Wash Day

I skipped washing my hair this weekend. I just didn't have the time and patience for it, so I've decided to go ahead and post on my wash day from the weekend prior to Thanksgiving.  I tried to keep it simple, but seems like it never is. Here's how thing went down:

1. Detangled my hair using Mane and Tail Detangler and my seamless comb.

2. Shampooed with CON Argan Oil Shampoo.

3.Deep conditioned with ORS Hair Mayonnaise.  My hair felt in need of some protein so that was a must for this wash.

4.Applied my leave-ins. I used Jessicurl Too Shea Extra Moisturizing Conditioner and It's A 10 Miracle Leave-In.

5. Blow-dried using the tension method.

Bun Fun! :-P

I keep trying different things to help improve my wash day.  This time around I thought I'd try loosely tying rubber bands at each section (I always do everything in 4 sections).  I was very careful with the rubber bands but I think ouchless bands or scrunchies might have been better to use.  The idea was to hold my length in place while I massaged the shampoo into my scalp. It seemed to work pretty well to keep my new growth from getting tangled; however, somehow I ended up having issues with my ends getting tangled which isn't really usual for my wash days. It's usually my roots that I'm fighting with.

I was up until the crack of dawn blow drying my hair. I still haven't mastered this yet.  It was so late/early in the a.m. that after I finished the third section I decided to get some sleep and finish the fourth section later. LOL! I grabbed a plastic cap and rubber band and tied it around the section to keep my roots from drying and matting up.  I have about 9 months of new growth.  I was SO tired, and I also had plans to drive 5 hours to my home town to visit family for Thanksgiving.  The day just wasn't going how I had planned.  I think it took so long because of the detangling and using cooler air to blow dry. Sometimes I cheated and turned the temp up to save a little time. 

 Once I finally finished, I finger combed my hair into a bun.

Without Flash

With Flash

Wash days like this definitely make me consider staying relaxed, but I am really trying to find ways to work with my hair so we can both be happy. I want to be very much sure that I don't want to go natural before I relax again. So I'm trying to hold out. My last relaxer was in February of this year and I was about 7 months post at that time. After I relaxed I really regretted it.  I would be about 16 months post right now if I hadn't. I'm trying to hang in there. It's all about trial and error and patience I guess.

So how was your wash day? Is anyone else struggling through a long stretch/transition? Do you have any good tricks to speed up your wash day? Please share!!

Don't forget to check out and share your wash day via the Wash Day Experience Link Up hosted by SOS and JGA!

Thanks for reading!

Thinking Out Loud



Wet wrap results - no flat iron used



I am SOOOO ready to be fully texlaxed. I almost thought about throwing out the idea because I miss my wet wraps so badly.  My hair always came out so smooth and soft with absolutely NO direct heat as seen in one of my previous wash days here.  But I know the benefits of texlaxing will be worth it. Stronger thicker hair.  And now that I'm getting my rollersetting skills down, this should be a breeze.

My hair is definitely growing at the average rate of a half inch per month.  It seems sooooo slow.  I am way too impatient.  I keep thinking to myself "why couldn't I have started my HHJ three years ago? I'd be at my goal by now."  Well if I had started 3 years ago I would have been saying the same thing then. Ha! Patience patience patience is key!

I couldn't even wait.  I've been wanting to get my hands on the Magic Star Jumbo Rake.  I actually purchased the set last night (Jumbo and Mini).  I'm super excited about this purchase.  I'll keep the mini in my purse for when I'm out and about. A perfect addition to my aresenal of hair care items! :)

 

Protective styling....what to say about this.  I need to experiment with more styles.  All I do is pull it up and clip it.  I'm just trying to be careful with my hair.  My hair is not very dense, which I hate.  I feel like a lot of styles don't look too great with my thin hair.  Plus I have very fine strands so I try not to do too much to my hair to avoid causing any breakage.  But I'm getting tired of my boring look.  When I'm closer to being fully texlaxed I hope to experiment a lot more.  But right now I feel like a wig may be in order.

Wash Day - 2/7/2013

So I did a wash on Thursday.  I was not very happy at the end of this wash I must say.  Still can't figure out what to do with my hair since I have about 2 inches of texlaxed hair.  I suck at protective styling and roller setting, plus I've been trying to avoid doing anything that will put any stress on my nape, because I'm still trying to nurse it back to health.  Still leaning toward purchasing a wig.  I need to do a lil research before I do this.  It may be my number one option for protective styling and relaxer stretching at the moment.  So on to my wash details.  I kind of switched up my routine this time.

1. Started off prepooing with oils:  Argan Oil (contents:  argan oil and sweet almond oil) on my roots and Matrix Biolage Delicate Care Organic Certified Oil (contents: olea europaea oil/olive fruit oil, isopropyl palmitate, argania spionosa oil/argania spinosa kernel oil, lavandula angustifolia oil/lavender oil, linaldol). The Matrix Biolage oil is part of their color care line; the instructions say to apply from mid lenghth to ends, so I used the argan oil closer to my roots.  I sat under my heat cap for about 20 minutes.

2. After prepooing I detangled my hair with my seamless comb, parting my hair into 6 sections and braiding each section.  I secured the ends with ouchless ponytail holders.  I decided to try this out after reading about the  technique on Miss Kibibi's blog (author of the Five Hair Archetypes).  It's a great way to keep your hair from tangling while shampooing  Next time I will use more braids.

3.  I hopped in the shower and shampooed using Organix Repairing Awapuhi Ginger shampoo.  Another trick I got from Miss Kibibi's blog was to dilute the shampoo with water in an applicator bottle so you can apply the shampoo directly to the scalp.  I'm trying to put more focus on cleansing the scalp since this is the purpose of shampoo.  Shampoo is harsh on your hair strands.  Doing my shampoo this way I can focus more on cleansing my scalp and of course some of the shampoo will run down my hair gently cleansing my tresses in the process.  I think it would have been easier to cleanse my scalp if I had done more braids.

4.  Next I did my black tea rinse and let it sit on my hair for a few minutes.

5. I then rinsed out the black tea and applied PM Super Skinny Treatment to my hair.  Man let me tell ya....this stuff is the truth! lol! My hair feels oh so soft afterwards.  Love it!!!

6.  Finally I DC'd with my Kera Pro Restorative Treatment.  Another fave of mine!  I sat under my steamer for about 20 minutes.



7. After DC-ing I applied Roux Porosity control for about 30 seconds and rinsed.

I tried squeezing my hair dry with a t-shirt.  Next I applied my leave-ins:  Darcy's Daily Leave In and PMSS Serum.  My hair was about 75% dry at that point.  I could figure out what I was going to do to my hair.  It was getting  late and I had to be at work the next morning.  I always worry about my hair looking decent for work.  I thought I could get away with doing a wrap, so I tried wrapping my hair and spraying a little water to get it back wet again.  This was sooo difficult and remember I have thick texlaxed roots.  I definitely experienced some breakage. :(  When I took down my hair in the morning after letting it air dry overnight, it was not what I had hoped.  Puffy roots galore!  I ended up clipping back as usual.

I'd wanted to try out a roller set, but didn't have time for that.  I wasn't sure how plain air drying would turn out.  I just didn't know what to do.  Sigh.... A wig or sew-in is sounding better and better by the second.  Ah well, maybe the next wash will be better.

How was your most recent wash day?  Is anyone else having texlaxing issues?  What are you doing to combat this problem?

Thanks for reading,
Andrea

FYI - HotCombs Sale

HotCombs is having a sale. Coupon code: lastminute to save 20% on your order. Finally got my HS1975 styling comb. They were out of stock last time I checked. Just wanted to share. Love my seamless combs.

~Andrea