Wash Day

Saturday was a much needed wash day. I had done the bare minimal to my hair since I last posted of my wash day. Truthfully I'd been in a bit of a funk since I graduated and I'm in what I call "limbo" or between stages of my life. I'm studying for my boards(NCLEX) which I plan to take next month and looking for a job and things were not happening fast enough for me. I was reminded GOD is always on time and that things will fall in place the way HE wants. I have it bad trying to plan my life and getting disappointed when it doesn't work out my way. I'm slowly doing better with that. To top off my funky mood I have been having some medical issues. I'm not sure what is going on, but I hope to have some answers soon. Just keep me in your prayers!

On to my wash day. I decided to deep condition on dry hair for a couple of reasons. One, my hair loves it more than on wet hair. Two, I wanted to see if the Argon Oil Intense Conditioning treatment worked better on dry hair because so far the product was not on my list to repurchase. I mixed about 1 tsp each of honey, hemp oil, and EVOO with my conditioner. I mixed them together and applied to my hair with an applicator brush. I will definitely be making application of conditioner a part of my regimen. It's a little time consuming, but every strand was covered and moisturized. I left the conditioner on for about an hour with a plastic cap and a hat. This is one of my versions of DCing with heat until I get my dryer. When I rinsed the conditioner out of my hair it felt amazing!!! My hair was soft as butter and I finally realized what slip was! I washed with L'oreal EverStrong Hydrating shampoo. I love this stuff. For a sulfate-free shampoo it sure does lather up and clean the scalp very well. I think I'll do an official review sometime this week.

I detangled in the shower under running water and I think I like this method better than doing it after I get out the shower. My hair detangled with ease! I t-shirt dried for about 15 mins then I applied my leave in: CON Argon Oil Leave in and sealed with One N' Only Argon Oil. I airdried and wore a low pony tail.

Over all I can say this was a successful wash day. After my hair air dried it still felt super soft! Sorry I have no pictures.

Wish List

It has been a while, if ever, that I have shared my wishlist of hair care products with you all. My list use to be super long at the beginning of my hair journey, but now not so much. A big part of that is because I'm starting to see what my hair does and doesn't like I'm trying I stick to the products that agree with my hair and get rid of those that my hair doesn't love. So here is my wishlist.

1. Hooded Dryer!!!! I need this for DCing in the worst way. I kept putting it off because I had other expenses but I must get one by the end of July.
2. Aphogee Keratin and Green Tea Reconstructor
3. More magnetic rollers
4. Seamless Comb
5.  ORS Hair Masque
6. Jojoba Oil
7. Sweet Almond Oil
8. Roux Porosity Control conditioner (Not sure of the official name)
9. Hair Shears
10. KeraCare1st lather and Hydrating and detangling shampoo
11. Steamer- Ebony from Longing4length has peaked my interest.
12. QP Elasta Mango Butter Moisturizer
13. Castor Oil (almost forgot this!!)

What are some things that are on your wishlist?

Battling My Breakage

Found on google

I know you are thinking that is seems I'm always going to war with my hair. First it was shedding, then detangling, and now breakage. Well these are just minor obstacles one may face when on a hair journey. As I've stated in several previous post I have been experiencing some breakage. Between my last wash day and today I have noticed a significant decrease. Believe it or no I can not take the credit. I have not washed my hair in over a week (I'm currently pre-pooing) and I stopped M&S a few days ago besides when I "do" my hair for the day. I have been walking around the house looking very unattractive. I decided it was past due for a wash day.

As for my breakage, I have been doing tons of research on a fix. I know that my breakage is probably due to several things and I have a plan for solving them all.

1. The first is improper detangling. I have come up with a plan and I'm currently implementing this plan. So for now this is not an issue I will stress about. 
2. The second reason in texlax hair=DRY!!!! After texlaxing for the first time I noticed my hair is much more dry. To solve this issue I plan to M&S nightly! I can not afford to slack on this as I have done in the past. I will be investing in a couple of new products: Aphoghee Keratin and Green Tea Reconstucturizer and Organix Coconut Milk Anti-breakage serum. 
3. Mishandling my new texture- I will make sure I will not manipulate my new texture too much. This means no combing unless it's wash day. This also means only combing my hair when it is saturated with product.

With this plan I feel as if I can overcome this breakage issue. I will keep you updated on my progress. You all continue to stay blutiful and blessed!

Wash Day

Today’s wash day has been one of the most smooth I’ve had in a few months. I’ve had an epiphany about detangling. I’m also learning how to deal with my texlaxed hair and it seems like this will be a learning experience. I’m currently experiencing breakage which I’m sure is coming from the area where my bone straight hair meets my texlaxed hair. This area always seems dry despite the moisturizers I’ve used and co-washing. I think I will need to M&S every night to reduce the breakage. I’m going to come up with a plan to reduce breakage which I will share in a later post.

I used EVCO to detangle my hair and as a pre-poo. I think I will invest in a detangle spray. Now that I have a thicker texture, detangling with oil is not enough. As I was detangling I experienced breakage at the same area stated above. I kind of used ECP’s 3 comb method except I don’t use the same combs she does (one day when I get some extra cash I will invest in the first two combs she uses). I will be getting a new detangling comb in the very near future. Detangling went great. I lost far less hair than I normally do with detangling and this is even with the broken hair. After applying the EVCO I applied a cap, a microwaved towel, and another heat cap. This is my rendition of a heat cap until I get my hooded dryer. It works pretty well. I let it sit for about ten minutes before rinsing out in the shower.

I washed one time with my clarifying shampoo and one time with the L’Oreal EverStrong Shampoo. My hair felt like butter even before adding the deep conditioner. It actually felt extremely soft after detangling. I washed my hair in two halves parted from ear to ear. This method worked great and really helped out when applying the DC later. I DCed with ORS Replenishing Conditioner. I wanted something moisturizing yet with protein because I planned to blow dry and flat iron my hair. I used the same method to heat my head as I did with the pre-poo except I wrapped my towel around my head to keep in the heat. It worked great! I could feel the conditioner working. You know the tingling feeling on your scalp? I know I’m not the only one who experiences this.

Next I rinsed my conditioner out using cool water. This closes the cuticles of your hair shaft and makes your hair smooth. I towel dried for about 5 minutes. I normally t-shirt dry because it soaks up more of the water, but I was not home so I had to make do with what I had. I put in a very small amount of Cantu Shea Butter Leave-in and a generous amount of IC Fantasia Heat Protectant. I love this stuff and it is definitely a staple. I spilt my hair in four sections and gently detangled. Detangling was a breeze! I used my new blow dryer, Gold N Hot Professional 1875 watt, with the comb attachment to blow dry each section. I then flat ironed using my Babyliss Pro tool c8 I did one pass throughout most of my hair since it was blow dried fairly straight. I was very pleased with my results!

Sorry this post is so long. I didn’t realize it would be this lengthy and besides this blog doubles as my hair journal.

The Big Bad Detangling Wolf

Since I started I thought I had detangling down to a science. When I read about people taking 30+ minutes to detangle I always thought they were doing the most. After texlaxing my hair for the first time and dealing with texture I realized I wasn't doing enough! Since texlaxing I've been battling breakage. I DCed with a protein base conditioner last wash day and it seemed to help a bit.

Now I have up deal with the shed hairs. I have NEVER been able to get out all my shed hair when detangling. When I'm in the shower I have shed hair everywhere. I'm always utterly amazed when I see how little shed hair a lot of people get after detangling post wash. I'm amazed because this is from people who claim to only detangle once a week on wash days. From this I discovered that I'm clearly detangling wrong. Let me tell you about my old method then I will share what my new method will be.

My Old Method
There was nothing fancy or time consuming about detangling my hair with this method. I would section my hair into 2, 4, or sometimes one big section. It would take me maybe ten minutes to make my way from tip to root of my entire head. Slack, I know. I would always have some type of product on my hair when I detantagled. I never put a comb through dry hair. I would use one of the two wide tooth combs I own. Sometimes I even use the tangle teaser. I still don't know how I feel about the tangle teaser yet. I don't use it consistently enough.

My Proposed New Method
I plan to take my time with detangling. I will be separating my hair into multiple smaller sections. This method is to mainly ensure that I'm getting rid of as much shed hair as possible. I plan to invest into some new detangling combs. I was thinking of purchasing the Denman Brush, but I think it may be too rough for my fine hair. I will be making a trip to look at some detangling combs tomorrow before I wash my hair. After I have successfully detangled each section I will twist up each section an air-dry or style my hair as I desire.

I also plan to invest in some Organix Anti-breakage serum to address this breakage. It's on sale this week at Walgreens for $4.99. I've read and watched reviews on this product decreasing breakage tremendously. I'm almost sure this breakage is coming from me not properly caring for my newly texlaxed hair. It seems as if my texlax hair is so dry despite co-washing. I think I need to find a great moisturizer for my newly texlaxed hair. Maybe I will try Aloe Vera Juice. I follow quite a few bloggers/vloggers who use this product religiously.

If you have any suggestions on detangling or moisturizers for texlaxed hair please share. I'm open to any and all ideas.

Before I run off I want to say hello to all my new subscribers. Thanks for subbing and I hope that you find something on my blog that is useful to you. Leave me a line so that I can check out your blogs!

Until next time you all remain blutiful and blessed. HHG!

Relaxer Update and Length Check

I self-relaxed my hair on May 2, 2012 using Optimum Care Salon Collection Relaxer in regular strength. I read a few blog post about how great this relaxer made their hair feel afterwards and the how they minimal to no shedding. I decided to give it a try and I must say I too was pleased with the results.

To prep my hair for my relaxer I based my scalp, nape, and hairline with Vaseline. I also used a method of Jen from Just Grow Already and twisted my hair in sections to make it easier to apply the relaxer.

Face is blurred out because it was late and I was tired!

To protect my previous relaxed hair I used EVOO on half my hair and the protector provided in the kit on the other half. I wanted to see if there was a difference between the two. I didn't notice a difference so in the future I'll be using what is provided in the kit. I had a hard time deciding if I would add EVOO to the relaxer to slow down the process since I knew I wanted to texlax. I decided not to add the EVOO, but to instead decrease the relaxing time. It took me 15 minutes to apply the relaxer, smooth, and rinse out the relaxer. I wanted to do a mid protein step with Aphogee 2 Minute Reconstructor, but I missed the BSS so I had to use what I had on hand, ORS Replenishing Conditioner.

After relaxing I added everything provided in the relaxer besides the moisturizer and air-dried in a pony tail. The next time I relax I will add EVOO to slow down the relaxing process. My hair was not relaxed bone straight, but I want more texture. I am very pleased with the health and length retention of my hair since starting my hair journey. I will continue with my regimen and using the products that work for my hair. Now to the length check.

Jan 2012 vs May 2012

My ends need dusting, but I'm not sure if I will do it before my next relaxer. I might wait. Well until next time be Blutiful and Blessed!

Reading Challenge Update

Before I start with the real topic of this post let me just add that I will be posting my relaxer update and length check post before the end of the week. Be on the look out!

As you know I have started a 50 book reading challenge to be completed by Sept 23. I will post the link with details when I get to a computer. So far I have completed one book, The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I'm now reading two other books. The first one is Irresistible Forces by Brenda Jackson. The second book is The Lying Game by Sara Shepard. This book is base on the TV series The Lying Game that comes on ABC. It is already very different from the series. So far I like both books.

I'm trying to decide if I want to invest in an E-Reader so I am reading Irresistible Forces on my tablet and The Lying Game is an actual book. So at I read more with the actual book. I'm not sure if it's only because the Lying Game is more interesting than Irresistible Forces. I may purchase The Lying Game for my tablet so I have a more accurate comparison. I hope to finish both books by the end of next week.

I will be adding a post of books I'm interested in reading during this challenge. If you have any suggestions please leave me a comment below. I read a wide variety of genres. Until next time stay Blutiful and blessed!