Allergic to Suave

Sorry I've been MIA for a while. Between school, visiting family, and an underwhelming birthday, I've been busy. In hair news, the repeated use of BB's Smoothie has finally built up on me. My hair is frizzy when wet and not curling as well as I know it can. It only has a small amount of palm oil in it, so I'm now weary of all oils. I was thinking about taking advantage of the 4th of July sales and getting some of the CJ DT, but I really don't want to spend that much on something that might make my hair look worse. Thankfully I have not used any of the samples I got from KM. That would have been a waste.

I'm so in need of conditioner right now, it's crazy. I'm out of V05, so I used Suave Lavendar for yesterday's co-wash. BAD IDEA. I stopped using Suave conditioners a few weeks ago, thinking it was contributing to my allergic reactions after getting out of the shower. I was right. By the time I had finished co-washing yesterday, some hives and red patches had popped up on my back. I'm not sure what it is about those conditioners (maybe a preservative?) but it's bad.

I'm also out of a rinse-out - well technically I have some of BB's Smoothie left, but I don't feel a great need to finish it. I wish I liked it, but unfortunately I don't. I think that about Jessicurl as well. Sigh. But I've been meaning to pick up some GVP Conditioning Balm for a few weeks now (!) and just haven't gotten around to it. Today or tomorrow for sure!

And of course, I'm thisclose to being done with my first bottle of KCKT. It lasted six months - that's a good thing right?

Off to do some shopping - happy 4th, everyone!

Why Is It That...

...you always get the most and best compliments when you personally think your hair looks like crap?

Just one of the many rules of curly hair that I just don't understand.

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!

Has It Really Been A Year?

Well, things have been resolved and my hair is much happier. My university came seriously close to pretty much screwing my life over, due mainly to one stupid person and a rigid computer system, and though it has made things more difficult, it is resolved. I've also discovered that being a curly girl in the dorm room I'm in for the next three weeks is pretty much impossible. The bathroom/shower area is ridiculously small with no where to put anything (not cool when you have multiple products/hair towels!), and the electrical outlets are nowhere near the mirror! I have to sit in a weird position on my bed. It's a nightmare.

Which is why I'm glad to be home for the weekend! I had a pretty good hair day yesterday and soon I'll be able to see if it carried over into second day hair. I revisited pink boots and KCCC and remember why I fell in love with it back at Easter.

Ok, on to the next item... Has it really been a year? It's crazy to think about everything that's happened since I first started last summer. All the experiments I've had, the good ones and the bad. I've learned so much about so many things since taking the plunge - my outlook on life has changed. And I know that sounds ridiculous and naive, but it's true.

Just over a year ago, I remember being in the hair product aisle with a friend. She knows her ingredients. She picked up the bottle of conditioner I was considering, pointed to the ingredients and said "These are so bad! Don't buy this! This one right here can cause cancer!" to which I laughed and replied, "Mmm chemicals," and put in my basket. Now you can't get me near that with a ten foot pole. I'm constantly complaining about ingredients in my family's hair products. Or screaming at the tv when certain companies air false advertising. My friend introduced me to another website that led me to nc.com, and I always tell her she created a monster - I'm worse than her now!

I began with the book that many begin with, even though I did find nc.com before. While I'm grateful to her for writing it so that I might be introduced, I think it falls short in a lot of ways. There is so much more to caring for curly hair than anyone could have imagined. Sometimes it's more of a curse than a blessing, but that's life. Overall, my hair is in a much better place - as am I. As shallow and materialistic as it sounds to some, having curly hair that is healthy and well cared for makes all the difference. Curly girls endure more than their straighter counterparts. It really does have an effect on their psyche. And bad hair days = bad days, period.

Ok enough of the rambling - on to the pictures!

The last two pictures are of yesterday's hair. I had some issues with volume (as usual - and I'll add that the clipping picture is just one that I've tried, not using it right now) but overall pretty good! It's crazy to look at my pre-CG pics and see how far I've come! And things will only get better! Thanks to everyone that's helped me over the past year - I'm more grateful than you can imagine.

It's My CG Anniversary!

Yay! One whole year of being CG!

I had a whole post planned out, but some not so good things (as in screwed-me-over-in-life type things) have happened. I am not in the mood and I have pretty much no mental capacity right now.

Hopefully things will be straightened out tomorrow and I can post.

Jennifer

P.S. It was a bad hair day anyway - hopefully it will be better with take 2 tomorrow!

Yay Coconut Oil!

I got a small jar of coconut oil with my order from iherb the other day, so I decided to try it out last night. I used it as a mini-DT before low-pooing with GTTTT shampoo (my scalp has been stubbornly itchy for over a week now, no matter how many brown sugar scrubs I do).

I didn't notice much of a difference last night. I SOTC a little bit before doing a modified pineapple and going to sleep. This morning I scrunched out the rest and used a little bit of pink boots to smooth away frizz. It feels SOOOOOO soft! I really like it.

I was reading a magazine last night while diffusing and it said we should do weekly scalp and/or hair treatments with coconut oil to maintain scalp health and keep it shiny and soft. If these results continue, it may be a new weekly staple for me! Which is awesome because having such a high porosity leads to dry hair at the end of the first day and definitely the second day. I know it hasn't been a full day yet, but hair is still soft and happy! And it seemed to really absorb well. I'm a little weary after just getting over an oil build-up problem, but it does seem to act differently than other oils.

On another note, I updated the previous two posts with picture results. Still experimenting to see what will work best. Summer school starts tomorrow, so now I have to re-adapt to not only living in a dorm, but sharing a ridiculously small room with someone. I had my own bedroom in the dorm I shared during the regular school year... sigh.

Navigating Natural Products

I know I said I would update with pictures, but for I can't find the cord for the camera and the computer isn't reading the chip. So hopefully they will be up at some point. I had some really great clumps, which is actually pretty normal for KCCC.

My problem right now is with volume on top. I diffuse upside-down and to the sides until my hair is crunchy. This method is great for getting lots of curl towards the bottom, but the upper-middle is not as curly, and the top is usually completely dry - and flat - by the time I'm done. I then spray some water around my roots and clip with mini jaw clips. I've tried spraying this with Garnier Fructis' spray gel, but it doesn't seem to make much of a difference. The clips usually fall out and it's just horrible.

Today I decided to try clipping before diffusing. Did not help much. They pretty much fell out (which is what I expected, but I figured I'd try). I think it's the clips. I switched to those about a month ago after trying the longer clips used in the Curlisto video. Last year I tried the square metal clips without much luck - they always fell out. Maybe I'll try the misfitcurls method next, though I need to get those clips.

Plopping doesn't help and wet-pineappling isn't much of an option because when my hair is wet, it needs to be plopped to help with curl formation. Which just gave me the idea of doing a wet plopped pineapple. Maybe I'll try this tomorrow!

Beyond that, I've used Botticelli Botanicals' Smoothie conditioner three or four times now. I have mixed feelings. When I put some in my hands and rub together to apply, it's like my skin absorbs a good amount. Then my hair absorbs the rest - I can't tell that I put anything in. It's not extra-detangling for me like LVPNG was (when I could actually use it...). There have been a few times where I had to use KCKT to help with detangling. I've also started getting bad knots, especially at the nape of my neck. I did an ACV rinse today, so hopefully that will help. However, after I finish detangling, it does have a decent amount of slip. And the scent (orange) is nowhere near as overpowering as the lemongrass scent of my BB FSG. So I don't know. It's pretty light - I actually think it would make a better leave-in conditioner. But it has a little oil in it, and I'm hesitant to leave that in after the recent oil incident. If the knots don't improve, I may switch back to GVP Conditioning Balm and save this for later in the summer when I don't need as much moisture.

I got an order from iherb today, so I finally have everything I need to make my own deodorant and specialized flax seed gel. I just finished making my flax seed gel and am very impressed so far! I hope it works well tomorrow!

I used:
- 2 cups distilled water
- 1/4 cup golden flax seeds
- a little more than 1 tablespoon of agave nectar
- a pinch of citric acid
- a few drops of sweet orange EO (which smells just like the oranges we pick off my grandpa's orange tree in California)

This overfilled my 8oz bottle, which was really surprising to me. With my old FSG, I would use the same amounts of water and brown flax seeds and make just enough to fill a 4oz bottle. Anyway, it seemed a little on the runny side, so hopefully the agave will give me enough hold. I may have to wash twice tomorrow!

I think that's everything. I'll try and update tomorrow with results and pictures.

* Edit *

Here are my results:

As you can see, there wasn't a whole lot of volume. I didn't blot or use a leave-in before applying, so I'm going to experiment with that. I did get some great spirals and clumps, but it was hard to get a picture of it (so I did resort to using the flash!).

I co-washed with Suave Green Apple (which I'm beginning to think I'm allergic too...), GVP Conditioning Balm as a rinse-out, homemade FSG, and Aussie Sculpting gel.