Modified Wash Day

Hey folks I have to say that I noticed when I'm swimming I do different things with my hair when I'm done in the pool.  This go round of classes is going well and my hair has grown quite a bit since the last set of classes so I have been more motivated to take care of my hair when I get out of the pool.  The last two weeks I have been putting JOICO reconstructer on my hair as soon as I get to the locker room and take off my swim caps (yep I wear two).  I comb it through a little and then pin my hair up with a clip.  I leave the Y with a wet ponytail and usually grab a bite to eat and head home.

The last swim sessions I tried to keep my wash routine as normal as possible with the addition of the chlorine stripping shampoo.  Neither last week or this week did I come home and do wash one and then set up for the next twenty four hours of prepoo and washing.  Instead I went through the rest of my wash routine and deep conditioned for a while yesterday.  After I rinsed it out I t-shirt dried for a few hours because I couldn't decide what to do with my hair.  When I did I got up and ended up doing an LCO instead of LOC basically because my brain was tired.  Wash day note here, the last two weeks I skipped the It's a 10 Keratin leave in and noticed that my hair was much softer at the end of the week.  With that knowledge in hand I returned my giant unused bottle of Keratin leave in for the regular version.  I used it for the first time yesterday and I'm interested in seeing how it works for the upcoming week.

After I LCO'd my hair lol and detangled it, I tied a scarf around my edges and let the length air dry for a few hours.  Eventually I roller set the length at the back of my head so I may have a funky bun tomorrow when I finally take it down.  Saturday wash days ensure my hair is dry before work on Monday but it somewhat throws off my mental plans.  Oh well.  The swimming is worth it and next week I may add in a yoga class.

Updates & Randomness: Yep I Disappeared

Okay so I did kind of vanish for a while there.  Whenever I thought I had time to sit down and blog something else got in the way like sleep or eating or dealing with the random mood swings of my mother. I had a few undocumented wash days there and have a photo to share of one of the last ones before I got my much needed relaxer.

So ignore the collar cause clearly I was in the getting for work mode and wasn't worried about that.  This is from the last wash day in July.  Since my schedule was all over the place I took my hair down on the 30th and shot this.  It actually held up for quite a few days but it was clearly getting time for the next dose of creamy crack.  I didn't take photos of the first wash day in August because I forgot honestly and nothing was feeling terribly great anyway.

I got my last relaxer on August 9th so I'm two weeks post now.  My hair has grown more than I thought it would.  I'm going to include photos of that relaxer plus from the same time last year because really I'm dumbfounded.

So yeah lots of growth clearly.  I couldn't make a ponytail last August and now I have a strong healthy ponytail and when I'm good and motivated I can bun my hair up.  I can't completely complain about the hair cut because my hair is doing much better now but losing all that growth last year was painful.  I should be glad it's still growing even if it's growing out in ways I wasn't expecting.  My front/sides is still much longer than the back which is apparently atypical.

Now I have to say I wasn't super happy post relaxer.  It felt like she was rushing and my hair felt underprocessed and VERY dry.  it got better after I got home and added some Elasta QP Olive Oil & Mango Butter moisturizer to my scalp and hair.  It was great for my trip and I used a few flexi rods to give me a soft vintage bump.  I didn't take any photos of that though lol.

Which brings us to today and the current wash day.  The 3 Comb thing has turned into a 4 Comb detangle.  I am using both of the rakes to run first passes through my hair before proceeding to smaller and smaller toothed combs.  My hair felt pretty good considering I hadn't washed it since the relaxer and I had been on vacation since then.  I ran through most of the normal wash day routine but I cut the prepoo time in half at least by wearing my heating cap.  And I didn't use my Dr. Miracles Deep Conditioner after my wash but before the tshirt drying. Instead I used part of my last shopping haul.  It's a 10 masque.  I also restocked my It's a 10 leave in treatment which turns out there are two and the one I had been given a sample of had Keratin in it. 

My hair is set on flexi rods now and detangled like butter thanks to the minimal product and those fantastic rakes.  So final three photos: post t-shirt, actual hair loss for the wash day and post detangle.  Things are good, just sleepy now.  How are things with you?

Flexirod Set + No Rain = Winning!

So my wash day got delayed by sheer laziness this week.  I didn't have to do anything yesterday so I didn't bother to do my hair on Sunday.  I lounged around and did as much of nothing as I could and then about 10 o'clock that night I started in on my hair.  I let the Strong Roots warm up longer than normal and my hair clearly loved that the next morning.  I covered the length of my hair with Organix Argon Oil treatment along with my Moroccan Oil intensive moisture deep conditioner and went to bed.  I actually slept in yesterday and by that I mean made it past 8 AM without waking up like I had some place to go.  I washed my hair about 12 hours after I applied the prepoo and it felt flipping awesome.  It was straight with very few tangles in it through the wash and most of the conditioning.  I followed up the wash with Dr. Miracle's deep conditioner for longer than normal cause really I had a meeting this morning that I didn't have to look my best for but wasn't pressed for time to get to either.  About 90 minutes after I put it on I washed it out and t-shirt dried for an hour.

I always three comb detangle and opted to use my new jumbo rake which was freaking awesome.  I actually made it through all three combs with very little shed before it dawned on me that in all my excitement I hadn't put in my leave ins or anything else.  I got up and LOC'd with It's a 10 (freaking amazing I love this), grape seed oil, and As I Am leave in conditioner.  I combed through again with the medium sized comb and still didn't have much in the way of shed hair.  I collected all of it and took a photo for you to see of what came out.  At 9 weeks post, this is nothing short of a miracle for me.

And this morning I actually did manage to take two photos before I got up and running for the day.  Photo one is right after the flexirods came out.  I look confused so yeah just let me make it on that one.

And the second photo is after I did a quick finger detangle enough to make it look like a hair style but not enough to encourage the curls to fall too much.

Either way, for once there wasn't an immediate hair fall when I left the house cause it wasn't humid or ready to rain or anything else so my hair pretty much looks like that still.  I need to update my regimen on the bar up top but it's somewhat readjusting as I go so maybe I should include an in flux notation. 

How was your wash day?

Wash Day: Two Strand Twist Adventures

My wash day did not start as planned.  I was so tired last night I didn't even try to prepoo.  And when I woke up this morning I was in pain so I was debating putting it off and calling a stylist to wash me up later this week.  My hair was a poof ball and a bit dry so I said screw and it got my lazy gear out of the way and got to work on my hair.  So here is how the day went and observations I want to share about each.

1. I covered the length of my hair mostly with the Organix DC and mixed in a bit of the Moroccan Oil DC while waiting for the Strong Roots to warm up a bit before adding it to my scalp.
2. I covered my hair with a plastic cap and my bonnet and waited about 3 hours before getting to the next phase.
3. I rinsed my hair with warm/hot water and was amazed at how well my hair had taken in some moisture in my shortened prepoo.  If I could have stopped here and my hair felt clean and ready to go I probably would have.
4. I washed my hair first with my Moroccan Oil moisturizing shampoo and then the Organix Macadamia Oil shampoo. My hair felt great actually.  Just not tangle free.
5. I three stepped the conditioner as normal.  Moroccan Oil gave my hair good slip and felt tangle free.  Aphogee 2 Minute gave my hair some strength but not super soft.  Mizani gave me back the slip and softness and the feeling that my hair was buttery in a good way lol.
6. I towel dried and then added my Dr. Miracle's DC for about 30 minutes before rinsing out at the sink.
7. I t-shirt dried for a little over an hour and my hair really was loving all the attention.  It was strong and healthy looking and felt very moisturized.
8. I opted for just It's a 10 as my liquid for the LOC method.  I only used the TIL oil treatment for my oil and just the As I Am leave in for the rest of that step and then used my three combs to detangle, moderate hair loss but that's from two days of lazy.
9. And because I wasn't feeling like doing a full roller set I went for two strand twists.  I ended up with seven of them I think about medium sized and then set the ends on flexirods.
10. I tied down my edges and then covered the whole thing in a bonnet and have been that way since about 3 this afternoon--which hopefully means my hair is dry before I need to head to work in 10 hours.

I hadn't really thought about it till just now but my hair could have been getting more love because I have been upping my water intake dramatically.  Most days I am at least drinking about 72 ounces of water if not 96 ounces depending on what I am up to.  Because I have let my weight keep climbing that's not half my body weight yet but it's way more than I have had on a regular basis in the last year.  I still have my V8 Fusion but it's not my go to option anymore.  I have only had a bottle in the last week and that was because none of my water was ice cold--it has to be ice cold or I kinda hate it lol.  Thanks to the Minute Maid fruit punch drops and now the Mio fruit punch drops I've been doing great.  I made it back to the gym twice last week and plan on getting back there tomorrow after work.  What's up with you ladies?

The Joys of Wash Day

So it's been a month since I did more than flexi set and finger combed my hair. And I had honestly forgotten how much I enjoy wetting my hair.  My hair and I are still in the honeymoon stage as I am just four weeks post.  It does what I want and soaks up things easily.  I prepooed last night which was good cause I was kinda looking like Mufasa before I added the conditioners to my hair and oil to my scalp.  And my old container of Moroccan Oil conditioner has bit the dust.

 Me right after the prepoo was applied cause yeah Mufasa would have been jealous of my mane.

I woke up ridiculously early considering I had no one to celebrate with so I ate an odd breakfast, put my chicken in the buttermilk brine and an hour or so later I got in the shower and rinsed out my hair.  I deep conditioned with my Dr. Miracle's for about 40 minutes and then rinsed it all out.  This is me after about an hour of t-shirt drying.

I have decided to air dry and then do a slight wavy bump to mimic my vacation hair.  Tying down the edges till then.  I also did a face mask but I think the shiny I'm seeing on my cheeks is lighting more than anything.  Regardless I need to take better care of my skin again since I have finally managed to get my water intake up again.

And because my stylist was way late the last time I went in she gave me a good bag of stuff.  I decided to use the It's a 10 spray along with the Macadamia Healing Oil in place of the TW mist that I normally start the LOC off with.  The It's a 10 felt amazing and I'm kind of wishing I had just stopped there to see how it worked on it's own without the MHO.

Really hair felt good at each stage of washing.  Not too much in the way in hair loss and detangled like my combs were warm knives moving through butter.  I am truly loving my hair again.

And totally random, I finally found a reasonable, to me anyway, deal on a t-shirt quilt via Living Social.  Project Repat is running a special with them right now.  It looks like the lap quilt is sold out but the other two are still in play.  Add RADDAD to the process and you can save 15 percent.  Click HERE if you want to check it out.