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?