Hair Regimen **PRODUCTS UPDATED**

*****Bold and in parenthesis notes reason for change*****

Mission: Locate products that give optimal results.

Optimal Results: MOISTURIZED hair!

•••Please consider my hair’s attributes when reading my regimen and products I use•••

♥*´`*•.¸ Current Arsenal ¸.•*´`*♥

(I try to use products with as many natural ingredients as possible!)

Shampoo

• Shea Moisture Coconut & Hibiscus Shampoo

Deep Conditioner (DC)

• Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose Moisturizing Conditioner + EVOO
• Curl Junkie Curl Rehab (haven’t tried as a DC yet, only as LI)
• Curl Junkie Repair Me! (protein conditioner/treatment – unopened as of now)

CoWash Conditioners – Rinse Out (RI)

• Tresemme Naturals Nourishing Moisture Conditioner
• VO5 Kiwi Lime Squeeze Conditioner (just haven’t used it in a while)
• Giovanni Tea Tree Triple Treat Conditioner (too creamy to ‘wash’ with)
• Curl Junkie Daily Fix (when there’s a bad product reaction, i.e. whiteness)
• Curl Junkie Beauticurls Argan and Olive Oil Daily Conditioner (moved from both LI and RI to RI only)

Leave In Conditioners/Creams/Milks/Etc (LI)

• Darcy’s Botanicals Pumpkin Seed Curl Moisturizing Conditioner
• Shea Moisture Coconut & Hibiscus Curl and Style Milk
• Darcy’s Botanicals Cocoa Bean Curl Smoothing Cream
• Darcy’s Botanicals Pumkin Kernel Hydrating Milk (added — forgot to put on list initially)
• Darcy’s Botanicals Shea Butter Curl Moisturizing Cream (never used it on my hair; had only a sample so I used it as hand lotion :-/) 
• Curl Junkie Curl Rehab
• Oyin’s Hair Dew

Styling Gels/Puddings/Custards

• Kiss My Face Upper Management Gel
• L’Oreal Paris EverStyle Alcohol-Free Curl-Defining Gel (Too many humectants for Florida dews — frizz central!)

Spritzes for Refreshing a Wash and Go

• High Quality H2O
• Shea Moisture Hold and Shine Moisture Mist

Oil/Sealants

• Pure Jojoba Oil (used only for the occasional scalp massage)
• Oyin’s Burnt Sugar Pomade (added – used to seal my edges)

Ok. So I’m product obsessed. Judge me.

♥*´`*•.¸ Current Everyday Wash and Go Regimen ¸.•*´`*♥

(I redo my hair almost daily using the following technique while in the shower)

1. Cowash with a RO.
2. Divide my hair into 4-6 sections and clip up.
3. Undo one section.
4. Finger detangle, rinse out RO, apply a LI conditioner/cream/milk-of-the-moment.
5. Apply a styler like a gel/pudding/custard-of-the-moment.
6. Clip section back up.
7. Repeat on all the sections.
8. Get out the shower, unclip all sections, and shake it out!
9. Let it air dry.
10. I DON’T TOUCH UNTIL AFTER IT DRIES!

Wash, Deep Condition, and Detangle Day (every other week):

1. Wash with a sulfate-free shampoo.
2. Apply deep conditioner.
3. Detangle with wide tooth comb with deep conditioner distributed in hair.
4. Rinse.
5. Follow the regular routine, starting with the leave in.

Spacey Edges

I have spacey edges on the left side of my head. I came to realize this by watching YouTube videos and seeing the great concern about protecting edges. I start looking at mine and low and behold, the left side looks kind of sketchy.

I analyzed my routine and traced it back to when I was permed. I thinks it’s from decades of brushing against the grain when wrapping my hair at night (you can read all about it in my hair info and challenges post). When it was permed, my edges just looked like I had a lot of “baby hair” and I never notice that maybe it was just… umm… thin. But now that I’m natural, these baby hairs curl up and reveal some spacey-ness.

So I’ve decided to make a challenge out of it and attempt to thicken them up and/or sprout some new hairs. Here are the interventions I putting into place;

1. Moisturize my edges with water both day and night. I wash and go almost everyday, so I got the day moisturizing down. At night, I’ll lightly spritz my edges with water.
2. Directly seal my edges after moisturizing. I say directly because I call myself indirectly sealing my hair using leave-in that are pretty heavily laden with oils. Now, I will put “real” oil on my edges, after moisturizing.
3. No pull back styles. This isn’t hard because I have a TWA! I must admit though, I have pinned my sides up on a couple of occasions using those little Goodie combs making a slight mohawk. It’s not an everyday style so I can easily, but sadly, give that up.

More on the sealing of my edges. I’m choosing to use Oyin Burnt Sugar Pomade as the sealer. This pomade has stellar ingredients! The top ingred is castor oil. Time and time again praises have been shouted across Natural Nation about the growth obtained when using this oil.

Note: I’m not one to believe in a magical miracle growth agent/ingredient. Hair retains length when it has everything it needs to thrive and is handled with care. I believe that castor oil must be great at keeping moisture locked in and in return makes it look like you’ve had great growth results. So since it has these great claims tied to it, i thought this would be the perfect pomade to use.

Also, I like this pomade’s thickness. I think it will guard against any potential damage caused by the band of my bonnet rubbing against my edges all night. I don’t like that it’s elastic and could catch a hair or two, pulling them out as it stretches and relaxes. I need something that couldn’t possibly be soaked up by the bonnet and creates a physical barrier between the bonnet and my edges. I was debating about using regular jojoba oil, but I think it’s much too light. I think this pomade fits the bill.

Look out for updated pictures about every two weeks… This should be good!

**** UPDATE 8/16/12****

It’s been two weeks and wash day has come back around. I have been about 93% compliant with sealing my edges day and night. Here is an updated picture taken today;

I see one difference instantly — the very edge of my edges (where my face ends and my hair begins) looks darker, as in more filled in. Though the hair is not long, there’s less skin showing. Maybe I’m sprouting some new hairs? What do you think? Hair grows about 1/2 inch per month and it’s been two weeks, so it could have theoretically grown 1/4 inch. Haha… What’s 1/4 inch? Peach fuzz?! I guess peach fuzz turns into a beard eventually…

That’s all I see. Do you notice any changes?

I’ll update again in two weeks. This is going to be a long process. It’s cool though, I like watching water boil.

P.S. The smell of the Burnt Sugar Pomade is getting old!

**** UPDATE 8/30/12****

Ok, so another two weeks has lapse and it’s ‘poo day again! I’ve been less compliant than last time; I’ve been slipping on sealing in the AM after washing-and-going (I’ve been running late!), but I’ve been diligent on rewetting my edges and sealing them every night. Here’s an updated pic;The lighting is different, but it looks like it’s making progress, huh? I wish my hand wasn’t in the way so you can see that farther back it’s filling in also. According to Natural Hair Nation (YouTube), I should have grown a full 1/2 inch by now! Hmmm… I don’t know about all that, but it’s definitely getting less “spacey” and that good enough for me.

I still haven’t figured out, though, if it’s the castor oil by itself in the Oyin Burnt Sugar Pomade that’s helping my edges retain growth or if it’s the combination of ingredients that’s effective. I think this is good time to try out Castor Oil by itself and see if all the hype is true since I’m smack-dab in the middle of a grow out challenge. Granted: Castor oil is the number one ingredient in the pomade, but the smell of it is killing me slowly, day by day. Can you get Castor Oil on the ground? I will def pick some up if I run across it while I’m out and about.

The challenge continues… See you in a couple of weeks!

My Curl Mart Came!

Stay tuned for pix/reviews!