Revisiting the Modified Pineapple

So last year I posted a detailed entry that showed how I put my hair up into a "modified pineapple" to safely sleep on hair. I still use this method when I shower at night and have second- and third-day hair, so I'm really just revisiting the concept here on my blog. I've changed it up a bit and thought I'd update on what I'm doing. Like the last one, this will be picture-heavy (though the lighting isn't the best).

For longer hair, check out the original entry here. When I got my hair cut super short (by my standards) last summer, I had to change up the way I pineappled. My hair is obviously longer now, so the new method will still work with long hair.

Alright, a "pineapple" is basically putting your hair up into a ponytail at the very top of your head to protect the curls while sleeping. This works for a lot of people. Me, not so much.

Here is what my hair looks like in a regular pineapple:

...Yeah...

I should note that I am using a soft cloth scrunchie, but I did not double the loop. I just slid it over my ponytail, so it's loose. Doubling it would leave a noticeable dent, which is definitely not what I want. It's pretty obvious why this doesn't work, but add the fact that I toss and turn a lot during the night and you can see why I don't use this method.

So the modified pineapple is basically the above picture but with clips. I clip the hair up on the top of my head where it is safe from my tossing and turning, but also doesn't poke me in the head all night. Right now I'm using four clips: two mini-jaw clips and two extra-mini-jaw clips. I used a lot more in the previous entry, but I lose these things easily! During the winter I only had one mini-jaw clip and it worked fine.

Anyway, you can use as many clips as you want, but the main thing is to have at least one mini-jaw clip. This size is important because it will fit most of your hair and be sort of the anchor for the rest of the clips. I should also note that I do most of this process while leaning upside-down.

Start with a regular pineapple.

Gently gather into ponytail and secure with scrunchie. Make sure it's not too tight or too loose. If it's too loose, you'll have more trouble with the clips.

Next, grab the ponytail about a third of the way in from the ends and bring it towards your forehead. Secure with mini-jaw clip.


Here I am with one mini-jaw clip (yes, I realize how ridiculous that looks!). I usually clip it a little higher so it isn't in my face so much, but it won't matter much in the end.

Next I add the second mini-jaw clip (red) directly to the side of the first one (yellow). Not all of the ponytail can fit in one clip since my hair's pretty thick.

Since the hair in my face is usually bothering me by this point, I clip it up next with an extra-mini-jaw clip. Here I've just swept it up to the side.

The next part is kind of optional for me at this point, but I do it for the added security. When my hair was shorter, I would clip the ponytail so that not much hair was in my face and then use two extra-mini-jaw clips to clip up pieces that had fallen in the back. Now I just use one.

I put it pretty much right where the scrunchie is. That way it doesn't hurt when I put my head on my pillow. It works pretty well for keeping the short pieces up.

Side view

Alright so that's the modified pineapple! It looks ridiculous and I get made fun of for it, BUT it works very well at keeping curls intact and frizz at bay. I'll try and take some second day hair pics tomorrow morning to see how it held up.

In other hair news, mine's starting to curl again! I did a DT with Jessicurl's WDT the other night. Then today I did the Spritz & Condition with Elucence MBC, followed by the pink boots and KCCC combo. I also did an ACV rinse and that helped a lot. Between this and the haircut I'm getting tomorrow, I'm hoping it will go completely back to normal. I'll post pics tomorrow.

Wet Hair

I'm going to bed with wet hair. And I don't mean my "usual" wet hair - when it doesn't get diffused all the way. I mean, almost soaking wet hair in a bun.

Why?

Because I'm tired. This month has been exhausting. And we're only ten days in.

Today was traumatizing in many different ways. Most of it has been sent to the part of my brain where I put bad memories. So I don't remember. Because I really don't want to remember.

On top of this, I'm sick and tire easily. I don't want to spend 1+ hours on my hair tonight.

And I finished my book, so I have nothing interesting to read because Glamour sucks at getting to my house on time.

But despite all of this, I am in dire need of a co-wash.

So I will be sleeping with wet hair.

Results to follow tomorrow (I'm thinking it will go 99% straight and also not dry until Saturday!)

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 :)

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.

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...

The Modified Pineapple

(or the "Pineapple Sweatband Jaw Clip Doo Dad Thingy" as Del2c graciously named it!)

So I've said before that I've had problems with protecting curls while sleeping. I've tried everything from pineappling to a satin cap to pineappling with a satin cap. I've even tried a weird combination of a rectangular scarf held together with bobby pins and jaw clips (it was not a pretty sight and was even more uncomfortable to sleep on).

Of all the methods tried, the pineapple alone came the closest to 2nd day hair. So I recently decided to go back to it, with a twist.

Here are the problems my sleep option must overcome:

• long hair
• curls that are pulled out easily
• curls that are flattened easily
• tossing and turning
• a sensitive head (is it weird for me to make a "that's what she said!" comment here? Yes? Ok then - I've had my fix of "The Office" for the week anyway!)

My solution? The Modified Pineapple.

The Modified Pineapple (or PSJCDDT for short) consists of at least one pineapple that is secured by several mini-jaw clips. I have come up with two versions, though there is another one for shorter hair.

Version One: For True Second-day Hair (used on dry hair)

Step One: While head is turned upside-down, gently gather hair into a ponytail on the top of your head and secure with scrunchie-like material. In this picture I am using a sweatband (or so we think) that I stole from my sister (she stole some KCCC last week, so don't feel bad for her!)

Step Two: When right-side-up, gently gather hair towards the front of your head. Looking at the first picture, you will notice all hair is on one side of the sweatband.

Step Three: Using mini-jaw-clips, secure hair to the front of your head. Shake your head to make sure it is secure on both sides.

This is what the finished product should look like! Your clips should also be "in" enough so that when lying on your side, you should not be poked by the clips. You shouldn't even notice them.

Version Two: For Pseudo-Second-day Hair
(used on hair with crunch)

Complete with a weird view of my dorm room!

When I sleep on hair that has recently been washed, my hair needs a little extra care. The curls around my part usually form nice spirals that are easily pulled out. To prevent this, I use two pineapples - in the back and in the front.

Step One: Collect curls around part and place in pineapple. I do this one loosely because they are more delicate than my other curls. Notice this is a regular scrunchie.

Step Two: Clip Sides. This is similar to the first version. I do one clip on the left, right, and the back, so that it does not get caught in the second pineapple.

Step Three: Flip head upside-down and gently gather the rest of your curls into a ponytail. Make sure it is on the top of your head - mine is right in front of the crown.

Step Four: Clip curls to the side of the pineapple, just like the other version. I use two here.

The finished product should look like this. There are two scrunchie-like materials, one in the front and one in the back. I used a total of five clips, two on each side and one in the middle. Again, all clips are on top of my head, so there is no discomfort from lying (laying?) on my side.

Version Three: For Short Hair

I don't have short hair, so I can't explain how exactly I would go about doing this. It should be similar to the versions above, but with no pineapple - just clips. If any short-haired curlies are out there are reading this and would like to experiment and document it for me, I'd be happy to post them here!

If you have any questions or feedback after trying this, please share! I hope others are able to do this with success - it really sucks when something works for one person but not another!

EDIT 2/9/09: I've been experimenting with using the first version on recently-washed hair. I'm starting to prefer it more than the second version. I do scrunch out the crunch. I think my hair is still a wet factor to my hair when I am putting it up to go to sleep with crunch. And that helps to bend the curls and have them dry in weird shapes. So right now I'm doing the first version.

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.

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.

Stuck in a Rut

So it's about this time that I have started wishing I had updated this blog earlier in my CG career (it's a tough job!), like when I created it in the early fall. I had such great success and I feel like now that I've started updating, I have nothing insightful or interesting to share.

Basically, I'm in a rut. The winter dryness has hit me hard. The dewpoint has been in the teens for much of the past two months (with random exceptions, like three days this week, where it's been in the late twenties). The weather here is notorious for being RIDICULOUS. And that's made it much harder for me.

Most of my pictures here and in my fotki are from summer. I feel I've been dishonest, because I've been CG for almost eight months now, and my hair doesn't resemble (in my opinion) what it was in the summer/early fall.

I haven't mastered the art of sleeping with freshly washed hair, which was necessary in the fall semester.

I haven't been able to figure out how to classify my hair. I don't know how porous it is. I have a mixture of all three types (fine, medium, coarse), so it's hard to pin what exactly my hair needs and likes. I don't know if a leave-in weighs me down. I should know that, right?

What worked in the summer doesn't work now, and I did such a horrible job of documenting what I was doing that it wouldn't matter if it did. I can't remember.

My hair is dry, like with my protein sensitivity. I don't know if this is related to FOTE or what. I don't have much time to figure it out, what with 18 hours of class a week and a part-time job taking up my time.

I need a haircut. But I'm afraid to go get one, because I'd like to have it done by the curly stylist that's close to home. But how would he be able to cut it if I barely have any curls? My hair looks like crap and I don't know how cutting it in this state would make it better. I'm really confused.

Monday night I used GTTTT shampoo, followed by Suave Ocean Breeze as my rinse-out, KBB SS as my leave-in, FOTE scrunched in, and Aussie SG as my final gel. I double plopped, diffused, and clipped. I had some spirals back and some volume on top. Things looked good. I loosely pineappled and wrapped with a silk scarf. In the morning, my hair was very dry, frizzy, and loose. It was embarassing. I actually put it half-up with a flexi-8.

Wednesday I wore it in a bun, and then added generous amounts of KBB nectar for an over-night DT. Yesterday morning, I co-washed with GTTTT conditioner, used Suave OB as a rinse-out, followed by the KBB SS, FOTE, and ASG. Same routine as before. I had to scrunch the crunch out about twenty min after I finished diffusing, so I'm sure that had a hand in the results. Still, I had a complete flat top, and all the hold from my gel was gone by mid-afternoon. I scrunched in more FOTE at various points, but I think that made it drier.

I'm home now. I do have some products here, but some of my more recent purchases are at school. I'm thinking I'll DT with whatever I have here and do more research.

I do have some products on the way:

• Donna Marie Honey & Aloe jelly
• Lustrasilk Olive Oil Cholesterol
• GVP Biolage Conditioning Balm
• Denman Brush
• Square Silk Scarf

I'm thinking the DM could replace FOTE in my routine. Hopefully the weather will get better (though tomorrow it's plunging again. Make up your mind!). It's almost 80 out right now, with a dewpoint of 41.

I might go get the GVP Conditioning Balm today to DT with. It's pretty cheap. And if I like it, I'll already have two.

Not sure about the Denman. I've only raked with the Jessicurl products, which didn't work for me anyway. I tried combing CK through during the summer without any success. That could have been user error or the fact that I over-diffused. I don't think I'm evenly distributing my products, and probably using too much trying to accomplish that. So I really hope this works.

I'm kind of excited about the scarf. The one I'm using now (when I actually use it) isn't square, so it's harder to use, I think. I'm hoping this will help.

Getting this off my chest makes me feel a little better. But it would be better to have my hair figured out soon.

First Post!

Ok, so I've decided to start a blog. Well, re-start it anyway. When I started CG back in June, I wasn't too adept at documenting my routines and experiments. Taking pictures and posting them proudly on facebook and fotki aren't worth much if you can't remember what you did to get those beautiful curls! So this will mainly be a way for me to document what's working, what's not working, and investigate the ins and outs of curly hair. I know, it's a big thing to take on, but I'm up for the challenge! And if I can help one curly out there, I'll have done my job. My new computer has a webcam, so I don't even have an excuse now for not taking pics while at school.

I guess I should tell you a little about me. I'm a college student, if you hadn't guessed. I'm in my third year, but have been classified as a Senior since I finished my summer classes in July (courtesy of AP credits and transferring schools after my freshman year). I'm majoring in interdisciplinary studies, which is a fancy term for education. After graduation and certification, I'll be qualified to teach math, science, social studies, and english/reading for grades 4th-8th.

I'm the only true curly in my branch of the family, though my brother has a good wave going. Actually, today he went on an anti-CG rant at me and suggested I go back to what he's using - John Frieda mousse (lol, as if). It would be funny if he wasn't so serious. So obviously they're not understanding of the the whole curly thing that has become my "obsession." They roll their eyes and make fun of my plopping, but that's about it. I tried getting my sister to go mod-CG, which she pretty much is. If she dedicated herself more and used product, she'd be about a 2a/b. But she brushes, so it's usually straight. My 12- and 13-year old cousins have at least 3b curls without even being CG. I'm so jealous! I did a brief workshop and demonstration for them in August, complete with a fifteen page "Curly Girl Addendum" that covered most of the stuff the book didn't. I've gotten a few friends started on it, but I'm pretty sure they're not into it now.

I don't consider myself to really have one type of curl. If I had to type it, I'd say 2c/3a. According to Lorraine Massey (author of Curly Girl), I have straight hair. I have pretty much no shrinkage. It's sad. Oh wait! I guess I had no shrinkage. I just did the boing test and I have 2 inches of shrinkage! Woohoo Sedusa! Clarification to come in future posts. But basically my hair is a mixture of loopy S curls and elongated spirals/ringlets. I still have trouble deciphering between the two. My hair likes to clump with the right product (FOTE!) but only when scrunched in. Absolutely dislikes raking and/or combing (tried that once; see fotki for results).

I guess I'll give a brief history of how CG has worked for me.

Before: My hair has always been curly. I was bald for the first two years of my life, but when my hair finally came in, it was thick and curly. I didn't know what to do with it until my mid-teenage years. I was surprisingly good in caring for my curls considering I wasn't CG yet. I only combed my hair (no. brushes. EVER!), blotted with a towel instead of rubbing, shampooed maybe 2-3 times a week... Not bad, but also not good. I started taking the pill when I was sixteen, and that combined with bad health problems (that would plague me for the next four years....) left my curls looking barely wavy.

It's crazy to look back and see how clueless I was. I knew it wasn't as curly as it had been, but I still thought I was pretty curly. I'm dubbing this "Curly Ego Syndrome." It happens a lot with the newbies on nc.com. We curlies have been the curly girls when around families and friends. We're constantly told how curly our hair is, and when we encounter the typing systems, it's a bit of a wake-up call. I used to use mousse (usually John Frieda - gross - but pre-CG it was HETT) and then medium-sized jaw clips to scrunch sections of hair up to my scalp. I'd do that for an hour or two to help with the curl. Then I'd hairspray the crap out of my hair, because dry hair almost always equalled frizzy hair.

After: I decided to jump on the CG bandwagon about five days after my brother graduated from high school. My hair looks so much different from when I started, so I pretty much cringe when I see those pics. My first day CG consisted of using Suave Lavender for co-wash/rinse-out and then the Aussie Sculpting gel. I believe I plopped in a t-shirt for a while and then let it air dry. Like I said up there, the early days are pretty fuzzy to me now.

During the summer, I pretty much used just conditioner and a gel. I rotated between the Suave conditioners (lavender, coconut, green apple) and gels (HEBE, HESMU, ASG). At some point I added FOTE. I always plopped for at least ten minutes in a t-shirt.

I started diffusing after a few weeks because 1. it takes like six hours (at least) for my hair to dry completely, and 2. it gives me volume. I had a diffuser for three years. The first time I tried it, I used it like a regular dryer, got a lot of frizz, and then it stayed under the sink until I started CG. That dryer only lasted until October. Kinda sad. I realize it was three years old, but I had only used it for a few months. Probably shouldn't have bought another Revlon diffuser (I have the Ionic 1875 now) looking back, but it was cheap. I actually just started having problems with it tonight. Using high heat and high speed with my Sedusa attachment resulted in sparks flying from the end of it. So I'm contemplating getting a new one, but that's a different story.

Diffusing usually consists of pixie-curling with the medium heat setting and the low speed setting. I'd start upside, diffusing different sections one at a time. Then I'd flip to the left and do the same, then to the right. I diffused until my hair was crunchy, then clipped the roots. After it finished air drying, I'd scrunch the crunch and be good to go.

Clipping is another story. When I first started CG, I attempted to use those metal Conair clips everyone was talking about. I tried the msgiblet way, the shellynot way, and a few others. The clips always came loose and slipped out. I got a lot of frizz just trying to insert and remove them. Then I read that you should bend them into a banana shape. It didn't do much for me and I didn't bother with clipping again until it got cooler. Now I'm using mini-jaw clips and doing the loops around my crown that shellynot does in her clipping video. It's working pretty well.

As we progressed into fall, things changed. Our weather is freakin' CRAZY. For example, Saturday was a sunny, breezy day. It was in the 80's. In January. Today it was in the low 30s with freezing rain and ice. There was one day in December that started out in the 70s. The temperatures began dropping around noon, it got super windy, and by six it was in the 20s. Humidity and dewpoints also vary. This all makes it just a little bit more difficult to get a routine down. Not even that, but I've really learned that everyone is different. There's another curly that lives pretty close to where I go to school, and we can't use the same products sometimes. I have better luck with FOTE on wet hair, she prefers it on dry.

Anyway, when fall hit, my schedule changed. One thing I value a lot is sleep. With class in the morning, it was pretty much impossible to wash then. Even with diffusing, my hair takes around 2 hours to dry completely (though that has changed with Sedusa, so we'll see how this semester goes). I would wash at night, diffuse and clip, and then pineapple. At one point I added a satin cap, and then towards the end of the semester I used a silk scarf. In the morning I'd scrunch the crunch left and refresh with water and some FOTE.

One thing I've realized is that pineappling pulls out my curl. My hair is pretty long (BSL), so I have to pineapple more towards my forehead then the direct center of the top of my head. This pulls out curl. If I do the ponytail with two loops instead of just the one, that pulls out curl.

The satin cap didn't help much for me. I pineappled under it until I realized that wasn't working. Then I tried just the satin cap, and that pulled out curl because it could move within the cap and it was squished weirdly. I guess I should say that I'm not a still sleeper. I toss and turn. A lot. I think of everything I've done at night, the silk scarf has the most potential. I'm still experimenting with it though. I'll probably do an update on that once I go back to school, unless I end up being able to wash in the mornings (later classes + Sedusa = awesome!).

I think I'll do some individual product review posts, because this is getting pretty long. Yes, I'm rambling. The title of this blog should give you a good clue as to what to expect, lol. So much for brief. The pics layered throughout this entry are the befores, and then weeks 2, 3, and 4. And then Christmas Eve is down below. I haven't transferred all of my pics over to this computer yet, so that's all for now.

I should mention that with the start of this blog, I'm going to clarify and almost re-start CG. I've used a few products over the past few months since I've last clarified with a sulfate that I'm sure are building up. I'm currently investigating polyquats, and recently had some bad experiences with a mild protein conditioner (oh how I wanted to love you LVPNG!) and the panthenol in KBB (sigh). So I'm going back to what worked in the summer. Not the humectants, obviously, just a simpler routine with products that moisturize and don't weigh down my curls. As I type this, I have a bottle of Pink Boots on the way thanks to a curly who spent the holidays in England. So I may make an exception at some point and layer that before my gel. But overall, it'll be a big change.

And I literally just spent two hours of my life writing this. I'm being a slow typer tonight, I guess. Anyway, stay tuned for what's to come! I have a lot of reviewing and some picture posting to do!