Kinky to Straight and Back

Two Sundays ago, I straightened my hair. Just like that, because I felt like it.

I had 8AM mass so I woke up at 5:30 to handle my bidness. It was already raining before I started at 6am, yet- like the stubborn grasshopper that I am, I committed to two hours of straightening, knowing that the slightest rain would most definitely revert all my hardwork. Commonsense eludes me sometimes.

So. The day before, I decided that Sunday would be the day I brought out my flat iron. I washed and deep conditioned my hair properly on Saturday, moisturised and sealed before chunky twisting my hair. I used the Carol’s Daughter Chocolat Blow Dry Cream as my heat protectant, and the instructions say to apply to damp hair. Later at night, I undid the chunky twists, put in the Blow Dry Cream and retwisted.

Safely straightening natural hair is one of the things I research every now and then. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen like 20 videos on the subject and read soooo many blog posts. Every girl has her own method, and because of the fear of heat damage, some straightening regimens I’ve seen can make you a little weak. Having applied my heat protectant on Saturday, all I did on Sunday morning was straighten. I didn’t blow dry first, I simply used a flat iron on still damp hair, that’s all.

Beloveds, I went to church late, and the two hours spent on my hair were not enough. The second hour was quite rushed.

Washday: Relaxed Hair Edition

My hair has been in twists for a week, and I am putting off Washday for at least one more week. With washing, frizz is inevitable and I really have not evolved to the point of liking frizzy twists (but more about this later)

My sister’s friend K asked me to install crochet braids for her. Her hair is relaxed, and she had been wearing a closed weave for one month. She did nothing to her hair the entire time she wore the weave so there was a lot of dandruff, and the hair was really dry and quite brittle. I was not supposed to do the hair prep initially, but I decided to because I figured (and I was right) that her hair would be in bad shape. Plus, I have a bunch of products I’m trying out, and as I no longer have a roommate to co-opt as a fellow guinea pig, I was happy to try them out on her hair. Here’s what happened:

1. I took down her weave and loosened the cornrows.
2. I finger detangled with coconut oil, so you could say this doubled as a pre-poo. As I did this, I sectioned her hair into loose bantu knots.
3. Her hair was really dirty, especially at the scalp, so I shampooed twice with a sulfatey shampoo (Nature’s Gentle Touch Herbal Blend, it has Sodium Laureth Sulphate), focusing on the scalp, and rinsed with warm water.
4. By the time I was done shampooing, I did not have any of the sections I started with, so her hair was tangled again.
5. To detangle and deep condition, I used a generous amount of the accompanying Deep Cholesterol Treatment on her hair. I detangled with a wide tooth comb, and securing each section in a loose bantu knot, I covered her hair with a plastic cap. The plan was to have her wear it for 20 minutes, but she ended up wearing it for 45.
6. I rinsed the Cholesterol treatment off with cool water, and wrapped her hair with an old cotton tee, to soak up the excess.
7. When the hair was damp, I separated it into 4 sections, moisturised generously with the African Naturalistas Moisturising and Detangling Leave-In Conditioner, and sealed with a dab of the Carol’s Daughter Mimosa Hair Honey, giving extra attention to her ends. Her hair absorbed the products really fast.
8. To blow dry, I used a comb attachment, and medium heat. To protect her hair, I applied a small squirt of the Carol’s Daughter Chocolat Smoothing Blow Dry Cream to each section. I also oiled her scalp with coconut oil before giving a final blast of air with the blow dryer.

I loved how her hair felt when I was done, and so did she! It was nice and soft. According to her, her hair had never felt so good. We thank the Lord! ^_^ When I knew nothing about hair care, I only remember the ONE salon visit after which my hair felt amazing. They treated me to a typical Healthy Hair Journey washday but to me it was so brand new. Sadly, it was expensive (cost 5 to 8 times as much as a regular wash and set) and as a student I could not make it a routine. Knowledge is power y’all.

She needs a trim, but I do not feel qualified to give her one. It was my first time using the blow dry cream and the outcome now has me looking forward to the day I will use it on my own hair. I blow dried with ease, her roots were not bone straight, but they were stretched nicely.

I can’t cornrow (yet) so she had to go to a salon to get that done. The next day, I installed kinky extensions for her, crochet braid style. She had used them previously for Kinky twists, so they had some curl definition to them like a twist out. I used a latch hook for this (Available in our blog shop) and it took me 90 minutes.

This post is dedicated to all the unbelievers out there who say caring for natural hair is too much work. I treated her hair to pretty much the same regimen that I treat mine. You should put in this much work (which isn’t a lot really) to your relaxed hair. Read relaxed hair blogs too, and you’ll see that as I did with K, Wash day is a similar process for us all. Just teach yourself to be patient and give your hair a little more attention! I never handled my own hair when it was relaxed, so I was actually surprised by the amount of detangling I had to do with hers.

I considered using an egg for a stronger protein treatment, but I wasn’t sure how her hair would react to it, and I figured the Cholesterol treatment would be okay, as it has Keratin in it. If I get to do her hair again, I will definitely take my chances with more protein.

Tell me about your last Wash day?

Love,

AB,

xx

New Additions: AB’s Haul

Hey guys!

I know I said I was done buying products in this post, but since then, I have made new additions to my product stash. Some of them I was dashed, some I bought myself. I didn’t plan to but I ended up indulging. If MeeMee wasn’t the voice of reason, I would have overdone it. I think now I’m done done.

I will be supporting more Naija business this year, and I will also be scouting for hidden gems in my local supermarkets. Going through the hair product aisles and reading the ingredients, I rarely come out with anything but I’m thinking- they ALL can’t be so bad, so I hope to dabble in that too.

And before you call me a Product Junkie, please go see MeeMee’s stash!

Replacements:

Cantu Argan Oil Leave-In Conditioning Repair Cream

Nothing But Intense Healing Mask

Shea Moisture African Black Soap Deep Treatment Purification Masque

Newbies

Olive Oil ORS Girls Gentle Cleansing Shampoo <- samples, was dashed. It says it’s specially formulated for Girls. LOL marketing tricks, na wa.

Carol’s Daughter Monoi Repairing Hair Mask <- from MeeMee’s stash.

Tressemme Hair Spray <- also from Mee-Mee’s stash.

Wild Growth Hair Oil

Carol’s Daughter Mimosa Hair Honey

L’Oreal Ever Sleek Sulfate Free Shampoo <- because I liked the Ever Crème shampoo, I want to see how this works.

Carol’s Daughter Chocolat Smoothing Blow Dry Cream *hint hint*

Bentonite Clay <- been so long since I did a mud wash

Plastic hair clamps <- loving these so much!

Perm rods

Emily Millionaire Cream <- from one of the places I buy braiding hair.

Nature’s Gentle Touch HerbalBlend trio: Shampoo, Conditioner & Cholesterol Deep Conditioning Treatment <- freebies I got from Nature’s Gentle Touch, talked about them in this post.

Not really hair buys, but still from the beauty store, I got Shea Moisture African Black Soap & Shea Moisture Argan Oil & Raw Shea Butter Soap. I’m using the Black Soap at the moment and it’s alright. It smells just like their African Black Soap masque. I’m going to use it one of these days to wash my hair sha.

Also, I ordered Haitian Black Castor Oil from Beautifully Nappy, it should arrive today. For my very organic sistas (like Dr Sandra NGND) who are all about the certified natural, silicone-free life  you should check the store out. She’s a Midas Naturals & Sheabutter Cottage distributor, delivering Nationwide & to Ghana.

P.S. The only products I got in Nigeria are the Emily Millionaire Cream, the Haitian Castor Oil & the trio from Nature’s Gentle Touch.

I need a protein treatment, & am thinking about getting the ApHogee Keratin 2 Minute Reconstructor. I remember this saved me during a period of scary breakage in my relaxed days. What products do you recommend? Please help me! 🙂

What have you bought lately? Have you tried any of the products I got? How were (or are) they for you?

Till next post!

Love,

AB,

xx