i have 20 more days before I want to get my hair ready to straighten - deep condition and baggy dry ends (if they're really dry).

I want to henna *for color* and a little strength support, but I know I need to put on a serious protein treatment that I still haven't put on since January. Should I henna soon and then wait until the end of the month to put on the aphoghee??? OR aphogee soon and then put on the henna at the end of the month... or does it matter?
 
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Natural, Relaxed, Texlaxed: Natural

Current Length: Bra Strap Length

Goal Length: Mid Back Length (stretch) Big Voluminous BSL/APL twist out / wash n go

Plan to reach goal length: Weekly deep conditioning, low manipulation styling, protective styling, water, and vitamins.

Regimen: Alternating Weeks

Treatment: Aphogee 2-Minute Reconstructor
Deep Condition: Shea Moisture High Porosity + Hibiscus, Amla, Belle Bar)

Treatment: Joico K-Pak Intense Hydrator
Deep Condition: Edens Bodywork + Henna (Brahmi, Belle Bar) nding on how hair feels)

Leave Ins: Natty Naturals & Kinky Curly
Styler: Camille Rose Coconut Water Setter
Oil: Baobab Oil & Melanin Hair Care

Butters: Belle Bar Argan & Shine, Curl Smiler

Vitamins: Yaeyama Chlorella, MSM, Laminine or Irish Sea Moss

Protective Styles: 2 Strand Twists, Stretched Protective Styles. (Ex: stretched hair into a bun, baggie, cover with a halo braid), half wigs, head wraps.

Staple Products:
(Hot Oil) • Kréyol Haitian Black Castor Oil
(Cleanser) • Tropicgyal Herbal Hair Wash, Shikakai Shampoo Bar
(Instant Treatment) • Joico K-Pak Intense Hydrator, Aphogee 2-Min Reconstructor
(Deep Conditioners) • Shea Moisture High Porosity, Eden Body Works, Mielle Organics Rosemary Mint, HennaSooq Henna + Gloss
(Moisturizer) • Water, Melanin Hair Care leave in

Staple Brands: HennaSooq, Belle Bar Organics, Mielle Organics.


Starting Pic:
4A838867-BAA0-479F-BBDA-D2EDD4231E34.jpeg
 
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i have 20 more days before I want to get my hair ready to straighten - deep condition and baggy dry ends (if they're really dry).

I want to henna *for color* and a little strength support, but I know I need to put on a serious protein treatment that I still haven't put on since January. Should I henna soon and then wait until the end of the month to put on the aphoghee??? OR aphogee soon and then put on the henna at the end of the month... or does it matter?

I would do the Aphogee soon and then henna later to seal everything. I just feel that way round, the protein has a better chance of really penetrating your hair strands.
 
Hey ladies! Long post ahead :look:

It’s been roughly a month of experimenting with styling/stretching methods and how that affects the tangling of my hair. Boy I’ve learned a lot!

The general gist of what I’ve learned is to achieve the least amount of tangles I need a combination of both stretch and smoothness.

For instance. When I stretch my hair in 8 or less braids, WITHOUT following up with a blow dryer. My results were not very smooth, because I wasn’t able to get enough tension due to the size of the braids vs the length of my hair. I ended up getting some matting/tangles because of this.

On the other hand, when I was doing twists/twist outs my results were very smooth because I was doing many (15-20) twists, but not very stretched, so I still got some tangles.

Best way I’ve found to get stretch AND smoothness : roller sets, or flexi rod sets. But those are time consuming since I’m not very good at them (yet :) )

9-10 braids followed up with light blow drying gives a smooth enough stretch and is pretty quick to do (35 mins to braid, 10ish mins to take down and blow dry the next day) but I find it requires too much maintenance during the week, and then I still have to restyle on Thursday if I want to wear my hair out on the weekend.

Next week I’m getting knotless braids (definitely need a hair break after all this experimenting) and I’ll keep those in until the end of April. Once the braids are out I’ll be alternating between roller sets, and my 5 day twists/2 day twist out routine. I’ll be experimenting with the twisting routine to see how I can stretch my ends better to reduce tangling.

On days when I’m tired/don’t want to spend too much time doing my hair it’ll be a quick 9 braid braidnblow out :)

Feels good to finally have a routine that works with my lifestyle, is safe for my hair, and allows for predictable styling results . I’m now working on finding holy grail products to go with this routine! :spinning:
 
@NaturalShe94 @snoop @Mapleoats @everyone

Ladies, I need your help! Please let me know if you have any advice! Any advice would be good right now!


So after the protein overload debacle last week, I used the dollowing products :

Shampoo: usual shampoo bar
Conditioner: Suave coconut conditioner (first time using)
DC: Shea moisture manuka honey
Leave in: Beautiful textures tangle taming leave in conditioner (first time using), shea butter, olive oil

So as soon as I began applying the DC, I knew that something was wrong. My hair just felt sticky and odd. It even felt like weird when I was detangling with my conditioner in the shower.

Fast-forward to styling and I am applying the products and my hair just feels wet and SUPER DRY and my curl pattern had basically disappeared. I powered through and braided up my hair as usual. Ladies, this was Monday... ITS THURSDAY NIGHT... and my hair is still not dry.... It feels soggy, like wire and super tangled.

I guess my question is... Is this protein overload? Or is this something else? If it is protein overload, what do I do?

I don't think my shampoo bar is gonna cut it this time, so I guess I need a clarifying shampoo?

Anything I need to do afterwards? How do I know when my hair is better?

Please help :cry3::cry3:

This is what I get for experimenting... You were right @NaturalShe94
Shampoo bars tend to make my hair feel tacky and sticky. The honey manuka DC is great but not for my relaxed hair. It makes my hair feel heavy and sticky. Maybe do a clarifying wash
 
I would do the Aphogee soon and then henna later to seal everything. I just feel that way round, the protein has a better chance of really penetrating your hair strands.

Makes sense to me! Thank you for the input! I will be doing this tomorrow, which means I will need to take my twists out. i kind of want to do that already. I'll french braid it for a week at a time until April
 
I’m not an expert, but to me sticky hair sounds like you have lots of product build up. I think your idea to clarify is a good one.

@Mapleoats @water_n_oil @MzSwift
@snoop @GettingKinky
@Royalq
So sorry for my late reply! Work got ahead of me, ladies

Thank you so much for your advice! In the end, I followed it and ended up not applying any extra product. My hair felt much more normal after day 6 or so. I skipped my normal wash day and decided to leave it alone for an extra week.

Then last weekend, I clarified with Aunt Jackie's Oh so Clean clarifying shampoo. However my scalp usually reacts badly to shampoos so I still used my shampoo bar on my scalp.

Deep conditioned with Aunt Jackie's DC and my hair is mostly back to normal. It's still kind of stiff, though so I'm avoiding coconut oil right now.

I'm gonna stay away from the protein for a LONG WHILE

Once again, thank you so much, ladies

P. S. I'm gonna try the salt in my dc!
 
Hey ladies! Long post ahead :look:

It’s been roughly a month of experimenting with styling/stretching methods and how that affects the tangling of my hair. Boy I’ve learned a lot!

The general gist of what I’ve learned is to achieve the least amount of tangles I need a combination of both stretch and smoothness.

For instance. When I stretch my hair in 8 or less braids, WITHOUT following up with a blow dryer. My results were not very smooth, because I wasn’t able to get enough tension due to the size of the braids vs the length of my hair. I ended up getting some matting/tangles because of this.

On the other hand, when I was doing twists/twist outs my results were very smooth because I was doing many (15-20) twists, but not very stretched, so I still got some tangles.

Best way I’ve found to get stretch AND smoothness : roller sets, or flexi rod sets. But those are time consuming since I’m not very good at them (yet :) )

9-10 braids followed up with light blow drying gives a smooth enough stretch and is pretty quick to do (35 mins to braid, 10ish mins to take down and blow dry the next day) but I find it requires too much maintenance during the week, and then I still have to restyle on Thursday if I want to wear my hair out on the weekend.

Next week I’m getting knotless braids (definitely need a hair break after all this experimenting) and I’ll keep those in until the end of April. Once the braids are out I’ll be alternating between roller sets, and my 5 day twists/2 day twist out routine. I’ll be experimenting with the twisting routine to see how I can stretch my ends better to reduce tangling.

On days when I’m tired/don’t want to spend too much time doing my hair it’ll be a quick 9 braid braidnblow out :)

Feels good to finally have a routine that works with my lifestyle, is safe for my hair, and allows for predictable styling results . I’m now working on finding holy grail products to go with this routine! :spinning:

I agree. Even when I’m cleansing my hair. I keep my hair stretched/slightly taunt and massage the cleanser on my scalp. Then I rinse it out, smoothing the suds/product down my length.

keeping my hair stretch/taunt.... I apply my conditioner, 2 strand twist it, and wrap it into a Bantu knot. The smoothing motion helps keep the tangles and frizz away.
 
I agree. Even when I’m cleansing my hair. I keep my hair stretched/slightly taunt and massage the cleanser on my scalp. Then I rinse it out, smoothing the suds/product down my length.

keeping my hair stretch/taunt.... I apply my conditioner, 2 strand twist it, and wrap it into a Bantu knot. The smoothing motion helps keep the tangles and frizz away.
I’m going to give this a try on my next wash day, thanks for sharing :)
 
It took me 45 mins to flatiron my whole head today!!!! I think that that's the fastest I've ever done it! A guest checked in and said that my hair was flowing like a waterfall :lachen:!

I know that I said that I was going to transition but I'm feeling my straight hair again :kiss3: . I saw a lady at the store with the prettiest WL hair, and in my head I was like gooooooooaaaaalllssssss!! :laugh:
 
My mum just returned from Nigeria and sent me a jar of fleshly-made shea butter :blush:

The difference is ASTOUNDING!
(Compared to the store-bought version)
The one that my mum brought has:
*Richer and nuttier smell (so I have to use less)
*Less is more
*Non-grainy texture-more smooth
*Doesn't take as long to melt in my hands
*Feels less dry after it melts
*Applies to hair much more smoothly
*Slightly less - consistent texture (chunks and smoothness alike)
*Colour is the same

Has anyone noticed a difference between store-bought shea butters?
If so, please let me know if you have found a butter with the properties above as I know I'll run out of this jar within the next few months :cry3:
 
My mum just returned from Nigeria and sent me a jar of fleshly-made shea butter :blush:

The difference is ASTOUNDING!
(Compared to the store-bought version)
The one that my mum brought has:
*Richer and nuttier smell (so I have to use less)
*Less is more
*Non-grainy texture-more smooth
*Doesn't take as long to melt in my hands
*Feels less dry after it melts
*Applies to hair much more smoothly
*Slightly less - consistent texture (chunks and smoothness alike)
*Colour is the same

Has anyone noticed a difference between store-bought shea butters?
If so, please let me know if you have found a butter with the properties above as I know I'll run out of this jar within the next few months :cry3:
Do you mean "store-bought" as in from like a beauty supply store or something? A lot of people (myself included) now order their shea from 3CayG which comes straight from Ghana and Benin.
 
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Took my twists out. Put on aphogee two step. I put two packets in a dish and dipped the ends of my sections into it, squeezed the excess off and put it on the higher parts of the sections. I liked doing it this way as compared to pouring it on my head. I rinsed it out with macademia brand rinse. Sleeping in twists. I plan to put in 4 French braids in the morning
 
On a whim, I went to the Hair Cuttery for a blowout. The stylist was so gentle with my hair! It truly was a treat. She trimmed an inch off of my ends, which caused me to lose all of my progress. On the other hand, my ends look so healthy and my hair looks fuller. Overall, I’m happy and will post a picture later.

Edit: my picture
A7C8B702-F1EE-4C2B-9D4A-7F35FAA23EB1.jpeg
Sorry, not the best pic and it’s sideways. My hair is really coming in nicely. I will be back to APL in no time. Reaching BSL by December may be a reach, but I will still strive for it.
 
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On a whim, I went to the Hair Cuttery for a blowout. The stylist was so gentle with my hair! It truly was a treat. She trimmed an inch off of my ends, which caused me to lose all of my progress. On the other hand, my ends look so healthy and my hair looks fuller. Overall, I’m happy and will post a picture later.
I might do this! Just blow it out myself and ask for a 1" trim. But not until mid-year, so as to not lose all my progress. I hope I can get away with a 1 inch trim twice a year
 
This is my goal. I just want my hair to look like this. I LOVE Joyjah :love:

I am sticking to products that I am familiar with and that work for me, which is mainly drugstore products. After a suspected bad run-in with DevaCurl, losing my hip length hair, (my curls used to hang to BSL at one point!) I can't gamble on spending so much money on products just for my hair to fall out again:nono: Aussie, Tresseme, Cantu, and Shea Moisture products are all I have been using for the past few months.

And taking my vitamins, drinking more water, and using more oils like I used to. Simple stuff. :yep:
 

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This is my goal. I just want my hair to look like this. I LOVE Joyjah :love:

I am sticking to products that I am familiar with and that work for me, which is mainly drugstore products. After a suspected bad run-in with DevaCurl, losing my hip length hair, (my curls used to hang to BSL at one point!) I can't gamble on spending so much money on products just for my hair to fall out again:nono: Aussie, Tresseme, Cantu, and Shea Moisture products are all I have been using for the past few months.

And taking my vitamins, drinking more water, and using more oils like I used to. Simple stuff. :yep:

Her hair is beautiful! I think my hair would have to be floor length to look like that.

You had to cut your hair because of Deva products?
 
Her hair is beautiful! I think my hair would have to be floor length to look like that.

You had to cut your hair because of Deva products?

No, it fell out. I was thinking it was because I went vegan around the same time I was using their products in 2018. It fell out in huge clumps and I had crazy acne. I never broke out like that before in my face!

I saw a bunch of other girls that had the same reaction as me, recently. It was the DevaCurl!
 
No, it fell out. I was thinking it was because I went vegan around the same time I was using their products in 2018. It fell out in huge clumps and I had crazy acne. I never broke out like that before in my face!

I saw a bunch of other girls that had the same reaction as me, recently. It was the DevaCurl!

That’s awful!!! How long were you using Deva?
 
That’s awful!!! How long were you using Deva?
I didn't use DevaCurl often, it was mainly a brand that I would treat myself to every once in a while and I LOVED their conditioners! So, the last time I used them was around the Fall/Winter time of 2018 during my very last semester of college. I had also taken up veganism 4 months prior...and before I knew it, my hair was gone! My hair went from near Hip Length alllll the way up to APL/BSL and it happened over a quick period of time before I realized that my ponytails and pineapples were no longer full-looking. You could see through my hair when it was down when my hair was so full and long and lush looking. :nono:

It happened very quickly...within weeks.
 
I didn't use DevaCurl often, it was mainly a brand that I would treat myself to every once in a while and I LOVED their conditioners! So, the last time I used them was around the Fall/Winter time of 2018 during my very last semester of college. I had also taken up veganism 4 months prior...and before I knew it, my hair was gone! My hair went from near Hip Length alllll the way up to APL/BSL and it happened over a quick period of time before I realized that my ponytails and pineapples were no longer full-looking. You could see through my hair when it was down when my hair was so full and long and lush looking. :nono:

It happened very quickly...within weeks.

I’m so sorry to hear that. I’m glad your hair is making a recovery.
 
I didn't use DevaCurl often, it was mainly a brand that I would treat myself to every once in a while and I LOVED their conditioners! So, the last time I used them was around the Fall/Winter time of 2018 during my very last semester of college. I had also taken up veganism 4 months prior...and before I knew it, my hair was gone! My hair went from near Hip Length alllll the way up to APL/BSL and it happened over a quick period of time before I realized that my ponytails and pineapples were no longer full-looking. You could see through my hair when it was down when my hair was so full and long and lush looking. :nono:

It happened very quickly...within weeks.

Not that it really matters, but did it break off or did it shed?

I'm glad to hear that you're turning it around. You've done it before, I have no doubt that you can reach full HL this time.
 
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