Struggling with your natural hair? Come in here.....

[yuhlovevybz]

Graoeseed oil?

I can't see any mentions on my IPhone. PM me if it is a must see. Allons y

Haven't tried it but I'm sure it won't hurt. Is it lighter than sunflower oil? I tried that too because its high in ceramides but just like any other oil it coated my hair.

 

[HanaKuroi]

Strawberry Naturals

Water (Aqua), Cetyl Alcohol, Cetrimonium Chloride, Potassium Chloride, Fragrance (Parfum), Distearlydimonium Chloride, Disodium EDTA, 2-Bromo-2-Nitropropane-1, 3-Diol, Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E Acetate), Propylene Glycol, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Polysorbate 20, Methylisothiazolinone, Strawberry (Fragaria Vesca) Juice, D&C Red 33, D&C Orange 4 (Cl 15510).




Ingredients Tropical Coconut Conditioner

Water (Aqua), Cetyl Alcohol, Cetrimonium Chloride, Potassium Chloride, Fragrance (Parfum), Distearyldimonium Chloride, Disodium EDTA, Glycerin, 2-Bromo-2-Nitropropane-1,3-Diol, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone, Propylene Glycol,Trocopheryl Acetate [Vitamin E Acetate], Silk Amino Acids, Honey, Urtica Dioica (Nettle) Extract, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Extract, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Extract

I can't see any mentions on my IPhone. PM me if it is a must see. Allons y

 

[HanaKuroi]

I've been cowashing with just suave naturals (coconut, strawberry, wild cherry blossom, etc.), and using giovanni direct as a leave in. Then I use curls passionfruit pomade just on my edges to push them down. I recently added terresentials mudwash into the mix yesterday, but I still noticed the hairfall when I braided my hair last night.

I also wash occasionally with shea moisture (the one with the orange label) but only if I use an oil, they seem to coat my hair so I've been staying away from them lately.

My hair feels great but the hair on the floor is telling me otherwise.

Terressentials should be used once a month I think. I don't know. I don't use it often. faithVA uses it.

I can't see any mentions on my IPhone. PM me if it is a must see. Allons y

 

[faithVA]

Terressentials should be used once a month I think. I don't know. I don't use it often. faithVA uses it.

I can't see any mentions on my IPhone. PM me if it is a must see. Allons y

If she has a good shampoo already, once a month is good. It can be used weekly but it can be more cost effective to use another shampoo. I also use it in place of a clarifier and not like a regular shampoo.

As far as the Hair Mayo, I would say that it is not a hard protein. Find a reconstructor with keratin and try that since you are cowashing so often. Or try the Millcreek that HanaKuroi (?) is using.

 

[faithVA]

I'm officially tired of doing my hair. So in the next few weeks I will get some type of twist extensions.

 

[DarkJoy]

Oh wow. erplexed Well that would definitely explain it. I've been steering away from protein because I remember my hair hating it but if I DC afterwards forever it should be alright. Would hair mayo be considered a hard protein? I know I have some of that in the back of my closet.

I steered away too and had mush hair. I think HanaKuroi also had to up protein.

Mine hated it too. Turned out it was the type it hated. Found that it's ok with raw egg treatments and now keratin. So you might have to go back and see what kind messed you up in those products and avoid those particular proteins.

Looking at the list Hana posted, btw, there's only a little silk there. If your hair had been ok with that product, look for a protein treatment where silk is higher on the list.

Hth!

____________
*.~.*Sent from a distant Galaxy in the Unicorn-verse*.~.*

 

[HanaKuroi]

iirc that hair mayo has cones.

I can't see any mentions on my IPhone. PM me if it is a must see. Allons y

 

[Bublin]

I'd like to point out that everyone needs to know their porosity when building a regimen and buying products. Your texture is only half the story. Once you determine your porosity and take it seriously you'll stand a much better chance of improving the strength, feel and length of your hair.

What works for one person may not EVER work for you because your porosity is different.

 

[DarkJoy]

That is true Bublin.

This gets me to thinking--those of us who overload on either end quickly--normal to hi-po? I'm just about certain I'm slightly hi-po. Seems every 6 weeks I'm overloaded one way or the other. hmmm...

 

[faithVA]

That is true Bublin.

This gets me to thinking--those of us who overload on either end quickly--normal to hi-po? I'm just about certain I'm slightly hi-po. Seems every 6 weeks I'm overloaded one way or the other. hmmm...

Well low porosity can definitely overload on protein. It is rare to overload on moisture. But it can be done.

I think normal porosity would find it much easier to keep a balance between the two.

Since I'm not high porosity not sure how they work. I do think they tend to like more protein than low porosity.

No matter what you are doing though, when you start doing extra like cowashing frequently, DCing for hours at a time, baggying for hours at a time, you will need to adjust your protein.

LHCFers have some extre regimens which we think are normal

 

[Bublin]

That is true Bublin.

This gets me to thinking--those of us who overload on either end quickly--normal to hi-po? I'm just about certain I'm slightly hi-po. Seems every 6 weeks I'm overloaded one way or the other. hmmm...

DarkJoy If it takes you 6 weeks to get overloaded you are most certainly Hi Po. You've also mentioned that your hair airdries quickly which is another characteristic of Hi Po.
After 4 days i could really do with washing my hair - my cuticles are not just closed they have a padlock on them which means product is just sitting on top and spraying water is not going to help.

Today I washed and added my usual leave-in's but this time I didn't seal.
I twisted instead of braiding my damp hair and sat under the hooded dryer for 30 mins (it usually takes over 24hrs for my hair to dry - note closed cuticles). My hair is now fully dry and very soft - it usually dries as hard as nails. I don't need to seal.

Next time I'll add a drop of castile soap to my shampoo, apparently it will lift my cuticle slightly, enough for it to accept moisture before is closes up again....all on it's on

 

[Leslie_C]

So, this week Ive been wearing a wash n go with rave reviews from the work folks...I find it interesting that while Ive read most people get a lot of shrinkage from wash n gos the first day and their hair gets more stretch as the days go on....mine started with decent hang and has shrunken more and more each day. Anybody elses hair like that? I tried to do mini pineapples and fluff out but it wouldnt cooperate, so Ive ended up spraying it down and shaking it each day to revive the style. Any suggestions?

 

[DarkJoy]

IKR?! faithVA! 8 hours DC is NOT the business. I did 4 hrs a cpl weeks ago. Seemed cool at the time, but probably put me over the edge . Ooops! Just gonna stick to my regular 30min-1hr. You make me wonder if I'm cowashing too much! 2-3x a week? Maybe... but I LIKE it! Feels and smells gooooooood!

Ooo Bublin--24 hours to dry?!?!?! My goodness! Mine is literally be bone dry from towel dried in 30-45 min when loose unless it's wet-braided, which can take maybe 2-4 hours depending on braid thickness. 1.5 hrs to dry from soaking wet loose hair.

Glad this last wash seemed to do you well! Would love to hear how the castille works next time.

yes, overloading every 6 weeks or so. Mostly on moisture though it's been a close call with protein a couple times. Can't win for loosin'.

Leslie_C--Yes, my hair shrinks as the day goes on from a WNG. It's just my 4z hair. I have no advice how to keep it stretched looking besides braidouts, etc.
-----------------------------------------
OAN: She's accepted the Aphogee 2 min!!! Wooohoooo!!!! No breakage!!!! Tomorrow is wash day and I will use AO Swimmers Shampoo to both chelate and clarify ( a cone in Aphogee and just changed my water filter). Gonna do it quick and dirty. No time for drawn out reggis. Debating the need to use the Aphogee tomorrow.

 

[ronie]

I think i may have overmoisturized my hair. I always thought my hair is so thirsty i can never give it enough moisture. I have been playing with all these moisture rich products from DC to styling. I was like: wow this feels good, oh this feels even better, darn this is great too, and this morning i was moisturizing my hair, and it felt mushy. I did not think anything of it until i looked at my hands: covered with little pieces and medium length pieces of hair. I think i let out a scream. I mean all my fingers, my palm had hair on them.
I don't have the time or the energy to do a protein treatment today. I just wanted to retwist my hair and go to sleep (worked all night). So i went looking for my chi keratin mist (which was in the dumping box in a closet somewhere). Thank god i did not give it away or throw it away. I never hated it, but i felt like i did not need it. I sprayed each section with that, and twisted my hair. I still had breakage while twisting. I should have let my hair dry more maybe. I don't want to stress over it, but now i can't sleep.
Tomorrow i aam doing a spiral solutions protein treatment. Or should i do a liquid protein like emergencee? Liquid is supposed to be stronger if i remember correctly.

 

[ronie]

My hair also hates the Qhemets AOHC; and I immediately knew it would hate the Juices and Berries. Any product with glycerin high on the list is completely rejected by my hair-- no matter how I've tried to use it. Are you sure it's the aloe vera in these products-- they both have as much or more glycerin than anything I think.

virtuenow i've never used either product in the past. I have used many products with aloe vera, and i find i always end up with lots of breakage from dry, hard hair. For almost a year now i stopped using any products with aloe anything in it (except joico kpak chelating shampoo which i only use once a month, and i usually use another mositurizing shampoo after it so i don't mind). Since these 2 products have aloe vera, i was asking how i should proceed in using them. One just arrived yesterday, but i think i will return them.

 

[HanaKuroi]

DarkJoy I don't know if I would aphogee so soon. Why not a small section?

Too much of a good thing can be too much. I do understand why though. You are going to use that swimmers shampoo and you want your hair to be strong.

Are you buying the swimmers conditioner too? I heard that was good.

I can't see any mentions on my IPhone. PM me if it is a must see. Allons y

 

[HanaKuroi]

So, hair that dries fast is high porosity and hair that takes a while is low?

What if you live in a dry climate or a very humid climate?

I can't see any mentions on my IPhone. PM me if it is a must see. Allons y

 

[DarkJoy]

@HanaKuroi, you're right. No Aphogee today. I was just excited

As for porosity, my climate is dryish but that is an insanely fast amount of time to dry. It takes me half an hour to put it 10 fat twists. If I start just after a wash, my hair is already dry before I'm half finished. That's too damn fast. Also, it absorbs products too easily which is why I think everything makes me break.

Also, I literally put enough EVCO on at night to be almost dripping before twisting, wrap in satin for the night. I wake up and my hair is barely oily to the touch. I just started overdoing the oils and NOW my hair is finally happy. It soaks up a LOT.

@ronie--yea, sounds like classic overload! Time to hit the harder proteins!

 

[Bozcurls]

So, this week Ive been wearing a wash n go with rave reviews from the work folks...I find it interesting that while Ive read most people get a lot of shrinkage from wash n gos the first day and their hair gets more stretch as the days go on....mine started with decent hang and has shrunken more and more each day. Anybody elses hair like that? I tried to do mini pineapples and fluff out but it wouldnt cooperate, so Ive ended up spraying it down and shaking it each day to revive the style. Any suggestions?

Yes. Its because my hair is tangling. After two or three days I have to detangle no matter what. Air drying reduces tangling for me. But I won't be using my hair dryer much since the weather is warming.

 

[MileHighDiva]

Ladies,

Here's a video that gives three different ways to determine your hairs porosity. It's short and sweet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb2c5pfyd98

 

[BranwenRosewood]

Haven't tried it but I'm sure it won't hurt. Is it lighter than sunflower oil? I tried that too because its high in ceramides but just like any other oil it coated my hair.

I have problems with oil coating my hair too. I tried to prepoo with coconut oil once and my hair hated me for it. Some of us just can't use oils.

 

[ronie]

Ladies,

Here's a video that gives three different ways to determine your hairs porosity. It's short and sweet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb2c5pfyd98

I watched all 3 videos; they are so well made. Thanks for sharing.

 

[yuhlovevybz]

So yesterday I had to improvise since I have no protein treatments... tried using an egg and letting it sit for about an hour. My hair felt great after I rinsed it out, but today if felt wayyyy to moisturized, almost mushy. Yikes. So I dug around and found I had some RedKen protein treatment left and I have that in my hair now.

Soooo to avoid this in the future... do I need to cut down co-washing? I have absolutely no idea how else to style my hair, plus I prefer to wet my hair daily. Second day hair = no, no and no. Maybe just water rinsing would work? Or could I alternate a protein conditioner and moisturizing conditioner?

 

[HanaKuroi]

So yesterday I had to improvise since I have no protein treatments... tried using an egg and letting it sit for about an hour. My hair felt great after I rinsed it out, but today if felt wayyyy to moisturized, almost mushy. Yikes. So I dug around and found I had some RedKen protein treatment left and I have that in my hair now.

Soooo to avoid this in the future... do I need to cut down co-washing? I have absolutely no idea how else to style my hair, plus I prefer to wet my hair daily. Second day hair = no, no and no. Maybe just water rinsing would work? Or could I alternate a protein conditioner and moisturizing conditioner?

Can you spray/mist your hair instead of reapplying?

You know as your hair gets longer you might not be able to just cowash. You might need to start doing twist outs and braid outs with twist creams every few days.

I can't see any mentions on my IPhone. PM me if it is a must see. Allons y

 

[DarkJoy]

I had a horrible nightmare last night!

Dreamed I texlaxed on impulse I was so regretful in the dream and so freaked out and saying I'm too oooooold to do a long transition and chop again! Too oooold!

Well that dream came about because I was struggling last night. I will NEVER EVER make the mistake of just wearing an Afro puff again! During finger detangling, it just made more tangles and soon as left the section alone and moved on to the next. I had pre-pood with EVCO, which got absorbed. So then doused it with EVOO. Did ANOTHER detangling session and it just went the same.

So I just said *** it and washed and DC'd anyway. And after the DC and tea/oil rinse it was STILL tangled. But was easier so I did it as I twisted it up for the night. I will probably have to run a comb through it tonight before twisting.

I think my hair is too long now to wear a puff. It was no prob with a TWA but it's crossed some kind of threshold...

And yes, I lost a bit of hair--not a huge amount as I was gentle but enough to make me cringe.

I was tired the 2 nights before so just wet my hair, sealed and put on a band and drove to work. Usually I twist and wear twist outs.

 

[HanaKuroi]

Hair is still breaking. It's not breaking in the shower any more but it's allll over my bathroom floor. I never saw it before but I washed my rugs and haven't put them back down so now I see my hair fall. I still can't tell if its breaking or shedding but it looks like a combination. I've been very low manipulation so what the heck?

I cowash in the morning and again after I run after work. At night I put it into two French braids.

Heat breakage also occurs long after you stop using heat. It could be from previous heat use. That could be the cause for all those c's. Heat damage is sinister. It comes out of nowhere. It lies dormant or something.

I can't see any mentions on my IPhone. PM me if it is a must see. Allons y

 

[yuhlovevybz]

Heat breakage also occurs long after you stop using heat. It could be from previous heat use. That could be the cause for all those c's. Heat damage is sinister. It comes out of nowhere. It lies dormant or something.

I can't see any mentions on my IPhone. PM me if it is a must see. Allons y

That's not even fair! That means I'll have to stop using heat for a long time because I've been heat trained for so long.

As for the protein treatments, how do I know if it's working? My hair still felt mushy yesterday so I did another egg treatment....rinsed it out this morning.... my hair wasn't hard like I thought it would be. Now it's soft and very shiny, still considerably soft though but definitely not mushy. Do I need an even harder protein or does this mean I had serious moisture overload? Or my hair just eats protein?

 

[hnntrr]

I feel like I havn't seen my hair in years...but its only been about a week and a half. Aiming for at least another week.....I think thats only how long these are gonna last cause either my hair is growing...or these are seriously slipping. Eitherway, once they come out, doing a good protein treatment, moisturzing session and tea rinse for a few days and then reinstalling for another 2-3 weeks. 8 hours is a long install but 8 hours compared to the equivalent of 2-3 weeks of not doing my hair? Worth it.

 

[DarkJoy]

Agreed hnntrr! 'bout to put my hair up again this weekend, I think. Getting sick of it.

yuhlovevybz well at least the eggs are giving you shine ! Maybe try leaving it on longer or you could mix with full fat plain yogurt. Greek yogurt has the highest protein content of the yogurts. It's messy and drippy, I know but it might help keep those ends. You know if its working when your hair isn't wet-breaking as much as before. Might also be that it's time to buy a heavier reconstructor or treatment for the heat damage.

 

[tatiana]

About 2 weeks ago, I clarified my hair. I could not remember the last time I did it. My hair has almost bounced back to normal.

Hopefully, I will roller set today. If I have time I may put a rinse in my hair. It is so strange that I monitor the weather reports in order to determine how I am going to wear my hair.