Loving my FSG

So lately I've been avoiding BB's FSG in favor of my own. Yeah, I know. Part of it is because I haven't been overly excited with the results the two times I've used it. And the rest of me is so happy with my own that I don't want to experiment with anything else. Yeah, I KNOW!

Here's today:

And of course, the pictures I took don't reflect what it looks like in person. The bottom one is as close as I got. These are with Suave Ocean Breeze (co-wash), GVP Conditioning Balm (rinse-out) and some Aussie Scultping Gel - as usual! It's a great combo!

I did break out of my FSG shell tonight. I needed to make a new batch, so I decided to add some honey to the first bottle. My other bottle is in the dishwasher, so I'll make the second batch tomorrow. I'm contemplating getting some golden flax seeds tomorrow. I need to go to whole foods anyway (I'm jumping on the Beauty Secrets of the Bible bandwagon to see how that works before ordering some more GOW products).

I'm in desperate need of a haircut. Will hopefully get that scheduled soon.

Temps today were in the mid-fifties with dew point of 44. Which is crazy (but of course, not surprising), because yesterday it reached the NINETIES. Dew point was almost SIXTY!

The Law of Curly Hair - Reversed?

So as you curlies already know, there are a few laws of nature concerning curls.

These include:

• Taking a picture of your hair to document it and realizing it looks much better in person
• Showering at night, only to have it turn out amazing (and you know it won't last to morning!)
• Finally getting the "it" product that EVERYONE has been raving about, only to find your hair HATES it!
• Leaving the house with a good feeling, only to come home that night and realize it looks horrible - and with no way of knowing how long they lasted

These are just a few, and I'm sure you have many more to add to the list.

But today I've experienced one of these laws in reverse - something that rarely happens.

I pretty much left the dorm feeling horrible about my hair. I hadn't had time to wash it last night or this morning, and it was in a gross-looking pony tail. Luckily one of my classes got out early, so I rushed back to wash before my next class. It looked ok as I was leaving, but nothing special. I was acutely aware of it during my last class, feeling it was more wavy than curly.

Then I got back and took this picture:

Are those CURLS? Here's what it currently feels like:

I'm not kidding. I don't understand. I co-washed with Suave Ocean Breeze (whom, by the way, has NOT sent me a coupon for a free bottle!), rinsed with KBB Nectar, applied BB's FSG, my FSG, some Aussie SG, and at the very end BB's butter. There were some ploppings in there somewhere. I clipped a little differently, so the curls around my part are reminiscent of pin curls. Not sure how that happened either.

It got up to 77 today with a dew point of 49.

BB's Flax Seed Gelee Experiment Day 1

Today's experiment was supposed to be my flax seed gel and pink boots, but my plan changed. I got my order from Boticelli Babe (on nc.com)!! I got: flax seed gelee with agave nectar in lemongrass, brulee in cupcake, and the hair/body butter!

Since it's Saturday and I have no where to go tonight, I decided to use the FSG all by itself. I've never done that before, and had no idea what the hold would be like. I water-washed, used GVP Conditoning Balm as my rinse-out, and then used a BUNCH of FSG. I think all in all I used about an inch out of the bottle. I scrunched for a while, plopped for about ten minutes, scrunched in some more, and then plopped for five minutes. I noticed more frizz than usual while diffusing. After I clipped I let it airdry for about an hour.

Results:

I was really surprised! I had a LOT of crunch. I don't have the volume I'd like, but it's been like that for a while. I think that's mostly a weather/hair cut thing. But overall I really like this stuff. I definitely have some more experimenting to do!

For the record, today's temps were in the fifties, and the dew point is currently FIVE. I haven't been outside yet, but I'll definitely update this if that has any effect.

*Later*

Just got back from dinner. Before I could even order my food, I got "You have GORGEOUS hair!" ... Definitely not a bad hair day!

(That's the end of a telescope behind my head, lol)

Picture of the Day

I'm really liking pineappling with dry hair. And the results of adding more FSG.

Update!

Yeah, I know, it's been a while. School has been SUPER busy lately. And nothing particularly interesting or rant-worthy has happened (knock on wood!!).

After a week and a half of commitment to flax seed gel (even I was surprised!), I went back to pink boots for a night. Not the same. Granted the temps and dew points have risen, so that could be making a difference. Last week it was up to 80 with dew points in the 50s. Today was about 60. I'm hoping it stays like that for the rest of the week.

Tonight I tried something different. I used Suave Ocean Breeze to co-wash, GVP Conditioning Balm to condition (love this stuff!!), and then scrunched in some FSG and plopped. When I took down the plop, I didn't scrunch as much Aussie in as I usually do. I know I over-did it with the gel over the weekend at least once, so I wanted to see what less super-hold gel would do. After my second plop I added more FSG and diffused. I've started diffusing a little longer and it's definitely helping with curl formation. When I was done drying, my curls looked much happier! I'm currently clipped (trying a different way of clipping, so another new experiment!) and air drying, so no official results yet. I'll take some pics when I scrunch the crunch.

I'm pondering ordering some of the famous magical products of BotticelliBabe on nc.com. So far I'm liking the results of my own mixture, but I'm "hearing" amazing things about her products. In addition to the flax seed gellee, I'm hoping to order the brulee and butter. I haven't made any decisions on ingredients to add though. I'm leaning towards just agave for the gellee - don't want to mess with magnesium sulfate!

*Edit*

The results are in! For some reason they didn't photograph well. They look much better in person. And I took some interesting shots that will end up on facebook.

Flax Seed Gel

I've made my own flax seed gel off and on since going CG (in fact, there was one memorable incident where the plastic handle of my strainer melted and change shape, but that's a story for a different day), but I haven't actually used it consistently until this week.

I made a new batch after the superbowl. It was pretty runny, so I thought it wouldn't hold up as well for me. I spent the entire week experimenting with it, and my results seem to have gone from awesome to just ok. The weather has been changing (it's now in the 60s with dew points in the 50s) and I think I may need to do an ACV rinse tonight, so I think these have had some effects on my results.

I've been using it with various conditioners (and no leave-ins), and GVP Conditioning Balm seems to have the best results. I've also used it on dry hair to touch up on frizz and curl, and it worked better when the weather was much colder. I've always used some Aussie Sculpting Gel on top, though the amount has varied.

I'm really wanting to go back to pink boots to get my big spirals back. The first day with flax seed gel gave me some amazing ringlets, but I haven't seen them since then.

Weather changes suck. Just when I figure out what my hair likes, the weather goes and changes. It went from cold and dry to warm and humid. I used some KBB for my small dose of humectants and it didn't help at all. I'm hoping the ACV rinse takes care of these problems. Otherwise I may need to rethink my routine. Knowing our weather, it'll be back to freezing cold and dry by next week. I wish it was easier!

Note: I edited the blog entry about the modified pineapple. I'm getting better results by scrunching out the crunch before I put it in a pineapple. I think leaving the crunch in ensures that it is not fully dry, and that can mold some weird curls during the night. Thought I'd let you know, if anyone is interested...

Fire Alarm

I just skipped participating in my dorm's fire drill.

Why? Because I had just finished diffusing and clipping when the alarm went off. No way I'm going out into the cold with my hair clipped (and no way I'm taking it down, either)!

I think I can manage walking down some stairs should the real situation arise.

The things I do for my hair...

At least it was better than the one last semester. I still had just-diffused hair, but it was 11pm on a school night. Nice.

The Modified Pineapple

(or the "Pineapple Sweatband Jaw Clip Doo Dad Thingy" as Del2c graciously named it!)

So I've said before that I've had problems with protecting curls while sleeping. I've tried everything from pineappling to a satin cap to pineappling with a satin cap. I've even tried a weird combination of a rectangular scarf held together with bobby pins and jaw clips (it was not a pretty sight and was even more uncomfortable to sleep on).

Of all the methods tried, the pineapple alone came the closest to 2nd day hair. So I recently decided to go back to it, with a twist.

Here are the problems my sleep option must overcome:

• long hair
• curls that are pulled out easily
• curls that are flattened easily
• tossing and turning
• a sensitive head (is it weird for me to make a "that's what she said!" comment here? Yes? Ok then - I've had my fix of "The Office" for the week anyway!)

My solution? The Modified Pineapple.

The Modified Pineapple (or PSJCDDT for short) consists of at least one pineapple that is secured by several mini-jaw clips. I have come up with two versions, though there is another one for shorter hair.

Version One: For True Second-day Hair (used on dry hair)

Step One: While head is turned upside-down, gently gather hair into a ponytail on the top of your head and secure with scrunchie-like material. In this picture I am using a sweatband (or so we think) that I stole from my sister (she stole some KCCC last week, so don't feel bad for her!)

Step Two: When right-side-up, gently gather hair towards the front of your head. Looking at the first picture, you will notice all hair is on one side of the sweatband.

Step Three: Using mini-jaw-clips, secure hair to the front of your head. Shake your head to make sure it is secure on both sides.

This is what the finished product should look like! Your clips should also be "in" enough so that when lying on your side, you should not be poked by the clips. You shouldn't even notice them.

Version Two: For Pseudo-Second-day Hair
(used on hair with crunch)

Complete with a weird view of my dorm room!

When I sleep on hair that has recently been washed, my hair needs a little extra care. The curls around my part usually form nice spirals that are easily pulled out. To prevent this, I use two pineapples - in the back and in the front.

Step One: Collect curls around part and place in pineapple. I do this one loosely because they are more delicate than my other curls. Notice this is a regular scrunchie.

Step Two: Clip Sides. This is similar to the first version. I do one clip on the left, right, and the back, so that it does not get caught in the second pineapple.

Step Three: Flip head upside-down and gently gather the rest of your curls into a ponytail. Make sure it is on the top of your head - mine is right in front of the crown.

Step Four: Clip curls to the side of the pineapple, just like the other version. I use two here.

The finished product should look like this. There are two scrunchie-like materials, one in the front and one in the back. I used a total of five clips, two on each side and one in the middle. Again, all clips are on top of my head, so there is no discomfort from lying (laying?) on my side.

Version Three: For Short Hair

I don't have short hair, so I can't explain how exactly I would go about doing this. It should be similar to the versions above, but with no pineapple - just clips. If any short-haired curlies are out there are reading this and would like to experiment and document it for me, I'd be happy to post them here!

If you have any questions or feedback after trying this, please share! I hope others are able to do this with success - it really sucks when something works for one person but not another!

EDIT 2/9/09: I've been experimenting with using the first version on recently-washed hair. I'm starting to prefer it more than the second version. I do scrunch out the crunch. I think my hair is still a wet factor to my hair when I am putting it up to go to sleep with crunch. And that helps to bend the curls and have them dry in weird shapes. So right now I'm doing the first version.

Weekend of Experiments

As mentioned earlier, this weekend I am experimenting. I've done three so far.

The first experiment was the super experiment using both Lustrasilk and DM H&ACJ. Not pretty. There seem to be a lot of people that are having the same problems that I did with this. My hair sucked the Lustrasilk when used on wet hair. And not in a good way. And it didn't play well with DM.

Yesterday I used GTTTT for co-wash, KCKT for my rinse-out, Lustrasilk for a leave-in, followed by the usual pink boots and ASG. Ok results. Nothing special. It was better than Thursday night, but my hair still sucked Lustrasilk up. I took pics, but they didn't really photograph well. And actually, I will say that I used Lustrasilk after it dried and my curls perked up some. So that was nice.

Tonight I decided to experiment with my diffusers. I bought the DevaFuser kit off the swapboards and it got here yesterday. So I used KBB milk as a rinse-out, KCKT for leave-in, followed by the usual pink boots and ASG. I'm really loving pink boots. I wish they sold it here! Come on, Target! Get your act together!

After I took down my plop, I diffused with the Sedusa. I did two sections with varying speeds and heat levels. After that I used the DevaFuser on my roots and the nape of my neck. I have to say, it was hard to get the hang of this. I guess I have more experimenting to do.

Anyway, here are the results (more in fotki). Kind of weird. I'm starting to think this more hair-cut-related than anything else. If only I had the guts to make an appt to see the curly hairstylist in town...