it was badly cracked by someone dropping it on the floor of the shower (repeatedly I think!) so I need to buy another one.  BOTTOM:  My hair after removing the towel after cowashing with no leave in products applied.


6.  I then applied my leave ins in this order; Bee Mine Deja's Hair Milk, Bee Mine Luscious, EVCO, Keracare Oil Moisturiser and Organix Coconut Milk Serum [just to the ends and hairline].  I then airdried in four two strand twists for a couple of hours before applying Treseme Heat Defence spray and blowdrying using the hand tension method concentrating on the new growth.

Air drying with product applied.  At this point I've not detangled my hair.


7.  I then lightly dusted my ends before putting my hair back into four 2 strand twists before covering with a scarf and going to bed.


TOP:  After blow drying and dusing my ends this is how I 'wrapped' my hair for bed.  I had four pony tails and kind of cross-wrapped the ends over to keep them as straight as possible.  BOTTOM:  This is how my hair looked first thing this morning prior to pulling my hair back into a bun.

My bun.  I am pretty proud of how full my bun is looking.  Still massive room for improvement but leaps and bounds ahead of where I was three years ago!

This wash day was really simple (although it probably doesn't sound like it).  For the most part I wasn't rushed, harassed and stressed at all and to top it all the amount of hair I lost due to shedding this week is considerably lower than I expected.  I have now made a new daily leave in tea spritz using peppermint tea, olive oil and aloe vera juice as I think my previous concotion is helping to reduce my shedding.  So far (24hrs later) I like the feel of this peppermint tea spritz, my hair doesn't feel hard at all and the tea smells great!

TOP:  Hair on the right hand side of my palm is from finger detangling and applying conditioner, the hair on the left hand side is from the remainder of my wash day including detangling, blow drying and dusting.  BOTTOM:  Total hair combined.

Today I posted a few pictures of my bun and newgrowth on the Simply Into My HAIR Facebook page.  I was asked in the comments section about the tension blowdrying method I used, below is my response:


For the rest of this week I will wear my hair in a bun and continue to moisturise and seal daily.

Ciao 4 Now



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8 comments

  1. Wow your wash day sounded longggggg and i was wondering about the extra protein as well but you cleared that up. How come you didn't follow up with a moisturizing DC?
    Lol @ few pictures, very good visual of your wash day!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your hair has a nice shine in the end, how long does it take you to detangle your hair?

    ReplyDelete
  3. @Tomes Edition

    Hi

    You're right, it did end up being pretty long in relation to the number of hours that passed!! Although that said, the length of time actually spent actively doing something to my hair was probably less than 2hrs which isn't that long for me. Most of this wash day was spent sitting around with conditioner on my hair and not standing in the bathroom faffing for a change. (",)

    With regards to the moisturising conditioner following the protein one, normally I would follow up the protein (especially this much protein) with a moisturising deep conditioner, even if it's just for 5 minutes or so. The reason I didn't this time was I felt like having pretty much a full day of deep conditioning (even though I added protein to that conditioner) was moisturising enough so I didn't want my hair to become over moisturised. Taking into account the olive oil, AVJ and honey which I added to the deep conditioner I thought this would compensate for the lack of a moisturising conditioner as an additional follow up step.

    My plan for this week is to continue to spritz with Bee Mine Juicy and/or my moisturising Peppermint Tea Spray and follow up with Deja's Hair Milk and/or Luscious to add moisture every day and seal with a variety of oils (basically whatever I feel like on that day [grapeseed, EVCO, hemp seed or JBCO). Last week my hair felt really moisturised doing this so I think doing the same this week and Well at least I hope so.

    My hair today (2 days later) feels soft, moisturised and strong so all good so far.

    Thanks for commenting!

    T

    ReplyDelete
  4. i love posts with picture overloads lol.....great!

    you seemed to have lost alot of hair after detangling is that the norm for you?

    I started using cayenne pepper on my scalp as i hear it increases growth up to 3 times although i have noticed results quickly i also noticed shedding and i don’t think cayenne pepper is supposed to result in shedding to. Hmm, i am still investigating the reason for that

    have u tried cayenne pepper mixed with an oil on ur scalp before? what are your thoughts on it?

    ReplyDelete
  5. @Eni

    Hi

    This is so bizarre!!! When I was in the kitchen raiding the cupboards on Sunday I thought about adding cayenne pepper to my deep conditioner but decided against it. It's so funny that you have commented on using it in your regimen.

    I have heard of cayenne pepper increasing/stimulating growth but I've not actively tried it. I say 'actively' because I am pretty sure at least one of the growth serums I have purchased actually has cayenne pepper in it.

    I have read that using growth stimulants can cause an increase in shedding due to them affecting the growth and shedding cycle of the hair. I don't think the increase in shedding is supposed to be long lived though. I read this forum thread last year when I experimented with MN. Here is a post from Long Hair Care Forum which I read last year before starting MN. I started applying it whilst in a protective style so I am not sure whether my hair loss after was due to the PS or the MN. Next time I try it I will do so when I'm not in a PS and monitor if there is an increase in shedding.

    Cayenne pepper may be something that I will try in future but for now I have a rather big bottle of Bee Mine Hair Growth Mango Serum with sulfur which I will be using throughout the remainder of this year along with upping (or should I say restarting) my daily consumption of garlic supplements.

    Unfortunately this amount of hair I loss is the norm for me - especially at this many weeks post (11-12 weeks) and after coming out of a long term protective style. I don't comb my hair at all during the week apart from on wash days so I put at least half of the hair lost down to accumulation of shed hairs for the week. When I cowash mid week during summer months my shed hairs are less but I think this is down to fewer days passing between wash days.

    I try to take photos of my hair loss and add to each of wash days so I can track whether there are stark changes in the amount of hair lost.

    To combat excessive shedding I have stepped up my black and green tea rinses and will be investigating adding coffee and different teas which are easily accessible and don't break the bank to use for rinses and leave in spritzes i.e. burdock, marshmallow root, bamboo, sorrel, nettle, horsetail etc etc. There are many to investigate, all with their own unique effect on the hair including stimulants, thickeners and shedding inhibitors.

    I hope your shedding lessens as I know how disheartening it can be when suffering from excessive shedding!

    Thanks for commenting!

    T

    ReplyDelete
  6. @Candice

    Hi

    Thank you! I think the shine maybe comes from the Adore colour rinses that I use on relaxer days. I started off with clear rinses but as I have wisdom (grey) hairs at my hairline I quickly changed to colour rinses.

    Last year EbonyCPrincess over at Longing4Length did some great posts such as this regarding the benefits of doing a clear rinse. I have been doing these rinses for just over a year now and since that time my hair has been much shiner - especially with a little added EVCO and my greys are covered for 3-4 weeks too! At the moment I only do the colour rinse on relaxer days but I may increase these.

    Also, I believe henna gloss treatments have helped with to make my hair shiner and the colour appear deeper. Take a look at my Facebook Page for my most recent henna gloss treatment in January

    Detangling recently has been going a little easier for me (with the exception of when I have come out of a long term protective style!). This time it took me about 20mins to detangle all my hair - I just spritzed a little mane and tail detangler at the root let it soak in for a minute then detangled with my fingers and my Hercules Sageman comb.

    In the past I have had a detangling session that lasted about 4 hrs!!! It was horrendous and was caused by not following the right steps for my hair when I took down my kinky twists and washed my hair. Basically each section of my hair took me an hour to detangle! Luckily that incident is not a regular occurrence.

    Thanks for commenting!
    T

    ReplyDelete
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