Monday, December 16, 2013

I'm back! And a pattern is emerging...

Good morning everyone. Yes, I know, I have been missing. I went on a training workshop and simply did not have the time to blog, or even take proper care of my hair as I would have at home.

Regardless, I'm home now, and yesterday, after coming straight from the road, I dived into my wash day routine, and I will quickly share it with y'all, especially as my hair is super soft and feels amazing, despite being over 12 weeks post.

1. Prepoo with the last of my Tresemme Thermal Protect Conditioner and sunflower oil. This conditioner is very thick and I did not put enough oil in to give it a lot of slip, so I separated my hair into 4 quadrants and then applied the mix section by section. I then covered my hair with a shower cap and watched about an episode of Bones. I made sure to get plenty of the mix on my new growth so as to keep them as soft and supple as possible.

2. Rinsed off the prepoo mix and shampooed with my Tresemme Ultra Moisturizing Shampoo, still in sections. However, since I was standing bent over the bath, I ended up loosening the sections when it came to washing the back hair. I really still love this shampoo. I had a little bit of shedding whilst shampooing, about 10 hairs in total. Breakage was also less than a couple of weeks ago. Oh happy day!

3. I then proceeded to slather my hair with my now beloved Tresemme Naturals Nourishing Conditioner. Oh, the slip! Oh, the moisture! This is officially a staple!! I took a little more time applying the conditioner this time, again carefully dividing my hair into quadrants. It also means that the conditioner was in my hair for about 5 minutes, instead of the usual two. The quadrant thing also means that my roots get plenty of product without excess manipulation.

4. After rinsing, I grabbed my staple DC - ORS Replenishing Conditioner - and went to town! Again in four quadrants (I'm thinking of doing the quadrant thing every wash day from now on) and I saturated my hair. A bottle truly does not last me long, my hair SOAKS up the stuff. I covered my hair in a shower cap, a satin wrap, another plastic bag AND a towel. And then proceeded to watch two whole episodes of Bones.

5. I rinsed the DC first with warm water and then blasted it with cold water to close and smooth the cuticles.

6. Because my hair felt so coated on a previous wash day I was very light handed with my leave ins on this wash day. Just a couple of drops of Kair Serum, TCB Bone Strait and Avon Miracle IQ. I then proceeded to roller set, spritzing my hair with my water and Naturals Conditioner mix (1 part conditioner, 4 parts water) as I went along. Breakage was minimal, but I lost about 10 hairs at every stage of my wash day routine, which is not that much, but it is more than I'm happy with. It is much less than  a couple of weeks ago though, so thank you to the hair gods!

7. I decided that I am going to straighten my hair. Yes, i know, to most hair journeys, heat is the devil. But when I'm deep into a stretch, if I don't straighten my roots (max once a week, at wash day), I suffer massive breakage. So, after taking my hair out of the rollers, I parted it in half horizontally, and instead of spritzing my Tresemme Heat Defense (yes, I too see a pattern emerging!) all over, I spritzed some in my hands and proceeded to smooth it over my hair as if it was a serum. I then proceeded to flat iron my roots, one small section of hair at a time, using one pass only. (personally, I don't get it when people use three to five passes on a single lock of hair. It's so unnecessary!)




The end result - soft, straight, bouncy hair, which I then proceeded to cross wrap, cover with a satin scarf and then went to bed. This morning my hair is still beautifully straight, soft and strong, but it is so hot my side of the world that hair in my neck would have been a horrible idea, so I am wearing a ponytail. PS, my pony is getting longer and longer, I love it!! My ends need a bit of a trim, but I will take care of that when I touch these bad boys up.

How was everybody else's wash day?
Happy Monday everyone, and happy growing!