Wash Day

Since I took so long to put my mini-twists in (finished them Saturday evening), and I didn't want the Curlformer curls to get shrunken, my head /hair hadn't been washed in just over a week. Although the Aloe Vera Juice and Shea butter had done a good job in keeping my hair moisturised for the best part of 4 days, more was needed; hence, the large amount of conditioner used this time around - my hair was craving it mightily. and absorbed it ALL. No drippies on the wall, no siree.
The coconut oil was added in after primarily to semi-mask the smell of the aloe vera juice, but I know that there is some added moisture benefits too.

So I hopped to it  - so quickly in fact, I forgot to pre-poo and do an apple cider vinegar rinse after. Whoopsie.

1) Rinsed through hair and scalp with warm water. 2) Applied Burt's Bronner's Magic Lavender Liquid Soap and gently massaged into my scalp. Rinsed thoroughly. Repeated. 3) Added approximately 3 handfuls of Garnier Ultra Doux Vanille & Papaye Conditioner. Left in for about 5 minutes, then rinsed. 4) I wrapped my head in a towel while I sorted myself out, and then added some aloe vera juice. 5) Added some Extra Virgin Coconut Oil on top.


And...that's it. Honestly. It was very short and quick, which is always great because spending a fortnight in the shower is not where my passions lay.

                                                          It's an ardent pleasure to return to the convenience of twists.

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Look What I Found :)

I don't normally do hauls because...well, I never really buy in that well. Things just sort of build up.

I had an hour to kill in Le Marais area and wandered into an American Apparel shop. I've never been into my life, so it was interesting for me.

At the very front desk, I noticed some Dr Bronner's products. I actually used them last year, but more as part of my hippy laundry liquid experiments more than anything else. This time, I was looking for a convenient inbetween for my bentonite clay, and the anti dandruff shampoo.

I picked up a small size of the lavender as a sample, because I wanted something soothing, rather than stimulating.

Know what's even better than finding an affordable sample size of a product you wanna try?

Ohhhh yeah.

Unfortunately for me, I ran out of aloe vera gel. So I took this as an opportunity to pick something up from my local heath food store (Naturalia) that I've been considering for a while:

Aloe Vera Juice, opposed to the gel. Unfortunately, this behemoth did not come with a 30% off sticker which, at €20 euros, would have been highly appreciated!

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5 Hour Wash Day

It began with some hubris and my Curlformers.

I can't even remember the last time I did a Curlformer set, so when I saw this tutorial, I was going in like a flash. Yes, I would like stretched out curls for my friend's birthday party! And I had a whole day free as well, so the caveat of it taking 3 hours didn't phase me.
I only remembered to pre-treat my hair with coconut oil that morning, so it got half an hour instead of overnight.
I started off with a bentonite clay treatment, which was bad of me - I've been meaning to do a Cassia for a couple of weeks, but didn't want to end up with minuscule pieces of grass in my head whilst meeting new people. So bentonite only it was. I added a bit more water to it than normal, to make it easier to rinse out, as well as  my usual splash of apple cider vinegar

Using less water meant my hair wasn't as weighed down, but it still had the same effect as normal. I always love the results of my bentonite clay treatments, because they're always the same - happy, bouncy hair, with pretty defined coils.

After rinsing out the bentonite, my hair felt so yummy, I considered skipping conditioning. Then I realised that this was crazy talk, conditioned as normal (leaving conditioner on for 5 minutes) and the skipped out the shower.

Once out, I applied aloe vera juice to my hair, and then split it up into sections, in preparation for the curlformer business. Smaller sections = easier to handle. I deliberately made myself choose smaller sections, and on those sections, I applied some Shea butter mix and Eco Styler Olive Oil gel. 

I knew I didn't have enough Curlformers for my entire head (I hoped...), but because my sections were so small, they dried faster than normal and initially still came out silky smooth when I took the Curlformers off that section to use elsewhere. I used rosewater in my spray bottle to refresh the parts of my hair that had dried whilst waiting. 

I started all these shennanigans (from the pre-poo) at 10 in the morning. 

By half 3 in the afternoon, I was done. 

5 hours??

It was all pink on the left and all orange on the right.
I need to be more strategic where I use my curlformers - in some parts, my hair has already outgrown them!

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 Becase of my haphazard placement of the curlformers, I couldn't stretch them in the same manner as naptural85 does in her video, so I gently pulled the curls to one side, for a regal pinned up kind of look.

I only have one picture because by the time I was ready, it was time to go! I over applied the gel in some areas, so I got flakes *sigh*

I find that Curlformers only ever last me one day. I'll have to work out a way to make them work for me for longer.

But despite the loss of the curls, I didn't want to let the awesome stretch go. So I started mini twists the next day (Saturday), trying to do at least 2 for each curl section. Today is the third day, and I'm barely halfway through >.< However, my hair still feels so moisturised from the aloe vera juice and shea butter from Saturday! Win!

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Greek Wash Day

I had been pondernig doing another Greek Yoghurt treatment, and then a colleague requested an Apple Yoghurt cake for his birthday and wham! Perfect excuse.

Okay, I bought the yoghurt before hand, but the cake excuse made me feel it was justified. Similar recipe to what I used here.

So small. And yet, so deliciously powerful.

The cake was both simple and simply divine, as were my results when using it in my hair.

To even write what I did feels sliightly patronising, but here goes!
1) Slathered my hair in coconut oil overnight. 2) Added 2 tablespoon fuls of greek yoghurt to a bowl, along with 2 tablespoonfuls of apple cider vinegar and 10 drops of peppermint essential oil. Mixed with a wooden spoon. 3) Applied yoghurt mix to my hair and left it for 20 minutes (possibly whilst wearing a plastic bag or something. I don't remember). 4) Rinsed out of hair thoroughly, sniffing for peppermint as a hint as to what areas were still incomplete.

As an experiment, I liberally added some aloe vera gel to one side of my hair to see if it made a difference and it did.
It dried, as gels are wont to do, making my hair feel crunchy with it's soft hold and encouraging me to put some Felix Capillus on it to soften it up >.<

And that was it! Ah, I love wash days that don't take a lot of effort...

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Homely and I know it...

After my wash day last week, I again put my hair in twists - at least, like I'd tried to do the week prior. I was going to add some Curlformers to the end, for a twist and curlformer set but I decided to leave it as they are and just wear them in a ponytail.

Wearing chunky twists isn't exactly a la mode from all the tutorials I've seen. Which is kind of funny, seeing how practical and easy they are.

That probably explains the lack of tutorials on them then...

 I think reading other people's blogs and experiences can be really helpful - I got the idea to wear my stretch style out of the house from Shelli (who is also doing the same thing coincidentally).

However, I'm probably going to leave it until my next wash day instead of when I have time to style it again. .

My horizons of what's possible and what I find acceptable for me are being gently nudged and I like it.

I was still surprised when I got complimented on it though!

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Wash day: Reboot

I hadn't done a Cassia since before Christmas - so I knew I was due for one. If not out of necessity, at least to use up the bag I've got!

Bentonite on the right, Cassia on the left

I was feeling really sluggish about doing it, because I needed to do a bentonite as well, but I didn't want to have another Wash day where I end up doing it all at once: bentonite, cassia, tea rinse, condition etc etc...

And then I remembered that last year, I totally used to mix the two together! Yay, minimising a step!

I wanted a smoother, runnier mix, so I only used about 1 tablespoon of bentonite clay and the same the same for the Cassia too and then added water slowly, allowing the clays to absorb the water, so it wouldn't thicken on me suddenly.

1)Pre-pooed with coconut oil an hour prior instead of overnight, and finger-detangled.
2) Added mixed clays to hair and left it on for 30 - 45  minutes .
3) Rinsed with warm water until it ran clear, and focused the shower head on my scalp. I always miss a spot! 4) Did a black tea rinse, making sure to saturate hair and scalp
5) Wrung hair out gently and applied the Shea butter and avocado conditioner, mixed with a little Felix Capillus (ran out of Olive Oil). Put on a baggy and left it on for another 30 minutes and then rinsed out, whilst finger detangling.
6) Rinsed with Apple Cider Vinegar. (Forgot to lean back instead of forward. My eyes regretted it immediately.)
6) Applied Rose Aloe Leave in, and sealed with hempseed oil and shea butter.

I don't know what's happened to my washing my hair in sections. When I use the clays, I just don't any more...
I was going to go without a leave in at first ,but after ten minutes, I realised that my hair was not about that life and put some in. I'm slowly using up the hempseed oil. Although using that and the Brazil Nut Oil made me appreciate the effect of using something slightly heavier on my ends, I don't think I'll be repurchasing them as staples. I might grab some Brazil Nut Oil every now and then, because I adore the smell...

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