Humidifier?

Someone posted today on nc.com asking about humidifiers and their effect on hair. This is funny, because I've been running a humidifier since October. I have one for home and one for school. At home, I run it at night. But when I'm at school, it's on the entire time I'm in my dorm room.

The model I have is a cool air humidifier. I started having continuous sinus infections in July. In October, we realized that a humidifier would help (in conjunction with 12 weeks of antibiotics - but that's another story), so I started using running it at night. It helped so much! It was on continuously following my sinus surgery last month, and even now there's a big difference between when it's on and when it's not - so not using it isn't really an option for me.

What does this mean for my hair? I'm not entirely sure. I spend a good amount of time in my dorm room with this thing on. I'm not entirely sure of the humidity or dewpoint levels, but I wonder - would it be beneficial to use humectants again? Remember, my hair has been frizzy and rather gross since the fall. Is this due to cutting out humectants when spending a lot of time in a humid room? I don't really feel the humidity since it is cool air, so I hadn't thought of this before. I do spend time walking around campus to classes. It takes about 15 min to get to class from my dorm. Outside, the dewpoints are regularly under 20. Temps have been in the 40s.

I guess this is something new to experiment with. There was one other reply in this thread, in which the author theorized that if the hair dries in the humid environment, it retains moisture. I'm interested to hear other thoughts on this!

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.

Another Update

I feel like I should be writing something other than updates on how my hair is doing (and actually, I should be working on school stuff right now, but that's not happening either!). But this is my first major "my hair is dry and looks like crap!" crisis, so hopefully it will help someone. And if it doesn't, at least I'll have documented it for my own sake.

Anyway, Saturday night I repeated the same DT as Friday night, but I think I used too much honey because my hair felt like leather (gross!) upon waking up. Results: my clumps and spirals are back, for the most part, and my hair is more moisturized!

It was actually a little frizzier than it had been on Friday night after the much shorter DT. I don't think I rinsed out all of the vinegar, and that didn't play well with FOTE. You can tell this is happening when scrunching in, because your hair feels weird and almost dry. Hard to explain, but if you've done this, you know what I'm talking about.

I pineappled last night and today was a good hair day! The canopy was a little messy, so I put half of my hair up in a flexi-8. Everything underneath that was very clumpy and spirally/ringlet-y. I honestly don't think there's much of a difference between these two terms, so I'll use them interchangeably. One of my clumps spiralled all the way to the root! There are more pics in my fotki, but here's what it looked like. I almost wish I had taken a pic on Friday for my before. And yes, the camera on my laptop sucks, as does the lighting in my room. Oh well.

Today's weather was the worst. Freezing cold. Sprinkling, which later turned to showers. Windy. Foggy. Gross. I had to drive up here in it, then walk around campus in it, then drive across town to go food shopping and stock up, because tomorrow it will likely be ice. We have an "ice storm" warning right now. Temp is 37 (feels like 29) with a dewpoint of 35.

I can't wait for my products to get here! I'm especially excited about Lustrasilk. Unfortunately I had them sent to my home address, which I'm not supposed to go back to until next weekend. I may make the trip down and back just for my stuff though! I also was a bad PJ and bought a DevaFuser kit on the swapboards - it was a good deal, I swear! Just checked my tracking number, and UPS delivered my Sally's order today at 2:30pm. Nice. That was about five hours after I left to drive back up here! And apparently I have another package that arrived - Donna Marie? They were having lot of shipping delays, so I'd be really surprised if that is my DM. The DevaFuser was just mailed today, so... pretty much torture for my PJ but I think I'll live!

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.

Lightbulb Moment

So I just finished reading through Tiffany's blog and some threads at nc.com, and I think I've figured out my texture/porosity.

I thought a good majority of my hair was fine, but apparently it is coarse. I did several strand tests, and each one is a thick strand with a rough cuticle.

Going the other direction in several strand tests leads me to believe that my hair has a high porosity.

These make sense, because my hair cannot tolerate much protein. Shampoo bars didn't work well for me because of their chemical makeup. My cuticles are already raised, so it's obvious that didn't help.

My hair also sucks up a lot of moisture. My first plop, which only lasts for five minutes at most, leaves the towel soaking. Every time I get my hair cut, I get a comment on how much moisture it holds. But it also can't retain it. Looking at my hair today, you would never know I did a DT the other night. My hair is begging for moisture. I'm not using anything particularly heavy with emollients or humectants (though that one is for obvious reasons), and my hair is reacting to that.

High porosity is also probably a result of my unprotected straightening days. I didn't straighten often, but when I did, I didn't use any heat protection. And I straightened every section multiple times, especially the canopy. And this was all done on the highest setting, which I believe was over 400 degrees (or is that too high? Can't remember).

So with this new information, I'm ready to find what my hair needs. First up is to get some moisture back!

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.