Counteracting Heat Damage

With temperatures plummeting, I decided last week to flat iron my hair one more time this year before my hair goes into hibernation. Normally, I'm very careful when applying heat, but I did miss a few steps and did a doozy on my hair. When all was said and done, I don't think I could've paid my comb to get anywhere near my roots and my ends (going up three to four inches towards my head) felt rough and crispy.

Unable to properly comb my hair and panicking about the damage I might have done to the hair I'd worked so hard for over the last two years, I spritzed it down, slapped in my hair butter and wore the most gorgeous bantu knot out I've ever achieved for the rest of the week. How's that for irony?!

After much Googling, YTing and reading product reviews, I resolved to hot foot it to Sally's Beauty to save my hair although I am fully aware that heat damaged hair cannot be saved. But, I just couldn't fathom cutting off three to four inches of my hair after working so hard to take care of it for the past two years! 

So, here is my 911 Regimen to Rescue Heat-Damaged Hair:

• I parted my hair in four sections, spritzed each section with a random conditioner mixed with water and detangled. Then I applied Queen Helene Professional Cholesterol.

I prefer LeKair Cholesterol with Aloe, but Sally didn't have it and I had a 911!

• After steaming with the Cholesterol, I hopped in the shower to wash my hair with ApHogee Shampoo for Damaged Hair. I was shocked how well this worked. My hair felt clean and indescribably different, but not stripped. And, I only had to apply it once!

I used so little of this, I think this bottle is going to last a whole year.

• After just one shampoo application, I then applied ApHogee Keratin 2 Minute Reconstructor and left it on for five minutes. This product has more slip than you can ever hope for and it left my hair feeling smooth and soft.

Again, a little bit goes a long way!

• Post-shower, I wanted to add a little extra oomph to my hair so I spritzed each section with ApHogee Keratin & Green Tea Restructurizer. The idea is not to saturate the hair with this product, so I just spritzed each section a few times after a brief comb-through. Ideally, you're supposed to apply heat to your hair after applying this, but body heat works fine too according to the directions.

I have mixed feelings about this as it made my hair feel a little weird.

• The final steps in saving my hair was to apply my Giovanni Direct Leave-In Weightless Moisture Conditioner to each section and then separating each section so I got two twists out of each section. Then, I put huge bobby pins on my roots, pulled all my twists to the back of my head and banded them into a pony tail with two scrunchies to stretch the hair as it dries over night. I also tied a satin scarf on my head so my edges lay down. I'll twist my hair tomorrow when my hair is dry.

You're probably wondering if any of this worked and while it's too soon to tell how much damage was done, I can assure you that my hair is going to be just fine. My curls returned as soon as I washed my hair and I had more curls than I've ever had by the time I rinsed out the conditioner. Only one small section was wavy versus curly, but my hair's always been like that. I had not one single shaft of straight hair! 

So, ApHogee gets two coils up! My hair was left feeling soft and smooth, and has lots of shine and sheen and I haven't even applied my hair butter yet! I also was shocked that only ONE hair was in my detangling comb when I detangled a second time and that NEVER happens! I am definitely going to use this as a one-time monthly regimen.

NOTE: While my hair loves protein and is treated to some type of protein treatment every week, a lot of people have protein-sensitive hair. If you are protein-sensitive, I'd do a strand test first. Also, ApHogee products are designed to work together to repair your hair, so I wouldn't recommend subbing or swapping out products when using ApHogee. And, please thoroughly read AND follow the directions when using these products.

P.S. Assuming the worst, I was planning on using ApHogee Two-Step Protein Treatment but I'll save that for another day and hopefully that will be a day when I want versus need to use it!

This is a heavy-duty treatment not for the faint of heart!

Shea Moisture Fail and Wash Day Update

At long, long last, Wash Day's web site is finally live! Attempted assistance from several sources, but nothing ever came through so I did it on my own. Still have some tweaking to do, but for now, here's my baby!

www.wash-day.com

Wash Day is comprised of shampoos, conditioner, hair butter and hair oil...all designed to help you develop your own low-manipulation natural hair regimen and without spending a fortune! While there is a plethora of natural hair care products on the market, after 40+ years, I couldn't find anything my hair would love for more than a few months until I learned how to make my own hair care products. And the rest, they say, is history!

Now, from time to time, I do try out non-Wash Day products and sometimes with decent results. Not this time, however. I know everyone raves about Shea Moisture products, but I'm not real keen on them...mainly because many of their products contain ingredients on the endangered species list. I did finally break down last weekend and bought a jar of Shea Moisture's Curl Enhancing Smoothie. I liked the ingredients, the price, the amount of product in the container and even the smell. But, I hate this product! Two coils down on this one!

With ladies literally killing themselves to take advantage of Shea Moisture's BOGO deals, I was excited to finally give this product a try. I knew something was wrong as soon as I put my finger in it. The consistency was way wrong for my hair texture and it lacked the oomph I hoped it would have. Additionally, I'm on Day Two of my twist out and will have to redo my hair tonight. Not only did Curl Enhancing Smoothie fail to add shine or bounce to my hair, it didn't even hold my curls!!!!!  I also find my curls to be too wild, frizzy and stiff. I'm not used to this. My hair is always shiny, bouncy and does not frizz when I separate my curls.

 Note: I am not being biased in any way, but Wash Day's Bounce Butter and Carol's Daughter's Healthy Hair Butter do a much better job of maintaining weeklong curls.

I don't know what all the fuss is about with Shea Moisture's Curl Enhancing Smoothie, but at least I know I'm not missing anything when I throw this in the trash!

With each new season comes new goals

Summer 2010

With a new year rapidly approaching, I decided it's time to rethink a few things and get moving on others. Last summer, I decided to stop straightening my hair and just wear it in it's natural state. I didn't really know what I was doing, but I sure had a lot of fun learning! Following the YouTubers and bloggers, I'd grab this and grab that, but wasn't really happy with my results. But, after a few months, I learned what my hair likes and dislikes, and developed my own regimen of care.

Fall 2011

Now, I'm in the zone when it comes to taking care of my hair. Sure I might try a product here or there, but my brain is now teeming with ideas and it's time to get moving on those. In 2012, I'm focusing on marketing and selling my own hair care accessories and products, which initially will include shampoo, conditioner and the most amazing hair oil you'll ever try! I also am planning on snazzing up my blog, resurrecting my jewelry line, Bibelots, getting back into crocheting, and dabbling in creating my own makeup! Twenty twelve is going to be an amazing year. What are your plans?

P.S. If you're struggling with your hair, my weekly regimen is very simple and I adopted it strictly to grow out my hair. As you can see by the pix posted, this is definitely working for me.

My Hair Maintenance Regimen

• Detangle hair, apply deep conditioning treatment and put hair into six loose plaits
• Deep conditioning steam treatment, and wash and condition the hair
• Apply light, water-based leave-in detangler/conditioner and seal the hair with an oil- or butter-based product (usually one of the two on my "Mixtress" page or a Pura Body Naturals hair milk
• Put hair in medium-sized twists and apply JBCO or my new revolutionary hair oil to the roots

Note: During warm weather season, I do all of the following but take out my twists the next morning and wear my hear in a twist-out or bantu knot-out until my next wash day. And, my hair holds up all week without any additional maintenance. During cold weather season, I keep my hair in twists throughout the week until I take them down on wash day. (Twists do not have to be removed to be washed, I just prefer to remove them as I enjoy my regimen.)