Wash Day | Reviving My Hair

Last week's wash day was off to a great start but ended with my hair being a complete mess. I'm not sure if it was the shampoo brush or the fact that I was out of my Mint Almond Oil and my White Peony Leave-In Conditioner. I also brushed my hair before it was completely dry and wore it in a bun. By day 3 of my hairstyle, my hair was a tangled mess. It felt dry and fried. But I worked a commercial last week and didn't have time to wash my hair until yesterday. I was determined to revive my hair to its natural state.

My wash day arsenal- not pictured my ACV and other oils used.

Pre-pooed- I brought out the big guns for this wash day.  In addition to The Chocolate Antidote and my water bottle mix (filled with water, Aloe Vera Juice), I used EVCO. I applied the EVCO to my ends and my hair first and then spritzed my hair with my water bottle mix. Next, I applied The Chocolate Antidote to my ends and the rest of my hair. I gently ran my fingers through my hair getting rid of any tangles or knots that I could. Then I sat under my Hot Heads Cap for an hour to really loosen up the knots and restore moisture to my dry strands.

Co-washed with Mielle Organics Detangling Conditioner- After rinsing off my pre-poo, I washed my hair in four sections.  When I was done, I loosely twisted my hair in four jumbo twists before continuing with my wash day.

Protein Treatment- This week I decided to skip a protein treatment. Since the clumpy hair could be a result of protein overload, I gave my hair a break this week. I will bring it back next week depending on what my hair feels like.

Deep Conditioned with Deep Moisture Conditioner by Tangles and Beyond-  As much as I love my Mielle Organic's deep conditioner, I took a break from it this week. Plus, I need to use up the rest of this particular bottle and it is my 2nd favorite deep conditioner.  I also added Jojoba Oil to my ends and strands, to give my hair an extra boost of moisture. I added heat for about 30 minutes with my Hot Heads cap. 

After 30 minutes I used my handy dandy detangling comb from Eternally In Amber to gently detangle my hair. I was scared that I was going to loose a lot of hair. Luckily, it was too bad but there was decent size ball when I finished.

ACV Rinse-- I sprayed my ACV/water mix into my hair and massaged it into my scalp for a few minutes before rinsing it out.

T-shirt dried my hair for about 5-10 minutes.  And then put my hair into big chunky braids and went for a walk with my dogs. 

A few hours later I did the LOC method using my water bottle (mixed with water, aloe vera juice, vegetable glycerin, white peony leave-in conditioner, Jojoba Oil and Almond Oil), Mint Almond Oil, Jia's DreamCreme along with my Kera Care Twist and Define Cream. Before settling on a hairstyle I searched my old hairstyles for something that would protect my ends. I decided to go with a Big Two Strand Twist Pin Up from BlakIzBeautiful. I first rocked this style back in February 2015.

      

It's too early to tell, but so far my hair feels like it's back to normal. I'll be sure to update sometime this week,

                 How was your #WashDayExperience? Be sure to join the link-up!

                  ~Peace, Love and Healthy Hair!

   

Spring Empties 2016

Now that it's officially summer, I wanted to share my spring empties. Since I started sharing my "empties" my hair stash has decreased significantly and I'm getting down to the bare necessities. Here is a list of my spring empties.

1. Mielle Organics Detangling Co-wash - Love, love, love this co-wash! It's gentle, keeps my hair soft, cleans my hair and helps with tangles/knots. I don't see this leaving my product stash anytime soon.

2. Mielle Organic's Advanced Healthy Hair Formula Vitamins (bottle #6 or so?) - As I mentioned in this post, I am enjoying these vitamins and I can see how my hair has improved. I'm currently at the end of my 3rd bottle and I just bought a four-month supply :)!

3. Mielle Organics Babassu Oil Mint Deep Conditioner-  Probably one of my favorite deep conditioners. This is still a top favorite of mine. My hair and scalp always feels amazing after using this conditioner. I personally like to pair this deep conditioner with my Hot Heads Cap for about 30 minutes. 

4. Soak My Body Muscle Milk Bath from Tangles and Beyond's BodyFrenzi Line-   Like Mielle Organics, Tangles and Beyond is my other go-to hair product line. All of the products are handmade, which only makes me love the line even more. A few months back I was curious about her body product line and decided to try those as well. Since I love working out (when my schedule allows), I thought the muscle milk bath was a great product to try. Check out my review for more of my thoughts.

5. Mielle Organics White Peony Leave-In Conditioner- Such a great leave-in conditioner! I have nothing but great things to say about this one. If you want a lightweight leave-in that will help retain moisture, decreases frizz and protein your strands, you should give this leave-in a try.

6.  Aloe Vera Juice from Lily of the desert -  When I started revamping my regimen back in the fall, I started looking for other ways to increase moisture in my hair. After doing some research I found that using aloe vera juice in my hair regimen has a lot of benefits like hair growth, reducing shedding, and helping with the pH balance of my hair and scalp. Read this to learn more about the benefits of aloe vera juice/

7. Jia's Caribbean DreamCreme (16oz)-  It only took me a year to use this bottle up! Lol. But in all serious I definitely got more than my money's worth out of this bottle. This leave-in has become an important part of my LOC method and the smell is to die for. 

8. Mint Almond Oil (8 fl oz)- This oil is my jam!!! I use it as part of my LOC method on wash day and on a daily basis to retain moisture. I'm convinced that my hair stays healthy because of this oil. And the smell is great :).

There were also a few products that didn't make the cut and had to be thrown away:

I really wanted to love this shampoo by Carol's Daughter. This particular bottle was gifted to me by Ulta as I was checking out. The first few times I tried it, I found that my hair felt a little weird after but I ignored it. Since it was my regular shampoo, I didn't use it very often. A couple of weeks ago I used the shampoo again and my hair felt horrible after. I don't know if was the expiration date but I knew this shampoo just wasn't for me. 

This was a gift from one my co-workers, who happens to be a hairstylist on Grimm. I used this product when I first went natural and loved it. But then I started using other products and replaced it with something I liked better. So when I got it as a freebie, to be fair they were cleaning out their stations at the end of the season and it was half a bottle, I figured it wouldn't hurt to use it again. Boy was I wrong. I used this along with the shampoo and it left my hair feeling fried and stiff. I think the product has too much protein in it and my hair hates it.

                                             What products have you used up recently?

Wash Day | Shampoo Brush: Yay or Nay?

Last Friday, I started my normal wash day routine and was a little shocked/disappointed with the results.   

     Here is a recap of my wash day:

Pre-pooed with my Aloe Vera Juice mix and The Chocolate Antidote by Tangles and Beyond for 30 minutes under my Hot Heads cap. I applied a generous amount of the pre-poo on my ends.

Co-washed with Mielle Organics Detangling Conditioner- For this particular wash day I added my new Vanity Planet Shampoo Brush, which I scored for 50% of the original price. If you're interested in the discount, check out the video below. I've seen quite a few bloggers using this brush in their videos and wanted to try it for myself.

            

My initial impressions: the brush is perfect for a great scalp massage and I felt like my scalp was cleaner. I'm going to use it for the next month or so and then post a review.

                                  


                                  


Protein Treatment- Used my favorite weekly protein conditioner, Aubrey GPB conditioner for two minutes. 

Deep Conditioned with Babassu Oil and Mint Deep Conditioner for 30 minutes with my Hot Heads cap.  I opted for detangling with my Eternally In Amber wide-tooth comb before rinsing out my hair.

ACV Rinse-- I did my usual acv diluted with water rinse. As always, I massaged it into my hair for about 5 minutes and then rinsed it out.

T-shirt dried my hair for about 15 minutes.  And then put my hair in braids to dry my hair. I didn't let my hair fully dry before brushing it with my Denman Brush and putting it up in my new go-to hairstyle.

At first my hair looked great but then a day or two in, I noticed my hair was clumped together more so at the ends of my hair. Then I noticed that I had more tangles at then ends of my hair than usual. Unfortunately,  I had a pretty busy work week so I couldn't wash my hair and start over again.  I'm trying to figure out if I'm experiencing protein overload. So this week I'm going to switch things up a bit. Wish me luck and cross your fingers that I don't experience too much breakage trying to fix my hair.

                        How was your #WashDayExperience? Don't forget to join the link-up!


                                           

Wash Day | New Summer Updo

My original plan was to rock my semi mini twists for two weeks before my next full wash day. But, my twists were looking rough just one week later. So I opted for a full wash day on Friday before my LA trip.

The hairstyle I rocked for a week

I'm still trying to rack my brain to figure out where I went wrong. My hair looked dull and just a hot mess. Was it the Carol's Daughter shampoo? After all, I couldn't remember exactly how long I had that particular bottle. It wasn't something I used often, so maybe it had expired. Either way, my hair needed some TLC.

Pre-pooed with my Aloe Vera Juice mix and The Chocolate Antidote by Tangles and Beyond for 30 minutes (using my Hot Heads Conditioning Cap)

Co-washed with Mielle Organics Detangling Conditioner- I can't say enough great things about this conditioner. After the way my hair felt last week, I was glad to come back to this co-wash.

Protein Treatment- Used my favorite weekly protein conditioner, Aubrey GPB conditioner for two minutes. My main focus is on the ends of my hair, but I work into the rest of my hair as well.

Deep Conditioned with Babassu Oil and Mint Deep Conditioner for 30 minutes with my Hot Heads cap. Before rinsing it out, I used my fingers to detangle my hair.  I have a lot of shedding going on and I know that my hair needs a trim. It's been almost a year, not something I purposely did but I need to take care of that soon.

ACV Rinse-- I did my usual acv diluted with water rinse. As always, I massaged it into my hair for about 5 minutes and then rinsed it out.

T-shirt dried my hair for about 15 minutes. 

The hubby and I were doing a double date night with some friends, so I put my hair in braids pinning them up. The next morning I started looking for an easy hairdo to rock for my trip to L.A. Naturally, I went to BlakIzBeautiful's YouTube channel.  Jenell is my go-to for cute and easy styles. I would say 98% of my hairstyles come from her videos. 

With summer just around the corner, I'm looking for easy styles that don't damage my hair. And of course, Jenell's tutorial was just what I needed.

       


This hairstyle was so easy and only took me about 5-8 minutes to do. I squeezed this quick hairdo right before heading to the airport. I didn't take before pics but I wore the style from last Saturday and I'm still rocking it today. My plan is to wash my hair tomorrow and redo the style for next week. To keep my hairstyle in tact, I wore a scarf to bed. I applied Mielle Organics Mint Almond Oil and Jia's DreamCreme during the week.

Rocking my hairstyle on day 5

Another view-I swear my gray hairs are showing out here.

How was your #WashDayExperience? Be sure to join the link-up below!

Wash Day | Time To Shampoo

I vowed to post before today but my work schedule is still crazy. On a different show starting early and ending late = a tired Jackie with no time for blogging. But I finally had time to wash my hair on Wednesday, on my day off, two weeks after my last wash day! That is the longest I've gone without washing my hair since I became natural.

 I rocked a braid and tuck for about a week and then went back to my semi mini twists, which I love. Not only does it give me a break from my hair but it gives me the best twist out definition ever.

Pre-pooed with my Aloe Vera Juice mix and The Chocolate Antidote by Tangles and Beyond under my Hot Heads Cap for about 35 minutes. My hair is always soft and moisturized after I wash it out.

Shampooed: For Wednesday's wash day I started using my Mielle Organics Co-Wash and then remembered I wanted to shampoo my hair. I honestly can't remember the last time I washed my hair shampoo, which probably means it's long overdue. I grabbed Carol's Daughter Monoi Repairing Shampoo and got to work cleansing my hair. A little dab of this in your hand goes a long way and gives you some serious lather.

It's been awhile since I used Carol's Daughter products but I swear my hair isn't a fan. Maybe it's always been that way and I'm just noticing. Either way, this will be the last time I use this shampoo. My hair felt the way it did after I used the Black Vanilla Leave-In Conditioner a couple of weeks ago.  I will probably try Mielle Organic's Shampoo since I already love their products.

Protein Treatment- I finally found my favorite protein conditioner!!! I've been searching for this product for a few weeks and after calling around, I found it at a Vitamin Shoppe affiliated store about 25 minutes away. I was so excited that I bought the last two on the shelves without reading the labels.

Once I got in the car I noticed the labels were slightly different. I did a quick scan and the ingredients seemed to be about the same. I'm not sure what changed in the formula but I decided to keep both bottles. 

For this wash day I went with the Nutrient Blast formula, focusing on the ends of my hair and left it on for about two minutes. I washed it out and my hair didn't feel any different. I'm going to do some more research on the labels to see if I can find out more.

Deep Conditioned with Babassu Oil and Mint Deep Conditioner .  I can't express how much I love this deep conditioner. My strands feel amazing after using this product. I added heat (using my hot heads cap) for about 30 minutes. Then I used my fingers to detangle my hair before rinsing out the conditioner.

ACV Rinse-- I massaged my ACV/water mixture into my hair for a couple of minutes and then rinsed it out using cool water.

T-shirt dried my hair for about 15 minutes and then braided my hair in big chunky twists.

After a fun session at the bouldering gym + dinner with the hubby (about two hours later), my hair was almost dry. I applied my spritz mix,  Mint Almond , Jia's Carribean DreamCreme and  the Kera Care Twist and Define Cream. I opted for my semi mini twists again, which took about 2-2 1/2 hours to do. 

How I'm currently rocking my mini twists

The plan is to keep the twists in for two weeks but I plan to co-wash in between. Oh and I also need to get another trim sometime in the near future.

             How was your wash day? Share your #washday experience in the linkup.