My Updated Routine (for Medium to Fine 2c/3a hair)

Since my original rambling routine post is pretty much the most viewed post on my blog, you'd think at some point I'd update it, especially since my hair properties changed a year ago.

Oops.

Let's do that now, shall we?

First, a few changes:

• I don't use the Spritz & Condition method anymore. I've had a few questions about this lately. Honestly, it's just too much moisture for me. It's GREAT for someone with really porous or dry, coarse hair (or both!). But not so much for someone who has low-normal porosity and/or fine-medium hair. In fact, you could probably do with a mini-PT. Does anyone "Spritz & Protein it up"?
  
  
• Speaking of protein, now I use it. A lot. I haven't done a PT in a few weeks, but it's in my co-wash/rinse-out and new favorite styling product (BRHG). Supposedly protein in gel doesn't have the effect that it does in conditioner, so if you're protein-sensitive, try this gel now! It's awesome!
  
  
• Low-poo: sometimes I use it. Not as much or as regularly as I did in the spring. More like once every three or four weeks. I'm not sure if this is just because I have fine-ish hair now, at least compared to what it used to be, or if I need to get rid of oil build-up (I have no idea if I'm still sensitive to oils). It definitely makes my hair dry though, so if I want to use a cream or something with more moisture, this is when I use it.
  
  

I think these are the major changes. Of course, I'm not using the same products or even category of products (no leave-in), but that's probably a given. The basic steps are pretty much the same.

Here's what I've been doing this summer. It's really detailed and long. You've been warned.

1. Step in shower. I like hot water, so I use hot water. I know people have said it creates frizz. I haven't found this to be true, though I do end my shower with a cold water rinse.
   
   
2. Co-wash. I'm using V05's Champagne Kiss. It smells really good and has some protein in it. It's also pretty light.
   
   
3. Rinse-out. Again, I've been sticking with the V05. My hair hasn't done well with any heavy conditioning this summer. After smoothing in about 2 quarter's worth on the bottom half of my hair, I use my denman brush to detangle. After detangling, I brush the hair around the edges away from my scalp. I start near my temple and brush up & out. I continue around the rest of my head, concentrating on the temples and nape of the neck. I think this helps with clumping and root volume. I definitely notice a difference when I don't do this.
   
   
4. Flip head over and scrunch. Clip up and do regular shower stuff.
   
   
5. Turn water to as cold as it gets. This doesn't bother me because by that time I've been under hot water for 10 minutes. It's also only really touching my head.
   
   
6. Flip head over and scrunch conditioner out under the cold water (that's right - the icequeen method! Best thing for clumps!!)
   
   
7. Turn water off. Scrunch some more water out. Then I apply my curl enhancer. This summer I've been using CJ's Aloe Fix Lite. I apply a nickel-sized amount three times: once on the left, once on the right, and once in the middle.
   
   
8. Next I blot with a flour sack towel. This was really important when my hair was really porous. I'm not sure it's important now, but I haven't experienced negative results when I do this. It probably helps my hair dry faster.
   
   
9. Then I scrunch a little more curl enhancer in. Once on the left and once on the right. Leave shower and plop in my Curl Ease towel (there's no real difference between this and a regular flour sack towel. I use it because I have it, and it's a little bigger).
   
   
10. I only plop long enough to get dressed. I'm not sure how long this is.
    
    
11. Next I undo my plop and scrunch in my gel. I cover my whole head and use different amounts depending on which gel I'm using - bigger amounts for Aussie Instant Freeze, way smaller amounts (like pea-size) for BRHG. For this, I divide my hair into four quadrants: two in the back and to in the front. When I'm upside down, it's just left and right.
    
    Here's what I cover, in order: upside down (middle), upside down left, upside down right, rightside up back left, rightside up back right, rightside up front right, rightside up front left. Does that make sense? It's kind of hard to explain. This is ALL scrunched in. No raking! I'm pretty OCD about this, actually. I do the "pump and scrunch," which is scrunching eight times in each section. Yes, I do all eight!
    
    
12. Then it's time to plop again. Yes, I double-plop. I'm not sure how it contributes, but it doesn't hurt. This time I'm using a flour sack towel. Again, I only plop long enough to do something - this time it's getting my dryer plugged in.
    
    
13. Diffusing time. I pixie-curl and I do this entirely upside down. It's easier for me to do it this way since my arms don't get tired. And I can read. This is actually when I get most of my reading done.
    
    First I flip my head upside down. Looking straight forward (or not leaning), I put the entire right side of hair in the bowl of the diffuser and turn it on. I do this for a little while, then turn it off and switch to the entire left side. I do this back and forth for a little, just to set it. Then I stick it in the middle for a bit.
    
    When this is set, I lean to the left. I start with the hair on top - the hair that grows out of the right side of my head and is "shorter" than the hair on my left side at this point. I diffuse this section for a bit until it's not wet, just a little damp and crunchy. Then I diffuse the bottom sections, starting near my forehead. I don't diffuse the hair on my hairline yet for a few reasons. Mostly because it doesn't look right due to where my part lies. It's hard to explain. I start with the hair closer to my ear. Then I do the back section near the nape of my neck. I switch between these sections until it's crunchy and not wet anymore.
    
    Then I switch to the right side. By this time everything is pretty dry/crunchy, with the exception of the hair around my hairline and part. This is when I diffuse that section. Most of the hair from that section is on the right side of my head, so it looks better to diffuse it on this side. Is that a better explanation? Anyway, I make sure the dryer is centered on my part when I do this to prevent any weird wonky curls. After this, I do the same as I did on the left, only on the right side.
    
    
14. When everything is crunchy and mostly dry, I know I'm done. I flip my head rightside up. My hair looks weird at this point, I won't lie. I'll take a picture someday. It's pretty curly, but with flat-ish roots and shrinkage. This is when I clip. I use two of these jaw clips, one on each side of my part. Then I clip my hair out of my face using mini jaw clips. Except I lost all but one of these. So on one side, I'm using a duckbill clip. I also use a duck bill clip in the back to clip my crown up. Oh and before I clip, I spritz with a little water and a little Garnier Fructis Curl Spray, just to set it.
    

I have this process down to 40 minutes - 10 minutes in the shower, about 10 minutes to plop/gel/plop, and 20 minutes to diffuse. I try to plan this so that I have at least an hour and a half before I need to be anywhere/go to sleep (since I usually wash at night) so that my curls have time to dry before SOTC.

In the morning, I take my hair down from a pineapple after I've done my makeup. Then I spritz with some water and wait a few minutes (usually getting dressed for the day) and come back to add some product. Lately it's just been CJ AFL. I had been adding Curls in a Bottle! but it made my hair kind of hard/gross. CJ AFL is enough, especially with BRHG.

Ok, I think that's it. Thanks for reading! I'm putting this link over in my sidebar, and assuming it will be the new "most viewed" post on my blog. If you are a newbie or have been around a while and have questions, feel free to leave a comment or shoot me an email (collegecurly@gmail.com)!

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!).

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!