Personalised Hair Growth routine/regime{n} - short, dry, fine hair.

Hi Everyone, I hope you are all well and enjoying the hot weather and the World Cup matches.

I was asked to come up with a Hair Growth Routine/Regime{n} for short, dry, fine Afro-Caribbean hair. The lovely lady doesn't like heavy or greasy products and her hair can get weighed down easily so I kept all this in mind when choosing the products, health issues also determined the easy routine.
I thought it would be nice to add it here as it may be helpful for others and also so for a record.



Wash Day - Every 2 weeks. 

Wash - Sulphate free shampoo - Shea Moisture Manuka Honey -  Wet hair and apply shampoo to scalp, massage with pads of fingers (not nails). Smooth through to ends and rinse. Add shampoo to hair, massage and smooth through and rinse.

Deep Condition - In a bowl, Mix Aunt Jackie Deep conditioner and teaspoon of Kokolicious Kays Oil blend (add Ogx Coconut Water conditioner if you want a thicker consistency or for extraness 😝)
Section hair into 4 and clip out the way, working one section at a time. 
Apply condish mix, smoothing through hair. Cover with shower cap/bag or cling film. ( a scarf can be tied on top as it keeps in heat and also as protection - or if you need to leave the house lol) Leave on hair for at least 30mins (the longer the better) 
Remove cover and detangle hair using fingers or wide tooth comb. 
Rinse hair well.

**If you are short of time (or patience) you can just use the Aunt Jackie as is.

Last cool rinse Add some Apple Cider Vinegar or Lime Juice to cool water or just rinse with cool water.

Wrap hair with t-shirt.




Wash Day- Every 6 Weeks.
 
Pre-poo overnight - Or at least 30mins before washing. Section hair into 4 sections using clips. working on a section at a time, massage Kokolicious Hairlicious Growth oil into scalp, Smooth generous amount of Kays Oil Blend through hair. (if hair is dry use Ogx condish, seal with oil blend if extremely dry or if hair feels like it needs an extra boost) Cover hair overnight.

nb,
You may like to warm the oil up before applying for a hot oil treatment.

Clarifying Wash - ORS Creamy Aloe Shampoo - follow shampoo routine as above
Tea/coffee Rinse - Stew tea and pour into spray bottle or cup. Spritz tea onto hair or pour over with cup. Leave for 5-10 mins.
Deep Condition - Mix Shea Moisture Superfruit Masque and teaspoon of Hairlicious or Kay's Oil Blend in a bowl (add some Aunt Jackie deep condish if too thick or for a nice mix) - follow deep condish routine as above.

**If you are short of time (or patience) you can just use the Aunt Jackie as is.

Last cool rinse - as above
Wrap hair with t-shirt
Do Nightly Routine.



NB, If you feel like your hair needs added moisture between washdays or needs freshening up, use the OGX conditioner to co wash.



Nightly.

Seperate hair with fingers into four sections. Using clips to hold hair in place.
working with a section at a time.
Oil scalp Hairlicious growth oil and massage (not needed nightly if you feel your hair doesn't need oiling nightly but at least 2/3 times a week for hair growth boost)
Leave In - spritz Kokolicious and Refresh Hydrate spray onto hair, smooth gently through hair.
Moisturise - put a small amount of Giovanni Direct Leave In into the palm of your hand, rub gently to lightly warm, apply to hair and smooth through. 
Seal - Put a small amount of Kay's Oil Blend into palm, rub hands together gently, rub through hair concentrating on ends. 
Use fingers or tangle teaser to detangle and smooth hair.
 
Band, Thread, plait or twist each section. 

Edges and Nape - Massage Hairlicious into edges and nape. Use pad of fingers and massage upwards.

Cover with satin/silk scarf and satin bonnet if sleek edges are needed or just a satin bonnet otherwise.

Nb,
After a couple weeks your hair will start to retain moisture and you may notice you don't need to moisturise every night. Follow your hair's lead and do so every other night or even every couple of nights. You may find that you just need to use hydrating spray and a little oil.
Try to massage your edges and nape nightly at least for now to get them strong, thick and growing.

Dayly

Style hair as desired. Be careful not to over manipulate your hair. Moisturise if needed.

If your hair feels dry during the day, use the refreshing spray.

Tips!!

*Using T-shirts after washing instead of Towels can help combat frizz, snagging and also maintain moisture.

*Never use nails when washing or massaging the scalp.

*Use a satin or silk bonnet or scarf to keep your hair in place and a satin pillowcase. Cotton can dry your hair out and cause snagging.

*Use wide tooth combs only. No small tooth combs (unless for parting) as they pull hair out.

*Use hair bands and ponytail holders that don't have metal parts as hair can get caught and pulled out.

*Ensure your hair is always moisturised, dry things break or die.

*Drink your water! Hydration is key.

*Get nutrients through diet and supplement if needed.

*Do what works for you.

*Be gentle!!

*Be patient!!

*Have fun.

Hiiiii and New Hair Growth Challenge.

Hello Stranger.... Ok I know I'm the stranger and have been AWOL .... again!!

I wont bore you in this post about the whys and wherefores but I'll deffo do a update post soon.

I just waned to quickly post that our next round of the 90 Day Hair Growth Challenge is up and running. Whoooop Whooop lol.

It will be great having you all join in again, I love seeing and hearing all about your progress. Please let me know what methods you will using during the challenge.

If you have any ideas an/or hair growth hacks for me to try please let me know.

I will be doing a Q&A and info video as I have had quite a few questions re: the growth challenge so let me know if you have any.

Here's the Start and Length Check Video:

90 Day Hair Growth Challenge round 2 - Starting Date

Hi Everyone, I hope you are all well.

Round 2 of our 90 Day Hair Growth Challenge is starting on Monday 29th August.

Here's the video with information about what I plan to be doing during the challenge and my starting length check.









Video's from the first challenge that you may be interested in:

First challenge video information:
https://youtu.be/JzPTh4lS6mo

First challenge final length check and why I stopped taking MSM:
https://youtu.be/CM1k9mU6pUU

First Challenge Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiYfa_ngzAYtp9NdgVth7y_PerVZflXEx

New 90 Day Hair Growth Challenge!!

Hiiiiii!!! Just a quick heads up that a new 90 Day Hair Growth Challenge on the 1st August!!
Whoooppp!!
I will try to get a video out to chat a little bit about it but I wanted to remind those who wanted another one and inform anyone who would like to join this time around.

I actually cannot wait to get started, I have been protective styling since the last one finished and I'll probably be doing the same for the first week or so of this round.

Let's do this!!!

90 Day Hair Growth Challenge - Results and Experience

Hiya!! I have finally managed to upload results video!!

I had a mishap along the way (wha'ts new?) and had to record on two different days.

Thanks again for everyone who took part and for your continual support. For those who wanted to join in when we were already started, and those who asked about doing it again, we will do another challenge in August xxx

Protective Styling : Braids/Plaits

Hiya!! The sun has finally come to play here in London. It's been teasing us with guest appearences only to hide away again. On some days we've had 3 to 4 seasons worth of weather with hailstones, wind, sun and chill!
The weather has been playing games with my hair and as I may have said a few times, It was time for a protective style.
I was waiting for the 90 Day Hair Growth Challenge to end before putting my hair away and felt like some plaits or twists.

I started to notice some breakage at my crown area, where my parting is..... not just uneven hair but actual small hairs!! humph!! I do think it's because I part my hair in the same way when styling and washing. That was the final push for me to plait up my hair and I decided to crochet the plaits because that would be less time installing and removing and also the least amount of pulling on my hair while I wore them. I plaited the perimeter in single/box plaits/ braids

Plaiting/Braiding hair and Pre-Plaited/Braided packs

I have to say I love the ease of day-to-day styling that comes with plaits, no faffing about, I normally just pull the top half up into a ponytail and have half up, half down... It's soooo much quicker in the mornings for school runs.

I have had them in for around two weeks now and plan to keep them for another two at least  maybe even push to six weeks in total. I re-did the front perimeter last Saturday as they were looking quite fuzzy and yesterday I re-did the back on Thursday just gone.

It's been a while since I last had a longer term protective style, I forgot how my scalp cries for water when wash day comes and goes without me washing it.

Loving my Plaits!!

90 Day Hair Growth Challenge - Update and Length Check.

Hiya!! Here's an Update for the 90 Day Hair Growth Challenge and a Length Check.

(catch up) Demo - Quick Wash and Go

Hiya! Still Catching up!! I forgot to post the video I uploaded showing my requested Demo of my quick Wash and Go.
I hope you enjoy. Please let me know any tips or fave products you have for Wash and Go's

Transition Over!!! Now Officially natural.

Whhhhooooopppppp!!!! As you can see from the title I am officially natural Whooop Whooopp.

Trimmed Hair {I trimmed in twists}

Oh wow!! My transition from relaxed hair is over. I started transitioning around December 2013 when I decided that I wanted to "go natural". I was trying to get my hair healthy and stretched my relaxer, thinking it was best to give my hair a break from the chemicals while it recovered and grew back. The stretch got longer and as my new-growth/regrowth grew I didn't want to relax and then I just realised I didn't want to use the chemicals on my hair at all. My scalp is so sensitive that I would get burns and I couldn't actually keep the relaxer on for processing, it was literally applying the relaxer, combing through and rinsing it off... sometimes I couldn't even get to comb it through too well as the burning was so bad.
It didn't matter if I used a 'gentle' relaxer or a 'children's' one. It was the same.

I was tired of it, the pain, the mess, the smell.... Even when relaxed, my hair would choose to do it's own thing when it wanted, how it wanted. I would style it and it would frizz or curl or wave.... I would have to straighten/flat iron it or tong it for it to act how I wanted but that wouldn't even last for more than a few hours so it really wasn't worth going through all the hastle of relaxing.

I made the decision not to use relaxers any more and chose to transition rather than big chop. I wasn't brave enough to cut all my hair off, so transitioning was the way to go. To be honest, I didn't even know what I was doing or have any plan.... I didn't actually know what I was doing had a name lol, I just wasn't relaxing my hair any more. Looking back, things really would have gone better if I had a plan or knew where to look for information when I started out. Along the way I found the info I needed and a lot was trial and error.

During my transition, my hair went through many stages, some easy but some very frustrating and down right annoying lol.

I used protective styles and low manipulation styles to help me along the way and learned to "listen to my hair" it sounds all airy fairy but truly... I have come to realise that if I want things to go well with my hair then I have to follow my hair - if it's dry? add moisture, too soft or 'acting' up? add protein, not styling a certain way? just style it differently lol, and that's just a few examples.

I trimmed my hair when I felt ready to at each stage and only trimmed as much as I was comfortable with. Sometimes it would be a very small trim and other times I would get brave and cut longer bits. This last trim I had quite a bit of split and frizzy ends so I knew I would be trimming quite a bit off and knew it would make sense to just trim off all the relaxed ends that were left at the same time. I twisted my hair and trimmed it that way, you can see THIS post (opens in new window) to see the style and trim video.

From the above picture, you can see the trimmings that still had relaxed ends (circled in pink). The bit at the top was quite long!!

It's a great feeling to be done with the transitioning and now I have started a new chapter in my Healthy Hair Journey - Growing my Natural Hair.
I know that seems odd to say considering I've been growing my hair all along, but for every inch of growth I achieved, it had to be trimmed off to get rid of the relaxed ends. So now the growth I get is all mine *queue cartoon villain laugh*


I just want to encourage you fellow transitioners, it does get easier and you will get there xxx

90 Day Hair Growth Challenge - Starting Length Check

Hi!! Here is the video of my starting hair length for the challenge.
I plan to do length checks probably monthly. I will do general updates more often though.
I am happy on the whole with my trim although I am missing the length. My ends look and feel much healthier and my twists stay in better too.

90 Day Hair Growth Challenge - Wash day

Hiya!! I completely forgot to post the wash day videos I recorded for the 90 Day Hair Growth Challenge. I have had a few questions about my wash day process so thought I'd do a video. It was quite odd doing wash day in front of the camera so please excuse me lol.

This wash day was specifically aimed at the challenge so I hope it helps.

Part 1 - Cleanse, Coffee Rinse, Protein Conditioning Treatment.




Part 2 - Moisturising Deep Conditioning Treatment




Part 3 - Style and Trim

Lost week - protective styling.

Somewhere along the way I have missed a week where I put my hair on a protective style for the week... I don't know how but I thought I'd post about it as I like to have a record of what works (or doesn't as the case may be) on my hair.

As an avid blog reader and YouTube stalker... erm I mean viewer, I'm always on the look out for new tips, tricks and b/vloggers over the past few weeks I've come across a few ladies with super long hair who have their hair in protective styles for the majority of the time and a couple of them have a weekly routine/regime{n} of washing their hair then putting it into a protective style for the whole week. 

I've been wanting to keep my hair as free from as much manipulation as possible but as I'm not ready for my next long protective style stint I decided to give the week one a try.


Preperation:
 

After the whole washing and deep conditioning process, I reached for some smoothing leave ins (Herbal Essences Beautiful Ends Split End Protection Cream (I'm down to the bottom of my last bottle *sob* when it's finished I wont be able to get it again) and Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Serum) as I wanted my hair to air dry as smooth and stretched as possible.

Working in four sections I took out my wide toothed comb and soft bristle denman- it felt so weird using these in my hair as I've been only finger detangling for so long.
I parted my hair down the middle, put my hair in two ponytails winding the hair round itself and left it to dry. 
My hair was soooooo smooth, it reminded me of very early in my HJ when I wanted my hair as straight and smooth as possible to emulate my relaxed hair (what a change!)

Style:

I opted for some cameroes/cornrows (around 7/8 in total) and added a little extension hair in an ombré type effect. 

I smoothed the front down with some CURLS Passion Fruit Curl Control Paste and tied my scarf on.
In the morning I just took my scarf down and I was good to go!!

I pulled all the plaits/braids into a side ponytail. Some days I wound the braids round into a side bun.

Protective styling: Cameroes/Cornrows/Canerows

Maintenance: 
 
I enjoyed the freedom the plaits/braids gave me and I loved that it shaved so much time in the morning. I just used a little gel and paste each night and let it set overnight.
When my hair started to get messier, I had to gel in the morning instead but it was still so much quicker than styling my hair from scratch each day.

I oiled my scalp every night with my hairlicious and moisturised with the
Herbal Essences Beautiful Ends Split End Protection Cream when needed, I wanted a light moisturiser that wouldn't be too heavy nor cause excess build up.



I enjoyed wearing my hair in plaits/braids but may well leave out the extension hair next time round.

Review: Shea Moisture Coconut and Hibiscus- Curl Enhancing Smoothie andHold and Shine Mist.

Here's a video reviewing two of my fave hair products. I've been using them for the past 6 months or so and absolutely love them, I actually put off buying the smoothie for ages as the price put me off but I heard such great things and my hair was in its rebellious stage and needed a huge moisture injection, so.... I closed my eyes and picked it up.... 3 tubs later I have ended up picking up some of the other products in the line too. After I loved the smoothie so much, I was on the look out for a moisturising leave in/spray so decided to give the Hold and Shine Mist a try. Let's just say I'm now finishing my second bottle.
I hope you enjoy the Video and it's helpful.

Wash Day - Change of Plans

The best laid plans and all that, I had good intentions for this wash day but the "delightful" English weather had other plans.

I oiled my scalp with ORCO and applied some to the strands the night before all ready to follow last weeks routine of Pre-poo - School run - Wash - Deep Condish - School run - Rinse and Style buuutttt things went skewiff.

I successfully applied my pre-poo (Shea Moisture Coconut and Hibiscus Curl & Shine Conditioner and Sweet Almond Oil), Put my hair in a bun and tied my trusty slim scarf round the front and went on my merry way.... 5 minutes into the school run (or scoot as it's become) the heavens opened and down came rain... alot of it.

By the time I went to school and back I was drenched! There was no way I was gonna wash my hair after that....and go back out in the rain.
I thought the best thing to do was to leave the conditioner on my hair until evening, rinse it out and do a cowash as I wouldn't be doing my deep condish and didn't want the shampoo remove all the moisture. I used Pantene Truly Natural Co-Wash Cleansing Conditioner - LOVE this cowash!!
I realised my ACV was finished (bah!) so I had to leave out the acv rinse and just did the last wash with cool water. (I was a chicken and hopped out the shower and just held my head under the water NOT my whole body lol).

I removed the excess water with a vest then rubbed some Organic Raw Coconut Oil through my hair.


I wanted to use my new purchases to see how they worked in a wash and go (erm wash and style and sleep) so grabbed my Beautiful Textures Curl Control Defining Pudding and Beautiful Textures Moisture Butter Whipped Curl Creme, I sectioned my hair into 4, then worked in subsections. I mixed/rubbed the two products together in my hand (The directions on the tubs suggests adding the butter to the pudding for "custom blend" to get "even greater curl definition, elongation and moisturization") I am really liking these two products so far.
I applied Eco Styler Krystal Styling Gel from root to tip smoothing with my fingers. I smoothed a small amount of JBCO and ORCO and moved on to the next section. When my whole head was done, I let it air dry for a while. I couldn't stop touching my hair to see if it had dried!! I also kept playing with the curls... even though I know it will cause frizz!! Ugh I had to distract myself with 'Sims Freeplay' to stop lol.
When my hair was almost dry (some parts where completely dry and some slightly damp but I had to go to sleep) I banded the curls into two "bandtails" - I don't know what to call them as they aren't exactly pigtails or ponytails haaaaa - slicked some gel on my hairline/edges and tied with my scarf.

I'm hoping my hair won't cry at me with all the omissions to my wash routine (no tea rinse, no acv rinse, no deep condish mix..... I think that's all).

Here's my day 2 and 3 hair:

I'm really loving my curly fro, I don't know if my hair is becoming more curly, training itself to hold a curly style, or changing texture altogether but I am noticing that my curls are becoming more defined. Maybe it's the added length that's stretching it down. Anywhoo I am enjoying wearing my hair curly.

I'm joining the Wash Day Experience fun again this week:

Wash Day - Wash and GO

As I may have mentioned ( a zillion times lol) I've been wearing my hair curly for the last couple months and this wash day I set my hair in a wash and go.... I'm not sure why it's called that as I don;t literally wash and go.... more like wash,style and sleep :p

My hair was really in need of a wash this time round as I had missed my normal day due to a very packed week and I really got some good use out of my Herbal Essences Clearly Naked (0%) Dry Shampoo. 

I had the school run to do so I put my pre poo on before I left, this time round I used the american Aussie Moist and some Organic/Raw Coconut Oil. I smoothed it through my hair, put my hair in a low bun and tied a slim head scarf round the front.

When I came back, I washed my hair with L'Oreal Professhinnel Serie Nature Riche Macadamia Shampoo, rinsed with tea rinse (today's was a mix of Nettle, Peppermint, Star Anaise, lavender and a "relax" blended tea with rosemary EO)

Deep Conditioner Mix

I removed excess water and applied my deep conditioning mix, I wanted to add a small amount of protein as I had been using a moisturising condish to refresh my wash and go all week so grabbed my Kanechom Leite de Cabra (Goat Milk) Hair Moisturising Mask and mixed it with NAAT Silicon Moisturizing Hair Mask (my silicon mix bambuu is finished *wail*), Sunny Isle Jamaican Black Castor Oil and some essential oils (Jasmine, cinnamon, rose) I knew I would be doing the afternoon school run with the condish on my hair so I didn't add coconut milk powder.
This mix was fantastic!! It was soft and went thru my hair so well. I had curls on my curls ;) and the "slip" was amazing.
I covered my head with my conditioning cap and a head scarf. When it was time for school run I slicked my hair into a low bun and tied the slim head scarf at the front again. It was quite a sunny day so my hair had a lovely sun generated heat. I replaced the cap and scarf when I got home.

Now I must own up, I did plan on washing the deep condish out and styling the wash and go so that it had a chance to airdry before bed buuuttttt..... I had so much to do that it was bedtime before I knew it and the condish was still on my hair waiting..... Ugh, I almost just left it on and slept but I knew my hair would be angry and mushy! so I dragged my self to the shower, rinsed it out, finished with an Apple Cider Vinegar  rinse and wrapped my hair in a vest to remove excess water.

Leave Ins

I decided to follow a tip I picked up from a few vlog/bloggers and styled my hair while it was wet instead of allowing to dry a little as usual.
I rubbed some Organic/Raw Coconut Oil  through my hair then sectioned in 4. I then worked in two sections of each 4.
I was gonna use my Kanechom Karite Butter Hair Moisturising Cream(condish) as my styler but decided to use the  Kanechom Karite Butter Leave In Styling Cream instead as I had used it to refresh in the week as I needed a lighter moisturiser and fell back in love with it (should have went with first choice) oiled my scalp with an oil and eo blend. I really liked how the JBCO made my hair feel during the condish session and thought I'd use it with some ORCO to seal. I finished off with my well loved Eco Styler Krystal Styling Gel.
I put my hair in four twists, banded in two pigtails either side, slicked the front down with more gel, tied the front down then covered all with a light scarf - it came off in the night but I didn't bother to re-tie it as I was sleeping on my satin pillow case and thought my hair may dry better without scarf.

In the morning my hair still wasn't dry so I used dryer on cool and warm to finish drying, pulling each twist gently.
I did like the results but wished I'd used the kanechom condish instead of the styling cream. I pulled the top section of my hair back, clipped it up, leaving the back section down and put on two thin double alice bands. (ugh!! the band was twisted and knotted up at bedtime!)

I am loving the curly hair styles and aim to wear my hair this way for the next couple of weeks. I am getting the straightening bug more and more but want to keep off the heat for a while longer.
Maybe I'll do another no heat rollerset to stretch and slick my hair out in a few weeks time - compromise lol.


{It's been a while but I am joining the wash day experience this week, can't wait to have a browse at everyone's wash day posts (glad I'm not the only one that loves having a nosey at wash days lol) }

NAAT Silicon Moisturizing Hair Mask i

NAAT Silicon Moisturizing Hair Mask i

NAAT Silicon Moisturizing Hair Mask iV

NAAT Silicon Moisturizing Hair Mask i

Hair Update - May 2015 (picture heavy)

I realise I haven't really updated about my hair since last year so thought I'd do it now.

It's very helpful for me to have a post (or 10 lol) that allows me to see progress, keep an eye on any products/techniques that affect my hair whether that be in a negative or positive way, and set and review goals.

Growth:
My hair has really improved both in length and health since this time last year. I have retained length well and even though I did a couple of trims to remove some ends, I have gained whoooop.
Here's a few pics for comparison;

My afro is coming along nicely:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

afro, 06/14

afro, 07/14

afro, 10/14

afro, 12/14

afro, 03/15

As I have been staying away from heat, I don't have many straight hair pics but here's a couple:


Blowdry/rollerset:

blowdry, 11/14

rollerset, 04/15

Straightened/Flat ironed:

straightened, 03/14

straitened, 11/14

 Wow!! Pictures really do help to show progress. It doesn't really feel like my hair is growing at times, natural hair has alot of shrinkage lol. I have noticed that I need to use more thread and bands when I am stretching my hair and also my twist/braid outs hanging lower.

twistout, 08/14

twistout, 06/15

 My hair has grown in length and thickness! My relaxed hair was no way near this thick.
I can now claim shoulder length for the top and back of my hair - whooopwhooop - and the front and fringe/bangs are now around chin length.

 Transitioning:

It has been 21 months since I last relaxed my hair and I am almost fully natural now. I just have a few straggly ends left from my two trims and general breaking.
 My transition has been hard at times with my hair "acting up" but I seem to now be familiar with my hair's needs and cna mange it much better. The added thickness has taken a while to get used to and many a hairband has been snapped (one just this morning actually lol) putting my hair into a bun/ponytail is a task and my sections have increased when moisturising and sealing but I welcome my hair's new found thickness with a grateful heart.
I have discovered some curls I didn't even know or remember I had. Thinking back to my relaxed days, I did have some waves when I added gels and liked the crimped look when I twisted my fringe and let it out. I just assumed it looked like that because of the relaxer. I do realise that my relaxed ends may be pulling my hair down causing it to look more curly than it is but I do have parts of my hair which are all natural as the relaxed part has long gone and those parts are also quite curly. It will be very interesting to see what the texture is like when all the relaxed ends are off.

Styling:

As well as my trusty buns, I have been wearing my hair in more curly styles for the past 2 months. I had wanted to go on another protective style challenge and put my hair away but changed my mind at the last moment and curls it was. I have noticed that my hair looks much better in twist and braid outs now that there's less relaxed ends and I enjoy the results more.
As I mentioned, I noticed some curls popping up, especially during my deep conditioning sessions and it made me want to try a wash and go more and more but I felt my hair wasn't quite long enough to hang how I would like, the pull was too much so I gave it a try and I LOVED it, it was quite strange at first as I am not used to the shrinkage and the look but I have done quite a few and will continue to wear my hair this way for a few more weeks.
I have been gathering wash and go tips and picked up a couple to stretch the curls which gives the style a longer look.

Wash and Go

Wash and Go - Stretched

twistout refresh of Wash and Go

curly bun and fringe/bangs

 Products:

 Although the product junkie in me has been subdued I have to admit that I have added a few items to my stash, mostly the Shea Moisture goodies that I have been raving about. I also picked up Lutrasilk Curl Max Curl Activator Moisturizer on the recommendation of a lovely assistant in a hair shop, she was admiring my curls and told me I didn't need a wig haaaaaa, she told me there was a product she uses that really brings out her curls so I tried it and it really is fab!! The orice is good too and for a big bottle.
I am saving up some pennies to purchase a few items from the Curls range, to use in my curly routine, I have the Passion Fruit Control Paste which I love, I used it for edge taming and slicking my buns but recently used it in a twistout too.
I'm still enjoying mixing oils to seal with and for the last couple of months or so, have swapped my Hairlicious for my Boosted Cinnamon oil for my scalp and have been loving that.. I will be going on another hairlicious 30 day challenge soon and a batch has been infusing for the last few weeks.


Routine/ Regieme{n}:

I have kept up with my routine for the most part - weekly washing and deep conditioning, nightly moisturising and sealing, scalp and edge treatment and massage.
While wearing wash and go's I haven't been moisturising every night but use oil.



wowww what a long post lol!! It's been noce having a look at my progress and it can be a "go to" post for when I get questions about my HHJ.

They see me rolling......

Firstly where did the last couple of weeks go?
We have been busy buy here with school, college, homeschool, courses....... whoooaaah not to mention house stuff. I am STILL trying to find the special life balancing card that will grant me the secret of juggling every area my life annnd allow me to have enough spare time so I can relax and enjoy a hobby or two... oh and sleep. Since I haven't found it yet my blogging has taken a nose dive... AGAIN!!

Last week, I tried another roller set to stretch my hair, my last attempts were fails+ but I have been seeing such great results from vloggers/bloggers/Intagrammers and decided that I'd have another go and if it was a fail I'd just brush my hair up in a bun and call it a day. I think the fact that I have wearing my hair curly for a while has allowed me to be less stressy when it comes to shrinkage and frizz etc.
I needed to stock up on my Dominican conditioners so while I was at the hair shop I picked up some magnetic rollers along with some hair goodies and couldn't wait to roll up (my hair of course... not... well you know what.... anyway...).

I washed my hair and wanted to add some protein as I had been using alot of moisturising conditioner during the week to refresh my wash and go. I didn't however want to do a heavy protein treatment so I added some Motions Professional Oil Moisturizer Deep Penetrating Silk Protein Conditioner
in my deep conditioner mix.

When my wash day routine was done I started with the rollerset. Originally I planned to wash my hair and deep condition for a few hours and then rollerset allowing my hair to air dry before I went to bed or maybe use the dryer on cool, something came up which meant I had to scrap the plans and ended up rollersetting right before bed and sleeping on the rollers, surprisingly not as bad I thought it would be, turned out not painful but awkward.

I followed some tips that I gathered from the many different posts/videos:
*Making sure my hair was wet.
*Using adequate amount of wrap lotion ( I used Shea Moisture Coconut and Hibiscus Frizz Free Curl Mousse)
*Keeping the rollers taut while rolling and clipping
*smooth the hair onto the roller.

I had to re-roll a couple rollers and to be honest I need a little practice to perfect my rolling technique but it was much better than the times before. I used bobby pins when needed
I placed my hairnet over the rollers and went to sleep.

I kept the rollers in for a while during the day to make sure my hair was fully dry and when I took the net off I was surprised to see the hair on the rollers was smooth! when them down my hair was smooth and shiny, I was amazed as I hadn't used any heat at all!! As the whole point of the rollerset was to stretch and straighten my hair, I brushed it out and wowww I loved the results. I could also get a looksie at my hair growth so far, I was shocked at how much it has grown in the last 2 months or so, it may be the wash and go's and twist outs that's doing it as I don't need to comb my hair so often plus I used conditioner to style them so my hair has been loving the moisture.

I forgot to take pics straight away and remembered a day or so after doh, soooooo the following pics aren't as straight and slightly frizzy and my face looks very strange in one and my eyes weird in the other so I blocked it out buttttttt it's the hair that counts right? ..... yeah:

rollerst: Fluffy and stretched

rollerset: side part

When I got tried of wearing my hair down, I put it into a side parted low bun, the rollerset made the bun very sleek indeed:

I'm thinking of rollersetting again soon as I really did like the results, I will probably try the saran/cling-film wrap method and see how that goes.

2014 faves - Hair part 2

Part 2 of my fave hair products for 2014.

This video looks at Gels, Edge Tamers, Serums, Oils and tools.

2014 Faves - Hair part 1

Here's the first part of my Fave Hair products for 2014!


This video showcases the shampoos, conditioners, leave ins and moisturisers that I loved during the year.