What product or technique changed your "hair" life?

[baddison]

Products that have made a difference for me:

• NUPUR Henna
• Shea Moisture Coconut & Hibiscus Hair Milk
• Trader Joe's Nourish Spa
• Giovanni Direct Leave In

Techniques that have made a difference for me:

• Stretching relaxers (3 times a year)
• Relaxing in half-and-half sections
• Washing/DC'ing in braids/twists
• Baggying overnight
• Being gentle with my hair, treating it like fine lace when grooming

....the list goes on, but these have had the MOST impact on my hair journey.

 

[AtlantaJJ]

• Protein Conditioning: Built strength and flexibility into my fine strands
• Finger Combing: Made me more patient with my hair, which lead to fewer broken strands
• Sealing Ends: Once I started actively paying attention to my ends, SSKs were no longer a problem and I started retaining healthy length faster

NappyNelle What do you use to seal your ends? Your hair is lovely!

 

[*Frisky*]

Curly Girl method!

 

[AtlantaJJ]

1) Henna + Ayurveda
2) Overnight DC's (after henna)
3) Washing in twists

 

[Angelinhell]

Washing hair more, stretching relaxers

 

[NappyNelle]

AtlantaJJ My favorite sealant is castor oil. It really helps with those SSKs.

 

[guyanesesista]

ALOE VERA JUICE. That stuff made my 4ab ssk's disappear.

 

[KurlyNinja]

Using DC as a leave-in
Aloe Vera Rinses
Castor Oil
Flaxseed gel

I pretty much just put down my whole reggie. I've realized its gotten REALLY simple in the past year. All I needed to do was learn how to KEEP moisture in my hair and the rest would fall in line.

 

[ellebelle88]

Using the Kimmaytube leave-in - moisture for days
Protein treatments - i think i deep condition too much because my hair loves protein
Washing my hair with low shower pressure - the harder the shower pressure, the more hair I lose

 

[LoveBeautyKisses]

What are Ssk's?

 

[darlingdiva]

Ssk's are single-strand knots.

 

[ilong]

Accessing/joining LHCF!

 

[sunnieb]

Finding LHCF

Stumbling onto sylver2 's fotki and seeing a black woman with long hair similar to my hair texture.

Scarf method

Cowashing

Bunning for a year

No direct heat eva!

Dumping poor-quality products

Moisturizing and sealing my ends

Satin pillowcases

Silk scarves

Hair accessories that are friendly to my hair

Patience

Biotin

Stretching relaxers

#1 best thing is self-relaxing! I found out that I need to use 2 tubs of relaxer for my hair - stylists only used 1. No wonder I was often under-processed and running back to the salon every 4 weeks!

Sent from my Comet using LHCF

 

[FoxxyLocs]

Seamless combs - before them detangling was a nightmare

Blow dryer w/comb attachment - my attempts at straight styles were horrible without it

Detangling on dry hair w/conditioner - much easier and faster than detangling on wet hair

Sent from my HTC Evo

 

[Barbara]

Before Long Hair Care Forum: Verifen Complex Hair Care Line
Before Verifen Complex: My own regimen that was similar to Verifen hair care guides. I wasn't aware that my techniques were beneficial to my hair until I read about them

 

[PinkSunshine77]

moisturizing and sealing I fully believe that I would still retain length w/o all the extra stuff I do as long as I am m&s'ing.

 

[jamaica68]

ALOE VERA JUICE. That stuff made my 4ab ssk's disappear.

So many people sleep on AVJ, best detangler.

 

[GoodMernin]

Keeping my hair practices extremely simple.

1. Wash every 4-5 days

2. I have not had to deep condition at all since using my mixture of 1 cup Cantu Shea Butter Leave-in conditioner, 2 table spoons cold pressed EVOO, and 1 table spoon honey. I use this to retwist my hair while damp after washing and it leaves my twists so smooth feeling and juicy.

3. I seal the ends of my twists with unrefined shea butter when I feel like it.

4. I dust the ends of my twists every 2 months or so and it has left my ends absolutely WONDERFUL!!

5. Using Smooth and Shine Olive Oil and Tea Tree Braid and Twist Spray on my scalp before bedtime has left my scalp smelling fresh due to the bacteria killing tea tree oil and my hair soft from the olive oil.

Here it is and I swear by it!

6. Plain water spritz to soften and wake up my hair in the morning. And it seems to reactivate the products that I moisturized with the night before.

7. I used to use the elastic material hair bands when I wanted to pull my twists up. But I noticed that the dollop of glue used to hold the ends together would snag my hair. So I started using these Scunci No-Slip Grip Evolution Jelly Ponytail Holders. They are jelly smooth material and can be used in the shower to hold the hair up if you wash by section.

Here they are. I get mine in black and there are about 14 black bands in the pack.

Finally #8. Wearing my hair in medium twists has allowed me to have a protective style that keeps my hands out of my hair and low manipulation helps my hair to retain length.

 

[Marand13]

-Cowashing
-Ponytail baggy
-Protein Moisture balance
-the Denman(and its knock offs )

 

[shortt29]

Finger detangling, coconut oil, Henna, ponytail roller sets

 

[irisak]

Protective styling
Stretching relaxers
I think mn and a vitamin regimen made a difference
Lhcf lol
Taking pictures and getting a length check shirt so I can track progress.

Sent from my HTC EVO using LHCF. any spelling errors should be blamed on auto-correct.

 

[Lita]

Using a leave-in after every wash/dc then sealing in a butter/cream with oil..


Happy Hair Growing!

 

[claud-uk]

-Tea rinsing and tea spritzing
-Removing soapy shampoos and switching to mudwashes
-Baking soda clarifying (soapy 'poo sends my ends literally washing down the drain-clarifying ones did that and made it hard like steel wool)
-Avoiding wet manipulation
-Re-introducing heat DCs
-Henna

Still waiting to see if AO GPB is the business. Only used once so far.

DarkJoy - can I ask about your tea rinsing/spritzes? What you use them for and how often? Thanks.

AtlantaJJ My favorite sealant is castor oil. It really helps with those SSKs.

NappyNelle - how often do you need to remoisturize when you seal with Castor oil? Thanks.

ALOE VERA JUICE. That stuff made my 4ab ssk's disappear.

guyanesesista - More info please, lol!

Using DC as a leave-in
Aloe Vera Rinses
Castor Oil
Flaxseed gel

I pretty much just put down my whole reggie. I've realized its gotten REALLY simple in the past year. All I needed to do was learn how to KEEP moisture in my hair and the rest would fall in line.

KurlyNinja - sounds like you're keeping the really important info to yoself...!!! How do you do your AV rinses, and how often? Do you also use Castor oil for sealing like some of the other ladies here? Thanks!

Using the Kimmaytube leave-in - moisture for days
Protein treatments - i think i deep condition too much because my hair loves protein
Washing my hair with low shower pressure - the harder the shower pressure, the more hair I lose

I just started a new thread on regular protein users last night http://www.longhaircareforum.com/showthread.php?t=631603 bc I though I was having to use PTx's too often. There are so many ladies who also have to use protein regularly, keep up the protein AND the DC's!



Wow, this is a great thread, thanks OP!

 

[guyanesesista]

guyanesesista[/USER] - More info please, lol!

Just go in to work and can't write much so here's the link to my blog where I talk about it.

http://guyanesesista.blogspot.com/2012/04/aloe-vera-juice.html

 

[january noir]

I just posted about this in a thread.

Henna, indigo and other natural grasses, herbs and oils.

 

[Misseyl]

Stretching
Moisturize and seal
Protective styling.

I am also going to add pre-treatment before relaxing, that means applying vaseline, profectiv or oil to the already relaxed ends before a touch-up.

 

[DarkJoy]

@DarkJoy - can I ask about your tea rinsing/spritzes? What you use them for and how often? Thanks.

@claud-uk. The teas are great for slowing down or stopping shed and breakage. I shed heavily and wanted more thickness/volume. It works! The teas also soften the hair like a conditioner. It's mostly about experimenting with teas and herbs and seeing what works. Some of the ladies find coffee really effective too.

The herbs I use are: burdock, nettle, and now neem tea. I just make a big pot of tea like I'm gonna drink it. For rinses, after I wash, I rinse my hair with the pot and put the DC on top, then rinse out. For spritzes, I save some in a spray bottle with a few drops of oil (grapeseed and argan mostly) and an essential oil for scent. I spray to refresh my curls throughout the week. I then seal on top of that. That's it!

Tea rinse challenge link in my siggie.

ETA: Those teas are what works on *my* hair. Others have found the plain old black tea, Earl Grey, simple green tea, chamomile, whatever they find works for *them*.

 

[reeko43]

henna
Terresentials mud wash
covering hair every night/satin pillow case
Greaseless Moisture
going natural

 

[CurlsBazillion]

My favorite sealant is castor oil. It really helps with those SSKs.

Castor is awesome on my ends and scalp. Now I'm just realizing ssk's hasn't been an issue at all. Go Castor!!

moisturizing and sealing I fully believe that I would still retain length w/o all the extra stuff I do as long as I am m&s'ing.

With out M&S my hair would be a crunchy mess. DC and M&S go together, if I skip either I'll have jacked up dry hair

Wow, this is a great thread, thanks OP!

Your welcome!!

Stretching
Moisturize and seal
Protective styling.

Doing stretched buns has changed my hair life! Best PS between wigs for me.

 

[NappyNelle]

Claud-ok If I'm wearing loose hair, I can skip the castor oil for 2-3 days after spritzing. If I'm wearing twists, I'll coat my ends 2-3x a week. I don't necessarily have to, but I do it because I'm paranoid.