Nail Your Regimen Challenge 2014

[blackeyes31626]

I think I am going to start washing my hair every 2-3 weeks instead of once a week. I love washing my hair but the tangles and breakage are just too much so...

I am done with coconut oil it does nothing for my hair so I am sticking w/ olive oil.

 

[faithVA]

I think I am going to start washing my hair every 2-3 weeks instead of once a week. I love washing my hair but the tangles and breakage are just too much so...

I am done with coconut oil it does nothing for my hair so I am sticking w/ olive oil.

Maybe when you shampoo you can try buffering, applying your conditioner on top of your shampoo before rinsing or adding an oil before rinsing. Maybe that can help cut down on the tangles.

 

[Angel of the North]

Today was wash day, I shampooed and then co washed with nexxus humectress and then dc'd using africa's best organics hair mayo, I added carrot oil over my ends, wrapped my hair with a plastic treatment bag and then put a lined shower cap over it. I did an ACV final rinse, sprayed a little heat protectant and then blow dried without a comb until 90% dry and then attached the comb. I added a little kids africa's best kids shea detangling lotion and then finished blowing out my hair. I added more of the hair lotion oiled my ends and babied them, then put my hair in a single plait, my hair feels moisturised and my ends look and feel great at the moment, they felt like a brillo pad before I DC'd I'll monitor it and see how it goes.

My silk bonnets arrived yesterday so I'm trying them out tonight, the elastic doesn't sit on my hairline but it leaves marks on my face which is annoying, I hope they stay on through the night.

I've decided I prefer washing and dc'ing my hair weekly I'm thinking of a 6 wk dc schedule:

wk1 moisture
wk2 protein
wk3 moisture
wk4 silk protein
wk5 HOT
wk6 balancing (moisture & protein)

I'll just keep rotating the same schedule throughout the year, I could incorporate the fenugreek on maybe 2 of the moisture DC weeks. I need to invest in some more moisture DC's, a lot of my DC's have some sort of protein in them and I feel I should have some that are more on the moisture side, I'm thinking of keracare humecto, nexxus phyto organics and AO JAY, these are all easy to get on the ground and I think they will work well I also want to look into some Joico products. I want to end my product search within the next couple of years, that should give me the enough time to test products of interest and try to locate some HG products. I have acceptable staples but can't help thinking there's got to be something better out there.

 

[snoop]

Washed my press out from a week and a half ago. Used up the last piece of my clay conditioner. This time I added a table spoon of cocoa powder to make up for the reduced amount from the initial mixture AND I used coconut milk this time instead of water. I'll have to do it again, but this may be the game changer. I don't think water does much for my hair other than make it wet.

After I tried a roller set, but it was a fail since it seemed to take FOREVER for my hair to dry, but since I was going to be putting my hair in two strand twists anyway, I guess it wasn't a huge deal since I would have to respray each section before twisting.

I only took off about an inch of hair or less when I trimmed, but my hair feels so much shorter now. I think the shrinkage is crazy, cause it look about the same length when it's stretched out. The twists aren't as fluffy or stretched as I'd hoped they would be after the roller set, but my hair DOES feel silky, which on a normally cottony texture is a bit of a surprise for me.

Will have to try not to touch my hair too much today...

 

[xxinsanexxchels]

I washed my hair the first week of this month with tresemme shampoo it is a really good clarifier. Deep Conditioned with Loreal sulfate free conditioner. It was just okay and I wasn't too thrilled with it tbh.

The following week my order from NaturelleGrow Arrived and I used the Naturelle Grow Mango&Berries Cleanser and Conditioning Cream and DC with the Marshmallow Root DC with a plastic bag for 30mins this was a dream for my hair my curls were popped my hair was tangle free and when I straightened it went from dry feeling to soft and smooth.

This week I washed my hair with NaturelleGrow Cleanser and used Annabelle's Perfect Blends moisturizing conditioner then her deep conditioner and finished off with her leave-in I like Naturelle Grow's Deep Conditioner ALOT more but Annabelle's Hair Cream is on point much better than the healthy hair cream from NaturelleGrow which just makes my porous hair soak it up and then it's dry 5 mins later.

 

[Ogoma]

Put in curlformers for a few hours last night. Parts of my hair was already dry and some parts where damp. My hair was very stretched out and I preferred the way the curls looked. I think I am going to do this way from now on. I have always done it on wet hair. It also gives me more flexibility and I never have to slip in them again!

 

[Angel of the North]

My hair is holding up well, the first night using the hair bonnet I woke up with it it on the pillow but it must have slipped off no too long after I woke up because my hair was neat. the last night it stayed on all through the night. I'm hoping this will alleviate breakage around the front and sides of my hair. My hair has stayed moisturised and there has been no manipulation for 2 days, I think I can go for up to 4 days when I use a headscarf but I need to think about my edges, I may rotate between the bonnets and the scarfs. I will definitely keep putting my hair in a single plait as this is really helping to keep my ends in check and it's a PS. I think I will go with buns till I'm 8-9wks post, bunned single plait/single plait 10-15wks post and extensions for the last part of my stretch, this is what I will be trying out to see how it works for me.

On another note I'm looking for a moisturizing leave in spray that doesn't contain any protein, I would also like to find one that has silk amino acids as the only protein in them, any recs?

 

[tashboog]

I am going to add to add oil rinsing into my regimen because when I don't oil rinse my roots air dry crunchy. I've tried eliminating oil rinsing and every time I do, my roots air dry crunchy. So its now going to be apart of my regimen . Also my goal this year is to try and retain as much length as possible. So I went back into my archives and pulled out Chicoro's 'Grow It' book. I will be following her principles this year to help me retain as much length as possible .

 

[faithVA]

^^I am going to add oil rinsing to my regimen as well.

While in puffy twist my regimen will be
1. mist hair 2x a day
2. Use scalp treatment 2x a day
3. do inversion at least every other day
4. shampoo every other week but use an acv mix at least 1x a week
5. use an instant conditioner
6. apply an oil and work into strands
7. mist until hair remoisturized

My goal will be to keep them in for at least 6 weeks.

When I take the twist out, to prevent matting I will
1. Shampoo my scalp prior to taking the twist out
2. Remove twist and apply oil and let sit overnight or for several hours
3. Cowash hair

The second week
1. Use a chelating shampoo; buffer with rinse out conditioner if needed
2. DC
3. Oil rinse
4. Heavy Seal

Not sure yet how many weeks I will leave between installs. I will do at least 2 weeks.

 

[ckisland]

I figured out how to air dry!!!!!!!!! Yesterday I cleansed, DC'd, and applied 4 layers of protection . First, I sprayed Aphogee Green Tea, applied GF Sleek & Shine from root to end, then applied GF Damage Eraser leave-in to the last half of my hair, and sealed everything with pomade. My hair was in 2 sections that I split into 4, doing one side completely before moving to the other side. I tied a scarf over the front of my head, and used 2 ponytail holders to loosely band. When I took it down after it was 97% dry, I was like Hot Dog !!!! Soft, smooth hair with flat edges!! Whodat?!! If I was wearing my hair down, I would have been happy wearing it as is!

 

[lamaria211]

I figured out how to air dry!!!!!!!!! Yesterday I cleansed, DC'd, and applied 4 layers of protection . First, I sprayed Aphogee Green Tea, applied GF Sleek & Shine from root to end, then applied GF Damage Eraser leave-in to the last half of my hair, and sealed everything with pomade. My hair was in 2 sections that I split into 4, doing one side completely before moving to the other side. I tied a scarf over the front of my head, and used 2 ponytail holders to loosely band. When I took it down after it was 97% dry, I was like Hot Dog !!!! Soft, smooth hair with flat edges!! Whodat?!! If I was wearing my hair down, I would have been happy wearing it as is!

I'm trying this! Thanks

 

[alanaturelle]

This week, instead of overnight GHE, I'm trying a midweek steam and cowash. So today, I applied a conditioner, sat under the steamer, cowashed and letting dry overnight. Tomorrow, I'll put my hair in a bun, !!!

 

[Angel of the North]

It's been a good week for my hair and I, we seem to be in a good place. The bonnets have worked well and through using them, I've had no need to comb my hair on a daily basis, the moisture is not being sucked out by my pillowcases and I have prevented breakage at the front/sides of my hair. I have kept my hair in a single braid since washday, I have only re-braided it twice (Tuesday & Friday) and have been spraying my leave-ins, using kids organics shea butter hair lotion and sealing with an oil, my hair has felt moisturised and smells great so it's all good.

I bought a bottle of nexxus luxtress to use as my moisturising leave-in, the jury's still out but so far it's been okay, I won't repurchase this as I would like to find a moisturising low/no protein leave-in that doesn't have dimethicone in it. I cannot co-wash when using products that contain dimethicone, they leave a film or white greasy mess on my scalp and hair, that is actually my least favourite ingredient in hair products. I will not be repurchasing the aphogee provitamin leave-in for the same reasons.

I keep flipping backwards and forwards with how often I should wash and DC my hair during the autumn and winter months, now that I have locked down the moisture issue I feel like I could maintain a bi-weekly washday schedule, I really think it would help me with my retention as most of my hair loss comes from detangling on washdays and daily manipulation of brushing and putting into a bun. I will opt out of washday this week just to test how I get on this time round, I will know if this is something that will work for me within my regimen by next weekend, if it doesn't work out, I will implement the 5 wk wash day DC regimen I mentioned up thread (I will be doing this in the spring/summer months also adding a midweek co-wash).

All I need to work out is when to introduce the collagen and MSM powders to my diet, the fenugreek spritz and moisture DC to my hair regimen and a good solid, readily available leave-in spray and I'll feel like I've gotten to a great place with my regimen and should start to see some good results.

 

[ckisland]

My first attempt at continuous protective styling (4 days) was a success!!! Although all of my hair remained soft and moisturized, the front halves that were flattwisted were more supple and smoother than the back section that was bunned loose. Tomorrow I'm cowashing, DCing and using Opti pH for my final rinse. I'm doing a halo flatwist as my style for hopefully the week, and I'm super excited!!!

 

[faithVA]

It's been a good week for my hair and I, we seem to be in a good place. The bonnets have worked well and through using them, I've had no need to comb my hair on a daily basis, the moisture is not being sucked out by my pillowcases and I have prevented breakage at the front/sides of my hair. I have kept my hair in a single braid since washday, I have only re-braided it twice (Tuesday & Friday) and have been spraying my leave-ins, using kids organics shea butter hair lotion and sealing with an oil, my hair has felt moisturised and smells great so it's all good.

I bought a bottle of nexxus luxtress to use as my moisturising leave-in, the jury's still out but so far it's been okay, I won't repurchase this as I would like to find a moisturising low/no protein leave-in that doesn't have dimethicone in it. I cannot co-wash when using products that contain dimethicone, they leave a film or white greasy mess on my scalp and hair, that is actually my least favourite ingredient in hair products. I will not be repurchasing the aphogee provitamin leave-in for the same reasons.

I keep flipping backwards and forwards with how often I should wash and DC my hair during the autumn and winter months, now that I have locked down the moisture issue I feel like I could maintain a bi-weekly washday schedule, I really think it would help me with my retention as most of my hair loss comes from detangling on washdays and daily manipulation of brushing and putting into a bun. I will opt out of washday this week just to test how I get on this time round, I will know if this is something that will work for me within my regimen by next weekend, if it doesn't work out, I will implement the 5 wk wash day DC regimen I mentioned up thread (I will be doing this in the spring/summer months also adding a midweek co-wash).

All I need to work out is when to introduce the collagen and MSM powders to my diet, the fenugreek spritz and moisture DC to my hair regimen and a good solid, readily available leave-in spray and I'll feel like I've gotten to a great place with my regimen and should start to see some good results.

Sounds like you are making great progress.

 

[faithVA]

Not doing much with my hair. I washed my hair in twist and that went well. First I used Silk Elements Scalp Treatment and let it sit for 5 minutes and rinsed. I coated my scalp with Organicals Follicle Stimulator and my hair with diluted Deva Curl and herbal oil and let that sit for a while. I rinsed and put a light coat of hazelnut oil on my hair when it was partially dry. I then used 4Naturals Scalp Treatment on my scalp and let my hair air dry. A few of my twist slipped so I reinstalled but besides that they are fine.

I have decided to give Natural Oasis Products a try so I am waiting on delivery. I will take my twist out on the 7th and give it a try. If they work for my hair I will be getting rid of a lot of products.

In the meantime I will stick with my regimen of scalp treatments and spritzing my hair with my tea/moisture balm spritz.

 

[JazzyOleBabe]

If it is not too late, I would like to join. Here is the requested info.

1) Natural
2) SL
3) Too numerous to mention
4) Currently straightening hair once every 2 weeks
5) Trying to stick with an established process and eliminate the mini detours I encounter with my hair routine.
6) Using up my current stash to identify holy grail products

I have established a routine that I have be adhering to lately and it seems to make the hair washing process less tedious. I needed to add structure to my process or else I would be all over the place.

I follow this process 95% of the time. My only exception seems to be during my henna/indigo procedure and any special treatments.

Process used during natural/curly hair routine
-Pre-poo (with SSI Coconut Sorbet, or Chicoro method)
-Shampoo/cowash ( have been using Wen lately until I finish this bottle)
-Deep Cond (mostly moisturizing with occasional protein use)
- LI
-LOC
-Seal/style

Inconsistently use Coffee/Tea, ACV rinse. I haven't found a comfortable placement in my routine for these steps.

I have been straightening my hair for 1 month now and the new process is pre-poo, wash, cond, blow dry, flat iron, seal and bun.

 

[Ogoma]

My regimen is going well and I am following it pretty closely. I have not needed to CoWash mid week so that is the only thing I have not been doing consistently. I intend to get back to the gym at full force this week so that might change.

I prepooed with my oil mix and that went very very well. I will definitely keep it up.

Next week, I will do my first Ayurvedic gloss in a loooong while.

 

[spellinto]

My hair and I have been very good to each other throughout the week. I am still editing my wash days though. I've already accomplished a lot but there are still a few things I'd like to tweak.

I typically use a spray detangler to comb through my roots after washes, but I don't think it's the best option for my hiar. I've used multiple sprays already, many with good slip, but they make my hair very "wet" and prone to breakage, even with just a few spritzes (my hair is very absorbant). I think I'll just use the leave in & oil that I use regular and see how things go from there. My only qualm is that I'll finish up my products faster than I anticipated. Still, as a college student, I have to be savy and use what I have on hand.

I do want to try another shampoo, though. My CON Argan Oil Shampoo is great at detangling but stinks at cleansing my scalp (the whole point of a shampoo!). The Elasta QP shampoo for relaxed hair has a lot of good reviews, I may check that one out...any opinions?

Oh, and I won't prepoo with castor oil again. Nothing bad happened, but I grew paranoid that I wouldn't be able to wash it out. Too risky

 

[snoop]

I was so pressed for time yesterday that I only managed to co-wash my (two strand) twists last night instead of doing a mudwash/dc + condition during the day. After reading the crown and glory thread, I think that is basically what I've been doing, but with my own hair? (I keep my hair in two strand twists for 2 weeks at at time then moisturize the twists daily/twice daily.) Whatever it is my hair seems to like it, so I'll keep it up, at the very least for the winter.

In the mean time, I need to do something to make these two strand twists appear neater? Usually, I don't use a mirror and for the most part I'm fine with that, but by the end of the first week you can see along the front edges just how disfunctional everything is getting. I want to try to avoid re-doing the edges before the end of each two week period, just beause I think that would defeat the purpose of maintaining a low manipulation style. Also, I "suffer" from traction alopecia near both temples and all along my eages are much shorter than the rest of my hair from post-partum shedding (growing back now). I need to find some youtube videos that will show me how to do some simple protective styles, because I'm definitely challenged at styling anything other than a twist out.

faithVA I've been spritzing my hair after applying my cream so, LOCL and I kind of like it. It's hard to tell if for my hair it makes a difference, but I think it definitely doesn't hurt now that the weather is so cold and dry. I think if I wore my hair out more I'd know right away. Either way, I'm going to keep it up, for the time being. Thanks for the tip!

 

[faithVA]

If it is not too late, I would like to join. Here is the requested info.

1) Natural
2) SL
3) Too numerous to mention
4) Currently straightening hair once every 2 weeks
5) Trying to stick with an established process and eliminate the mini detours I encounter with my hair routine.
6) Using up my current stash to identify holy grail products

I have established a routine that I have be adhering to lately and it seems to make the hair washing process less tedious. I needed to add structure to my process or else I would be all over the place.

I follow this process 95% of the time. My only exception seems to be during my henna/indigo procedure and any special treatments.

Process used during natural/curly hair routine
-Pre-poo (with SSI Coconut Sorbet, or Chicoro method)
-Shampoo/cowash ( have been using Wen lately until I finish this bottle)
-Deep Cond (mostly moisturizing with occasional protein use)
- LI
-LOC
-Seal/style

Inconsistently use Coffee/Tea, ACV rinse. I haven't found a comfortable placement in my routine for these steps.

I have been straightening my hair for 1 month now and the new process is pre-poo, wash, cond, blow dry, flat iron, seal and bun.

Hey JazzyOleBabe. It's not to late. Glad to have you.

 

[Beany]

My schedule was SUPER packed last week (and will be this week too smh) so my regimen was all over the place it seems.

Friday night I prepooed or DC or something overnight with Tresemme naturals and castor oil. I kept that mixture in all day Saturday and washed it out with AIA coconut cowash that evening.

I DC'd with yes to carrots, YAM, and castor oil overnight Saturday, and all day and night Sunday.

I rinsed the DC this afternoon and my hair felt really good (as it should with all that DCing). Please notice I did not detangle or steam smh, I just didn't have the time. I used hair dew (the last of it), tresemme natural and HH marshmallow fluff as LIs and sealed with argan oil and Njoi herbal hair dressing on the ends. I put my hair in 8 big twists and pinned up.

If I'm not too tired tonight I'd like to retwist with MHC soy butter.

 

[Beany]

I retwisted with mhc buttery soy and baggied. In the a.m. will pin my twists up.

 

[faithVA]

This cold weather is brutal. I am making sure my scalp is taken care of at least 2x a day. Spritzing my hair at least 1x a day. Tonight I will probably spritz, oil and baggy my hair to give it a bit of moisture.

 

[ckisland]

Finger-detangling is definitely working for me .This is my second wash day using my fingers, and it works way better than my comb. I love my comb, but the teeth are too wide to grab most of my shed hair . I've also been collecting my wash day hairs and putting them in baggies to compare from week to week. So far my hair fall is almost half of what it was 2 washes ago .

 

[ckisland]

snoop , I am extremely style challenged, so I understand the struggle. This is the style I did this week. Mine isn't as nice as her halo twist, but it does the job and now I see that it can be altered slightly by how big or small the flattwist is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-7qFb9MKOA&feature=share&list=FLspXqYpwvalR5mgiEcJx5lw

 

[beautyaddict1913]

I hope it's not too late to join. My hair is struggling this winter and I want to get to waist length!
Stats:
Natural
Grazing waist length

Products:
SheaMoisture moisture retention shampoo, ASIAN coconut cowash, Curl Junkie daily fix
Darcy's pumpkin, curl junkie argan and olive
Claudies normalizing rinse, shi naturals tea rinse
SSI okra, SSI fortifying, Claudies protein treatment, henna
Curl junkie deep fix, cj curl fix, cj curl rehab
Darcy's transitioning creme, Pbn murumuru milk, Hairveda whipped ends
Htn growth oil, Claudies verde oil, Darcy's watermelon oil
HH castor infusion, Qhemet aohc, brbc, and ohhb
Ufd curly magic, bee mine curl butter

Techniques:
Wash 1x per week, cowash and moisturize as needed, henna 1x/month, tea rinse 1x/month, protein treatment 1x per month

Hoping to nail:
My moisture balance. This winter is the first time in years that I have struggled with dry hair so I'm hoping to resolve the issue.

 

[faithVA]

I hope it's not too late to join. My hair is struggling this winter and I want to get to waist length!
Stats:
Natural
Grazing waist length

Products:
SheaMoisture moisture retention shampoo, ASIAN coconut cowash, Curl Junkie daily fix
Darcy's pumpkin, curl junkie argan and olive
Claudies normalizing rinse, shi naturals tea rinse
SSI okra, SSI fortifying, Claudies protein treatment, henna
Curl junkie deep fix, cj curl fix, cj curl rehab
Darcy's transitioning creme, Pbn murumuru milk, Hairveda whipped ends
Htn growth oil, Claudies verde oil, Darcy's watermelon oil
HH castor infusion, Qhemet aohc, brbc, and ohhb
Ufd curly magic, bee mine curl butter

Techniques:
Wash 1x per week, cowash and moisturize as needed, henna 1x/month, tea rinse 1x/month, protein treatment 1x per month

Hoping to nail:
My moisture balance. This winter is the first time in years that I have struggled with dry hair so I'm hoping to resolve the issue.

Welcome to the challenge. This winter is extremely rough on a lot of heads. I don't think we have seen a winter like this in a long time. Hopefully we will be through the worst of it in 30 days.

I would love to have a "grazing WL" issue

 

[ckisland]

beautyaddict1913 , Girl, your hair is slaying me!!!! It is so gorgeous!!!!

 

[beautyaddict1913]

faithVA thank you so much! It has been a little over 5 years since my last relaxer and the time has flown so you will be there before you know it!

ckisland thank you doll! Your hair is gorgeous too!!