Nail Your Regimen Challenge 2014

[faithVA]

Finally finished my first wash day.

I decided to try hazelnut oil followed by AIA leave-in on the left and AIA leave-in followed by hazelnut oil on the right. I then spritzed my hair with water and sealed my ends with Beautiful Curls leave-in and castor oil and flat twisted my hair with TW Curling Cream.

I want to see if there is a difference in the order of application. In the past there wasn't a difference. Each wash day I will be doing a different comparison.

For the next few weeks I will be doing a combination of daily moisturizing and sealing, cowashing and extended DCs.

 

[heirloom]

So last wash day I tried an avc rinse to help lay my cuticles. I think it helped a bit as my hair has more movement but my hair feels drier so I'm going to try again but before I dc. My hair could still do with more weight so I'm looking into henna or temporary hair dye as well as panthanol. Also I'm upgrading my oils from cheap heat pressed to extra virgin cold pressed to get the most out of my pre poos plus I gave myself a two inch trim. I will be having more taken off after I remove the box braids I'm getting on saturday

 

[Ogoma]

Not going to follow my regimen this week. Will get back to it first weekend in Jan. Traveling this weekend. I will CoWash on Wednesday and do crown braids until the weekend.

 

[Nix08]

For the next 2 week to 1 month I will put my hair in a single braid tucked in then wrapped.

This is part of my plan to change my night style regularly.

 

[snoop]

Washed today in twists: DC'd with mayo/camilla seed oil/wheatgerm oil 1hr; washed using rhassoul clay 1hr; oil rinsed with grapeseed oil; conditioned with Giovanni Hydrating Calming Conditioner; LOC.

It's been a few hours now and my hair feels so soft, but because my hair is twisted I can't tell if it's 100% dry. I'll see how my hair feels in the morning, since it will be dry for sure.

 

[Muse]

So last wash day I tried an avc rinse to help lay my cuticles. I think it helped a bit as my hair has more movement but my hair feels drier so I'm going to try again but before I dc. My hair could still do with more weight so I'm looking into henna or temporary hair dye as well as panthanol. Also I'm upgrading my oils from cheap heat pressed to extra virgin cold pressed to get the most out of my pre poos plus I gave myself a two inch trim. I will be having more taken off after I remove the box braids I'm getting on saturday

@heirloom Why did you have to trim so much? I ask because I had to take off an inch because of SSks and I'm still finding them!

 

[heirloom]

@heirloom Why did you have to trim so much? I ask because I had to take off an inch because of SSks and I'm still finding them!

It had been a while since I cut my hair and it was really tangly. And the only reason I'm getting another cut after the box braids is because I feel like having short hair for a while. Something a bit like this maybe or shorter

 

[snoop]

@heirloom Why did you have to trim so much? I ask because I had to take off an inch because of SSks and I'm still finding them!

I've read a few blogs where people have talked about accepting that their hair type is prone to SSKs. I've kept that in the back of my mind and once I managed to find a way to keep my hair moisturized I've found that my SSK worries were reduced quite a bit -- i.e. the amount of SSKs seemed to have seemed to have gone down. I probably dust a lot less now, too.

As for my hair, it doesn't seem AS soft as last night, but it still seems pretty soft. I'll have to try this again next weekend.

 

[faithVA]

Yesterday's trial seemed to work out pretty well. My hair felt fairly soft while it was twisted. And when I took out the flat twist it was shiny, well defined and separately easily except for the ends that still have splits. I am just clipping splits as I run across them.

I think the side where I applied the oil before the leave-in feels slightly better than the side the leave-in, oil side. It is only slightly though. I will try it again on next wash day to compare it over several weeks.

My hair seems to respond better when I spritz with water before/after applying oil or cream.

I will use yesterday's styling regimen as my base for 2014. Tonight I am going to try to set a base for moisturizing and sealing my hair mid-week.

 

[BranwenRosewood]

faithVA

I'm in since I can't decide what I should be doing to my hair. I have a lot of things I need to test. I'll be back to post details later.

 

[alanaturelle]

Yesterday, I took the braids down and bunned my hair. Tonight, I'll moisturize and seal with water and coconut oil.

 

[snoop]

My hair seems to respond better when I spritz with water before/after applying oil or cream.

Spritzing after sounds like a good idea! I think I'll try it.

 

[CodeRed]

Natural - Relaxed – Texturized/Texlaxed - Transitioning: Relaxed
Current Length: Shoulder, but thin in the back due excessive hair fall (stress)
Current Products: As of right now (today):

CLEAR Shampoo

Rice Bran/Grapeseed oil w/MSM

Tea Spray

Hydrolyzed Collagen/Silk Amino Acid spray

SheScentIt Okra Reconstructor

Hydroquench Systems Peppermint Deep Conditioner

Aussie Moist Conditioner

I different brands of each kind of product so I'll be switching them out as they are used up.

Current Techniques:

Sunday:

Part1:
Shampoo
ACV rinse
Apply oil mix to scalp only
Tea blend spray
HC/SAA spray
Apply SSI Okra Reconstructor
All under heat for about 1 hour and rinse

Part 2:
Tea spray
Mix oil mix with dc
Sit under heat for about an hour and rinse
Condtioner wash extra oil out
Follow with tea spray and leave in detangler
Blow dry

Tuesdays and Thursdays:

Shampoo
Tea spray
Apply oil mix/dc
Sit under dryer for about 1 hour, rinse
Conditioner wash extra oil out
Apply tea spray and leave in spray
Blowdry

What in your regimen are trying to nail: I actually just started this regimen about a month ago and it's been working really great. I just want to get the products down and study the ingredients my hair likes the absolute most so that I can make my own, ultimate products customized to my own hair.

What's your starting strategy: Test out all products/ingredients by themselves (nothing added, nothing underneath, just product on clean hair) to see how they work in comparison to other products I've used. Then I can see what is different/similar in the things my hair likes so I know what to look for/avoid. I think know, but it never hurts to make sure.

Anything else you want to share: I hope by the end of this year I'll not have to buy anyone's products, with the exception of chelating shampoo. I'm not touching that one lol.

 

[faithVA]

Tonight I put CD Hair Milk on Dry hair, used hazelnut oil on the ends, spritzed with water and worked it in. CD products tend to be quite greasy on my hair. Hopefully spritzing afterwords and smoothing it in will cut out some of the greasiness. Will see tomorrow.

I think apply something like the hair milk every night may be too much for my hair. I will try diluting it 50/50 and applying it that way to see how it works.

In the future I may try instead of LOC on shampoo day, adding oil to a cream or hair milk and use that instead of a separate O and C step.

 

[Beany]

Here's what I did with my hair today

Cowash with AIA coconut Cowash
DC with steam with yes to carrots, YAM, olive oil, CO, cacao bark, and silk and honey latte (I let the DC sit for several hours too)
After rinsing, I applied hair dew diluted with water and grapeseed oil as my leave in
I also sprayed each section with coconut and hibiscus moisture mist
Twist and curl with java bean and honey hair balm (I forgot how soft this balm is, great consistency)

Now I'm sitting under the dryer for an hour

Will report how my hair feels tomorrow evening when I take it down

Eta: oiled my scalp with njoi ayurvedic oil

 

[alanaturelle]

This week, I'll apply henna and indigo to cover the grays that I have. I've done it last year but not on a regular basis. This year, I'll be doing it every two months.

 

[uofmpanther]

Natural - Relaxed – Texturized/Texlaxed - Transitioning: Relaxed
Current Length: Shoulder, but thin in the back due excessive hair fall (stress)
Current Products: As of right now (today):

CLEAR Shampoo

Rice Bran/Grapeseed oil w/MSM

Tea Spray

Hydrolyzed Collagen/Silk Amino Acid spray

SheScentIt Okra Reconstructor

Hydroquench Systems Peppermint Deep Conditioner

Aussie Moist Conditioner

I different brands of each kind of product so I'll be switching them out as they are used up.

Current Techniques:

Sunday:

Part1:
Shampoo
ACV rinse
Apply oil mix to scalp only
Tea blend spray
HC/SAA spray
Apply SSI Okra Reconstructor
All under heat for about 1 hour and rinse

Part 2:
Tea spray
Mix oil mix with dc
Sit under heat for about an hour and rinse
Condtioner wash extra oil out
Follow with tea spray and leave in detangler
Blow dry

Tuesdays and Thursdays:

Shampoo
Tea spray
Apply oil mix/dc
Sit under dryer for about 1 hour, rinse
Conditioner wash extra oil out
Apply tea spray and leave in spray
Blowdry

What in your regimen are trying to nail: I actually just started this regimen about a month ago and it's been working really great. I just want to get the products down and study the ingredients my hair likes the absolute most so that I can make my own, ultimate products customized to my own hair.

What's your starting strategy: Test out all products/ingredients by themselves (nothing added, nothing underneath, just product on clean hair) to see how they work in comparison to other products I've used. Then I can see what is different/similar in the things my hair likes so I know what to look for/avoid. I think know, but it never hurts to make sure.

Anything else you want to share: I hope by the end of this year I'll not have to buy anyone's products, with the exception of chelating shampoo. I'm not touching that one lol.

This sounds great. Where do you get your Hydrolyzed Collagen & Silk Amino Acid? I'm trying to give my hair more strengthening treatments

 

[CodeRed]

This sounds great. Where do you get your Hydrolyzed Collagen & Silk Amino Acid? I'm trying to give my hair more strengthening treatments

uofmpanther

I got the hydrolyzed collagen from iHerb (it's the only place I could find it) and the SAA's from LotionCrafter. I'm currently looking for a possible cheaper place, but not sure I'll find one... I will say that the SAAs may strengthen as a lighter protein (my hair didn't get hard when spraying them directly by themselvers) but I added the collagen and it gave my hair a more stiff feel.

 

[Muse]

What's your starting strategy: Test out all products/ingredients by themselves (nothing added, nothing underneath, just product on clean hair) to see how they work in comparison to other products I've used. Then I can see what is different/similar in the things my hair likes so I know what to look for/avoid. I think know, but it never hurts to make sure.

Good idea!

 

[Beany]

So I took my twists down several hours ago, my hair was/is soft, but greasy. I'm heavy handed and need to work on that

 

[sissimpson]

I just realized that I'm very heavy handed too! Instead of nearly saturating each twist with my leave-in, yesterday I just applied a few squirts to my whole head. Much more satisfied with the results!

 

[natural2008]

So I took my twists down several hours ago, my hair was/is soft, but greasy. I'm heavy handed and need to work on that

The exact same thing happened to me. Idk y I am heavy with my hands and products. I need to work on this.

 

[lamaria211]

This is the challenge that I need if you ladies will have me. Here are my stats.
My regimen for the new year is:
Wash and DC weekly
Clarify monthly
Every other week alternate with a sulfate free poo and the other week a sulfate poo.
Protein (using Mizani Kerafuse) every 5-6 weeks.
Moisturize and seal daily
USE UP MY PRODUCTS!!!
try and stick to 2-3 product lines.. I have in mind Mizani, Keracare and BeeMine.
PS more often.
Texlax every 3 months. Trim with every other TU
I wish someone can come to my house and shoot me in the foot if I stray from my Reggie

 

[Nightingale]

Update after reassessing my goals, trying a few new products and getting a haircut:

Length: APL, transitioning

Current Products:
Poo- Essential Wholesale Sulfate Free Poo
RO Con- Suave Naturals Trop. Coconut
Moisturizing DC- ITDF Deep Conditioning Creme
Protein DC- ITDF Reconstructing Creme
Leave Ins- ITDF Conditioning Creme or ITDF Pampered H&F Lotion
Moisturizer- ITDF Pampered H&F Lotion
Oils- Castor Oil, Fractionated Coconut Oil
Gels- Ecostyler Olive, Salon Care Extra Firm
Styling Tools- "Curlformers" super long and wide, 1.5" satin foam rollers, 1" flexirods

What I'm trying to nail:
Finger Detangling
Curly and Wavy styles without direct heat
Moisturizing without reverting set hair
LCO, LOC, LC, or LO
henna, indigo routine

 

[BranwenRosewood]

Natural - Relaxed – Texturized/Texlaxed - Transitioning: Natural
Current Length: NL
Current Products:
Shampoo
ORS Creamy Aloe Shampoo
Nature's Gate Sulfate Free Shampoo
DC
Homemade DC's
Natty Moist
Natty Cupuace & Rhassoul
Leave-In/Moisturizers
Homemade Aloe Spray
Shi-Naturals Shea Butter Lotion
Oils/Butters
Natty Butter
LACE Amazon Butter
Shealoe Butter
Safflower Oil
various oils and butters I need to try on my hair
Other
Henna
Clays
Herbs
Ayurvedic powders
Phytokeratin
SAA
Honeyquat and honey powder

Current Techniques: Wash every Tuesday/Wednesday and Saturday. I do the basic shampoo, dc for and hour and lco method. Henna on Saturdays only. Sometimes I add a tea under my dc.

What in your regimen are trying to nail: I want to switch to mudwashing but I haven't gotten the chance to buy enough aloe to last me through the detox period. I need to test my teas as leave-ins and try out my oils and butter blends. I also want to try washing with Aritha and I need to test pre-oiling my hair.

What's your starting strategy: I will stick with my current reggie until 2/1/2014 so I can try some teas. I will be using Henna weekly for the next 8 weeks and then I will switch to bi-weekly. I'm trying to use up some Suave and Garnier condish I have to I will start mixing them with my Natty Moist and honey powder.

Anything else you want to share: I'm thinking about putting in braids and doing the Crown & Glory method but I'm going to make myself wait until March since I should know what regimen I want to stick to by then.

 

[faithVA]

Welcome ladies. Glad to have you.

 

[faithVA]

I will be moisturizing nightly while my hair is out. I will just use what is available and hopefully I will hit on something that works. I used CDs Hair Milk last night. It isn't magic but I figure as long as I am moisturizing I am at least doing some good.

I don't think straight water works for my hair. In January I am going to try to whip up a spritz with a lower ph than water to see if I can smooth out my cuticles and soften my hair a bit.

I also bought some ph strips to start testing the ph of my products.

 

[Angel of the North]

Natural - Relaxed – Texturized/Texlaxed - Transitioning: Relaxed
Current Length: Around BSL
Current Products:
shampoo
Bodyshop rain forest moisturising poo
Nothing But clarifying poo

Conditioners
Mizani supreme oil mask
Mizani supreme oil conditioner
AO HSR
Aphogee 2-min
ORS olive oil conditioner
Pure silk protein
V05
Treseme naturals

Styling products
Bee Mine lucious
Bee mine Deja's milk
carrot oil
avocado oil
hempseed oil
grapeseed oil
papaya oil
sunflower oil
various butters

protein treatments
Aphogee 2-step
Komaza protein hair strengthener

Current Techniques: I've been off my game for so long I'd only be lying

What in your regimen are trying to nail:

1) Products: I want to find easy to access products that work great for my hair and does not cost the earth, I want to add a couple of the aphogee products to my stash and would love to try Giovanni products and a couple of co cleansers and nail my staples

2) Simplify my regimen - still working on this although it has improved somewhat since 2009

3) I want to retain as much of my 0.5-1inch growth per month


4) Lock down healthy ends

5) Be consistent

What's your starting strategy:
In the colder months I want to try washing and DCing bi weekly which should help with keeping manipulation to a minimum - retention

Lose hair bands or keep them to a minimum - retention

Braid it up in the last month of my stretch - retention

summer months I'll be co washing 2x per week

Anything else you want to share: My natural hair loves and thrives on natural products, I don't feel the same about my relaxed hair, neither condition of my hair likes sulphates but my relaxed hair seems to like a little mineral oil/cone I do however have a preference for natural moisturisers for both my natural and relaxed hair

 

[alanaturelle]

I did an overnight prepoo with coconut milk and oil. This is my second time using that mix and I think that my hair actually likes it. This morning, I cowashed with Suave ocean breeze and applied Lush Caca Noir henna. I will wash it out and apply indigo which I'll leave in overnight and rinse it out tomorrow morning.

 

[snoop]

The exact same thing happened to me. Idk y I am heavy with my hands and products. I need to work on this.

Me too. I console myself with the thought that moisturized and greasy is better than dry and brittle.

The air in my house is extra dry for some reason. I was experimenting with moisturizing every other day. I think today is day 3 and to me my hair felt too dry. Going back to my daily moisturizing and sealing.