Our Regimens

As at July 2014.

MeeMee’s Regimen

When the ‘fro ‘fro is out to play

Daily:
– Spritz with homemade mixture of water, olive/castor oil, and tea tree oil. Once or twice daily (depending on moisture situation at night time).
– Castor oil on sides and edges.
– Seal with Cantu Shea butter Leave-in Conditioning Repair Cream.
Weekly:
– Co-wash with Herbal Essence Hello Hydration Moisturising Conditioner.
Every two weeks:
– Wash with African black soap.
– DC with homemade DC mix of molasses, honey, olive oil, and moisturising conditioner.

When hair is in protective style (usually braids)

Daily:
– Spritz with homemade mixture as above.
– Spray scalp with oil mixture containing argan oil, tea tree oil, olive oil, and castor oil.
– Spray roots and body of braids with Creme of Nature Strength & Shine Leave-In Conditioner with Argan Oil.
– Finish with SheaMoisture Coconut & Hibiscus Frizz-Free Curl Mousse.
Weekly:
– Wash with African black soap / L’Oreal Ever Creme Sulfate-free Moisture System Nourishing Shampoo.
– Apple Cider Vinegar rinse.
– Condition with Herbal Essence Hello Hydration Moisturising Conditioner.

AB’s Regimen

These days, I’m mostly trying to maintain one style or another. Washday happens between styles.

WASHDAY

Once a month, I henna and do a moisturising deep treatment.

On non-Henna Washdays:
1. I shampoo with a sulfate free shampoo. 
2. Moisturising Deep condition.
3. Moisturise with a leave-in and seal.
4. Thread hair and leave to air dry.
5. When hair is dry, style on stretched moisturised hair.
When hair is loose and I’m free styling, I may co-wash in the middle of the week if I feel like it.

STAPLES

I like trying new products, but I’m also identifying the ones I love. I may not have them at all times, but I consider these to have made staple status:
1. Leave-in: Cantu Shea Butter Leave-In Conditioning Repair Cream
2. Deep Conditioner- Nothing But Intense Healing Mask
3. Oils- Jamaican Black Castor Oil, Coconut Oil, Olive Oil.
4. Co-washing: Herbal Essences Hello Hydration Moisturising Conditioner.

28 thoughts on “Our Regimens”

    • Too many products? Read the ingredients & then do eenie mainie mo and choose lol, or choose the one with the prettiest packaging or smell.
      I’m not really joking.

      Research the products you’re considering. Google them, read reviews. Buy the ones with the more favourable reviews. However this doesn’t guarantee that they’ll work for you!

      Whatever your criteria for choice is, don’t be afraid to try different things. Then stick with the ones that work. And for the ones that don’t, keep trying new products when you can.

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  2. Nice and simple regimen… sometimes i also wash with african black soap but the bar strips my hair so i just dissolved half of it and mix in some glycerine and castor oil. This works well for me.

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  7. I love your blog!
    So so I need some advice please, I’ve been natural for over 3 years now and in between that, I’ve cut my hair twice. I’m on my third journey and the growth is so much faster than ever before. What seems to be working for me is that I always have my hair in braids, but my edges were not fairing so well. So for the last 2 months of 2014, I decided to wear my natural hair out and it was a total disaster. I got lost in between the daily moisturising, silk scarfs, and all that serenren. It was all too much for me so I just left it. Don’t look so horrified. I know, I know. At least I tried to comb it once a week. The hair started to break so badly, like chunks would just come off, so I put my braids back in . Now I’m stuck in a battle between Team No edges & less stress or Team keep your edges and have breaking hair. Help.

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    • Hey Gbemi!

      I love your blog too! ❤

      And I am all too familiar with this struggle. I love braids but my hairline has shown me that the feeling is not mutual. I'm wearing marley twists now, and I have my edges all out and very fuzzy. I brush them, I know they make the hair look "old" but better this than broken edges. You could try getting a good edge control product, to slick your edges down when you're in braids, because I think the best thing is really to leave them alone, leave them out of your styling plans.
      And if you still want to involve them, it's good for the front braids to be picked in bigger sections, and not so tight.

      With your hair, leaving it and not combing was actually a good idea. Trying to wean myself off combs and brushes with little success. For healthy hair, the silk scarf is necessary (natural or relaxed) and the moisture too! Do you deep condition regularly? Upping your DCs could change everything. If you DC effectively, you may not need to moisturise daily. Once a week or twice a week, much less stress!

      And, since you're in braids a lot, you could try a castor oil challenge. Massage your scalp with Jamaican black castor oil at least 3 times a week. Commit to doing it for 3 months. I did this 2 years ago, and it increased my growth rate for half the time period, but also gave me softer hair that was more accepting of my products.

      This has been a very long comment! Let me know if this helps 🙂

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  9. Hi. Thank you for this post. I’m a ‘confused’ nappy girl. I did the big chop in July 2014 but 6 months down the line, I’m regretting the decision. I have done some extensive research on this hair growth journey but every blogger has almost something different to say. I don’t know which advice to follow. My hair is obviously suffering as a result. Help!!!!!

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    • Hey Chinyere!
      Sorry about your travails with your hair.
      Different bloggers have different things to say because everybody’s hair is unique. We share our regimens here, with no guarantee that they will work for you. As you can see, we posted two regimens (one for each person, not one single regimen). What would help is, if you’re trying something, stick with it for like a month, to form your opinion. And don’t try too many things at once, so that when your hair is still acting up, you can easily identify the reasons why. To talk more, email us hello@thekinkandi.com x

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    • Hey Lara, neither of us have used this oil. But from other people’s experiences, it can be used to pre-poo, as a sealant, in a hot oil treatment or as an addition to a deep conditioning mix. Pretty much anything you could do with any oil.

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  12. Hola! Quick question, I noticed you use products with silicones but use a sulfate free shampoo. Don’t you get build up? I decided to try going silicone free mostly just to see what would happen and it turned out my hair is a million tomes more moisturized. Like so moisturized it’s bordering on too moisturized and I need a protein treatment. Now this product craving witchcraft is tempting me to try New stfur that aren’t silicone free and I guess I’m just looking for an excuse

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    • Hey Zainab! 🙂

      No, I do not get build up.

      I use products with silicones but not heavily. I am heavy handed when I use but what I mean is, I use my leave-in only after a wash (which is every week or every 10 days) and my Moisturising silicone conditioner (Hello Hydration) is only used to refresh my hair between washes, when it isn’t so dirty, which isn’t very often. So far so good. The silicone in the Hello Hydration is Bis-amino propyl dimethicone, a more water soluble cone than plain dimethicone which is present in my Cantu leave-in.

      Also, because my sulfate free shampoo is gentle, I use it during each wash. If I were to go without shampooing for a month or 6 weeks, I think sulfates would be necessary.

      Interestingly, the one time I had a serious build-up problem, I was using a silicone free product (also sulfate & paraben & mineral oil free) & thought I could get away with using loads of it and not clarifying or using a shampoo.

      Since a silicone free regimen is working so well for you, I think you should look into other cone free products, like Midas Naturals or Jessicurl (have you tried them?)

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  14. Hi! I’m getting a BC soon but I really want to get some color into my hair. Someone recommended using henna to dye it as it is natural and not damaging but I don’t know how to go about it plus I need a lot of me-directed hair tips for a new natural as all this general advice is confusing me.
    Please help a sister

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  16. Hi!!!!!!!
    Lovely post even though imma just reading it. I spot a TWA but I want to colour my hair. Do you think it’s safe to use Dark and lovely hair dye? I think it’s in a tube or so. They got different colours. Pls pls pls pls reply ASAP.

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    • Thanks MO!

      I haven’t tried Dark & Lovely dyes o, but I know many people who have used the Creme of Nature with Argan Oil collection, and I used it myself to dye my extensions here.

      Dying a TWA is one thing I wish I did, because it’s even prettier when your hair grows and you have a two-toned fro!

      Please note though, that dyeing is a harsh change for your hair, so be ready to deep condition a lot, up your moisture, up your protein, to avoid breakage. MeeMee’s dye experience is over here

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