Friday, May 29, 2009

Butter Treat is the truth!

Girls - my hair is soooooooo soft.  I can't stop touching it!  I did my hair on Tuesday and haven't put any type of moisturizing cream in it since.  I haven't needed it!  If you have dry hair, I really really reccomend picking up some of the Redken Butter Treat deep conditioner.  Best buy of 2009 for sure.

I'll be posting pictures tomorrow of my new color.  Can't wait!!!!

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

My 2nd trip to see Nicole @ Pure Beauty + the BEST deep conditioner

So after 7 months (yes shameful) I finally returned to the hair salon for the dreaded "trim". Nicole loved my color but thinks that my color is too drying *sniff sniff*. So I will probably be saying good bye to my beloved Textures & Tones. She suggested that I let her color my roots, put a glaze on my ends, and highlight my hair. So that's the good news - this upcoming Saturday, I hope to be more golden for the summer!!!!

So for the bad news, she trimmed a lot of my hair, so much that we decided not to straighten my hair until I get my color done or even not until I have a really special occasion. She thinks my natural hair suits me sooooo well and since my hair is on the dry side, she wants to hold off on straightening it, until she can color it and I can then get that silky straight look.

So the verdict - I will be visiting Nicole on a much more regular visit to hopefully avoid these traumatic cutting sessions. I was totally bummed on Friday and my poor bf had to listen to me whine all weekend. But yesterday, I had a breakthrough and I am really digging the shape of the cut she gave me, something I had been lacking for a while. You can definitely tell that my hair is shorter in the pictures below. I'll post pictures this week of my twist out.
Nicole also put me on to a great deep conditioner and it was only $15! My new "can't leave home without product" is.... *drumroll please* Redken Smooth Down Butter Treat. Ladies, this stuff is amazing. Some of the great ingredients include macadamia oil and candelilla wax. The directions say to leave it in for 5 to 10 minutes, but I left it in for 2 hours while I did some GMAT studying. After I rinsed it out and applied a concoction of my Aveda smooth products, BioSilk and the Fantasia IC anti-humidty serum, I blew out my hair and my, my, my is my hair super soft! So Nicole is my hair angel at the moment and she is quite an expensive one.

Update: Pics of my dry twist out today (one day later) post "trim".

Friday, May 15, 2009

New Pictures + Scalp Woes

Happy (freakin' ) Friday! Yes I am feeling that kinda way! Anyways, I noticed that I hadn't posted pictures in a while, so enjoy the pictures of my wet twist out a week later (I'm wearing blue) and a dry twist out I did a couple weeks ago (I'm in the black). I'm not really feelin' the wet twist out but, hey, it works. Not sure how long this 'no heat' thing will last. Meah.

My scalp is irritated. I noticed a... pimple yesterday! WTF! So I think I need to pay very close attention to cleansing my scalp, especially since I either use Wen or co-wash. I need to make sure I get all the build-up off of my scalp. I was thinking about mixing up some type of concoction to cleanse my scalp - I still haven't gotten my peppermint oil, but maybe this will help a little bit. Maybe an apple cider rinse? I really just want to cleanse my scalp - I don't know if my hair needs a serious cleansing too. Any suggestions?
Tonight is hair night. On the agenda tonight - a serious, under the dryer deep condition, a clear rinse to make my color shine some more and maybe a dry twist out - yes I know, I said no heat, but my hair doesn't do well with the wet to dry look. It shrinks to darn much!
Side note - My mom just told me that she knows a natural that swears by Nick Chavez hair products... thoughts?

Monday, May 11, 2009

Stimulating my scalp + my rod set FAIL

So let's start with the good "news". As I have blogged about before, oils really don't do a lot for my hair, but I am going to start massaging my scalp to hopefully promote hair growth. I still take my Biotin supplement just about every day, but I sometimes notice that my scalp is itchy or tender in some spots. I am thinking of stopping by Aveda today to get some peppermint or ylang ylang oil for nightly scalp massages. I don't see why I can't incorporate this into my nightly twist regimen. Scalp massages are great for stimulating and getting the blood circulating in your scalp.

Now on to my epic fail - the rod set. I was so hype on Friday about rod setting my hair this weekend. I went to my beauty store and got tons of rods - TONS (on a side note - I stumbled upon a creme gel and leave-in that rival my Miss Jessie's products AND are much cheaper)! So I get home, wash my hair with Wen and deep condition with the Garnier Fructis hair masque (not so hype about this one - I like the Pantene one better) and I start to rod set. So I am doing good and as I am move on to my second row, I go back to feel/check the first row. Low and behold my ends are unraveling, even with the gel on them. Needless to say, I had a mess on my hands. Luckily I only opened 2 packs of rods and took the rest back and got my $20 back. I think I'll stick to the wet/damp 2 strand twists for now and revisit this style later!

I'll post about my new product discoveries soon!

PS - I am still discouraged about styling my hair wet/damp. It's so hard for me, but I sometimes I feel like I am the only person who has awful shrinkage, hair shrinkage that is ;)!!!

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Okay yea this isn't working

Okay - I can't do this.  I feel like a poodle.  My hair curls to too tight for the shingling method or any kind of wash and go 'do.  I will be sticking to either wet or dry twist outs.  UGH.  I am so frustrated and I hate my hair right about now.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

No heat for 3 weeks - can I do it?

Okay I am officially awful - I know. So sorry for not posting recently. Life happens and the GMAT sucks, but I digress. I'll post my Aveda straightening regimen soon, I've tweeked it a little bit and added some BioSilk to the mix and get much better results.

So I am going to a wedding Memorial Day weekend and I am getting my hair professionally straightened by hair goddess Nicole at Pure Beauty in DC. You might have remembered me talking about her in a post a while ago - she was the first person to straighten my hair :o). I am dreading the visit because I know she is going to chop a bunch of hair off. I hope I don't cry. I digress (again) - I am trying to avoid heat for the next 3 weeks to save my hair for her blow out. I might try shingling again with the Curly Meringue. I tried with a little piece first, before I set myself up to be pissed.
My hair definitely curls it just shrinks. BOOO! So maybe I'll buck up and wash my hair and try the shingling method all over. I am not really sure. UGH.

UPDATE: Below are pictures of my hair right after the Curl Meringue (it's still drying). I guess we will see how my hair holds up after a work out tomorrow morning. Stay tuned..
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