The Healthy Hair Diary: January 2015

Wash Day Diary - Almost 2 Weeks Post Relaxer

Monday, January 12, 2015

My Hair Regimen Updated - January 2015

Sunday, January 11, 2015

II have not updated my hair regimen since 9th September 2013, well over a year!!!

Here is my updated hair regimen - January 2015:

I have tried to keep my regimen as simple as possible whilst maintaining a moisture & protein balance. I wash and deep condition my hair once a week which is usually at the weekend, If I feel like my hair is in need of a refresh during the week then I will do a quick co-wash.

Week 1-2:

Pre-poo with a moisturizing conditioner and or an oil mix on dry hair, cover with a plastic cap and sit under the hood dryer for 20 - 30 minutes, then rinse.

Shampoo with a sulfate free shampoo, then towel dry for 5 minutes.
Tea Rinse.
Deep condition;

apply light protein protein reconstructor for 3-5 minutes, rinse then follow with a moisturising conditioner mixed with an oil mix;

apply moisture & protein balanced conditioner mix with an oil mix
Cover with a plastic cap and sit under the hood dryer for 20 - 60 minutes, then rinse.

T shirt dry my hair for 15 - 30 minutes.
Spritz with detangler and detangle my hair in sections.
Apply leave-in conditioners.
Use satin scarf method to air-dry, when I get 8-10 weeks post, I stretch my new growth with the tension method using cool air if I plan to wear my hair down.
Oil my scalp.
Moisturise and seal my hair in four sections.

Week 3:

Exactly the same as above but I shampoo using a clarifying shampoo to remove any build up.

Every 6 Weeks & 1 Week Post Relaxer

Hard Protein Treatment:

Prepoo with moisturising conditioner mixed or sealed with an oil or oil mix, cover with a plastic cap and sit under hood dryer for 30 minutes.
Wash hair with clarifying shampoo.
Apply Protein Treatment to length of my hair from root to tip and sit under hood dryer for 30 minutes then rinse.
Deep condition with a moisturising deep conditioner mixed with oils, cover with a plastic cap under a hood dryer for 30 - 45 minutes.
T shirt dry my hair for 15 - 30 minutes.
Spritz hair with detangler and then detangle in sections.
Apply Leave-ins.
Use satin scarf method to air-dry.
Oil my scalp.
Moisturise and seal my hair in four sections.

Co-wash Routine:

Co-Wash with a moisturising conditioner, then towel dry for 5 minutes
Apply Deep conditioner mixed with my additions, cover with a plastic cap and sit under the hood dryer for 15 minutes.
T shirt dry my hair for 15 - 45 minutes.
Apply Leave ins and then detangle hair.
Use satin scarf method to air-dry.
Oil my scalp.
Moisturise and seal my hair in four sections.

Daily Hair Care:

Moisturise and seal my hair in 4-6 sections; 1-2 times a day.
Oil my scalp every other night.
Keep hair in a bun or other protective styles majority of the week if not 7 days a week.
At night I put my hair into a low loose bun secured with a satin scrunchie and cover with my satin scarf. I also sleep on a satin pillowcase.

Other:

Texlax hair every 12-14 weeks.
Dust my ends every 4-6 weeks or as necessary.
Trim when needed (approx every 3 4 months).
Baggy my ends/hair when needed.
Light protein treatment once a week
Hard protein every 5 - 6 weeks.
Clarify hair every 3 weeks.
Tea rinse weekly.

Texlax Prep:
Base my scalp with vaseline and apply Roux Porosity Control and Vaseline to the length of my hair from the demarcation line.

Relaxer:
ORS Professional Olive Oil Relaxer Creme - Lye / Normal Strength (18 - 20 minutes).

A few tips...

Try to keep hair manipulation by combs and brushes to a minimum. I used to wrap my hair every night with a paddle brush, I stopped using brushes in October 2012. I use a wide teeth detangling comb to detangle on wash days and a rat tail comb to part my hair in the week. Other than that I just finger comb my hair where possible.
Always remember to detangle your hair starting from the ends of the hair and working your way up to the roots.
A satin scarf or satin pillowcase is a must to help you on your hair journey. Without a satin scarf or pillowcase, your hair is then left to rub on cotton pillow cases all night, leading to dry hair, unnecessary rubbing and breakage.
Keep the use of direct heat to the very minimum, if you don't have time to roller set or air-dry every week then try using the cool setting on your hair dryer.

wash day

Wash Day Diary - 5 Days Post Relaxer

Wednesday, January 07, 2015

corrective relaxer

Corrective Relaxer Touch-Up: 30.12.14

Sunday, January 04, 2015

December 30th 2014

When documenting my last relaxer touch up, I mentioned I left more texture in my hair than anticipated and I knew a corrective relaxer would be necessary.

By the time I reached 4 weeks post, my hair was a nightmare to cope with. I could just about get the end of a rat tail comb to part my hair and despite moisturising my new growth and roots every other day if not daily, I found that I was experiencing breakage around the hairline and could of cried... Instead I decided to wait 2-3 days then bring out the relaxer and try to correct my hair as my hair was closer to natural than relaxed and I just couldn't allow any more breakage to take place.

When correcting a relaxer before, I had waited until I got to 6 weeks post but this time around, waiting was not an option. Although I have corrected a relaxer before, my mother-in-law was there to help me so before I started anything, I went online to do some research on corrective relaxers.

I came across a post by Jen of Just Grow Already which gave some great tips on corrective relaxers.

These are the steps I followed for this corrective relaxer:

Sectioned my hair into 4, applied Roux Porosity control and Vaseline to the length of my hair for each section and applied vaseline to my scalp to avoids burns.

Parted each quadrant into 1 inch sections and twisted from the demarcation line downwards. Once each section was saturated with conditioner and Vaseline, I set my timer for 18 minutes and starting with the two back sections, I went through and applied relaxer to my new growth with a relaxer brush. In the last 5-6 minutes, once I had gone through each section, I went back through and this time applied relaxer to the under processed sections that were in urgent need of being reacquainted with the relaxer crème. Once each section had been smoothed through, I then applied relaxer to my edges, left for a minute or two and then rinsed. I chose to only apply the relaxer to my edges in the last few minutes due to the breakage I had discovered around my hairline.

With the crème thoroughly rinsed out, I applied Aphogee 2 minute reconstructor to my hair root to tip and left on for 3-4 minutes whilst I mixed up my deep conditioner mix then rinsed and neutralized with ORS Creamy Aloe Shampoo, lathering 5 times and letting the shampoo sit in my hair for 3 minutes before the last rinse.

I deep conditioned with ORS HAIRepair nourishing conditioner, Avocado oil and JBCO. I covered with a plastic cap and my heat wrap for 30 minutes and rinsed once cool.

I t-shirt dried for 15 minutes and spritzed the length of my hair with Mane & Tail Detangler then detangled my hair. I applied my leave ins; CON Straight from Eden leave-in conditioner and Keracare leave in conditioner.

I am still left with plenty of texture which is what I wanted, but the curls have loosened making my hair more manageable. I had hoped to air-dry my hair but the day had disappeared and I was running late for date night so I tension dried my hair in sections with cool air and wore it in a low bun with center parting.

The next morning, I wanted to trim my ends to ensure I started the year with healthy ends so for the first time in about 3 years, I decided to flat iron my hair. I spritzed my hair with Fantasia IC heat protector straightening spray and starting with the back section, began to flat iron. With the whole head complete, I assessed my ends and although they were better than expected due to regular dusting, I trimmed off an inch.