Another Lesson on Protein

Just when I thought I knew everything there was to know about how to care for my hair, I'm thrown a curveball. Here's what I've been dealing with for the past two weeks and how I fixed it.

Approximately two weeks ago, but hair started acting up. It presented with these symptoms:

• Became stringy and frizzy as I rinsed out my conditioner
• Stayed stringy and frizzy even with the addition of Pink Boots (aka clump-maker)
• Shrinkage shrank to just 1/2 inch
• Volume disappeared
• Hair was as dry as the Sahara

This continued for several washes.

I initially thought that my hair was just really thirsty. I did two DTs with CJ Curl Rehab, added plenty of GVP Conditioning Balm during the wash process, and even replaced KCKT with generous amounts of GVP CB for my leave-in. My hair lost the dry, frazzled feeling, but was still frizzy, stringy, and limp.

At this point, I figured I needed some protein. Usually I'll add it to my co-wash, since I have so few products with protein in them. I use protein regularly enough so that I don't ever have to do a Protein Treatment. Nothing changed after the protein co-wash; still frizzy and stringy, barely making waves.

My next thought was overconditioning. I'd somehow overdone it and killed my hair with conditioner. An ACV rinse did nothing. Meanwhile, my hair went back to being dry and frazzled.

This was the point where my mind started turning to more drastic decisions: shampooing to remove possible build-up or cutting my hair. The last time I used shampoo was in December when my brother was home for the holidays. I stole his low-poo since it was the only one in the house that did not contain oils (since I shampoo so infrequently, I haven't felt the need to spend the $$ on an oil-free low-poo). A build-up problem seemed unlikely since I have been really good about co-washing regularly and meticulously. I think my last cut was in October. I've loved the way my hair has looked (before this incident of course) and really didn't want to have to cut it.

Wednesday was my last ditch effort at saving my hair. I have been doing a lot of reading at NC trying to figure out my problem. This post was ultimately the answer. I had used protein in my co-wash, but what if that wasn't enough? I have a small bottle of Nexxus Emergencee, a potent PT I picked up at the very beginning of my CG journey (before I discovered my protein sensitivity). I used a nickle-sized amount for the length of my hair. I left it on for probably only 30 seconds; it started to feel weird and I was scared. I followed it up with my usual rinse-out and routine. The results? Better curl! A few clumps! Some shrinkage!

It still wasn't up to usual standards, so I used it again this morning for about a minute and a half. Et voila! Clumps and spirals (which are probably closer to the corkicelli curl type described in the new CG book)! Consistent curl everywhere! Insane shrinkage! Which all adds up to one happy curly girl :)

So I am now convinced of the need to do regular PTs (because co-washes aren't enough) like some of my fellow protein-sensitive curlies. Finding the right protein-moisture balance is harder than it looks!

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.

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!

Pink Boots & KCCC Revisited

OMG - why did I ever stop using this combo? I'm in love! Frizz-free clumps with root curl and shine - what more could a curly girl ask for?

Did I mention our temps are in the high 90s to low 100s? With dew points in the 60s and 70s??

As I said in my last post, I revisited this combo on Friday (after my previous blog entry on the subject was referenced in a post on nc.com -whoot!). I had really good second day hair on Saturday (enough to get some compliments, which hasn't happened in a long time!). I wasn't feeling well yesterday, so it spent most of the day in a bun. I decided to wash last night, and it actually looked pretty good when I took it down. So potential 3rd day hair!

I washed last night, scrunched out most of the crunch, and put it up in a modified pineapple. It was AMAZING this morning! I didn't even have to do anything to refresh it! I'm really hoping for third day hair. Not only would it be awesome to accomplish, but it's a serious pain to do my hair in this dorm room. I have two more weeks (but home on Thursdays for the weekend) after this that I'm stuck here. If I never have to wash my hair here again, I will be one happy curly girl!

I really wish I had pictures to post. My hair looked very similar to the way it did at my sister's confirmation a few weeks ago (at which time I also failed to take pictures!). I think it also has something to do with GVP Conditioning Balm. I've been using BB's Smoothie and not getting the same results. I pretty much scraped the bottom of my last bottle last night. Really need to get some more!

Clarifying (Again)

So after discovering the oil build-up problem last week, I clarified with a sulfate shampoo. Things were kind of weird Sunday and yesterday, so I clarified again today. Then I co-washed with Suave Green Apple, conditioned with GVP Conditioning Balm, scrunched in BB's FSG, blotted, and scrunched in some KCCC. I haven't used BB's FSG in a long time, way before the dews went up. I figured it was worth a shot, especially since my hair doesn't look it's best after shampooing.

I was actually really surprised. I had some nice ringlets while diffusing. It didn't last as long as I would have liked, but that could be because it took a long time to dry and I didn't use a super-hard-holding gel (crazy, I know!). So here's how it turned out:


I know it's not my best, but this is really good for hair that was just shampooed! I have tons of clumps and very minimal frizz. My roots are pretty flat - I'm wayyy overdue for a new clipping method. I ordered some of BB's Smoothie conditioner, and if that doesn't come in tomorrow I'm heading to Sally's to get some more GVP Conditioning Balm and new clips.

I'm also making my way into the world of homemade products. I haven't had time to do Jess' routine, and I'll be moving back into a dorm in three weeks (soo not cool!), so I need something that's easy to travel with, meets my skincare needs, but also is non-commercial. I ordered a book that also included haircare recipes, so we'll see how that goes! With the success I had today with FSG (the first since... the end of February?) I'm going to make my own FSG concoction as well. I'm pretty excited. And who knows, maybe I'll be the next BB (hey, I can dream. Especially with the year of student-teaching - and no income - I'm about to embark on!).

KCCC & Pink Boots

I tried this combo out for the first time on Saturday. I had heard good things about it and wanted to see how well they played together so I could possibly use it for Easter Sunday (more so for impressing my curly cousins than for the whole Easter thing. It sounds bad, but the few times I'd seen them in the past couple months my hair had looked like crap - and they have BEAUTIFUL curls without even being CG!).

After applying a leave-in (Curl Junkie's leave-in), I blotted moisture out and applied a thin layer of pink boots. It was about the amount I would use on its own - barely covering my hands when emulsified. I scrunched this in the usual way (I do everything à la mysteryflavored, including diffusing). Then I scrunched in KCCC the same way. Plopped, scrunched in Aussie Sculpting gel, plopped again, diffused, and clipped.

We actually ended up going over to my aunt's house anyway to do an Easter egg hunt because we were getting bad weather on Sunday. And I had about forty-five minutes in between when I finished diffusing and when we left. So needless to say, I was worried. I usually have at least an hour and a half before I scrunch the crunch. I had diffused on high power a bit, which I don't normally do. I'm having trouble figuring out how much water to blot out of my hair. It's easy to over-do it, but so easy to not get enough out. Saturday I ended up getting just the right amount out.

It ended up looking really good! It had some hold, but the pink boots made it pretty soft. I also do the icequeen method, so I had root curl and spirals everywhere! My cousins really liked it and we did a high-five for curls, lol. So I was very happy with it.

I did the combo again today and did not have as good results. I think most of it is due to the blotting issue. I guess I have more experimenting to do to figure out how much to get out. I took out too much water, and I think pink boots may have soaked up some as well. By the time I got to the point where I needed to scrunch in gel, my hair wasn't squeaking when I scrunched. So dry! I attempted to wet it down with a spray bottle, but that didn't do much. So I ended up with some fluffy curls in the back. And any hold that I had sort of dwindled by the end of the day.

I tried using CJ Curl Fuel Spray at various times to save it. I have learned that if I use too much, even if not at once, this stuff can turn on you. I get a greasy, build-up feeling. Like right now, I'm having the urge to go co-wash. But I'm experimenting with doing my hair in the morning right now, so it'll have to wait. For some reason, and it may be related to dropping an unneeded medication, I get about six to seven hours of sleep now. I wake up automatically at about 8am every morning, where it used to be 9:30am. Now that I have time in the morning, I can actually do my hair. My sleeping methods hadn't been that great with KCCC, so this works out.

So the overall verdict on KCCC + pink boots: Good, but I need to experiment more. If you want soft curls, don't need mega hold all the time, and happen to have both of these products, give it a shot. Otherwise you might find that it's not the best.

I've also heard good things about mixing them, so I may try that at some point. Right now I think I'll play it safe and go back to just KCCC.


Oh, and as for my previous post - I did make it through my wash routine, including diffusing. I was actually surprised! Then I got to make-up time and I literally could not lift my right arm. It was crazy! I'm still not sure why it was the right, since that's my dominant arm. I guess it could be because I haven't used those muscles in a long time. I marched cymbals in high school and left arm is more dominant than right. I woke up Saturday with pain in both that lasted all through Sunday. I'm so excited to play again when I get home though! I like punching for some reason (loved Tae Bo!).

Porosity: Where Products Come Into Play

Last week was very frustrating for my hair. After two straight weekends of success with KCCC, I couldn't understand why I kept getting crappy hair during the week. I live on campus during the week and return home on weekends because I'm tutoring a family friend's son for a reading assessment class I'm taking.

I was so ready to post a blog on Thursday about how my hair hated my dorm for some reason, and how it wasn't fair that it didn't look good for the majority of the week. Then I washed my hair on Friday. It was gross. I was at home; why didn't look beautiful and clumpy like normal "at home" hair?

Then I realized what I had done wrong. The first weekend I had success with this product, I blotted my hair before applying KCCC. Yes, I've been doing this every time since, so why was this time special? Because I had blotted more water out. I remember the panic of that first time because I thought I had taken too much water out. So each time after that, I didn't blot out as much. BIG MISTAKE, as I found out Friday.

So for me, blotting a lot = awesome hair with KCCC. Anything else is gross. There was a thread posted recently on nc.com about KCCC where people could post their tips. After posting about my experience with blotting, some others seemed very surprised that this worked. For those people, they need the extra water in their hair for KCCC to work it's magic.

This got me to thinking... Why does the amount of water in your hair with this product matter so much?

My theory: Porosity.

I have coarse and highly porous hair. My hair soaks up soo much water it's ridiculous. I plop twice just to get most of the water out (and my first towel is usually soaked!). When I do a DT and leave it in for a while, it will literally disappear in my hair. I had a crazy experience with coconut oil a few weeks ago that did this almost immediately. It really freaked me out - I had never seen porosity in action like that.

So for some reason, something in KCCC needs to be applied to hair that is less wet, but more moisturized, if that makes sense. I have to use more of a leave-in than I normally would, but also have to take out way more water than I do with anything else. My first thought is that this is because of the aloe. That first time I had success, my hair soaked it up. It felt dry, just like aloe had started doing to me. I'm going to experiment with this after the "less is more" experiment.

I think that for people with normal to low porosity, they need what they can get. Or really, their hair soaks up the perfect about of water for KCCC success. Then it's just a matter of how much to use. They don't have to worry about blotting at all.

I'm wondering how this would work with other products. Would I get much better hair days if I did this with all my products? Or is KCCC just special? Something to experiment with.

Some other happenings:

I'm really liking Curl Junkie Curl Fuel Spray. It's awesome for revitalizing my clumps the day after using KCCC (admittedly the only thing I've tried it with so far!). It doesn't work all the time - my hair was in a bun or a flexi-8 all week. But as long as the hair was good to begin with (a good first day as opposed to a crappy one), it works out well.

Today my hair was not looking good. I washed last night and then did an extra modified pineapple (much different from what I posted a few months ago - it's been modified for shorter hair). It really looked like it was going to be a flexi-8 day when I took it down. I sprayed CJ and scrunched, but it wasn't up to par. So I remembered something someone on nc.com had said about what she does with frizz and multiple day hair. She uses a "spritz, smooth, and scrunch" method with CK. I had nothing to lose, so I tried it. I'm so glad I did! My clumps are revitalized and my frizz is minimal. Of course I'm about to head out into the 30 mph wind (we had 54 mph on Thursday! Like my curls had a chance!), so it may not last. But thanks to whatsercurl for the suggestion!

More to come this week. I'm thinking about trying out a secret DT should my hair decide to not cooperate. Sounds exiciting, huh?

And thanks for the compliments :)

Lesson Learned: Protein Overload

So in my last post I wrote about the state of my hair after using LVPNG. Yesterday was much, much worse! It's still hard to believe that my hair reacted that violently to the small amount of protein in that conditioner. I mean, I know I'm protein sensitive, but I've never had that severe of a reaction.

I had to get up early to go to tutoring for one of my education classes, so I didn't have time to shower. My hair still looked pretty good from the night before, but it was definitely very poofy. I have thick hair to begin with, but the width of my ponytail doubled in size! I think I got one good picture before things went downhill, and it's on my other computer (which is still at home; I really need to send it away to be fixed).

Lately it's been very bright outside, so I've taken to wearing my sunglasses a lot. I don't take them off when I go inside, just perch them on top of my head. For some reason, this loosens things up a bit. Add that to the fact that my hair was becoming increasingly dry and tangly, and things start to not look so great. Last night I decided to scrunch in some FOTE for moisture. BAD IDEA!! My "curls" immediately got crunchy and even more tangled. We're talking rat's nest, which I haven't had since seventh grade (funny story, but I'll tell it later).

To make a long story short, I came back to school/work today with shorter hair that looked horrible. I had it half-up in my flexi-8, but I'm pretty sure there was some damage/breakage as I had to rip tangles apart just to get it up. I spent about ten minutes in the shower tonight detangling. KCKT alone doesn't cut it anymore, so I added GVP CB and brushed through with my Denman. I'm really hoping tomorrow works out better.

I really think this was just a combination of using protein with the icequeen clumping method. Doing everything upside results in curls in weird places - they don't lie down as they normally do and catch on each other. Would things have been better if I had only used one of these? I have no idea. Not sure I'll be finding out any time soon, either.

So bottom line: whether this was because I had used it after so many harsh shampoos, or just because my hair really doesn't like it, I'm not using protein for a long time! Lesson learned!

Weird Day

So I have some things to blog about, but I realized I haven't posted hair cut pictures yet. So I guess this will be extra long.

Here is my hair after the cut. Shampoo and [most likely] silicone-laden conditioner touched my head, and there is NO product in my hair (scary!):

Is it weird how much these look like my pre-CG pics? If you ever needed incentive to stay away from sulfates, this is it.

Here's the first wash after:

I got about four inches off (I think?). It's very different from long hair. It feels weird when applying product and diffusing. Not sure I have a sleeping routine down yet. It would really suck if I have to give that up and wash in the morning. She also cut with my side part, if I didn't mention that in my last post. I was worried but it turned out well.

* And now to our regularly scheduled blog entry *

I woke up this morning (well, it technically was morning), proceeded to make lunch and start the laundry, and then got called in for emergency babysitting (that sounds so exciting and dangerous, but not a good situation). No time to wash my hair. It was up in a bun for the majority of the day until I finally got a chance after dinner.

For whatever reason, I decided to experiment a bit. I used: Suave Green Apple for co-wash, LVPNG for rinse-out, KCKT for leave-in, KCCC, and Aussie Sculpting gel. Adding protein probably wasn't a good idea, but it's been so long since I've had anything, and it's almost the last ingredient. I did the icequeen method for clumping. I did a cold water rinse at the end, and then scrunched in some KCKT.

Then I had a DUH! moment. During the summer, I used to use two t-shirts in my routine. One for plopping and the other for scrunching water out of my hair before adding gel. I'm not sure why I stopped, other than because everyone was recommending adding products to extremely wet hair. Then I moved into a dorm, where it's easier to plop before walking five steps back to my room, then have wet hair. Though I guess that's not much of an excuse. Anyway, I totally forgot that I used to do that back when I had awesome hair.

So I hung my flour sack towel on the shower and blotted a bit before adding KCCC. Which was WEIRD. As soon as I started scrunching, my hair felt very dry. I had clumps and spirals everywhere, but it was dry and frizzy. I'm not sure what exactly caused it. On one hand, I did use protein. But that hardly every feels bad in my hair when it's wet. KCCC makes some sense, since I noticed it as I was scrunching that in. But I've used it before (and always with no success), and never felt this before. So I'm not sure.

Anyway, I decided I really could not plop for very long. I ran out of the shower, scrunched in ASG as usual, and then plopped in my Curl-Ease for five minutes - just long enough to get dressed. When I was applying gel right-side up, my hair decided to part down the middle. I half-attempted to move it back to the side, but didn't want to create more frizz. Then I diffused. Which was weird. Again. Each section looked great immediately after diffusing. Then it would droop a little. And it was obvious it was wet. Which was weird, because my hair was very dry when I scrunched in KCCC. After diffusing, I had some major clumpage going on. And my hair randomly decided to go back to a side part, which was weird. I clipped and air dried for a few hours.

Just took out the clips and scrunched the crunch. The back is kind of weird looking, but I do have curl all the way to the root! And volume! There's one clump that is literally three inches wide, which looks crazy. I scrunched most of my products in upside-down, so I'm guessing that's why. But this is crazy. I've never had anything remotely resembling success with KCCC.


So I'm pretty happy. Especially because this is hair that went through a low-poo and two sulfate shampoos in the span of four days! If this doesn't look great when I wake up, I may experiment tomorrow with some of BB's FSG. It's been a while.

I'm Running Out of Titles!

I washed again last night and decided to modify the clump method a bit. I still scrunched in conditioner upside-down, but I rinsed upright. I think a combination of rinsing upside-down and plopping "too hard" (wearing the towel too tight, especially in the root area) contributed to the weird roots on Saturday. I used my regular FSG (back to cold weather here) and everything else was the same. And I will admit, I half-azzed the method. I wasn't really thinking about it in an experimental-type way when I did it.

I still had root curl and volume, just not as much as Saturday. But the good thing is that my roots were better than usual! I also retained clumps and spiral curls!

These were taken today after taking it down from a pineapple:

And here's a funny picture of one of my dogs, who would NOT leave me alone while taking these!

Temps are supposed to get back to the 70s tomorrow, so I'm looking forward to more Honey FSG. And experimenting some more with the clump method.

Double Experiment Day

Yesterday I got the chance to use my Honey FSG. At the last moment, I decided to try out the popular new method on nc.com to help with clumping and root volume. Basically you apply your rinse-out upside-down, scrunch like crazy, and rinse while upside-down. I'm not a big upside-down person, so it was weird. I didn't think it would help much because my hair is straight the second water touches it. But I had to try it!

The result? Awesome curls! The problem? Not entirely sure what caused what. I had a lot of shine and my hair was soft. I had curl up to my root again, but the roots themselves were VERY flat.

I couldn't take a good picture, so this will have to do until I can try this again:

(a few hours after it had dried completely)

I'm not sure I'll continue with it. My roots were seriously messed up. I have second-day hair right now that's half-up with my flexi-8. I really liked my Honey FSG though!