Increase Your Hydration/moisture Levels Challenge 3/15 - 6/15

[blazingbeauty]

One actually helpful tip I got recently from a YouTuber - give new products/techniques time before making up your mind. I usually follow this, but spoke to soon about steaming to rehydrate my hair at the end of the week.

My first impression of steaming was nothing to write home about, but after trying steam + LCB again last weekend to remoisturize, I’m noticing my hair is very soft and defined even after a week of just spritzing with water a few times.

Once my marley twists get old, I’ll keep this up. I only do this twice a month (as that’s how often I fully re-moisturize in between wash days), but I’m just going to keep an eye out for any damage.

 

[CurlyWhoCrux]

Of course I’m in this.

What problems are you currently having?

Dryness which results in frizzy, crinkly hair with splits and bubbles. With this also comes some breakage.
Undefined curls.
Still trying to figure out a regimen that actually works.
I don’t know when I should apply post shower products (to wet or damp hair).
Dry buns and puffs/ponytails.

What is your hair history?

Dry dry dry!
Coarse strands, low porosity, high density (which I am starting to reevaluate as something that is actually more around medium density that just looks bigger because it’s all frizz and no definition).
Natural for several years now.
Haven’t straightened it since May 2017 (which was a one-off from going a year prior to of not straightening).
Have always struggled to establish a regimen which I think is the primary issue.

What have you tried before?

I’ve been mostly CG since the start of my journey, but I think I never found the right conditioner to use as a cowash. Staying away from heat. Trying to shampoo less, trying to shampoo more, using rinse out conditioners as leave ins, clay washing, MHM, overnight DCing, steaming DCing, oil rinses...

What steps do you plan to take/What is your challenge regimen?

Cowashing daily, applying leave-in (right now I’m currently using a rinse out as a leave-in) in the shower, applying a hair butter on top out of the shower. Wearing buns for the day. I might try braiding hair at night so cowashing is quicker the next morning.

What would you like to see/be able to do at the end of the 90 days?

Hair that stays soft all day no matter what I’ve done to it that day. Hair that has a more defined curl pattern and less frizz when wet. Hair that is easily detangled. Hair that has weight. Hair that does not get tangled and dried out if I wear a puff/curly ponytail. Increased elasticity. Increased shine. Increased growth (especially in the back of my head).

Anything else you would like to share?

I just wanted to give an update since this challenge is officially over. Even though I wasn't updating regularly in this thread, I was still silently participating.

I would say that my hair has made some improvements since the start. A little softer, a little longer, a little more hydrated overall.
Some random notes about what I learned or will continue to keep in mind moving forward in this journey:

1. Keeping my hair braided means I lose less hair when detangling. Hopefully by the time summer is over, I don't need to continue with the braids just because I don't like wearing them out in public (although I DO wear them out in public) and I don't want to wear them when the school year starts.

2. For the last two or so weeks, I've been doing the braids with a combo of conditioner in the bath, and then leave in conditioner out of the bath. THIS has yielded more progress than the previous months of me just wetting in the shower with no braids and without leave in conditioner.

3. Re: leave-in conditioner...If anything this challenge gave me a time frame in which I could try out one thing with minor changes and allow me to come to slow realizations.

• It took me from the beginning of this year until these past two weeks to realize that my hair is doing so much better with wetting it twice a day rather than once a day or every other day.
• Water running from the bath is significantly more effective than running from the shower.
• Cheap products can work as long as I make sure my hair is really wet which is great because I live right next door to a grocery store and can easily go and repurchase them when I'm out.

4. There's a very specific feeling that the more hydrated sections of my hair tend to feel like when I'm wetting and applying conditioner....I mentally refer to it as a seaweedy feeling. It means my hair feels soft, wet, and slippery. This is a good sign, in my opinion, and I think this is the feeling that I want to feel all of the time on all of my hair when I do it. So this is like a new benchmark goal or something for me. It mostly happens in the front half of my hair. The back seems to be more dry. The front also tends to have a stronger wave pattern when wet and conditioned, whereas the back tends to frizz and poof more.

The last two weeks or so has made me very excited for the future of my hair. Now I have definitive proof that my hair can be soft and curly and shiny. I might post pics in the next week (to compare with the other pic I posted back in March/April).

Long story long: sometimes it takes me 4 months to finally hear the click in my brain to get things to work.

 

[faithVA]

I just wanted to give an update since this challenge is officially over. Even though I wasn't updating regularly in this thread, I was still silently participating.

I would say that my hair has made some improvements since the start. A little softer, a little longer, a little more hydrated overall.
Some random notes about what I learned or will continue to keep in mind moving forward in this journey:

1. Keeping my hair braided means I lose less hair when detangling. Hopefully by the time summer is over, I don't need to continue with the braids just because I don't like wearing them out in public (although I DO wear them out in public) and I don't want to wear them when the school year starts.

2. For the last two or so weeks, I've been doing the braids with a combo of conditioner in the bath, and then leave in conditioner out of the bath. THIS has yielded more progress than the previous months of me just wetting in the shower with no braids and without leave in conditioner.

3. Re: leave-in conditioner...If anything this challenge gave me a time frame in which I could try out one thing with minor changes and allow me to come to slow realizations.

• It took me from the beginning of this year until these past two weeks to realize that my hair is doing so much better with wetting it twice a day rather than once a day or every other day.
• Water running from the bath is significantly more effective than running from the shower.
• Cheap products can work as long as I make sure my hair is really wet which is great because I live right next door to a grocery store and can easily go and repurchase them when I'm out.

4. There's a very specific feeling that the more hydrated sections of my hair tend to feel like when I'm wetting and applying conditioner....I mentally refer to it as a seaweedy feeling. It means my hair feels soft, wet, and slippery. This is a good sign, in my opinion, and I think this is the feeling that I want to feel all of the time on all of my hair when I do it. So this is like a new benchmark goal or something for me. It mostly happens in the front half of my hair. The back seems to be more dry. The front also tends to have a stronger wave pattern when wet and conditioned, whereas the back tends to frizz and poof more.

The last two weeks or so has made me very excited for the future of my hair. Now I have definitive proof that my hair can be soft and curly and shiny. I might post pics in the next week (to compare with the other pic I posted back in March/April).

Long story long: sometimes it takes me 4 months to finally hear the click in my brain to get things to work.

What did you notice that was different in wetting your hair twice a day versus once a day?

 

[CurlyWhoCrux]

What did you notice that was different in wetting your hair twice a day versus once a day?

My hair feels softer and looks better. I’m finding my hair is becoming easier to deal with. It just feels more pliable. I remember a few days ago I was braiding up my hair and I took one twist that was yet to be braided and moved it to the other side of my head and it just stayed there and there was no fuss. Like there was no stiffness that prevented the twist from just staying where I put it. Hope that makes sense. The time it takes to do the same technique has been slowly decreasing. It lays flatter in buns. I can see more smooth waves at the root rather than frizz. Braids look thinner (which I want to stress that for ME this is a positive because a good majority of my thickness or the appearance of it, comes from frizz and poof I need from dryness. My braids being thin tells me that my strands are laying down better and hair is clumping together more.). They also have a lot more movement when they dry. The take down of braids and twists is easier. There’s more definition when I take down braids and twists (I’ve never had success with braid outs and twist outs because I never can get the definition upon takedown).

I started doing this because I’ve recently been growing a small plant in my apt. I always make sure to water it when it looks dry no matter if it’s been a day or two days since the last time I watered it. This made me realize that I’ve been trying to follow a rule that says this is the amount of times you should water your hair when in reality I should be watering it when it starts to feel and look dry and not put it off to meet a certain timeframe.

My hair is dryer than the average person’s hair on this forum. I could never leave my hair alone for a week and expect it to be anything good. One day when my hair is more hydrated overall, I can do that probably but not right now.