2023 - 2024 Ayuravedic Treatments Challenge

I did a full henna mask last week for the first time. I've done what would be considered a henna gloss many times, but this was the first time I used henna without any oils, butters, conditioner, or other moisturizing/nourishing ingredients. I used only Jamila BAQ henna, warm water, and a little cream of tartar (acid). I did not pre-oil my hair. I clarified my hair before applying and left the henna on overnight. It was a Hail Mary attempt to stop the excessive breakage I’ve been experiencing, and it worked! My hair loved being henna’d this way. I've seen very little breakage this week, and my hair feels so soft, strong, thick, and shiny. I got the maximum benefits of henna it’s commonly praised for, which I had only partially achieved with the glosses. I wish I had always been doing these.

Hopefully, now that I’ve found something to combat this breakage, I can work on dealing with these sparse ends. I wish I could find inspo. pictures of breakage and thin ends recovery on this forum, but so many of the pictures are gone now. It would really help in deciding if I should cut my hair back to APL, or if there is hope that the shorter hairs will catch up.
 
Theresamonet said:
I did a full henna mask last week for the first time. I've done what would be considered a henna gloss many times, but this was the first time I used henna without any oils, butters, conditioner, or other moisturizing/nourishing ingredients. I used only Jamila BAQ henna, warm water, and a little cream of tartar (acid). I did not pre-oil my hair. I clarified my hair before applying and left the henna on overnight. It was a Hail Mary attempt to stop the excessive breakage I’ve been experiencing, and it worked! My hair loved being henna’d this way. I've seen very little breakage this week, and my hair feels so soft, strong, thick, and shiny. I got the maximum benefits of henna it’s commonly praised for, which I had only partially achieved with the glosses. I wish I had always been doing these.

Hopefully, now that I’ve found something to combat this breakage, I can work on dealing with these sparse ends. I wish I could find inspo. pictures of breakage and thin ends recovery on this forum, but so many of the pictures are gone now. It would really help in deciding if I should cut my hair back to APL, or if there is hope that the shorter hairs will catch up.
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If you look at the difference between the two thumbnail pics, this is without trimming my ends. I still haven't. I'll try to find pics that show the difference of my hair loose and twisted and post here.


ETA: While ayurveda helped, it turns out I was vit D and iron deficient. Getting the deficiencies corrected also helped a lot.
 
So, I had a hard time finding good photos on my hard drive. I need to start taking better photos to track my progress.

2021

LHCF_2021_1.png LHCF_2021_2.png

Don't get fooled by the length or fullness. These were probably taken pretty close together, but the water content in the mask make my hair look different. I'd lost length in the back, but also big chunks at the sides.

LHCF_2022_1.png

Three of these are pics from the same hair washing session. You can better see just how stringy and thin my hair was along the sides.


LHCF_2021_3.png

I'm just throwing this picture in here because my hair can look so very different depending on what mask I use. I think these photos were taken a week apart.



2022

LHCF_2022_2.png

This is what my hair looked like in twists. You can see the back-middle is a lot shorter than the back-sides. I've been working on caring for this area as well.


2023

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By 2023 my hair was starting to get thicker and the gaps are starting to fill in.


LHCF_2023_1.png

The back sections are starting to fill in, as well.
 

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snoop said:


If you look at the difference between the two thumbnail pics, this is without trimming my ends. I still haven't. I'll try to find pics that show the difference of my hair loose and twisted and post here.

ETA: While ayurveda helped, it turns out I was vit D and iron deficient. Getting the deficiencies corrected also helped a lot.
Click to expand...

Oh wow, I didn't know you had a YouTube channel! According to my YouTube history, I have watched this video before not knowing it was you. I am going to explore more of your videos.
 
2024


LHCF_2024_1.png LHCF_Feb_ClayWash.png


This is my hair now. To be honest, I don't use heat and I think the last time I straightened my hair (blow out) was 2019? So I'm not entirely sure where all the deficiencies are hiding, but I think that my hair looks a lot better than it did in 2021. The back middle is still shorter but overall my hair is longer so it's not as noticable?

I've been lazy this summer and couldn't take care of my hair last summer (in the middle of a move), but otherwise I do weekly ayurvedic kaolin clay masks. I'm a "lazy natural" and I like one stop shopping. I mix my ayurvedic mixes into my clay masks so that way I only have to rinse my hair once. And when I say once, I mean once because I apply them to dry hair. I also add hydrolyzed proteins to my masks and amino acids to my weekly masks. I think that these have been helping. I think I started with the proteins and the acids last year. I also add cetrimonium chloride, which is a conditioner. I haven't used shampoo in about three years. Only finger detangle exclusively as well (about 3 years).

As far as trimming goes, I would trim in two strand mini twists. I would take each twist and stretch them across my thumb and trim from my thumb joint to the end of my thumb. This is roughly an inch, but because the hair is twisted and it wan't all even, I wouldn't be trimming a full inch. Last year, I started lunar trimming. I now micro-trim my ends every month in conjunction with the full moon. With this, I'm trimming about two to three turns of a coil so maybe about 1/16 of an inch. A lot of times I do this on loose hair. I was inspired by the stylists who do curly cuts for wash and goes. I'm not trimming to create any particular hemline, just to remove any split ends.

Eventually, if I can meet my hair goals, I'll start trimming everything back so that it's more even.

Since I always wear my hair in some form of two strand twists (small/medium/large on natual hair) I don't and didn't really care about big chopping or anything. I figure that my hair is so textured that no one would notice. And guess what? They didn't.
 
Dare~to~Dream said:
Oh wow, I didn't know you had a YouTube channel! According to my YouTube history, I have watched this video before not knowing it was you. I am going to explore more of your videos.
Click to expand...

Thanks for watching! :love3:

Yeah, I think I may have mentioned it when I first created the channel but I don't tell people about it, including friends.

August will be a year since I moved and we're still getting the house in order so I've been so behind on posting new content. I've filmed and in the middle of writing, so hopefully some new stuff will be out, soon.
 
Currently steeping honey, lavandin, cornflower, green tea, and yucca root.

I haven't washed my hair in two weeks and so my scalp is very dry and my hair is dry, too. I'm hoping that this will help to sooth my scalp and soften my hair.
 
snoop said:
Currently steeping honey, lavandin, cornflower, green tea, and yucca root.

I haven't washed my hair in two weeks and so my scalp is very dry and my hair is dry, too. I'm hoping that this will help to sooth my scalp and soften my hair.
Click to expand...

I kept this mix in my hair for a couple of hours. My hair felt so soft and fluffy as I rinsed it out. I love honey!
 
snoop said:
I just found a large bag of saw palmetto powder in my stash -- unopened. I forgot that I even wanted it.

Now I have to figure out how I'm going to use it.
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@snoop
Lemme know what you do with it:brainy: I don't have the powder, but I do have the Tea for Tea Rinsing.

Haven't steep any in a while:coffee:
 
@snoop Thank you so much for posting your progress pics! This is the kinda inspo. I’m talking about!

1722317115842.gif

This has definitely motivated me to stay consistent with my Ayurvedic regimen and to hold off on cutting for now, just continuing with S&Ds.

Funny enough, most of the time I was struggling with breakage, I was unknowingly vitamin D deficient. At my last check-up, I was put on a megadose of vitamin D. My hair has been improving since around that time. I didn't draw a correlation between the two until you shared that.
 
Theresamonet said:
@snoop Thank you so much for posting your progress pics! This is the kinda inspo. I’m talking about!

View attachment 497838

This has definitely motivated me to stay consistent with my Ayurvedic regimen and to hold off on cutting for now, just continuing with S&Ds.

Funny enough, most of the time I was struggling with breakage, I was unknowingly vitamin D deficient. At my last check-up, I was put on a megadose of vitamin D. My hair has been improving since around that time. I didn't draw a correlation between the two until you shared that.
Click to expand...


In regards to cutting/trims, my thing is this: When you're growing out your nails, if one breaks they're not ALL unhealthy. You have a choice to trim and file that one nail or to cut them all off. One is more aesthetic than the other but -- as my son says -- "it's not that serious". If we are consistently and regularly trimming our hair, especially in small sections, then the unevenness isn't an indication of damage.

As for the vit D, I legit didn't realize that that was a thing until I mentioned to someone here that my hair seemed to be improving with the vit D and they were like, "yeah...it's a thing". It started changing with the iron, but the vit D really gave it the boost that it needed. The ayurveda is keeping it nice and strong and reducing shedding.

I can't wait for you to report on your hair improvements.
 
snoop said:
In regards to cutting/trims, my thing is this: When you're growing out your nails, if one breaks they're not ALL unhealthy. You have a choice to trim and file that one nail or to cut them all off. One is more aesthetic than the other but -- as my son says -- "it's not that serious". If we are consistently and regularly trimming our hair, especially in small sections, then the unevenness isn't an indication of damage.

As for the vit D, I legit didn't realize that that was a thing until I mentioned to someone here that my hair seemed to be improving with the vit D and they were like, "yeah...it's a thing". It started changing with the iron, but the vit D really gave it the boost that it needed. The ayurveda is keeping it nice and strong and reducing shedding.

I can't wait for you to report on your hair improvements.
Click to expand...

That is a great analogy. Trimming all of the hair due to breakage for “health” never quite made sense to me because you are usually just cutting the longer and stronger hair up to where the hair has broken off. As you said, that’s purely an aesthetic choice. I’m okay with not cutting, because you can’t tell my ends are thinner unless I straighten my hair. I don’t need to do that... My only concern was that the shorter pieces won’t catch up to the longer ones, and my hair will remain perpetually uneven. I’ve now made peace with the idea of staying at waist length for a while once I get there. But no more trims for me until then.

Thank you for the encouragement! I hope I can report some improvement in the next six months.
 
Here is an update. I am starting my last leg/last round of my current regimen which includes mostly ayurvedic washes, ayurvedic cowashes, ayurvedic masks and treatments, ayurvedic tea spritzes, as well as an ayurvedic serum and cream for 3 weeks out 5. These 5 months have flown by. I really enjoyed trying ayurveda in a new way with the washes and such. Will I do this regimen again? No, not in the same way at least. For one, it is extremely messy and I am tired of my shower looking like a warzone when I am done. I may continue to use neem for my scalp as I sas it not as messy at all. If I were to do the ayurvedic hair wash again to cleanse my hair, I will buy the actual pods or whole herbs and soak them overnight to make a cleansing liquid instead. It will be a much easier and cleaner experience. I will still do once or bi-monthly ayurvedic masks going forward. I don't think I will stop those any time soon but I am going to be honest, I really can't tell if my hair benefited from this regimen because I also did a couple of other things that might have helped too. I guess I won't know either way until next month when I plan to straighten my hair again.

Quick note about something I mentioned early on this thread: Once I got these protective shower visors , I had no issues with anything getting in my eyes when rinsing everything out. These came in clutch. I had watched a a video on YouTube about the dangers of getting shikakai in eyes and I did not want to risk that ever again.

So I will go into a little bit about what I used today. For my scalp, I used neem that was not quite a paste but more on a thin watery side which works well when mixed that way. I massaged it into my scalp for a 5 full minutes. Then I applied my paste of shikakai, aritha, amla, and zizyphus to the roots and lengths of my hair and left that in for 10 minutes. I always marvel at how my hair actually squeaks with this mixture like I am really using a super stripping shampoo lol. It really cleanses. In my ayurvedic mask, I put in a mix of brahmi which I am glad to finally use up, bhringraj, cassia, goddess hair, and aloe vera. There is no real rhyme or reason as to what I use at any given time as I go with what I feel at the moment. I think I read on here that it is best not to mix more than a few powders together as they might cancel each other out, but for me and my hair it makes no real difference if I use a one powder mask or 5 powder mask. My hair almost always feel the same upon rinsing either way. To this mixture I added the rest of my Annabelle's Perfect Blend Cholesterol conditioner then I decided to add a half capful each of hydrolyzed keratin and hydrolyzed wheat proteins. Just felt like I wanted something more strengthing this time. I finished the mask by adding 2 tsps of grapeseed oil and 1 tsp of shikakai oil. I put saran wrap on my head and topped it with a regular plastic cap. This will be left on for one hour. Finally, I will follow up with the Henna Sooq Sweet Honey Enriching Hair Nourisher for 30 minutes with my heat cap. I will also continue to use this product on my hair because I really like it. I usually only do an ayurvedic mask or the honey treatment and not both unless I mix them together. I am doing the most this week since this is my last round. If necessary, I might follow up with Annabelles Apple Cider Vinegar Creme Rinse for ph balancing/to close my hair cuticles. I will be using Annabelle's Perfect Blend Ayurvedic Hair Serum with my regular leave-in spray and/or cream.
 
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