Hopping Off The Bandwagon

Remember a few weeks ago when I told you that I had discovered a new love for sulfate-free shampoo, but would continue to alternate with co-washing?

Yeah, that didn't happen. Oops.

I started a full on love affair with my shampoo. And while it is true love for my scalp and shampoo, my hair is starting to feel like the third wheel.

I went to a job fair yesterday. My hair looked great in the front. Flat and a little scraggily in the back. Not exactly impressive to potential future-employers.

Co-washing will commence immediately!

Curly Updo: The Fishtail Bun

I'm not someone who is accomplished when it comes to braids. I can do your normal three-strand. I know how to do a french braid, but my execution isn't exactly presentable. That's about it.

The fishtail was something that looked really hard when I stumbled upon it in December, but luckily it's somewhat easy to do. I say somewhat because it was a lot easier to do for Christmas when my hair was a lot longer with less layers! Now it's a little more challenging for me, but curls can really pull the messy look off, right?

I made this up as I went along, but here's a video that resembles what I did (though I used a lot more bobby pins!):

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Start with an unintentionally messy fishtail braid.

Wrap into a bun and pin well!

Notes:

• I stole this flower from my sister - I know it doesn't match my dress but I still think it looks pretty.
  
  
• I kept some of the front pieces out of the braid and pinned them back after I had made the bun to give it more of a romantic look.
  
  
• I used what felt like a lot of bobby pins to pin the bun back. That might just be because my hair is thicky and heavy. I actually took the braid picture after the bun fell out the first time! Next time I'll probably try the trick she used in the video.
  
  

Love it? Hate it? Let me know! If you have any updo ideas, please post below. I love trying new looks and am still searching for the perfect one for my sister's graduation in June!

Curly Updo: The Flapper

This is a new feature: the curly updo! I've been wanting to do this for a while, and I've been searching the internets recently for updos since my sister's prom is coming up soon. I found this one today and decided to do it myself so she could see what it looks like in person. It really reminds me of a flapper from the 1920s, so that's what I'm calling it!

The great thing for us curlies is that it literally takes five minutes and maybe ten to fifteen bobby pins to complete this look. That's it. I don't have any bows or flowers for my hair, so I substituted a gift wrap bow.

Here's the how-to:

Here's how mine turned out:

Notes:

• It was really hard to not make it super-short. For some reason my hair really wanted to shrink when I condensed the curl and tried to pin it.
  
  
• This was done on second-day hair at the end of the day, so yeah, there's frizz. I was also in a hurry and didn't spend a lot of time perfecting the back. I'd definitely make it more presentable for an event. I do like the messy look though.
  
  
• [Adding to this a few days later...] I think this would work best on hair that still has styling products and some hold. I slept on a cotton pillowcase with my hair down and lost all the hold my hair had. It was a disaster when I tried to do this again.

What do you think? I think I'm going to re-do this to perfect the back.

Thursday Tidbits

Wow, is it Thursday already? Sorry for the lack of updates - it's been a busy week! After no real job prospects in the teaching world (lots of layoffs coming this summer and it doesn't look like it's getting better for a few years...) I gave up and applied for some clerical-type jobs on Sunday. Monday I got the call to interview for a long-term sub position. When I got home Tuesday after the interview, I had a message waiting! I ended up subbing yesterday so they could see my awesome teacher skills (it went pretty well), and now I'm waiting for another call... Even if it doesn't work out, I got some great experience. And working as a secretary would mean going to grad school for free, so not a bad alternative. But it's funny how the call came completely out of the blue right after I had pretty much given up.

ANYWAY, here are some quick updates:

• I'm reconsidering the blog sale, because I'm actually re-testing some of my CJ products. Review posts coming soon on this!
  
  
• I'm officially changing my hair's texture from coarse to medium. Why? Because my hair doesn't actually feel coarse anymore. I've been using protein continuously for two months with no dryness to show for it. Actually, my hair gets limp if I don't use it... talk about a 180 degree turn... My theory is the change was caused by going off the pill, but I have no way to prove it. I'm not sure if it's even possible. I know it sounds crazy. But it's true. It's just not coarse like it used to be.
  
  
• The down-side of this is that my tried and true HG products aren't exactly what my hair needs anymore. I'm still using GVP Conditioning Balm for Spritz and Condition, as well as a rinse-out, but sometimes it feels a bit much. And I get frizz/less clumps if I don't S&C. So I guess I need more protein-heavy, lighter conditioners. This would be a situation where buying tons of back-ups did not work out for me...
  
  
• I got a lot of comments on my hair this week when I was out and about. As usual, I was not looking my best. Why does happen? Every compliment was for hair that was either 2nd day or 3rd (!!) day hair that probably would have been more presentable in a bun. On the flip side, one of the ladies I talked to asked me for product recs and even knew about co-washing. First time I've talked to some who knows what a non-sulfate shampoo is!

Blog Update

If you've been to my blog recently, you may have noticed the pages at the top. I'm organizing my posts so that it'll be easier to find stuff. It's still a work in progress, but so far so good!

There aren't a ton of product reviews since this has mainly been a way to keep track of what is working for me. That's going to hopefully change. Going through my stats, these posts are most popular. I'm planning on working through my stash so that I have solid reviews for all of the products I have.

I'm also thinking about maybe doing a mini-blog sale. My Curl Junkie products don't seem to be working that well for me. Is this something you guys would be interested in?

Besides those two things, is there anything else that you would want to see here? I appreciate the feedback!

Products I'm Loving (Twilight Zone Edition)

Just a quick update on some of the products my hair has been (weirdly) loving recently:

Organix Pomegranate Green Tea Shampoo: I mentioned this in my last post, but here's the low-poo I've been using for the past month. Not only is it a shampoo, but it also contains protein. It gets my scalp clean and can perk up curls. It also doesn't take much to clean my scalp, so this should last a long time.

Nexxus Emergencee PT: This is weird simply because I don't do PTs. Or at least I didn't until January. I did one at the end of that month, followed by another at the end of February. I think I've done two more since then. My hair just seems to need it. I'm not sure if it's because I mis-diagnosed and my hair is actually more of a medium texture than coarse texture (because honestly it doesn't feel as coarse as it used to - and I know that's really not possible...). It might also be that maybe I'm so used to using more product (conditioner) from when my hair was longer and I'm overconditioning. I don't know. But lately it hasn't been as curly as it was when it was cut, and protein seems to be helping. I guess I'll continue to use it until I overdose.

I like this treatment because it doesn't take a lot to be effective. I smooth on maybe a nickel-sized amount to clean hair after co-washing. Let it sit for a minute or two before rinsing. Follow it up with my rinse-out conditioner. It has kind of a weird texture - more like a shampoo than a conditioner, but it doesn't really have suds. I can't remember if it has a fragrance; if it does, it's not strong and doesn't linger at all. I bought this a LONG time ago, back when I first started CG and right before I figured out I was protein-sensitive, so I guess for me it was cost-effective.

Kinky-Curly Curling Custard & Kinky-Curly Knot Today: Ok, nothing weird about these. They're still a staple in my routine and work really well together. But lately I've been using the two together to refresh second-day hair. I spritz first with water. Then I use a pea- to dime-sized amount of KCKT, mixed with the same amount of KCCC. Scrunch/smooth that in and I'm good to go.

A Confession

I have a confession to make.

I've slowly become addicted to a low-poo.

I know, I'm ashamed.

It started out pretty innocently. I had some issue with an ingredient in January - maybe oils? I needed to remove it. My brother was visiting and his newly-acquired low-poo was the only one in the house. It felt nice on my scalp, and it removed everything. My hair wasn't that dry afterward. In fact, my curls perked up some.

Fast forward to February. The weather went CRAZY and was wreaking havoc on my hair. I needed to remove some build-up, and what do you know? The same shampoo was on sale that week. Huh. So I picked up a bottle of Organix Pomegranate Green Tea. At this point I decided to try that root-lift trick Lorraine Massey talked about in the 2nd edition of the CG Handbook. I added some Ecostyler gel to the shampoo and carefully massaged it into my scalp. Not only did it remove build-up, but it really gave my roots some lift!

The next wash, I added the Ecostyler to my V05 conditioner. No bueno.

I went back to my usual routine with V05 conditioner. I started getting build-up on my scalp again. Not serious build-up, but it just didn't seem clean.

So I tried the Organix/Ecostyler combination again. Et voila! Clean scalp and root lift! I was sold.

And I feel like I've sold out.

Don't get me wrong. I know that lots of curlies have been using low-poo regularly for years. And that Massey even re-defined the CG label to include sulfate-free cleansers. So technically, I'm still CG.

But being shampoo-free was something special for me. It was almost like a bragging right. I'm the curl "expert" in my family and when asked, I could say "I don't use shampoo!" "I now only use a sulfate-free cleanser!" doesn't have the same ring.

When I started CG almost three years ago, going shampoo-free was something to be proud of. I remember being in awe of a member on NC who had gone a whole year without shampoo. Even before this little addiction, I still had to clarify every now and then, so I never achieved this. But it was something to aspire to.

I'm at the point where I low-poo about once a week. And my scalp doesn't feel very clean on the days I co-wash. It's not oily or anything; it just feels like I didn't get all the conditioner off, even though I scrub pretty well. Meh.

I really do love the root lift I'm getting from the added Ecostyler though. I'm not sure why it doesn't work with the conditioner on co-wash days. Just the low-poo. It's gotten even better since my hair-cut. I haven't tried another gel.

Anyway, I thought it was time to come clean (ha). I'm not sure if this will be a permanent fixture in my routine, or if I'll switch it up when summer rolls around. I had a really good summer last year with co-washing, so it may be a weather thing. I guess we'll see.