Wash And Go, To Grow And To Dazzle 2020 Challenge

I don’t know why I’m experimenting with my styling technique? I get good results with extensive raking and all this experimentation is just giving me a lot of subpar results. :-(
Curiosity and perfectionism can get the best of us at times. There are some positives you can take from this. You now have evidence that raking fares better than other options. Also, you can relieve yourself of the curiosity of trying that different technique.
 
Happy valentines day! I did a valentines day wash and go and im not really feeling it. my hair shrunk to the dickens and it looks like I have no hair :cry3: I put some makeup to look cute and that made me feel a bit better

The definition is unmatched though. l used Salerm ice gel which is an old favorite. Lets see if i can stretch this for a week. I'm getting a little tired of doing my hair every 3 days.
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Hmm, I don't know any that you haven't tried yet. The Doux Bee Gurl Custard is hard and flakes on me. You don't like All About Curls High Definition Gel. Everything else I can think of is more of a firm crispy cast. Would you be interested in those type?
Yes! Im willing to try anything that will give my hair longevity
 
Happy VDay to all.

I just haven't gotten up in time to do my hair. So I'm going on day 9. I guess I'm not as pressed to wash because my ends are still gelled together and wont tangle up. I'm starting to see the gel separate from my hair and turn white.

I might have to wash my hair this evening and spend an eternity under a dryer and diffusing.

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Yes! Im willing to try anything that will give my hair longevity
I want to preface this by saying my mom complains about my products not being heavy enough for her. So take my suggestions with a grain of salt. Trepadora Bamboo Ginseng has kind of turned into bae for me. I know people were substituting The Doux Pop Lock for it while they changed the packaging. Curls Goddess Botanical Gel has a very firm cast. Even the Curls BN Control has a firm crispy Cast.

You probably don't like soft plastic feeling flexible hold, but here are some anyway. The first that comes to mind is Just For Me Curl Peace Curl Slime. I've never used it as a topper, but it lasts a decent while. I'm sure it will be even better as a topper. I actually like Mielle Pom & Honey Coiling Custard. It lasts if I use less water. I can't say what it would do as a topper though.

Mielle's Rosemary Mint Styling Creme is very firm. It works well on its own, but I get more slip on top of other products. Its a great topper over mousse. Mixed Chicks Styling Creme is super firm, but my hair wasn't weighed down. Also, Miss Jessie's Honey Curls is firm to me.

I'm going to think of some more after looking through my products this evening.
 
Happy valentines day! I did a valentines day wash and go and im not really feeling it. my hair shrunk to the dickens and it looks like I have no hair :cry3: I put some makeup to look cute and that made me feel a bit better

The definition is unmatched though. l used Salerm ice gel which is an old favorite. Lets see if i can stretch this for a week. I'm getting a little tired of doing my hair every 3 days.
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This is such a pretty look. Yes, your definition is on point. What makes you feel your hair is not big enough? Is it the volume, elongation or both.
 
Happy VDay to all.

I just haven't gotten up in time to do my hair. So I'm going on day 9. I guess I'm not as pressed to wash because my ends are still gelled together and wont tangle up. I'm starting to see the gel separate from my hair and turn white.

I might have to wash my hair this evening and spend an eternity under a dryer and diffusing.

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Your hair looks great for 9 days. That’s goals right there!
This is such a pretty look. Yes, your definition is on point. What makes you feel your hair is not big enough? Is it the volume, elongation or both.

I think my hair doesn’t really flatter my face when it’s so tightly coiled like this. I prefer how it looks with just leave in and mousse but my hair doesn’t last passed 3 days that way
 
Your hair looks great for 9 days. That’s goals right there!


I think my hair doesn’t really flatter my face when it’s so tightly coiled like this. I prefer how it looks with just leave in and mousse but my hair doesn’t last passed 3 days that way
Have you tried a small amount of topper like trepadora bamboo or papaya over your mousse? Maybe you just need that little bit of something to get you over that 3 day.
 
Curiosity and perfectionism can get the best of us at times. There are some positives you can take from this. You now have evidence that raking fares better than other options. Also, you can relieve yourself of the curiosity of trying that different technique.
The one last thing I want to try is smoothing + shaking. I may try that this Friday. I like smoothing, but then all my hair doesn’t get stretched the same amount so my ends look really uneven. Raking thoroughly takes care of that, but then my clumps are much smaller and not quite as elongated.
 
The one last thing I want to try is smoothing + shaking. I may try that this Friday. I like smoothing, but then all my hair doesn’t get stretched the same amount so my ends look really uneven. Raking thoroughly takes care of that, but then my clumps are much smaller and not quite as elongated.
My stylist smooths mostly. Then the last motion is a surface level rake meaning mostly fingertips. As she pulls the hair down she holds it where she wants it to stay for a few seconds before letting it go.
 
I haven’t gotten my hands on these gels because I think they are too expensive. I wish there are more affordable options
I want to point out that they don’t take much to use as a topper. I get it. It’s the principle of not over spending. However, it’s going to last you a long time.

FYI, one of the mentor stylist on SSC implied that those $50 bottles are being sold underpriced. I don’t know about that. She said something about custom fees and overhead costs of business. I’ve purchased items from Australia, South Africa and the UK and I haven’t had to worry too much about custom fees. Once you factor in wait time and maybe s&h, it is way more convenient to just pay the $50. Omg, those UK mail strikes will have you waiting forever.
 
The one last thing I want to try is smoothing + shaking. I may try that this Friday. I like smoothing, but then all my hair doesn’t get stretched the same amount so my ends look really uneven. Raking thoroughly takes care of that, but then my clumps are much smaller and not quite as elongated.
I’m going to use some more BGC rhetoric. Lol You have what they call telephone cord curl. They say surface texture on tcc determines how much the hair is weighed down. Silkier surface texture tends to shrink more no matter the product while coarse surface texture can be weighed down a bit by product.

Their solution is more water. They say that water is the key to weight which helps the hair stay a bit more elongated for longer. They also say to set the hair in small subsections to throughly saturate it with water and product. They said that sometime with less water and more topper, the hair can shrink up more.

Oh my former stylist and on the old SSC they talked about shaking the hair to separate more Coily curls. For spiral curlies they suggest doing headbanging like at a rock concert. You do front to back and then side to side.

For tight wavies they suggest to sway the hair from side to side a little. As my hair gets longer, it gets more wavy looking especially with heavier products or lots of water. I don’t shake anymore. It doesn’t look right, but it helped when my hair was shorter.

I’ll have to listen through hours of q&a’s and curl plays to find any more info regarding specific setting techniques. I don’t know if this will help you any.
 
I’m going to use some more BGC rhetoric. Lol You have what they call telephone cord curl. They say surface texture on tcc determines how much the hair is weighed down. Silkier surface texture tends to shrink more no matter the product while coarse surface texture can be weighed down a bit by product.

Their solution is more water. They say that water is the key to weight which helps the hair stay a bit more elongated for longer. They also say to set the hair in small subsections to throughly saturate it with water and product. They said that sometime with less water and more topper, the hair can shrink up more.

Oh my former stylist and on the old SSC they talked about shaking the hair to separate more Coily curls. For spiral curlies they suggest doing headbanging like at a rock concert. You do front to back and then side to side.

For tight wavies they suggest to sway the hair from side to side a little. As my hair gets longer, it gets more wavy looking especially with heavier products or lots of water. I don’t shake anymore. It doesn’t look right, but it helped when my hair was shorter.

I’ll have to listen through hours of q&a’s and curl plays to find any more info regarding specific setting techniques. I don’t know if this will help you any.
Thanks for this! I don’t really care about getting elongation, but I want my hair to look even and my setting technique really affects how much shrinkage I get and how uniform the shrinkage is.
I don’t know if I have telephone cord coils- the ends of my hair are coily but it’s more wavy towards the roots. But if shaking could get my hair to look like Lou’s daughter I’m willing to try being a rock star. :)
When I got my hair styled by the As I think Aeleise told me I should sway and not shake, but I still want to try it.
 
I realized shaking my hair gives my coils movement but shrinkage a few year ago. I smooth my hair down now and let it set that way. My hair hits my ears in a washngo. I would love a shoulder length wash and go but the size of my waves and coils I would have to be waist length. I can get it to touch my chin by stretching it with the concentrator after but it softens the cast.
 
First things first. I F’d up this morning. I'm going to address this situation as if there are no problems but instead only puzzles. I finally got around to my wng. I used very little UFD, very very little ICH and a lot of ICV. I can now verbalize what I strive for in products. I rely on the weight of products smoothing out my hair instead of me doing the action of smoothing. That’s why I can rake and go. This is often how I determine if I like a product or not.

Let me tell you that I don’t think this ratio is going to work. ICV has no weight. I found myself wanting to smooth areas and use more product because I was seeing frizz while my hair was wet. I'm starting to believe that the miracle product has been ICH all along, but I wasn't able to see that. I already knew ICV was straight doodoo as a single styler in the past, but using it as a topper made me forget. I'm only recently learning that UFD is the culprit for heavy glued down hair that has no curl. The only reason I didn't like ICH by itself was because it left my hair feeling hard. I have the same issue with Curls Blueberry Bliss Jelly. I've only used it by itself once and I didn't like the feel. That is what led me to use a leave-in.

I’m thinking for the next try, I will continue with the least amount of UFD as a leave-in, increase ICH until I see definition as a styler and use the tertiary topper as a topper instead topper/styler. I might even be doing what the folks at SSC are doing. They have been using ICH as a base gel because many people are allergic to UFD. So they now have a demo of how to use ICH as a base which is applied a little differently. I haven't really watched it.

There are so many positive things I’ve noticed since my recent experiments. This was the easiest wash yet. My hair had absolutely no tangles. I left my Wet Brush in the bedroom and decided not to get it. I just used the Felicia Leatherwood brush by itself and it glided through my hair. This reminded me of the ease of when I first started my wng journey. Then using less UFD allowed me not to have tangles during the styling process.

Obviously, this is not a fluke. I need to determine if products that easily rinse from my hair is why I had no tangles or the fact that I'm using less UFD. I don't ascribe to all that clean beauty stuff because most of them care about the ingredients more so than the efficacy of a product. However, I'm willing to jump on that bandwagon for easy hair. The stylists who rep Innersense talk a lot about how the products don't build up. For me, polyquarternium 55 and a few other variations are far worse than any silicone. In my usual front test section, I used a polyquat-free foaming styling mousse. This was several weeks back. It rinsed effortlessly from my hair. So styling foam is not off the table. I realize I need a barrier from the polyquats.

Knowing these things will help me determine how to use up most of my million of hair products. For instance, I didn't realize that back in the day that Curls BB Jelly was being used as a topper. Some stylists still use it as such. So this is a product I'll start playing around with once I run out of ICV.
 
Thanks for this! I don’t really care about getting elongation, but I want my hair to look even and my setting technique really affects how much shrinkage I get and how uniform the shrinkage is.
I don’t know if I have telephone cord coils- the ends of my hair are coily but it’s more wavy towards the roots. But if shaking could get my hair to look like Lou’s daughter I’m willing to try being a rock star. :)
When I got my hair styled by the As I think Aeleise told me I should sway and not shake, but I still want to try it.
I understand what you mean. I have spirally coils underneath in the back. If I go heavy handed to ultra define them, they hang down like a tail. When I treat all my hair the same, it all curls up nicely. Hmm, I'm going to ask a question about that for you in the Q&A live today. That is if I can make it to it in time. I just want to know what they say.

Maybe you don't have telephone cord curls. Your hair is just way more spirally than mine. Its just a relative observation. My bad.

Lou's daughter's hair is incredible. I thought wrongly that my hair could curl up like that during my attempt at Lou's challenge. It just resulted in very weighed down hair. Your hair looks like it could spiral something like that.
 
I realized shaking my hair gives my coils movement but shrinkage a few year ago. I smooth my hair down now and let it set that way. My hair hits my ears in a washngo. I would love a shoulder length wash and go but the size of my waves and coils I would have to be waist length. I can get it to touch my chin by stretching it with the concentrator after but it softens the cast.
That makes sense.

I hope you can have a shoulder length wash n go before you decide to get locs. I want you to see that for yourself.
 
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This salerm Ice gel gives a very firm hold. It reminds me somewhat of the Jello Shot gel but gives better curl clumping. it does flake a little though. I think I can use it as a topper for the next few washes
 
That makes sense.

I hope you can have a shoulder length wash n go before you decide to get locs. I want you to see that for yourself.
I want that for you too but you might get to your length goals faster in locs





Your hair looks great and so thick! I'm jelly!
 
First things first. I F’d up this morning. I'm going to address this situation as if there are no problems but instead only puzzles. I finally got around to my wng. I used very little UFD, very very little ICH and a lot of ICV. I can now verbalize what I strive for in products. I rely on the weight of products smoothing out my hair instead of me doing the action of smoothing. That’s why I can rake and go. This is often how I determine if I like a product or not.

Let me tell you that I don’t think this ratio is going to work. ICV has no weight. I found myself wanting to smooth areas and use more product because I was seeing frizz while my hair was wet. I'm starting to believe that the miracle product has been ICH all along, but I wasn't able to see that. I already knew ICV was straight doodoo as a single styler in the past, but using it as a topper made me forget. I'm only recently learning that UFD is the culprit for heavy glued down hair that has no curl. The only reason I didn't like ICH by itself was because it left my hair feeling hard. I have the same issue with Curls Blueberry Bliss Jelly. I've only used it by itself once and I didn't like the feel. That is what led me to use a leave-in.

I’m thinking for the next try, I will continue with the least amount of UFD as a leave-in, increase ICH until I see definition as a styler and use the tertiary topper as a topper instead topper/styler. I might even be doing what the folks at SSC are doing. They have been using ICH as a base gel because many people are allergic to UFD. So they now have a demo of how to use ICH as a base which is applied a little differently. I haven't really watched it.

There are so many positive things I’ve noticed since my recent experiments. This was the easiest wash yet. My hair had absolutely no tangles. I left my Wet Brush in the bedroom and decided not to get it. I just used the Felicia Leatherwood brush by itself and it glided through my hair. This reminded me of the ease of when I first started my wng journey. Then using less UFD allowed me not to have tangles during the styling process.

Obviously, this is not a fluke. I need to determine if products that easily rinse from my hair is why I had no tangles or the fact that I'm using less UFD. I don't ascribe to all that clean beauty stuff because most of them care about the ingredients more so than the efficacy of a product. However, I'm willing to jump on that bandwagon for easy hair. The stylists who rep Innersense talk a lot about how the products don't build up. For me, polyquarternium 55 and a few other variations are far worse than any silicone. In my usual front test section, I used a polyquat-free foaming styling mousse. This was several weeks back. It rinsed effortlessly from my hair. So styling foam is not off the table. I realize I need a barrier from the polyquats.

Knowing these things will help me determine how to use up most of my million of hair products. For instance, I didn't realize that back in the day that Curls BB Jelly was being used as a topper. Some stylists still use it as such. So this is a product I'll start playing around with once I run out of ICV.
ICH is a champ at smoothing. I really like it. If it were black owned I would have it as a staple for sure.
 
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