A Tentative CJ Daily Fix Review

Updated Jan '11: I'm switching this review to tentative status because there's a possibility my experiences with this product were caused be a reaction to medication. I started using this in mid-October at the same time I started getting this reaction. I don't want to judge this product's performance unfairly. I'm currently on a new medication and will re-evaluate CJDF in the spring.

Alright, I feel that I've used this product long enough to finally give a comprehensive review of how it works for me.

How I've used this:

For most of the time, I've used it only once or twice a week, with a co-wash in between. I have gone a week or two without using it.

Pros:

• This is pretty moisturizing, especially for a cleanser. No dry feeling after use. If I detangle before using it, my hair will feel like I did a DT after rinsing.
  
• Leaves my scalp feeling REALLY clean on wash day.
  
• Doesn't smell too bad.
• Gets rid of any itchiness that's going on.

Cons:

• How to put this? I feel like this product has undone two years of CG. My curls are fine - they haven't changed. But I can't go longer than two days without using this or a regular co-wash. My hair is greasy 12 hrs after using it, and it only gets worse. Even when I go a week or two without using, my hair gets greasy with a regular co-wash.
• Even though it doesn't feel dry after using, it DOES dry me out. My hair is way more frizzy on Day 2, and I have a plethora of dry scalp flakes. Not good.

I bought this thinking it would be the best of both worlds - a co-wash feeling with the cleansing strength of a low-poo. Unfortunately it didn't pan out that way for me. I still like the conditioner, and I think the bottle I have will last for a long time. It will probably be relegated to when I need to remove build-up and don't want to use a clarifying shampoo. I most likely won't be repurchasing.

My Clipping Quest Has Come to an End!

After over two years of looking, I've finally found some clips that get the job done! Not only do they work well for creating volume on top, they also help to achieve second-day hair and work well for putting my hair up on off-days.

I'm not sure what they're called, who makes them, or even how much they cost. I'm pretty sure I got them at Target when I was looking for the circular "Octopus" clips, which they were out of. I grabbed these instead and I'm so glad I did! I've had them for maybe three weeks now, so I've tested them pretty thoroughly.

Here's the main reason I picked these up instead of going somewhere else or waiting until the others were in stock. The bottom is relatively flat, so it's able to get in and really keep the roots lifted. It also expands in the middle, so more hair is able to fit.

I really like that these are long. It's almost like having two clips in one. It only takes one of these to cover my part! I use two total; the other one is on the crown.

I've achieved pretty good second-day hair a few times in the past couple weeks using only one of these clips. Instead of doing a full modified pineapple, I wrap my hair in a bun on the very top of my head and use a clip on the end to keep it up there. It's very secure and protects the curls during the night. And since the clip sits closer to the forehead than the back of my head, there's not even a chance of rolling onto it during the night and causing injury.

Has anyone else used these? What do you think?

So Close, Yet So Far Away...

So a couple of weeks ago, my brother came home from college to surprise my sister for Senior Night at her last football game (she's in color guard, not football!). During the course of the weekend, there was a discussion at home about shampoo.

My mom had a list of stuff she needed at the store, and there was a certain "dandruff" shampoo on that list. Now, my parents have used this for years. I've tried to get them off since going CG, but all to no avail. Upon seeing this on the list, I once again brought up how drying sulfates can be and pointed out that it was probably just dry scalp (and that the shampoo was probably causing it in the first place!). For some reason, this finally got through to her. And apparently my brother.

(Side note: During that trip we picked up a Giovanni shampoo for her, as well as some Herbal Essences mousse; she is the second person in my family I've successfully converted! Hooray!)

Fast forward to today. My brother is home for the week and went with me to Target today to pick up ingredients for the desserts I made for tomorrow. While we're walking around, he became really interested in getting me to pick out "the right" shampoo for him. Since he's on the budget, the only low-poo I could think that would work would be L'Oreal's Everpure. Unfortunately, we couldn't find it. I'm not up on low-poos, so maybe it's discontinued? We couldn't find ANY L'Oreal hair products in the store, though. I did show him what surfactant he needed to look for in a shampoo.

After the trip home, he went and got his hair cut.

When he came home, he begged me to go with him to CVS to pick out a new shampoo and conditioner. Again, no Everpure. They did have the Organix line, so he picked out a shampoo. Also got some V05 conditioner.

I was just about to point out the Ecostyler gel to him when he declared he needed some wax to style his hair. Apparently this was recommended to him during the course of his haircut. Because mousse gives him too much volume, and gel is too crunchy. I tried to explain and reason with him - he could try out some of my stuff at home and then get some wax if he really felt he needed it - all to no avail. I pointed out that he had specifically asked for me to consult with him on hair products, but apparently that was just for shampoo and conditioner. There were other people in the aisle with us, so I didn't escalate the argument. He left with, of all things, a L'Oreal wax. At least the ingredients aren't as bad as the other waxes that were there...

So close to converting him, and yet he resisted. Maybe he'll think differently when the build-up gets bad!

Anyway, as far as my hair is concerned: I think I'm over-conditioned, and I think it was the Daily Fix that did it. Weird, I know. I don't have any other explanation. And I never get over-conditioned! ACV rinse tomorrow will hopefully fix it. Daily Fix review coming as soon as I figure it out all the way! This is one weird product!

My Hair Refuses to Dry

It's been a while since I've had a good old-fashioned rant. I'm rambling a bit here, but you can't say I didn't warn you, considering the title of the blog and all.

Here's the problem: My hair refuses to dry.

I'm not sure what's going on. It's like KCCC has become a magical force field that prevents water from leaving my hair for at least five hours. There are times during this process when it pretends to be dry, but that's not the case.

Not only that, but my dryer refuses to attempt to dry my hair. It's only interested in burning my scalp.

Once I figured out that the weird itch and pain I was feeling hours after diffusing was indeed related to the hot air going through the mega holes of my diffuser from two inches away, I started using the medium speed setting. Now it's content to make all the dryer noise and pretend to dry my hair. Twenty minutes after I turn it on, I realize my hair is still wet and I've fallen for it's tricks.

Here's Friday's hair:

This is after 45 min of diffusing time, three hours of air-drying time, and another hour after what I'll call the fakeout-SOTC. It looked good when I SOTC, but ten minutes later it was flat.

I wish I had a picture from later that night. It finally finished drying and the flat sides perked up to give some much-needed volume.

Today I spent another 45 minutes diffusing. After 30 minutes on medium speed, my hair was still cold and wet. That's ridiculous. I upped it to high speed and pretty much glued my thumb to the cool shot button. Two hours later, it's still not dry and no where near ready to SOTC.

I need to get some things done today (like a picture for a substitute teacher badge) but I can't go out with hair like this. I realize that sounds vain, but I've been burned by ID pictures before. Is it so wrong to want one picture to show what I normally look like?

Anyway, I will be writing a full review of the Remington dryer and our love/hate relationship very soon. I just really needed to vent. Right now, I will say that:

no heat/medium speed = my dryer laughing at me

medium heat/medium speed = hair that doesn't dry, ever

no heat/high speed = same as medium speed, but with cool high speed noises

medium heat/high speed = dry hair that will eventually fall out due to burnt scalp

It's like I can't win.

/rant

Haircut!

Today was full of hair-related happenings!

First, I actually got some semi-good results with my Revlon dryer and the horrible diffuser attachment. Typical. I've been using the dryer with the Sedusa attachment all week with mixed results. I like that I can fit all my hair in it and just dry it for 20 min, but I get some wonky "curls." Most of the time it seems to be for straighties who want "curl" rather than for curlies who just want to dry their hair.

A full hour after I finished drying my hair, my new dryer arrived! The diffuser bowl is different. It's like a mix of the one I had been using and can no longer attach to a dryer, and the Revlon diffuser. It's pretty heavy, but it's the quietest dryer I've used.

Then I got my hair cut. I haven't fully redone it with my own stuff, but so far I really really like it. She barely trimmed the length, so it's still long, but also added in a lot of layers. It's so much lighter! The shortest layer is just above shoulder length.

As usual, the only product used was KCKT. Wet cut. By the time I got home, it was almost dry (Sidenote: my hair usually takes 6+ hours to dry! Why does no product = dry hair in 15 min? Not cool!). So I spritzed the crap out of it with water, scrunched in some KCCC and Aussie gel, then diffused for a little bit with the Remington dryer.

The curls are skinny, but I have a lot of volume! And it did clump at the ends like usual. My hair is soft and bouncy. I don't usually like the skinny curl look, but I'm LOVING it right now. I might start using KCCC like this.

I'll probably redo tomorrow to get a true look. If I do, I'll post a picture or two.

Done

Ok, I'm done. No more spending any $$$ on hair products until at least the end of the year. I'm probably set for the next six months.

I did a lot of research and picked a dryer/diffuser. The Sedusa/Revlon combination is working ok for the moment, but doesn't really give me the curl enhancement that a regular diffuser does. I ended up going with the Remington D-2012 TStudio Tourmaline and Ceramic dryer. It had a lot of good reviews on Amazon and on NC.com. No idea when it'll get here though, since I ordered on Wednesday and it still hasn't shipped!

Look how pretty it is!

Sally's is offering free shipping for the rest of the month (code 555202). This is great, since my local store doesn't carry GVP CB. I also had a $5 coupon for renewing my beauty card a few months ago. So I got 3 bottles for the price of two!

That makes me set with rinse-out conditioners. My CJ Daily Fix will last for a long time and I still have half a bottle of V05 when it runs out. Stylers will last forever, no problems there. And a new dryer to round it out. No more PJ purchases!!

I've started shopping my make-up stash to cut down on how much I buy (because I'm already pretty much set for life where make-up's concerned) and I'm going to do it for hair products as well. Should be interesting to see what combinations I can come up with!

Diffuser Shopping

Well, I got my CJ products last week and had hoped to begin reviewing, but my diffuser had other ideas.

First, the Devafuser attachment that I've been using to attach a diffuser bowl to my Revlon dryer died. The little plastic pieces that hold the rubber attachment kept breaking off. The diffuser had been falling off at least three times during the drying process for about the past month. Last week, enough of the plastic pieces broke off so that I couldn't attach it to my dryer.

So I started using my mom's dryer, which is actually what the diffuser attachment I've been using came with. It was billed as being for fine hair, but I didn't really care. The diffuser is the part of the dryer that I care most about. The one that came with my Revlon dryer had short fingers that don't do much for curl enhancement. This was working fine until yesterday, when the dryer wouldn't even turn on. Apparently, it died. Which is great, considering I only bought it for her maybe a year and a half ago.

She went out and got a Conair Shine Ionic dryer last night. I tried it today and immediately came to the conclusion that I need to get my own. Now.

The holes in this thing were ridiculous. I might as well have just left the diffuser attachment off. Case in point: Less than two hours after I finished drying, all of my hair is completely dry. It usually takes at least four hours.

So I think I'll try my Sedusa attachment on my Revlon dryer while I'm researching new dryers/diffusers. I was thinking of just buying a better bowl attachment, but my dryer is two years old already and did not work well with the Sedusa in previous experiments (there were lots of sparks, if I remember correctly...).

CJ's Aloe Fix Light has not impressed me yet. I've only really used it yesterday and today, in the midst of diffuser problems. But still. Not good for morale.

Youtube

I'll admit, I spend a good amount of time on youtube during the week. Mostly for music and makeup videos (love Emily's channel!). Every now and then I'll find something hair-related that's relevant to me.

This is one of those times.

I just discovered naturallycurly.com's channel (and yes, it was because the website's down)!!

How cute is this?



Check it out!

Do you have any favorite youtube hair gurus?

KCSS: Take Three

After posting last night, I decided to do wash again and really bring on the moisture. I tried to get overconditioned (which is hard to do with a head of porous hair!). I think I hit the jackpot.

I started off with a good amount of GVP CB after spritzing with water. Then I spritzed with Oyin's Juice & Berries (Found this in my stash on Thursday, more on this later!). After fifteen minutes, I used my usual V05 Raspberry conditioner to co-wash, then applied about a quarter-sized amount of KCKT before detangling. After rinsing upside-down, I scrunched in a nickle-sized amount of GVP CB as my leave-in, followed by two pumps of Kinky-Curly's Spiral Spritz. Blotted as usual, then scrunched in a little more KCCC then usual (which still isn't really much at all). Finished up with Aussie Instant Freeze gel.

I tried to diffuse using cold air only, but after five minutes it didn't seem like it was doing anything. So I switched back to hot. Clipped afterward, but of course that didn't do anything. I waited about four hours before SOTC, and immediately regretted scrunching it out so thoroughly.

My hair had actually curled pretty well, even in the back. It was soft and VERY shiny (thanks, KC products!). And best of all, it was fully moisturized. It was pretty late at this point, so I pineappled and went to bed.

Things looked good when I took it down this morning. All I did was spritz in a little water and smooth. Now it's gone pretty flat. Which is ok. I was going for moisture, not curls. And I definitely got it.


I feel like I'm closer to knowing how to use this product. I think it needs to be paired with a strong-hold gel, which I am in the market for. I don't think my Aussie gel is strong enough anymore. I also feel like it's a product that doesn't need a leave-in. And it's so heavy on my hair that I'll have to rotate it. Hopefully I'll be able to try it again next week sometime.

Biting the Bullet

So I've decided to bite the bullet and order some Curl Junkie products.

I'm really unhappy with how my hair looks and feels right now. I don't think the dryness I'm experiencing right now is related to protein sensitivity, but rather my porosity. And my hair shouldn't be this dry what with washing it consistently and taking advantage of the S&C method. It has to be a product issue. I've done two DTs since my last post, and while it's curling better it doesn't feel moisturized at all.

I'm also reconsidering the CG method. Conditioner-only washing has been great, but what if my hair needs something more? There have been a lot of ingredients that my hair hasn't been able to handle with this method and I've always ended up using a sulfate shampoo to remove them. This is a lot worse than using a milder surfactant.

So I'm about to place an order for:

• Daily Fix conditioner
• Curl Rehab
• Aloe Fix Lite

I priced it out, and aveyou.com has the best deal for these three products. I'm boycotting CurlMart. I absolutely refuse to order from them and pay $13+ in shipping/taxes. They're not far enough away from me to warrant $10 in shipping charges. I have no problem ordering from the CJ site, but I found a great coupon code for AY, and they have $1 shipping for orders of $50+.

Anyway, I'm hoping this solves my recent hair problems. I did a lot of research before settling on these. The price was a lot to swallow for being unemployed, but my hair needs to look good for interviews, right?

Thursday Tidbits

I felt a need to update, so here are some thoughts going through my mind today:

• My scalp is being weird. I've been pretty good about co-washing every-other day lately, but it's started getting greasy. And itchy. I have no idea what's going on. I used to go every three days and be fine (more dry than anything, actually). It started doing this a few weeks ago and I blamed it on the Coconut Curlada conditioner. Now I'm not so sure.

• My hair is not as curly as it was two weeks ago (using my regular techniques). I used a lot of protein that week and have since when back to a moisture-rich routine. My hair is really dry and it feels like protein overload.

• I reread the original Spritz and Condition thread and decided to start using the method as originally described by Del. This means scrunching conditioner in, finger-combing instead of Denman-ing, and doing the entire routine upside-down. Curls got a lot better, but like I said before, it's really dry. I'm interested to see how this goes after the protein damage dies down. It's also interesting because my hair isn't as clumpy as it usually is. No ringlets. Curls are skinnier but more defined? It's definitely a trade-off. I'm not sure which I prefer, and though I've asked for opinions, apparently I'm the only one in this house who notices a difference!
  

• I recently cleaned and reorganized my hair/skincare/makeup area in the bathroom and discovered my other diffusers at the bottom of the pile. I've been experimenting with how I diffuse my hair lately, and I'm thinking about starting a diffusing experiment. My hair's long enough for the Sedusa again, and it would be cool if I could get the DevaFuser to work for me. If nothing else, it gives me something to blog about!
  

• I'm thinking about trying some Curl Junkie products again. I've been reading Marsha's blog and trying to figure out if it's something my hair could do. I'm very weary of oils, especially since the summer oil experiment failure. But I've been reading a lot of great things about the formulation of her products and overall quality. The only other problem with this is my current unemployed status and the expensive nature of those products, especially compared to the ones I'm currently using. Winning today's giveaway would solve that problem, but those winners also won't be announced until next month.

• I lost my Curly Girl book. I really want to reread it since it's been a while and a few discussions on the topic have caught my eye on NC. I know I had it in my last dorm room (spring 2009), but it's not with the other stash of books from that time. I guess I need to spend some time digging in the garage. Fun.

• I think I need a trim. But I really don't want to go back to my stylist. I'm thinking about doing it myself, and that kind of freaks me out, lol. The ends just need to be trimmed and a little shaping wouldn't hurt. I like my long layers, but I need something to help with volume up top. Decisions, decisions...
  

Short Update

So I'm really liking this stronger curl pattern. I hope this experiment goes well so I can stay off the meds and keep these curls! I was even asked the other day if I use a curling iron - though I'm not sure that's a compliment...

First, it's nice to have a consistent canopy, especially in the back. That has always been the hardest place to get to curl. Scrunching in extra gel there helped a little, but nothing like this!

Multiple-day hair is also easier. Saturday night I put my hair up in a bun directly on the top of my head using a regular hair band. It looked great in the morning - just as if I had gone to all the trouble of doing a modified pineapple!

I've also come up with a new solution to getting rid of mild surface frizz in the morning. First I spritz with a mixture of water and the CURLS coconut conditioner (small amounts are ok), but any conditioner would do. Then I mix a pea-sized amount of the clear Ecostyler gel with a nickel-sized amount of Curl Keeper. I've used it about three times now and it's been great!

Getting Curlier?

Here are some pics of today's hair (of course, taken with my *great* laptop webcam):


This was the usual routine, with just KCCC & Aussie's Instant Freeze gel for stylers. I also switched my co-wash and S&C conditioner to the Salon Care Honey & Almond conditioner (which has a little protein).

I don't know, maybe I'm bias... but I think my hair's getting curlier (and I realize that these pictures suck and aren't really true to life). This may be TMI, but I did recently go off the pill. I know hormones can play a big part in curl patterns and that six years ago, prior to starting it, my hair was curlier even without CG. So it'll be interesting to see what happens in the coming weeks.

Denman Dilemma

Ok, so remember how I raved about the Denman brush a few posts back? I had stopped using it in February and fell in love with it again last month. Well, I remember why I stopped using it. Turns out it gives me MAJOR flat top! For someone who is already clipping-challenged, this is a major problem.

So now I'm stuck. I need to use it because my hair tangles easily these days and not using it would be a disaster (even missing one wash means the next one will include a ten minute detangling session). My hair is also clumping well. But this flat top thing is the worst.

I'm thinking about trying out some new clips. I've read through this thread, and while the octopus clips look interesting, I do need to make an order from Sally's soon to stock up on conditioner. So I might as well order some roller clamps, right? I don't know. I hate to waste money on another kind of clip that might not work. I already have three different kinds as it is. I guess I can always use them for pineappling, right?

Today's Hair

The Bad News: So it turns out that the CURLS Coconut conditioner may indeed have enough coconut oil to build up on me with regular use (sigh)

The Extra Bad News: Said build-up was too much to wait out, so I was forced to shampoo yesterday. My hair/scalp felt like I hadn't co-washed in at least a week, and this was happening a few hours after washing.

I shampooed, then immediately DTed with GVP Biolage Conditioning Balm and a little coconut oil. Actually, looking back that was probably a stupid move. But I also have never had a problem with coconut oil in that way.

I co-washed and did the whole routine. Results aren't horrible, but nothing to write home about. I think I may have used too much KCCC on accident again.


I'm going back to the HG routine for a while.

HG Status: The Spritz & Condition Method

So I've been having a lot of good hair days lately thanks to the CURLS conditioner and actually washing my hair every-other-day. My hair's had issues this summer with being dry (story of my life) but I was also washing every third or fourth day. Lately it's been more often. I always use the Spritz and Condition method.

Except for Monday. I was in a hurry. I didn't feel like waiting around for twenty minutes while my hair soaked up some conditioner. Turns out that was a bad idea. My hair was frizzy and did the weird thing my hair used to do with KCCC. I don't know how to describe it other than it frizzed out in clumps. It looked dry and really gross. It was barely wavy. I thought maybe my hair had had enough of the coconut conditioner.

Wednesday rolls around and I again do the S & C method with my HG rinse-out, GVP Biolage Conditioning Balm. Later, when I was rinsing out my rinse-out, it was like a miracle. My hair was well-conditioned and clumping and curling like crazy. I had some really great curls this wash.

And so, I have decided to give the S & C method HG status in my routine. I've used it with great success over the past year and will not go without it again.

CURLS for Target: Coconut Curlada Conditioner

I've been using this conditioner for about a week and a half as my rinse-out conditioner. I do still follow the Spritz and Condition method (using GVP Biolage Conditioning Balm), but this is what I use when I'm detangling.

I got it at a local Target for about $10. What drew me to it initially was that it's CG safe, but also does not contain protein or any of the oils I can't use. In fact, it contains the only oil my hair loves - coconut oil. I have never tried anything from CURLS before, mostly due to price and shipping fees.



PROS:

• Smells great. To me it smells like vanilla cake batter. It may be too strong for some people, but I don't smell it once it's in my hair.
  
• Keeps my hair mostly hydrated. I'm still going through the "my hair is porous and it's been over 100 degrees here for almost a month!" spell, so while it hasn't been super amazing in these conditions, it's done the job.
• While it doesn't exactly help with detangling, it doesn't create tangles either. After everything's tangle-free, it feels very smooth in my hair. I like that feeling.
• Good consistency.
• My hair is hydrated and curly enough to last multiple days.

CONS:

• Like I said above, it doesn't help with detangling (which I've needed a lot of help with lately!).
• It kind of disappears into the hair when I'm using it as a rinse-out. Not as much as others that I've tried (like BB's Smoothie Conditioner), but I do use about two quarter-sized amounts to feel like all of my hair is coated (It was visible the one time I used it for the S & C method). That said, I've used it maybe four times and the product's only an inch from the top (and I'm not sure that it was filled all the way to begin with).

Overall I really like it. I've had consistently good hair days, even when using different styling products. I'm not sure if that's because of this conditioner, or the Denman, or some magical combination of the two, but my hair has definitely been more all-over-ringlet-ly than wavy for the past week. And it's gotten noticed by people I don't know. How shocking that it didn't come from a curling iron!

UPDATE 8/30/10: After a couple weeks of regular use, this conditioner built up on me (even though coconut oil is usually safe!). This is being relegated to occasional use.

A New Way to Buy Conditioner

I've been avoiding my KCKT lately. Not because it doesn't work well (quite the opposite in fact), but because I didn't want to waste it. I have about half an inch left in the bottle. Normally I order from CurlMart. Buying one bottle of this stuff from them costs about $20, and that's with a % off coupon code. I hate paying $8 for shipping. I think that's ridiculous, especially because it's a flat rate and not based on how far away you are from them.

So imagine my delight when I looked at Kinky-Curly's website yesterday and saw that they had KC products at a Target about ten minutes away! My closest Target is literally two minutes away, so I hardly ever go to this new one. I decided it was time to check it out.

I walked around the hair products and natural hair products aisles for a while. Nothing. Just when I had given up, I found it on an end-cap far away from where I thought it would have been. They had one bottle of KCKT, so I quickly snatched it up. They also had KC Spiral Spritz, Come Clean, and the cutest little jars of KCCC I've ever seen! There was a great selection of Miss Jessie's products (which I don't use), Jane Carter Solutions, CURLS, and SheaMoisture. I also grabbed a bottle of the CURLS coconut moisturizing conditioner. I was tempted by the curl reviver spray, but I think I'll save that for next time.

I really wanted to the order this CURLS conditioner along with the KCKT while contemplating an order from Curl Mart. Now I have both and paid $0 in shipping (and $0 in gas since I got a new car yesterday!). This Target also had E.L.F. products. I'm in love.


Reading this a few hours after posting, I have to laugh at the title. It didn't even occur to me that this is the NORMAL way to buy conditioner!

The Denman Brush

Since it's been a while since I've reviewed something, and I just happened to start using this brush again, I thought I'd post one here.

My background story: I started using this brush maybe six months into CG? Probably a few months earlier than that. I originally got it after reading about all the amazing clumps it could give you. Unfortunately, all the tips and tricks I read about didn't do anything for me. In fact, it made my hair look worse because any kind of raking action, even if followed by scrunching, pulls out curls.

In the end, I just used it for detangling in the shower. And for those times when a sugar scrub isn't enough to get rid of the random itch that's been bothering me for a week. Then the denman is like heaven on my scalp!

I've always used it off and on, usually preferring to just use my fingers to detangle. I think the last time I had used it was in February? I don't know. It's been a while. I think I stopped because it was doing something weird to my hair.

I decided to use this again yesterday. It removes much more hair than finger-detangling does, which also means less knots. My hair has been so dry lately, and a lot of knots were developing on the nape of my neck. I spent about five or ten minutes detangling (even breaking out the KCKT to get the job done!). I didn't use any special techniques or anything; just brushed to detangle. Imagine my surprise when I had lots of great clumps afterward! I'm talking "it looks like I used pink boots" -type clumps.

For full disclosure, I did use the Ecostyler gel instead of KCCC. I've used this before with not great results, so I'm attributing this to the Denman. The clumps were also noticeable after rinsing out my conditioner and before applying the gel.

My hair held up well through the night and the clumps lasted through the 100 degree weather while I was out shopping for a car this morning. I will definitely be using this every wash from now on!

Multitasking...

...is deep conditioning

while reading a book

while hula-hooping!

My morning has been very productive!

*

Sorry for the lack of updates. Nothing new and exciting. Things have been kind of crazy since coming home last week. I had a lot of fun playing in the ocean (it had been about seven years since I'd been), but my hair didn't particularly enjoy it. I've been DTing regularly ever since!

I'm thinking about trying my hand at sealing. I think that will be the experiment next week.

Coconut Oil For the Win!

Today I did an intense DT with coconut oil and my hair is definitely much happier. Much less frizz and my dryness is almost gone. The best thing is that the jar I've had since October is still more than 3/4 full!

Tomorrow I'm leaving for the East Coast for a week. Unfortunately we're driving and I'll have much more limited internet access than the trip to the West Coast. Though here's to better curls!

Ditching the Plop: An Experiment

So today I decided to experiment a bit with my post-shower routine. I read a post recently on nc.com started by my friend Del in which she decided to stop plopping because it was pulling out her waves. I've felt the same in recent months, so I thought I'd give it a try.

Here's the background on my plopping habits: I've always done it. Since Day 1 of CG. I would add styling products in the shower and then plop into a t-shirt. Later I discovered flour sack towels. After 4 months CG, a discussion popped up on double plopping. Guess what I did? I even added the Curl Ease towel to get my plopping fix.

My current routine requires three flour sack towels (or 2 towels and the Curl Ease, but I seem to have misplaced that one). One for blotting before applying KCCC in the shower, one for plopping into after applying KCCC, and one for plopping into after applying gel. I like plopping mostly because it gets my hair out of my face and off my neck, making it easier to towel off and get dressed before applying gel, diffusing, etc.

As much as I love plopping, I am unable to plop overnight. I end up with weird curls and lots of frizz, nevermind the fact that it's a pain to do and leaves me with a headache the next morning. Even with regular plops, I can't do it for very long. My first plop is only for a minute or two - long enough to towel off and get dressed. The second plop is generally only five minutes. Leaving it in longer leads to frizz.

I also used this time to experiment with clipping and diffusing the roots prior to diffusing the rest of my hair.

The Experiment:

1. Followed the regular shower routine. Applied KCKT and pink boots to very wet hair.

2. Taking one inside-out t-shirt, I blotted my hair upside-down and on both sides. (I don't have the Curls Like Us Cloths, nor the $ to spend on them)

3. Applied KCCC like normal.

4. Blotted some more with t-shirt.

5. Exited shower. Applied gel like normal.

6. Blotted some more with another t-shirt.

7. Carefully got dressed. This was really complicated.

8. Clipped roots and diffused them for 5 or 10 min

9. Took clips out and diffused upside-down like normal.

Results:

Frizzy, undefined, and gross

There were definitely more cons than pros, but I'll list both.

Pros:

I do have a little more volume up top and on the side opposite my part. That's about it.

Cons:

First, the whole process was a lot more uncomfortable than I'm used to. My bathroom was super humid for almost the whole time I was in there (including diffusing), my hair was sticking to me, and it was hard to get dressed and move around with it everywhere.

Second, holy frizz batman!

Third, my hair is no where near as curly as it is when I plop.

For full disclosure, I've shampooed twice in the last week and a half (though each was preceded and followed with DTs) and my hair was a little dry. However, my hair looked much better, and had much less frizz, on Tuesday when I shampooed. I may try this again when my hair is regularly moisturized. But not for a long time!

Update

1. I'm back from vacation. My hair really suffered, but I had a good time and that's all that matters in the end. It doesn't look horrible in any of the pictures, so that's good too!

2. I will be DTing and clarifying today, because something about it is seriously messed up and I don't have the patience to try and fix it without clarifying. It's been four months since my last shampoo. I know it wasn't that bad last time. I'll have to look back to see what I did.

3. Funny story: I got a bad sunburn (only looks bad; didn't really hurt) last Sunday, mostly on my arms. In the middle of the week, I noticed my scalp along the part was pink. Then came the peeling. Now, in addition to already being weird, my hair looks like a blizzard.

4. New blog look. Not sure I'm liking it. It might be a little bright. Blogger changed their designs a while back and some of them are really nice. It was hard to find something that works with the curly hair theme, but I was in a summery mood. Opinions are welcome.

Weird Hair

Just a little hair update from vacation. It's funny; I was so concerned about it before leaving, and now I could care less how it looks. I had the most frizz I've had in a LONG time and didn't really care at all.

I don't know what it is, but my hair has been weird the couple times I've washed it here. Usually when I do my final rinse upside-down, there's a little foaming action going on in the drain from my rinse-out condition. Not a lot, but some. Now it's like foam on steroids; like I'm rinsing out shampoo. And I can feel how coated it is just by scrunching - when it supposedly has nothing in it.

I thought maybe it was hard water, but looking at a map didn't help. All the ones I saw on google told me that it was very hard, and that my water at home is very hard too. Which I don't think is true, both from experience and from multiple maps I saw a few years ago. So I don't know.

When it's dry, it's dry. I've had a lot of frizz. I've only been using KCCC and Aussie as stylers. I was going to use pink boots but my hair felt so soft in the shower that I didn't want to make it worse. I tried using CK underneath KCCC last night and it worked out ok. No big difference.

Seriously, it's the grossest feeling when wet. At this point, I don't care. I'll deal with it at home.

On another note, today I got chlorine in my hair for the first time since going CG. I hadn't been planning on getting it wet at all. No conditioner in it or anything. My siblings quickly saw to that. I washed afterwards, but didn't bother going through the whole styling and diffusing routine. So not sure how it'll end up. I really don't want to shampoo. Might have to anyway with this weird foaming thing though.

Anyway, there's a quick update. Here's a vacation shot from Los Angeles:

It's Finally Happened...

One year and eight months later, I have finally finished my first jar of KCCC. I thought this day would never come.


And honestly, I think I used about half of it back when I was completely clueless as to how it worked best for me.

I held off on buying this for a few months after going CG due to price. At the time, this was $26 plus more than $8 in shipping in taxes from Curlmart. I paid a total of $34.75 to get this jar. That works out to about $1.73 a month, if I'm doing my math right. What a bargain! Especially considering this is HG stuff for me.

I just opened my new jar. I've had it for a little over a year. I panicked last spring when prices were going up and I thought I'd be out of my first jar pretty quickly (I'd already used up half of it). I bought this one for a total of $20 from Ricky's in NYC. How long will this one last?

Problem Solved!

So I just found out that we are actually going to be able to check a bag when we fly out on Saturday (technically my dad's going for work, so they'll pay to check it).

The good news is that my bag was chosen as the one to be checked (it will also be the biggest!).

The bad news is that I just went and got a bunch of 3oz bottles last night. I guess that's not totally bad news, though.

I was actually getting worried about it, because I only bought five. That was based on hair products only - totally forgot about skincare! Moot point now, I guess.

Now that that problem is solved, I'm working on my other one: dry hair. I did a DT today with Jessicurl's Weekly Deep Treatment topped off with coconut oil. I think I'll rinse it out tomorrow. I wonder if it's the environment? Hopefully it'll do better on the West Coast.

Traveling: Curly Style

I don't think I've mentioned it yet, but I will be flying to the West Coast on Saturday. I'm really excited (it's been almost two years since I've been), but there are two things that worry me:

1. Carry-on bags and what that means for hair products

2. How my hair is going to react to the 30-degree temperature and 15-degree dew point drops, along with a major increase in humidity

Don't get me wrong, I've been on planes before. We've just always checked our bags, so I never had to worry about the liquids being in 3oz bottles before. Now I'm being forced to carry on my luggage (checking a bag for $25 each way doesn't work well with my whole being unemployed thing) and I have no idea what I'm going to do. I'll be there for ten days, so I'm going to need a substantial amount of conditioner and styling products. It seems stupid to put a bottle of conditioner in as many little bottles as I can. I mean really, what's the point? Why can't I just keep it in the original container?

Add to that the whole different climate thing. I'm not sure what to fill those little bottles up with. The last time I went was in late September. It was also after I had to shampoo for some reason and I was dealing with my first big protein overdose. And the only pictures I have of that time to try and remember are the day of a wedding; I washed an hour or two before we had to leave, so my hair didn't really dry until way later and ended up flat. So no help there:

I think I'll end up with V05 Raspberry & GVP Conditioning Balm for conditioners. Maybe some KCKT. KCCC and my Aussie gel for sure. Maybe Pink Boots.

My hair's been kind of dry lately, and as usual it could be a number of things (protein, oils, lack of DTs, etc). Playing it safe will probably be the best for me right now.

This is more of a venting type post, but any advice is welcomed!

KBB Super Silky

Well, I tried Karen Body Beautiful's Super Silky for the first time in over a year. I really like how my hair turned out, but I'm not sure KBB SS was the cause. In any case, my hair does smell good!

I went through my usual routine of Spritz & Condition with the Honey & Almond conditioner and V05 Raspberry co-wash before applying this as a rinse-out. I smoothed two pumps of the SS through my hair and immediately remembered why I stopped using this. I'm not sure why, but my hair seems to soak this up. It gets almost hard and kind of tangly. It's really weird. I then flipped my head upside-down and scrunched in another pump's worth before clipping up. I will say my hair was soft when I rinsed it out. I finished the routine with pink boots & KCCC since that's what I've been using lately.


I wish this camera was better at showing my spirals and the shine! It just looks kind of frizzy in these (which it isn't). I wish the canopy was as good at curling as my bottom layers are.

I think I'll try it again and see how that goes. I really like the smell and my hair is soft!

It's My Two-Year CG Anniversary...

...and I didn't even notice until I saw my join date on nc.com like five minutes ago.

I must be getting old.

Here's what my hair looked like last night.

And here's what it looked like two years ago.

Woohoo...

Going Back To Oils

If you read this blog regularly, you probably know that I developed an aversion to oils in hair products last spring. When I use a product that contains an oil that I don't agree with, I have very soft hair on day one, followed by very dry hair each subsequent day until I wash again. The soft hair is very much like overconditioning; my hair doesn't really hold a curl and it feels gross. It takes a sulfate to get my hair back to normal. Needless to say, I don't do oils.

Except for coconut oil, that is. Coconut oil is the one oil I have been able to use regularly. It easily penetrates the cuticle, so it doesn't build up easily. It leaves my hair soft, but that's it. Curl formation is intact and there aren't any subsequent dry days following a coconut oil treatment.

During my most recent hair crisis, I reread some articles and thoughts on different oils. This article from the Curl Chemist does a great job at explaining the structures of various oils and how we can use them successfully.

At that point I knew I needed more moisture. I decided to experiment Jessicurl's Weekly Deep Treatment, which contains avocado oil. Structurally, avocado oil is very different than coconut oil. Coconut oil is comprised primarily of saturated fatty acids. Avocado oil has some saturated fatty acids, but is mostly unsaturated. It even contains polyunsaturated fatty acids, which cannot penetrate the cuticle at all. I'm not sure why this seemed to be ok for me. Perhaps because it is close to the bottom of the ingredients list. Or maybe my hair didn't absorb as much since it was applied to wet hair. I also "sealed" in the WDT with some coconut oil. Maybe that helped? I have no idea.

I don't plan to use much of anything with avocado oil or any other polyunsaturated fatty acids in the future. But I do want to start incorporating products with oils back into my routine. It's been really hard to not use oils, especially when I'm already not using protein (although that isn't true at the moment; I'm really like SalonCare's Honey & Almond Conditioner).

My next experiment with oils will be in the form of Karen's Body Beautiful Super Silky conditioner. In the fall of 2008, KBB was all the rage at nc.com. Of course, I had to try. And at that point I was handling oils and protein just fine. My favorite scent is Jasmine Lily. I just found a bottle that's almost full and it smells sooo good! It does have jojoba oil, but it's farther down the ingredients list. And it contains more coconut oil. I have second-day hair today, courtesy of pink boots and more KCCC than I usually use, but I will try this out tomorrow!

Haircut!

I finally got around to washing and styling my hair for the first time since getting it cut. I have to say it FEELS shorter, but I think that's just from getting my layers back. It's curling a lot better than it was last week and I have some volume back on the sides. Overall I'm pretty happy with it! (Note: these were taken after spending an hour and a half in the sweltering 95 degree heat)

And the best part is that my total routine time went from 1 hr to only 40 min!

The Morning After

I think the back looked a lot better in person that it does in this picture.

For comparison, here's how it looked last night before I pineappled:

I just got back from getting my hair cut. I need to wash and style with my own products, so I'm not sure how it turned out. I'll probably update on that tomorrow!

Revisiting the Modified Pineapple

So last year I posted a detailed entry that showed how I put my hair up into a "modified pineapple" to safely sleep on hair. I still use this method when I shower at night and have second- and third-day hair, so I'm really just revisiting the concept here on my blog. I've changed it up a bit and thought I'd update on what I'm doing. Like the last one, this will be picture-heavy (though the lighting isn't the best).

For longer hair, check out the original entry here. When I got my hair cut super short (by my standards) last summer, I had to change up the way I pineappled. My hair is obviously longer now, so the new method will still work with long hair.

Alright, a "pineapple" is basically putting your hair up into a ponytail at the very top of your head to protect the curls while sleeping. This works for a lot of people. Me, not so much.

Here is what my hair looks like in a regular pineapple:

...Yeah...

I should note that I am using a soft cloth scrunchie, but I did not double the loop. I just slid it over my ponytail, so it's loose. Doubling it would leave a noticeable dent, which is definitely not what I want. It's pretty obvious why this doesn't work, but add the fact that I toss and turn a lot during the night and you can see why I don't use this method.

So the modified pineapple is basically the above picture but with clips. I clip the hair up on the top of my head where it is safe from my tossing and turning, but also doesn't poke me in the head all night. Right now I'm using four clips: two mini-jaw clips and two extra-mini-jaw clips. I used a lot more in the previous entry, but I lose these things easily! During the winter I only had one mini-jaw clip and it worked fine.

Anyway, you can use as many clips as you want, but the main thing is to have at least one mini-jaw clip. This size is important because it will fit most of your hair and be sort of the anchor for the rest of the clips. I should also note that I do most of this process while leaning upside-down.

Start with a regular pineapple.

Gently gather into ponytail and secure with scrunchie. Make sure it's not too tight or too loose. If it's too loose, you'll have more trouble with the clips.

Next, grab the ponytail about a third of the way in from the ends and bring it towards your forehead. Secure with mini-jaw clip.


Here I am with one mini-jaw clip (yes, I realize how ridiculous that looks!). I usually clip it a little higher so it isn't in my face so much, but it won't matter much in the end.

Next I add the second mini-jaw clip (red) directly to the side of the first one (yellow). Not all of the ponytail can fit in one clip since my hair's pretty thick.

Since the hair in my face is usually bothering me by this point, I clip it up next with an extra-mini-jaw clip. Here I've just swept it up to the side.

The next part is kind of optional for me at this point, but I do it for the added security. When my hair was shorter, I would clip the ponytail so that not much hair was in my face and then use two extra-mini-jaw clips to clip up pieces that had fallen in the back. Now I just use one.

I put it pretty much right where the scrunchie is. That way it doesn't hurt when I put my head on my pillow. It works pretty well for keeping the short pieces up.

Side view

Alright so that's the modified pineapple! It looks ridiculous and I get made fun of for it, BUT it works very well at keeping curls intact and frizz at bay. I'll try and take some second day hair pics tomorrow morning to see how it held up.

In other hair news, mine's starting to curl again! I did a DT with Jessicurl's WDT the other night. Then today I did the Spritz & Condition with Elucence MBC, followed by the pink boots and KCCC combo. I also did an ACV rinse and that helped a lot. Between this and the haircut I'm getting tomorrow, I'm hoping it will go completely back to normal. I'll post pics tomorrow.

Closing in?

I think (or hope?) I'm closing in on the reason for my hair being un-curly lately. I was home sick all day yesterday and had an opportunity to do a lot of reading on nc.com and through Tiffany's ebook. At first I thought I might need less moisture in this summer heat, but a quick test of that proved me wrong.

Here's what I'm thinking:

1. I need a haircut. It's been nine months. My hair is still relatively healthy (no split or damaged ends), but my layers have all grown too much and it's affecting my volume.

2. I need MORE moisture. I haven't been washing regularly (maybe 2 times a week) for the past month or so, so it makes sense. Plus, I have a history. Read this. And I quote:

Which means my hair isn't getting the extra moisture that it NEEDS because it is porous... I've been burned by this before, so you would think I would know what I'm doing by now...

Seriously? I feel really stupid right now. The entry is even called "lesson learned." Ugh.

I dont' think I've ever been more thankful for my blog. At least this time I have a record of what my hair has done in the past.

3. I need protein. It's been a long time since I used enough of this stuff. My balance is off.

So this is what I will be working on.

Other interesting things I read about:

• Supposedly KCCC doesn't play well with oils?? Someone mentioned it in passing on a post last year and I couldn't really find anything to back this claim up (then again, I was on a different mission so I didn't go looking for it that much), but could this be why I don't handle oils well? I used to be fine with them until last spring, which coincidentally also happened to be when I started using KCCC regularly.
  
  
• I reread (and apparently absorbed the info because I didn't remember this) this article about oils. I do well with coconut oil which is saturated and easily absorbed by hair. So I'm thinking about experimenting with other oils that are similar in structure. It sure would open up my product usage abilities.
  
  
• I gave up Jessicurl's WDT last year because I thought it had a LOT of oils in it. Turns out it doesn't. Huh. Good thing I'm getting back into deep conditioning!
  

Revisiting the Product Graveyard

I started my hair journey almost two years ago, and in that time I have come across a lot of products that haven't worked all that well for me. Some were flat-out duds; others work well for certain times of the year, or during certain hair conditions. Most of these were relegated to The Product Graveyard, only to be brought out once in a blue moon.

Lately, my hair has been (to my standards) kind of blah lately. Look at the last pictures I posted of my hair. Now look at that great picture to the right. Quite a difference, right? That's what my hair looked like when I first started CG. That's what I want to get back to. Heck, I'll even take the curls I had in my 100th entry if it's on a consistent basis!

My first thought this morning was that I needed some protein, and maybe a harder-hold gel. Once upon a time I tried the L.A. Looks Gel and hated it. It was chock full of protein and I'm pretty sure that's why I cast it into The Graveyard. So I went looking for it.

I didn't find it (I think I gave it to my brother, so I'll be digging through his old stash next), but I did find some of the products I used when I first started expanding the collection.

Elucence Moisture Balancing Conditioner & Biotera Curl Creme

(I also found the bag containing my ayurvedic herbs!!
And an almost-full bottle of CK!!)

I did the usual Spritz & Condition with GVP Conditioning Balm. After getting in the shower, I did a vinegar rinse, scrunched in some Elucence, and clipped it up for a few minutes. Rinsed upside-down in cold water. Scrunched out some water, scrunched in KCKT and one pump of Biotera. Scrunched out some more water and scrunched in KCCC. Double-plopped and used Aussie's Instant Freeze gel.

It looked REALLY good coming out of the shower and after I finished diffusing. Curls everywhere and with volume. Then it finished drying and I scrunched the crunch out. Now, not so much.

Not sure what's up. I'm thinking I need to cut the Spritz & Condition and switch to a lighter conditioner. Temps are high 90s to 100s with dews in the high 60s. I ordered the Honey & Almond conditioner and Ecostyler gel from Sally (20% off code from retailmenot), so that should be here soon!

Anyway, here are some pics after scrunching the crunch:



I have not abandoned KCSS or Re:Coil. I just haven't been able to post pictures (missing camera cord and all). I guess I'll continue to post poor-quality webcam pics like the ones above.

KCSS hurts my head to think about. It seems to make everything soft. When used in a shower routine, it simply dissolves any hold my gel gives me. It's not like it gets rid of frizz or anything either. I'm experimenting with smaller amounts since KCCC works better for me in very small amounts. It doesn't work for SOTC or just taming frizz. So I'm not sure what to do with it yet.

I've used Re:coil twice. The first time, I didn't use enough gel or something because hold was minimal and I had ridiculous amounts of frizz that could not be tamed. The second time was better, but I still had surface frizz and not a lot of hold. I know Jessicurl's products do the same to me, so it may just be that I can't use magnesium sulfate at all. Another possible candidate for the graveyard (or curly cousins who read this, we'll see).

KCSS: Take 1 1/2

This product is seemingly as confusing as KCCC. Some call it a refresher - it does come in a spray bottle, after all. Some call it a serum - spritz? more like stream! This product is a bit of a mystery to me, but if I can crack the code for KCCC, I can definitely do it with this!

My package from Curl Mart came last Tuesday night. I was anxious to use it, but I had somewhere important to be on Wednesday and wasn't very scientific in my experimentation the first time. I used this under everything - KCKT, Pink Boots, KCCC, & gel. I then used it the next morning as a refresher. Results? It seems to take away crunch and product-y feel left by my gel, which is nice. It helped a little with frizz. It did seem to fall hold-wise as the day went on though.

Flash forward to today. I decided to be diligent in my experimenting. It seemed like a lot to use Pink Boots with everything else I'm using, so I left it out. I've read that some have had success underneath all products and some put it over everything. I decided to try it underneath everything. Then I got distracted and used KCKT. So I ended up using this after my leave-in with hair still dripping wet. I applied it just like everything else - upside-down, to the left, and to the right. I sprayed about 8 sprays in my palm before scrunching each side.

My hair felt kind of weird when I was scrunching it in. Almost like what it feels like when I use aloe vera gel. I noticed my curls formed more quickly and there wasn't a lot of frizz (I'm prone to frizz when it's wet). It was a little stringy. I scrunched out water with a towel before scrunching in KCCC and finishing the routine.


It's not bad, per se. It looks pretty decent in person. It's more stringy than I'm used to, but I also didn't use pink boots. I'm not sure if I used too much KCCC or even too much of this stuff. Will continue to research!