New Hair Regimen

New Hair Regimen (16/02/12)

·         Take down hairstyle on Fridays (or band it)

·         Deep condition on Friday Nights (with avocados as often as possible – avoid dry hair)

·         Co-wash or cleanse with homemade no-poo cleanser on Saturday (when showering)

·         Detangle thoroughly during wash

o   Get some olive oil or shea butter into the hair if the next step isn’t possible to do on that day (for some reason) or

o   Mix up some bottled water with olive oil, homemade rosemary oil and possibly canola oil. Pour into a spray bottle and spritz/spray onto hair.

·         Baggy with olive oil after washing till about to get out of the house + air dry (or go to to the salon):

o   If just heading to the grocery store, tie a scarf or two (or a put a bonnet on and tie a scarf) over the plastic bag.

o   If going to a close friend’s house, do the same as for just going to the grocery store.

o   If going to the salon, do the same or if you’re not sure the person that normally works on your hair is around, take off the plastic bag in the car near the salon.

o   And so on…

·         Mini twist hair (avoiding braiding my hair for about a month or two)

·         Get some Organics Lock&Twist Gel onto mini twists once at home and air dry.

·         Hold up end of hair (esp. at the back) with a ponytail holder or elastic band to prevent brushing on shirts.

·         Sleep on a satin pillowcase, with a sating bonnet on, (or for now, in my case, with a pillow and pillow case wrapped with old satin PJs or tie on a pair of old satin PJs on my hair)

·         Get some olive oil or shea butter onto hair every evening with twists in.

·         Use the twist&lock gel when needed (but if not needed more than once a week, don’t use more than once a week)

·         Check for possible buildup (though not expected) every weekend.

o   If there is buildup or scalp is dirty, clean with homemade no-poo cleanser, then condition and so on (but don’t baggy or don’t baggy for more than 30 minutes if twists are still in to avoid them coming out). Get some Lock&Twist Gel on hair after either conditioning or baggying.

·         If there’s no buildup, band hair securely and deep condition then co-wash if the DC needs washing out (baggy if possible).

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Products: Avoiding commercial products as much as possible

ü Cleanser: homemade

ü Conditioner: homemade

ü Deep Conditioner: varies, but homemade too

ü Leave-in conditioner: homemade

ü Oils: Extra Virgin Olive Oil, homemade rosemary oil, canola oil

ü Butters: 100% natural, unrefined Shea Butter (gotten straight from local sellers in Africa, by my grandmother)

ü Gel: Organics Lock&Twist Gel

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Go to styles

ü Mini Twists (two strand)

ü African Threading

(No more braiding (flat braiding, box braiding and so on…) for me)

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Things to avoid

ü For now, protein (esp. eggs).

ü The usual-s, silicones, sulphates, parabens (looking for a better gel, by the way. The gel I currently use has Methylparaben in it – not thrilled about that), petrolatum, petroleum, mineral oil, sodium chloride, alcohol (maybe apart from Cetyl Alcohol), heat and the others already known (but I’m basically making my own products, so I don’t need to worry about these because they’re not going in my homemade things).

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