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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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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Bun Challenge, Week 3

My scalp had been really oily for the last week. Like, rubbing-my-finger-on-my-scalp-meant-I-didn't-need-to-use-oil-my-cuticles oily. I reckon this is because I only did a Cassia last week instead of a cleansing wash. If it continues to act like this, I'm going to have to do a proper wash every week, despite the other shenanigans I may be planning.

 The thought of having to do a Bentonite mask...then a Cassia treatment...then a deep condition....all in the same day is seriously filling me with dread.
I'll try it out eventually - not today though!

On a fantastic note, I checked out my ends the other day to check for splits. I have to do this every month, since my hair is so fine, they tend to pop up regularly.
Over the entirety of my head, I only found two.

Yeah, that's how excited I was. Two splits? Over my entire head of fine hair? Including my crown? 

Hello happiness!

I snipped them off, because they were pretty huge BUT I think this is a definite sign of progress!

 - I oiled hair with coconut oil, finger detangled and then left it overnight.

- Mixed up bentonite clay with water and ACV, slathered my head and scalp in it. Left on for 30 minutes.

- Rinsed thoroughly, making sure to aim the shower head at my scalp to remove any debris.

- Gently wrung excess water out of my hair and applied the oily conditioner from last week. Left on for about 5 minutes and then rinsed.

- Applied home made leave in, and then sealed with a few drops (like, 6 per side) of hemp seed oil, and then coconut oil to cover the smell. It's so...pungent that it makes me really paranoid that I'll be stopped by the sniffer dogs at the station.

Then I flat twisted the hair in two parts back into a ponytail. Divided ponytail into three twists and finally, pinned them up into a bun.

Yeah, the lighting is pretty appalling...

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The Aftermath Wash

Theme tune for this post? 

It's been a long time (Cassia), shouldn't have left you, left you without a dope beat to step to...

 It's been a while, but I said I would, so I did - another Cassia treatment that it!

- Generously applied coconut oil all over and left it overnight.
- Shampooed front (and highly abused) section of hair with some random sulphate body wash to get the cones out.

- Mixed up my Cassia mix: Three shovels tablespoons of Cassia and enough hot water till it looked like cake batter. Not overly runny but not as thick as before.

- Slathered it all over my loose hair and covered it and left it for an hour.

Lack of a plastic cap meant that I used a plastic bag. However, I do not (yet) lack the pride to put that picture up here.

- Before I jumped in the shower to rinse it all out, I poured some more hot water in a bowl. In a separate bowl, I mixed together some conditioner and hair oil, and then plunked the bowl full of conditioner into the hot water bowl. Like a bain marie.

It was slightly too much...

...So I spooned it back into the bottle #NoWastage.

- Rinsed Cassia out and then applied conditioner mix to hair, also separating hair into six twisted sections.

- Covered with another plastic bag and gently heated up the whole bag situation with a hair dryer 10 minutes for 2 minutes at a time, every 5-10 minutes. I kept the hair dryer at least 6 inches away the whole time - I didn't really fancy melting the bag onto my head.
When I went to rinse, it looked like the conditioner had absorbed beautifully into my hair. Good sign, I hope!

 Rinsing out was easy as eating pie - literally. I finger de-tangled in the sections and my hair just did it. No complaints. No questions asked - it just happened.

- I wrapped my hair in a towel while I lotioned up, to absorb excess water.

- Then I applied my homemade leave in to each section, and some hempseed oil on the ends, since I've run out of brazil nut oil. Hempseed oil does not even smell half as good as brazil nut oil does :( Satin scarf on under a hat and out I went.

- Hair still wasn't dry 5 hours later (of course), so I used a blowdryer on the twisted sections on cool, so I wouldn't have to go to bed with wet hair. Wrapped the ends of my twists around bobby pins and then pinned them up onto my head,

- Unravelled in the morning (after putting them in a ponytail for a bit, to remind my hair of gravity's purpose).

Definitely not a twist out to be worn outside the house, but brilliant for my stretching purposes! 

The resulting bun.

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Following Cassie's Footsteps

When one moves to a new place, the natural instinct is to explore it and check it out. Ascertain what your favourite shops and places and where they may be.

It's always nice to have a little bit of information.

Fortunately, Cassie of NaturalSelectionblog.com has already written a short but informative piece about her hair related travels in Paris.
Boom, instant guide to hair care in Paris.

Obviously, my first stop as a wannabe mixtress was AromaZone. 

It was exactly as described, though a lot smaller than I'd imagined. In my mind's eyes, I'd envisaged it as a ingredient emporium, but it was cosier than I thought. All the ingredients were separated into sections according to their purpose and then neatly lined up alphabetically.
I'm not exactly a diplomat when it comes to the art of the French language, so I have to admit that my knowledge of the Latin names of ingredients really helped.
So much stuff! There were testers too, so you could immediately feel the texture and smell the different oils (eurgh to raspberry oil - not as tasty as I was hoping!).

As well as the typical 'health food' shop products, they also have emulsifers, hydrolats, containers and neutral bases for the more serious mixologists; indian powders, henna, and their own line of handmade cosmetics too. There

I went to the sample area and bough some aloe vera (which I later found out was cut with sunflower oil/helianthus annus - sigh), brazil nut oil, some vanilla scented sesame oil (so scrummy smelling! Has bits of vanilla seed floating about inside) and some green montmillonrite clay - I'd been running low on bentonite clay (and it was reduced, so...). They're all under 2,00€ for a 10ml sample of anything, if you want to try before you buy, which I thought was more than reasonable, considering that most of them are organic (bio).

That was only on my first trip there, but we'll talk about the rest later on :)
It's easily reached by the metro - Odeon on ligne 4, Maubert Mutalite on ligne 10. Check to be sure..

Next up - Saint Denis Strasbourg!
That was all Cassie had mentioned, so I hopped on the Metro to the stop. My first experience upon exiting was different because I'd gone to the wrong stop - if you want to get the exact same experience as her, of emerging in front a fair and white skin bleaching shop, go to the Chateau d'Eau stop, not the Saint Denis Strasbourg one.
This will also mean that you don't end up lost in a labyrinth of clothes shops too!
When I finally found my way back to the correct, hair-related area, I did get a few guys asking me to enter their shops to get manicures, pedicures  (not so much with relaxers, since I was in mini twists). I just insisted I didn't speak French well.

Well, I don't.

 One guy was really insistent, so I simply stared ahead and said 'Non, merci' over and over again whilst walking away.
Some of them will approach you as soon as you get off the metro train, even if you're only changing over to another line!
It's far more annoying than it is scary.

I found that the hair shops were incredibly similar to many of the hair shops I'd frequently back when I lived in London, though I did find one that sold Jane Carter hair products for under 20 euros each. I don't know if that's good or not; I just know that I was surprised to see them there. 

I'll admit - I chose which shops to enter based on size. The bigger shops tended to have a bigger variety.

I went to look for the 'Little India', which I assumed was Passage Brady, but at the moment there's a lot of construction going on and only a few restaurants were open.
So I called it a day and went back home.

However, Cassie's article has proved to be incredibly helpful to me - I literally can't imagine what I would be doing if I hadn't found AromaZone! I've been back twice already (or is it three times...?)

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Mixtress Mischief: It Ain't heavy, it's my Winter Leave in

I mentioned in this post that I was going to moisturise more heavily. My beloved Giovanni's just doesn't cut it in the cold weather, which is fine considering I quite like it for it's lightness, but not so great considering there was now a gap in my hair care structure.
I wanted something I could use on Monday and would allow me not to think about my hair until 2 day later. Fortunately, I stumbled upon this little mix to sort me out with these moisturising issues

It's so easy that I can do it with one hand. I actually feel really patronising posting it up.
But here we go anyway!


Ingredients:                                                                                                                                      


A blob of Tresemmé Natural Conditioner [about a tablespoon]
A splash of your favourite oil(s)/oil mix [just under 1/2 a tablespoon] (I used my Felix Capillus).


Method:                                                                                                                                          


Squirt a generous blob of conditioner into your hand.

 Add a splash of your favourite oil(s) [it is surprisingly difficult to unscrew a cap with one hand. I would advise doing this before dealing with the blob of conditioner].

Mush together in your hand and apply to your hair. If I use it on damp/wet hair, I seal it with shea butter. If I use it on dry hair, I simply leave it as is it.

Repeat the aforementioned actions if you so feel it is necessary.

I know that there's a lot of issues around using rinse out conditioners as leave ins, but this just helps me out massively. There are some you can't do this with - my previous attempts at leaving in Inecto Coconut condtioner, for example, were both disastrous and sticky. But the Tresemmé doesn't seem to do me any harm, so there you go ^_^

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Mixtress Mischief: Felix Capillus

Name that Harry Potter reference!

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The Day of doing the Most: Part 1

I kind of cheated on my personal quest to put twists in for two weeks straight, since I started taking them out, and then was reminded I had somewhere to go which resulted in this style:

I'd started to remove the braids in the back on the left hand side, so I quickly  twisted the loose section, forming a sort of pseudo peacock fan thing.

It looks way less crazy from the front, I promise.

On Friday night, I finally took all the braids out, finger detangling to get rid of shed hair . I was happy. But also tired. I quickly did my hair in the usual lazy style, pre-pooed my entire head with Vatika oil, on with the satin scarf and then off to bed I popped.

I woke up and wanted my hair to have a little sniff of the gentle Saturday morning rain. It was less then drizzling. It was literally like soft, gentle sprinkles of icing sugar.

Wet, cold, icing sugar rain.

I wasn't too worried - If you remember, I had a head full of Vatika Oil.

Anyway. It feels like I've literally been in protective styles since, ooh, February (what with participating in the 3in6 challenge since February and the hilarious lack of sunshine in the summer). Thus, I was a little bit cheeky and let my hair out a little bit in my most favourite style from my childhood: The Minnie Mouse ears.

It's basically my hair split down in half vertically, with each section tied up with a hair band. 

The style always used to remind me of Minnie's ears, and the fluffiness of it always appealed me.

Though it's not quite yet up to the standard of Jazmine from Boondocks yet... 

Not now but someday...one day!
source

After jaunting about in the icing sugar rain, buying vegetables, eating falarrrfel (emphasis compulsory ) and then drinking juice with The Faerie at Lady V's, I decided it was time to go home.

I had originally planned to do the yoghurt treatment as well as a Cassia (yeah, remember those?) but The Faerie was staying over and there's only so much K-drama you can leave a guest to watch by themselves  without being extremely rude.

An all in one bonanza was my only option. I mixed

2 tablespoons (30g) of Cassia
with just enough hot water to form an extremely thick paste and
4 tablespoons of Greek Yoghurt and
2 tablespoons of Apple Cider vinegar.

It smelt like vinegar and looked like pea and mint soup.

  

Mmmm, yummy!

I slathered my head in this delightful mix and only just had enough stuff to cover my entire head. I leapt around my room for about 10 minutes, throwing things about in the pretense of cleaning my room, before leaping back into the shower and rinsing it all out before conditioning. I forgot how bitty Cassia is when it comes to rinsing it out.

Then I progressed onto the stretching...
But I'm tired now, so that'll have to be in Part 2.

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Condition and Make up

So I mentioned the rain once in this post and then, as though it heard me and felt I had declared some kind of challenge it just. Kept. coming. I was completely and utterly sogged out by the weekend, and my hair had still been in its punily stretched bun (I mean, I had washed it but then it went back into a bun. Obviously, my head is harder to get through than cement).

I did try stretching it but I'm useless when short on time and the most that ever happened was French braids.

After the abysmal treatment of my hair last week, what with rain and wet bunning and avoiding detangling, I decided I needed to condition it well (because kissing your hair is weird)  in order to make up. So when I went shopping last Saturday, I literally went through the aisles and thought to myself - "Hmm. What food have I not yet put on my head?"

 Okay, I'll be honest, that's not the actual yoghurt I bought that day. I bought this one.

Because I was only looking at the Greek Style bit and didn't look at the bit that said 'Coconut'. So it's got coconut bits in it and is quite tasty with some honey, but wholly inappropriate for slathering on my head.

I also picked up this:

At the time, I was considering something with the vinegar and yoghurt with a dash of honey and olive oil for extra yumminess.

And then, I promise this actually happened, I was doing my blog rounds that very evening and saw this:



Huh. Well. Okay. I'll try it that way!

It's basically 2-3 tablspoons of Greek Yoghurt + 2 tablespoons of Cider vinegar.
Leave it in for 20 minutes.
Rinse it out with your conditioner.
Apply Aloe Vera Juice as well and then get going.

On Wednesday morning, I followed that process in the morning, used my Tresemmé Naturals Conditioner, squidged the excess moisture out with a T-shirt (since I left my microfibre towel at high and refuse to buy another one) and used my Giovannni  Direct Leave in in lieu of aloe vera juice.

I am blatantly delicious.

Note to self: Don't do this treatment in your room whilst wearing black trousers - you'll end up with your own constellation.

 Initial impressions? Eh, it was okay. Since I've only done the treatment once, I don't have much to say about it.

I'd seriously learnt my sectioning lesson by now after a truly horrible detangling session the day before, so my hair was in four sections. I'd started braiding one bit, but I had to go to class. So I popped on my satin scarf, a hat and twisted my fringe and went out.

Hmm. This looks familiar.

And then I put it into braids that night whilst completing my course reading.

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Mixtress Mischief: Scalp Soother Serum

Sometimes, my scalp has its bad days - days where it's dry, or a little bit on the itchy side, or when it's been exposed to the sun a little bit too long for it. I love this mixture because it's light, non greasy and incredibly cooling on the scalp - especially if you've left it in the fridge for a bit. It absorbs quickly into the scalp

Preparation Time: 2 mins


Ingredients:                                                                                                                                          

1 tbsp (or 15ml) of aloe vera gel (45p)
1/4 tbsp (or 5ml) of grapeseed oil [or 4 drops of Japanese Camellia Oil or jojoba or any other light oil you have on hand] (3p)
3 drops of eucalyptus oil (35p)
3 drop of lavender oil (40p)
3 drops of Copaiba oil (so very optional) (26p)
Total cost: £1.49

Grapeseed Oil - This was the lightest oil I had on hand, since I didn't want to clog up my scalp.

Aloe Vera Gel - renowned for its healing and soothing properties

Lavender Essential Oil (Lavendula angustifolia) - Again, renowned for its calming and soothing properties. Also, I hate the smell of lavendula angustifolia by itself because I actually meant to buy lavendula officinalis. But augustifolia is what I've got, so that's what I'm putting down here.

Eucalyptus Essental Oil - Supposed anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and antiseptic properties. And something about encouraging ceramide production in the hair encouraging.
Copaiba Oil - read more here.

Method:                                                                                                                                                

Basically, I put all the ingredients in a small glass jar and shook it as hard as I could, until the aloe vera gel had gone from clear...

...to a slightly thicker, creamier and translucent cream.

And you're done! To use, simple use your fingertips to apply the serum to the area and gently massage it in.

I usually apply this a day after washing or whenever I think my scalp needs it. My mum likes it and I hope you will too!

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Mixtress Mischief: Bentonite Baby!

I bought 200g of bentonite clay from Neals Yard Remedies, around the time of the Royal Wedding, because they were doing free shipping over the bank holidays.

Man, I love me some free shipping.

Although you order it in how many quantities of 100g you want, it all just came in one all consuming plastic bag. Better for the environment I guess!

Attempt 1

I actually tried it a while ago, but I'm easily confused and was so used to doing my Cassia and other things with hot water that when I made my horsetail tisane, I simply just added it straight to the bentonite..

...and promptly cooked the clay.

Well, that's what I thought. It's far more likely that I was being extra stingy with the bentonite clay and ended up with a watery mistake. I remember thinking it felt like under cooked porridge.

Ew. I tried to use it but it seemed pretty useless.

The REAL Attempt 1
This time I made no mistake and added my water cold.

I took out 1/2 cup (100-120g) of bentonite clay.

Then I slowly added between 1 and 1.5 cup of water (between 250 - 375ml) of water, mixing slowly with my wooden spoon until a (reasonably) smooth paste was formed.

Mine had quite a few lumps but you know, I thought you either like it or lump it.

I'm sorry. I can't help myself!

When applying, I simple scooped up parts of the mixture, rubbed it gently between my hands to get rid of any lumps, and then added it directly to my hair.

After I finished generously applying the bentonite clay mix to my hair and scalp and bits of my ears, I noted that there was still quite a bit left over.

So I threw it into a plastic bag and stuck it into the freezer.

Then I took advantage of the temporary colour of my hair to dance around the house like a golden oldie.

I was jiving and shaking and being crochety, like a rhuematic James Brown all over the place for the 25 minutes this was in my hair.

Ow! I feel good!

I rinsed it out with warm /tepid water and it didn't take long at all to rinse it out. Halfway through rinsing, I realised that my hair felt a little bit dry, so I decided to nix the idea to see how it felt by itself with no conditioner afterwards. I made sure to condition well with my Tresemmé Naturals conditioner, leaving it on for the full 5 minutes before de-tangling and rinsing.

Then I moisturised with my Giovanni Direct Leave in and my hair butter and twisted my hair up immediately.

My hair felt clean, my scalp was singing and I was content with the results, but I still remembered the drying effect I'd felt in the shower. In my next bentonite experiment I decided to add some aloe vera gel and see how that worked out.

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Mixtress Mischief: Kurly Bella's Detangler

I previously mentioned that I used this detangler to take down my braids and I thought I'd write down a little bit about what I did.

One thing about the original recipe on Kurly Bella's site is that there's no amount of water specified on the site.
So I did the usual and winged it.

Ingredients:

250ml (1 cup) of water
1 tablespoon of hibiscus flowers
1.5 tablespoons of marshmallow root
1.5 tablespoons of dried burdock root

I bought many of the raw materials from Anita Grant during my little end of ban splurge.

The hibiscus in the bag came from my local hippy co-operative

I love receiving packages from her - it's like getting a present in the mail from one of your favourite aunts!

Hi Anita!

I started off by putting the water in a pan and bringing it to a gentle simmer, with tiny bubbles everywhere.

I then added the hibiscus flowers, which dyed the water that lovely hue of pink red that is so particular to hibiscus.

I love it, but please be warned that it can seriously stain your clothes and and other materials (like toilet seat covers) really badly and will be the reason I'm losing about 10% of my accommodation deposit.

After simmering for about 5 minutes, I strained the hibiscus tisane into a bowl and added the marshmallow root and burdock roots.

I would later bury the hibiscus flowers in the deepest depths of the night as part of my secret eco-warrior sentiments.

I covered it with some cling film and went off to do something on the computer. We'll pretend it was work, but I was probably blog stalking again.

 After half an hour, I remembered I was doing something in the kitchen and went back to strain out the mixture into a jug.

Filled with curiousity, I sniffed at the assortment of roots tentatively and then recoiled violently.

I will not be doing that again.

When it had cooled, I poured the pink liquid into a 20 fl oz spray bottle for ease of use.

How I used it:

When I was using it to take my braids down, I spritzed the mix liberally over the area I was working on, then used my rat tail comb end to pick out the braid. 

I found it was incredibly useful when it came to slipping out the shed hairs towards the root of the hair without the weird slick greasiness I sometimes get from conditioner, when my finger slips off my hair and I end up thwacking myself in the face various times with the comb and my well conditioned fingers. 

I wish it had made undoing the actual braids easier though *sad face* Despite the fact it wasn't an all round wonder product, it made slipping out the shed hair easy and simple, with a minimal loss of hair.

So I liked it . But I haven't made it again since, because I am lazy. However, now the holidays have started and no-one will employ me, it looks like I have a lot of time on my hands!

Unless you want to employ me. Maybe?

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