I'm Back!

I know, I know... I've been a bad blogger...

I'll be making it up to you in December with a few reviews....

When Shrinkage Goes Bad

For some reason, I've got kind of a Victoria Beckham thing going on in the front. You can actually see my ear! This is why curly hair should not be cut wet.

This is my first attempt to use Spiral Solutions Firm Hold Gel. I wasn't sure how much to use, so I ended up using very very little amounts and in the same manner I use CJ Aloe Fix Lite (3x on wet hair, 2x blotted, all before gel). I'm doing my research, but suggestions are appreciated. I do love the way my hair smells though.

Co-wash: V05 Champagne Kiss

Rinse-out: GVP Conditioning Balm (still dry from a PT)

Stylers: Spiral Solutions Firm Hold Gel, BRHG

Summer HGs

With the weather beginning to change (finally!), I think it's time to share my HG products of the summer. Yes, I realize that it's officially been fall for a month and that most people have been experiencing cooler weather for longer than that. But we're still having 80+ degree days, so it's more summer than fall here! So these are the products that I could not live without, especially in the 100+ degree weather that we had for months on end.

Favorite Summer Co-wash & Rinse-out:

V05 Champagne Kiss Conditioner - No brainer, I've been raving about this for months! It's moisturizing enough to use as a rinse-out, but light enough to use as a co-wash. It's cheap, so I don't have to worry about how much I use. It smells AMAZING, which is great because of all the products I use, the co-wash is the one that my hair usually smells like at the end of the day. And bonus: it has protein!

Favorite Curl Enhancer:

Curl Junkie Aloe Fix Lite - This is a bit on the expensive side, but I've been using generous amounts of this for months and still haven't finished it yet. It's the first product I've used with what I'd call "flexible hold" - it doesn't have enough hold on it's own to keep frizz at bay, but works great as a curl enhancer because it does have more hold than say, a curl cream. It keeps it shape after scrunching the crunch, but leaves my hair soft and touchable. I love it! I use about five dime-sized amounts every wash. It plays well with pink boots, almost like KCCC used to. Definitely repurchasing.

Favorite Deep Conditioner:

Curl Junkie Curl Rehab in Strawberry - I had an issue with a mild protein overdose in early July that left my hair dry and crunchy. I used this conditioner as a rinse-out and had probably the best hair day I've had all year. So of course I promptly took it on vacation and left it at my grandparents' house. I am contemplating another order from AveYou and will be adding this to my cart! Since my hair is fine now, I won't be using this often and even then not a lot. So barring any trips to the East Coast, this will last me a long time.

Favorite Gel:

None. That's right, not even BRHG. Back when I first used this stuff, I was in love. It didn't take very long for the honeymoon to end. I like the level of hold this gives me, but I really don't like the de-clumpifying and skinny curls. It literally takes away clumps that have already formed. Skinny curls don't work with my hair because they always end up wonky. I'm still using this because I prefer the hold level over the Aussie gel, but I really wish I could find a way to use this and get great clumps without having to use pink boots every time. My hair can't take that much moisture.

That's it for me! I'm excited to try new products now that the weather has changed, but also to see which of these summer HGs continue to work in the cooler weather. What are your summer HGs?

Joining the Dark Side

I have come to the conclusion that my hair has become even more fine in texture since receiving my CurlGenie results. My hair isn't responding to the routine of protein-moisture balance. Since I was using a moisture-heavy routine prior to this, I've decided to go ultra protein-heavy, or to what long-time followers of my blog will recognize as the complete opposite of what I've been doing for the past 3 years.

What exactly does this mean?

• Protein. Everywhere. In everything.
• No DTs, all PTs
• Avoiding most cream products
• More gellies
• Using smaller amounts of product
• Soap bars (yep, I'm going there!)

I'm still planning my list for my next online hair products shopping spree (would really like to try Spiral Solutions!), but I have been able to incorporate a few of these bullet points into my routine.

My co-wash/rinse-out (V05 Champagne Kiss) contains protein, but it seems to be weighing me down a bit. Weird, right? Old habits die hard - I was so used to using as much conditioner as needed for both co-wash and rinse-out that I didn't realize I'm probably using too much now. So I've started cutting down on that.

Every once in a while I use pink boots for its clumping powers. Anything more than that would weigh me down, which is weird since it used to be a-use-everyday-HG. I've been using CJ Aloe Fix Lite with wayyy better results.

Soap bars. Ok, if you hung out around NC about three years ago, you were there for the PJ craze that was the natural soap bar. This craze began just before the "enlightenment" that hair properties determine what ingredients you should use.

Keeping that in mind, it's no surprise that I was having the worst time with products in the fall of 2008. I had just figured out that my hair was sensitive to protein, so I was avoiding that. But I was stalking a curly who had hair that sort of looked like mine and her HG products were turning my hair into a nightmare. The soap bar nightmare was the beginning of the realization that my hair was indeed coarse and porous, and that I couldn't follow the same routine with the same results as someone with complete opposite properties.

Flash forward to now. I'm stalking this person again and the good news is it's working! I ordered a bunch of soap samples last week (I think they're the same bars as the used-by-everyone-on-NC bars) and have used one bar twice so far. I've had a little frizz, but that's normal for the crazy weather changes we're having. I'm also getting more curl and tons of shrinkage! Basically it's the complete opposite of my 2008 soap bar experience.

The only downside is that my curls are more skinny and less clumpy, but I think this is a product of BRHG. I don't know why it does this to my hair, but it does.

Anyway, I'm going to continue my journey to the dark side and use everything that used to be bad for my hair. I'll keep the updates coming (with pictures). I also have some ideas for new posts as I still need to review the CurlGenie analysis and share my summer staples.

My Updated Routine (for Medium to Fine 2c/3a hair)

Since my original rambling routine post is pretty much the most viewed post on my blog, you'd think at some point I'd update it, especially since my hair properties changed a year ago.

Oops.

Let's do that now, shall we?

First, a few changes:

• I don't use the Spritz & Condition method anymore. I've had a few questions about this lately. Honestly, it's just too much moisture for me. It's GREAT for someone with really porous or dry, coarse hair (or both!). But not so much for someone who has low-normal porosity and/or fine-medium hair. In fact, you could probably do with a mini-PT. Does anyone "Spritz & Protein it up"?
  
  
• Speaking of protein, now I use it. A lot. I haven't done a PT in a few weeks, but it's in my co-wash/rinse-out and new favorite styling product (BRHG). Supposedly protein in gel doesn't have the effect that it does in conditioner, so if you're protein-sensitive, try this gel now! It's awesome!
  
  
• Low-poo: sometimes I use it. Not as much or as regularly as I did in the spring. More like once every three or four weeks. I'm not sure if this is just because I have fine-ish hair now, at least compared to what it used to be, or if I need to get rid of oil build-up (I have no idea if I'm still sensitive to oils). It definitely makes my hair dry though, so if I want to use a cream or something with more moisture, this is when I use it.
  
  

I think these are the major changes. Of course, I'm not using the same products or even category of products (no leave-in), but that's probably a given. The basic steps are pretty much the same.

Here's what I've been doing this summer. It's really detailed and long. You've been warned.

1. Step in shower. I like hot water, so I use hot water. I know people have said it creates frizz. I haven't found this to be true, though I do end my shower with a cold water rinse.
   
   
2. Co-wash. I'm using V05's Champagne Kiss. It smells really good and has some protein in it. It's also pretty light.
   
   
3. Rinse-out. Again, I've been sticking with the V05. My hair hasn't done well with any heavy conditioning this summer. After smoothing in about 2 quarter's worth on the bottom half of my hair, I use my denman brush to detangle. After detangling, I brush the hair around the edges away from my scalp. I start near my temple and brush up & out. I continue around the rest of my head, concentrating on the temples and nape of the neck. I think this helps with clumping and root volume. I definitely notice a difference when I don't do this.
   
   
4. Flip head over and scrunch. Clip up and do regular shower stuff.
   
   
5. Turn water to as cold as it gets. This doesn't bother me because by that time I've been under hot water for 10 minutes. It's also only really touching my head.
   
   
6. Flip head over and scrunch conditioner out under the cold water (that's right - the icequeen method! Best thing for clumps!!)
   
   
7. Turn water off. Scrunch some more water out. Then I apply my curl enhancer. This summer I've been using CJ's Aloe Fix Lite. I apply a nickel-sized amount three times: once on the left, once on the right, and once in the middle.
   
   
8. Next I blot with a flour sack towel. This was really important when my hair was really porous. I'm not sure it's important now, but I haven't experienced negative results when I do this. It probably helps my hair dry faster.
   
   
9. Then I scrunch a little more curl enhancer in. Once on the left and once on the right. Leave shower and plop in my Curl Ease towel (there's no real difference between this and a regular flour sack towel. I use it because I have it, and it's a little bigger).
   
   
10. I only plop long enough to get dressed. I'm not sure how long this is.
    
    
11. Next I undo my plop and scrunch in my gel. I cover my whole head and use different amounts depending on which gel I'm using - bigger amounts for Aussie Instant Freeze, way smaller amounts (like pea-size) for BRHG. For this, I divide my hair into four quadrants: two in the back and to in the front. When I'm upside down, it's just left and right.
    
    Here's what I cover, in order: upside down (middle), upside down left, upside down right, rightside up back left, rightside up back right, rightside up front right, rightside up front left. Does that make sense? It's kind of hard to explain. This is ALL scrunched in. No raking! I'm pretty OCD about this, actually. I do the "pump and scrunch," which is scrunching eight times in each section. Yes, I do all eight!
    
    
12. Then it's time to plop again. Yes, I double-plop. I'm not sure how it contributes, but it doesn't hurt. This time I'm using a flour sack towel. Again, I only plop long enough to do something - this time it's getting my dryer plugged in.
    
    
13. Diffusing time. I pixie-curl and I do this entirely upside down. It's easier for me to do it this way since my arms don't get tired. And I can read. This is actually when I get most of my reading done.
    
    First I flip my head upside down. Looking straight forward (or not leaning), I put the entire right side of hair in the bowl of the diffuser and turn it on. I do this for a little while, then turn it off and switch to the entire left side. I do this back and forth for a little, just to set it. Then I stick it in the middle for a bit.
    
    When this is set, I lean to the left. I start with the hair on top - the hair that grows out of the right side of my head and is "shorter" than the hair on my left side at this point. I diffuse this section for a bit until it's not wet, just a little damp and crunchy. Then I diffuse the bottom sections, starting near my forehead. I don't diffuse the hair on my hairline yet for a few reasons. Mostly because it doesn't look right due to where my part lies. It's hard to explain. I start with the hair closer to my ear. Then I do the back section near the nape of my neck. I switch between these sections until it's crunchy and not wet anymore.
    
    Then I switch to the right side. By this time everything is pretty dry/crunchy, with the exception of the hair around my hairline and part. This is when I diffuse that section. Most of the hair from that section is on the right side of my head, so it looks better to diffuse it on this side. Is that a better explanation? Anyway, I make sure the dryer is centered on my part when I do this to prevent any weird wonky curls. After this, I do the same as I did on the left, only on the right side.
    
    
14. When everything is crunchy and mostly dry, I know I'm done. I flip my head rightside up. My hair looks weird at this point, I won't lie. I'll take a picture someday. It's pretty curly, but with flat-ish roots and shrinkage. This is when I clip. I use two of these jaw clips, one on each side of my part. Then I clip my hair out of my face using mini jaw clips. Except I lost all but one of these. So on one side, I'm using a duckbill clip. I also use a duck bill clip in the back to clip my crown up. Oh and before I clip, I spritz with a little water and a little Garnier Fructis Curl Spray, just to set it.
    

I have this process down to 40 minutes - 10 minutes in the shower, about 10 minutes to plop/gel/plop, and 20 minutes to diffuse. I try to plan this so that I have at least an hour and a half before I need to be anywhere/go to sleep (since I usually wash at night) so that my curls have time to dry before SOTC.

In the morning, I take my hair down from a pineapple after I've done my makeup. Then I spritz with some water and wait a few minutes (usually getting dressed for the day) and come back to add some product. Lately it's just been CJ AFL. I had been adding Curls in a Bottle! but it made my hair kind of hard/gross. CJ AFL is enough, especially with BRHG.

Ok, I think that's it. Thanks for reading! I'm putting this link over in my sidebar, and assuming it will be the new "most viewed" post on my blog. If you are a newbie or have been around a while and have questions, feel free to leave a comment or shoot me an email (collegecurly@gmail.com)!

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.

BRHG: Day Three

First - I took another pic yesterday and didn't get a chance to put it up. I'll update that post with a clearer picture.

Here's day three:

Yuck. This is what happens when your hair is already crunchy, but you decide to use CIAB anyway. Clumps disappear and your hair feels like plastic.

Off to wash and try again. This time I'm going to use a little less and try layering with a curl creme (probably pink boots, which I have missed!). Mixing will be the next step after this.