Bootcamp 2004 - For colored girls who consider
suicide when the breakage is just too much!!!
For all my colored girls (and those considering it) - since I'm in the throes of my new color joy, and getting back to my "color plan" I decided to post and let you guys know the schedule and the products I plan to use to maintain it. The most important thing I found about having healthy double processed hair is making sure you do all the preemptive strikes, so that you don't have to correct havoc - but instead you stave it off....
The key is balancing protein and moisture and protecting the cuticle. It is a A LOT of work...so for those who like a simpler regime and are on the fence about coloring, let this be your guide.
So today - because rinses are key in cuticle protection for my hair, I added a rinse - Sebastian in Glorious Gold. It reddened the color a little - but not by much and it did correct a few spots I missed, or didn't process as much, and it blended everything fairly well....it still needs some work, but I can live for now. If you love your color and you don't want to change the tone - you can use clear.
Next, a VERY mild shampoo is in order. The idea is to minimize the cuticle degradation as much as possible by using something that doesn't strip, AND preserves color. I went and got some Neutrogena Triple Moisture Shampoo and it's EXACTLY what I was looking for. It contains tons of oil - which works well in sealing that parched cuticle - and is very very mild.
Another thing I'm going to do to make sure the cuticle stays happy is a sealing treatment (just one, the heat too often can be a bit much on colored hair if you do it TOO often, as well as pull color from the hair) about 3 weeks after I color. I wet my hair, towel dry gently, and put some Olive Oil on my midshaft and ends, and wrap about 6 locks of the now oiled hair in foil. Then I go over the foil with a flat iron. I just squeeze and move - no sliding - to get the heat evenly on each part of the shaft. A few seconds is enough to do the trick. But be careful not to touch your damp hair with the iron.
Then, very importantly, you need to be sure your hair is getting enough external protein . Relaxing breaks the protein bonds in the hair....and changes their shape so the curl "relaxes". Color attacks the pigment - which is also made up of proteins (and yes, melanin) and removes, and then deposits color, in the place of what it just removed. A VIOLENT process on relaxed hair. As such, you MUST add protein FAR more often (at least in the beginning) than most relaxed heads. Once a week at minimum. I'm going to use Elasta Breakage Control Serum and Pantene as a follow up.
But we all know protein can make the hair brittle, and colored hair will err on the side of brittle without much help - so you need your moisture too....but we aren't talking the five minute version we might ordinarily do on reg relaxed heads. you need both a FULL protein treatment, AND a full moisture treatment.
To make sure my hair gets equal amounts of each, I use a protein treatment one wash, with heat for 30 minutes and then follow with a 5 minute moisture treatment and then the next wash is a FULL moisture treatment (which for me means 30 minutes, no heat - the heat doesn't matter so so much if you like it, but be advised that wet, hot hair leaches color and you MAY want to skip the heat on the moisture treatment to be safe. For moisture, I'm most likely going to use any number of goos moisture conditioners I use and like including: Kenra MC, Dudley's MC, Humectress, Pantene Intensive Restoration, Feria Color Moisturizing Conditioner and many more. I also have the Neutrogena mask - so that might be a staple if I end up liking it. I alternate like this for 4 weeks up until my next touch up.
Which brings me to - relaxers. I ONLY use a mild on my hair. because I color, the milder the relaxer the formula the better. You might be able to take a regualr if you must, but I don't recommend it. It rarely works out well. I relax anywhere from 4- 6 weeks after my color application. Any sooner and you risk the chemicals reacting with one another which can mean some breakage. I don't take the chance. I wait. Yes - you CAN do it 2 weeks after you color - but I prefer to be safe than sorry.
Once you're washing, conditioning and relaxing on schedule, the other thing to consider is daily maintenance and handling. When I wash I am always EXTRA careful - esp the first few weeks out. No massaging all my hair on top of my head - I pour the shampoo into my hand, use the pads of my fingers to get up and under my hair to my scalp a nd I make sure it clean and then I smooth my hands downward over the rest of my hair and squeeze the shampoo down to my ends - like milking a cow. I also try to USE shampoo as infrequently as possible the first few weeks - both to prevent fading and to prevent to much snarling and roughing of the cuticle.
I also NEVER put a comb in my hair without some kind of lubricant - leave in if wet and a little oil if it's dry. When you dont color you can break this rule occasionally. When you color, you can almost GUARANTEE breakage if you do. I don't take the chance.
Then I make sure to put a little oil on my ends and seal them a little more often than I do when I'm not colored. It also really helps cut down on breakage. Serums have the same effect - once again Neutrogena, as well as some Vitamin E oil will be my choices.
Many of you have PMed me to ask for my new regime now that I've colored. Here it is. Read it and weep!
But truly, it's worth having color for me- and it's not nearly as onerous as it will look in this 20 page post!
I hope it helps someone.
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Just in case you didn't have an account for the other website; this is a copy and paste of the Bootcamp for Colored Girls.
