Hair Goals for May

Writing them down will help me stick to them! I will:

- Get a new camera
- Reduce amt of hair lost while detangling
- Stick with what works- no product experimentation this month other than protein & ACV rinses!
- Get back on wagon with yoga, vitamins, protein, water- every day!
- Solidify regimine
- Figure out the right protein regimin
- Figure out how often and whether to do ACV rinses
- Get more feathers for my hair, and more accessories!

Finally! (almost) No Breakage! No combs, and the Magic Star Rake Comb

I tried the no comb experiment for two weeks. The first night I did it, I had 2 broken hairs- this is down from 40, 50+ on any random night before that. I found that detangling nightly is the way to go for me...tried the low manipulation thing and my hair just got tangled. Finger combing took a long time, maybe 20 minutes (if I hurried) to an hour (if I really took my time). I did end up shedding much more hair than normal, but it could have been related to the changing seasons.


However. I then went and bought this seamless comb I've had my eye on for a bit- the Magic Star Rake. I got mine from hotcombs.net. At $17.50, I thought of it as an investment.

The comb just glided through my hair. I was shocked at how smooth and easy it was. And so fast! I can detangle my whole head in 2-3 minutes.

I lost maaaaybe 1 hair to breakage! And back to very minimal shedding as before. It was great in the shower, too. I love this comb!

My detangling method was starting at the bottom, then working my way up, as in this awesome video from longhairdontcare. The only difference is I use my hands to separate and detangle a bit first, then use the comb in the same way, from the bottom up:

No Combs?

So I've been struggling with breakage. I've always had it (thanks, relaxers), but I never payed too much attention to it until I started taking better care of my hair.

I need to get this under control, and I have been trying everything to try to stop it. A lot of things helped, including protein, detangling my hair soaking wet with conditioner, working up from the bottom, and using a seamless comb. I also tried not detangling every day, which didn't help. It also doesn't help that none of my combs are that great, either. When I detangled nightly, I estimate I'd have at least 20 broken pieces, and at least 40 when I did it every 3-4 days.

Anyway, last night I detangled and braided with just my fingers. My hair was perfectly detangled, and felt really soft! As well, since I was only using my hands, I feel like the glycerin spray and coconut oil I was using got well distributed.

I had NO broken hairs!!!

I will try this out and see if it works. I'm going to make a personal challenge for the next two weeks- no combs!

My Hair Goals

I was thinking today about how long I'd like my hair to be. I never thought about setting hair goals before finding the hair forum. I wanted long hair for a long time, but it was more of an abstract notion. I think knowing specifically what my goals and having dates I'd like to achieve them by are going to help me reach them!

It's currently almost BSL, and sometimes APL-ish unstretched (depending on how curly). Here are some photos from yesterday. The top of the gray shirt is where the top of the bra is: 

I'd say my medium term goal is waist length (stretched)- hopefully this will be brastrap length curly.  I hope to be really close by the end of this year- I think I can get there by March 2011. I'm about/at least 7" away from waistlength stretched. I think I can get here with my relaxed ends.

My ultimate goal: I'd love to be all natural, and around this length (tailbone?) curly. I'd also be thrilled with waistlength curly or midback curly. If I could hold on to my relaxed ends, I think this could be three years away. All natural would be at least 5 years, maybe 4, but possibly 6.

Hair growin' protein shake

Amy and I have been drinking protein shakes daily for a few months. They taste great and have been so helpful for growing our hair and getting us healthy. Here are the ingredients:

Protein Shake Mix: Fruitein or Spirutein are delicious- both are slightly sweet, and they blend well with chlorella. Our faves are the Revitalizing Green flavor and Rainbow, and they have tons of flavors. Best of all, these shakes have so many nutrients and vitamins- check out the links to see the list.

Chlorella: I learned about chlorella on the hair forum. This has been great for our overall health, skin, energy and our hair is growing quickly! This will probably be a life-long staple.

Chlorella helps with detox, so you have to work your way up to the full serving slowly. We are currently taking 2 tsps each.

Flax seed oil: I believe that this has helped with my scalp dryness issues. Also, it makes my eyes look shiny and alive... 1TBSP per serving.

Mixers: We use a combo of milk, soy milk, juice and/or water depending on what we have around. Sometimes other types of "milk" like almond or rice, but these don't have much protein, unlike soy, which has almost as much as milk. 1 cup per serving of any combo of these, and then I use an extra 1/4 cup water over the total 1 cup of liquid to make the shake thinner and to make more of it.

And that's it! We have it for breakfast everyday- it's a fun morning routine!

Filtered Shower Head

I was doing very well with a stop-smoking program that involved using nicotine patches and getting a reward for every consecutive week where I smoked 1 cigarette or less per day. I sorta kinda fell off the wagon last week, and I think it was because I got lazy about getting my reward and I used different patches. So I am going to get more, and get back on the reward wagon! If I can make it to next Sunday with 1 cigarette per day or less, I will get:

A shower filter which will hopefully help with my build-up and make our hair softer. We're gonna get one that just mounts on the current showerhead rather than a handheld one after a hilarious conversation about how hand held ones make you feel like an elephant hosing herself down with her trunk. Also, either a really good comb and/or a denman brush which I want to try for defining my curls.

Jheri Juice challenge

I joined the Jheri Juice challenge! I'll be juicing with a homemade glycerine mix, maybe some of the Shescentit Moisture Mist that I have as well. I really think glycerine juices, are a key in my regimine.

I also tried not using so much coconut oil, since I am trying to simplify my routine and reduce buildup by using as few products as possible. My hair is not quite as soft at the ends, but is much bouncier and cleaner. I'll try just a touch more coconut oil next time. I'm also going to stop using it daily and just use it when I wash.

So now I'm just going to be using my juice daily. I'll keep it supersimple for now with just water and glycerine. My only other products will be conditioners (I'll stick with just Shescentit Avocado for now) and Genuine African Formula shampoo. I'll prepoo with coconut oil and use protein as needed.

The photos are my results from juicing it up last night (and a quick spritz on my kinky areas- yep, I got 'em). The one on the left is shinier and smoother because I juiced and braided this before going in the warm and steamy bathroom after Amy took a shower. The other side I braided and juiced in the bathroom.

I need all the protein I can get

 I'm planning to buy some protein, and then add this to my sprays and conditioners. This will be really useful in my quest to reduce the number of products I'm using- rather than needing a separate protein conditioner, I can use my regular one and just add protein. Also, I discovered that Aphogee 2 minute has a cone in it, and my hair has been so much more moisturized since I stopped using those.

I got a great tip from an LHCF member about lotioncrafters, where you can buy wholesale protein and other hair product making goodies.  I'm going to look for other retailers as well, and probably pick up some other ingredients while I'm at it.

I'm currently re-reading this thread about the types of protein to see what I want to buy. Recommended!

One day, one day...

Mmm, this Palmarosa conditioner from Opa's Soap looks great!

Ingredients: Distilled Water, Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride (natural gum), Wheat Protein, Wheat Starch, Calendula Flower, Panthenol (Pro-Vitamin B5), Glycerin, Behentrimonium Methosulfate, Cetearyl Alcohol, C 12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, Jojoba Oil, Leuconostoc (Radish Root Ferment), Lavender, Frankincense, Rosewood, Palmarosa, Orange

I looked up the ones that I'm not familiar with, and they look good.

C 12-15 Alkyl Benzoate is a thickening and emollient agent, Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride conditions and helps with detangling, and I read this helpful post on Curly Nikki about Behentrimonium Methosulfate - turns out it detangles well and doesn't build up.

I just bought a bunch of Shescentit (love!) conditioner, but I am putting this on the list to try!

Hair typing

I saw a good post at LongHairDon'tCare about hair typing. It goes into additional metrics other than curl size, which I don't find to be overly informative: elasticity, porosity, density, texture.

Suddenly, a lot of things made sense for me. For example, my hair is very fine and cottony, which is kind of nifty. It is very soft and defies gravity well so it looks full. But I am very susceptible to the dreaded product buildup. My hair is very elastic in the bottom sections, so I don't get much breakage there. Not so the top. I will definitely be paying more attention to texture and looking for people with fine hair when reading forum posts.

Spring Style: romantic braids

I love soft, romantic braids right now...I will be wearing these this spring and summer. I like this style the best when it's a bit wispy and imperfect. Torrin Page's youtube channel has great braiding tutorials.

My current hair length

Some photos from a few days ago. 11" and almost BSL. This particular bra is kind of low- I think I am past BSL on most bras but I'll use this one for the standard.

Homemade Natural Moisturizing Spray Recipie

Love this! I mixed these up in my spray bottle:

- water
- aloe juice
- rosewater
- glycerine

After I washed and conditioned, I sprayed this on and let my hair airdry in braids. It felt *really* soft as my hair was drying, and was still soft in the morning. The NG near the top of my head (about 3C) got a bit crunchy, so I sprayed a bit more there and it got soft there.

Oh, and my hair smelled AMAZING

I will be adding protein thanks to a helpful post from someone on LHCF. She told me that she gets hydrolyzed wheat protein and silk amino acids from lotioncrafters.com. I find that a little bit of protein such as in the Giovanni Direct leave in (that I sadly have to abandon because they changed the formula) does great things for my hair.

I loved that using a spray instead of a lotion or cream left my hair very light and swingy. I'm sealing with a bit of coconut oil tonight, so I'll see what happens.