I've been natural for one year!! (update)

Another reason to keep it natural. Beautiful progress. It has only been a year. Wow! I thought it was a longer time for you. We both did similar stuff. I am at a year too. Just last year I was sporting my twists.
 
Wow Cardinal! You have some of the most amazing shrinkage! You and my daughter are hair twins and it STILL blows my mind. Way to grow, girl, way to GROW!
 
FREAKING GORGEOUS!!!

I, too would like to know your regime and how you wear your hair on a daily basis. :)
 
Watch out there now! I claim you as one of my "hairoes" :) I can't wait to get where you are...keep up the excellent work!
 
I love love love love love you hair. Your growth progress is crazy, it just leaps every two months. You know I saved your journal. :D My big question is how you managed to retain so much?
 
Wow, thank-you! You guys are so sweet! :)

As far as my regimen, I'm sure a lot of you know I'm a die-hard daily con washer (I'm getting a break this week since my hair is straightened) :D I find it most convenient to wash in the shower. I rinse my hair first, squeeze out the excess water, then apply the conditioner. The last thing I do before getting out of the shower is rinse out the conditioner. I usually wash my hair in 2 sections so I can make sure I distribute everything well. Sometimes I part down the middle, sometimes ear to ear--doesn't matter. I keep a few ponytail holders made from hose on a hook in the shower for holding the sections.

If you aren't already aware of my Jason Natural haircare fanaticism, you should know that my holy grail poos/cons are the Sea Kelp and Biotin formulas. I find the Biotin con best for con washes, and the Sea Kelp con for deep conditioning. The Biotin shampoo is my "deeper clean" poo, and the Sea Kelp is the gentlest, moisturizing one. They are both low-sudsing so I prefer to lather the shampoo in my hands and then massage into the scalp. I pre-poo with Burt's Bees Avocado Butter on days that I want to shampoo but not deep condition with Sea Kelp.

After washing I use a small amount of Giovanni Direct Leave-in. Sometimes I'll use Shaman Smoothing Fixative as well. I pretty much wear a wash and go puff all the time. It's quick and doesn't require a lot of effort--right up my alley :lol: I prefer making them with a thin scarf but I also will double a stretchy headband or use one made from nylon stockings. I don't pick out the puff--I just leave it curly.

As far as retaining length, my hair stays moisturized from the daily washing. I just try to be as gentle as possible when handling my hair, and remember to cover it up at night. I also don't really trim it often. The last time I trimmed before this straightening was the last time I straightened 6 months ago. Barring any special circumstances I will probably keep up this twice a year schedule, doing any little dusting as needed.

I guess that's it. Not too involved, but you have to be diligent to see results with your regimen. Don't drive yourself crazy obsessing over every little hair, but don't be slack about your haircare. Consistency is key :yep:
 
Thank you Black Cardinal for sharing your regime!

What brand of stretchy headbands do you use? I have some ouchless bands and I doubled it around my hair to make a puff and I loved the look but I hated the headache that followed instantly! Are there bigger stretchy bands somewhere that can be wrapped around twice without giving me a headache?

Last week, I tried the daily poo thing and it did not work for me. My hair would turn out dry. :( I'm thinking I'm not using the right products. Is Giovanni Direct leave-in very moisturizing? Do you ever re-moisturize your hair during the day? Also, before putting your hair up at night, do you remoisturize it?

Sorry for all the questions. I wanna start doing this once the weather warms up where I live and I wanna be prepared. Plus, you are a natural hair inspiration! ;)

Thanks in advance!

BlackCardinal said:
Wow, thank-you! You guys are so sweet! :)

As far as my regimen, I'm sure a lot of you know I'm a die-hard daily con washer (I'm getting a break this week since my hair is straightened) :D I find it most convenient to wash in the shower. I rinse my hair first, squeeze out the excess water, then apply the conditioner. The last thing I do before getting out of the shower is rinse out the conditioner. I usually wash my hair in 2 sections so I can make sure I distribute everything well. Sometimes I part down the middle, sometimes ear to ear--doesn't matter. I keep a few ponytail holders made from hose on a hook in the shower for holding the sections.

If you aren't already aware of my Jason Natural haircare fanaticism, you should know that my holy grail poos/cons are the Sea Kelp and Biotin formulas. I find the Biotin con best for con washes, and the Sea Kelp con for deep conditioning. The Biotin shampoo is my "deeper clean" poo, and the Sea Kelp is the gentlest, moisturizing one. They are both low-sudsing so I prefer to lather the shampoo in my hands and then massage into the scalp. I pre-poo with Burt's Bees Avocado Butter on days that I want to shampoo but not deep condition with Sea Kelp.

After washing I use a small amount of Giovanni Direct Leave-in. Sometimes I'll use Shaman Smoothing Fixative as well. I pretty much wear a wash and go puff all the time. It's quick and doesn't require a lot of effort--right up my alley :lol: I prefer making them with a thin scarf but I also will double a stretchy headband or use one made from nylon stockings. I don't pick out the puff--I just leave it curly.

As far as retaining length, my hair stays moisturized from the daily washing. I just try to be as gentle as possible when handling my hair, and remember to cover it up at night. I also don't really trim it often. The last time I trimmed before this straightening was the last time I straightened 6 months ago. Barring any special circumstances I will probably keep up this twice a year schedule, doing any little dusting as needed.

I guess that's it. Not too involved, but you have to be diligent to see results with your regimen. Don't drive yourself crazy obsessing over every little hair, but don't be slack about your haircare. Consistency is key :yep:
Click to expand...
 
It's no problem at all--glad to share :)

Poohbear, I don't remember the brand of my headbands because I've had them for ages. It's because I've had them so long that they've lost some of their elasticity and they work well for puffs. Some of them that are in not-so-popular colors (they came in a pack) that I hardly used are actually too tight for me to use for puffs. Perhaps you should try to figure out a way to stretch them out more so they aren't so tight. Like soak them in some warm water then stretch them around something until they dry. If not, then definitely try cutting some from the legs of stockings. Just remember that the wider you cut the strip, the smaller the resulting ring will be. You'll probably have to cut a few to figure out the right size for a headband vs. smaller ponytail holder. You can get a lot out of one pair of hose :yep:

Giovanni is a creamy leave-in that is sort of on the light side but I do find it moisturizing. Having tried omitting my leave-in for a while last summer as an experiment, I can say that the primary source of moisture in my hair is my conditioner washing, not my leave-in. The leave-in certainly contributes, though, and it does leave my hair with a particular feel that I like compared to being totally product-free. The key is not to over-apply, and to find the right wetness/dryness your hair needs to be when you apply it. It works best for me on damp hair--about 50-60% dry, but I'll apply it to wet hair if I'm going to be using the Smoothing Fixative afterwards.

I have some really watered down Jason conditioner in an old spray bottle that gets used for any re-wetting/moisturzing purposes. I don't generally do daily moisturizing if I did my regular con wash. In the event that my hair does feel dry at the end of the day for whatever reason, I'll dampen my hair with the conditioner spray at night and put my hair into 2 or 3 little bun thingies. I tried to do it as a nightly thing recently but I found that my hair was feeling a little too coated after a few days. So I'll continue just doing it only as needed. A large part of my ability to keep my hair clean doing con washes most of the week is not putting too much on it. Usually at night I just remove my headband or whatever and tie on my scarf, letting my hair get smooshed into a little helmet :lol: As long as I don't try to mess with it until I wet it again it doesn't give me any trouble :)
 
Your natural hair looks great. I love those shots of your natural texture. It's so lush. CONGRATS on your nappiversary!!! :D
 
Last edited:
Thank you for your helpful post, BlackCardinal! I will see what I can do about those bands for my puffs and look into the right conditioner for me to use for co-washing. ;)
 
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