Scalp Purifiers and Stimulants and My Improved Protein Treatment

Hello World,
So I mean for this to be a quick post but I've said that before and....well you know how it ends up.  :)
Anyway, a couple new things with my hair:
-I did a protein treatment this weekend with avocado that amazingly worked really well and to my excitement left my hair gunk-free (last time I tried it, I ended up with bits of white gunk in my hair)
- I found a use for the Mixed Chicks leave-in that I am oh so happy with I might just order it again once I run out!
-I have found a low-cost way to get my curls to last several days.

Ok so here is the protein treatment, its very similar to the one I posted before but I kept it simple:
Braggs Liquid Aminos (about 1/4 cup)
Small avocado (about half)
Honey (1 tbsp)
Olive oil (2 tspn)
Tea tree oil (few drops)
I added tea tree oil because earlier in the week my scalp was itching the heck out of me. I thought maybe it was dirty and I didn't want to shampoo so mid-week I did my usual co-wash and then rinsed with a vinegar and water rinse and massaged my scalp. Then I applied this leave-in:

It's called Fluide Purifiant from Kerastase and its purpose is to 'purify' the scalp including treating dry, itchy scalp. It works for the dryness and flakes. I had dry, flaky scalp for years when I had a relaxer (I think it was my scalp reacting to the harshnes of the relaxer) and nothing worked until I found this. In this case, my scalp wasn't flaky, just itchy. This didn't totally eliminate the itching but it lessened it. I recommend it though it, like all the Kerastase products, is kind of pricey.

Generally, before I do my weekend homemade treatments, I shampoo to remove buildup with Organix and before I shampoo, I do an oil treatment. But not your usual oil treatment - an essential oils treatment. What's the difference you ask? Essential oils take all the best properties of a plant and provide it in a concentrated form. For example regular oil from the rosemary plant may be harmless because of the dilution but the rosemary essential oil - well if you've never used it and you do, you will know, it doesn't play  - you can feel how strong it is, and it smells that way too! In the case of my treatment, the purpose is to stimulate circulation to the scalp and lift any dirt and bacteria from my scalp before I shampoo. I highly recommend it. I have been doing this for years, even when I had a relaxer.

So let me tell you how its done:

Most people do a regular hot oil treatment with some random oil such as OO. Instead try this: add to your hot oil treatment at least 3-4 drops each of the following clarifying and stimulating essential oils:

-Peppermint essential oil

-Eucaluptus essential oil

-Rosemary essential oil

-Basil essential oil

-Cypress essential oil

You can add tea tree oil if you have scalp issues such as dry scalp, dandruff but use only 1-2 drops of this, too much will burn.

Of course you need a base for these oils so OO works, or a lighter base such as Jojoba oil or Sweet Almond Oil (what I use).

I have to warn you, the combo is pungent (the smell) so be prepared. You can help your nose out by putting on a cap and a towel over it. The best is to apply this treatment the day before you plan to shampoo and sleep on it, with a cap on of course and make sure to protect your pillows because the smell lingers.

I leave it on overnight or a couple of hours if its same day then I take the cap off and let the scalp get air a few hours before I shampoo. These oils increase blood flow to the scalp (you will feel it) and the antibiotic properties of tea tree clarifies as well. If you are too lazy to invest in purchasing each of these oils and mixing them, you can just buy this:

The product is called Phytopolleine and it is basically a mixture of essential oils meant to stimulate the scalp. Its also pricey so you might be better off mixing your own. But the good thing is it includes scalp-stimulating essential oils  proven to work but are hard to find individually. Either way the goal is to massage, clarify and stimulate your scalp for optimal hair growth and health. It smells pungent too but luckily either way you do it, shampoo will wash away the smell.

My Mixed Chicks leave-in revelation will have to wait until another post. I have already broken my promise to you to keep this short. My bad. Anyway I hope all this stuff is helpful to you all and as always I welcome ideas as well. Can anyone explain how to tell if I have scab hair?  My next post will explain why I ask. Bye for now....

Bentonite Clay Treatment and other Ramblings

Hi Dear Readers,

I know I have been neglecting posting updates. Partly, I have felt perpetually exhausted the past week or so and on the weekends is my only time to catch up...which I never do because on the weekend I'm just trying to do the things I wasn't able to do during the week. Work is taking up all my energy - mostly my mental energy.
Anyway, yes alot has been going on with my hair. She has grown out alot. I would say she is about 3 inches now. And yes, I did say 'she.' When I first started this blog I vowed to never give my hair a name or a any other silly moniker as I had been reading on other blogs where the bloggers named their hair! I mean how silly is that.....until I started referring to my hair as 'she.'

I don't know what it is, I just feel as though it has a personality, character. I think that is true of all natural hair and maybe I just didn't realize this before because I had 'smoothed' all the character out of her with relaxers. So maybe your next question is does she actually have a name.

Kind of.

I am torn about it and mostly just too embarrassed that I actually gave my hair a name. But really I haven't because I rarely ever use it just because I haven't found a moniker that just feels right to say.
So for now she is still just 'my hair' except my hair is a she. I know your next question is why a 'she.' Well of course because I'm a she, dohhh! I mean how weird would it be for me to be a female and refer to my hair as a he? So you can tell I'm just feeling kind of silly today. And I'm still exhausted.

I have meant to post pictures of my last natural treatment. They are still in my phone and I will post them, really.

So what have my hair and I been up to lately?

Well, I got my Qhemet Biologics products last weekend and I have used a little of it. Not enough to do a review but I plan on doing twists this weekend (yes she has grown enough (barely) for twists, I can't believe it), and I will use the Amla and Olive Heavy Cream to do it so I'll tell you how it turns out.

I also did another natural treatment,  this past weekend. I think I will keep doing the weekend treatments. What I have been doing is co-washing during the week and then do a shampoo wash on the weekend and then a treatment .I like my hair and scalp to be clean and buildup-free before I apply the treatments so I'm not left with gunky hair. My bad though I forgot to take pictures during the treatment so you could see the before, during and after.
Doesn't really matter if I keep forgetting to post them right? But next time, I will. Its just being a blogger is so much work. I didn't realize but I look on other blogging sites and they have pictures of everything and it just looks like they put so much time into it....time I do not have. But I dedicated my self to this and I do like sharing my experiences even if I only have one follower **sniff sniff**
If there are more of you out there who read this, please please send comments of your experiences, ask questions if you want or just say hi, just so I  know you read it. It will motivate me to keep this up long-term.

Anyway so here is a breakdown of my home-made treatment from this past weekend. This one is with bentonite clay and it came out great. Except for the pieces of lemon pulp that got left in my hair. Tip: Juice the lemon separately and make sure you only apply the juice and no pulp (or just get lemon juice)
1/4 cup bentonite clay (you might need more of these ingredients if your hair is longer than 4 inches. Mine is still a twa).
1 teaspoon virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon virgin coconut oil
1 tablespoon shea butter
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup strong warm jasmine flower tea (two jasmine flower tea bags left to sit in warm water about 10 minutes)
Mix all in blender. If you have problem scalp (dry, itchy) also apply a drop of tea tree or rosemary oil (and I literally mean a drop, the stuff is strong and smells strongly).
Apply the smooth mixture to clean scalp and hair. Apply in sections to make sure it gets unto the scalp. Gently massage scalp as you smooth it in. (I don't recommend massaging the scalp after the initial application as the mixture dries out due to the clay which will make this difficult)
Use a shower cap for about 3-5 minutes then let sit another 3-5 minutes. Try not to let the treatment dry on your scalp.

You can tell when it comes close to drying, because it will get stickier and less liquid-y. Rinse out with lukewarm or cold water. Cold water should seal hair cuticle with all those great oils you put in your treatment.
Your hair will curl or kink, or whatever it does in happiness. Because the treatment makes the hair feel squeaky, I then apply a deep condition for literally 1 minute just to get the slippery, silky feeling back in my hair. Rinse out again and style as usual with your usual oils. After I did this treatment and the deep conditioning, I twisted my hair, single-strand, using just coconut oil and after twisting, re-worked the twists with shea butter to seal them. I left this overnight and loosened the twists after spritzing with water the following day. The twists were ok, My hair is fine (opposite of thick) so you could see the parts like crazy, I had to do some work to cover up the parts and some parts of my hair like the middle, refused to twist, I'm not sure why and I am concerned, I had to seal those twists with aluminum foil (its all I had and it worked).

I did the treatment and twists on Saturday and even though on Sunday it looked aiight, I did not co-wash on Sunday and was surprised that on Monday my hair actually looked better than it did the day before! Its now Wednesday and I have not done a co-wash yet. I don't want to wash out the twists. I just let the hair get some steam when I shower by leaving it out (no shower cap) and moisturize with sweet almond oil and olive oil when I get out of the shower.
I hope I can improve on my twists, maybe do the twists smaller using the Amla and Olive Heavy Cream instead of just coconut oil, to get more definition longer. Its Wednesday though and even with my usual fuzz, it still looks good...at least to me (and that's all that matters).
I plan to co-wash this evening to wash out any buildup as I have been applying a little gel every morning after spritzing with water.
Anyway, that's it for now. Until next time.....peace out.