I returned to making my own products, I first made a caramel treatment, which loosens new growth by imparting moisture. It contains humectants and oils. Check in google for a recipe but key ingredients are banana, honey and molasses. I then made a leave in spray with coconut milk, jojoba, Shea, coconut, and caster oil with glycerin, water and peppermint/tea tree essential oils. It's more water than oil.
I use preservatives and emulsifier in my recipe as I want it to last and water and oil to blend or you get pure water based product in your spray and then the oil. My hair ESP roots were dry from a henna treatment so this worked really well. My hair is now soft. Good, as my moisture maniac is finishing much faster than I had hoped due to co washing. This way I can moisturise my roots and ends without too much build up.
I get so much satisfaction by formulating my own products with fresh natural ingredients. You should try it too.
Thursday, 27 January 2011
Saturday, 22 January 2011
Transitioning tangles
I am a couple of days shy of 4 months post and this is the longest I have tolerated my relaxed hair for with natural roots. I have about two inches or 5 cm of natural waves, my hair is 4a but the weight of the relaxed hair is stretching my curls out.
I have researched on long hair care forum and the like and have come to the conclusion that the only way to complete a long transition is moisture and bunning. I have light breakage and a smattering of split ends, but my shedding and breakage where the relaxed hair meets the natural hair is epic (to me). I need to stop myself touching my hair as I just seem to constantly pull out four or five hairs at a time.
I have looked upon old photos of me on my fotki and I know that I don't want to go short again. Besides the fact that you still have a lot of detangling and cowashing to do, it's also a huge statement "I am going natural!!" that leaves you open to comments and suggestions. I think that is the main reason why I have failed going natural before, the length and the pressure to grow my hair back.
Anyway having made to decision to up my moisture I went shopping for silicone free conditioner. I had one in mind, a coconut conditioner by Inecto which is a cheapie. However something guided me to tkmax, unusual for me because I sew and rarly browse the clothing shops. To my delight I found a product I had wanted to try forever which is tigi moisture maniac. It was ten pounds off so about 12 pounds for 750ml. That is a lot if you are not into hair, but considering it is silicone free can be used as a cowash, deep conditioner and leave-in it was worth it. I picked up two and a sulphates free shampoo for extra thick hair.
I used the products later that day on my dry, shedding hair. Stepping into the shower, as hanging upside down results in epic tangles, I used the shampoo on just a section to see how it worked. Stripped...... Ok very strong shampoo for a sulphate free formula. Stripped is not a good result when transitioning, it leads to a detangling nightmare. I moved on to the conditioner. It was light, smelt like oranges and lemons and very moisturising, I rinsed then reapplied and left my conditioning cap on for twenty mins.
Now I have three children and youngest who is four months old, hence the post pregnancy shedding, woke up and needed feeding so I had to rinse quickly and jump out. I did not get to detangle so when she was asleep again I discovered tangles again. As my husband was in the shower I used the moisture maniac as a detangler, amazing! The comb just glided through the knots. In the end I decided to deep condition with it and rinse in the morning. I placed a shower cap on and wrapped in a stretchy scarf.
In the morning I gingerly felt my hair under the cap, it was not sticky and dried on my scalp like the elasta qp DRP but still wet and moisturising. I rinsed the conditioner out completely and my hair felt very moisturised and my new growth was relaxed and tangle free. I added a tiny coin sized amount of conditioner to my rinsed hair as a leave in and sealed with tiny amount of extra virgin coconut oil and extra virgin olive oil. My hair feels fantastic.
I think that my only regret is conditioning overnight, next time I will do it for a couple of hours on dry hair with a couple of helpful ingredients added. So this is a keeper, I hope that the litter and a half that I bought lasts the year but judging by the amount the bottle had gone down I think it will be more like six months top maybe four:-(
Anyhoo I will use it for now and make my homemade conditioner for deep conditioning as tigi MM did not top that but it is a good commercial back up.
I am going out tonight and I am going to use a donut ring to thicken my bun and that's it. No heat cowashing and hair accessories only. My regimen is starting to form.
I have researched on long hair care forum and the like and have come to the conclusion that the only way to complete a long transition is moisture and bunning. I have light breakage and a smattering of split ends, but my shedding and breakage where the relaxed hair meets the natural hair is epic (to me). I need to stop myself touching my hair as I just seem to constantly pull out four or five hairs at a time.
I have looked upon old photos of me on my fotki and I know that I don't want to go short again. Besides the fact that you still have a lot of detangling and cowashing to do, it's also a huge statement "I am going natural!!" that leaves you open to comments and suggestions. I think that is the main reason why I have failed going natural before, the length and the pressure to grow my hair back.
Anyway having made to decision to up my moisture I went shopping for silicone free conditioner. I had one in mind, a coconut conditioner by Inecto which is a cheapie. However something guided me to tkmax, unusual for me because I sew and rarly browse the clothing shops. To my delight I found a product I had wanted to try forever which is tigi moisture maniac. It was ten pounds off so about 12 pounds for 750ml. That is a lot if you are not into hair, but considering it is silicone free can be used as a cowash, deep conditioner and leave-in it was worth it. I picked up two and a sulphates free shampoo for extra thick hair.
I used the products later that day on my dry, shedding hair. Stepping into the shower, as hanging upside down results in epic tangles, I used the shampoo on just a section to see how it worked. Stripped...... Ok very strong shampoo for a sulphate free formula. Stripped is not a good result when transitioning, it leads to a detangling nightmare. I moved on to the conditioner. It was light, smelt like oranges and lemons and very moisturising, I rinsed then reapplied and left my conditioning cap on for twenty mins.
Now I have three children and youngest who is four months old, hence the post pregnancy shedding, woke up and needed feeding so I had to rinse quickly and jump out. I did not get to detangle so when she was asleep again I discovered tangles again. As my husband was in the shower I used the moisture maniac as a detangler, amazing! The comb just glided through the knots. In the end I decided to deep condition with it and rinse in the morning. I placed a shower cap on and wrapped in a stretchy scarf.
In the morning I gingerly felt my hair under the cap, it was not sticky and dried on my scalp like the elasta qp DRP but still wet and moisturising. I rinsed the conditioner out completely and my hair felt very moisturised and my new growth was relaxed and tangle free. I added a tiny coin sized amount of conditioner to my rinsed hair as a leave in and sealed with tiny amount of extra virgin coconut oil and extra virgin olive oil. My hair feels fantastic.
I think that my only regret is conditioning overnight, next time I will do it for a couple of hours on dry hair with a couple of helpful ingredients added. So this is a keeper, I hope that the litter and a half that I bought lasts the year but judging by the amount the bottle had gone down I think it will be more like six months top maybe four:-(
Anyhoo I will use it for now and make my homemade conditioner for deep conditioning as tigi MM did not top that but it is a good commercial back up.
I am going out tonight and I am going to use a donut ring to thicken my bun and that's it. No heat cowashing and hair accessories only. My regimen is starting to form.
Tuesday, 18 January 2011
Why go natural, again and again...
I have been actively trying to go natural for the past five years but to be honest i remember taking a stand against relaxing when I went to uni 12 years ago. I was a late bloomer and my hair was relaxed when I was sixteen years old. I had thick long hair that stayed around armpit length as I was very attached to my blow dryer. I did not know that my hair could curl, to me it was just undefined frizz, but with biweekly shampoo deep conditioning and two strand twists I was given many compliments on my hair.
I was curious about relaxing, I hated shrinkage and wanted my hair to appear as long as possible. My first relax was an accidental texlaxed, it was the best of both worlds thick hair no shrinkage. My next relaxer was a full relax and then I discovered the downsides, breakage and I could no longer twist my hair. This is why I wanted to be natural again twisting was a part of my identity.
Since then I have gone natural three times and have had many big chops. I have discovered that a shaved head suits me but short hair does not. That my hair starts to break with a relaxer after 18 months and can not tolerate dye but that it loves henna and natural products.
I read an associated content article that said that henna could substitute a relaxer and that over time henna straightens the hair (somewhat) I want to find out if this true.
So here I go again four months post relaxer doing a long, long transition. I am using natural products and butters as out of all the regimen I have tried this works best for me. My aim and hope is that through henna use I will reduce shrinkage and strengthen my demarcation line and result in a slightly texlaxed look.
So why not just texlaxed? You may ask, the truth is that I watched the film good hair and I now dislike it, the chemical. I love straightened Afro hair but I have just gone off iit after what I saw it can do. This works for me, I am not an activist but it's just that the way I chose to style my hair is with henna not relaxer or mineral oil, sulphates, etc.
As long as I big chop at a good length I think I will make it this time and will have the big beautiful hair I have always dreamed of. Many women choose to "go natural" every day so why read my blog. Well I just wanted to show the effects of henna on natural Afro hair. Maybe it could help someone like me who wants to go natural too.
I was curious about relaxing, I hated shrinkage and wanted my hair to appear as long as possible. My first relax was an accidental texlaxed, it was the best of both worlds thick hair no shrinkage. My next relaxer was a full relax and then I discovered the downsides, breakage and I could no longer twist my hair. This is why I wanted to be natural again twisting was a part of my identity.
Since then I have gone natural three times and have had many big chops. I have discovered that a shaved head suits me but short hair does not. That my hair starts to break with a relaxer after 18 months and can not tolerate dye but that it loves henna and natural products.
I read an associated content article that said that henna could substitute a relaxer and that over time henna straightens the hair (somewhat) I want to find out if this true.
So here I go again four months post relaxer doing a long, long transition. I am using natural products and butters as out of all the regimen I have tried this works best for me. My aim and hope is that through henna use I will reduce shrinkage and strengthen my demarcation line and result in a slightly texlaxed look.
So why not just texlaxed? You may ask, the truth is that I watched the film good hair and I now dislike it, the chemical. I love straightened Afro hair but I have just gone off iit after what I saw it can do. This works for me, I am not an activist but it's just that the way I chose to style my hair is with henna not relaxer or mineral oil, sulphates, etc.
As long as I big chop at a good length I think I will make it this time and will have the big beautiful hair I have always dreamed of. Many women choose to "go natural" every day so why read my blog. Well I just wanted to show the effects of henna on natural Afro hair. Maybe it could help someone like me who wants to go natural too.
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