Senin, 26 Maret 2012

0 My Current Natural Hair Regimen with Co-Washing!

With the weather being so crazy these last couple of months, I've had to change my hair regimen almost weekly. My tried and true, wash/shampoo and style one day a week regimen is out of the window! My hair is also still (yes, still) trying to adjust from the henna treatment I did in November. Trying to figure out what my hair likes with the funky weather and after the henna has been difficult but, I've got it! 

Hairstyle: 3/25/12 Hump Ponytail

After doing the henna treatment in November my hair became very porous. I don't know exactly how or what the henna did to my hair but, I now have a whole new head of hair. I plan to do a review of the henna I used later, I'm still trying to figure out if I want to do it again or not. My old hair was easily moisturized and held moisture for days! this new henna hair...not so much. Here are the problems I was facing after the henna:

  • Dryness- Moisture just would not stay in my hair. After completely soaking my hair it would be dry again in about 20 minutes. 
  • Breakage- I believe the breakage was due to dryness but, I'm not sure. I  became lazy with my because nothing seemed to work to get it to act right so I would leave my hair in buns for days. My ends were breaking off terribly (little 1/4 inch pieces) and had small curls all over my shoulders and sink. 
  • Tangles- My ends were always tangled.
Here is how I fixed the problems and what I had to change:
You can see some of the brown/red color the henna deposited. That's about the only benefit I got. 
Dryness
  •  Conditioner washing: I use Giovanni Smooth as Silk as my co-washing conditioner and co-wash every 1-2 days. 
  • Shampoo:  I still shampoo once a week with shampoo bars, I now follow up with a apple cider vinegar rinse. (1 tablsespoon of ACV to 1 cup of water)
  • Sealing: I no longer seal my hair with oils/butters. Since I co-wash I try to not to coat my hair, which allows me to get moisture into my hair easily without having to shampoo off any buildup.
Breakage & Tangles
  • Detangling: I detangle only the ends of my hair with my Denman brush. While in the shower, I detangle the ends and then finger detangle the full length of my hair under the showerhead. 
  • Co-washing: Keeping the right amount of moisture in my hair has reduced the breakage significantly. It's almost back to normal, I do need a trim which I think will fix any other weak ends. 
  • Tangles: The frequent co-washing has reduced the tangles. I think this is due to the conditioner and how it clumps my curls together which keeps them from tangling together.
At the moment, I do not need to apply a leave-in conditioner to my hair. Applying a leave-in conditioner to my hair has become an option, when in the past it was so needed. Without a leave-in conditioner, my hair will stay moisturized for about 2 days before I need to co-wash again. 

So this is my current regimen! I plan to flat iron my hair in about a week and will trim and do a length check then! 
Photobucket 

 
 
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