I have been away for a long time and I am annoyed with myself as I promised to do better when it comes to my posts…

It has been a tough beginning to the year with the very sad passing of my Grandmother 12 weeks ago and I honestly have found it so hard to get my head back in the correct space to get back on the blogging wagon.... It has been long enough and if I don't start now I never will so here goes….

Protective styling

Over the last three months, my hair has been kept off my shoulders in a protective style, be it a twist and roll, a twist and bun or side bun… With the colder weather and the winter fabrics I have been wearing, I have found it so much easier to just keep my hair tucked away including the weekends. I remember before I started my hair journey I used to wear my hair down every day religiously unless my hair was due for a wash and still my surprise myself to this day at how easy I transitioned to protective styling and it’s now my go to routine without a thought. I do however need to get into the routine of moving around the location of my buns as I seem to have a thing about a low bun and style it in the same place without necessarily thinking so that is a goal I need to achieve.

Castor Oil Challenge

As mentioned previously, I decided to join the Hairlista Castor Oil Challenge which started on Sunday 25^th January. I joined at the extreme level which entails applying Castor Oil to your scalp every other day and also to add 1-2 tsps of Castor Oil to your deep conditioner, sealing with castor oil after moisturising is optional and I have decided not to do this step.

Where possible I have been oiling my scalp every night for that extra added goodness, this has not made my hair greasy and weighed down but where it has I have done a mid-week co-wash to help refresh my hair.

Since starting the challenge, I have noticed an increase in shedding. This has not got me too worried as it is to be expected, however, I have been slacking on my black/green tea rinses in the last 3-4 weeks due to running out of teabags both black and green and forgetting to restock. I will be stocking up on both of these teas and ensure tea rinses are back in my regime for my wash day next week.

I am only 6 weeks post so hard to comment on my new growth, but I will say the new growth I do have right now is soft and fluffy to touch which I am very pleased about.

I have been using my mix of Lavender JBCO and pure castor oil (80% JBCO 20% Pure Castor oil) to oil my scalp and when deep conditioning I have been adding a teaspoon of pure castor oil with every wash.

Dry Hair

Over the last 2-3 months, I have been noticing that although I moisturise and seal in the evening, the next morning my hair does not feel as moist and a lot of the time I found myself moisturising and sealing both morning and night which can be a pain as I like to keep things simple in the mornings, get up, work out, shower, dress and go ( I have breakfast at work). I have been using the Root2Tip Triple M Moisture Milk since last September 2014 and absolutely love this product but with the weather being so cold the last few months, my hair has literally just soaked up the milk and held it’s hand out waiting for more. It was only then I familiarised myself with the ingredients and it contains glycerine which explains why my hair has been feeling so dry.


With that, I made the decision to give the Triple M Milk a rest until it gets slightly warmer outside and instead go back to my previous staple which is the Elasta QP Olive Oil & Mango Butter Moisturizer. I forgot how much my hair loves this product, I have been using it for the last two weeks and my hair is happy and so soft and bouncy to touch, I wish I had reverted back to this sooner. I must confess, I did not have my own moisturiser to go back to, I had to trade with my son. He is growing out a Mohawk style and his fro is getting high, his hair is so thick that he needed a product which was more water based. Luckily he fell in love with s-curl so was happy to swap his moisturiser for my s-curl which I no longer use but still had in my stash.

Minor Breakage

Due to the many textures in my hair and my staple Triple M Milk not keeping my hair as moist as I would of hoped, I have experienced a little breakage but not enough to bring me to tears. I have been doing a lot of overtime at work in the last 2 months and on more than one occasion I have found myself falling asleep on the sofa whilst watching TV and I have woken a few times with my hair all over the place where it has been rubbing on the many cushions we own and I have noticed breakage in these areas. 

I have learnt from this mistake and recently have been moisturising and sealing my hair by a decent time especially when I know I am tired so it is out of the way and then I put my hair up in a loose bun with a scrunchie until bed time where I then cover the same bun with a satin scarf and my head can then hit the pillow.

Time for a Trim

My hair is in need of dusting and I aim to tackle this tomorrow after work. My ends are not in terrible condition because I have mentioned above, my hair has been in a protective style 99% of the time but I do need to clip about 1cm to keep my ends healthy as it has been quite a while since I last mini-trimmed.