Keep It Straight

After taking out my crochet braids I'd been snipping at my straighter hair every week. Finally I decided F#$(% it and cut it all off. 😲😅😉 So now I'm about 100% natural. Am still not sure how this came into being but I like the way my hair springs back when I pull on it so I think I'll keep this for a while. Shrinkage...wow

OMG I think I may have stumbled on my ideal wash day routine.... maybe even two versions of it.

I'm trying to be serious with this wash day log because I've realized I don't always remember which combination made my hair look good. So every week is a surprise. Wish me luck! New Products :  Queen Helene's Cholesterol I remember using this product when I was home as a deep conditioner. My hair never really liked hot oil treatments (or at least the hot oil treatment they were using) so instead I would deep condition with Cholesterol.  I was looking at pictures of my hair back then and it was full and rather healthy so something must have been going right. Right?

I’ve used my curlformers dups (new word I learnt on the interwebs) twice so far and unless I’m not as smart as I think, all those estimates of 30- 40 mins installation time are wrong. It’s still taking me 1.5+ hours to install L and its taking aaages to dry.  I need one of those

The weekend of distressing news Saturday: After a progress picture (even though I told myself I would only do it every two months I couldn't resist) I came to the sad conclusion that my ends had to go. :( :( I went of to the salon for a wash, deep condition and trim. I am now at nape length hair. *sad violin music, wailing and teeth nashing* Looks Healthier...so that's good I guess Part of me knows this is for the best. Better to get rid of all those split ends now than wait for it to get worse buuuut.... all the competitive type-A part of me is thinking about is the major setback in my length journey. This is the shortest my hair has been in a long time!! I spent the rest of the day trying to figure out a game plan. Sunday:   I have come to the conclusion that I don't have a hair growth rate problem...I have a retention problem aka super fine ends. I did a porosity test (next post) and concluded that I have low porosity hair.  What does that mean? ...

I've been using Shea Moisture Shampoo with Yucca and Baobab for three washes now. Here are my impressions so far The Good 1. Volume. My once thin hair is thick and luscious. I'm getting volume that I usually get from 3 weeks of undergrowth but all along the length so whoo whoo! And it seems to last for a long time.   Look So Pretty! 2. The texture. I'm getting used to the not obviously clean feeling ( which is actually caused by all the moisture being stripped from my hair...so that's a good thing) because it feels so soft!! The Bad 1. Shampoo seems to have ALOT of protein which is good coz I need to bulk up my strands  but my moisturising conditioner isn't strong enough to balance it out.  I might need a new conditioner. 2. Damn thing won't lather! I've read reviews about a nice soft lather but I'm just not seeing it. :( Its probably because the water here is so hard but still!! The Verdict I wanted to give this a month of was...

aka why doesn’t my sulphate-free shampoo lather ? I started using my new Shea Moisture shampoo (with Yucca and Biotin *natch*) this weekend….and quickly realized I’m going to change my entire hair washing technique. Why? No Suds! No Bubbles! No Sodium Lauryl Sulfate!?! Yup, one of the major ingredients that creates those awesome bubbles and lather is also the number one culprit for dry, rough hair. I’ve been trained to equate lather with cleaning. The convention goes "The more a shampoo lathers the cleaner my hair is going to feel" but going on this HHJ means giving up the bubbles for the sake of the length. That clean feeling = drying and dangerous for your hair. I know that. I just wish somebody had warned me that sulphate free shampoo = no bubbles.  :( :( So this new wash requires a new method. Here’s what I’ve concluded from my experience. 1. Don’t desperately keep adding more to your hair in the hopes that bubbles will show up. They won’t. You’ll ...