Why I Love Caruso Steam Rollers!

Caruso steam rollers have to be one of the best inventions for hair to date in my opinion! YES, I love them THAT much. I've had my caruso steam rollerset for probably about 5 years now and have used it heavily off and on since I purchased it. The beauty of this product is that you can achieve heat free curls  through the use of steam and if you suck at pin curls like I do this is a great second option. Caruso steam rollers are always my go to style when attending some special event, date, girls night out etc. It takes a lot less time and manipulation as opposed to a rollerset. You can achieve the same results as a rollerset in about 10-15 minutes! Another thing that I love about caruso steam rollers is the versatility. They are great for updos, super curly styles, or even for a unconventional rollerwrap (Check out my last post to see how I did that here). You can find the Caruso Steam Rollerset at your local Sally Beauty Supply for $48.99 or $43.99 if you have a Sally's Beauty Card. I promise it will be the best $40-$50 you have ever spent!

Wash Day Diaries: Something Different!

Hi guys! So today was wash day and for the most part I used the same products I've been using. I deep conditioned with my One N Only Restorative mask mixed with a bit of the Joico K-pak. After rinsing it out I cleansed my scalp and hair with my hair one and then followed up with my Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Daily Treatment. Once I did a final rinse I wrapped my hair in a t-shirt to absorb the excess water for about 20 minutes. Next I applied my leave ins (Chi Keratin Mist, Kimmaytube leave in w/ a twist, and Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Serum).

I let my hair air dry for about 40 minutes, but because I have somewhere to go I decided to blow dry my hair. I haven't done that in ages! So I pulled out my Hot tool professional ionic blow dryer and blow dryed my hair in small sections using LOW heat only. My hair was so light and fluffy afterwards not to mention I could really see the growth that I've been retaining!

After I finished blowdrying I moisturized my hair lightly with my Giovanni Direct Leave in and sealed with a bit more Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Serum. I then pulled out my caruso steam rollerset and randomly applied the rollers to my hair using end papers to protect my ends and keep them from frizzing. After about 10 minutes I took the rollers down and let the curls settle and dry (my hair is always a tad bit damp and I've learned that styling a caruso steam rollerset immediately after removing the rollers leads to frizzy hair!).

I then decided to wrap my hair...something else I haven't done in ages! When I took my hair down I was left with light, voluminous, bouncy hair! I loved how my hair turned out! I may have to do this once a month or at least on weekends when I have somewhere to go. I think this was a great low heat alterantive that broke up the monotony of my normal wash day. Check out the results!

How I Moisturize & Seal My Hair

I remember when I first discovered the healthy hair care world and heard about moisturizing and sealing I had no clue what it was, what products to use, or how it was done. I will say that after a bit of trial and error with products and methods I've figured out what works best for me. Moisturizing and sealing is one of the top methods for length retention in my opinion. After accidentally putting off this video tutorial on how I moisturize seal my hair for far too long I finally got around to recording it!

Wash Day With A Shot of Protein!

Hi guys!!!! I've missed blogging with you all this week, but those of you who read my last post know that I was working a graveyard shift at work this week which always throws my schedule all outta whack :/. In my last blog post I cowashed my hair with my Kera Minerals silk Elements DC and Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Daily Treatment. Let me just say that my hair stayed moisturized and supple from Monday all the way until Saturday morning! For my hair that's not too shabby! I've always longed for a once a week wash day, but with my strenuous workout schedule and naturally dry hair washing my hair twice a week is necessary.

Anywho let's get to the real reason for this post! It's definitely time for me to wash my hair. As proud as I was of how long it stayed moisturized it was time to wash away the product build up from the week. Besides nothing beats the feeling of clean freshly washed hair! As many of you know my weekend wash day always focuses on protein and today was no different. I mixed my One N Only Argan Oil Restorative Mask with the GVP version of the Joico K-Pak reconstructor. I also threw a few splashes of olive oil, grapeseed oil, and JBCO into the mix.

Next I parted my hair into two sections and went about oiling my scalp and the length of my hair with my grapeseed and olive oil mixture. After gently massaging that in I applied my conditioner and left it on my hair while I cooked and ate breakfast and did pilates. I know you all have probably noticed that as of lately I have totally abandoned my heating cap! It's just that on the east coast lately we've been getting these serious heat waves and it's been so hot that when I work out it's hot enough for me to just deep condition at the same time! After probably about an hour I hopped in the shower and rinsed the conditioner out of my hair and followed up with my beloved hair one to cleanse my scalp as well as the length of my hair. I let it sit for about 1-2 minutes while I did my showerly duties.

Next I rinsed and squeezed the excess water out of my hair and then applied my Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Daily Treatment. I let it sit while I finished up my showerly duties, which included a fabulous exfoliating facial :). I did my final rinse with cool water and then wrapped my hair in a white cotton t-shirt.

After about 30 minutes I applied my leave ins which included my Chi Keratin Mist (I am loving this stuff!), Kimmaytube Leave in w/ a twist, and my Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Serum. After air drying for about 1.5 hours I detangled my hair in four sections and then moisturized and sealed. I plan to throw my hair into a bun while I run my Saturday errands and will do a caruso steam rollerset tonight as I am supposed to be going out with the boo and a few friends. Hopefully I will be able to snap a couple of picutres of my steam rollerset!

Here are a couple of shots of my hair wet. I'm slowly but surely approaching reaching the top of my shirt! *Does a happy dance*

Monday Morning Cowash

Since I'm working the 'graveyard' shift at work this week it left me with a lot of free time today to do some chores around the house, exercise, and cowash my hair. This morning I decided to take advantage of this ridiculously humid weather we've been having by going power walking around my neighborhood. Before I left I applied my oil mix of EVOO, grapeseed oil, and coconut oil to my scalp and to the length of my hair. I then dampened my hair with water and applied my Silk Elements Kera Minerals DC to my hair. I placed a shower cap and satin scarf over my hair and went on with my exercise routine. When I got back home I was soaked and I could tell that my hair had gotten a really good deep conditioning treatment.

I hopped in the shower and rinsed my hair thoroughly with warm water. After squeezing the excess water out of my hair I applied some of my Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Daily treatment to my hair and allowed it to sit while I showered. Once I finished I did a final rinse with cool water and then wrapped my hair in a cotton t-shirt to soak up the excess water. About 30 minutes later I removed the t-shirt and spritzed both my scalp and the length of my hair with my Chi Keratin mist. I then applied about a quarter sized amount of my kimmaytube leave-in w/ a twist and a dime sized amount of my Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Serum and allowed my hair to air dry for about 3 hours while I did random chores around the house and caught up on my tv shows.

Next I detangled my hair in four sections using my fingers and then applied my Giovanni Direct Leave in and sealed with coconut oil. I applied my Liquid Gold sulfur based growth oil and JBCO to my scalp and gently massaged it in. Lastly I sealed my ends with a tiny drop of JBCO to lock in the moisture and voila I was done! Since I will be working odd hours this week my hair plans will be limited to bunning and a mid-week cowash! Here's the final product!

This Weekend's Beauty Buys

In celebration of the fact that I survived my month long 'no buy' hair product challenge I decided to take a little trip to Ulta and pick up a few beauty items that I've been eying for quite some time. Here's what I picked up...

• Chi Keratin Mist - I've been a fan of the Chi Silk Infusion for quite some time even though I've recently switched to the Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Serum (because it's lighter) so I thought I would try out their Keratin Mist. I've tried the Aphogee Green Tea mist a long time ago and didn't really care for it. I'm hoping to use this product as a weekly leave-in as well as apart of my relaxer preparation process. 

• Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Treatment - I'll be honest...Jeni of JustGrowAlready piqued my interest in this product. She practically swears by this stuff and since I can't get enough of Mr. Mitchell's Super Skinny Serum I just had to see if I will feel the same about this rinse out conditioner. I plan to use this conditioner after my tea rinse and cleansing conditioner. I find that my hair is normally a little rough feeling when it air dries when I do a tea rinse so this seems like a great rinse out conditioner option. 

• OPI's 'Mod About You' -  I originally tried this nail color randomly at the nail salon and fell in love with it. It's just such a classy and chic color that I couldn't resist even though I faithfully protest the price of OPI nail polishes! This is a great color for summer, spring, and fall and is office friendly for professional settings as well. 

• NYX Blush in Tera Cotta - Traycee from KISS has been bragging about this blush for months now and I finally decided to pick it up. I'm excited to try this blush out. I'm a newbie to the makeup world, but I know that NYX cosmetics are raved about and at just $5.99 I was willing to take the risk! 

I plan to do in depth reviews of both of my hair product purchases and don't be surprised if any of these products pop up in a favorites video :)

June Goals Recap & July Goals!

I swear these months are just flying by! Can y'all believe that we are halfway through the year already? I'm afraid I might blink and it'll be Christmas, which is my favorite time of the year by the way! Anywho onto what this post is really supposed to be about! Here are the goals that I set for myself for the month of June

1. Lose 5 lbs and get back to my goal weight I'm honestly not sure if I met this goal because I've hidden my scale from myself. It was driving me crazy.
2. Apply my growth aid of choice to my scalp daily. Yay I stuck with this goal and my new growth is definitely showing it!
3. Exercise 4-5 days a week. I halfway met this goal. I had one really lazy week, but other than that I've been on it!
4. Do a flexi rod set. So yeah this didn't happen
5. Do a rollerset. Neither did this :(

July's Goals

1.  Exercise 4-5 days a week
2. Log my daily food into myfitnesspal daily (My username is Courtnea2001 for anyone who wants to add me!)
3. Apply my growth aid daily
4. Try at least 1 new recipe

Relaxer Update #5!

As most of you know read my 'Relaxer Preparation' blog post already know I received my relaxer on yesterday. As usual I'm very pleased with my results and feel like I got a good amount of growth! Stay tuned for my next growth update at the end of August!

Relaxer Preparation!

So tomorrow is relaxer day for me and let me just say that I am so excited! My new growth has been doing it's own thing and it is time for it to be tamed!

In order to prepare for my relaxer I deep conditioned my hair on Wednesday evening with my Silk Elements Kera Minerals DC. Out of pure laziness that's the only thing I did (no cleansing conditioner or anything!). After that I allowed my hair to air dry and then applied my usually leave ins. I like to wash my hair about 3-4 days prior to my relaxer because it really helps to soften my new growth which in turn makes my detangling session A LOT easier on me. Since then I've been rocking buns.

On tonight I pulled out my handy Silken childs detangling spray and began the daunting task of detangling my new growth. The last time I received my relaxer I skipped doing this and my scalp was not too happy with me! I started with the very back section of my hair and spritzed my detangling spray on my new growth only. Next I gently massaged it into my new growth and then proceeded to detangle using the orange wide tooth rat tail comb pictured below. After detangling my new growth I then detangled the length of my hair using my hercules Sagemann seamless comb followed by a random seamless comb that I have in my stash. I repeated these steps until I reached the top part of my hair. Fast forward an hour later and I finally finished. Last I parted my hair into two sections and moisturized with my Giovanni Direct Leave In conditioner and sealed with coconut oil.

As much as I did want to go through my usual relaxer preparation steps I know my hair and my stylist will thank me tomorrow :)