small TWEAKS for big RESULTS

[CurliDiva]

I think this is a slightly different kind of thread question/request. Please let me try to explain: I’m not a newbie looking for the basics. I’m not looking for advice to straighten, color, and even style my hair. I’m not a product junkie (well maybe a little) looking for the next “it” jar or bottle to buy.

I have discipline, a solid regimen and a set of core products that works. I have started and shared my encouragement in some popular challenges such as Braided Buddies, Water Works, and Wigs 2007.

So……… I want (or rather would like the help from my LHCF family) to fine-tune my hair JOURNEY for this "upper classmen" stage of my hair journey. I’ve been at this LHCF-inspired hair journey for 2 years now and it is working! Nothing is wrong -no dryness, shedding, etc.-, I'm just aggressive and always strive for "best practices" for the best results.

We all know the value of the basics of good hair care: Pre-poo, Con Washes, Deep Con, Moisture/Protein balance, Sealing ends, Protective styling, and the Baggie method. This is not a thread to debate any of the above.

I am looking for the small TWEAKS (to these or any other area of your hair routine or products) that yielded BIGGER results. Please share some of your hair Aha! Moments:

For example, not just that prefect blend of deep conditioners for your hair, but I want to learn about that small tweak [heating it for 20 seconds before applying] that made it penetrate twice as well.

Sorry for the long post, but I know there will have lots of GREAT IDEAS to share! I luv and thank all of my LHCF sisters whom are truly beautiful – inside and out!

 

[newflowers]

I think this is a great idea.

My small tweaks:

1. applying a protein after rinsing relaxer from hair
2. acv rinse after the first neutralizing shampoo to get to white suds immediately and have the assurance that the relax is gone and the pH is down.

These have been little additions to my relaxer routine that have made a major difference in the quality of the process and health of my hair.

3. Preshampoo (on dry hair) with conditioner and sit under the dryer for 15 minutes.

Doing this makes the pre conditioning treatment work significantly better than without heat.

 

[fluffylocks]

YAY! I've been thinking about how to word a thread like this....basically little tricks that have made a huge difference to your hair, that many people dont know about-Right?

Here are some small tweaks i've made during my journey that made a big deal of difference to my hair (but im sure everyone already knows these)

-Conditioning on dry hair, adding a hot towel seems to make my hair very soft as well
-Rinsing my hair with oil during the washing process
-At the end of my wash, rinsing my hair in cold cold cold water plus lemon juice, it really makes my hair feel much smoother & silkier

And a small tweak that has worked for me personally

-Shampooing with cream of nature shampoo AFTER i conditon, because no other conditoner detangles my hair

Small tweaks that i got from CandyC and are about to start
-Refredergate moisturizer
-Take vitamins w/warm water to help it absorb better

 

[ravenmerlita]

I'm so glad you started this thread. I have been thinking about this for a while. The small tweaks that work wonders for my hair:

1. Wetting the roller when roller setting. Can't remember who gave this tip but this has helped to keep my ends straight on the roller. Since my ends are flat and smooth when I take out a roller set now, it's easier to style (no tugging or pulling, the comb glides through and I don't feel the temptation to flat iron or blow dry them straight).
2. Leaving my deep conditioner on for 30 minutes or more with heat. An hour or more is better. When I leave the conditioner on longer, it's like my hair cuticle relaxes and my hair is easier to detangle and smoother.
3. Soaking up excess moisture with a towel before I put on conditioner.
4. Thoroughly wetting my hair and adding conditioner to the ends before I shampoo. There's less friction when I shampoo and the ends get less tangly.
5. Putting on a little piece of cloth to protect the top of my head when I go under the dryer.The airflow of my bonnet dryer would get the top of my hair dry and leave the bottom damp, eventually leading to some dryness and splits on the top. Now I've fixed that problem and my hair dries evenly.
6. Being mindful of the right side of my hair. This "tweak" might be a little silly but it works for me. My right side was shorter, dryer and had more splits until I realized that I treat the right side a little rough -- I am constantly on the phone on that side, sleep on that side and for some reason I was always putting conditioner or moisturizer in my left hand but not distributing evenly between my palns. So, there'd be enough conditioner/moisturizer in the palm of my left but only a little on the fingers on my right and less conditioner and moisturizer was getting on the right side. Maybe I'm thinking about this too much?

 

[sareca]

• Applying conditioner to dry hair then sitting under the dryer for 30 minutes (15 works pretty well too).
• Doing how oil treatments AFTER shampooing (I call them oil rinses).
• For a good Wash n Go, I just leave it alone until it's almost dry. It's really tempting to touch it.

 

[Evolving78]

towel blotting before adding conditioner to get rid of access water.
heating the olive oil before applying it to hair that has conditioner on it.
rinsing with luke warm water to seal moisture in instead of hot water.
picking my hair only when wet.
putting products on damp hair.

 

[TaraDyan]

Great thread idea, Curli. Here are a few mine:

• Putting my conditioner on my dry hair then sitting under the dryer for 30 minutes for a deep condition (I've been doing this one for about about 2 years now; can't rememeber where I learned it though)
• Heating up my hot oil treatment and putting it on my hair after I shampoo (this is a combination of Sareca's oil rinse and an old fashioned hot oil treatment)
• After rinsing my hair with warm water, I blast it with freezing cold water to seal the cuticle (learned about this lil' gem from Candy_C)
• Putting my moisturizer spray bottle in the fridge to make it cold (courtesy of Candy_C too)

 

[Tee]

• Always doing a final cold water rinse
• Adding oil to conditioners. I use Olive Oil 70% of the time. I have found using any oil that does not contain mineral oil works. (I just prefer Oil Olive.) I have been this for years with great results.
• Using the hot towel pre poo conditioning technique. Picked up this tip from Andre' Walker's book (Oprah's hair guru!).
• Conditioning Hair in Sections with an applicator brush. (Thanks SounternTease)

 

[SouthernTease]

Using (3) 10-15 minute intervals for intense deep conditioning...
(learned from Lisa Akbari)

• Part hair in four sections to apply DC evenly throughout hair
• Cover with plastic cap ( I use steam towel & dryer)
• Sit under dryer for 10-15 minutes
• Re-apply DC on ends, hairline, line of demarcation (most delicate areas)
• Sit under dryer AGAIN for ANOTHER 10-15 minutes
• Re-apply DC on delicate areas
• Sit under dryer for the last time for 10-15 minutes

This gives you 30-45 minutes total under the dryer...
I do this once/twice a week.

 

[Miss*Tress]

Use end papers for roller sets to get the ends smooth.

 

[ONAMSHN]

Using (3) 10-15 minute intervals for intense deep conditioning...
(learned from Lisa Akbari)

• Part hair in four sections to apply DC evenly throughout hair
• Cover with plastic cap ( I use steam towel & dryer)
• Sit under dryer for 10-15 minutes
• Re-apply DC on ends, hairline, line of demarcation (most delicate areas)
• Sit under dryer AGAIN for ANOTHER 10-15 minutes
• Re-apply DC on delicate areas
• Sit under dryer for the last time for 10-15 minutes

This gives you 30-45 minutes total under the dryer...
I do this once/twice a week.

I may give this a try; my hair is INSANELY dry!!!

 

[AtlantaJJ]

This is an EXCELLENT thread!! Can someone explain how to do the steam towel / dryer method? Is a plastic cap used? and then a hot wet towel under the dryer? Sorry if this is is a silly question but this is the first I've noticed the towel used together with the hair dryer.

ETA: Found my answer!! Thank you Macherieamour

 

[Hair Iam]

1)Every time I touch my head I use it as an opportunity to massage my scalp.
2)keeping ends bagged only with oils "moisture made them breakerplexed"
3)taking vits at night "my body absorbs them better".
4)praying for wisdom "as to , how to care for my hair, the Lord cares about my hair" .
5) less braid outs(lost more strands ) .. doing more 2 strand twisting(great protective style).
6)STOPPED TRIMMING>>>AFTER JULY2007..only dusting...once goal achieved(ARMPIT)will have proper trim....other wise I would never see any length.
Getting more rest at night & increased my protein intake.

 

[Angelicus]

1. Wetting the roller when roller setting. Can't remember who gave this tip but this has helped to keep my ends straight on the roller.

That was me. I make sure my hair is soaking wet when I am roller setting. I make sure my styling tools are too (rollers, combs). In fact, I keep a spray bottle with me full of distilled water just to keep everything wet.

In addition, I like to drape a damp towel over my hooded dryer while I am under it. It gives my hair moisture and retains the heat given by my dryer.

Another tip: Greens. Yep, I said it... Greens. Greens will prevent ANY flakes that you have in your hair. Eat em up, girlie! I know it sounds crazy but I haven't seen a flake since I started eating greens regularly.

Let's keep posting!

 

[ravenmerlita]

That was me.

Anky: I owe you a big THANK YOU!!!

 

[CurliDiva]

I think this is a great idea.

My small tweaks:

1. applying a protein after rinsing relaxer from hair
2. acv rinse after the first neutralizing shampoo to get to white suds immediately and have the assurance that the relax is gone and the pH is down.

These have been little additions to my relaxer routine that have made a major difference in the quality of the process and health of my hair.

3. Preshampoo (on dry hair) with conditioner and sit under the dryer for 15 minutes.

DOing this makes the pre conditioning treatment work sinificantly better than without heat.

Hi Newflowers,

I'm natural, but I will pass these tips onto my sister and neice who relax their hair!

Great tips!

 

[CurliDiva]

YAY! I've been thinking about how to word a thread like this....basically little tricks that have made a huge difference to your hair, that many people dont know about-Right?

Here are some small tweaks i've made during my journey that made a big deal of difference to my hair (but im sure everyone already knows these)

-Conditioning on dry hair, adding a hot towel seems to make my hair very soft as well
-Rinsing my hair with oil during the washing process
-At the end of my wash, rinsing my hair in cold cold cold water plus lemon juice, it really makes my hair feel much smoother & silkier

And a small tweak that has worked for me personally

-Shampooing with cream of nature shampoo AFTER i conditon, because no other conditoner detangles my hair

Small tweaks that i got from CandyC and are about to start
-Refredergate moisturizer
-Take vitamins w/warm water to help it absorb better

Exactly Fluffylocks!

This is not a "how-to" thread but rather a "how-to-it- BETTER" thread!

All of these bolded tips I plan to try! I'm curious about storing the moisturizer in the fridge? What the reasoning or purpose behind this practice?

 

[CurliDiva]

I'm so glad you started this thread. I have been thinking about this for a while. The small tweaks that work wonders for my hair:

1. Wetting the roller when roller setting. Can't remember who gave this tip but this has helped to keep my ends straight on the roller. Since my ends are flat and smooth when I take out a roller set now, it's easier to style (no tugging or pulling, the comb glides through and I don't feel the temptation to flat iron or blow dry them straight).
2. Leaving my deep conditioner on for 30 minutes or more with heat. An hour or more is better. When I leave the conditioner on longer, it's like my hair cuticle relaxes and my hair is easier to detangle and smoother.
3. Soaking up excess moisture with a towel before I put on conditioner.
4. Thoroughly wetting my hair and adding conditioner to the ends before I shampoo. There's less friction when I shampoo and the ends get less tangly.
5. Putting on a little piece of cloth to protect the top of my head when I go under the dryer.The airflow of my bonnet dryer would get the top of my hair dry and leave the bottom damp, eventually leading to some dryness and splits on the top. Now I've fixed that problem and my hair dries evenly.
6. Being mindful of the right side of my hair. This "tweak" might be a little silly but it works for me. My right side was shorter, dryer and had more splits until I realized that I treat the right side a little rough -- I am constantly on the phone on that side, sleep on that side and for some reason I was always putting conditioner or moisturizer in my left hand but not distributing evenly between my palns. So, there'd be enough conditioner/moisturizer in the palm of my left but only a little on the fingers on my right and less conditioner and moisturizer was getting on the right side. Maybe I'm thinking about this too much?

Wow Ravenmerlita - these are great tweaks!

Each make prefect sense and I can see how each would make a big difference in your hair!

I'm going to try number 4 and number 6!

Thanks Curli

 

[Eiano]

Husband gone for a few days?
Plan on spending the weekend at home?
Try baggying your ends with some moisturizer and oil for those days, remove and WATCH OUT NOW! Soft, silky ends.

 

[CurliDiva]

• Applying conditioner to dry hair then sitting under the dryer for 30 minutes (15 works pretty well too).
• Doing how oil treatments AFTER shampooing (I call them oil rinses).
• For a good Wash n Go, I just leave it alone until it's almost dry. It's really tempting to touch it.

Hey Sareca!

Your beautiful hair is prove enough for me! I had already put oil rinses on my list of tweaks to try, after reading your huge thread!

Keep us posted on your great process....CD

 

[CurliDiva]

towel blotting before adding conditioner to get rid of access water.
heating the olive oil before applying it to hair that has conditioner on it.
rinsing with luke warm water to seal moisture in instead of hot water.
picking my hair only when wet.
putting products on damp hair.

Hey Shortdub78!

Great ideas - Do you use the heated olive oil as a "deep conditioner" (meaning that you rinse it out afterwards) or do you use it to seal in your conditioner as a leave-in treatment?

p.s. you doggie is cute!

 

[CurliDiva]

Great thread idea, Curli. Here are a few mine:

• Putting my conditioner on my dry hair then sitting under the dryer for 30 minutes for a deep condition (I've been doing this one for about about 2 years now; can't rememeber where I learned it though)
• Heating up my hot oil treatment and putting it on my hair after I shampoo (this is a combination of Sareca's oil rinse and an old fashioned hot oil treatment)
• After rinsing my hair with warm water, I blast it with freezing cold water to seal the cuticle (learned about this lil' gem from Candy_C)
• Putting my moisturizer spray bottle in the fridge to make it cold (courtesy of Candy_C too)

Hi Hair buddy!

All of these sound great - I already heat my oils before applying. Candy C is one of our "elders" only in the "hair guru" (not age) sense of the word!

One question - why is it better for your moisturizers to be cold? I'm confused by that tip.

Happy growing, Curli!

 

[CurliDiva]

• Always doing a final cold water rinse
• Adding oil to conditioners. I use Olive Oil 70% of the time. I have found using any oil that does not contain mineral oil works. (I just prefer Oil Olive.) I have been this for years with great results.
• Using the hot towel pre poo conditioning technique. Picked up this tip from Andre' Walker's book (Oprah's hair guru!).
• Conditioning Hair in Sections with an applicator brush. (Thanks SounternTresses)

Hi Letitia!

I saw a big IMPROVEMENT after I started adding oils to my conditioners. When I first joined the board I can't understand why people mixed so many thing together - I just wanted to buy a product, use as directed, but for OUR hair sometimes we need to do more than "as directed" to get GREAT results!

I'm full of questions tonight - how do you easily heat up your towel? with tap water or the microwave?

Your hair is beautiful!

Thanks, Curli D

 

[CurliDiva]

Using (3) 10-15 minute intervals for intense deep conditioning...
(learned from Lisa Akbari)

• Part hair in four sections to apply DC evenly throughout hair
• Cover with plastic cap ( I use steam towel & dryer)
• Sit under dryer for 10-15 minutes
• Re-apply DC on ends, hairline, line of demarcation (most delicate areas)
• Sit under dryer AGAIN for ANOTHER 10-15 minutes
• Re-apply DC on delicate areas
• Sit under dryer for the last time for 10-15 minutes

This gives you 30-45 minutes total under the dryer...
I do this once/twice a week.

Hey SouthernTease!

I predict that you are a future BOM in the making - keep up the good work!

I read about this, but never tried - the idea is that your hair will absorb more conditioner than in just ONE marathon dryer session by letting it heat up and then cool repeatly.

I read that AA hair must be heated to get the full benefit of a deep conditioner - body heat only will not cut it for us.

Great tweak! Curli

 

[CurliDiva]

1)Every time I touch my head I use it as an opportunity to massage my scalp.
2)keeping ends bagged only with oils "moisture made them breakerplexed"
3)taking vits at night "my body absorbs them better".
4)praying for wisdom "as to , how to care for my hair, the Lord cares about my hair" .
5) less braid outs(lost more strands ) .. doing more 2 strand twisting(great protective style).
6)STOPPED TRIMMING>>>AFTER JULY2007..only dusting...once goal achieved(ARMPIT)will have proper trim....other wise I would never see any length.
Getting more rest at night & increased my protein intake.

Thanks Hair Iam!

I love all of your tips - I also am working on being patient (but not lazy) about my hair journey!

I discovered that as long as I don't get in its way - hair is going to grow!

 

[Tee]

Hi Letitia!

I saw a big IMPROVEMENT after I started adding oils to my conditioners. When I first joined the board I can't understand why people mixed so many thing together - I just wanted to buy a product, use as directed, but for OUR hair sometimes we need to do more than "as directed" to get GREAT results!

I'm full of questions tonight - how do you easily heat up your towel? with tap water or the microwave?

Your hair is beautiful!

Thanks, Curli D

Thanks lady.

After I set a towel on fire in the microwave, (yes i did ) I boil water in in my tea kettle and use boiling hot water. I then get the DH to squeeze it out and BINGO, I am business!

Thanks for starting this great thread!!!

 

[CurliDiva]

Thanks lady.

After I set a towel on fire in the microwave, (yes i did ) I boil water in in my tea kettle and use boiling hot water. I then get the DH to squeeze it out and BINGO, I am business!

Thanks for starting this great thread!!!

............. once any of my smoke alarms goes off my security company call the fire department before they call me (this happened once while changing the batteries and I had 2 trucks blocking my street in less than 4 minutes)... so a sista needs that tip about the tea kettle!

 

[newflowers]

Hi Newflowers,

I'm natural, but I will pass these tips onto my sister and neice who relax their hair!

Great tips!

I think they will really love the results if they give the tips a try. My sister who also erlaxes thought I was out of my mind when I told her, but she tried it once and was completely sold. Of course, these are tips I gleaned from the lovely LHCF ladies, especially Arcadian, Sareca, and HoneyDew. I have the best hair of my life as a result of my participation in this forum.

Thanks for such a great thread - I am learning lots.

 

[Tee]

............. once any of my smoke alarms goes off my security company call the fire department before they call me (this happened once while changing the batteries and I had 2 trucks blocking my street in less than 4 minutes)... so a sista needs that tip about the tea kettle!

giggles. yw lady.

 

[Brownie518]

Adding oils to my conditioners
Applying conditioner to dry hair
Overnight oil prepoos
Adding Silk Peptide Powder to conditioners
Adding oat and wheat proteins to conditioners
Adding oil and neutral protein filler to relaxer