10 posts tagged “routine”
I didn't realize that it had been so long since my last post.
Cold weather came in early this year - who knew? Over time, I've reduced the amount of time and product that I put into my hair and I've moving more into letting it do it's own thing. I'm stretching out the time between latchings from 1 month to 2 - actually I'm due for one now. I tried baking soda rinses and found that the baking soda helped more if I mixed it with my diluted shampoo. The ACV rinses have been great for my hair. And brushing my hair a few times a weeks has really helped with the constant battle against lint. Products currently in use (bolded if essential, italics if I am trying it out) Clarifying shampoo - Nature's Gate Rainwater Clarifying Shampoo Daily: Spritz with water and Oyin spritz as needed. Brush as needed. Alternating weeks: Shampoo with added baking soda and condition OR shampoo as usual followed by ACV rinse. Add oil or Oyin spritz as needed Every 6-8 weeks: Latch hair after shampoo.
Shampoo - Oyin Grand Poo Bar
Conditioner - Oyin's Honey Hemp Conditioner
Styling (latching/palm rolling) - none
Daily Moisturizer - Water, Oyin's Greg Juice, Oyin Juice and Berries
Supplements - Women's One a Day
Post rinsing or shampoo - Nasabb Kelechi Hair Oil
Products currently in use (bolded if essential, italics if I am trying it out)
Clarifying shampoo - Nature's Gate Rainwater Clarifying Shampoo
Shampoo - Oyin Grand Poo Bar, Trader Joe's Citrus Shampoo
Conditioner - Oyin's Honey Hemp Conditioner
Styling (latching/palm rolling) - none
Daily Moisturizer - Water, Oyin's Greg Juice, Oyin Juice and Berries
Supplements - Women's One a Day
Post rinsing or shampoo - Nasabb Kelechi Hair Oil
Every two weeks:
Wash with clarifying shampoo and condition. Add oil and air dry.
2-3 times per week:
Shampoo, add oil and air dry
1-2 times per week (depending on the state of my hair):
Rinse hair in shower, add oil or Greg Juice as needed.
Daily:
Spritz with water and Greg Juice as needed.
As I have learned about my baby locs, I have had to adjust and simplify my routine.
Products currently in use (bolded if essential, italics if I am trying it out)
Shampoo - Avalon Organics Lemon Verbena Clarifying Shampoo, Avalon Organics Tea Tree Shampoo, Trader Joe's Citrus ShampooConditioner - Oyin's Honey Hemp Conditioner,
Styling (latching/palm rolling) - nothing! I found that I didn't need anything.
Daily Moisturizer - Water, Oyin's Greg Juice
Supplements - Women's One a Day
Post rinsing or shampoo - Nasabb Kelechi Hair Oil
Weekends:
Shampoo, condition, add oil and air dry
0-1 per week (depending on the state of my hair):
Rinse hair in shower, add Greg Juice as needed.
Daily:
Spritz with water and Greg Juice as needed.
My routine has gotten a lot simpler as I get used to my hair. I tried going without conditioner, but my hair and my scalp suffered for it. I'm also phasing out shampoos as I run out. The Trader Joe's works fine by itself, but the Tea Tree shampoo is really good for relieving my occasional itchies and flakes.
Due to my baby locs, I have changed up my routine a bit.
Products currently in use (bolded if essential, italics if I am trying it out)
Clarifying shampoo - Avalon Organics Lemon Verbena Clarifying Shampoo
Shampoo - Oyin Grand Poo Bar
Conditioner - Oyin's Honey Hemp Conditioner,
Styling (latching/palm rolling) - FOTE Aloe Vera Gel, Oyin's Shine and Define
Daily Moisturizer - Water, Oyin's Greg Juice
Supplements - Women's One a Day
Post rinsing or shampoo - Nasabb Kelechi Hair Oil
Monthly:
Wash with clarifying shampoo and condition. Add oil and air dry.
Weekends:
Shampoo, add oil and air dry
0-1 per week (depending on the state of my hair):
Rinse hair in shower, add oil or Greg Juice as needed.
Daily:
Spritz with water and Greg Juice as needed.
Unfortunately, I haven't been online much, so I never got around to posting the rest of my henna experience.
First of all, it was an enormous pain in the ass to get it all out of my hair. I rinsed and rinsed and rinsed my hair some more in the sink until I gave up and headed to the shower for a through shampooing. After three washes with my clarifying conditioner, I still hadn't gotten al of the grit out, but I stopped caring. My hair felt very dry, so I did a light conditioning (I was too tired at that point to deep condition), towel dried, added a leave in, braided my damp hair and went to bed.
The next day, I noticed that my hair felt very .. well, thick isn't the word, but maybe stronger? My color did not change significantly, but my hair looked healthier and a more vibrant shade of black, if that makes any sense. I think that the Noir henna would have been a better choice for me, so as soon as it is in stock, I will get some. In the meantime, I will use up the rest of this bar. I think that the henna should have been hotter when I put it on, so I will try to do that next time. Also, I have since read that adding olive oil lessens the color effect, so I will omit that and add something that heightens the effect.
I haven't done anything interesting with my hair since then. I trimmed my hair and I am currently wearing week and a half old twists. This weekend, I plan to at least deep condition although I am thinking about using the henna again. Depends on how much time I have, though.
It's been another year, so time up to update my routine. The basics haven't changed much, but the products have a little bit due to discontinuations and new discoveries. I'm still keeping my routine fairly simple and low product on a day to day basis.
Products currently in use (bolded if essential, italics if I am trying it out)
Clarifying shampoo - Avalon Organics Lemon Verbena Clarifying Shampoo
Shampoo - Oyin Grand Poo Bar
Conditioner (CO washes) - Trader Joe's Essential Herbal Conditioner, Trader Joe's Citrus Conditioner, Avalon Organics Lavender conditioner
Deep Conditioner - Oyin's Honey Hemp Conditioner, Suave's Two Minute Deep Conditioning Treatment
Moisturizing Cream - Oyin's Whipped Pudding
Styling - FOTE Aloe Vera Gel, Oyin's Shine and Define
Daily Moisturizer - Water, Oyin's Greg Juice
Supplements - Women's One a Day
Miscellaneous - Nasabb Kelechi Hair Oil
Monthly:
Wash with clarifying shampoo and deep condition. Add Whipped Pudding to damp hair and style for the week.
Weekends:
Conditioner wash or shampoo and deep condition. Add Whipped Pudding to damp hair and style for the week.
0-1 per week (depending on the style):
Conditioner wash or rinse with water, dab whipped pudding on damp ends.
Daily:
Spritz with water and Greg Juice as needed.
When I conditioner wash or shampoo, I always put some cream on my ends to keep them moist and make them easier to detangle at the end of the week.
Lesson 1: The best way to detangle my hair
As I mentioned yesterday, leaving the palm coils in for so long and getting them wet created a lot of knots, snags, tangles and matting in my hair. But I managed to get them out without much of a problem. Since I see this question posted a lot on various hair boards, I'm going to post my answer here.
Step 1: I generously apply conditioner to my hair from ends to root while the twists/braids/coils are still in. I don't think that it is possible to add too much conditioner, I just keep putting it on until my hair is completely saturated. I do not try to untwist or comb my hair in any way.
Step 2: I put on a shower cap and wrap a towel around the shower cap. My microfiber turban is my favorite for this because it stays put.
Step 3: Wait 15-30 minutes. I don't really time it, I just go do stuff until I am ready to proceed to....
Step 4: I begin to untwist/uncoil my hair. As I undo each twist, I gently comb. Once I undo an entire section, I gently brush it with my wooden brush.
Step 5: I rinse my hair. Sometimes, this is a pre shampoo treatment and sometimes I rinse and style.
The other lesson: there is a reason why I am not a fulltime no pooer.
Last night, I just rinsed the conditioner out and styled, forgetting that it had been a while since I clarified. I have been paying the price all day - my hair seems dull, my scalp feel dry and itchy and my products just aren't working right. So I will shampoo and style tonight.
My hair routine:
As my hair has gotten significantly longer and I have learned more about what works for me, my routine has changed accordingly. This is what I did for most of the winter and I will tweak it some as the weather gets hotter. I tend to wear my hair in protective styles to save time styling my hair, prevent breakage and to keep my hair from drying out so my routine is slightly different depending on the style and if my hair is out or in a protective style. I am on a low poo routine. I am also on a low product and no oil routine. When I first went natural, I put cream and/or oil on my hair every day and washed my hair once a week. Now, I use very few products on a daily basis. I am still a product junkie, but I mainly experiment with conditioner now because I go through so much of it in a week.
Products currently in use (bolded if essential, italics if I am trying it out)
Clarifying shampoo - Avalon Organics Lemon Verbena Clarifying Shampoo and/or Conditioner
Shampoo - Oyin Grand Poo Bar
Conditioner (CO washes) - Suave Milk and Honey, Suave Awapuhi, Nature's Gate Tea Tree Oil conditioner (if my scalp feels dry or itchy)
Deep Conditioner - Oyin's Honey Hemp Conditioner, ORS Olive Oil Revitalizing Conditioner, Suave's Two Minute Deep Conditioning Treatment
Moisturizing Cream - Oyin's Whipped Pudding, Carol's Daughter Hair Balm
Styling - FOTE Aloe Vera Gel, Oyin's Shine and Define
Daily Moisturizer - Water, Oyin's Greg Juice
Supplements - Women's One a Day, GNC Ultra Nourishair
Monthly:
Wash with clarifying shampoo and deep condition. Add Whipped Pudding to damp hair and style for the week.
Weekends:
Shampoo and deep condition. Add Whipped Pudding to damp hair and style for the week.
1-3 per week (depending on the style):
Conditioner wash or rinse with water, dab whipped pudding on damp ends.
Daily:
Spritz with water and Greg Juice as needed.
When I conditioner wash or shampoo, I always put some cream on my ends to keep them moist and make them easier to detangle at the end of the week.
As the weather gets warmer and more humid and I've prety much figured out what my hair does and does not like, I can talk about my routine.
Daily:
Spritz my hair with either a water and conditioner mix (very little conditioner) or just water. If I'm just using water, I dab on a little Carol's Daughter Hair Milk, mainly on the back and sides of my head and the ends of my hair. At night, I just tie on my scarf and go to bed.
Twice a week:
I'm currently trying out the no poo method. This is fo a couple of reasons. I want to cut down on the amount of product I am using o my hair and no pooing is a good way to do that. So far the results have been very good. I wash my hair with conditioner twice a week. As my scalp tends to be dry and itchy, I use Nature's Gate Rainwater Tea Tree Oil Conditioner once a week and either Nature's Gate Original Herbal Conditioner or Nature's Gate Jojoba Conditioner for the other wash. I'm sure I will start washing more often as it gets hotter and I start spending more time at the pool or the beach. I don't alternate for any particular reason.
After I wash my hair, I dab a bit of Carol's Daughter Mimosa Hair Honey and some Hair Milk and twist or cornrow my hair.
Monthly:
I wash my hair with Nature's Gate Jojoba Shampoo (no I'm not completely off of shampoo) and condition with Suave Two Minute Deep Conditioner.
Every 2-3 Months:
I use a clarifying shampoo. This will also probably step up in the summer and I am looking for something less harsh than the Suave clarifying shampoo that I use now.
That's it. It may seem like a lot, but it really isn't. I did a lot more with my hair when it was relaxed and a litle bit less when it was braided. I'll talk about the products I use and why I do or don't use certain products in the product reviews.
