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Nail Your Regimen Challenge 2016

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I finally found a summer routine that worked for me. (Daily cowashing and wet bunning) But now it's time to get my fall/winter routine together. I honestly need to get my whole body regimen together. I'm trying to gain 5-6 inches for the last 4 months of the year. I'm back to my protective styling from August-April.

I'm going to make 3 crochet wigs and then buy 3 others. If I can gain 10-12 inches in those 8 months I'll have achieved my hair goals and will be in maintenance mode.

Tentative Fall/Winter Regimen:
-Rotate clay washing, cowashing and shampooing every 10-14 days depending on schedule
-Protein treatment after every wash
-Deep condition after every wash
-Moisturize, seal and put hair into 2 strand or flat twists
-Spray nightly with a refresher spray or tea mix
-Seal ends with oil nightly
-Wear wigs daily, taking wigs off at night to let hair and scalp breathe
-Nightly scalp massages
-Inversion method consistency
-Be consistent with vitamins
-Keep a journal of everything I do to my hair. (w/pics)
-No length checks until April.

I'll also increase water consumption, try to eat clean and exercise for hair health.
 
YvetteWithJoy said:
Yes . . . I only wear wash and go's. I tried wearing two strand twists, but unless I retwist at night, they turn into wash and go -looking styles in 2-3 days. Not worth all the mechanical manipulation, IMO. I wore crochet braid installs for a long time. Then I realized that I wasn't learning how to do my natural hair because it was always hidden away.
Click to expand...

This could be me word for word:yep:
 
faithVA said:
When you do the water only rinse on your short wash days, what do you put on your hair prior to the gel?.
Click to expand...

@faithVA,

Such a helpful post! Many thanks!

To answer your question, on the short water only wash day, under the gel I use Oyin Hair Dew now. I used to use KCKT, but Oyin Hair Dew is much, much better for me.
 
snoop said:
I will second the Komaza protein treatment. My hair is normal/high. I haven't tried Aphogee, but I like this stuff.


@faithVA what pomades do you like? I've never tried any. I agree that I need to either use a light oil or nothing to seal. I stopped using butters because they were too heavy for my hair.

@YvetteWithJoy do you snip out the whole knot/tangle or do you try to untangle as many strands as possible first? Is it possible to wear another style like a bun so that your ends are not always out?
Click to expand...
Right now I'm using Karen Body Beautiful. It on clearance at Target. I doubt I would pay full price for it. I used to use a balm but I can't think of the name of the brand.

Not sure what I will use long term but I will be looking for something that is the consistency of the KBB. It's like a grease but much softer and easily melts in the hand.
 
snoop said:
I will second the Komaza protein treatment. My hair is normal/high. I haven't tried Aphogee, but I like this stuff.


@faithVA what pomades do you like? I've never tried any. I agree that I need to either use a light oil or nothing to seal. I stopped using butters because they were too heavy for my hair.

@YvetteWithJoy do you snip out the whole knot/tangle or do you try to untangle as many strands as possible first? Is it possible to wear another style like a bun so that your ends are not always out?
Click to expand...

I save as many strands as possible before snipping. It is such a long process, and snipping feels sad sometimes.

My hair is not long enough for a bun yet! I hope I get there sooner than later. :)
 
NOTES for my REGIMEN RECORD:

I'm feeling an ever so slight bit of hair care fatigue at the moment. Perhaps a little to much trialing and error-ring this week. ;)

What I learned about my regimen THIS week:
  1. COMPLETELY UNEXPECTED: The DevaCurl Ultra Defining Gel (that came with the DevaCurl Decadence kit I purchased from Ulta two weeks before my visit with highly-rated stylist Angela) . . . gave me the best at-home wash-and-wear I'd achieved to date! So glad someone inadvertently inspired me to revisit it. All I did before gelling was to cowash and lightly finger detangle with SM's Hipo Masque and layer Oyin Hair Dew beneath the gel. Unfortunately, the gel dried out the moist feeling of the Oyin. Next time I'll have to try sweet almond or avocado oil underneath it, too. Or perhaps over it. Or maybe Qhemet's Burdock Root Cream would help . . . or the Bekura Palm Tapioca. Regardless, another YouTuber using the gel concurred: It has a dry paper rough feel and needs SOMETHING.
  2. I really need to remember that my hair is FINE. I can't layer too many products. My hair feels a little "icky" right now because I got dryness-frustrated and so I over-layered and over-producted my hair. :yep:
  3. I have a hair twin here at the forum! Same everything! She uses Anabelle's Perfect Blends Hair Refresher as part of her LLOC method. I definitely want to look into it. :smile:
Overall, my hair looks better when my curls are very separated and light and spread out in a free and springy way, and I need to remember that I can't achieve that with tons of product in my dense yet fine-stranded head of hair.

Next wash and go I think I want to stick with what I already KNOW has worked and only fiddle with the parts of my regimen that haven't. I think I'll hone in on: my prepoo mix, the Naturalicious clay wash, the SM hipo masque, ______ (something to help with moisture such as avocado oil mixed with sweet almond oil???), Oyin Hair Dew, and the DevaCurl gel.

Future considerations AFTER I rest with my Qhemet and Bekura products for a while:
  • one of those treatments someone advised at the Hipo DC thread I created
  • one of those masks many are raving about here, from an online seller (I'll need to go back and look)
  • a Tree Naturals curling/moisturizing/holding product if I can find one
  • a Bee Mine curling/moisturizing/holding product if I can find one
  • making my own DIY Naturalicious clay wash/treatment
 
YvetteWithJoy said:
Which ones in particular, Faith? And are you hipo, lowpo, or midpo? :smile:
Click to expand...
I'm lowpo.

I prepooed with Trader Joes Nourish Spa. Washed with Crème of Nature. DCd with Naturelle Grows Herbal Blends. Used a mix of leave-ins including KCKT. I think the Naturelle Grow followed by the KCKT was too much. Too many humectants and my hair was just a mess.

I love the way they make my hair feel but they make my hair look like mush.
 
faithVA said:
I'm lowpo.

I prepooed with Trader Joes Nourish Spa. Washed with Crème of Nature. DCd with Naturelle Grows Herbal Blends. Used a mix of leave-ins including KCKT. I think the Naturelle Grow followed by the KCKT was too much. Too many humectants and my hair was just a mess.

I love the way they make my hair feel but they make my hair look like mush.
Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing. "Misery" loves company. Now, I feel less alone about over-layering products in my hair today. I hate that I'm going to have to poo all of this product out, but oh, well. Such is the life of a natural developing her hair regimen. Hugs!
 
It's officially time for me to start working on my fall regimen. I know it's still summer but I start my last year of nursing school in September and I'm going to be too busy to spend weeks trying to work out a regimen. I'm using this month to play with product combinations for maximum moisture retention and getting wash day down to 1.5 hours.

I still haven't made either of my crochet wigs. I'll probably start that sometime this week. I'm not wearing them yet but I do want both done before September 1st.

My new wash day will be Thursday so until then I'll only moisturize and seal. Thursday, after I do a full wash routine, I'll do 2 flat twists and wear those hopefully until next Thursday.
 
I redid my hair last night. It looks better. Decided I'm going to confine the products I'm trying to use up to my midweek wash and use the new TGIN line for my regular wash day.

I think one of the problems with the extra humectants is it causes water to see on my strands too long. That would work better on days when I'm not rushing and can let my hair dry a bit more. I will try it out this week to see.
 
:pulpdance::cup::bighug:​
I figured out some regimen-related stuff today! Yay, me! Gooooooo, me! :laugh:

Styling:
I twisted my hair and let it dry a bit. Section by section I untwisted and then added my wash-and-go stylers to stretched-out damp here. Yessssssss! This is MUUUUUUUUUUUCH better a technique for me. Hair is "unfurled" in all places (not furling under in certain places). Hair is definitely more elongated. I was able to saturate all stretched strands using a LCOG method (leave-in conditioner, cream, oil, and gel). In the future, I will simplify that layering. How, I'm not yet sure.

Detangling:
It went so well today! I figured out how to use the Wet Brush (official one, purchased from Target), and it was ah-mazing!!!

DETANGLING DETAILS/NOTES:
My hair was saturated with DevaCurl Decadence One Condition, SM's Hipo Masque, and avocado oil. I grabbed a section of hair, and did quick finger detangling by elongating and unfurling my hair and using the harp method to pull the strands apart. I did not do this painstakingly, but kind of like for just a "first detangling pass." I then placed the Wet Brush into the strands about 1/2 an inch from the ends, gently rocked the Wet Brush back and forth until it began to detangle the ends of that section of hair. I kept doing so, gently, subsequently starting the brush a little further up the section toward the root of my hair until the whole length of the section of hair could be brushed through.

LASTLY, I pulled my fingers down each strand to feel for tangles and knots. I untangled knots as best I could, saving as many strands as possible, and clipped out knots that I could not save. I twisted up each section as I moved onto the next. I rewet sections with water to "re-activate" the conditioning stuff in my hair before detangling a section -- as was needed.

REFLECTION: Hair was thoroughly detangled, and I could be confident about it. Even though it took me a bit of time today, I think a large part of it was that I was feeling my way through use of the Wet Brush. I think NEXT time I will be able to move faster. I was astonished: I've never really been able to brush my hair wet (for detangling) like I see in YouTube tutorials. Just wow! :thud: THERE WAS HARDLY ANY HAIR IN THE BRUSH AT ALL! Woot! :love3:

PERSONAL CAUTION: Some people refuse to comb or brush their natural hair. They feel that over time this is damaging, even if it doesn't seem so. They feel it thins out the hair over time. The process above used quite a few "passes" through the ends of the hair. I need to see if I can do fewer passes. However, I'm probably going to feel okay about passing a brush through my hair: For me, the benefits of not gelling tangled hair balances the risk of brushing the hair.
 
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YvetteWithJoy said:
:pulpdance::cup::bighug:​
I figured out some regimen-related stuff today! Yay, me! Gooooooo, me! :laugh:

Styling:
I twisted my hair and let it dry a bit. Section by section I untwisted and then added my wash-and-go stylers to stretched-out damp here. Yessssssss! This is MUUUUUUUUUUUCH better a technique for me. Hair is "unfurled" in all places (not furling under in certain places). Hair is definitely more elongated. I was able to saturate all stretched strands using a LCOG method (leave-in conditioner, cream, oil, and gel). In the future, I will simplify that layering. How, I'm not yet sure.

Detangling:
It went so well today! I figured out how to use the Wet Brush (official one, purchased from Target), and it was ah-mazing!!!

DETANGLING DETAILS/NOTES:
My hair was saturated with DevaCurl Decadence One Condition, SM's Hipo Masque, and avocado oil. I grabbed a section of hair, and did quick finger detangling by elongating and unfurling my hair and using the harp method to pull the strands apart. I did not do this painstakingly, but kind of like for just a "first detangling pass." I then placed the Wet Brush into the strands about 1/2 an inch from the ends, gently rocked the Wet Brush back and forth until it began to detangle the ends of that section of hair. I kept doing so, gently, subsequently starting the brush a little further up the section toward the root of my hair until the whole length of the section of hair could be brushed through.

LASTLY, I pulled my fingers down each strand to feel for tangles and knots. I untangled knots as best I could, saving as many strands as possible, and clipped out knots that I could not save. I twisted up each section as I moved onto the next. I rewet sections with water to "re-activate" the conditioning stuff in my hair before detangling a section -- as was needed.

REFLECTION: Hair was thoroughly detangled, and I could be confident about it. Even though it took me a bit of time today, I think a large part of it was that I was feeling my way through use of the Wet Brush. I think NEXT time I will be able to move faster. I was astonished: I've never really been able to brush my hair wet (for detangling) like I see in YouTube tutorials. Just wow! :thud: THERE WAS HARDLY ANY HAIR IN THE BRUSH AT ALL! Woot! :love3:

PERSONAL CAUTION: Some people refuse to comb or brush their natural hair. They feel that over time this is damaging, even if it doesn't seem so. They feel it thins out the hair over time. The process above used quite a few "passes" through the ends of the hair. I need to see if I can do fewer passes. However, I'm probably going to feel okay about passing a brush through my hair: For me, the benefits of not gelling tangled hair balances the risk of brushing the hair.
Click to expand...
Yay, I'm glad you figured some stuff out
 
THOUGHT: How streamlined can I get the different number of brands I use?

REFLECTION: What are the necessary steps in my regimen (which must focus on hydration/moisturization and prevention and removal of knots and tangles)?

I think these steps are necessary for my hair care regimen:
  1. Chelating and/or clarifying so that my products have full effect (once a month)
  2. Deep conditioning for moisture every other week
  3. Deep conditioning for protein every other week
  4. Prepooing with coconut oil or coconut-oil-containing mix every other week to protect against hygral fatigue (on the long wash day)
  5. Cleansing and/or detoxifying (every wash day, Sundays and Wednesdays)
  6. Conditioning and beginning finger detangling (every wash day, Sundays and Wednesdays)
  7. Full detangling, including cutting unresolvable knots (every wash day, Sundays and Wednesdays)
  8. Moisturizing (every wash day, Sundays and Wednesdays)
  9. Styling (every day)
  10. Sealing in moisture and/or add shine (every wash day, Sundays and Wednesdays)
  11. Protecting hair and prevent tangles at night (every night)
  12. Refreshing hair style (every non-wash day)
This drives my product and tool usage, trialing, and purchasing. So far I think ONE configuration of a workable minimized number of brands could happen with these 5 brands: Kinky Curly (Come Clean; Knot Today), Naturalicious (clay wash until I learn to make my own); Shea Moisture's High Porosity line (Masque, Gel, Elixir), NaturelleGrow deep conditioners, and Oyin Handmade (Greg Juice, or Juices and Berries; Hair Dew). I'm sure there are other possible brand combos that are simple, too, if not simpler. (The CRN brand looks excellent, for example, as does Bekura and Tree Naturals.)

Other: I will try adding henna treatments because it may strengthen my hair and help hugely with tangling. Very much worth a go. Not sure how often I'll end up doing henna treatments, should I like it.
 
(Link to anti-shrinkage wash-and-go method blog post included in the pic: http://bit.ly/1qMnrP6)

This is the wash-and-wear plan for the next wash day.
  • Clay that cleanses (and detoxes), conditions, moisturizes, and facilitates first-pass (finger) detangling
  • Spray that is a moisturizing leave-in that is VERY light
  • Detangler on ends only
  • Moisturizer
  • Gel that seals
  • Finisher that seals and adds shine

Improvement goals: More and longer-lasting moisture; layering just the right number and amount of products so that the hair is moisturized and defined yet is light and separated and elongated; a quicker process than last time. ;)

upload_2016-8-3_3-6-44.png
 
YvetteWithJoy said:
(Link to anti-shrinkage wash-and-go method blog post included in the pic: http://bit.ly/1qMnrP6)

This is the wash-and-wear plan for the next wash day.
  • Clay that cleanses (and detoxes), conditions, moisturizes, and facilitates first-pass (finger) detangling
  • Spray that is a moisturizing leave-in that is VERY light
  • Detangler on ends only
  • Moisturizer
  • Gel that seals
  • Finisher that seals and adds shine

Improvement goals: More and longer-lasting moisture; layering just the right number and amount of products so that the hair is moisturized and defined yet is light and separated and elongated; a quicker process than last time. ;)

View attachment 369219
Click to expand...

Update:
This plan/strategy worked VERY, VERY well until I applied the gel. I loved EVERY step! Then the gel sucked ALL the moisture out of my hair. It was so weird to have a wonderfully moisturized-feeling section of hair in hand, apply the gel, and then feel zero moisture in that section.

The hair LOOKED good for about an hour. ;) Then we got shrinkage and dryness.

I'll try removing a step or two and applying some Oyin pomade some time before the gel, as I was advised to try.

If that doesn't work, then I've decided to stop with the gel for a bit and try swapping out that part of my regimen with a creme or pomade or wax or something. Promising options I could trial include: (1) Bekura Palm Tapioca, (2) one of the Komaza puddings (though sadly they've changed their winning formulas), (3) The Original Moxie Shape Shifter, (4) Bee Mine Bee Hold ___, (5) Tree Naturals Whipped Curl Creme, (6) the Obia Custard, (7) Design Essentials Honey Custard, and a few others. That's a lot of options. I'll have to trial things strategically and remember to keep a fun attitude about it all.

I'll also need to keep notes and pics so I can actually remember and determine what works. I'll try to remember to update my regimen here as I'm trialing products.
 
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YvetteWithJoy said:
Update:
This plan/strategy worked VERY, VERY well until I applied the gel. I loved EVERY step! Then the gel sucked ALL the moisture out of my hair. It was so weird to have a wonderfully moisturized-feeling section of hair in hand, apply the gel, and then feel zero moisture in that section.

The hair LOOKED good for about an hour. ;) Then we got shrinkage and dryness.

I'll try removing a step or two and applying some Oyin pomade some time before the gel, as I was advised to try.

If that doesn't work, then I've decided to stop with the gel for a bit and try swapping out that part of my regimen with a creme or pomade or wax or something. Promising options I could trial include: (1) Bekura Palm Tapioca, (2) one of the Komaza puddings (though sadly they've changed their winning formulas), (3) The Original Moxie Shape Shifter, (4) Bee Mine Bee Hold ___, (5) Tree Naturals Whipped Curl Creme, (6) the Obia Custard, (7) Design Essentials Honey Custard, and a few others. That's a lot of options. I'll have to trial things strategically and remember to keep a fun attitude about it all.

I'll also need to keep notes and pics so I can actually remember and determine what works. I'll try to remember to update my regimen here as I'm trialing products.
Click to expand...
Thank you for sharing your journey in such great detail. I'm enjoying following and hood to learn something. I wish I could help you but I'm still figuring out stuff myself.
 
Since I've stopped coloring my hair for a while I've added mid-week washes back to the mix. When I took my hair down it felt so good I thought about skipping it and just applying a leave in and twisting it back up. But I pushed ahead.

I cowashed with Trader Joe's Nourish Spa and used kknt on wet hair as my leave in. I put in bantu knots and let my hair sit for a while. Took the bantu knots out and let my hair air dry a bit. I think this airdrying is crucial to styling my hair. Too much water on my hair just makes my hair look messy when styling.

After this step my hair felt so soft and moisturized and it wasn't tangling. I used the KBB butter on each section and twisted up with kccc. I'm never sure weather to use a cream, oil or pomade after my leave in but I'm leaning towards a cream and then an oil or butter because the cream seems to make a better base.

We shall see.
 
I am STRONGLY motivated to try something simpler next wash day! :smile: :yep:
(And next time I'm going EVEN simpler: Clay, SM Hipo Masque, detangler, and CRN Aloe Whipped [not-really-a-gel] Gel)

Thus, the plan for next wash day, as of today ;) is as follows:
  1. Cleanser: Naturalicious 5-in-1 clay/wash/detox/moisturizer/detangler . . . the plus = gives me elongation
  2. Conditioner: Shea Moisture's High Porosity Moisture-seal Masque . . . the plus = maintains elongation and helps maintain protein-moisture balance
  3. Leave-in: Oyin Handmade Frank and Juice . . . the plus = it's a spritz and will help seal in hydration yet keep my hair feeling light
  4. Detangler that doubles as a leave-in: Kinky Curly Knot Today
  5. Gel: Scrunch DevaCurl's Ultra Defining Gel (do not rake, brush through, etc.)
That's it, I think. I'll diffuse hair in pony tail puffs or in chunky twists for stretch and then call it a (wash) day.

Reflections:
  • Last wash day took 2 hours (the detangling took a while). I'm aiming for 1 hour and 30 minutes TOTAL. :strong: I can do it!
  • I am leaving out the Oyin Hair Dew, although it's awesomely moisturizing.
  • I am still using gel and this one in particular because it gave me my best at-home-styled hair this far on my natural hair journey. However, I still hope to trial eliminating gel once the custards, puddings, and other stylers I ordered arrive. The reason for trying eliminating gel is that the gel is just so drying. And I've tried many.
 
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So I need to work on keeping my hair from tangling and webbing. Over the next couple of months I'm going to focus on developing a detangling routine. This evening I rinsed my hair then covered it with conditioner and streamed it with heat for about 30 minutes. Then I detangled using a wide tooth comb. I found that the parts that were warm were a bit easier to detangle. After, I shampooed, finger detangled, and twisted my hair in the shower.

I plan on pressing my hair this week, but after will steam and detangle with a wide tooth comb each wash and see how my hair handles it.
 
I'm wondering if I need to use protein more often. I cowashed today with a quinoa protein conditioner. It's probably not a hard enough protein but since I have it on hand I will use it up. After I finish with it I may try Aphogee 2 minute and see how that goes.

I'm also wondering if I need to skip conditioning after shampooing and just use a leave-in or condition and skip the leave-in. Will have to experiment with those alternatives in the future.

I think I've decided for now to do leave-in, cream, pomade and gel verus leave-in, pomade, cream and gel. I think the cream gives a much better base for the pomade to hold onto when my hair is wet.
 
Important for me regarding regimen-nailing efforts:

I need to remember as I'm trialing products, product sequences, and techniques to be consistent in washing in warm/hot water and rinsing in cold/cool water. This is SUPER important, otherwise I won't really be looking at just how the product or technique works on my hair, but cuticle-opening and cuticle-closing will be a confounding factor in my experiments/trialing.



 
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Hmm!

I have tended to mix a lot of brands. Here is interesting information on pH, brand mixing, preferred ph sequencing in product usage, etc.

This may be effecting my regimen-nailing efforts. Natural hair: So much to consider! :smile:

Nutshell summary of the video: The pH from prepoo ---> shampoo --> conditioner should be decreasing, and this can matter more than you think because pH changes are logarithmic, e.g., a pH change from 4 to 5 is a 10-fold change in acidity. This matters for breakage, curl pattern, tangles, etc. Brands usually have their products go from higher pH to lower pH, as it should be. It's okay to mix brands, though, just pay attention to pH and try to have it go in descending order from prepoo to shampoo to conditioner. The video contains VERY helpful illustrations, images, and charts. The video shows the pH level of hair and water and common household products.

 
snoop said:
@faithVA

What makes you think you should skip the conditioner or skip the leave in?
Click to expand...

When I shampoo my hair looks so good and I have definition. When I condition my hair just poofed and I've tried tons of conditioners. As much as I want my hair to be soft I'm wondering if the conditioner plus a leave in is too much moisture.

I also don't really experience any noticeable benefit from doing both. I did use just a leave in for several months and I haven't noticed a difference.
 
It's been a while since I last posted in this thread. I feel like I have this regimen nailed down finally. My hair is soft, smooth and feels strong and well moisturized. I went back to my mid-week cowash and it makes a big difference.
 
I'm feeling good about my regimen and my hair so I'm going to graduate myself from this challenge and focus on my physical fitness and health.

Thank you so much for this thread and the feedback, inspiration, and encouragement!

Godspeed nailing your regimen, ladies!
 
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