Full & Healthy Crown & Edges Challenge 2013

[Newtogrow]

Update: I went back to the 1st derm for my second round of cortisone shots, this time the physician assistant administered the shots. I asked her if this could be anything other than alopecia. she said that it looked to be because it starts out with breakage and the only way to know is to take a biopsy but since my hair was responding to treatment we continue on the path of cortisone shots, script shampoo and prescript oil. I have to say I agree, now that my scalp is responding my bald spot has filled back into a patch. there is no bare skin anymore so I don't want to get the biopsy from the 2nd derm that is scheduled for this thursday. I do want to know the results from my blood test. I'm still following my above regimen.

The results from my thyroid lab work were normal. My hair is responding to the shots and growing in. I use jbco daily and sit under the conditioning cap a couple of times a week. I wash my hair weekly and use the pulsating shower for my scalp massage.

 

[faithVA]

Used up Komaza Stinky Stuff. Going back to the 4Naturals Hair Treatment.

 

[faithVA]

Used NJoy's Growth oil while I DCd. I was out of town and haven't been keeping up with my scalp treatments. Will get back on it tomorrow.

 

[mshoneyfly]

Have been misting my scalp with the stinky stuff daily. Yesterday I applied diluted NJoy growth oil to my scalp. I was lazy so I just let it sit. I finally baggied around 10 last night.

My crown is interesting. I wet my hair in the shower yesterday. 30 minutes after I got out the hair around the crown was still wet. The hair at my crown was bone cry like it had not seen water in days. I am pretty sure my scalp in that area is dehydrated but not sure how to correct that

Maybe when my hair gets longer I can cowash every other day to help hydrate it. My hair is too short for that right now.

faithVA
It sounds like your crown might be highly porous and the rest normal or low. Have you tried acv spritz and distilled water, sealing with a heavier butter on the crown? Do you avoid silicones? How often do you do protein treatments?

What about color? Do you have some in your hair now? Have you ever considered henna?

Sorry for all the questions

Just a thought...

 

[faithVA]

mshoneyfly[/USER];18624527]@faithVA
It sounds like your crown might be highly porous and the rest normal or low. Have you tried acv spritz and distilled water, sealing with a heavier butter on the crown? Do you avoid silicones? How often do you do protein treatments?

What about color? Do you have some in your hair now? Have you ever considered henna?

Sorry for all the questions

Just a thought...

No problem with the questions. You may be right. It may be highly porous. My scalp is also really dry in that area. Almost like my hair sucks the water out of it.

Most of my hair is low porosity. So if it is high porosity in that area, this could be complicated I haven't tried an acv rinse in ages. I said I would try again but haven't gotten around to it. I'm still figuring out the sealing piece. Since most of my hair hates butters I don't have any. But maybe I will try doing an LOCO in that area instead.

I don't do silicones since the rest of my hair is low porosity. It was causing me major breakage. I do a protein treatment about 1x a month. I was doing every 2 weeks but my hair was like I may try leaving that section out and trying protein on it. It is very fragile.

I do color my roots hair about every 8 to 12 weeks. I'm growing gray and fighting it. I tried henna for 1.5 years. My hair was hard as a rock and still gray. My low porosity hair wouldn't take it, so it just washed off my strands after about 2 weeks.

I need to cowash my hair more because when I put water on my scalp more often it acts better. But it is so short right now that styling it takes too long. I may try the protein in this area every other week and see how that goes.

Thank you for the suggestions. Never thought about being high porosity in that area.

 

[mshoneyfly]

Hey faithVA

I had breakage when using silicones too. I know because I started seeing retention once I stopped using them.

On the henna, i have had great success with doing henna glosses. I would strongly encourage you to try again; even if just in the crown area. Its great for fragile hair and mine ALWAYS comes out strong, soft and moist. Based on all the horror stories, I would never use straight henna on my hair, btw.

Ditto for the acv spritz, maybe just on your crown area. My dd uses it as a detangler and leaves it in. I always rinse mine out though.

Anywhooo, whatever you decide; good luck!!

HHHJ!!

 

[mshoneyfly]

I coulda sworn I joined this challenge but I guess not. I took a long look at my edges after texturizing this weekend. I didn't put the perm on the edges and nape until 2 minutes before I rinsed. Still they have been thin a long time and they make my hair look even thinner than it is already!

Pics from today:














I plan to massage daily with a small amount of warmed Hair Trigger oil or brahmi oil until my order of extra dark JBCO arrives.

I will continue to use henna glosses every two weeks for color, thickness and strength. I will also try a shikakai cowash and tea rinses using various teas. I also wanna try Amla, Brahmi and Bhringraj glosses and mixed into my tea rinses.

I will keep up the protein treatments too using a mix of keratin, silk amino acids, wheat, soy and vegetable proteins. The last thing is mixing plain gelatin into my deep conditioner.

I will try to check in at least once a week.

 

[mshoneyfly]

Forget to name two products I just finished using on my edges:

-Shea moisture damage repair hair & scalp serum (smells like vanilla)
-Amla oil mixed w/lemongrass EO

Gave my edges a nice massage and pin curled for bed. The amla has a nice thickness that I like and the serum absorbs nicely. I hate runny oils.

I hope the JBCO is thick like this!

 

[Minty]

What has worked?

*For those that have used something consistently.

 

[faithVA]

What has worked?

*For those that have used something consistently.

An oil blend with essential oils works.

 

[msbettyboop]

I took out my braids after 7 weeks. Outstanding progress. Both bald spots in front completely filled in and will no longer be classified as problem areas. .

Bald spot on crown coming along nicely. Hair going back into braids after a two week rest.

 

[mshoneyfly]

My Haitian black castor oil came today! :YAY!!!: i used it to seal after rinsing out my henna gloss and moisturizing with Komazacare Coconut Growth Milk. Its really nice and not too oily or smelly

I cant wait to massage my scalp with some tonight!

Ladies who use JBCO, what do you mix your JBCO with? Its only a 4 ounce bottle and so nice and thick so I could stand to stretch it some

 

[apple_natural]

I got JBCO... the rosemary kind and I very unreligiously put it on my edges along with sulfer 8. The combined smell sometimes nauseates me, BUT!, somehow!!, I have actually been SEEing some thickening compared to my "before" pics.

It's funny that my right side, which was initially my worse side and probably what I focus on more, now looks better than my left side! Now I've noticed how thin the left side is. I have to start paying more attention to that side.

I don't know that it is shrinking my little bald spot on my RT side, but it seems to be muuuch smaller. I think its that it was not nearly as large as I thought, but the hair in the area was just thin. The hair on both sides are definitely getting thicker and stronger.

They aren't pulling out while I'm in these box braids, whereas before, even if I had light tension, the hairs were pulling out at the bulb. I've definitely been especially careful in the past few years and, though it took a few years, it is thickening up on its own, but the JBCO and sulfer 8 that I put on it whenever I remember has sped up the process tremendously...

cool i'll keep it up to see how much progress I can make by my next length check later this year

 

[mshoneyfly]

Massaged my edges (and entire scalp) with AVGel to moisturize and then HBCO. My hair is smooth, nurtured and still bouncy and in a semi-straight style! :love!:

 

[faithVA]

My scalp and edges are much better. I tried to get a good picture but I couldn't. I will try again later. It is still then but when I look in the mirror it is not as terrible as when I first started. Considering how I only half work at it, it is coming along nicely. Will just keeping doing what I'm doing.

 

[NappyNelle]

I've been massaging my edges with sulfur oil, but tonight I used JBCO.

 

[faithVA]

Applied diluted NJoy growth oil to my scalp. Added my DC. Will do an overnight DC and let the oil sink in. I have been using the 4 Naturals Hair Treatment daily in between washes. My scalp seems to like it. Have been really slack on my scalp massages.

 

[ms.tatiana]

I haven't checked in a while so here is some recents pictures, I took these today after taking my weave down. I just ordered some emu oil to use with my JBCO so hopefully I see fuller results.

 

[mshoneyfly]

I have been massaging daily and applying with AVGel and HBCO every other day and I love it! Its too early to see progress on my edges but my hair loves this combo.

ETA: mixed the HBCO with some lemongrass EO for a nice scent.

 

[Minty]

I don't mix my JBCO with anything. I used to mix it with amla oil I made with Amla powder and Coconut oil, but I just use the JBCO straight now.

If you mix it with anything, make it coconut oil or some other penetrating nourishing oil.

 

[mshoneyfly]

I don't mix my JBCO with anything. I used to mix it with amla oil I made with Amla powder and Coconut oil, but I just use the JBCO straight now.

If you mix it with anything, make it coconut oil or some other penetrating nourishing oil.

Actually when I first got the shipment I put some in a bottle that had amla oil with a coconut oil base. I really liked it bc I love the amla oil too. The HBCO and amla both have a nice thick consistency and smell the same to me

 

[faithVA]

When I use JBCO I mix it with EVOO, sunflower oil and vitamin E plus a few EOs. JBCO is too thick for me to use it straight because I am applying it to my crown. My hair has liked the mixture.

 

[ms.tatiana]

I'll be using Emu oil 1 day & JBCO the next day. Im not mixing them with anything, & that's hard cause they have no so good smells but I feel using them pure will help me the most.

 

[faithVA]

Not doing much. Using my 4 Naturals Hair Treatment daily. I like this stuff. Keeps my scalp soothed. I'm going to see if I can find some more on Amazon.

 

[NappyNelle]

Massaged sulfur pomade into my edges. I'm getting discouraged; it seems like I will always have very fine, very thin edges.

 

[mshoneyfly]

Just massaged my scalp with a mix of JBCO, jojoba, cocoveda and Aloe vera gel. It felt cool to the scalp and nourishing at the same time. Now Im baggying with a skully on top for bed.

First time using the Roots Only applicator bottle. I like it a lot. It gives you just the right amount of product in each section.

ETA: I meant "HBCO"

 

[msbettyboop]

I've been back in braids for 3 weeks and neglecting my hair. I've massaged my scalp only twice. Hmmm, I think I need to look at old pictures of my bald spots to motivate my lazy a*s!

Sent from my iPad using LHCF

 

[faithVA]

^^My scalp is doing better so I have been lazy as well. I do apply my scalp treatment every day but it has been soooo long since I have massaged my scalp. I massage it when I shampoo. Does that count I've also slacked off on apply my NJoy Growth Oil on wash day. I need to get back to this.

I used a little of my homemade oil last week and my scalp in one spot is so sensitive to the touch. I am wondering what that is about.

I wonder if there will ever be a time when I don't have to do anything special to my scalp.

 

[faithVA]

My scalp is doing OK. I really like the 4 Naturals Leave-in Treatment. I wish I could find some on sale. Since Sally's doesn't carry it anymore not sure if I will order it online or just try to replace.

I wish the hair at my scalp was denser but since I'm not really doing that much, I can expect great results with minimum effort Perhaps when I start cowashing I will see more of a result.

 

[Brwnbeauti]

Alright, so I'm back. I haven't seen much progress since my first posting 9/2012. I took the right side pics today. I decided to let the relaxers go- possibly for good. (3 months post)That's the only thing left for me to change.