Looking for Help With Regimen....

[a_ caribbean_dream]

Hi guys, thanks for all of your encouragement, i've decided to not let my salon cut get in my way. I am going to try and grow my hair back thicker and even longer. I pray God will grant me the patience because that is something i don't really have right now. Please help me with my makeshift regimen. (come to think of it- i never really had a solid regimen)


Goal: to get to natural, thick; a little past brastrap length hair

- I will CW wash a minimum of once a week with Suave Naturals Aloe Vera then some Pantene or Garnier Fructis 3 min mask.
- Wash with shampoo (design lines olive oil, garnier, or pantene- can't decide)a minimum of once of every two weeks.
-try some natural oils i.e. coconut or order something offline
-keep elasta mango butter for my ends
-cantu shea butter for detangling after washing
-twist my hair like theres no tomorrow (since braiding gives me crazy spilt ends)

HeLp please!!!!! lol!!

 

[a_ caribbean_dream]

please help a sista out!!

 

[a_ caribbean_dream]

i feel so pathetic.

****bumping

 

[Sistaslick]

it sounds fine to me . . . but I'm not natural If its working so far, then go with the flow! Listen to your hair and it'll tell you what it needs- day to day and week to week. Good luck!

 

[so1913]

I think it sounds good. Throw a deep conditioning treatment in there and you should be good to go. Like Sistaslick said, see how it goes for a while and listen to your hair. You may not need much more than what you've listed

 

[trinidarkie1]

it sounds fine to me . . . but I'm not natural If its working so far, then go with the flow! Listen to your hair and it'll tell you what it needs- day to day and week to week. Good luck!

That's the thing, most of the times I see people on here who are going natural. I am not going natural, so a lot of the oils and stuff that people use, like the pomades, are way too heavy for my hair.

What do u use?

 

[UmSumayyah]

The regimen looks pretty good. I wouldn't use the pantene poo, don't all of their poos still have ammonium sulfates? Maybe it would be alright for every 2 weeks though.

 

[Sistaslick]

That's the thing, most of the times I see people on here who are going natural. I am not going natural, so a lot of the oils and stuff that people use, like the pomades, are way too heavy for my hair.

What do u use?

I use some type of water based moisturizer like ORS olive oil, NTM silk touch, or Cantu shea butter, and seal that in with a light coating of a natural oil like coconut, olive, vatika, or almond.

 

[princesmich]

Hi,
I transitioned 2 years ago ( back to perms for the last couple months) Remember natural hair needs a good moisturizer when washing, nexxus humectress is great, also Jamaican mango lime lock gel is excellent for twisting, just don't leave those twist in for past 2 weeks or hair will start to tangle.

 

[kristina]

Yay for not quitting. You'll get to your goals in no time.
I think your regimen is good but you may want to consider (and keep in mind I haven't actually done these all myself):

Adding another detangling (one of the conditioner or liquid variety) to help with detangling thoses twists and twist out

Night baggie with some type of oil + glycerin based moisturizing on your ends

Braids w/o extensions- I know you said they cause splits but that my be averted with regular conditioner washing and night baggie-ing. My experience is that box braid produce way less tangling and I can wash them regular with ease.

Best of luck!

 

[a_ caribbean_dream]

Yay for not quitting. You'll get to your goals in no time.
I think your regimen is good but you may want to consider (and keep in mind I haven't actually done these all myself):

Adding another detangling (one of the conditioner or liquid variety) to help with detangling thoses twists and twist out

Night baggie with some type of oil + glycerin based moisturizing on your ends

Braids w/o extensions- I know you said they cause splits but that my be averted with regular conditioner washing and night baggie-ing. My experience is that box braid produce way less tangling and I can wash them regular with ease.

Best of luck!

Wow, thanks so much everyone. But kristina what is baggie-ing? and can I really cwash braids without them getting fuzzy? What natural oils would you guys suggest?

 

[kristina]

Wow, thanks so much everyone. But kristina what is baggie-ing? and can I really cwash braids without them getting fuzzy? What natural oils would you guys suggest?

Well you could wear a shower cap at night (I know soooooo sexy, right? lol)over your entire head (use a glycerin-based product + and oil on your hair prior). Or you can baggie by using a sandwich bag or saran wrap to cover just the ends of your hair in a ponytail. DSD has the baggie method broken down in her album. There's also a link to the pinned thread. Mind you, I am not advising this out of actual experience but it seems like a good way to maintain moisturized hair and avoid splits.

I'm currently in love with coconut oil and caster oil applied sparingly to the ends because they are both heavy. Jojoba is a lighter choice that I occassionly use on my scalp and on the length of my hair- again sparingly.

I'm sure that any manipulation of the braids will cause them to look fuzzier but when I braided my hair in small braids over the summer (2005 album) I didn't have much of a problem because I didn't wash vigorously- I mostly wet my hair, applied cheapo conditioner and massaged by scalp a bit. But you have to tie the braids down every night religiously- it was only after I started slipping that they got kinda homeless looking. Oh and when you braid, braid tight- that also helps. The best thing about box braids is that the take down, while time consuming, doesn't involve much detangling/matting.

 

[amy1234]

Everyone's offered great advice I wanted to add: vitamins...I am currently back on them it's a combination of multivitamins, omega 3-6-9 and msm, this should double my growth rate, it has in the past.

 

[so so chic]

Everyone's offered great advice I wanted to add: vitamins...I am currently back on them it's a combination of multivitamins, omega 3-6-9 and msm, this should double my growth rate, it has in the past.

what brand of vitamins do you use? and what do the msm vitamins for, I've seen them and it said something about bones and joints .

 

[amy1234]

what brand of vitamins do you use? and what do the msm vitamins for, I've seen them and it said something about bones and joints .

I believe it is a brand by gnc, msm is mostly made up of sulfur and contains the building blocks for amino-acids (protein). If you do a search on msm on LHCF, you'll find a lot of info on it. hth