Hair talk (PT 2)

WARNING!!!!!!!!!! ESTROGEN OVERLOAD, AND LONG POST!!!!!!!! OPEN AT YOUR OWN RISK!

Hello folks,
How r u guys? I hope its been a lovely Monday morning. I'm very happy today because its my dad's birthday. I'm so grateful to God for letting him see another year. Every time its my father's birthday, I go all teary and reflect on how wonderful he is as a dad. I hope I marry someone like my dad who will give nothing but his all to his family.


I still have other birthdays coming up this month, making March a very special month for me. Teak's birthday is tomorrow and my baby brother's birthday is on the 25th. These guys are some of the most important people in my world, and I constantly thank God for giving me them all.

It was an uneventful weekend. I was so lazy I didn't even do my weekly Surulere P. I just slept a whole lot and broke my record for most tweets in a day. Hehehe.

Anyhoo, I decided to share my hair regimen today. I'm still dedicating this post to Adaeze O, who is currently transitioning, and my lovely chum Sherry, who just big chopped. Yaaaay for Sherry! . When I decided I was going to do the 'health hair journey', I had absolutely no clue what I was doing. It took a whole lot of tweaking and testing before I could have something close to a hair regimen. I still tweak and test out new products to see what I love and what I'll be discarding.

I used to exclusively have my hair in braids, and wash my hair after I take down the braids, but my hair was so dry and it dawned on me that I needed more conditioning and moisturizing. I decided to get a wig because of this. That way, I have more access to my hair when ever I want instead of once a month. I would typically co-wash (washing my hair with conditioner only) twice a week and then wash with a sulphate free shampoo once a month, and also do protein treatments.

I love co-washing with my Tresemme gentle hydrating conditioner mixed with coconut oil. Sometimes I will also add some pumps of my Shea Moisture Restorative conditioner for dry and damaged hair just to add a little somtin' to it. I will then proceed to saturate my entire hair with the mix and cover my hair with a plastic bag or a shower cap, and rinse out after 30 minutes. I usually co-wash every Tuesday and Saturday. After rinsing out, I will moisturize with my Giovanni direct leave in (or my Tresemme, it works just as well) and seal with coconut oil or Shea butter.

When I'm doing a proper shampoo wash, which I do once a month, I usually incorporate so much stuff that washing ends up taking so many hours :( I don't really mind though. I usually start out by *pre-pooing my hair with a mixture of coconut oil, olive oil, peppermint oil and tea tree oil. I make sure my hair is saturated with this mix and I then cover my hair with a plastic bag for about 30 minutes. This stuff is very messy and drips a whole lot, so I make sure I always have a towel around my neck to catch the drippies. I proceed to wash my hair with my Shea Moisture African black soap shampoo which is sulphate free (only once), and rinse. Next, I saturate my hair with my Aphogee 2 minute Keratin re constructor (light protein treatment) and cover my hair for another 10 minutes, then rinse out. Because protein treatments tend to harden the hair, it is always advised to follow up with a deep conditioning treatment. So I mix my deep conditioner myself (with my Tresemme and my oils), and I let it sit for about 20 minutes, and then I rinse. Depending on my level of laziness, I may decide to do a final rinse with diluted apple cider vinegar and then I'll call it a day :)

These days, I am extremely particular about hair products I put in my hair. I will absolutely not use a sulphate  shampoo, and this is so hard because 99% of shampoos you will find in stores contain sulphates. Sulphates will do no good to your hair, as they will strip the hair of the much needed oils your hair badly needs and make the hair squeaky clean. Because of the kinky nature of our hair, it will take our natural sebum a lot to travel down the shaft of our hair, that is if it even goes the entire distance. What sulphate shampoos end up doing is to entirely clean up the much needed oils, leaving the hair extremely dry and brittle, subsequently causing breakage. Because of this, I'm never using sulphate shampoos again, and even when I run out of my shampoo, I will clean my hair with ordinary African black soap (dudu-osun). This works so well, and I've heard so many good reviews on it.

I also wont use silicones and parabens on my hair. And a whole lot of other stuff. My hair thrives best when I use more natural stuff like water and my oils and its left alone.

I use coconut oil and olive oil as my carrier oils, because these oils have been proven to have moisturizing benefits to the hair (along with avocado oil). Normally, oils will not moisturize the hair, because well, they are oils (DUH). Only water moisturizes the hair 100%, that's why water is so important in a hair regimen. I use tea tree and peppermint oils as my essential oils because of their anti-septic properties, especially tea tree oil.

This post is getting so long *mops brow* I gotta stop here. As my routine changes, I will continue to update and tell what I've changed and what I've added.

 PS: Pre poo (pre shampoo) is a method of prepping the hair before washing using oils (or any other stuff you fancy) Pre-poo helps to minimize damage to the hair strands (which normally comes with the washing).

Have a lovely week y'all,
Yolanda