Curly Twist Out On Relaxed Hair

Hey!

This week I attempted my first twist out. It turned out pretty good. The only fault I had was that I didn't know to sleep with it and get the same results as the first day.

That, actually, is my problem with most of my braid outs, bantu knot outs and the likes. With braid outs  I just re-braid every night, or put it in a top knot. The latter usually indicates the end of that braid out's existence.


For this twist out I used satin rollers, the Shea Moisture Coconut & Hibiscus Curl Enhancing Smoothie, the Mane 'n Tail Detangler and jojoba oil.

I didn't have enough of the satin rollers so I doubled a few of the twists.

<---NEXT DAY--->

(sorry, this one isn't that clear)

I think it came out great without the use of the Ecostyler Gel.

Thanks for stopping by.

Aly :)

Beginners Guide to a Hair Journey

Hello world,


Writing this post sort of feels like a prodigal son type of return. I was away from my blog for months.

*Quick explanation*

Truth is, I'm not that good at splitting my energy...I mean, I don't know how to put equal parts energy into personal projects. First it was my weight loss efforts, now its just life issues. Horrible I know. In my absence, I graduated from college and got a job in my field *yaay* but with that came stress I didn't know how to manage.


Hair Talk:

I got a request from a friend who reads my blog to do a beginners guide to a hair journey post. So below are detailed explanations for certain terms and practices.

• PRE POO--> In my regimen, I do a pre poo before I shampoo my hair. A pre poo is as the term indicates, a pre treatment before shampooing. Some people use natural oils (coconut oil/olive oil), some  people use deep conditioners, some make up their own concoctions. Some people, pre poo, then shampoo, then condition, then deep condition. Personally, I combine my pre poo time with my deep conditioning time. This is out of sheer laziness and in effort to decrease wash day hours. I do not do this step on co wash day.

• CO WASH--> Co washing is washing your hair with just conditioner, no shampooing. I co wash my hair every other week. In the beginning of my hair journey, I co washed every week. That meant my hair would be washed twice a week, a co wash mid week and a shampoo wash at the end of the week. I was doing hardcore time with my hair in the beginning. Not anymore, now, I co wash this week, next week I shampoo. I don't pre poo/deep condition my hair on co wash days because I leave the conditioner on my hair for about 15 minutes before my shower. I don't really consider it a deep conditioning thing to do that.

• MOISTURIZING and SEALING--> this involves using a hair moisturizer on your hair, concentrating on the ends, and sealing it with an oil of your choice. My favorite moisturizers are the ORS Olive Oil Moisturizing Hair Lotion, and the Neutrogena Triple Moisture Silk touch leave in. The oils I use the most are extra virgin coconut oil and extra virgin olive oil. The frequency of which you practice this depends on your own hair. Sometimes, I need to moisturize my hair every single day, sometimes my hair feels like it can manage going without moisture addition for a day. To moisturize and seal, I think its best to part the hair down the middle, work with one side at a time and create smaller sections in the halves of your hair and deal with them separately, especially when stretching relaxers.

• STRETCHING--> This is when you don't relax your hair for a extended period of time, other than the box recommended time. The relaxer box says 6-8 weeks, I stretch my relaxers typically 10-12 weeks or up to when I just cannot deal with the two textures anymore. Stretching the relaxers allows your hair to gain a degree of new growth that helps  you to avoid overlapping and over processing your hair. It is advised that you don't put relaxer on already relaxed hair as this breaks down that part of the hair too much and causes thin ends and breakage. 

• HEAT PASS--> It is best to limit the amount of direct heat that you apply to your hair. Heat passes are times that people allow themselves to blow dry/flat iron/use a curling iron on their hair. Some people do twice a month, I do once every three months with heat protectant. Lets just say I'm extra pre-cautious lol. *People in the hair world don't consider overhead dryers as direct heat.*

• SEARCH AND DESTROY--> This is when you painstakingly go through every bit of hair and find the split ends and get rid of them individually, instead of cutting other hairs along with the splits.

• PROTECTIVE STYLES- these are styles that help you to keep your hair ends from breaking, they help to keep manipulation at a minimum and help with overall retention. These include, but are not limited to, wigs, buns/top knots, braids, individual twists, hair pieces/ponytail extensions and cornrows/canerows.

GENERAL TIPS:

• For relaxer day: 

Use castor oil, another thick oil or conditioner on the ends of your hair before relaxing. Why? it helps to prevent overlapping and over processing.

Try not to keep the relaxer on your hair/scalp for too long. This is damaging and actually harmful; these chemicals are no joke.

Do a protein treatment no less than a week before your relaxer day. It strengthens the hair shaft and prepares it for the chemicals of the relaxer.

After relaxing do another protein treatment to rebuild the hair. ***I'm not sure if this is for everybody, but it works for me***

• For heat usage:

Allow yourself a number of heat passes that you are comfortable with. This means don't kill your hair progress with heat damage.

Use a heat protectant.

• For general hair growth:

Be kind to your hair. Don't rake a comb through it, comb from the ends, up. 

Give yourself scalp massages for at least two minutes. It feels good and helps with blood circulation.

I hope this was a good compilation of tips and explanations. If I missed any other tips, please leave them in the comments section. Thanks!

Aly