Keep It Straight

Well this is a long time coming. Here's my update on Max Hydration... but first I switched up a couple of things from the formula that I found on the interwebs

Q: Why did I not get the same bomb reaction as all these other max hydration bloggers? If you're like me, completely disappointed in your first attempt at max hydration...welcome. Here have a seat. Let's talk expectations vs reality. Coz I had a hard dose of reality this weekend. Day 1 of Max Hydration Method

@maxhydrationmethod.blogspot.com   Now that I've fully committed to this natural thing I want to go all the way. Get my hair into the best shape it can be...no matter how strange or multi-stepped the process might be (doesn't mean I won't try and make it simple coz I'm lazy). My forays into natural-land keep leading me to the max hydration method which is supposed to feed moisture to your curls (especially 4c) to get them to the maximum level of moisture they can get (hence the name).  We all know well moisturized hair is easier to detangle, style etc so this can only be a good thing. Adding in the satisfaction for 4c hair owners to finally see some "pop" in our often mangled curls means results for max hydration has been well documented. So I won't add to the noise. What I am curious about are things that are rarely mentioned. How to tweak the formulas, how to apply the damn clay wash and how to slot it into your wash day routine so it doesn...

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

I put some crochet curls in over the Christmas Holidays! Crochet curls or crochet braids are a pretty popular way of giving your hair a rest and trying a new hair style. What few people will talk about it is how to care for your scalp and keep your scalp clean while they're on your head. I'm sure everybody is already aware of the crochet curl creation process but will put up a small list for the curious 1. Hair! Used Janet Collection 3x Caribbean Braid. Washed in apple cider vinegar and warm water so my scalp won't react negatively to the chemicals on the hair 2. Used the pink/purple perm rods with a twisting motion for the curls 3. Put a little ORX coconut milk serum in the hair to make it smell nice and make it easier to separate for curling 4. Beehive cornrow pattern I got a nice, full head of hair and am very happy with it Scalp care tips after the break

It's been a long while. I've been updating on instagram a lot more than on here. @getitstraightbcook What's changed:  I've moved to another country that's dryer, colder and has some pretty hard water. I've also been in protective styles for about 3 months which have helped my 4c transitioning hair to grow. Big News: I'm now about 85/90% Natural!! Picture comparison after the jump.

It's been a while a while. I'm a little more active on instagram but not by much. I've been wrestling with whether I need more moisture or protein. It's been so dry lately that i'm not sure if my hair has a core moisture problem or if I need to step up my LOC frequency.  So I thought I'd revisit some pointers on how to decide if you need moisture or protein.

I've been MIA for almost a year it looks like. Life picked me up and body slammed me into 2016 so I'm just recovering.  During that time it appears my hair decided to low key transition to natural hair. How did this happen? Well mainly 2 things 1. I don't trust anybody else apart from my former stylist (several states away) to understand this texlaxing thing. and 2. I dont trust myself to relax my own hair. Coz I don't have the patience but I'm also a perfectionist and I know the back of my hair will get no love so .... yeah Here I am...12 MONTHS post relaxer.

As if I needed further proof that Manetabolism works.... Left is hair after my last relaxer on April 25th 2015. Right is my hair right after I got a little snip happy in March. The results are pretty clear to see. My hair is thicker, about an inch longer and what's really awesome for me....that damn inverted U looks like it's been filled in! I'm really glad I took pictures to keep record. I didn't think my hair had moved an inch during that month...but obviously it had. This month I'm working on getting the top of my hair to grow faster and stronger. I'm moisturizing it as a group and trying out ways to not tie it up with the others. So mostly some variation of a victory roll and braids. There are a couple of pictures on my instagram of styles I've tried. I plan to get better with practice. So try this challenge out for yourself.  Take the pills. You can thank me later.

So I had a very successful wash day. I think I've finally found a winning combination of products that work well for my hair. So yay! I also got a brand new pair of hair shears....the use of which leads me to my Manetabolism Challenge  A weapon of good or evil

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

I've had such good results with the Hairveda Sitrinillah deep conditioner that come black friday I decided to add a little smnsmn to the list. Red Tea Moisturizer. It took some getting used to but I'm so glad I bought 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?

Every relaxer session is an opportunity to try something different in my quest for the (quasi) stable hair routine.  For this stretch I worked on length retention...so making sure my ends were well moisturized, trying to keep them away from clothing and scarves and deep conditioning every week.  I tried to extend that practice to my relaxer prep. 1 Week before relaxer. I applied both a protein conditioner and moisturizing conditioner for my deep condition. I used Hairveda sitrinillah on my new growth and put Cantu on my ends in a effort to strengthen them before relaxing.  Market consensus is that relaxers break down the protein in your hair in order to get them straight. So you've got to do what you can to fortify them. Of course this made my hair a little extra dry that week so I had to up my moisturizing and sealing regime. I switched to 70% castor oil mix. 3 Days before relaxer I started prepping my scalp and already relaxed and texlaxed str...

It's that time of the year! When people gather together with one goal, one thought, one aim. A time of togetherness. No. Not this BLACK FRIDAY AND CYBER MONDAY!!!! And in keeping with my new found product junkism I've prepared a wish list of things I'd like to try and re-purchase. If you click on the company names it'll take you to the website.

It's been very difficult to find products that don't contain protein. I'm slowly building up a list of products that either 100% do not contain any protein or have a protein very low on the ingredient list.  Standard convention with ingredient lists is the lower it is on the list, the lower concentration/percentage of it in the product. (So if something says "With Argan Oil" and argon oil is number 13 or15 on the list? Put that thing back on the shelf). I've identified ingredients that are PROTEIN or may cause Protein Overload symptoms. 1. Hydrolized Wheat or Silk or Keratin 2. Keratin 3. Coconut milk (coconut oil does not contain a significant amount of protein but you may want to use it sparingly while you assess the effect on your hair. Coconut milk however contains quite a bit) 4. Wheat, Soy or Silk Amino Acids 5. Algae (though I'm not certain about this, I've used products that contain algae and my hair has not reacted well. so I'm...

Is this what love is? I have found happiness and she is Hairveda Sitrinillah Deep Conditioner. It took a long time to get to this and I have JeniJen from JustGrowAlready for introducing me to this pretty awesome product. Since my brush with protein I've been keeping an eye out for a good moisturizing deep conditioner. I've already chronicled my thoughts on Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose. It gets the job done but I wasn't feeling the smell. Anyway...On to the review!

WINTER IS COMING!! The phrase is so played out right now but the threat is real. It's winter time which means winter weather in much of the US. Which means dry warm air inside to cause the frizzies and dry cold air outside to make you feel miserable. You've probably heard/read all the winter advise before but I thought I'd list out the "poh" girls version for those of us with a little less money in the bank/ more financial obligations than most.

The seamless comb. A thing of legend in the healthy hair journey community. I've read a lot about the seemingly wondrous and magical powers of this comb. So (finally) when I came into some extra cash I decided to give it a try. I had a couple of questions about this going in and I'm guessing if you're reading this you do too. So I'll do a bit of Q&A first before my review.