Oranic Root Stimulator Olive Oil Replenishing Pak

Today was a shampoo-wash day so, as always, I did a pre poo. I plan on getting a relaxer sometime this week so I used Organic Root Stimulator Olive Oil Replenishing Pak because it's a light protein. I really liked it. The night before I soaked my hair in Africa's Best Herbal Oil, and this morning I woke up and mixed this pak with eucalyptus oil and rosemary oil. While I was rinsing it out in the shower about an hour later, I noticed how soft my hair felt. I was afraid to use it at first because I thought it would be too much protein in my hair, but it felt just fine. I actually think it's too good to be used as a pre-poo, I might use it as a DC from now on when ever I think my hair needs extra protein.
Besides that, it smells amazing. It has a citrus-y smell to it that I love. I'm going to have to get some more paks.
 I know they sell it in a bottle, but it's easier for me to get the pak because they sell it at my job.

New DC and pre-poo mixture

Thus far in my HJ, I've been mixing a bunch of random things into my deep conditioners. Sometimes it's a hit. Other times it's a miss. To prevent this problem I'm going to come up with a special recipe in order for it to work consistently.
DC Recipe:
6 cap fuls of Kenra Moisturizing Conditioner (or what ever one I use at the time)
about 10 drops of two different essential oils (right now I have eucalyptus and rosemary)
about 5-7 drops of a carrier oil (whatever I choose to use)


It's not exact, but it's better than mixing a lot of random things into a bowl and not knowing what works best or needs to be avoided next time. Also, I used to use a lot of oil in my DC's and they would always be runny. With much less oil used, it won't be so runny.


Pre-poo:
about 6 scoops of a pre poo (lustra silk or sauve)
10 drops of essential oils
few drops of a carrier oil
a few scoops of what ever conditioner/moisturizer I'm trying to get rid of

Co-Washing. :)

I've been co-washing my hair every Thursday and my hair loves it! It could be contributing to the extra softness I've been feeling and/or the added growth. All I've been doing is pre-pooing for 30 minutes, co-washing, deep conditioning, leave ins, styling. That's it! I thought I was going to give it a try until April (when the heat challenge is up), but I'm not quitting this, my hair has been thriving too much!

I've been using a lot of moisture in my hair lately and I think it's time for a small amount of protein. So I'm either going to co-wash with Herbal Essences Long Term Relationship Conditioner, or DC with ORS replenishing pak.

MINOR Regimen Change

Yesterday I said I'll co-wash with Suave and I'll find me a new pre-poo, but actually I found a co-wash (VO5 moisture milks conditioner) and I'll pre-poo with Suave almond and Shea butter conditioner. 

VO5 is a popular co-wash on hair forums so that's why I decided to switch. (it smells great and is only $1.15!)

Hair Resolutions Check Up

A month ago I made some resolutions, and for the first time, I've actually kept up with them. My resolutions were:
learn heat less styles
learn to braid my hair
use less heat
and retain length

So far I can cross three off of my list, I'll see how I'm doing with retaining length later. I guess I'll have to stretch my curls to see how long my hair has gotten.  Or I could start taking length check pictures only when my hair is wet.

Today I bought all the things from my list yesterday. I still need a pre-poo. (I might use the suave almond and Shea butter as a pre-poo though)

GARNIER???

I think I'm done wanting to try Elasta QP. I wanted to try it because it had a full line of things that I needed and wanted to try/use. (Moisturizer, shampoo/conditioner, leave-in, ect.) I know you're probably thinking that I made my decision to use Herbal Essences, but now I'm kinda wanting to try Garnier Fructis.
Why?
Well, I wanted to try a new moisturizer. I just don't feel like the ones I'm using (Pantene Daily Oil Cream Moisturizer and HE LTR) are really 'doing it' for me.
Pantene's okay, not as great as I remembered a few years ago, plus it contains a high amount of mineral oil. And HE LTR has too much protein in it.

So after work I decided to buy Garnier Fructis sleek and shine Leave in Conditioning Cream for about $3.00. I've only been using it for a few days now, but so far I LOVE it. It makes my hair super soft and it smells great. It does have some protein in it, but not a significant amount. Also, it is nice and thick which is great for the winter.

The BEST thing about wanting to try Garnier Fructis is that Target sells the shampoo and conditioner in 1.7 fluid ounce travel size bottles! So all I have to do is buy the little bottles (for $0.97 each!) and give it a try. If I don't like it then I can switch to Herbal Essences quicker than if I bought a full size bottle of something else. What worries me is that I know my hair-typically I don't like things the first time I try it so I'm going to have to try it for a few weeks before I fully commit to Garnier. Which is fine.

I also bought Herbal Essences Reconditioning Conditioner to use as a prepoo since I ran out of the Pantene I was using/decided to stop using Pantene.
If I like the Prepoo, then I will start to use it as my regular conditioner.
If I like the Garnier then I will use it as my regular shampoo and conditioner.

Now all we have to do is wait....

Braid out FAIL and Pantene

I tried a braid~out again today, but it didn't turn out right at all! It's not that the curl was ugly- but there was not curl at all. It looked like I was wearing that style for a few hours and the curls fell, instead of just waking up this morning. Today's braid out didn't dampen my spirits, it just gave me more drive to become a better braider.
When I do become good at braiding, I plan to add co-washing into my regimen.

Last week I noticed flakes on my scalp once again. I was really confused and thought my hair wasn't getting enough moisture because of the aphogee regimen I've been using. So I started researching things and some girl said Pantene gave her dandruff. I use Pantene's curly hair treatment. I liked it a lot for a prepoo, but I don't think I'll continue to use it because it's pretty expensive and doesn't last a long time. Also, it may be the cause of my dandruff. Especially since I'm not the only one noticing it.

I will continue to prepoo, but now I will use Herbal Essences instead and mix it with oils.

HJ- update

So I finally made an appointment to get my hair done next Tuesday. My plan to get a relaxer every 8 weeks has failed because instead of eight, now I have accidentally stretched for almost 10 and by the time i get my relaxer it'll almost be 12. So I proved that I can actually stretch longer than 8 weeks, but I just don't want to because, well.. IDK. Its just my choice not to. And because I thought I was going to get a relaxer 2 weeks ago, I haven't been washing my hair because I didn't want to be scratching and rubbing my hair too much while washing it. I did that the last time i washed my hair and it burned like crazy. It could've been the type of relaxer (Silk Elements) or that i washed my hair or a mixture of the both.

Because my hair doesn't have a lot of NG, i feel like i failed a little bit. I thought I would have a lot of NG but i really dont, less than a 1/2 inch. If you saw my last length pictures, you would've noticed that my hair didn't grow that much. :( That's kind of sad. I don't want to start co-washing because I'm not great at doing heat less styles. My bantu knot outs have been getting worse and worse. And when I do a bantu knot out I always do it on flat ironed hair. And when I air dry over night, i do plaits then take them out in the morning. My hair doesn't look good at all after that. The curls aren't defined and my hair gets super frizzy. Next time I air dry over night I will M&S then use my frizz buster.

Aphogee:
I still like aphogee. One time I used it it made my hair hard. The time after that I pre-pooed, then I washed with Aphogee shampoo and conditioned with Aphogee 2 minute and Silk Elements moisturizing conditioner. After that I DC'd for a couple of hours. (the first time I DC'd for more than 1 hour! turned out great!) After I rinsed my hair felt super soft. I went to sleep woke up and my hair felt hard again! -_- So I DC'd AGAIN and my hair has felt soft ever since. So that means one of two things:
-I need to DC for a supppperrrr long time once
-or use Aphogee shampoo and a moisturizing conditioner, or Moisturizing shampoo and aphogee 2 min (i think i said that in a past post..)
Or it could just mean that I should only use it every now and then. I'm not sure.


Pre Poo:
As I mentioned before I tried to do a pre-poo. To keep it short it went terrible. I used
honey
olive oil
jojoba oil
and Herbal Essences Hello Hydration conditioner.
I think it was the hello hydration. Next time I'm going to be using Pantene Curly Hair Series Deep Moisturizing Treatment. I decided to get this because I really liked the Shampoo and Conditioner. Also I figured black hair is naturally curly and because this is extra moisturizing.



Jojoba Oil:
I got jojoba oil because my hair really liked Pantene relaxed and natural daily moisturizer which had jojoba oil in it. (i stopped using it b/c it had mineral oil in it). When I used this to seal it didn't do anything but sit on my hair.

Wave Nouveau Finishing Lotion:
Hate it. It just sits on my hair and weighs it down. Never again. I added Jojoba oil into to hopefully water it down and also as an attempt to get rid of the oil. LOL. but now I've decided to just put it in the bathroom and hope that my mom and sister will use it. I hope it works well for their hair.

Hair Journal- Hot Oil Treatments

I decided instead of pre-pooing my hair I would do a hot oil treatment. And I would save some of the hot oil (about 1/4) and mix it into my DC (along with other oils). That way my hair will be better moisturized and softer than it was the last time I washed my hair. I can't do that this weekend b/c I'm going to get a relaxer at the salon.(about 9 weeks post) So next week i'll do that and see how it goes.

When I do my HOT, i will apply 3/4 of the HOT in my hair as directed, then massage it into my scalp for 1 minute. (Leaving the remaining 1/4 in the hot water) After that I'll sit under the dryer for about ten minutes with a plastic cap on. Lastly I'll walk around the house w/ the shower cap on until my hair cools and wash as normal.

To mix the DC:
-take the Silk Elements Mega Silk Intense Conditioning Mayonnaise and put some into a butter tub.
-put the HOT into it.
-put other oils into it. (not sure which yet)
-mix and apply to hair
-sit under dryer for at least 30 minutes
-rinse out