Saturday, September 24, 2011

pre-poo options review 2-Castor oil

Castor oil pre-poo: check!
I used cold press castor oil  and water as my pre-poo and I was very happy with the results. My hair tends to be very dry so the thicker oils work better on my hair.

p.s. I am going to stop using olive oil on my hair and start using Safflower oil. This gives me much better results then Olive oil, I notice olive oil works better on people with softer/straighter hair then mine.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

pre-poo options review 1

Trial 1.
Coconut oil, EVOO, and tresemme conditioner pre-poo.....negative.
I didnt think it was that impressive on my hair. I left it in overnight. Soo...on to the next.

Monday, September 12, 2011

pre-poo options

Ok
I did a little accidental research and found several options for pre-pooing. I will try each one and give reviews on my youtube channel of how each one turned out. (thesistership1315). So all the combinations I will try are as follows:


1. castor oil and water
2. honey and Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
3. honey (coconut oil hair rinse:between shampoo and conditioner)
4. safflower oil
5. coconut oil, jojoba, and a cheap cholesterol conditioner
6. Coconut oil and EVOO
7. aloe vera gel and any oil
8. recipe I found-
1/4 cup raw wild honey
1/4 cup organic molasses (optional)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup raw sugar (raw is important as is still has molasses and is not bleached like white sugar)
1/4 cornstarch
1/4 cup lemon extract (or you can use fresh squeezed lemon if need be)
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
10-12 drops of your favorite essential oil; i use rosemary and tea tree



Another thing I learned which I didn't realize is that you shouldn't heat up your coconut oil in the microwave because it messes up the properties in the oil. Instead you should boil water and put your bowl of oil in the hot water until it melts. 


p.s. a family at our church have relatives who own a honey farm....which means i get free honey every time I need some. Also met a girl who had a huge tub of tea tree oil she didnt need. my point? take advantage of little connections like this ladies! it saves money :)


Benefits of pre-shampooing?:
help protect our hair from the harsh shampooing process and conditions hair








Friday, September 9, 2011

6 month hair challenge breakdown!

Ok I am prepping for my 6 month challenge. Again my challenge is to wear my hair out for 6 months, no braids or afros.


However.....I left my self a little crutch. I will be wearing crochet braids for 2 of the six months (Dec and Feb). I chose this style because I have never worn them before, and more importantly my hair grows the fastest with cornrows and my natural hair, also importantly it gets realllllly cold in South Dakota in the winter and the weave will keep my head warm lol. This style allows my hair to stay in cornrows while still having the look of a weave minus all the pulling and tightness of a sew-in. I am trying them out on my mom this weekend and am excited to see the results! pics to come on that. 

So my regiment that I plan on as of now goes as follows: (mind you I am trying my hardest to keep it simple)
Fridays: Pre-poo/Hot oil treatment- will leave this in overnight using a combination of EVOO or coconut oil and rosemary oil
Saturday mornings:
Shampoo (or co-wash)-Spanish Sur-Gro shampoo
condition-Yes to Cucumbers 
deep condition- homemade DC
style- will alternate each month between kinky curly curling custard, two strand twist, and crotchet braiding*. I cant wear two strand twist for 6 months straight I would go crazy lol. 

* with the crotchet braids I plan to buy human hair and still co-wash my hair once a week and oil my scalp with the castor oil mix through out the week. 

I will also try to trim more often as my hair seems to do much better when its trimmed. 


Other products I will use: shea butter mix-homemade, vegetable glycerin spray, flaxseed gel, my castor oil mix, carrier oils, essential oils, Castor oil (or JBCO)

I will not be using any heat on my hair until the day after my 6 month mark March 30th. 


My mom recently bought me a book on hair care, there are tons of homemade recipes in their and I will be trying some of them out and making vlogs on the results.

Subscribe to my youtube channel (thesistership1315) to follow along in my progress. This schedule is not like set in stone, I make deviate from the path a little, but this is the overall plan. I am not good at sticking to projects for a long period of time so this should be interesting and im so excited! I will be starting next friday. Long, healthy hair here I come! 

http://www.youtube.com/thesistership1315 


Comment, Rate, Subscribe!!!


my new shampoo:
my conditioner:





Thursday, September 8, 2011

Classes!!

Ok. Class meets once a week for three hours. Sound easy? ha. You have one session per week to get all the knowledge you would normally get in three days. There are no tutors for any of the classes im taking on top of that. Though hopefully these are basic enough I wont need one.

Intro to Computers
Marketing
Music Appreciation
Public Speaking
Statistics for Business majors

I feel like im a liberal arts major lol. This should be fun. ttyl!

Friday, September 2, 2011

Natural Hair Exposed challenge and product reviews and updates

Soooooo. Basically I have been natural for 2 years an 9mons. However my hair length is not reflecting such. I have been watching youtube videos and I have realized two things. 
1. the main reason for my not retaining length is that I have not been taking care of  my hair properly until this summer.
2. I have not found settled down on what products work best at the cheapest price for me and settled down on a regiment. 


Two more things I realized today.
 1. I have to figure out what products I am going to rule out
2. start to minimize the complexity of what I do. 

Many girls with long hair do not use a whole lot of products and their regiment is fairly simple. However, there are still some products I am waiting to try out (once I get some more heads braided). Particularly:
A nice butter- Homemade and the shea yogurt moisturizer by Blackonyx 
a leave-in that actually works for me-no particular one in mind
and a better shampoo-Herbal Essence and Spanish Sur Gro (oldie but goodie)

Before I try BlackOnyx shea butter mix I am going to try making my own (once I take my hair out in a few weeks). After that is used up hopefully I wont be broke anymore and I can try hers. As far as the leave-in. Ive tried sheamoisture's and cantu's and neither of those work for me. The one by sheamoisture leaves my hair dry for some reason, and the one by cantu is too heavy and leaves little white chunks in my hair I cant get out. Soooo still on the look out for that. It is a bit harder being in  South Dakota where you cant just drive down the street to your local beauty supply store and pick something up. Most all my products ar bought online at: Amazon, Barsnbutters.com (my shea butter), or Sallys online store (we have a sallys but the online store is more extensive). Or bought from the health food stores (which make them pretty expensive) or the indian store (my coconut oil), I found aloe vera gel at Walmart super cheap and I use that alot with my clients who have straighter hair. As far as the shampoo I think I would like to try Herbal Essence because its avaiable around here and i've heard good reviews. I am also thinking of trying Spanish Sur gro product line because it is old and has proven results. I am totally satisfied with my Yes to Cucumbers conditioner. Its awesome! I think I will continue to use the same recipe I used last for my deep condition because it leaves my hair way softer then with the original recipe I was using with the egg. 

I have been trying to do the castor oil challenge. However with extensions in I dont know if that will effect the results. Other techniques I am curious to try on my hair is the pre-pooing (I tried this once and liked the results), and the green house effect. Since I am just going to school and living at home I might actually have time for these. My Jamaican black castor oil is already running out and my mom was nice enough to pick some more up for me. This is regular castor oil though not the Sunny Isle Jamaican kind. She also picked up rosemary oil which I haven't tried yet and tea tree oil (also never tried). So I think I'm going to stick with my all natural products and try to continue to make homemade recipes instead of ready-made products. 

I am going to attempt to keep my hair out of braids for the next 6 months. AHHHHH that is sooo hard for me. I love my spring twist and fluffy twist. Once I put them in they are so easy and fun to style. Its sort of become part of my look to those who know me. Right now I'm really craving the bright red fluffy twist I had in for my birthday. But at the same time I want length!!!!! Also I think that the braids are definitely not helping with improving the thickness of my hair. My hair is already really fine and not super thick like others. So I need to give the braids a rest and let it thicken back up. The good thing about spring or fluffy twist is they are soooo lightweight so I know they don't weight down my hair like kinky twist or braids. Also with my braids in I am not deep conditioning my hair on a regular basis like I would otherwise and I think that is important that I start doing that. Lastly I am going to take extra time to take care of my ends. I know my hair can grow, but can I retain length? That's what I need to prove to myself


So once I take my braids out I'm going to start documenting my 6 month journey. My personality is one that loves to start projects but never wants to finish them. So this will be a challenge but definitely one I want to take. My mom has the belief that its genetics and some people are just born with hair that can grown down their back. While I agree to some extent I also think people can grown their hair way longer then they thought possible with proper care. And I really would love to prove to her that my hair can grow past my shoulders and hopefully down my back. I'm 20 now and in 6 years I would love to have mid-back or lower back length hair. I think it can happen faster than that. But we will see!!!! One think I do not like is looking nappy! I want to find cute styles that are sophisticated enough that I will want to wear them out the house, while still being protective. And I am about tired of the afro puff look. I like it but I have worn it too much. I am a person that craves variety. I cant wear my hair the same way week after week. That's why I always turn to twists or some variation thereof. I also do not feel my hair is thick like others to wear twists just out as a style by itself. 

Soooo moral of this long and confusing story? I want length and thickness (dont we all?). But I want to be confident enough with the thickness of my hair to wear it out. the texture of my hair is not silky and smooth or strong like other naturals I see on youtube. So I will be working extra hard to find those products that help thicken naturally. 

Advice and feedback are wanted, needed, and welcome!!!!

Sorry no pics this time. But there will be plenty coming!!