The best of the last 7 months Part 3: Hair Vitamin Update

Hi dear readers

This is not a product review but just an update on how my vitamin intake has been going since I started my healthy hair journey. I started off using Groganics, and I really liked the results that I saw. My new growth became much thicker, and although I was shedding a lot initially, the shedding reduced towards the third month of taking the Groganics vitamins. I also noticed that my hair grew at about an inch per month, which is more than the average growth rate of 1/2 inch per month....

...But then all the stores ran out of stock since March 2015. So I ordered Manetabolism from Sizzelle.com, and I was really excited to get my hands on them that I ordered 4 bottles!

The Manetabolism instructions read that 2 pills should be taken per day and I did just that. But silly me I completely forgot to check the biotin content before buying them, as my skin is quite sensitive. I actually assumed that the biotin in these pills was not excessive given the amount of raving and praising that I saw on Instagram, Facebook, etc about this product. To my surprise, when I received the bottles and read the ingredients I immediately realized that it has 5000mcg of biotin per serving; this is 2.5 times the amount of biotin in Groganics vitamins! One week after taking my Manetabolism pills (2 per day), this is how my face looked:

My face was ok before I started with the Manetabolism pills, I had not seen such pimples on my face before, so I am almost 100% sure that the excessive biotin content caused this reaction. I was drinking lots and lots of water but it didn't help. So I took a 3 week break from it, and then started taking it again last week. This time I am only taking one pill a day, and my skin has been ok for now...

All I am getting to in this post is that hair vitamins will not always work for you in the same way that they work for someone else. If your skin is sensitive, it will probably react negatively to hair vitamins with high biotin content. Groganics vitamins also have Biotin but half the amount of bioftin that ManeChoice  has...

It's best to try it and discontinue immediately if you see that ur skin is getting worse. Also, it's best to try out one bottle and then buy another bottle if you are satisfied with the results from the first bottle. I have 3.5 bottles of Mane a Choice, and I know it's probably going to take me 6+ months to finish this supply, which is abit saddening for me because I can't buy my Groganics until I've finished Mane Choice.

Have you had any bad or good experiences with hair vitamins? 

Have you tried these vitamins, and how did they go with your hair and skin?

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The best of the last 7 months Part 2: Product stock-take

I have definitely bought more products than I needed. And now after 7 months I have come to realize that it's more about your technique as opposed to the products you use. Not to say that bad products are ok to use, but I think sticking to products that work well and not looking for something better, is a better option. Here are the products I have tried since I started my healthy hair journey:

Not replacing:

- ORS Olive Oil Moisturizing Lotion: the product sat on my hair so it didn't help me much
- Elasta QP mango butter & olive oil moisturizer: the product worked well but I found it to be a bit heavy at times. Here is my review on it (I think I exaggerated a bit on how good it was because I hadn't used a better product). This will be my go-to moisturizer if I run out of Hairveda or Pura Body Naturals.
- Mizani H2O Night Time Treatment: This was one of the first moisturizers I bought when I started my healthy hair journey. I hadn't read about the importance of checking ingredients before buying a product, and so this was a case of me not knowing that the mineral oil in this moisturizer would do more harm than good. So I stopped using it.

Keeping in my regimen:
- Hairveda Red Tea Satin Moisturizer: I have come to like this moisturizer a lot and its staying in my regimen. I only use it until my growth becomes dry because I find that it doesn't do a great job keeping my growth moisturized. Here is my review on it.
- Pura Body Naturals MuruMuru Moisture Milk: I love this moisturizer too, it's thicker than Hairveda and it works better on my new growth than Hairveda. Most of all it has an awesome scent, anything that smells like dessert is a plus for me :-)

Not replacing:
- Cantu Shea Butter Leave-in Conditioning Cream
- Mega Growth Ant-Breakage Leave-in Conditioner

Keeping in my regimen:
- ApHogee Green Tea & Keratin Restructurizer
- Kinky Curly Knot Today Leave-in Conditioner
- Kurle Belle Thirsty Kurls Leave-in Conditioner
- Herbal Essences Split End Protector: for my ends only

Not replacing:

- Skin Doctor Argan Oil Moisturising Shampoo: Ingredients are written in Arabic so I can't tell for sure whether it's really sulfate free or not.

-ORS Creamy Aloe Clarifying Shampoo: Replaced with Shea Moisture Sulfate-free Clarifying Shampoo.
- Mega Growth Stimulating Shampoo: Only use it when I have braids I have braids
- Roux Porosity Control Shampoo: Don't need it

Keeping in my regimen:

- Creme of Nature Sulfate-free shampoo: my review

- Keracare Cleansing Cream: my review

- Shea Moisture JBCO Strengthen, Grow & Restore Shampoo: sulfate-free & clarifying
- Elasta QP Stop Action Neutralizing Shampoo
- ORS Herbal Cleanse Dry Shampoo: when I have installed braids.

Not replacing:

- Aunt Jackie's oh so moisturizing conditioner: I hate the scent

- Organics Tea tree oil conditioning treatment: Don't need it

- Olive Oil Hair Cream: Contains mineral oil

- Kenra Moisturizing conditioner: Too expensive
- Schwarzkopf Conditioner: Don't need it
- Dr Miracles Treatment for Damaged Hair: Don't need it

- Parnevu Hair Moyannaise: Don't need it

Keeping in my regimen:

- Silk Dreams VMCD

- Silk Dreams Mocha Silk Infusion

- ORS Replenishing conditioner 

- Hairveda Sitrinillah conditioner

- Keracare Humecto

- Kurlee Belle Avocado, Banana & Nut Treatment
- Mane n Tail Deep Moisturizing Conditioner
- Beautiful Textures Rapid Repair Conditioner
- ApHogee 2-step protein treatment
- ApHogee 2-minute Keratin Reconstructor
- Elasta QP DPR
- TRESemme & Aussie Miracle Moist Conditioner (although I use these as instant conditioners)

Not replacing:

- Wild Growth Hair Oil: It smells bad when it stays in the hair for a few days (oops its in the wrong box in the picture lol!)
- Dr Miracles Intensive Spot Serum: Don't need it
- Argan Oil: Was a bit too oily for my liking
- Organics Sheen Spray: Don't need it

Keeping in my regimen:

- Coconut oil: for my wash day pre-poos, I love it!

- Castor oil: for my scalp massages, deep condition mix, inversion method sessions & sealing my new growth 

- Doo Gro Hair Growth Oil: it's a nice and light oil to mix with other oils and for scalp massages when my hair is in braids or a wig

- Grapeseed oil: I add it to my deep conditioners 

- Almond oil, peppermint & Rosemary oil: I add these oils to castor oil to reduce the thickness of the castor oil. I also use them in deep conditioners, I love the tingle from these essential oils.

Not replacing:

- ORS Wrap Mousse: The alcohol in it made my hair dry

- ORS Lye Relaxer Normal Strength

Keeping in my regimen:

- CHI Silk Infusion

- Beautiful Textures Curl Control Pudding

- Beautiful Textures Curl Definer Mousse

- Creme of Nature Gloss & Shine Mist 

- Aloe Vera Juice

- Creme of Nature Perfect Edges

- Roux Porosity Control Corrector & Conditiiner

- Mizani Thermastrength Heat Protector

- Blue Majic Castor Oil

- Mizani Butter Blends Relaxer Normal Strength

Phew, after doing this stock-take I still have quite a lot of products that I am keeping. My goal is to reduce my product haul by 25% before the end of the year...

That's it! Stay tuned for Part 3 of the best of the last 7 months!

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Wash day: 13 weeks post relaxer

My wash days have become pretty much routine, nothing interesting has happened of late, but this past wash day I prepared my hair for a box braid install, which I am hoping will happen this coming weekend. It's that time when I am getting tired of my hair and I think my hair feels the same way, so it has earned a well deserved break from me... I hope to keep the braids for 4 weeks after which I'll be 18 weeks post and then I can do my second texlax of the year at the 19 week mark!

1.) Mixed aPhogee Keratin 2-minute reconstructor & coconut oil, applied to six sections of my hair and covered with a shower cap for 20 minutes

2.) Clarified with JBCO sulfate-free clarifying shampoo 

3.) Applied Tressemme Naturals Nourishing Moisture Conditioner for 5 minutes to get my hair soft again

4.) Coffee rinsed with black coffee + black tea (my coffee wasn't enough) for 5 minutes and rinsed it out.
5.) Towel dried for 10 minutes and applied my deep conditioner: A mix of Mane n Tail deep Moisturizing Conditioner, Keracare Humecto conditioner, Olive Oil Hair Cream and a spoon of grapeseed oil. I have discovered that covering my hair with Saran Wrap after applying the deep conditioner gives me better results, so I did just that. Sat in my dryer for 45 minutes. 
6.) Rinsed with warm water (for some reason cold water makes my hair hard so my last rinse is always with warm water). My hair was nice and soft after this so thumbs up to another good mix of conditioners. 

7.) T-shirt dried for 20 minutes and then applied my leave-ins to six separate sections of my hair: Kinky curly Knot Today Leave-in Conditioner, Herbal Essences Split End Protector (to my ends only) & OGX Anti-breakage Serum.
8.) Then I realised that I didn't detangle in the first step!!!! Terrible mistake because now I had knots in my hair, as my hair was plaited in 6 braids for the week (I had my wig on for the whole week). So I had to gently & painfully detangle my hair for about 1 hour before I could stretch it out. Anyway, I need to be better at remembering such things as detangling before I wash my hair...
9.) Blow dried on cool heat and wrapped it with saran wrap again, I wanted to get some smoothness and I did. 

10.) Tried some protective styles for a change, or shall I call them low manipulation styles coz they don't last longer than 2 days for me. Need to work on that..

This week I am not in a wig, because I wanted to enjoy my hair before I put it in box braids.

How are you managing your relaxer stretches ladies?

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The best of the last 7 months

The picture above summarizes almost everything I have tried + done to my hair in the last 7 months since I started my hair journey...

I started off at around shoulder length, and I am now almost at armpit length **yayy** so this has really motivated me to continue taking care of my hair without the aid of a stylist, because such good things have happened in the last 7 months that didn't happen to my hair before. Anyway my regimen has changed slightly and I wanted to make sure that I diarise it so that I can remember what has worked and what hasn't:

Daily: Moisturize (with either Hairveda @1-6 weeks post relaxer or Pura Body Naturals @6+ weeks post relaxer) and seal with shea butter. I started off sealing with a mix of oils, but my hair has since become thicker and shea butter just provides more moisture retention for my hair & for longer...

I have tried two other moisturizers (ORS moisturizing lotion & Elasta QP Mango & Olive Oil Butter). I still like Elasta QP but I found it to be abit heavy on my hair and it wasn't enough to moisturize + seal my hair. ORS wasn't moisturizing my hair to my satisfaction.

Weekly:
Pre-poo with coconut oil. This is probably the step that has not changed since I started
Shampoo with Creme of Nature Moisture & Shine Sulfate-free shampoo or Keracare Cleansing Cream. I have not had any issues with either, so this has not changed
Co-wash with Nothing but Cleansing Conditioner - Only when my hair is dry or when I am doing a mid-week wash
Deep condition. The list of DC's that I have used is endless, so far my top 3 have been Hairveda Sitrinillah, Silk Dreams VMCD & Mane 'n Tail Deep Moisturizing Conditioner (just tried this one last week and it went well)
Detangle With Kinky Curly Knot Today if necessary
Leave-ins with Herbal Essences Split End Protector & Kurlee Belle Thirsty Kurls Leave-in Conditioner . It took a while to get the suitable leave-in conditioners because I am quite scent sensitive.

Every 2-3 days: 10-15 minute scalp massage with castor oil (JBCO has given me more thickness than the white castor oil).

I have relaxed my hair twice in the past 7 months, so on average I have relaxed every 4 months.

That's it! I will do a separate post on the products I have tried, and which ones I will be keeping in my regimen... Happy hair day!

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Curlformers: What to do and what not to do

So I mentioned in my last wash day post that I did curlformers and absolutely loved them. What I didn't mention is that I had tried them the day before and it was almost a nightmare. I had an outdoor function to attend the next day, and it rained, so my curls got messed up from the rain and it was a perfect excuse to try them again.

What not to do:

1.) Attach the hook and start pulling your hair into the curlformer from your roots: Not only was this extremely painful, it was almost impossible to do because my roots are so tough from the new growth.

2.) Attempt to attach the curlformers onto wet hair: After watching a few videos on youtube like this one, most of the vloggers suggested to use curlformers on dry hair as it is easier for the hair to pull through the curlformer, and there is a much much muuch lower chance of your hair breaking than if you try pulling it into the curlformer when it is wet. But take note that if your hair is dry, the curls will be less defined than if you put the curlformers on damp hair.

3.) Force the curlformer through your hair: If you are forcing it through your hair, then you have probably put too much hair for the curlformer, and you run the risk of the hook breaking your hair

4.) Put curlformers on hair that has not been properly detangled: This is probably one of the most important things you need to do to avoid any tangles, breakage and snags from the hook.

5.) Start putting curlformers and hoping that you will be done in 20 minutes: Yeeeah, these are not quite like flexi-rods where you can get away with putting 8 flexi's in your hair and you are done. Each curlformer can only take a certain amount of hair, and the less hair you put in, the better because there is less chance of your hair being tangled and caught in the hook, as you pull the curlformer. I used about 68 curlformers both times, and it took me about 2.5 hours to put them in....but I can say the results are worth the hard work lol.

6.) Follow the instructions on the pack to the t: The instructions on my pack were based on an illustration of a lady with very straight hair. So they were not the instructions that would be applicable for my coarse hair. 

What you must definitely do:

1.) Watch a few youtube videos like this one to see how its done: I thought I had it in the bag when I tried putting them in the first time, but clearly I did not know what I was doing. And it cost me some unnecessary breakage.

2.) Use a curl defining pudding or mousse on each section of your hair before pulling the curlformers through:The first time I used the curlformers I did not use enough curling pudding. The second time I put the curlformers in, I applied enough pudding to each section of my hair, and the curlformers went through my hair like butter. It was so much easier, there was less pulling and snugging and tangling, all of the things which could happen if you don't use a product for smoothing your hair before pulling the curlformers through your hair.

Happy curlforming :-)

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Wash day with curlformers aka thebomb.com

Hi there

I used my curlformers for the first time on my last wash day and all I can say is amazingg! Here is how it went:

0.) Pre-poo'd with coconut oil and covered with my shower cap for 1 hour
1.) Shampoo'd twice with Creme of Nature Moisture & Shine Sulfate-free Shampoo
2.) Coffee-rinsed with yummy black coffee.. it's been a while since I did this step, I am hoping it will reduce the shedding that has been on the increase.

3.) Deep conditioned with Silk Dreams Vanilla Moisture Cream treatment for 1 hour under my hooded dryer
4.) Waited for my hair to cool down and rinsed the conditioner out
5.) T-shirt dried my hair for 30 minutes before applying my leave-ins sparingly and detangling each of the 6 sections (as I didn't want the product to weigh down the curls): Kurlee Belle Thirsty Kurls leave-in + OGX Anti-breakage serum
6.) Applied my new curl defining pudding by Beautiful textures to each parting before gently smoothing it out with my medium-tooth comb (in picture above) and putting a curlformer on the smoothed part. It took me about 2 hours to put all the curlformers in...mehh
7.) I had a total of 64 curlformers in my head,lol. I actually managed to sleep in them, it wasn't too comfortable but it would definitely not be possible to sleep in 64 flexi-rods, so I consoled myself with this! I will do a detailed post on how I put the curlformers in my hair, and the tips and tricks I found from youtube and hair bloggers.
8.) The results:

I really love the bounciness of the curls from the curlformers, but they are a bit more loose than the flexi-rod curls and so didn't last more than 2 days. I was even weave-checked at work when I did the curly up-do *abit annoying*!

I must also say that I looove the Beautiful textures curl defining pudding, no residue was left on my hair after it dried, and my hair was nice n soft even on day 2 with no moisturizer! The only not so nice thing is that it didn't give the best hold to my curls, but I am totally ok with that coz I would rather have smooth and soft hair than hard crunchy hair from a holding product with all the alcohols and stuff that give the hair the necessary hold.

I have had a lot of fun with my hair these past 10 weeks, now it's time to keep it under my wig (will post pics of my new wig, lovin it!). Winter is here and it rains almost everyday all day in Kenya during winter :-(

Hope you had a lovely wash day!

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