My (hair) stimulus package

I recently decided that I was not happy with my hair. It was starting to look dry and stiff and just blah. It happens to the best of us.

From President Obama's administration, I've learn that the best way to get yourself out of a bad situation is to whip up a stimulus package. But for my purposes, I needed a hair stimulus package. I needed to take dramatic and immediate action to get myself back on track.

The major component of my hair stimulus package was foreign aid, by way of the Dominican Republic. If you don't already know, Dominicans have perfected ethnic hair styling. Unfortunately, in the south, Dominican hair salons are few and far between. This means that a blow out that would cost you $20 in New York costs $45 here. Instead of coughing up $45 for a hairstyle that will last me a week, I decided to recreate my own Dominican-inspired salon at home.


I used Dominican hair products to shampoo, condition and rinse, then styled my hair by setting it on rollers, then wrapping it after it was dry. I was 7 weeks post relaxer when this picture was taken, so I had to straighten my roots. I used a mini flat iron instead of using the traditional Dominican technique of using a blow dryer with a round brush.

I will review the products and tools that I used, as well share this new regimen in upcoming posts. Stay tuned!

Hair regimen: Week 2

For week 2 of my hair regimen, I am currently using the following products:

Products

1. Castor oil, currently using Home Health Castor Oil
2. Moisturizing shampoo, currently using Hair One Tea Tree Cleansing Conditioner
3. Moisturizing conditioner, currently using Motions at Home Moisture Plus After Shampoo Conditioner
4. Leave-in conditioner, currently using Aphogee Pro-Vitamin Leave-In Conditioner

Tools
I normally use the same tools that I used during week 1 so that I can do a stream treatment. Sometimes I cut corners and just cover my hair with a plastic cap.

Steps

1. The pre-shampoo is the same as week 1.
2. I shampoo with the shampoo listed above.
3. After rinsing out the shampoo, I get out of the shower and use the conditioner listed above. I deep condition for at least 20 minutes using the steam treatment again or just a plastic cap.
   
4. I rinse out the conditioner and comb my hair out under the running water to prevent breakage.
   
5. I squeeze out the access water from my hair, apply the leave-in conditioner and style.
   

Product review: Hair One Tea Tree Cleansing Conditioner

A few months ago, my mom was ranting and raving about a product that she had discovered at Sally's called Hair One. It is supposed to be Sally's version of Wen. I had seen the infomercials for Wen, a glorious new product that combined shampooing and conditioning into one easy step and left hair silky and soft. I didn't want to cough up the $29.99 for Wen, so I was happy to hear that Sally's had a similar product for $10.99.

I headed straight over to Sally's and picked up a bottle of Hair One Tea Tree Cleansing Conditioner (there are 4 types of Hair One-- the tea tree version is for dry scalp).

According to the directions, you work the product into wet hair, let it sit, then rinse it out. No conditioner is needed. It can also be used as a leave-in.

After the first use, my hair looked great. It was soft, shiny and bouncy. The product didn't do anything for my dry scalp. The next use, still soft, shiny and bouncy, but a little less so. I thought to myself that I must have done something wrong because I didn't get the same results. The third time, my hair was looking positively dull and lack-luster. I called my mom to see if she had the same results. She said that she stopped using it as leave-in and thought that could be what was making my hair look dull. The next time I used it, I used a regular leave-in. This time, my hair look completely dry. I panicked. Dried out hair is only one step away from the nasty b-word. Breakage!

I called my mom again. She suggested that I switch over to Hair One Olive Oil Cleansing Conditioner because it is for dry and damaged hair. She also said that she started using conditioner after using Hair One for added moisture.

I started using Hair One as a conditioning shampoo instead of as a standalone product and my hair finally started getting back to it's normal healthy state.

The Verdict: Hair One Tea Tree Cleansing Conditioner works well as a conditioning shampoo, but I strongly advise against using it as a standalone product, especially if your hair is color-treated and relaxed, like mine. This product is absolutely useless for dry scalp. If you have dry scalp and dry hair issue and want to try one of the Hair One products, skip this one. You'd be better off using a good dandruff shampoo on your scalp followed by the Hair One Olive Oil Cleansing Conditioner, then finishing with a good moisturizing conditioner. I have not tried Hair One Olive Oil Cleansing Conditioner, but I plan on giving it a try after the tea tree runs out.

Hair regimen: Week 1

As promised, here is week 1 of my hair regimen.

Week 1 starts the first time that I wash my hair after a relaxer. I am currently using the following products and tools:

Products

1. Castor oil, currently using Home Health Castor Oil
2. Clarifying shampoo, currently using Neutrogena Clean Replenishing Shampoo
3. Strengthening conditioner, currently using Pantene Pro-V Restoratives Breakage Defense Conditioner
4. Moisturizing conditioner, currently using Motions at Home Moisture Plus After Shampoo Conditioner
5. Leave-in conditioner, currently using Aphogee Pro-Vitamin Leave-In Conditioner
   

Tools

1. Plastic cap
2. Terry cloth turban
3. Rubber gloves
4. Microwaveable bowl
   

Pre-shampoo

1. To get started, I fill a medium-sized glass bowl with water and pop it in the microwave. My microwave is very very old, so I set the timer for 4 minutes to make sure the water gets nice and hot.
2. While the water is heating up, I work Castor oil into my hair (I started using Castor oil because my hair was looking very flat and it's supposed to make your hair thicker. FYI, the texture is a bit sticky. I wasn't expecting that when I first got it).
3. When the water's ready, I slip on a pair of rubber gloves and pour the hot water over the terry cloth turban and squeeze out the excess water. I use the thick rubber gloves used for cleaning so that I don't scald my hands with the hot water.
4. I put the turban put on my head then cover it with a plastic cap. This whole technique with the turban and plastic cap is a modified version of a steaming treatment that I found on the Long Hair Care Forum (LHCF).
5. I let that sit for at least 15 minutes before shampooing.
   

Shampoo, deep condition and leave-in

1. I shampoo my hair with the shampoo listed above. Nothing special there.
   
2. Next, I get out of the shower and mix a strengthening and moisturizing conditioner together in a bowl and make sure to slather it on super thick from root to tip.
   
3. Then I do the whole steam turban thing again and leave it for at least 15 minutes.
4. While rinsing out the conditioner, I comb my hair out under the running water with a wide tooth comb to help prevent breakage. This is another tip that I picked up on LHCF.
   
5. I finish up with a good leave-in and style.
   

8 tips for retaining length for relaxed and/or colored hair

Sometime last year, I decided I wanted long beautiful tresses. You know, like Beyonce's, but real. I knew that I was facing a challenge because of daily flat ironing, bimonthly relaxer and semi annual highlights. After some digging, I stumbled across the Long Hair Care Forum (LHCF). This site is amazing, but proceed with caution. You'll spend hours pouring over the information.

I also found Healthy Textures, a blog by Macherieamour (a LHCF member). On this site, I found an awesome hair challenge that gave me the roadmap to growing my hair to great lengths. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find the page again, but I can share my version. The original version uses lots of Mizani products. I'm sure those products are lovely, but I swapped them out for drugstore products and made some additional changes to suit my hair needs. With or without the Mizani products, I've seen significant growth.

Over the next several weeks, I'll share my weekly hair regimen. It does take a bit of work, but the results are so worth it. In the meantime, here are some of the tips that I've picked up that have really improved the health of my hair:

1. I never dry my hair on a high setting. Medium is a lot less damaging. Cool is the best, but I have no patience for the extra drying time.
   
2. The best way to dry my hair is under a hooded dryer or air drying. Again, this is a lot less damaging. I will blow dry my hair on medium to straighten it, but only if it's 80% dry from air drying.
   
3. I restrict flat ironing to once every 1-2 weeks.
   
4. I always wrap my hair at night. This one's a no-brainer, but totally essential.
   
5. I try to do a pre-shampoo with oil and deep condition every time I wash my hair.
   
6. I try to "stretch" my relaxers, meaning that instead of getting my hair relaxed every 6-8 weeks, I try to stretch it to 10-12 weeks.
7. When my roots start to get fuzzy (7-8 weeks post relaxer), I usually do a braid out. This means that I braid my hair in sections and either dry it under the hooded dryer or allow it to air dry overnight. This technique lets my hair rest for a few weeks, which really helps retain growth.
   
8. About 6 months ago, I started moisturizing my hair with a creme moisturizer followed by oil. On LHCF, this technique is referred to as sealing because the oil helps to seal in the moisturizer, allowing it to better penetrate the hair.

I'll elaborate on some of these topics in the coming weeks, but this is really just the tip of the iceberg (I'm not nearly as hardcore as some of the members on LHCF).