Winter Healthy Hair Tip || Retaining Moisture During Washes

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Switch out every other shampoo for a co-wash.  Doing this will help to remove some of the gunk without stripping your hair dry.

Don't like to co-wash?  Here are some other options:

• Use a cleansing conditioner, which is designed to clean the hair better than a regular conditioner.
• Apply conditioner to your strands and only shampoo your scalp.  This way your ends are protected from moisture loss.
• Pre-poo with an oil and/conditioner.
• Use a mud wash or clay. 

Hair Diary || Back to Protective Styling ... But With Heat and Jumbo Twists?

So, after another summer of going wild (hair-wise, that is), it is time to get back into protective style mode.  However, there will be some changes from my usual small/medium twists on air dried hair.  Why?

1. I want to see my length more.  My twists shrink a lot, if you haven't noticed already.
2. I want to be able to switch from a protective style to a loose style and back in one day.  After spending hours to twist my hair, undo-ing those babies prior to 3-4 weeks is seemingly wasteful.
3. I want shorter detangling sessions.  Long-term protective styles equate to hours of detangling while short-term protective styles can mean 45 minutes or less.  However, the trade-off is more manipulation (re-styling) per month.

More details on these changes will be posted once I finalize them.  In the mean time, here are some hair pics:

From "purple haze" back to ...

Copper.  Semi-flat ironed hair.

Old braid out.

Twist out and pinkish (accidentally via "purple haze"
mixed with conditioner as a toner) hair.

Mixology || Orange and Vanilla Honey Shampoo

Do you want softer, easier to detangle hair after a wash?  Then check out this honey-based recipe.

Recipe Source

Ingredients:
1/2 cup castile soap
3/4 cup raw honey
1/4 cup African black soap (or just more castile soap)
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp sweet orange essential oil
1 tsp vanilla essential oil

Instructions:
Mix together thoroughly, wet hair, massage mixture into hair, then rinse out completely.

Protective Style Lookbook || Glammed-Up Plaits on Locs OR Twists/Braids

By popular demand, this is a series showcasing various protective hair styles.  Protective styling does not have to be boring. :o)

Model: Jungle Barbie

Difficulty level: 3/5

Description: Updo created from plaited locs. (Can be modified for you twist and braid wearers.)

Product Review || As I Am Cleansing Pudding

NOTE:  This product was purchased at Sally's Beauty Supply.

Purpose: Sulfate-free moisturizing cleanser.

Product description: Cleanse the hair of residue and product buildup.  Rid the scalp of excess sebum, environmental impurities and shedding scale debris.  At the same time, help promote a healthy environment for the growth and restoration of your hair.

Ingredients: Aqueous (Water, Aqua Purificada, Purified) Extracts: Citrus Reticulata (Tangerine)¹, Cetrimonium Chloride, Cetyl Alcohol², C12-15 Alkyl Lactate, Cetearyl Alcohol², Polyquaternium-37, Propylene Glycol Dicaprylate/Dicaprate, PPG-1 Trideceth-6, Glycerin¹, Phytosterols¹, Serenoa Serrulata Fruit Extract¹, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice ¹, Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil¹, Poyquaternium-10, Piroctone Olamine, Potassium Sorbate, Methylisothiazolinone, Fragrance/Parfum, Limonene. Source: 1-Natural, 2-Coconut.

Number of trials: several over the course of the spring and summer months

How I used it:

Wet hair thoroughly. Rub a liberal amount within palms and distribute throughout hair. Lather product through hair and massage into scalp. Leave on for 3-5 minutes in order to eliminate shedding scalp debris. Rinse well.

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THE REVIEW:
It has the consistency of a super thick, creamy conditioner but it is also very cleansing without the dryness or buildup. I like using it whenever my hair feels too dry to wash with my usual shampoo but too dirty to co-wash with a regular conditioner. In fact, this product boasts the ability to “remove excess sebum, environmental impurities and shedding scalp debris”, and my hair and scalp seem to believe it.

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PROS: pleasant light smell, non-drying, a little goes a looong way, no residue or buildup from continued use

CONS: none

RATING: Overall, I give the As I Am Cleansing Pudding 5 out of 5 stars.  

This product is ideal for those who:

- get dryness from regular shampooing AND buildup from regular cowashing

Hair Diary || Working on a Non-Protective Style Regimen

If you've been following my hair diary, then you probably already saw this coming.  After years of protective styling in twists and a couple summers of experimenting with loose hair styles, the day has come.  I'm ready for a drastic regimen change.  The details are still being worked out, but for the last couple of months I've successfully been doing the following:

WEEKLY:

- Wash (As I Am Cleansing Conditioner or homemade honey shampoo) and condition (Tresemme Naturals followed by Aphogee 2-Minute Keratin Reconstructor or ORS Replenishing Conditioner) hair

- Finger detangle conditioner-soaked hair (~30-40 minutes)

- Rinse then seal 

- Plop hair for 20-45 minutes

- Braid hair into 8-10 sections for a braid-out the following day

DAILY:

- Wear satin bonnet or loose satin scarf to protect braid-out

- Fluff the next morning

MONTHLY:

- Switch finger detangling for comb detangling

- Deep cleanse my hair (Shea Moisture African Purification Masque or Dessert Essence Shampoo)

Stay tuned ... 

Healthy Recipes || My Peach Smoothie

Over the past couple of months, I have upped my homemade smoothie intake from every other morning to every morning.  There is just something that feels so good and refreshing about drinking a healthy, fruit/veggie smoothie first thing in the AM.  It has been a while since I posted a recipe, so here I go:

Ingredients:
1 organic peach
1 banana
4-5 frozen organic strawberries
1/2 tsp honey (add a bit more depending on your desired sweetness)
1-1 1/2 cup organic soy milk (depending on your desired consistency)
2 tbsp natural peanut butter

Instructions: 
Toss all the ingredients into a blender, and blend thoroughly.  Pour out into a cup and enjoy!

WANT MORE VITAMIN A?
A cup of apricots can offer you a vitamin A content of 60% the daily value, while a cup of peaches only offers 10%. So, switch out the peaches for apricots.  (I exchange every one peach for two apricots.)  Apricots also contain more vitamin C, potassium, and dietary fiber.

For more smoothie recipes, check out the "Smoothies" label.