2021 Let's Talk! APL - BSL/MBL Challenge

[apple_natural]

July answers:

I cleanse my hair in different ways. I like a bentonite clay/acv mix, but I cannot use that too often. I cowash other times. If I forget about my bentonite clay mix, I will use Macademia Brand Shampoo and I think that is moderately gentle on my hair.
I cleanse probably every other week but not on a definite schedule. I kind of go by what I think needs to happen to my hair.
I really don't like using most shampoos and I would rather not even use the commercial brand I have now, The clay washes off products and anything else. If it is simply dirt that I'm washing off, I think a cowash is good enough for that.

In other news...
I blended coconut milk, avocado, banana, and oil together. It is currently sitting on my hair in a baggy. I dont think my ends are crunchy because they are bad more than that they are dry. I've been using a lot of protein conditioners lately, so I'll try to cut back on those.

I tried to blow dry my hair to trim, but I didn't do a very good job. After a while my roots reverted if they were ever straightened and I couldn't trim it like that. I'm not sure where to go to just have someone blow my hair out and trim it, so I will likely have to try again... maybe later in the month or maybe I'll skip this trim and do it later in the fall as I prefer anyway.

 

[HealthyHair2020]

It's July! Wow half of the year is already done. Here are my answers:
1. I use just shampoos now. I used to incorporate cowashes but my scalp wasn't having them lol. I use the Melanin Black Soap Shampoo for clarifying and still hunting for a good moisturizing Shampoo. Trying out Adwoa right now. I typically use both on wash day because my scalp feels the difference if I only use just one.

2. Every 2 weeks typically. Currently doing wash and gos so it's once a week right now.

3. Definitely not using that Mane Choice Kiwi Shampoo again that everyone seems to love. Made my eyes water like crazy with that mint and I have no trouble with strong mint products so that should tell you that it was bad. Also not using the As I Am Growash again because that scent turned me OFF. It's a shame because it was pretty moisturizing.

Challenge:
Idk if I'll ever do another clay wash in the near future since it made my hair funky last time but talk to me again in 6 months. I might use my As I Am cowash as a prepoo for my remaining 2 wash and gos. And I always am clarifying so I'll be doing that this month.

 

[HealthyHair2020]

July answers:

I cleanse my hair in different ways. I like a bentonite clay/acv mix, but I cannot use that too often. I cowash other times. If I forget about my bentonite clay mix, I will use Macademia Brand Shampoo and I think that is moderately gentle on my hair.
I cleanse probably every other week but not on a definite schedule. I kind of go by what I think needs to happen to my hair.
I really don't like using most shampoos and I would rather not even use the commercial brand I have now, The clay washes off products and anything else. If it is simply dirt that I'm washing off, I think a cowash is good enough for that.

In other news...
I blended coconut milk, avocado, banana, and oil together. It is currently sitting on my hair in a baggy. I dont think my ends are crunchy because they are bad more than that they are dry. I've been using a lot of protein conditioners lately, so I'll try to cut back on those.

I tried to blow dry my hair to trim, but I didn't do a very good job. After a while my roots reverted if they were ever straightened and I couldn't trim it like that. I'm not sure where to go to just have someone blow my hair out and trim it, so I will likely have to try again... maybe later in the month or maybe I'll skip this trim and do it later in the fall as I prefer anyway.

I got inspired by that baggy thread and baggied my puff with my refresher spray and some HBCO.

I feel that with the trimming. My current dilemma is that I'm flat ironing my hair in September but I want a really good trim since I haven't had a professional one since I big chopped. But some of these salons stipulate that you have to do the 30 day detox before you come in and idk if I wanna do that.

 

[apple_natural]

I got inspired by that baggy thread and baggied my puff with my refresher spray and some HBCO.

I feel that with the trimming. My current dilemma is that I'm flat ironing my hair in September but I want a really good trim since I haven't had a professional one since I big chopped. But some of these salons stipulate that you have to do the 30 day detox before you come in and idk if I wanna do that.

What is a 30 day detox? from heat?

 

[HealthyHair2020]

What is a 30 day detox? from heat?

Oils and butters. I think heat too but not sure.

 

[HealthyHair2020]

Not a fan of my wash and go this week, granted I did play some soccer the day after I styled it so it wasn't completely dried. But I'm ready to get back to my twists.

 

[Neomorph]

For the July Answers:


I cleanse my hair weekly with medicated shampoos to keep my seborrheic dermatitis at bay. I've been switching between the Nizoral regular and Nizoral psoriasis shampoo recently. I really want to invest in a good moisturizing shampoo but I'm not sure where to start. I've used clays but more so for deep conditioning than cleansing. As far as products I won't try again, any of the shea moisture shampoos...they didn't work at all.

For my challenge I will attempt to cowash one last time, with the As I am Medicated cowash

 

[GGsKin]

July - Let's Talk Cleansing Shampooing Cowashing!
Feel free to add questions or other comments. This is just a starter...

1. What do you cleanse your hair with? How do you use it?
2. How often?
3. What products/methods will you definitely not want to do again?

July Mini-Challenge Options (Choose at least one, please )
1. Cowash!
2. Clay wash!
3. Clarify!

1. I cleanse my hair with shampoo or occasionally clay. I use other poos but my current faves in rotation are Redken Cleansing Creme, Paul Mitchell Shampoo One, and Olaplex No.4 Bond Maintenance Shampoo. I don't dilute my shampoo, I just use tiny amounts, as it doesn't take much to get suds going- especially with the ones listed. My clay masks are DIY and applied to soaking wet hair until my hair hangs heavy. I tend to wash my hair in the shower, or I stand/ lean over the bath.

2. Currently, I'm cleansing my hair every 7 - 10 days.

3. Right now, I can only think of one shampoo that I've tried that I would never try again. It was a sulfate-free kids swimmers shampoo from Mixed Chicks.

 

[HealthyHair2020]

My ends feel battered after three weeks of wash and gos. Had to cut some of ends while prepooing bc health > length.

Any tips for taking better care of my ends? I know some people do the baggie method but I wonder how that would work with twists and braids.

 

[apple_natural]

so the other day, I think I was saying my ends felt crunchy. I washed it and put on oil and they felt really nicely. Last night, I put on oil again. I oiled my scalp and I put on coconut oil as a prepoo. I washed it out with my castile soap. My ends feel great! They feel strong. I think the crunchiness before was from the protein conditioner that I was using, but it wasn't a bad thing. I just needed to add oil. Now, I'm very happy. I added some castor oil to my Blue Magic and put that on my twists. I twisted up my hair maybe the Sunday before last idk. I'm happy to have nice ends. I made myself notifications to oil my twists twice a week

 

[Prettymetty]

1. What length is your hair at?

Apl

2. Is your hair relaxed, texlaxed or natural?

Natural

3. Would you consider your hair healthy?

Yes

4. What has been some of the hurdles you have had in your hair growth journey?

Hair color has been

5. What are you going to do differently this year?

hair oiling every other day, consistency, weekly deep conditioning, every 3 month salon visit

6. What are you going to do with or for your hair when you reach APL or BSL/MBL?

Drink water, exercise, vitamins, oils

* Mapleoats asks; "What is your focus besides length this year?"

Maintaining these blunt ends

 

[apple_natural]

@Prettymetty I LOVE a blunt cut! Its my dream to have blunt APL or longer. Good job with all of the work you put into that

 

[Alta Angel]

1. What length is your hair at?
I am sitting at Collarbone Length

2. Is your hair relaxed, texlaxed or natural?
Natural

3. Would you consider your hair healthy?
Yep. Healthy scalp and hair.

4. What has been some of the hurdles you have had in your hair growth journey?
EDGES!!! My edges around my temple area refuse to let me be great.

5. What are you going to do differently this year?
This is my first year loc'd, so the amount of products that I use have dramatically decreased. I am incorporating scalp massages 2xs per week using JBCO. I will also keep steaming my hair every 3 weeks to hopefully improve shine.

6. What are you going to do with or for your hair when you reach APL or BSL/MBL?
My goal is APL in the next 12 months. When I reach APL, I plan on continuing my healthy hair journey.

* Mapleoats asks; "What is your focus besides length this year?"
Healthy, full, shiny locs.

 

[Prettymetty]

I’m getting to full blunt mbl by December. It’s happening

 

[long.hair.dont.care]

June - Let's Talk Prepoo & Detangle!
Feel free to add questions or other comments. This is just a starter...

1. Is a prepoo a part of your routine? If so, what is your favorite thing(s) to use?
2. Are you seeing benefits from your prepoo?
3. When in your process do you usually detangle? How do you do it?
4. What benefits do you see with your detangle process? (ex: seeing less breakage doing things one way vs a previous way?)

June Mini-Challenge Options (Choose at least one, please )
1. Prepoo with oil (with or without heat) if you don't already!
2. Finger Detangle this month!
3. Detangle with the plastic brush that looks like fingers (you know what i'm talking about lol)

I'm going to be doing June's mini challenge instead, hope you dont mind....

I took out my long-term protective style less than 24 hours ago. There's no doubt that I will need to preepoo & detangle.

I'm working from home so I have no excuse for not setting myself up for a successful wash day, right?! That means exercising my patience in the detangle stage (YALL PRAY FOR ME!).


1. Only time I dont prepoo is if i'm in a rush

2. I find it lessens the tangles if I use oil to prepoo

3. I try to do a light detangle before washing my whole head, that's the part where I need patience. Then I do an oil rinse, and gently detangle with a comb in the shower. I will follow up with washing / conditioning stage. That's my regular routine. But I have an aloe vera leaf that I'd like to use, I will combine with the oil after straining it.

4. Definitely less breakage, I didnt realise how much damage i was causing with combs when I was younger, but now I know how to use combs properly to minimize damage. Finger detangling just takes wayyyy to long on my head so I had to learn.

July - Let's Talk Cleansing Shampooing Cowashing!
Feel free to add questions or other comments. This is just a starter...

1. What do you cleanse your hair with? How do you use it?
2. How often?
3. What products/methods will you definitely not want to do again?

July Mini-Challenge Options (Choose at least one, please )
1. Cowash!
2. Clay wash!
3. Clarify!

1. I'm a shampoo-girl, but I use to use bentonite clay often

2. the frequency depends on the style, but usually i shampoo every month or at the 2 month mark

3. i found my staple shampoo, so all other shampoo dont matter to me as much, but it is pricier than the average shampoo so i do have another that contains protein, cause i like to shampoo twice.

I'd love to try a rhassoul clay wash, I only ever tried bentonite which was cool, but I hear rhassoul is better at moisturising that's what my hair loves and needs.

I'm not a fan of cowashing, it makes my scalp itchy. I gotta shampoo first.

Clarifying may be too drying for my hair. I've never tried, but assume so because all shampoos except one, I felt, left my hair dry. But conditioner/deep conditioners help with that I guess? Anyway, maybe one day I'll give ION Clarifying Shampoo or Elucence Volume Clarifying Shampoo a try.

 

[apple_natural]

I've been so stressed the past few days, which led me to retwist most of my hair since I have been pulling at it.... at least i'm being productive now

 

[toaster]

1. What do you cleanse your hair with? How do you use it?

I shampoo every wash with AG balance shampoo followed by innersense hydrating shampoo. I love a double shampoo! Every 8 weeks I clarify with Malibu c clarifying shampo


2. How often?

I shampoo my hair once a week


3. What products/methods will you definitely not want to do again?


I can’t see myself going back to a single shampoo wash. Two shampoos really helps me get the products off my hair and begin rehydrating my hair with water.

 

[Mapleoats]

1. What do you cleanse your hair with? How do you use it?

I shampoo every wash with AG balance shampoo followed by innersense hydrating shampoo. I love a double shampoo! Every 8 weeks I clarify with Malibu c clarifying shampo


2. How often?

I shampoo my hair once a week


3. What products/methods will you definitely not want to do again?


I can’t see myself going back to a single shampoo wash. Two shampoos really helps me get the products off my hair and begin rehydrating my hair with water.

Is the AG balance a moisturizing shampoo?

 

[toaster]

@Mapleoats its more of an all purpose shampoo. It gets my hair clean but does not strip. The innersense shampoo is moisturizing.

 

[Mapleoats]

@Mapleoats its more of an all purpose shampoo. It gets my hair clean but does not strip. The innersense shampoo is moisturizing.

Thanks!

 

[Rocky91]

Checking in. Both pics taken on hair flatironed by me and trimmed at Great Clips. My primary style has been the wash and go.

goal for the end of the year is the 3 line.

 

[Mapleoats]

Y’all. I’m so hype right now! I’m the process of taking out my braids that were in crochet locs, and I’m finally crossing my bra strap!!! I said I would claim MBL when I’m able to cover my bra strap. Soooo close. It’s a tiny little strand but she’s giving me hope haha

 

[Neomorph]

So I finally did my cowash for the July challenge. Got my hands on the As I am Dry and Itchy Scalp Care Cowash to use as a midweek refresher. So far so good, but the real test will be how my scalp feels tomorrow post-wash.

 

[coolsista-paris]

June - Let's Talk Prepoo & Detangle!
Feel free to add questions or other comments. This is just a starter...

1. Is a prepoo a part of your routine? If so, what is your favorite thing(s) to use?
2. Are you seeing benefits from your prepoo?
3. When in your process do you usually detangle? How do you do it?
4. What benefits do you see with your detangle process? (ex: seeing less breakage doing things one way vs a previous way?)

I am so LATE !! I've been busy and wig all the time.
1: Yes I always prepoo/deep condition before shampoo. I use a conditionner with protein or ceramide (Apoghee 2 min or Elseve total repair)+ amla oil sometimes.
2: I lose less hair when I do this. I sit under the dry, it opens my cuticles (low porosity hair).
3: I detagle in sections with the prepoo in my hair.
4: Less time doing hair, less hair loss, more retention.

 

[coolsista-paris]

July - Let's Talk Cleansing Shampooing Cowashing!
Feel free to add questions or other comments. This is just a starter...

1. What do you cleanse your hair with? How do you use it?
2. How often?
3. What products/methods will you definitely not want to do again?

1 : Ors aloe shampoo // Clarins Invigorating shine shampoo with Ginseng // Garnier fructis pure clean
2: every 2 to 3 weeks (except if swimming, I would do it jut after the pool or beach)
3: Cantu cleansing shampoo for natural hair: strips my hair and stings my eyes like CRAZY. Hair gets detangled with it. No more for me

​

 

[Neomorph]

So I finally did my cowash for the July challenge. Got my hands on the As I am Dry and Itchy Scalp Care Cowash to use as a midweek refresher. So far so good, but the real test will be how my scalp feels tomorrow post-wash.

Update: It worked really well! My scalp wasn't on fire and it made my wash day today that much easier as I didn't need to use a lot of shampoo!

 

[HealthyHair2020]

I have to remind myself to not hold back on the deep conditioner with my ends and edges because they need it the most. My edges are going through it so I smoothed that DC in like a relaxer.

I also used half the amount of shampoo I normally used and detangling was much easier today and was more elongated during the shampoo portion. If my scalp doesn't protest this in the next two weeks, then I might do that going forward.

 

[apple_natural]

August - Let's Talk Leave-Ins Creams Oils
basically, what do you do after you've washed and deep conditioned?
(random emoticon, but I thought it was cute lol)

1. LOC/LCO/something else

do you do the LOC or LCO or something else?​

do you find there to be a difference between LOC and LCO or any other type of product layering?​

do you refresh your LOC/LCO/other? how long after the first time?​

2. Scalp!

what do you do for your scalp between wash days?​

do you heat up the oil if you oil your scalp?​

how often do you oil your scalp​

have any really good experiences with particular products or methods​

3. Creams, Grease, Sealers

well... Grease: have you tried grease lately? what do you think of the grease comeback? lol​

are you a shea bae?​

do you have to use some other product to seal in the summer vs the winter?​

4. anything else you want to add? you don't have to answer all these, just choose what you want to talk about.

August Mini-Challenges
1. LOC after wash day
2. LCO after wash day
3. hot oil treatment if you don't heat up your oil
4. compare the leave in products in your stash. one after each wash session - gift away the ones you didn't like or use them up by the end of the year if they were just okay
5. compare the sealing products in your stash. one after each wash day and gift away the ones you didn't like or use them up by the end of the year if they were just okay
6. acv rinse your scalp between wash day
7. something else with your between wash-day care routine

 

[GGsKin]

I washed my hair yesterday and it seems she needed a slightly stronger dose of protein than I've been giving. I wanted to try new to me Bekura Vanilla Whisky Hair Soak, so wash day started with a water rinse, then applied Olaplex no.3. I left this on for 20-30mins and followed with the Olaplex shampoo (no.4). After a thorough rinse, I generously applied the VWHS, and topped with Tropic Hair Feast for slip and balance.

After 20mins in the shower, I rinsed the DC and applied UFD Curly Magic, topped with Ecoslay Jell-O Shot. I diffused for about 20mins, then went out and let the air do its thing.

 

[apple_natural]

I washed my hair yesterday and it seems she needed a slightly stronger dose of protein than I've been giving. I wanted to try new to me Bekura Vanilla Whisky Hair Soak, so wash day started with a water rinse, then applied Olaplex no.3. I left this on for 20-30mins and followed with the Olaplex shampoo (no.4). After a thorough rinse, I generously applied the VWHS, and topped with Tropic Hair Feast for slip and balance.

After 20mins in the shower, I rinsed the DC and applied UFD Curly Magic, topped with Ecoslay Jell-O Shot. I diffused for about 20mins, then went out and let the air do its thing.

These products have interesting names