Natural Hair Update

Alrighty so as many of you know (or not so many of you if you're newer to the blog) I'm a natural hair girl. I have been in transition since April of last year (I plan on BC'ing) on the one year anniversary. Anywho...I adopted a new method after much research that works very well for me (and numerous other curly sisters)

First...my hair before I tried anything...disregard how my face looks...just focus on my hair please and thanks.

You can see how much it's grown since August...

Here you can see pretty clearly how much of my hair is unprocessed and how much is relaxed...can't wait until that's gone.

I deep conditioned first using a honey and banana mixture I found on another blog. I seperated my hair into two sections and used 1 pack of banana baby food wiht 6 ounces of honey and a few drops of carrot oil (olive oil would also work well too) on each side. Banana helps to soften the hair, aids in elasticity, and prevents breakage...supposedly it aids in hair regrowth but that's not really proven.

Honey is a natural humectant which attracts and seals in moisture (a must for natural hair) and also aids in shine. This is good for both natural and relaxed hair. As soon as I put the mixture into my hair and smoothed it I noticed shine and curls basically popping out of my head (not to mention I smelled quite edible). I left that in for 3 hours (because I got side tracked..only an hour is needed) I got in the shower and applied conditioner to my head to aid in rinsing and made sure I removed all reminents of the mixture.

Then I shampooed with Organix Vanilla Silk Shampoo, a very good shampoo that contains no alcohol, petroleum and made me smell like I just hopped out of a birthday cake. Then I conditioned with the same conditioner I used to remove the banana/honey mix (just a cheap conditioner, anyone does well as long as it makes your hair seem slippery) let that sit while I washed myself and then detangled with a wide tooth comb. Rinsed that out and stepped out the shower....

After that I covered (generously) my whole head with Organix Vanilla Silk Conditioner and left it in (sounds odd I know...BUT, that aids is moisture being kept in the hair shaft, your hair may feel a little crunching in the morning but we'll get to how to solve that issue shortly.

(This is the curl definition I saw using this method)

Just for shits and giggles I decided to try a new style, I three strand twisted my hair, tied it up in a bonnet and went to bed. When I woke up this morning I untwisted...results were good, very curly but my ends still looked scraggly so I finger combed until it was poofy and slid a 360 headband on and tucked the ends under to create a mock afro puff if you will. I like it! Different but cute...and not time consuming at all.

Oh...back to how to combat that crunchy conditioner feeling....I tried for a long time to stay away from the spray bottle moisturizer just because I didn't really like the idea of it...but I broke down and gave it the green light because my hair was seriously lacking in moisture so...here's what I did:

1. Spray bottle...$1.00 at the dollar sto...yes sto
2. Glycerin...$2.50 at Walmart
3. Carol's Daughter black vanilla leave in conditioner (I already had it laying around and used it for fragrance and to aid in softness because it does a good job of that on it's own)
4. Carrot oil (or your oil of choice...olive oil is always good for your hair..and skin)
5. Water (distilled is best in your hair but tap is fine)

I took 1/4 of the Glycerin and put it in my spray bottle, a few drops of carrot oil (3-4 because you don't want your hair oily), a bit of the conditioner (just enough so you can smell it) or you can use an essential oil or even a dollop or two of your favorite conditioner, and fill the rest with water...spritz hair in the morning to combat the crunchy feeling of the conditioner AND also daily to keep thirsty hair moisturized...ALWAYS remember to shake before use so ingredients can combine properly.

My already soft hair was softer and feels much like I imagine a cloud would AND it feels nourished, not dry and brittle.

(Method for defining and setting curls can be found at: http://www.tightlycurly.com/welcome/)