When Shrinkage Goes Bad

For some reason, I've got kind of a Victoria Beckham thing going on in the front. You can actually see my ear! This is why curly hair should not be cut wet.

This is my first attempt to use Spiral Solutions Firm Hold Gel. I wasn't sure how much to use, so I ended up using very very little amounts and in the same manner I use CJ Aloe Fix Lite (3x on wet hair, 2x blotted, all before gel). I'm doing my research, but suggestions are appreciated. I do love the way my hair smells though.

Co-wash: V05 Champagne Kiss

Rinse-out: GVP Conditioning Balm (still dry from a PT)

Stylers: Spiral Solutions Firm Hold Gel, BRHG

Summer HGs

With the weather beginning to change (finally!), I think it's time to share my HG products of the summer. Yes, I realize that it's officially been fall for a month and that most people have been experiencing cooler weather for longer than that. But we're still having 80+ degree days, so it's more summer than fall here! So these are the products that I could not live without, especially in the 100+ degree weather that we had for months on end.

Favorite Summer Co-wash & Rinse-out:

V05 Champagne Kiss Conditioner - No brainer, I've been raving about this for months! It's moisturizing enough to use as a rinse-out, but light enough to use as a co-wash. It's cheap, so I don't have to worry about how much I use. It smells AMAZING, which is great because of all the products I use, the co-wash is the one that my hair usually smells like at the end of the day. And bonus: it has protein!

Favorite Curl Enhancer:

Curl Junkie Aloe Fix Lite - This is a bit on the expensive side, but I've been using generous amounts of this for months and still haven't finished it yet. It's the first product I've used with what I'd call "flexible hold" - it doesn't have enough hold on it's own to keep frizz at bay, but works great as a curl enhancer because it does have more hold than say, a curl cream. It keeps it shape after scrunching the crunch, but leaves my hair soft and touchable. I love it! I use about five dime-sized amounts every wash. It plays well with pink boots, almost like KCCC used to. Definitely repurchasing.

Favorite Deep Conditioner:

Curl Junkie Curl Rehab in Strawberry - I had an issue with a mild protein overdose in early July that left my hair dry and crunchy. I used this conditioner as a rinse-out and had probably the best hair day I've had all year. So of course I promptly took it on vacation and left it at my grandparents' house. I am contemplating another order from AveYou and will be adding this to my cart! Since my hair is fine now, I won't be using this often and even then not a lot. So barring any trips to the East Coast, this will last me a long time.

Favorite Gel:

None. That's right, not even BRHG. Back when I first used this stuff, I was in love. It didn't take very long for the honeymoon to end. I like the level of hold this gives me, but I really don't like the de-clumpifying and skinny curls. It literally takes away clumps that have already formed. Skinny curls don't work with my hair because they always end up wonky. I'm still using this because I prefer the hold level over the Aussie gel, but I really wish I could find a way to use this and get great clumps without having to use pink boots every time. My hair can't take that much moisture.

That's it for me! I'm excited to try new products now that the weather has changed, but also to see which of these summer HGs continue to work in the cooler weather. What are your summer HGs?

Joining the Dark Side

I have come to the conclusion that my hair has become even more fine in texture since receiving my CurlGenie results. My hair isn't responding to the routine of protein-moisture balance. Since I was using a moisture-heavy routine prior to this, I've decided to go ultra protein-heavy, or to what long-time followers of my blog will recognize as the complete opposite of what I've been doing for the past 3 years.

What exactly does this mean?

• Protein. Everywhere. In everything.
• No DTs, all PTs
• Avoiding most cream products
• More gellies
• Using smaller amounts of product
• Soap bars (yep, I'm going there!)

I'm still planning my list for my next online hair products shopping spree (would really like to try Spiral Solutions!), but I have been able to incorporate a few of these bullet points into my routine.

My co-wash/rinse-out (V05 Champagne Kiss) contains protein, but it seems to be weighing me down a bit. Weird, right? Old habits die hard - I was so used to using as much conditioner as needed for both co-wash and rinse-out that I didn't realize I'm probably using too much now. So I've started cutting down on that.

Every once in a while I use pink boots for its clumping powers. Anything more than that would weigh me down, which is weird since it used to be a-use-everyday-HG. I've been using CJ Aloe Fix Lite with wayyy better results.

Soap bars. Ok, if you hung out around NC about three years ago, you were there for the PJ craze that was the natural soap bar. This craze began just before the "enlightenment" that hair properties determine what ingredients you should use.

Keeping that in mind, it's no surprise that I was having the worst time with products in the fall of 2008. I had just figured out that my hair was sensitive to protein, so I was avoiding that. But I was stalking a curly who had hair that sort of looked like mine and her HG products were turning my hair into a nightmare. The soap bar nightmare was the beginning of the realization that my hair was indeed coarse and porous, and that I couldn't follow the same routine with the same results as someone with complete opposite properties.

Flash forward to now. I'm stalking this person again and the good news is it's working! I ordered a bunch of soap samples last week (I think they're the same bars as the used-by-everyone-on-NC bars) and have used one bar twice so far. I've had a little frizz, but that's normal for the crazy weather changes we're having. I'm also getting more curl and tons of shrinkage! Basically it's the complete opposite of my 2008 soap bar experience.

The only downside is that my curls are more skinny and less clumpy, but I think this is a product of BRHG. I don't know why it does this to my hair, but it does.

Anyway, I'm going to continue my journey to the dark side and use everything that used to be bad for my hair. I'll keep the updates coming (with pictures). I also have some ideas for new posts as I still need to review the CurlGenie analysis and share my summer staples.