More BRHG Experiments

So Thursday night's experiment went really well!!

Here's what I used:

• V05 Champagne Kiss conditioner (co-wash and rinse-out)
• Pink Boots Curl Creme (the tiniest amount - less than a pea-size)
• CJ Aloe Fix Lite (scrunched in after pink boots and then to blotted hair)
• BRHG (smaller amounts than my first try)
  
  

In the morning, I spritzed and added a little AFL. I figured I didn't need the extra hold. This picture was taken at the end of the end of the day on Friday, a full 24 hours later. Awesome, right?!

I really missed using pink boots! It always gives me the best clumps - every time I use it, no exception. I've stayed away from it because it's too heavy moisture-wise for regular use now. But I highly recommend!

I washed again yesterday afternoon, which is unusual for me since I usually wash at night. So even though it turned out well and held up ok today, I'm not sure how it's going to go tomorrow since it will essentially be third hair again. No picture, but I did the same as Thursday night without the pink boots. I didn't want to overdo the moisture. I'll try again tomorrow night. But I'm definitely understanding what I have been missing! If you can't decide whether to try it, take the plunge! It's on the expensive side, but you use so little that it will last a while.

On another note, my blog is under construction. I'm over the polka dots. I can't really decide on a look, so it will stay like this for a while.

100th Entry

To celebrate, here are some recent pics. Still trying to figure out the picture situation for graduation announcements. This was the lovely combo of pink boots & KCCC.

(It was windy!)

What I'm Reading

So it takes me a while to diffuse. Always has, especially with KCCC. The Spritz & Condition method has helped a little in the timing department, but usually it takes 25-30 min. Diffusing is the part of my shower routine that I dread. I would be so happy if I could just air-dry and come out with voluminous curls in less than an hour, but unfortunately air-drying for me means 6+ hours of wet, flat, wavy hair.

So I made it something to look forward to. This is my time to read, since I don't do too much of that anymore. Glamour is a staple for my reading while diffusing. It usually takes about two diffusing sessions to make it through an issue (unless they decide to make it a half-issue, and then it takes less than one!). During the fall months, I worked my way through Philippa Gregory's King Henry VIII/Elizabeth I novels (well, the two that I hadn't already read).

Right now I'm working my way through Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith; and absolutely loving it! I love the original and didn't have high hopes for this one, but I was wrong. I'm about a third of the way through. It's awesome.

I just thought I would share. What do you do while diffusing?

In other hair news...

I am happy to report that the urge to purchase hair products has passed. Really, I sound like an ex-addict. Thanks to everyone here and at NC who gave me great suggestions!

My hair has been ok this week. It went a little flat on Tuesday. I'm not sure if it was OD-ing on pink boots, from my one-time use of Lustrasilk Shea Mango, or just from being second-day hair.

C'est la vie.

Pink Boots + KCCC = True Love

I just want to reiterate my love for this combination. It gives me perfect curls every single time. The ringlets I saw tonight gave me flashbacks to the good old days!

There's nothing like getting done with diffusing and knowing it's going to be a good hair day... or will if it can survive overnight in a modified pineapple! Here's to hoping it lasts and I can use it more often!

Slowly Getting There

Here's a quick update with a picture of today's hair. There are all these hints of ringlets at the bottom - I wish they'd hurry up and grow! But overall my hair is in better condition than last week.

It's funny, I wore my hair down and curly once this week and was asked by at least one person in every class if my hair was naturally curly! This isn't the first time I've been in there! I was there for eight weeks in the fall! But they liked it and I felt special, so it was ok :)

I used my usual routine (Spritz & Condition included) and added in some pink boots (love).

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!

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!).

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...

Weekend of Experiments

As mentioned earlier, this weekend I am experimenting. I've done three so far.

The first experiment was the super experiment using both Lustrasilk and DM H&ACJ. Not pretty. There seem to be a lot of people that are having the same problems that I did with this. My hair sucked the Lustrasilk when used on wet hair. And not in a good way. And it didn't play well with DM.

Yesterday I used GTTTT for co-wash, KCKT for my rinse-out, Lustrasilk for a leave-in, followed by the usual pink boots and ASG. Ok results. Nothing special. It was better than Thursday night, but my hair still sucked Lustrasilk up. I took pics, but they didn't really photograph well. And actually, I will say that I used Lustrasilk after it dried and my curls perked up some. So that was nice.

Tonight I decided to experiment with my diffusers. I bought the DevaFuser kit off the swapboards and it got here yesterday. So I used KBB milk as a rinse-out, KCKT for leave-in, followed by the usual pink boots and ASG. I'm really loving pink boots. I wish they sold it here! Come on, Target! Get your act together!

After I took down my plop, I diffused with the Sedusa. I did two sections with varying speeds and heat levels. After that I used the DevaFuser on my roots and the nape of my neck. I have to say, it was hard to get the hang of this. I guess I have more experimenting to do.

Anyway, here are the results (more in fotki). Kind of weird. I'm starting to think this more hair-cut-related than anything else. If only I had the guts to make an appt to see the curly hairstylist in town...

Super Experiment Day

So I came home this afternoon to my box of Sally stuff and my Donna Marie Honey & Aloe Curling Jelly! Since I don't really have anywhere to go, and I was going to experiment as much as I can this weekend, I decided to use more than one new product. In fact, I only used one "old" one - Aussie Sculpting Gel.

I used Lustrasilk Olive Oil Cholesterol as my co-wash, rinse-out, AND leave-in. Overkill? I don't know. It's light enough to be used as a co-wash, but it's also supposed to be super moisturizing, right? My hair has gotten a little dry since last week's DT, so I figured it could use the extra moisture. Unfortunately, I didn't seem to find it. The co-wash was ok, but the rinse-out was pretty much the opposite of moisturizing. My hair sucked this stuff up. It didn't feel like I had any kind of conditioner in my hair. And it got tangled, which was a pain. I did let it soak in for a few minutes before rinsing, but I don't think that helped. So I'm kind of confused about that one...

After rinsing with cold water, I smoothed in about two quarter-sized blobs. I then smoothed in about a quarter and a half-sized amount of the DM jelly. Scrunched upside down and to the sides and then followed with my usual plopping routine.

As the plop came undone to diffuse, it wasn't looking particularly pretty. My curls don't have the clumping that pink boots or even FOTE gives me. They're very skinny. After diffusing, it's too early to tell if it's curlier. I don't have the volume I usually have, but that also could be due to the lack of clump.

So overall, nothing to be excited about - BUT I totally realize it was just a crazy experiment. Will continue experimenting throughout the weekend!

* UPDATE *

Took some pics. Not liking it at all. The rest are in my fotki.

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.

Changing Up My Routine

So I think in my first post I went over the problems I've been having since fall/winter set in.

Basically:

• Figured out I was protein-sensitive
• Figured out FOTE wasn't helping
• Started using a leave-in, which I'm now thinking wasn't a good idea (it would be nice if I could figure out my texture/porosity...)
  
• Stopped co-washing altogether when shampoo bars arrived
• Ended up with frizzy/undefined curls with the addition of KCCC during the lowest of dewpoints this season
• The protein in LVPNG (practically the last ingredient of the bottle) got to me, so it's now in my stash for rare protein treatments
  
• Used a low-poo and went back to co-washing
• Clarified a week or two after with a sulfate shampoo and went back to the routine of Suave co-wash/rinse-out, FOTE, and Aussie Sculpting Gel
• Stopped experimenting with the Sedusa (need to find a good, consistent routine first)
  
• Added Pink Boots for about a week and a half with inconsistent results

Right now my hair hates me. It's frizzy, undefined, and stringy. And it's been flaking for a good month now, no matter how many brown sugar scrubs or ACV rinses I do. The itching has been worse recently, with nothing helping.

So I'm done trying to go back to the simple routine that worked in the summer. Obviously the weather has changed, so I'm not sure why I thought it would work now. I don't know anymore.

KBB stopped working for me around the time of the KCCC incident - or rather, I realized it had stopped working for me. My hair was getting tangled (it still is, which is a royal pain) and actually hard while wet. It was also frizzy, even when using Super Silky. I'm thinking it might be the panthenol, but I have no idea.

So starting tonight, my new routine will have a shampoo included for the first time since early June. I'm adding Giovanni Tea Tree Triple Treat as a weekly low-poo. I'll continue with co-washing the rest of the week. I'm thinking about adding the GVP Biolage Conditioning Balm and Lustrasilk after reading Katrina's blog. We'll see.

Well, I'm off to go wash. School starts tomorrow (suck!), so it's back to night-washing for me.

I got in a fight with my Sedusa...

... and I have the scar to prove it! How ridiculous is that? Here's what happened:

I co-washed and rinsed with Suave Ocean Breeze (which smells awesome! This week was the first time I've used this "flavor"). Then I rinsed with cold water before scrunching in a little FOTE and my newly received Pink Boots. I plopped for about five minutes in a flour sack towel, scrunched in some Aussie Sculpting Gel, then plopped for another five min in my Curl-Ease. When I took it down to diffuse, it was looking really good! I had great clumps and some volume. I haven't had good hair when wet in forever. So this was definitely a good feeling.

I first diffused with my finger diffuser to get the roots dry. This took maybe two minutes. Then I switched to the Sedusa and things went downhill. Here's what I've realized about the Sedusa:

1. I can't plop it all in and dry. All of my hair will fit in it, for the most part, but it dries weird. And I don't know how long to dry it.

2. The Sedusa works better with high heat at a high speed. My hair loved it the other day. My dryer, not so much. I wasn't about to test it and see if it would still shoot sparks out, so I diffused with high heat at low speed. It would have worked out ok, except...

3. The Sedusa pulls out curl when it's not dry enough. I plopped a section in the bowl and turned it on for a bit. Then I decided to switch sections. I turned it off and attempted to remove the bowl. Sometimes curls get stuck in the curly do-dads. Usually my hair is dry enough and will come out easily if I shake the diffuser gently. The problem is that my hair wasn't as dry as the Sedusa wanted it to be. So it wouldn't come out when I shook it, and I had to pull it out. And my curls stuck and transformed from a few beautiful ringlets into frizzy and weird-looking waves. Not cool!!!

4. Overall, the worst thing about the Sedusa is that I can see there's potential. I just have to figure out how to reach it. And that's frustrating.

So then I decided that the Sedusa probably works better after hair has been diffused for a bit. There's less chance of catching hair and I get better curl formation. I attempted to pull the attachment off. Now, the attachment does fit on my dryer. The problem is that it gets super hot and expands. So not only is it super hot, it's hard to get off! I couldn't do it with my hands, so I decided to try with my legs. I put the dryer in between my legs (luckily sweat pants protected me from the searing heat that was the Sedusa)and clamped down, for lack of a better word, on the Sedusa, pulling the dryer out in front of me. The only problem with that is that I was bent over. So when the diffuser finally came off, I hit myself in the chin with the end of the diffuser! It even knocked off the thing on the end of the dryer! There's a patch about an inch long that looks like it's bleeding under the skin.

Sigh. And I knew it was going to be an awesome hair day! I did finish diffusing with my finger diffuser, but I don't think that saved it much. It's clipped and air drying right now. So we'll see how it turns out. I think finger diffusing followed by the Sedusa will work out best for me. I wish it was easier to figure all this stuff out!

So there's my post. The weather is freakin' crazy here, so I'm a little confused as to what to use. I wanted to go simple, and for the most part I have. I think the Suave/FOTE/Boots/Aussie Gel will be the most/only products I'll use. Except we had a lovely warm front for the past few days (80 degrees with a dewpoint of 60!)... and today was in the 40s with a dewpoint of 16! Definitely not making it any easier.

I'll probably update tomorrow with the results of some more investigations. I'm trying to figure out my overall texture and porosity, and then what to do with that.

Oh and shoutout to Amy! Thanks for the lovely compliment!