Doing Hair - Kids Edition

Last week we were on the beach, enjoying the clearwater and white sand.

This week, we're battling the tangles.

Tangled left side. One big matted ponytail

It's my fault. I wanted to enjoy my vacay and not fight a toddler who didn't want to get her hair done. So for one whole week, I didn't touch her hair. Through the salt water and sand, through bedtime with no bonnet and baths where every single strand of hair got soaked. I knew I was going to have a disaster on my hands at the end of our vacation, but I figured I'd worry about it later.

Well, later was today when I had a marathon session with my baby girl. It took me about an hour and a half to dentangle her hair. I worked in small sections, drenching her hair with a mixture of conditioner and water. I used my fingers to detangle because the mattes were so bad. I'm ashamed of myself. After her hair was detangled, I saturated her hair with a deep conditioner and covered with a cap. 

I used this to deep condition with. It's my first time using this so after I use it for awhile longer, I'll post about how I like it (or don't like it).

I washed her hair with Hello Hydration Shampoo, which is my go to. The slip on that stuff is amazing. Ahh, freshly washed hair. 

It's almost impossible to get a good picture of a moving toddler

After too many breaks to count, I finished her hair. It's not my best work but both of us were happy to be done.

Gotta unpack that suitcase...

I learned a valuable lesson this past week. I can't ignore my girl's hair. With my relaxed hair, it's easy to go a few days without doing anything major to it, but natural hair is a whole other story. I'm still learning.

I wanted to relax and enjoy my vacation, but my baby girl's hair suffered for it. I put twists in my older girls hair so they could enjoy swimming and playing without getting their hair done every day. Maybe it's time to give baby girl some twists. 

How do you handle your kids hair on vacation?

Wash and Flat Iron

8:51a

Sunday Wash day - Washed with V05 clarifying shampoo, did an in shower deep condition with my cholesterol mix. Attempted a twist out which was a major fail.

Monday REwash day - Since the twist out was a severe fail, I decided to wash and start over. I wiped the slate clean by deep conditioning (really a cowash with deep conditioner because I left it on for less than 10 minutes) using my cholesterol mix: Hollywood Olive Cholesterol Deep Conditioning Creme, ORS and olive oil. That was a really great mixture that I will be using again.

I let my hair air dry with my moisturizer on (Elasta QP H-Two leave in, Lacio Lacio and coconut oil to seal). Once my hair was fully dry, I used the Smooth 'N Shine Polishing Silk Style Iron Styler and because I'm paranoid, I also sprayed on the Tressemme Heat Protectant as an extra precaution. I let those soak into my hair (a tip I learned recently) and I flat ironed with really low heat. I was scared.

My hair came out really moisturized and straight.

Side view of hair.

 I did a middle part but after seeing this photo and how large my forehead looks, I quicky gave myself a part and side bangs!

Wash Day Hair

9:30a

I learned an important lesson on this wash day.

Now that my hair is about 75% texlaxed, I cannot do a quick wash and expect for things to go smoothly. My hair insists that I take my time and do it right. Detangling is the thing that's taking me the longest. I rushed through it and ended up breaking some hair and causing myself a lot of pain in the process.

I also learned that I need to listen to my hair. I originally wanted to do a 14 week stretch like I did the last time. Currently I am 10 weeks post and my hair is telling me it's time to texlax. 10 weeks is fine. I will listen and texlax this weekend.

Back to wash day.

I washed with V05 Clarifying shampoo and then added my mixture of Trader Joe's Tea Tree Tingle Conditioner with Peppermint and Eucalyptus, olive oil, and a few extra dashes of peppermint oil. An amazing mix.

I heated that in the microwave and applied to my hair in sections. I left it on for about 45 minutes.

I washed and my hair felt really soft and silky, though my roots were not really agreeing with what I was trying to do. I decided that since my hair was so difficult to detangle I would try to detangle in the shower under running water. I added HEHH and Aussie Deeeeep to my new growth and let it sit for a few minutes and then detangled under the water. It was pretty successful.

The hard part came after I was done washing and detangled. With my hair pretty much detangled, I sectioned it off and added my moisturizer, leave in and sealer. I then blowdried, which was where the frustration came in. I wanted my hair to be straight in order to do the bantu knots with out flat ironing. The blow drying with the paddle brush was where I saw breakage. I will definitely have to be more careful with that from now on.

I did 6 bantu knots (opting to use olive oil soaked hair ties to secure them) and here's how my hair turned out:

side view

back view

I loved how the curls came out, but when I got home, I noticed fairy knots and split ends. Most likely from my rough handling of my hair so I decided to straighten my hair so I could do a search and destroy.

search and destroy ponytail (ended up too tired to seach and destroy so I will do that tonight)

I think I learned that my hair is the one calling the shots. And I just need to listen instead of trying to be the boss. For my health of my hair at least.

This weekend: texlax, seach and destroy, deep condition and no over manipulation.

Wash Day and Deep Condition

9:41a

So after a week of dealing with itchies in my scalp, I washed on Sunday. Since my scalp was itching so bad, I did want to do a prepoo. Something that focused on my scalp so I did a mixture of olive oil, peppermint oil and tea tree oil. I parted my hair into small sections and applied the oil to my scalp. I used my new bonnett dryer for about 20 minutes on low heat.

The peppermint oil tingled nicely and my scalp really felt moisturized. After I washed out all the oil, I used Mane and Tail Moisturizing Shampoo to really cleanse my scalp. It was pretty bad. But after the wash, it was nice and clean.

For my deep conditioner I used Elasta QP DPR 11 mixed with coconut oil and Lustrasilk Cholesterol. I left it on for about 30 minutes with heat.

After washing out the dc, my hair felt extremely strong but also very moisturized. I think it was the coconut oil! I love that stuff.

I blow dried and pincurled. My hair turned out fabulous and I was thrilled that I could achieve a decent hairstyle without using my flat iron.

Hair Washing Disaster

11:25a

I had a hair washing disaster. I take that back. The hair washing part was fine. It was what ensued afterwards that was the disaster.

I just have to face the facts. I cannot style short hair. It's impossible. I don't have the right tools nor the patience to deal with it. I want to throw it back into a bun and forget I even have hair. Except for one small fact.

I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH HAIR TO BUN.

So instead of a bun, I threw it back into a fuzzy, epically failed twist out ponytail.

Evidence is below:

I want to cry

Trembling...

10:18a

Is it natural to get bored with the healthy hair care journey? Or am I just bored because I cut my hair?

I haven't been up for much experimentation because my hair is short and the type of styles I can do have been severely limited. Also, if it ends up looking a HAM {hot a** mess}, I can't just throw it back in a bun.

I haven't even washed my hair since Thursday, September 17, 2009! That was ELEVEN days ago! It's so past due but I have to admit that I am scared.

Yes, I said it. This former washing addict is afraid to wash her hair! It seems like such a huge undertaking now that I have decided to wear my hair straight. Wash, blow dry, flat iron. I'm wondering if I can sustain that regimen. We all know I'm lazy afterall. And roller setting. Hmmm...so much work that it literally makes me tremble when I open the drawer and see those rollers!

This morning in the shower I got the brilliant idea to go to Empire beauty school to get a roller set for $12 bucks. I can do that price. And is it possible to screw up a rollerset?

 Don't answer that.

So that's my plan for now. I'm to chicken to wash my hair at this length.

REVIEW: Herbal Essences Dangerously Straight Conditioner

8:21a

So.

Just know that anytime I begin with "So," it's not going to be pretty. I really really wanted to love this. It was soooo promising.

  

It claims:

can i be straight with you? If you want to go flat out. i'll give you a big dose of conditioning to help you keep your straight look. pour on the lusciousness from root to tip with my creamy formula fused with honeyed pear & silk. it revives your hair's silkiness and shine and helps it move in a fine line.

Let me start with the good. The smell of this conditioner is FABULOUS. I will use it for the fragrance alone. It smells like I'm wearing perfume today, but I'm not, it's my hair! I fell in love with the smell immediately. It's perfumy, but not overly so. It's just right.

The conditioner is thick and creamy in texture and it required me to use a lot to really cover my strands. It didn't have very much slip at all and didn't allow me to detangle it very well at all. Before using HE Dangerously Straight, I shampooed with V05 clarifying conditioner {review on that to come} and my hair definitely needed some added moisture. My hair was softer, but not as silky as I'm used to getting with a conditioner. Overall, this just didn't do the trick for softening and detangling.

This morning, my hair held it's curl {I did a pony tail twist out} very well. It is very well defined. I will try this conditioner as a leave in when I want to flat iron or blow dry my hair, but as a cowash conditioner, this was really a fail. Other than the smell, I don't have much to say about it.

Two to Try

9:51a

This weekend I picked up two new products to try. I was perusing the aisles at my local CVS and I came across this:

V05 Tea Therapy Vanilla Mint Tea Clarifying Conditioner. Now, I have never seen nor heard of a clarifying conditioner, so it immediately piqued my intrest. I grabbed up a bottle for $0.99 {can't be mad if it does nothing!}. I will most likely try that tonight along with this:

Herbal Essences Dangerously Straight conditioner. It looks very interesting as well. I've tried air drying my hair straight a few times over the past week or so and I've had mediocre results. Not bad, just not great. So I was thinking that maybe it has to do with the products that I'm using. I'll try this tonight and air dry straight to see if it lives up to it's name.

I'm going to try it and hope I like it!

Addicted to Washing

9:11a

I love washing my hair.

I used to HATE washing my hair. It was a chore and I dreaded the wash days. To be honest, I didn't wash my hair much. I was taught that you should only wash your hair 2-3 times per month. To wash it more than that was to strip it of it's natural {yeah right!} moisture and the hair would experience breakage and dryness. SO FALSE! I wish I had known.

Black women and hair is such a touchy subject. Everyone has a different opinion. For years I thought I was doing right by my hair, by not washing it often, keeping it bone straight with relaxers, piling on products day after day and wrapping it one way {to the left} every single night.

My hair revolted. But it is thanking me now.

I washed last night, after putting it off all weekend and my hair sighed happily as the protein strengthened it and then the deep conditioner added much needed moisture. I slept in bantu knots, hoping that it dry by morning. It didn't, but I just threw it back into a bun. The beauty of washing and air drying my hair is that, it's no biggie if it doesn't dry or gets wet in the rain. I love that.

So now, I have clean, moisturized hair. My next mission is to figure out how to wear my hair straight and down without using heat. The research never ends.