March/April Goals

In order to keep me motivated on this new and improved hair journey of mine I  decided to set a few goals for myself every month. Since we're already halfway through March, I thought I'd give myself til the end of April.

In March/April I need to:

1. Be consistent with the products I use. The glorified product junkie that I am has an entire stash of products just waiting for me to try them out. So, I need to pick a few, use them consistently and resist the urge to try something new every week. This is going to be hard.

2. Baggy my ends at least 2x a week. If you guys remember, baggying was part of the things I wanted to add to my regimen becuase of the great results it gave some ladies. I figured I need all the help I can get with my length retention if I want to be APL by december.

3. Keep my hands out of my hair. I have a self-diagnosed wicked case of hand in hair syndrome. Throughout the, I will undo my bun for no reason and re-do it. As soon as I get home, I take my hair down and proceed to repeatedly run my fingers through it. This practice is deadly for hair because it will not only cause breakage but overtime it will also result in hair thinning. Finally, I'm very tender-headed, so quite often I end up with headaches and a sore scalp from all that pulling tugging at my hair. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a masochist. But I just can't seem to help it. I don't even notice when I start doing it. I find that keep my hair covered under a scarf or a bonnet keeps me from playing with it so that's just what I'll do.

4. Cover my head every night. I have been known to go to bed without a scarf or a bonnet because I was too tired to look for it or just plain lazy. The result is always the same: dried-out hair. I have to work on that.

5. Start learning how to rollerset my hair. Now that I'm texlaxing my hair, roller setting is definitely going to come in handy to create a smooth look, specially deep in a stretch, when I'll be dealing with three textures. Not to mention that staring at Jeni's (JustGrowAlready) gorgeous roller sets really motivated me.

I'll check in with you guys  at the end of April!

MopTop Maven's Xtreme Deep Conditioning Tutorial

I bumped into this video awhile ago and I have been dying to try it, specially since my hooded dryer broke in december. In the video,  she specifies that she only does this every 6-8 weeks after a henna treatment so as to avoid over-moisturizing her hair but I honestly don't see that ever happening with me. So, if I like the results I get wih this method, I might do it 1x-2x a month. She has been doing this for awhile and and her gorgeous hair has obviously not suffered any adverse effects. By the way her name is The MopTop Maven.

I'll kee you guys posted on my results.

Relaxer Update

Thursday was relaxer  day. Yay! I relaxed one day shy of 14 weeks post and I used Organic Root Stimulator Olive Oil No-lye  Relaxer Regular Strength Formula. Here's what my friend did (under my close almost dictatorial supervision).

Step 1: Protection

My best friend Sabrina started off by parting my hair in four sections. She then parted those sections in smaller ones and based my scalp with ORS Olive Oil Scalp Protector. She protected my ears nape and edges with Vaseline. I decided  I wasn't going to relax my napes because  not only are they very fine, they also grow at a slow rate. I barely had any new growth there so I had my friend cornrow that section of my hair and apply Vaseline to it. She then proceeded to protect my already relaxed ends with Roux Porosity Control Conditioner and some CHI Silk Infusion on top of it. She then clipped each section up.

Step 2: Relaxing

If you've read my last few posts than you know I decided to transition to texlaxing. In order to do that I added about 1/4 of a cup of olive oil into the relaxer to dilute it. My friend parted my hair in small sections and applied the relaxer to my new growth only with a tint brush. She then proceeded to smooth my hair. Since it was my first time texlaxing I didn't really know how long to leave it on and I was terrified I was going to over-process my hair. I didn't. We ended up rinsing it out after 23 minutes. I took over from there.

Step 3: Neutralizing

I rinsed out the relaxer for about 2 minutes. Before neutralizing I did a mid-step protein treatment with Joico K-PAK Revitaluxe Bio-Advanced Restorative Treatment (whew, that's a mouthful!). I received a sample when I bought my Joico Moisture Recovery Shampoo & Conditioner and I had been saving it for that purpose. I made sure I got all of my newly relaxed hair covered with it, then got some on my ends, put a shower cap on and rinsed it out after 5 minutes. I started neutralizing with  Isoplus Neutralizing Shampoo and not the one that came in the box because of the color alarm in the Isoplus Shampoo. I then switched to the ORS Creamy Aloe Shampoo that came with relaxer because it neutralizes AND chelates (removes calcium deposits left on the hair by the relaxer). I applied Roux Porosity Control for about 2 minutes and neutralized again. I neutralized about 10 times and left  the shampoo on for about 15 minutes the last time. I stopped when the Isoplus Shampoo stopped being pink. By that time my hair was feeling soo stripped! Quite an unpleasant feeling.

Step 4: Deep Conditioning

I chose to deep condition with a mix of L'Oreal Absolut Repair Cellular Mask (for ceramides) and ORS Replenishing Conditioner (for proteins). I left the mixture on for 7 seven hours while I did things around the house, wrote my history mid-term paper and took a nap. I didn't plan to deep condition for that long, it just happened. I detangled my hair and rinsed out the conditioner. By then, my texlaxed curls were looking nice.

Step 5: Styling

I gently patted my hair with a towel to remove excess water and applied my leave-ins. I sprayed my hair with Aphogee Keratin & Green Tea Reconstructurizer, mixed my HE leave-in with my Giovanni and massaged it through my hair, concentrating on my ends. I finally added my CHI Silk Infusion and a little bit of Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Serum (not pictured). I tied the front of my hair with a scarf and left my hair to air dry overnight. The morning after, I sprayed on  some Tresemme Heat Tamer Spray (not pictured)  and flat ironed on a low setting.

The Verdict: So far my hair feels smooth but also really strong, probably from the Aphogee Two Step Protein Treatment I did last week. I got my hair texlaxed and not relaxed bone straight, as I wished. However, I think I might leave the relaxer on for 3-5 minutes longer to get a looser curl pattern next time. I'll see how my hair looks and feels after a couple of washes before I decide.  As for growth, I definitely see some, even if I cut some off some of my damaged ends recently.  Unfortunately, my friend didn't have time to take some shots of my hair, but I'll try to do it myself on my next wash day. Can I just say how much I love that my hair looks thicker?  I love it!

Wash Day/Relaxer Prep/ Aphogee Two Step Protein Treatment Review

So today was my last wash day before my relaxer on Wednesday. Here's what I did to prep my hair for it as well as my review of the Aphogee Two Step Protein Treatment System.

I started off by pre-pooing with Dabur Vatika Coconut Oil for 30 minutes and shampooed with Aphogee Shampoo for Damaged Hair. I decided not to clarify since I did so 3 weeks ago and the Aphogee shampoo is pretty stripping. 

I then sprayed my hair with the Aphogee Two Step Protein Treatment  (I poured mine into a spray bottle),  blow dried my hair until the treatment made it hard and I rinsed with warm water. If you don't already know,  this treatment is messy, runny and stinks. Not to mention that I got some in my eye while rinsing it out and it was very unpleasant. I followed it with the Aphogee Balancing Moisturizer for 2 minutes, and my hair thanked me for it  by instantly becoming softer. I then proceeded to deep condition for 45 minutes with my L'Oreal Professionnel Absolut Repair Cellular Masque.

To help close my cuticles and hold in moisture, I rinsed with cold water and applied Roux Porosity Control Conditioner for 2 minutes (I tried to detangle with it but I realized pretty soon it was a bad idea as it gave me no slip). I rinsed again with cold water, wrapped my hair in a T-shirt and let it soak up the excess water for a few minutes.

Next, I applied my leave ins : A mix of 2 pumps of  Herbal Essences Long Term Relationship Leave In and a squirt of  Giovanni Direct Leave In (because the Giovanni leave in by itself has a pH of 7! Too high for porous hair!), I sealed the moisture in with my beloved CHI Silk Infusion and added 2 pumps of Tresemme Split End Remedy Leave in only on my ends (for added protection) . Afterwards, I detangled and tied the front of my hair with a scarf to make my edges lay flat as I air dried.

When my hair was about 85% dry I blow dried on the lowest setting then flat ironed my roots on a similarly low setting. I did this, not to straighten my hair, but to make it easier for my friend to part it and apply the relaxer on Wednesday (I'm 13 weeks post!). When my hair was completely dry I added a teeny bit of HE Leave in  on my ends and sealed with a few drops of olive oil. Right now my hair feels so soft and moisturized, I can't believe it!  I mean, I just did a hard protein treatment! Aphogee's definitely a keeper. The real test will be how it holds up in the next few days but as of now, I am in love with my hair! However, I don't know which product(s) is (are) responsible because I used a lot of them for the first time. I guess I'll find out in the upcoming weeks.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Update:  The next day my hair stayed moisturized throughout the day! This never happens to me! I chose to moisturize and seal before going to bed, not because I HAD to but because I WANTED to (I'm a bit of a moisture maniac) and as a result my hair was a little greasy. My hair definitely felt different the next day. A lot stronger. I guess the protein finally kicked in. Still, it wasn't unpleasant. I combed my hair a few times and there were no broken hairs on the comb! I'm so happy! Yay for Aphogee!

Product Junkie Alert: New Buys!

Hi guys! I've been really bad to my wallet these past few days. As you know, a product junkie never stays long before buying new things and in my case it's even worse because I'm starting my hair journey again! So here's a list of  things I bought recently.

Reviews coming soon!

*Click on the product names to see pictures.

Roux Porosity Control Corrector Conditioner

L'Oréal EverCrème Cleansing Conditioner 

L'Oréal Total Repair 5 Replenishing Mask

L'Oréal Professionel Série Expert Absolut Repair Cellular Masque

Matrix Biolage Cera-Repair

Lacoupe Replenish Masque Intensive Repair Treatment

Live Clean Exotic Shine Bali Oil Restorative Treatment

Dabur Vatika Coconut Oil

P.S: Wallet, I promise not to buy anything else until May. Will you please forgive me?

P.P.S: Why are hair product names so damn long? I mean , would they be any less effective if their names were shorter?

Hair Journey: Starting over

Hi everyone! As you my have guessed from this post's title, I've decided to start over my hair journey. Why? Simply because it isn't working for mw. If you've read my last post you may have noticed that my hair has many issues that I haven't been able to fix despite several months of healthy hair care. So I've decided to start over my hair journey and forget about everything I think I know about my hair (which really isn't much) and learn about it all over again. This second journey starts today, with my relaxer prep. I'll take a picture of my starting point with my next relaxer.

Stay tuned for a series of post about my new regimen.

All That is Wrong With my Hair: Where the Hell is my Length?

Lately, I've been taking a good look at my hair. Ever since the beginning of my hair journey 4 months ago, I've been washing and deep conditioning my hair weekly, moisturizing and sealing almost daily, protective styling (bunning), alternating moisture and protein and staying away from heat. So where the hell is my length? My progress? Some of you might think that 4 months is not long enough too see any real progress and that I'm being impatient. But I really don't think so. When I look at the amount of new growth I've gained in the past 12 weeks, I realize that my hair grows pretty fast. So why aren't I retaining  length? Well, I  examined my hair and here are some of the issues I believe I need to correct in order to obtain healthy relaxed hair and retain my length.  

Dryness. That has always been the main issue. Regardless of how much moisture I infuse into my strands, my hair just won't stay moisturized. It's unbelievable. No matter how soft my hair feels after a good deep conditioning session, it will go right back to being dry in the next two days, if not earlier. Sometimes I moisturize and seal twice a day and I still end up with dry hair the morning after.  This issue has lead me to conduct a few tests on my hair and the jury has reached a verdict: my hair is highly porous. 

Breakage. As you know, with dryness comes brittleness which results in breakage. My has been doing a lot of that lately. I swear, it just snaps whenever I touch it or pull it just a teeny bit. Especially my ends.

Split ends. Trichoptilosis. Whatever you call it, no one likes them. Especially me. They, however, seem to be very fond of me. It doesn't matter how often I trim them. They just keep coming back. I even get the ones that are way up on the hair shaft. As a result of this unrequited one-sided love,  my ends are breaking-off, thin, see-through and aren't retaining length.

Shedding. My shedding has been out of control lately. I've never been one to lose more than 10-20 hairs a day. I know studies say that the amount of hair we shed every day is between 100 and 150 strands, but not my hair. I just don't shed that much. I detangle once a week on wash days and even then, I have very few hairs on my comb. However, these past few days, I've noticed a lot of long strands with the white bulb still attached to it coming off. Maybe I'm a little paranoid. But I still plan on doing that garlic mask I bought the other day.

Sore, dry, itchy scalp. I don't know what's up with my scalp lately. It's always sore and itchy. I'm unusually tender-headed. I'm always careful  of not putting anything directly on my scalp for fear of blocking my pores and preventing hair growth. But maybe that's the problem. Maybe I neglected my scalp.

I should probably take some of the blame: I have been known to sometimes sleep without a scarf or a bonnet, although I haven't done that in awhile and I haven't always been very diligent in moisturizing and sealing my ends everyday (I would sometimes do it every 2 days). Not to mention that I have a severe case of hand-in-hair disease. I know, shame on me.

But really it all comes back to one thing: porosity. Hair that is reasonably porous will receive and retain moisture, thus preventing the dryness, brittleness and breakage I am currently experiencing.

Stay tuned because I'll be writing a couple of posts in the coming weeks to tell you guys how I plan on tackling these issues and also to keep myself in check.

So what are some of the issues you ladies are battling on your hair journey?

Hair Regimen Additions for 2012

Henna powder

As a newbie, it's really hard not to jump on every bandwagon. You see these ladies with gorgeous hair and you think ''Oh I'm gonna do whatever she does so my hair can look like hers!'' So you want to try it all : co-washing, pre-pooing, hot oil treatments, clear rinses, GHE, etc. But I realized pretty fast that it would get crazy if I tried to do it all at once so I decided to master the basics first and I think that was a wise choice. I started my hair journey on October 11, 2011 so  I've only been at this for a few months.

Here is what I've been doing religiously: washing and deep conditioning weekly, protein treatments, moisturizing and sealing, sleeping with a satin bonnet and keeping my ends away from my shoulders. Now that I feel like I know what I'm doing, here are a few things I would really like to incorporate into my regimen this year.

Texlaxing: Ever since I started my hair journey I realize just how thin my hair is. And I don't like it. So I've decided to transition to texlaxed hair and stop being relaxed bone straight. Texlaxing is basically  under-processing your hair on purpose by either leaving the relaxer on for a shorter period of time or diluting it with some ingredients like oils or conditioner. It leaves your hair healthier and thicker then if it were bone straight. My hair is currently shoulder length so I figured now is the right time to do it. The process of dealing with three textures (natural, texlaxed and relaxed) is only going to get more tedious as my hair gets longer.  I plan on adding some olive oil to my relaxer to achieve my wavy texlaxed look. For more information on texlaxing, click here and here.

The Baggy Method: Baggying your ends is basically putting some moisturizer or oil on your ends and wrapping it with either saran wrap, a shower cap or a grocery bag. By doing this you are locking in moisture on your ends and allowing yourself to retain more length by reducing dryness induced breakage.

Protective styling: Now don't get me wrong. I do protective style my hair: I mainly bun. Which is pretty boring, I know. But for some reason, I just don't feel like half-wigs, braid-outs, twist-outs and Bantu Knot-outs would look pretty on me. Specially because my hair is not long. I guess I'm just gonna have to find out.

Henna: Henna is plant that grows on dry climates. Some of the benefits of using henna on your hair include smoother, stronger and shinier hair. Also, henna contains an all-natural dye that can be used to color hair in a red-brownish taint without any damage to relaxed or natural hair because it doesn't contain any chemicals. I plan to do it in the summer so the highlights can show up better in the sun.

Black Tea Rinses:  Black Tea Rinses are great for stopping shedding, stimulating growth and strengthening the hair. It can also darken the hair over time.

Regular Hot Oil Treatments & Pre-pooing: My hair is as dry as as it gets. I could pour an entire bottle of moisturizer or oil on my hair and within the next hour my hair would have soaked it all up. And although I understand the argument for sulfate-free shampoos I just haven't found any that work for me. Right now I'm using Joico Moisture Recovery, which does have sulfates in it and I absolutely love it. But I feel like pre-pooing on a regular basis with conditioner or oil could only give me an extra boost of moisture and softness.

Vitamin Supplements: To be honest I probably don't eat as healthy as I should so my hair is probably not getting all the nutrients it needs. Supplements are a great way to make sure my body and hair are getting all they need in order to maximize growth.

What are some of the things you ladies want to try?

Product Junkism: A Few Tips to Keep it Under Control

So...you're sick. You go straight to the hair care isle whenever you walk into a store, the inside of your room looks like a Beauty Supply, you have more products under your bathroom sink than you have food in your fridge and your paychecks disappear at the speed of light. If you have more than two of the symptoms listed above, you most likely have a mean case of Product Junkism. Like in any 12-step program, the first step is to admit you have a problem. The thing is…you’re not actually ready to stop being a PJ. You actually like it. Now what? Well, hopefully my tips will allow you to still indulge without going broke in the process.

1. If it ain't broke don't fix it.
I know you ladies have heard this saying a lot but it is true.  Some of us seem to always be on the lookout for the next best thing, the product that's going to change your life. Chances are it doesn't exist. If you already found your staples and love the way they make your hair feel, why chase in vain after a miracle product?

2. Use up what you already have.
 Is your current stash already used up or do you still have a ton of products waiting for you under your bathroom sink? If so, don't buy anything else. Finish what you already have. If you don't like a product, give it away. Not only will it make room for your new products but it'll also give you a good idea of what you already have so as to avoid buying things twice.

3. Don't be too quick to dismiss products.
It's very easy to use a product once, not be impressed and dismiss it. Overtime, this practice ends up costing you a lot of money and taking up a lot of space on your shelves. You know what they say. If at first you don't succeed try, try again. Well, this applies to hair products also. For instance, if you've tried a deep conditioner on wet hair didn't like it, try it on dry hair. Try adding your favorite oil or heat to it.  Unless a product gave you a setback or caused breakage the first time you used it, you should try it at least a few times before giving up on it.       

4. Research the product before buying it.
 Before deciding to spend your hard earned money on something you should always do your homework. 1) Check the ingredient list: does it contain any ingredients you're not comfortable with such as mineral oil, petroleum, petrolatum, sulfates or parabens? 2) Look for reviews from people with your hair type. If you're relaxed don't base your decision on a natural's review. Look for a relaxed person's review. The same thing applies to naturals. Youtube, LHCF, Hairlista, Kiss and personal blogs are all great sources of information. 3) If the product is salon quality, go to a salon that carries it and ask for a professional’s opinion.

5.  Make a wish list and stick to it.
Make a wish list of all the products you've properly researched and want to buy. It's very important that you try to not deviate from the list. It will help you not make impulsive buys. You can try to organize the list in a specific order. For instance, the ones you need most first. Also, every once in a while, check the items listed and make sure you still want them. If you don’t, cross them off.

6. Write out a budget and stick to it.
Determine an amount of money you can spend every month or (on more extreme cases) paycheck on ‘’hair stuff’’ without going broke and don’t go over it. This will help a lot, especially if you’re on a student budget, like me.

7. Buy from stores with a return policy.
Do I even need to explain why? You get your money back if you’re not 100% satisfied. It’s fantastic!

8. Get sample/ travel sizes products if you can find them.
Sample sizes are quite a bargain. Most of the time you get a good amount of product to try out for only a fraction of the price of the full size item. What’s not to love?

9. Be on the lookout for sales!
Again, this is pretty self-explanatory. Why pay full price for something you’re not even sure is going to deliver?

10. Swap out with your friends!
If you have close friends on a hair journey you can check each other’s stash to see if they have anything you’d like to try. If so, you can try to trade with each other.

Hope this helped!

Product Review: Neutrogena Triple Moisture Daily Deep Conditioner

Price: 8,99$ CND for 250 ml

Why I bought this product: So when I  first started my hair journey (in October 2011)  I have to admit I was really confused. My brain was in information overload. One of my main sources of information was Youtube's Ulovemegz. I remembered seeing her talk  about this deep conditioner and how much she loved it so I went straight to the drugstore and picked it up.

What it claims: Triple Moisture Daily Deep Conditioner combines the restorative power of a deep treatment with the ease of a quick conditioning rinse.
Dramatically improve your hair's softness, smoothness and manageability with this daily conditioner that acts like a deep conditioner. Even extra dry or over-processed hair feels soft and smooth all day after just a single use. Olive, Meadowfoam and Sweet Almond extracts penetrate the hair strand to defy dryness. Just a little of this rich, creamy formula goes a long way to condition, detangle and add shine.

Ingredients: Water, Cyclopentasiloxane, Behenyl Alcohol, Behentrimonium Chloride, Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetearyl Alcohol, Cyclohexasiloxane, Dimethicone, Amodimethicone, Behentrimonium Methylsulfate, Stearamidopropyl Dimethylamine, Cetrimonium Chloride, Panthenol, Sweet Almond Oil (prunus amygdalis dulcis), Olive Fruit Oil (olea europaea), Meadowfoam Seed Oil (limnanthes alba), Glycol Stearate, Ceteth 2, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Citric Acid, Titanium Dioxide, Iron Oxide, Mica, Fragrance (Parfum)

What it did: Oh. My. God. The. Dryness. It was absolutely awful. My hair felt like hay!  I shampooed with Aphogee Shampoo for Damaged hair then I worked the conditioner through my hair, put a plastic cap on and let it sit for about an hour. When I rinsed it out it felt fine, nothing to write home about. I applied my leave-ins and as my hair started air drying I realized the hot mess that it had become! I couldn't believe it! I was actually pretty sad about it because this was the first deep conditioner I ever purchased and my hair reacting to it that way made me feel like I was starting this journey on the wrong foot. I also really wanted to like it because not only is it very affordable but I can also easily get my hands on it. In all fairness, I didn't use it with heat and the Aphogee Shampoo does have proteins in it, which could possibly account for the stiffness. I guess this just goes to prove that products work differently for different people. I managed to use up half of the bottle by adding oils whenever I used it but I ended up giving it to my best friend. Hope it works better for her than it did for me. Would I ever repurchase this? Sadly, no. I can find better ways to spend 9$.