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06 January 2012

fugg leave-in condioner (and relearning izzy)

i had ideas to title this post quite a few things, since i have so many thoughts i need to get out. i'm hoping this title captured the overall gist, lol

like i mentioned in my last post, my hair has never been doing better and it has changed the way i plan to treat my hair from now on. while i'm sure the products i used contributed to izzy's newfound nirvana, i want to instead focus on the more basic attributes. products can only do but so much, it's your technique that really matters. it took me a while to learn about the importance of stretched hair and i'm always excited to be learning new things. here are a few things i've learned/changed in my regimen.

1. going through the whole wash day in sections
i never thought i would section my hair. ever. i always thought it was an extra step that i wouldn't have to concern myself with, like only people with freakishly thick hair had to do it. i never liked to do it because my hair previously wasn't long enough for solid sections.

i started sectioning before twisting, just to make the process go a lot faster. it's easier to make smaller sections out of hair that has already been sectioned, let me tell you. i randomly decided to section my hair into large twists after shampooing and continued the rest of my wash session in this manner. and good lawd, it's like the heavens parted or something.

detangling, seaming, and styling was a breeze! the process went by so much faster and easier than normal. it was also a lot easier to keep all my hair under the steamer (my hair isn't particularly big, but the huetiful steamer hood is a little on the small side). i've been forever converted, no joke.

2. moisturize with water, seal with butters/'heavy' creams
for the longest, i was searching for a water-based moisturizer (even though i already loved oyin's hair dew), and i'm not exactly sure why. water makes my hair shrink up, which is the opposite of what i want for a stretched style. i suppose i was convinced waterless moisturizers just wouldn't penetrate. it was just never a viable option for me, for whatever reason.

you've probably heard that water is the best moisturizer, but again… stretched hair. what to do? i decided to try it anyway. on wash days, i focused on sealing my damp hair with butters and that easily gives me week-long moisture. better yet, they play well with gels and with a denman, get my curls poppin'.

since this discovery, i don't feel compelled to shop around for any more products. butter-based moisturizers are all pretty similar to me, and you can make one just as good as anything you could buy (but i like shopping, so i'll just do that lol). 

3. finishing with a cold acv rinse
i'd done this sparingly in the past, without really understanding why i was doing it. i recently bought some more raw acv with the intentions of using it to seal in the moisture/seal the cuticle after washing. last night i used maybe 3-4 tablespoons to 16 oz of cold water. my hair today feels incredibly sleek to the touch. it's hard to describe…like i can feel all my strands flowing in the same direction? idk. the point is, my hair feels too good to ignore so i will definitely continue with this in the future. 

4. changing my twisting technique
this is something that is probably nearly impossible to describe. i have always twisted my hair while twisting the two strands simultaneously. the only thing about this is that my tension (or something) was always off, so my twists looked a little wonky, like they weren't even. but it's hard to break a habit, yknow?

for some reason, in the middle of twisting last night, i decided i would try to re-learn it. one thing that helped me was to constantly say "out" to remind me to twist one strand out while bringing it over. doing this has helped my twists sooo much. they're a lot more uniform and stretched out. i tried to take pictures but i didn't like how they looked on my cell phone, so i'll take pictures next time, for sure.

i feel sooo much better and more excited about my hair now. i'm sure these are things many naturals have already figured out, but that doesn't make it any less exciting for me lol. and unlike products that come and go, or stop working, techniques are something i feel as though will produce consistent results every time and who doesn't want that? 

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