Itchy Scalp Problems

It's no secret that the very front patch of my scalp has always plagued me. No amount of ol' school scratchin' with a fine-tooth comb, dabbing at my head with a cotton ball soaked in tea tree and other essential oils, greasing my scalp or just plain washing my hair helped. In fact, this irritating problem didn't subside until I laid off the heat two years ago. But, it's back!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This time, however, my whole scalp was crawling with invisible ants and I attribute it to last week's 911 regimen. And if I'm going to be totally honest, my heart skipped a beat last week when I saw a few flakes in the front of my scalp as soon as I'd finished washing my hair. As the week progressed, the itching got so bad, I was patting my head like the wig-weave girls!

Last week, I put my hair in mini-twists with the intent of leaving them in for two weeks. I was planning to wash my hair on Sunday with the twists intact, but I was itching too bad to wait just two more days to wash my hair so I washed it tonight! You should have seen the look on my partner's face when I told him what I was going to do at 10:30 p.m., LOL!

Instead of using shampoo, I decided to co-wash with that amazing As I Am Naturally CoWash Conditoner. Almost immediately, my scalp felt soothed...I attribute that to the heavy coconut oil in the conditioning treatment as coconut oil happens to be a natural antibacterial. I then followed up with Herbal Essences' Honey, I'm Strong Strengthening Conditoner.

I'm ashamed of how many HE products I really like, so just add this to my growing list!

I've been drooling over the commercials for this, so I finally got some to try out and I like it! With honey and apricot extract, it allegedly gets hair 10x stronger in just one wash. More importantly, it's supposed to guard against "future" damage, reduce breakage up to "99 percent," yada yada yada...

Ignoring all the hype, the combination of As I Am's Coconut CoWash and HE's Honey, I'm Strong made my hair as soft and fine as a feather. And, no more itchy scalp! My hair had sheen, was muy pliable and had a very pleasant, but light after-scent. 

Would I buy this again? I don't know and I don't know because I still prefer HE's Hello Hydration over this particular conditioner. But, I definitely give this at least one coil up.

Hair Pomade and Other Product Reviews

Bored with my twists this winter, I jumped the gun and straightened my hair last night with a blow dryer and flat iron. Unlike last year's attempt, this time around yielded much better results due to my Denman brush. So, bye bye round brush!

I'm also remiss in mentioning that I've been trying As I Am Naturally products over the last few months. I got a ton of samples, one each of their numerous products, last year and have used every single one. I must say, their products are far superior than any other commercially-made product I've ever tried and my hair is very picky about what it likes and doesn't like. 

I often switch up shampoos after a few months and had forgotten that I had an unused sample of Curl Clarity Shampoo. After wearing my hair in twists most of the winter, I knew I had some unaddressed build-up and Curl Clarity took care of my build-up problem without stripping my hair. It's light, has a refreshingly pleasant smell and bubbles galore. This product and As I Am as a whole get two coils up!

After straightening my hair, I decided to try another product sample in conjunction with Aveda Brilliant Anti-Humectant pomade (love this stuff!). 

I've been eyeballing Brown Butter Beauty's Mixed Greens pomade for at least a year, but just couldn't get myself to try it. I'm not crazy about the price and my scalp usually freaks out if I put anything on it. But, being that it's winter, my scalp's been mega dry and I knew it needed something because the JBCO just wasn't cutting it. 

I applied this to my scalp as a finishing product, tied on my satin scarf and went to sleep. This morning, I am pleased to announce that I have no flakes and no itchiness! My scalp has been cured! Mixed Greens might be pricey, but it's worth it and a little goes a long way. It has nettles (anti-itch fighter), horsetail and tons of other herbs and oils. And, I love the product name, the color and the pleasing scent. Mixed Greens is a keeper and gets two coils up.

With spring right around the corner, you too might want to re-evaluate the hair products and techniques you're using and do a little tweaking. What are your spring/summer hair plans?