Whether we are ready or not, Summer is over and Autumn is here and it is time to winterize my hair regime for 2015/16…

I try to keep my regime as simple as possible now that I know what works and doesn’t work for my hair 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.

I had plans to go into London today with my family so decided to slip in a quick co-wash last night, here are the steps I followed:

Deep conditioned on dry hair with Aunt Jackie’s In Control Moisturising and Softening Conditioner, sealed with my castor oil mix of Lavender JBCO and pure castor oil, covered with a plastic cap and towel turban and left on for an hour.

Finger detangled my hair then co-washed with Vo5 Give Me Moisture Conditioner and left it on my hair for a few minutes then rinsed.

T-shirt dried for an hour applied leave-ins; Crème of Nature Straight from Eden Detangling Leave-in Conditioner, Elasta QP Olive Oil & Mango Butter Leave-in conditioner and sealed with Creme of Nature Argan Oil then detangled my hair with a wide tooth comb.

Air dried with satin scarf then left my hair down whilst I watched a movie with the Mr. Later in the evening, I moisturised and sealed with Root2Tip Triple M Miracle Moisture Milk  and my castor oil and avocado oil mix. I oiled my scalp with my castor oil mix, put my hair in a loose bun then tied down with a satin scarf ready for bed.

Air-drying - 70% Dry

With the cold weather making it's presence known, I tend to tweak the products I use for my hair as some products which may be my absolute favourites over the warmer months, may do nothing for my hair when it is constantly cold and wet outside. 

Whilst I have many products in my stash, the products below are my staple products which I will be using to look after my hair for this Autumn / Winter:  

Saturday 24th October 

My wash days used to be days that I would dread, but now that I am no longer constantly trying new products and instead stick with what I know works for my hair, my wash days have become predictably easier and days I actually look forward to. 

Here are the steps followed for Saturday's washday:

Pre-pooed my hair with my extra virgin olive oil and virgin coconut oil mix, covered with a plastic cap and towel turban and left on for two hours. Shampooed using ORS Creamy Aloe Shampoo for the first lather and then went on to do a final wash with Crème of Nature Moisture & Shine Sulfate free Shampoo.

Towel dried for 5 minutes then applied Aphogee 2-Minute Reconstructor to my hair, covered with a plastic cap and left on for 15 minutes whilst cleaning the bathroom then rinsed. Towel dried for a few minutes and then deep conditioned with Joico Moisture Recovery Treatment Balm mixed with my Castor oil mix of Lavender JBCO & pure castor oil, covered with a plastic cap and sat under hood dryer for 20 minutes, rinsing once cool.

T-shirt dried for 45 minutes before  applying my leave-ins; Crème of Nature Straight from Eden Detangling Leave-in, Elasta QP Olive Oil & Mango Butter Leave-in and Crème of Nature Argan Oil. I detangled my hair in sections, added a few drops of Fantasia IC Olive Oil Serum then air dried with a satin scarf laying down my edges.

I fell asleep whilst watching TV and I when I woke up my hair was 90% dry so I went on to moisturize and seal using Root2Tip Triple M Miracle Moisture Milk and my Avocado & Castor oil mix (avocado oil, lavender JBCO and pure castor oil). I also oiled my scalp with my castor oil scalp mix; pure castor oil and lavender JBCO and massaged my scalp for 5 minutes before putting my hair in a loose bun secured with a satin scrunchie and covering with a satin scarf for bed.

So yesterday was wash day and I think my hair had started to believe this day would never come.. Here are the steps followed for Sunday's washday:

Pre-pooed my hair on Friday evening with extra virgin olive oil and left in overnight. On Saturday morning I added virgin coconut oil to my hair and let sit whilst I had a lazy day with the family. Saturday evening came very quickly and I knew I wouldn't be washing my hair so before bed I added a little more coconut oil to my hair, covered my hair to protect my pillowcase and went to bed.

On Sunday morning, I woke up and shampooed my hair with Crème of Nature Moisture & Shine Shampoo and then towel dried for 5 minutes before applying Aphogee 2-Minute Reconstructor to my hair, covered with a plastic cap and my towel turban and left on whilst I made and had breakfast.

Rinsed my hair and towel dried for 5 minutes then applied Joico Moisture Recovery Treatment Balm mixed with my Castor oil mix of Lavender JBCO & pure castor oil, covered with a plastic cap and sat under hood dryer for 30 minutes, rinsing once cool.

T-shirt dried for 45 minutes before  applying my leave-ins; Crème of Nature Straight from Eden Detangling Leave-in, Elasta QP Olive Oil & Mango Butter Leave-in and Crème of Nature Argan Oil. I detangled my hair in sections,  added a few drops of Fantasia IC Olive Oil Serum then air dried with a satin scarf laying down my edges.

I usually go on to moisturise and seal when my hair is 90% dry but I left my hair to flow whilst I enjoyed another chilling day of cooking, tidying and relaxing with the family.

Before bed, I spritzed my hair with water and covered with a plastic cap for 30 minutes then moisturised and sealed my hair using Elasta QP Olive Oil & Mango Butter Moisturizer and my Avocado & Castor oil mix (avocado oil, lavender JBCO and pure castor oil). I also oiled my scalp with my castor oil scalp mix; pure castor oil and lavender JBCO and massaged my scalp for 5 minutes before securing my hair and covering with a satin scarf for bed.

Monday hair for Work

It has been 4 weeks since the castor oil challenge started and time has flown. If you read my post at the beginning of the challenge, you will know I opted to join the challenge at the extreme level. This consists of oiling my scalp every other night, adding 2 teaspoons of castor oil to my weekly deep conditioner and also use castor oil mixed with avocado oil to seal my ends each night.

So far I have been consistent with each step and before my relaxer touch up on 3rd October, I was oiling my scalp every night as it was helping to keep my new growth soft and manageable and I will go back to doing this when I am I reach 4-6 weeks post.

Considering  I  did a relaxer touch up 2 weeks into the challenge, it is hard to comment on if I can see any results as yet when it comes to my scalp and new growth. What I can say is I was sceptical how my hair was going to take to sealing with castor oil mixed with avocado oil and thought my ends would be greasy and weighed down but this is not the case. I always wear my hair up for work so my ends being greasy would not really be an issue but when I take my hair down at the end of the day, my ends and length of my hair remains soft and moist meaning that I don’t actually have to moisturise and seal every night but I do it anyway. I trimmed my ends two weeks ago so it will be interesting to see how sealing with castor oil makes a difference to how  my ends look at the end of the challenge which also coincides with my next relaxer touch-up, in the meantime I will dust lightly when necessary.

Saturday 3rd October

Friday after work, I applied coconut oil to the length of my hair including new growth, oiled my scalp with my castor oil mix then left in overnight.

Saturday lunchtime, sectioned my hair into four and applied Extra Virgin Olive Oil to the length of my hair including my new growth then followed up by adding petroleum jelly to the length of my hair from my demarcation line downwards. Divided sections into one inch sections and twisted for ease of relaxer application.

Applied relaxer to my new growth starting from the crown, leaving my edges and nape until last then went through again smoothing through each section.

Rinsed thoroughly and applied Aphogee 2 minute reconstructor to my hair and left on for 5 minutes whilst I prepared my deep conditioner mix. Shampooed with ORS Creamy Aloe Shampoo, lathering 5 times to ensure all relaxer was out of my hair then towel dried for 5 minutes.

Deep conditioned with Joico Moisture Recovery Treatment Balm mixed with 2 teaspoons of my castor oil mix, covered with a plastic cap and sat under the hood dryer for 20 minutes then rinsed once cool.

T-shirt dried for 45 minutes then applied leave-ins; Creme of Nature Straight from Eden Leave in, Elasta QP Olive Oil & Mango Butter Leave in and sealed with Creme of Nature Argan Oil. Detangled my hair in sections with wide tooth comb then air dried with satin scarf laying my edges.

I usually moisturise and seal when my hair is 90-95% dry but I was having a movie day with the Mr so put my hair in a loose bun and chilled, plus I wanted to trim my ends and I prefer to do this without too much product in my hair.
Whilst I am happy to have made it to bra-strap length, I am all about health over length and all being well, I will be back to if not just past bra-strap length after my next touch-up in December, plus I'm doing the castor oil challenge which ends in December and it will be interesting to see the results.

Made it to Bra-Strap Length (Air-dried Hair)

I am officially bra-strap length which has been a goal I didn't think I would ever reach. I am surprised as with my texlaxed texture I experience some shrinkage, I never flat iron my hair and these days I rarely even tension dry my hair so it's hard to see the true length of my hair. I am happy to have achieved my goal, however my ends were in need of a trim so last night I trimmed my hair, taking off an inch. I used a similar method to Babilon Kay in her video which can be seen here. I thought I would have to take off a little more but following my trim, I went through my hair and am pleased with the results.

Before bed,  I lightly spritzed the length of my hair with water, covered with a plastic cap and left on for 30 minutes then moisturised and sealed with Elasta QP Olive Oil & Mango Butter Moisturizer and my avocado and castor oil mix. I oiled my scalp with my castor oil mix then cross wrapped my hair and covered with a satin scarf.

I am really happy with how yesterday's relaxer touch up went. Dividing my hair into one inch sections prior to applying the relaxer was definitely a great help when getting through my hair. I have the perfect amount of texture left in my new growth and I will definitely follow these steps for my next relaxer touch up in December.