A Magical Combination

This week, something crazy happened. I got legitimate, looks-like-I-just-washed-today 3rd day hair. That doesn't happen... at all.

And that's not all. Here's what my hair lasted through:

• Two nights in a modified pineapple
• One night of just plain sleeping on it (Got home too late on Tues night to wash; I figured I would put it up on Wednesday)
• Two days of horribly high humidity. It was so bad that I felt like I was on the Gulf Coast.
• A day of crazy storms, which included lots of high winds and being rained on

My hair did get a little flat (which is normal for me in high humidity), but for once it actually stayed pretty defined. The most impressive part of all of this for me was waking up Wednesday morning and actually being able to leave the house without putting it up. That never happens. Ever.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures. But I'm glad I found a new combination for high humidity/windy/rainy days:

• Shampoo - Organix Pomegranate Guava low-poo
• Rinse-out - GVP Conditioning Balm
• Darcy's Botanicals Natural Coils Curling Jelly
• BRHG (generous amounts)
• Curl Junkie Curls in a Bottle!
• Garnier Fructis Curl Spray Gel

Each day, I sprayed with a little water and then a little of the GF Curl Spray Gel. Works like a charm!

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?

I'm Melting!

Hi everyone! I know I haven't been posting very often. I've been product testing but I feel like I can't report any of the results because they would be inaccurate due to the conditions these past few months. It has been over 100 degrees every day for 59 of the past 60 days. The dews have been all over the place. Most importantly, I haven't been able to do the cold water rinses at the end of my showers that promote clumps and eliminate frizz.

Oh, and my gel has NOT been holding up. And when I say gel, I mean gels. Because I've been testing some new ones. Hey, that's a great post idea. Testing gels inextreme heat. Ok, it's on my to-do list.

Anyway, consider this post a continuation of the previous one, but with pictures. I received some very nice compliments and while I appreciate that my hair is probably the in the best condition it's been in the past year (since changing hair properties and all that), it's definitely got a problem with "melting" during the day.

Case in point:

7 am

7 pm

7 am

7 pm

What you can't tell in the 7 pm pictures is how frizzy and soft my hair was (or maybe you can). I have it up in a modified pineapple now, but I'm not sure that I will be able to save it tomorrow. Which is really sad because I LOVE how my hair looked this morning. It's what I've always wanted my hair to look like, especially in the back. (I started trimming my ends - first time I've ever done this - and the top layer in the back was the first place I cut!)

For the record, here is what I used:

(last night)

• V05 Champagne Kiss conditioner (co-wash and rinse-out)
• Curl Junkie Aloe Fix Lite (scrunched into wet hair and then blotted hair)
• Aussie Instant Freeze
• a little Garnier Fructis Spray Gel (after clipping)

(this morning)

• spritzed hair with a little water and let sit for five minutes
• Curl Junkie Aloe Fix Lite (scrunched into sides and back)
• Curl Junkie Curls in a Bottle! (mixed with water and smoothed over curls)

111 degrees

I don't know what it's like where you are, but it is hot here! It has been over 100 degrees every day for over a month. There's no end in sight.

I took this picture last night after being out in the 111 degree heat (a new record high, woohoo). My hair hasn't been holding up (as you can see), which makes product testing very difficult. This picture was my first time using CJ CCCC Lite. I showered the night before and when I woke up, my hair was great! Bouncy and curly everywhere. Then this. Bleh.

The worst part is that I can't get my hair to clump like normal because I can't do a cold rinse at the end of my showers. I usually scrunch my rinse-out upside-down under cold water to promote clumps and get rid of frizz. It's been luke-warm for the past month, which is definitely not the same as cold. I never thought I'd miss a cold shower!

Finding a Balance: Moisture vs Protein

Alright, I'm home and ready to dive into some product testing (more on this later)! But first I wanted to discuss an issue that first popped into my mind about two and a half weeks ago: moisture versus protein.

I'll admit, I never paid much attention to this when I visited CurlTalk frequently, because it wasn't something that really applied to me. I avoided protein and was moisture, moisture, moisture. Easy enough, right?

So when it came time to actually have some understanding of this and apply it to my own hair, it was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I always thought that finding a balance between moisture and protein was a tedious process that involved using both at once.

But what if that's not true? (I apologize if this is something everyone else is aware of... I'm slow!)

Let's rewind. Two weeks before I left for the East Coast, I used V05 Champagne Kiss as both my co-wash and rinse-out. This is a light conditioner with more protein than moisture. After a week, my hair was noticeably dry (though not coarse/porous dry like the old days). So I decided to give it some moisture. I used the same V05 as my co-wash, but tried CJ Curl Rehab as my rinse-out.

Holy springy curls batman! My hair was curling all over the place, completely frizz-free and moisturized! It was awesome! I should have taken a picture!

The next wash, I figured my hair was already moisturized, so I used just V05 again. My hair "dried out" a little, and I still had great curls - not the poor ones that I had the last time I used this conditioner exclusively.

This is when the idea of "drying out" my hair and then seriously moisturizing it would lead to good hair all the time popped into my mind. I repeated this over the next two washes to amazing results. It seemed my hypothesis was indeed true.

Then I went to the East Coast. It was awesome, but not for my hair. It's fairly humid where I live, but nothing like this. So I did what I do on all of my trips; I kind of gave up. If it looked semi-presentable, good. If not, that's what pony tails are for. And let's face it, it was hot and humid. I'm not expecting miracles!

So I came back last weekend and haven't really been able to get back on the curl wagon. This could be because of the whole "do my hair at night and sleep on it" thing (i.e. not letting it dry enough before sleeping on it, which definitely leads to wonky curls), an overdose of Aloe Fix Lite, or leaving my Curl Rehab at my grandparents' house and trying to replace the moisture with CJ Strengthening conditioner, which contains protein. Or the ridiculously hot temps outside (we've been over 100 degrees every day for a while). Or a combination of all of these.

Anyway, has anyone else found this to be true for your hair? If you continually dry out and then re-moisturize your hair, do you get awesome curls every wash?

(Pssst! I'm working my way through reviewing my CJ stylers, so no real testing of the CJ Strengthening conditioner for a while. I think I'll go back to GVP CB until I get my Curl Rehab back! Early prognosis for CJ AFL is good! CIAB! not so much, but I've only used it once. Hoping it lives up to the hype!)

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).

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!

Getting Back to Normal

Just a quick update to say that my hair is pretty much back to normal. I had an AWESOME hair day on Sunday, which was even better because it was my sister's confirmation and all of our friends and family were there. I washed on Saturday night and used only KCKT, KCCC, and Aussie. I was worried because it was still a little wet when I pineappled to go to sleep that night, but it worked out in the end! I'd post a picture, but I don't think I have a good close-up. But I had awesome clumps and spirals, with curl all the way to my root!

I've been washing every-other day for the past two weeks. This is when that whole porous thing does not come in handy - my hair has been very dry every second day. They dew points haven't been as high as they were, so I think that has something to do with it.

I got BB's Smoothie conditioner the other day. I've only used it once, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I'll use it again today and update later.

* Edit *

I don't usually take pictures with flash because I think it makes my hair look curlier than it really is. I couldn't help it this time though!

Lazy Days

I feel bad I haven't been updating this as regularly as I used to. A lot of it is that I'm just not doing my hair as often as I did. The end of the semester is turning into a rush of projects and papers (oh how I wish I could relax like that dog!!). I have six days of class left and then three finals the second week of May.

I've been really tired. Doing my hair everyday takes a lot out of me. It's takes about an hour from the minute I step in the shower to when I finish diffusing, and then at least an hour and a half before it dries all the way. It's been feeling more like a chore lately than something fun to do. And as a consequence of that, my scalp has been acting up. I used Flowermoon's Dairy Whip on Sunday but it didn't help much. I might have to low-poo over the weekend.


And while I was comfortable with KCCC and a new routine, the dews have reached the 60s. I realized that I haven't been using many humectants. My curls don't last and I get frizz. So I'm going to start experimenting with CK again and possibly looking into anti-humectants. CK worked well last summer, but I have no idea what the dews were and I've since become sensitive to many ingredients, so I don't know what to expect.

I got to use Ohm's Avocado Custard on Sunday. I really liked it! I used a very very small amount to SOTC. It wasn't greasy like KBB cream and my hair was soft and defined. I know I need to use it more than once to make a decision, but I'm glad it worked well once and I got it for more than half off!

I do have some KCCC pics on my other computer that I need to upload, so I'll do that this weekend. I've been doing some updos, so I'll try and post pics of those too!

PJ Adventures and an Update

So I thought I would update since it's been a while. I'm still having good hair days with KCCC, so long as I wait at least an hour after diffusing to SOTC and my hair still has some moisture in it when I apply gel. Temperatures have been in the 80s/90s (hot!) with dew points in the 50s. I have great clumps and I'm soo happy I finally figured out how to get KCCC to work for me! I need to take pictures one of these days (or at least get my computer fixed so I have a webcam at school!).

I came by two great PJ deals today that I couldn't pass up. It's been about a month since I bought anything (hair-related at least!), and I've been diligently using up conditioners that I've had for a while (finally got through a bottle of Suave Green Apple I bought last July!).

First, Aziza is having a sale on Ohm Body Crown of Glory Hair Custard. It's usually $18 but currently going for $9. Plus there is a 15% discount for anything you buy - coupon is OOPS. So with shipping, it was still $4 cheaper than the original price! I've never tried it before, but at that price I figured, why not?

Next, someone posted a thread on nc.com about Ricky's giving out coupons in NYC. I had never heard of them, but then someone else posted they have a 25% discount going on at their site right now. The coupon is DAILYRICKY. I figured I'd stock up on KCCC. The discount brings it to around $20, but with shipping it would be the same as the original price. So I guess it's like getting free shipping. They do have a free shipping offer if you spend at least $49.

It's funny, I've bought a few books and makeup stuff the past few weeks (nothing super expensive) and had it sent to the house. So whenever I go home on the weekends, I have at least one package. My dad told me that I must be supporting the economy all by myself! I think he's just jealous of all my packages!

The Honeymoon's Over

It seems my love affair with FSG has come to an end. My curls are loose (barely wavy in the back), hair is dry, and I have never-ending frizz. It's been this way for at least a week.

I have two theories:

1. Weather. This stuff was working well for me in lower temps and dew points. Recently temps have been in the 70s and 80s with dew points in the 50s. Maybe I need more hold then? If it's humid out, forget about it.
   
   
2. My hair is satiated. A week or two after I started using FSG, I realized I had better curl formation and hold when I used more FSG. Now I'm finding the opposite to be true. Clumps don't form or hold much at all anymore. Taking my hair out of a plop has become depressing! It's also started taking a lot longer to dry, which is weird. It's almost like I'm airdrying, when I've been sitting with a diffuser on for ten minutes!

My hair is deflated before I even leave the dorm/house, which makes me think it's not really weather-related. Luckily (or unluckily?) I'll be able to test this out this weekend. Check out these numbers:

Yesterday: 80 degrees, dew point of 58
Today: 34 degrees, dew point of 36 (it's raining)!!!!!!!!

Ridiculous. It's supposed to stay cold until Sunday. My hair's feeling kind of gross, so I think tomorrow I'll low-poo and do a DT. I've DTed 3 out of the last 4 days. My hair is dry in some places, and gunky in others. I'm SO over it. I think part of it is I really really really need a cut. My hair is soo long. Luckily I'm scheduled for Tuesday.

I guess that's all I needed to update on. I'm working on a new clipping method (which was working well until this stuff happened) that I'll post about soon.

Lesson Learned: FSG + Leave-ins

Honey Flax Seed Gel + leave-in (in this case KBB nectar) = BAD.

80 degrees with a dew point of 58 (it was so humid today!) might seem like a good time to pile on the humectants. At least, that's what I thought. But man, it did not work well at all!

As soon as I undid my first plop, I knew I was in trouble. My curl-ease had literally soaked up all the water in my hair. Even when I had frizzy when wet issues, I didn't experience drying to that extent. I had to squirt it down with water just to scrunch in Aussie gel! What the heck? It wasn't too bad after I diffused. There was a little hold here and there, but I could tell it wouldn't be a good hair day. Or an ok hair day. I took it down from a pineapple this morning and it was very frizzy. I didn't feel like dealing with it, so I just left it down. I did spray some Deva Set It Free in though (which seriously smells like skittles!). Don't think it helped.

I'm on my old computer (which feels really small, even though it's a 15 inch notebook...), so I have no pics. But it was frizzy and barely wavy today. It also feels dry, but greasy in some places. Not sure if that has to do with the weather or not (it was threatening to rain all day).

I was talking to the dean of the Honors College and she said "your hair looks different." Not in a good way, either. I knew it wasn't normal, but I didn't think it was that bad! I was caught off guard, so I said "um, yeah..." Oh well. Good thing that was my last class. I'm super exhausted, so I'm going to take a nap before showering. Not sure what I'll end up using.

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.

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...

Humidifier?

Someone posted today on nc.com asking about humidifiers and their effect on hair. This is funny, because I've been running a humidifier since October. I have one for home and one for school. At home, I run it at night. But when I'm at school, it's on the entire time I'm in my dorm room.

The model I have is a cool air humidifier. I started having continuous sinus infections in July. In October, we realized that a humidifier would help (in conjunction with 12 weeks of antibiotics - but that's another story), so I started using running it at night. It helped so much! It was on continuously following my sinus surgery last month, and even now there's a big difference between when it's on and when it's not - so not using it isn't really an option for me.

What does this mean for my hair? I'm not entirely sure. I spend a good amount of time in my dorm room with this thing on. I'm not entirely sure of the humidity or dewpoint levels, but I wonder - would it be beneficial to use humectants again? Remember, my hair has been frizzy and rather gross since the fall. Is this due to cutting out humectants when spending a lot of time in a humid room? I don't really feel the humidity since it is cool air, so I hadn't thought of this before. I do spend time walking around campus to classes. It takes about 15 min to get to class from my dorm. Outside, the dewpoints are regularly under 20. Temps have been in the 40s.

I guess this is something new to experiment with. There was one other reply in this thread, in which the author theorized that if the hair dries in the humid environment, it retains moisture. I'm interested to hear other thoughts on this!

Ice Day Means It's Time to Play!

Yep, we had an ice day yesterday. They called and texted everyone at approximately 5:23 AM to tell us. So I got to sleep in and do some hair experiments!

So I decided to change up the routine yesterday. I co-washed with GTTTT, which I'm just now realizing has protein towards the end of the ingredients list. Fortunately I haven't noticed any dryness or other symptoms of protein. I followed this with KBB SS as my rinse-out. After turning off the faucet, I squeezed some water from my hair and used about a quarter's worth of KCKT as my leave-in. I smoothed it on as if putting my hair in a ponytail. I took a very small amount of Pink Boots and smoothed it in the same way. Then I bent over and did the "scrunch and pump" method, before plopping in my curl-ease. After plopping, I finished off my usual routine with ASG.

I didn't scrunch the crunch and left it clipped until I was ready to go to bed. Instead of just pineappling, I double pineappled and clipped. Basically the first two inches of curls on either side of my part went into it's own pineapple near my forehead. The rest went into a pineapple at the crown. I then used five mini jaw clips - one on each side of said pineapple, and then one on the back of the first pineapple (in the direct middle of my head) to keep it from moving. It worked pretty well! I did start off the day with volume, and my front curls hadn't been stretched out, which is what I was noticing with just one pineapple. As the day went on, I did lose volume and gained a little frizz. But overall it was nice.

The weather today was 25 degrees (feels like 19!!! It was 80 like a week ago!!) with a dewpoint of 20. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The worst thing about today was having to walk (more like SLIDE) to class. They gave us off yesterday and today campus opened at noon. Which is stupid, because all the sidewalks were still coated with ice. I can't imagine driving! And my sister (who is in high school about an hour south of me) and my mom (who works at another college about half an hour south of me) both got off! Lame.

/rant.

Another Update

I feel like I should be writing something other than updates on how my hair is doing (and actually, I should be working on school stuff right now, but that's not happening either!). But this is my first major "my hair is dry and looks like crap!" crisis, so hopefully it will help someone. And if it doesn't, at least I'll have documented it for my own sake.

Anyway, Saturday night I repeated the same DT as Friday night, but I think I used too much honey because my hair felt like leather (gross!) upon waking up. Results: my clumps and spirals are back, for the most part, and my hair is more moisturized!

It was actually a little frizzier than it had been on Friday night after the much shorter DT. I don't think I rinsed out all of the vinegar, and that didn't play well with FOTE. You can tell this is happening when scrunching in, because your hair feels weird and almost dry. Hard to explain, but if you've done this, you know what I'm talking about.

I pineappled last night and today was a good hair day! The canopy was a little messy, so I put half of my hair up in a flexi-8. Everything underneath that was very clumpy and spirally/ringlet-y. I honestly don't think there's much of a difference between these two terms, so I'll use them interchangeably. One of my clumps spiralled all the way to the root! There are more pics in my fotki, but here's what it looked like. I almost wish I had taken a pic on Friday for my before. And yes, the camera on my laptop sucks, as does the lighting in my room. Oh well.

Today's weather was the worst. Freezing cold. Sprinkling, which later turned to showers. Windy. Foggy. Gross. I had to drive up here in it, then walk around campus in it, then drive across town to go food shopping and stock up, because tomorrow it will likely be ice. We have an "ice storm" warning right now. Temp is 37 (feels like 29) with a dewpoint of 35.

I can't wait for my products to get here! I'm especially excited about Lustrasilk. Unfortunately I had them sent to my home address, which I'm not supposed to go back to until next weekend. I may make the trip down and back just for my stuff though! I also was a bad PJ and bought a DevaFuser kit on the swapboards - it was a good deal, I swear! Just checked my tracking number, and UPS delivered my Sally's order today at 2:30pm. Nice. That was about five hours after I left to drive back up here! And apparently I have another package that arrived - Donna Marie? They were having lot of shipping delays, so I'd be really surprised if that is my DM. The DevaFuser was just mailed today, so... pretty much torture for my PJ but I think I'll live!

The Road to Recovery

Just a quick update.

Last night I co-washed with GTTTT conditioner. I figure I need all the moisture I can get, and the tea tree oil is good for the itchiness, which for the most part has gone away. I didn't even think about using this until I read that someone else does this. It's been ok so far. The flakes are starting to disappear. Keeping my fingers crossed!

I then did a DT with a mixture of olive oil, honey, and KBB milk for between an hour and an hour and a half. After rinsing (used more GTTTT to get the olive oil out), I did an ACV rinse and used cold water. I then added a little bit of Suave Cucumber Melon from a bottle that is almost gone and the tiniest amount of FOTE. I started doing the "pump and scrunch" method. Basically I scrunch, hold it, and pump my fist 8 times. I think this mostly just gets rid of water, but it might help spread product. It's working better for me than just regular crazy scrunching and plopping.

I did the usual routine, but used HEBE instead of ASG. Diffused and clipped. When i was ready to go to bed, I just pineappled it loosely. I'm not sure how this works better than adding a scarf, but whatever. I woke up with pretty good curls! My hair feels like it has more moisture, and there was a lot more clumping. Some of my old spirals are back, which was nice to see.

I'm going to do another DT tonight, although probably longer. The temperature dropped considerably overnight. It's 33 (feels like 25) with a dewpoint of 14. Did I mention our weather is crazy?!

I'm glad I figured out this texture/porosity thing. No wonder DTs just didn't seem to matter.