Beast Mode... An Ayurvedic Hair Challenge

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Is it possible to have a chilled out challenge? I'm trying.

The rules of the challenge are simple to explain but tricky to find in one place.

1. It is hosted and being run by Curly Proverbz
2. It is an ayurvedic/plant based challenge with a prize for the winner . It runs for 3 months and has two start dates: 1st Feb - 1st May OR 14th Feb - 14th May.
3. To enter the challenge [and the competition, I assume], you post a picture on instagram or facebook with the tags:  #beastmodehairkit #curlyproverbzhairgrowthchallenge, #bellebarorganic .

Prizes:

1st prize 6 months supply of the hair growth kit by belle bar.

2nd prize 3 months

3rd Prize $65 gift card for belle bar organic for email entry

4. If you hate DIY-ing with a passion, she has collaborated with bellebarorganics so you can get some of the products from them. She shows how she uses them here.
5. If you love DIY-ing (or have a ridiculously-sized stash to use up, like me 😅), then the essential videos seem to be:

• A hair tea [video for DIY recipe here and how she uses it in a week here]
• A hair oil [video for DIY recipe here, how she applies and uses it here] combined with scalp massage [video here]
• A deep conditioning mix [video here]

Because I'm DIY4lyfe, I fall in with the budget crowd, whose suggested routine looks like this:

The stuff in italics and bolded are my own personal notes as to how I'm going to modify it for myself.

#BeastModehaironabudget

Week 1

Prepoo with oil [Onion Garlic ] OR Gloss (1 tsp of your favourite ayurvedic powder) and conditioner

Shampoo & Moisturizing DC – Anita Grant Coconut Monoi shampoo & Shea Moisture JBCO.

Leave in conditioner – Shea Butter Cottage leave in or Anita Grant Double Cream

Use DIY tea max 3 days in a week. [See recipe below]

DIY Oil scalp and massage max 3 days in a week. [See recipe below]

Moisturise and seal daily [Using Jasmine oil or Almocado Coco Moisture Butter]

Week 2

Cowash or Clay Wash & Moisturizing DC. Rhassoul Clay or Eden Body Works Coconut Cowash and  Shea Moisture JBCO

Leave in conditioner – Shea Butter Cottage leave in or Anita Grant Double Cream

Use DIY tea max 3 days in a week. [See recipe below]

DIY Oil scalp and massage max 3 days in a week. [See recipe below]

Moisturise and seal daily [Using Strengthening tea or more moisturising tea and jasmine oil or Almocado coco moisture butter]

Supplements

Drink Bamboo tea at least every other day, take Vitamin D, eat lots of veggies 
[She suggests MSM, Vitamin C and a multivitamin]







My alterations & recipes
1. The Onion Garlic Prepoo instead of using the DIY oil as a prepoo.
I caught wind of this video down below and thought it was worth a try every other week. I liked her video on how Ayurveda could be applied to coily hair and how she showed her results using the prepoo over a couple of months.

I always have onions and garlic in the house so I thought, eh what harm can it do?💁🙈 Apparently, it's anti-bacterial so might sort out any grunk causing bacteria and contains sulfur which is good for growing hair follicles.

                                                                        We shall see.

Doesn't the hair tea look pretty??

2. My DIY tea this week consists of 1 tablespoon each of :

• Catnip - reduces split ends and conditions hair.
• Green Tea - blocks DHT and reduces shedding.
• Infused jasmine flowers - Waste not, want not, right? Left over from this successful venture. The leftover oil still on the flowers adds some richness to the mixture.
• Hops - adds shine, strength and makes hair appear thicker.
• Calendula - soothing, soothing, and even more scalp soothing! Moisturizes and restore strands, increases collagen production and circulation in hair follicles.
• Coltsfoot - contains high content of cystine (an amino acid), sulfur and silica (minerals); will strengthen the hair, promote growth. Soothes the scalp,  softens and adds elasticity and sheen to the hair shaft. Guards against microbial infection, and exhibits anti-inflammatory properties.
  
• Red Cornflowers - to make it look pretty and appealing!
• Lavender flowers - for the smell. The scent of hops is not to be trifled with.

When I made it into a tea, I used 2 tablespoons of the tea mix and I added 1 tablespoon of some ayurvedic powder (I couldn't find my henna) and 1 teaspoon of amla then poured hot water over it and left to steep for 4-6 hours.

DIY fenugreek oil 

Originally, I was going to make a traditional amla oil and then infused fenugreek but I...forgot 

So far I have some fenugreek infused coconut oil and some fenugreek infused sesame oil.

I'll be using both for my head massages and seeing how I like it 'em. 

Are you taking part? On Instagram or facebook?

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Do More With Less - Stash Busting 2018

How does this keep happening?

There are layers to this madness. Also, the rest of it is in my room.

Looking at this basket full of...well, stuff, I sigh.

My body feels heavy. 

Why do I keep hoarding? 

I find it so easy to tell myself that I'm actually quite minimalistic compared to some people but I know that the only area of my life that I'm truly pleased with how much (little?) I have is my skin care routine. I half want to push it all into a cupboard for another year, shoving my hand in intermittently for whatever single product I desire (ignoring all others!) and then rinse and repeat for the new year 2019.

Naaah. I can feel that this year is a going to be a year of letting go.

And jeez, isn't that a scary thought? To let go? To release? It's almost easier to stay in the spaces we've set out for ourselves than to explore the frightening liberation of a huge world without the weight. To stay buried under all the things I persuaded myself I needed in order to succeed at my hair goals and thus at life.

This year, I want to get down to mid back length (I'm about an inch or two away from my back bra strap). Having this hoard is definitely not going to help me get there. Lemme strip back and find what works for me, rather than trying to (unsuccessfully) emulate the success of others.

I'm still going to try and I AM going to be more mindful about my hair care. No more rush job on a Sunday because I think I should. I want to do less in general, so that I have the time to really experience the little I will be doing.

So rather than: 'wash deep condition strengthen condition stretch moisturise wait to dry style for twenty years go go go'...I want to just do one at a time and do it well. Does that make sense? I feel really wishy washy here and vague with my ramblings, but I know what I mean in my belly. I can feel the fire starting to crackle there for the fighting and struggling and fear and anxiety coming this year and I'm determined to face it without the weight of somebody else's armour.

The plan  hope/desire hair-wise for this year:

• Keep using henna.
• Moisturise regularly using my herb teas.
• Decide what products I like and will actually use (I'm a sucker for a good smell or a natural hair fad). I am currently building a spreadsheet and dear God, it is a behemoth of a thing. I know I'll be grateful when it's done but right now, it feels like extreme self-flagellation by Excel 😂
• Get rid of products I'm ambivalent about [including through this blog and instagram]. 
• Keep my needs and routines simple. 
• Connect with people, not 'brands', on Instagram. (You know what I mean. Can't have a conversation with an actual person, just getting media snippets and regurgitated niceties. If I don't know where their general interests lay...well, no ma'am, no ham, no thank you.)

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Wash Day Inspired by 22nd Century Natural Woman and the Ladies of Chad

That is a long arse title but writing this up made me feel like this wash day was a long one. 

I promise it wasn't as long as it apparently appears.

I started off by slathering my head in the last of my fenugreek infused coconut oil.

It shouldn't have been the last but I got fed up and made sure it was.

After about an hour, I jumped into the shower with Mane Choice Easy on the Curls Shampoo, making sure to cleanse. Usually I twist or plait my hair but today I decided to bantu knot instead.

There were a few moments of unraveling but I liked it better - it made my hair easier to access for the different steps and I felt I was manipulating it less.

Then I stroked on a DIY deep conditioner  I'd made earlier inspired by 22nd Century Natural Woman's Deep conditioner. (Her channel is here).

I used:

• a tablespoon of shea butter,
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 generous tablespoon of honey
• about 1/4 cup (60ml) of freshly boiled rosemary tea (rosemary leaves + hot water - DONE)
• 2 teaspoons of guar gum.

Experimenting down to my very bones, I started off by throwing everything except the guar gum and rosemary tea in a bowl and smashing them together with my electric whisk.

No dice.

So I just kept adding guar gum and rosemary tea in turn until it all sort of came together and stopped looking like it was on the verge of separation.

My deep conditioner ended up having an interesting moulding dough texture (too much guar gum?)

 but it slid on my hair smoover than a 90s R'n'B love song.

 Aaaaall my liiiiiife....been waiting for someone like yooooou

Bantu knots were the stretch keeper of the day and they were all covered with a plastic cap and then submerged under with an impromptu head wrap before wandering around for a while.

In public or just in my house? You deciiide...

Came back and uncovered everything. I'd expected the DC to have hardened but it was still liquidy and soft.
I rinsed it out easily with warm water and there was some exceptional slip thanks to the guar gum. I bantu knotted again (SERIOUSLY. WHY HAVE I NEVER DONE THIS BEFORE?!) and smothered my hair in a T-shirt to dry/be less wet.

What to do next? Well, I'd seen this video on facebook...



And I thought to myself, yeah, nah, I don't know where to find chébé seeds (a gluten free brand just comes up - okay, okay so I did try to find it - LOL! 😂) but I found the slathering action of the concoction really soothing and reasoned it was just really well protected with heavy protected then braided. I do that anyway without the heavy product. And when it's the first of July, but the coconut oil looks like this:

Solid as a rock!

Then maybe my hair needs a little bit heavy duty protection.

So I left on Alikays Lemongrass leave in, and then added my butterful delight from Almocado - the Twist and Twirl cream. It's a water based butter cream and I think I may be in love. But more on that later.

I went in with the butter on the ends - as in, no subtlety here please, I want - no, need -  to believe it is buttered.

'Cept even MORE generous!

My hair went from this on the ends:

Bare hair

With Alikay Naturals Lemon Grass Leave In

To this.

Aaand finally, with Almocado Twist and Twirl Buttercream!
I choose this area to show the different squiggles on my head too - although it made a significant difference on the right, I don't think it made any on  the left.

And then I braided it. I did have some obvious residue because I've never used so much before (and a little of this stuff normally goes a loooooong way for me) but, like I said, I was inspired by the women of Chad for some extra protection against our British summertime weather™. I popped a scarf on it then bed.

This morning, some of the plaits still had white stuff but by the end of the day, it was all gone.

I'm hoping that the extra butter layer helps with moisture and keeping my ends feeling nourished. We'll see how that goes.

I mean, I'm just like....I better not wake up tomorrow with some crispy hair.

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I'm in - Love Your Tresses 6 month challenge!

How long has it been since I jumped on someone else's challenge bandwagon? I mean, I set myself my own, but that got a little bit side tracked....plus, it's better with friends, amirite? (Yeah!)

Anyway! Fiona of LYT is hosting a challenge and I am in like chicken (that made more sense in my head - please, don't judge me in my delicate state).

Her rules look like my usual to-do list/self-care goals, so no major change ups, which is great as I am notoriously rubbish with making monumental changes to my lifestyle - yay!

Also, we use the same leave-in so it must be fate *pushes box stuffed with various other leave-ins out of sight*

I'll be doing all the rules, except rule number 9 - far too lazy, no other reason.

My only addition, in light of my busted gut, is:
Rule 11: Eat to heal my gut.
Rule 12: Chill out more productively.

So - here's my contribution to Rule number 1 - my starting photo(s) I think of my hair in four quadrants: Left and right, then top and bottom of each.

Left bottom length: Healthy looking 10 inches, anaemic looking 11.5 inches - Arm Pit Length

Left top length: Same as above - healthy 10 inches, wispy 11.5 inches - shoulder length.

Right bottom length: 10 inches - just above Armpit Length (APL)

Right top length: 11.5 inches - collar bone.

I don't have any goals as such (but let's be honest, retaining enough to reach bra strap length by June would be lovely) - mainly,  I'd just like it to stop falling out so much!

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Sick

Say hello to my little friends.

All 3 (million) of them at this point maybe..

Nobody likes getting sick.

But when getting sick once means that it will be a snowball of different treatments, side effects and compounding illnesses, it feels like a real pain in the butt.

I've been sick since October. An infection that should have gone away, but didn't. My doctor recommended a treatment that I prayed and thought would work.

It didn't.

I spent Christmas and New Year sizzling in my skin.

The second (different) doctor recommended antibiotics. By now, the infection was ravaging my body and making it hard to function, so I had no choice.
But my heart sank a little. My immune system is pretty poor anyway, but adding antibiotics into the mix would blast away any happy bacteria I had left in my overheated, little overwrought body.

I'm finishing up the course now, with the effects of the infection still present, the symptoms of a virus erupting in my weakened state and my gut having given up the ghost after all this abuse.

I've been reading a lot of information that seems to imply that the health of your gut can have a huge impact on your health in general.
I said in my previous challenge post that I was looking at fermented foods. In this article, Curly Nikki mentioned the effect poor gut and digestive health may have on the hair - and to me, it makes sense. What is the point of taking lots of supplements, if your body can't/won't make use of it by absorbing it properly?

I said I was going to try and help heal my gut by eating more fermented foods.
So far I've got two jars of kimchi in my fridge (one pictured above - it was full at the beginning of this week), in order to help replenish my lost army sacrificed in the terrible battle against evil usurping bacteria any probiotics.
I'm making fruity gelatin once a week to feed these probiotics in my gut till I've used up all my little packets.
I'm bone broth(isn't it basically stock?)-ing my way through this (now) freezing winter, to help feed up and fix my gut too. (I'd been looking at it anyway, but in relation to my teeth).
I've got some fermented ginger and turmeric on the way too, just because you can never have too many good bacteria.

Fighting the good fight! Hoo-ha!

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Winter Challenge.

I've been logging in and drafting post since the beginning of August. I know, right? How silly and disorganised of me. But this one is definitely going up!

I've been happy with my hair so far - I'm still shedding far too much, but I'm taking steps to rectify it. And I'm determined that next year, BSL will be mine [if you read that in the tone of those very determined, romantically obsessed girls in TV shows, then you're on my wavelength) - but, baby steps. This year, I'd just like to maintain APL until the end of December.

What am I actually doing?

1) Eating good stuff - the biggest change I'm making is what I'm putting into my mouth. I'm trying to purposefully include:

•  Leafy greens - I rarely eat them any more, due to laziness and I've let them rot in the fridge one too many times.
• Black sesame seeds - chockful of vitamins and things that I suspect are helping reduce my shedding.
• MSM powder - Apparently helps your hair to stay in the anagen phase for longer, thus reducing shedding 
• Bamboo tea - Contains silica, which could help reduce shedding and other good stuff. 
• Good guts - I'm also a little concerned about the potential issues my guts may be having on my general health, and thus my hair, so I'm on the kimchi and probiotics.
• Vitamin D - Yes, I know you can make it internally by being exposed to sunlight for a certain amount of time a day, but currently my sky looks like this:

Eeyore would approve.

2) Keeping my ends slick - I've noticed that a lot of fine haired naturals use shea butter on the regular, whereas I've avoided using it on my hair for the last...oh, 5 years? Winter is here, so is the cold and I'm babying my ends by using shea butter after a wash and oiling my ends every night. Easy. I have carefully avoided shea butter for a long time, convinced that it does no good for my fine, strands. Now, I've come around to thinking that there are quite a few bloggers I know who used shea butter for good effect (Laila-Jean, Curlyproverbz, naptural85) and that it might work in a protective capacity in the winter, when I seem to rub my head and hair against ALL THE ROUGH THINGS (Wonder Thing, your stubble is massively included in this list).

3) Stretched and tucked - I've been wearing buns for the last two months and my hair is responding well. Not the neglect it occasionally faces whilst up there, but stretched, and out of the way of my fidgety hands can only ever do good for my hair. I'm keeping my hair stretched by plaiting it up every night in 4 big, chunky plaits.

4) Deep treat - This fits more into my self care targets than anything else really. I am now one of those ladies who deep conditions every time she washes (I know) but I'm like to step it up and introduce other treatments for the sake of self-care and nourishment.
And because I'd like to get fancy every now and then.
And because doing this will stop me from buying new products.

I'm not too worried about exercise - I do some on average about twice a week, and there are lazier girls than me with hair brushing their butts, so.....

Current length:

Too lazy to buy a length check, so I'm just using a striped shirt instead..

Around 12 - 13.5 inches. I'm getting there!(*drop-kicks APLateau, whilst cackling madly* )

I don't expect to see much growth - I'm just trying to get into good habits before the January resolution making.

I'm torn over whether or not to wash every week or not. Every week seems like a an effort and a promise I can't keep in this ever worsening climate (chilblains! cold toes! general shivery-ness!), but I'm pretty sure that every two weeks leaves the door open for neglect and dehydration (because that's how I do).

Other than that, I don't really want to add anything extra because I know I won't do it >.<
Are you doing anything different this changing season?

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Henna? It's happening..

There came a point in my life where I set myself two personal, internal challenges:

1) To see how far I could get without additional hair added, like weaves, extensions and wigs.
2) To not use henna.

Well, this year might see both of those challenges go up in smoke - but let's talk about the henna.

Back in the emerging natural hair society of 2009, when Black Girl with Long Hair was still hosted on blogger, and KimmayTube was who people where logging in to watch on Youtube, the only way people seemed to be able to do henna involved a long, drawn out process that sucked up at least a day of your life, involved military precision and organisation to prevent staining everything within viewing distance, and then an age where you tried to rinse out twigs and bits from your hair (this is why Cassia and I no longer roll together).

Sure, you got seemingly invincible hair (according to the forum legends, anyway), but it then dyed it a permanent shade of red and rendered commercial dyes useless?

You have to spend how long afterwards putting moisture back in your hair?? (The worst I heard was 1 month of bi-weekly, hour long, deep conditioning to reduce it from 'straw-like' to 'just kindadry'. WHAT.)

 And you have to do this on the regular???

No, no, no, nopeity nope nope.

But times move on, things change and evolve. I ignored the henna gloss trend of 2010/2011 and was resolute on my hennaed-hair ban - until now.

The fact is, I nearly made it past armpit length I've made it past armpit length this summer, just by extensively washing and going. But my poor fine strands just seem a little bit exhausted, and I thought to myself - why not help them out a little bit? 

It's not cheating (I'm still trying to convince myself here) - my strands are really puny and are actually transparent from more than a foot away. I have splits up to 5 inches on some of my hair strands and I know I'm due for a trim.

Fortunately for me, here in the UK, we have a little henna head guru of our own...Curly Proverbz! I found her whilst Instagram-flicking and I love her ideas on how to include henna without the mess and fuss...and mess. Henna tea? Why did I never think of that before? Inevitably, I caved and bought some from Sheabutter Cottage (also available from Beauty by Zara) and am now eyeing up Curly Proverbz's henna butter mix...

Have you ever used henna for your hair? Why?

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Wash (And Go!) Day

1) Slathered on an abundance of Vatika Oil and left it for an hour (or two) while I put laundry in.

2) I mixed 1 teaspoon of honey, with 1 teaspoon of olive oil, 3 teaspoons of rhassoul clay, 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar and 60ml (1/4 cup) of water.

Why does apple cider vinegar make the clay mixture fizz every time?

I plonked all of this on my hair, making sure to get every strand covered but deliberately limiting how much I raked my fingers through.


This was not the moment for detangling. The mix was slightly sticky (due to the honey - I tend to limit how much food I use in hair products, because I'm mostly eating all my honey. And bananas. And using all my avocados for guacamole. Or on toast...)

I left that on for an hour while I took the laundry out.

3) Rinsed through under warm water until the water ran clear. Then conditioned heavily with Ultra Blends Vanilla and Papaya, using the slip to help me separate my hair into twisted sections. I used a generous palmful of conditioner per section and ended up with 6 twists.

4) I left the conditioner in for about five minutes while I washed the shower and then rinsed it out while still in the sections.

5) I unraveled each twisted section, clipped one half out of the way and working on the other half. Then I used Kinky Curly Knot Today as a leave in and a light detangler, before adding some Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie on top, before finally topping off with some Kinky Curly Curling Custard. Then I'd move on to the clipped up section and so on 'till my hair was completely done.

There was a lot of whiteness (that's not shine - it's product) going on before it dried and I genuinely didn't think it would go away...

But it did!

However, upon closer inspection, I noticed some flaking - aaargh! The white parts look like excess stuff that, hidden in the undergrowth, rebelled and refused to dry clear.

Is that what people mean when they meant to go light on the Kinky Curly Curling Custard? Or was it the Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie that was the culprit? I'll have to do this style again and find out.

In general, I loved the way my hair shrunk, so it was more 'cute mushroom' as opposed to 'heavy mullet' that I got with the Olive Oil Eco Styler. And my goodness, the lack of crunch was ASTOUNDING. So soft and touchable! Heehee, will have to try this again and try and minimalise the flaking.....

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The Interim Hair Milk

I use the rinse out conditioner as a creamy base, and then plump up the moisture with aloe vera juice, rose water and some ceramides to create this delicious leave-in conditioner for my hair.
It leaves my hair lightly moisturised for about 3-4 days but not overly mushy and definitely not weighed down.

It's an excellent spring conditioner for days when I don't want to get my entire head wet because it takes too long to dry but my hair is gasping for hydration.

It's quick, easy to make, and only one bowl to wash out afterwards.

Unfortunately, the weather is getting hotter, and I know I'll need something heavier for summer. Hence the 'interim' in the name. For now though, it's perfect.

The amounts below makes enough for one use. I used to double it (well, used 60ml - a 1/4 cup - and all tablespoons) then keep it in the fridge, but it dried out because my hair was so moisturised, I didn't need it any more!

It has only one flaw - it can sometimes leave built up on the very ends of my twists, where it's more 'fluffy' (*coughdamagedcough*) than the rest of my hair, though I've noticed this with some other products too. I think this has something to do with the time it takes to absorb the conditioner and how much water the hair in that area holds, I dunno.

Ingredients

30ml (2 tablespoons) of your favourite conditioner
1 teaspoon rosewater
1 teaspoon aloe vera juice
1/2 teaspoon wheatgerm oil

Put all ingredients into a bowl and mix until well emulsified.
Apply to damp hair.

Easy!

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10 Weeks

"Did you put rollers to make your hair them curl like that?"

I realise belatedly that my colleague is talking to me and - oddly enough - my hair. I snap to attention.

"Er, no. They're just like this" I respond nonchalantly. I'd stopped thinking about my hair too much in the last two months.

"That's amazing!" The colleague in question has big, bodacious curls the width of a Cumberland sausage. I grab a handful of my hair and stare at the minuscule coils lying against my palm. I think about how they never stay together this diligently when they are loose and free to play "Eh. It's okay. They're a bit fuzzy at the moment....I don't know..."

Maybe the inability to take compliments is a weird faux modesty thing I was feeling that day because I usually just say 'Thank you!' and smile when  get a compliment.

I had the feeling, however, that it was just an affirmation that I was coming to the end of my love affair with my current protective mini twist style.

Perhaps the fact that I had neglected to retwist any twists whatsoever for two whole weeks (at least!) was also another sign.

I've played various sports in them, washed them numerous time, gotten five job interviews and a new job(!) whilst wearing them, gone through a number of bank holidays and worn a ponytail more times than I would like to admit.

It's time to take these guys out.

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My Mini Twist Maintenance

Mini twist maintenance? What's this, Simple? Did you take your old set out and put in a new set?

Well, no, not exactly....

Actually, not at all. I've still got my old set in.

When I was little, I always used to get braid extensions for 3 months. Worked out at £10 a month for hair styling costs. A proper bargain, though a gross one when you think about it now - my mum was encouraged not to wash them regularly by the hair stylists to prevent the hair slipping out.
When I later encountered ladies who changed their hair every 6 weeks, it seemed positively wasteful to me. You pay how much? How often??
Same with my friends cutting their hair every month or so. Who had that kind of money? Or time?

A common piece of advice in the natural hair scene online is to not put extensions or braids or any
sort of protective style in your hair for more than 4 weeks.

However, I reckon that:

1) My hair flourished in its 3 month changing routine as a child, because it is fine and it was like the ultimate protective challenge.

2) Whenever I take my hair down from a long term protective style, there's always a lot of tangling. Why not just prolong having to deal with the inevitable for just a while longer?

3) I don't have much time in the coming weeks to work out how I'm going to stretch my hair every week and then possibly use a drier and then style and....nah. Just nah. In the ever true, ever wise words of Sweet Brown:

So when I am not taking hair advice and life wisdom from Internet memes, what am I doing to my hair exactly?

Note - Since the weather has gotten hotter and more humid last week, I've cut the whole moisturisation process down to either co-washing or moisturising once a week. But during the miserable Spring beginning, this is what I was doing:

Once or twice a week:

• Moisturise hair with the DIY Interim Hair Milk.
• Moisturise scalp with rose water and aloe vera juice mix. 

At least once every two weeks:

•  Pre-poo with Vatika Oil for an hour (the time varies, depending mainly on how badly I need a shower).
•  Shampoo with some of The Wonder Thing's shampoo.
•  Condition for 3 - 5 minutes (depends on how long I can tolerate doing nothing in the shower for) with one of Ultra Conditioners. I use the Avocado and Shea One if my hair is dry, or between the Coconut or Vanilla Papaya one if my hair needs freshening up.
•  Rinse Conditioner Out.
•  Dry my hair with a T-shirt. I find using a T-shirt instead of a towel minimises the amount of fluff and lint that ends up in my hair, thus reducing future tangles and cursing, but that's it. I have too much frizz for frizz to be a major concern. 
• Moisturise with the DIY Interim Hair Milk
•  Seal with Organix Nourishing Coconut Milk Anti Breakage Serum.

At night, of course, I sleep on my silk satin pillowcase.
I may have to re-introduce ACV rinses for my scalp.

At least every two weeks
I re-twist. Not a whole section, but I just put my fingers at my roots to see which of the twists have grown out the most.

It looks like a lot, but it's only about half an inch.

Here are my (delightfully large) fingers for comparison.

I slowly unravel it, starting from the ends and ending up at the roots. I sometimes have knots at the end - I either work them carefully or if that fails, I pull *ahem* cut them off.

At the roots, you can clearly see where the new growth has tangled a lot. I simply comb the mass with my fingers, with the goal of separating it back into two equal sections.

And re-twist. 

Easy! I don't always detangle the two sections if I don't feel it's necessary - my aim is to retwist whilst minimising manipulation.

I don't retwist the 'safe' or 'secure' way, because when I do, my twists end up all crinkly like this.

Between everything I'm doing at the moment - work, sports, volunteering, housework (bleurk!) I've found that doing what I used to do is working for me the best. Plus, it's massively protective. The results we will have to wait and see in the middle of July when I will finally have time to deal with my hair on a full grown basis.

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