Washday | Same Ol Same Ol

Unfortunately this week I don't have any pictures of voluminous curls to show you because I did not wear my hair down one day. The in laws were in town so I spent the week spending time with them and this past weekend was spent running errands and being completely lazy. It was awesome! Needless to say between all of that I wasn't left with my enthusiasm for styling my hair so I just rocked a bun jazzed up with a bang and kept it moving! Here's how my super late washday went:

• Rinsed my hair with warm water for a few minutes and proceeded to shampoo with my Keracare Hydrating Detangling Sulfate Free Shampoo.
• Rinsed and shampooed a second time to ensure that I had no product buildup left.
• Used my turbie twist for about 25 minutes to soak up most of the excess water.
• Deep conditioned with my Keracare Humecto conditioner on the length of my hair and Giovanni GPB conditioner on my ends (I found a sample packet that I'd never used!) for about 25 minutes.
• Rinsed and applied a small amount of the generic version of the Matrix Biolage detangling conditioner.
• T-shirt dried my hair for about 30 minutes.
• Detangled with my Mane N Tail and applied my leave ins using the LCO method (Chi Keratin Mist, Kimmaytube Leave In Mix, GVP Smoothing Serum).
• Blow dried my hair on cool until my hair was about 80% dry.
• Moisturized and sealed using my beloved Giovanni direct leave in and coconut oil and applied JBCO to my scalp.

Style: A bun jazzed up with a bang (I promise to take pictures next time!).

Thoughts: I think I'm going to go back to detangling my hair prior to shampooing. I've only switched up my detangling routine recently because I'm only 2 weeks post relaxer, however because I don't really 'comb' my hair during the week I don't want to create a detangling nightmare as I get further along in my stretch! Also, as of lately I've been on a kick of using protein conditioners on my ends to minimize breakage and ensure strength. This week I will be doing a full protein treatment though just to be safe! Lastly, I've seriously been loving my hair since I got my bangs back and trimmed away those thin ends that appeared. Because my hair is layered I feel like that extra trim has given my hair a chance to catch up and I swear my hair feels thicker!

How was your washday?

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I Finally Reached APL! Now What?...

It feels really good to finally say that I've officially reached APL! I've been so focused on reaching APL that I haven't thought of what Mini goals I want to achieve next. For those that don't know my ultimate goal is BSL (Bra Strap Length), but since I'm about 4-6 inchese away from that I'm going to set mini goals for myself. Here's what I've come up with so far:

• When my hair is pulled forward I want it to reach my Arm Pits (my ultimate goal is for it to reach boobie land, but baby steps! 
• My hair is cut into layers and my shortest layers only reach my neck. I would like for these layers to reach shoulder length. 
• I would like for my hair to reach the top of my length check shirt. I have about 3 inches to get to that point.
• When my hair is curly or flexi rodded I want it to be shoulder length. I swear I suffer from shrinkage even though I'm relaxed because the minute a curl hits my hair it shrinks like nobody's business!  

Those are my top mini goals that I will be focusing on during my journey to BSL land. Having mini goals really helps me to stay on track and not get discouraged. What goals have you set lately?


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Why I Trim On A Regular Basis

     I used to be the girl who would try to trim about once a year if possible. What I noticed from doing this is that by waiting so long to trim I'd end up having to cut more than I wanted and that my ends were not where I wanted them to be. Now don't get me wrong, I totally understand why so many of my fellow healthy hair ladies steer clear of the scissors (bad experience with a stylist, want to retain as much length as quickly as possible, etc).
     Luckily I've found that for myself trimming my hair every 4 (or 5) months has worked wonders for my ends and my length retention. Not to mention because I get trims a bit more often I end up getting my ends dusted versus an actual cut! I also find that I experience fewer split ends. The icing on the cake for me is that I'm a sucker for lush, thick, freshly trimmed ends.
     I mean let's face it...meeting our goal with scraggly ends isn't what we want! How often do you ladies trim and how is it working for you?




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Hair Porosity Test

Many of those in the hair world have heard about the Hair Porosity test as well as what Low Porosity vs High Porosity means for your hair. I'll admit that while I have heard a lot about porosity I personally did not know what it means for my head of hair! While enjoying a lazy post Thanksgiving Saturday and doing a little reading on BlackHairMedia.com I was inspired to give the hair porosity test a try!

How do I Perform the Low Porosity Test? I went into my kitchen to grab a small glass and filled it with tap water. After running my fingers through my hair I found about 3 shed hairs, which i dropped into the water and then set my timer for 3 minutes. After the 3 minutes were up I looked into the glass to see that my hair was still floating at the top, which means that I have low porosity hair.

What does having Low Porosity hair mean? Basically it means that my hair is resistant to moisture...there's a shocker! Ultimately because I 'suffer' from low porosity hair many products may 'sit' on my hair instead of absorbing into my hair. From various articles and forums I've noticed a trend that hot oil treatments, DCing with heat, and use moisturizing products and/or humectants. Some also recommend minimal protein treatments.

Will this information effect my regimen? The short answer to that question is not really. Most of the information and tips that I've read about low porosity hair I've actually already learned throughout my hair journey! Knowing this earlier in my hair journey probably would've reduced the dry hair struggles I went through. However now I deep condition regularly and normally throw in a mid week cowash because my hair tends to be on the dryer side and doesn't hold moisture quite as long. I've also found my holy grail moisturizer that keeps my hair soft and supple (Giovanni Direct Leave In). The one thing that I did learn is that Roux Porosity Control isn't really a product that's made for my hair as it is intended for high porosity hair, which would explain why I've never noticed a true difference in my hair since using the bottle that I have at home. Even though minimal protein treatments are recommended by some I will continue my 1x/month protein treatments because I firmly believe that all hair needs protein as some point and too much of anything include moisture can be bad!
    

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