Day 1

I did it! Today I went out and bought my very first little combo of products. Suave Naturals Refreshing Waterfall Mist Conditioner (ahhhh I love how it smells), Giovanni Tea Tree Triple Treat Conditioner, and Herbal Essences Totally Twisted Gel. Oh, and a microfiber towel from Sephora. All three of these are Curly Girl approved! Annnnd they were all pretty cheap, except for the towel. The Suave stuff was $1 (!!!), Giovanni was $7, Herbal Essences was $2, and the towel was $20. I probably could have found it cheaper online, but shipping costs and having to wait for it made me decide to just splurge a little. Especially considering it is a one time purchase.

Sooooo I learned a LOT about ingredients since the last time I posted. Here are the basics:

Use a light and cheapo conditioner to clean, then a heavier one to actually condition. I used icequeen's method to clump my hair up (maybe I'll explain that later). Then, use a microfiber towel to squish out some water, squish in the gel, and plop with the towel or an old t-shirt. Ta da! Curly hair!

Info on conditioners: Avoid certain chemicals! The main biggie: -cones. These things are basically never water soluble (they have to have a PEG or PPG prefix to be water soluble), so the only way to remove them is with a shampoo that has an -ate in it. Problem is, that stuff dries out and damages your hair, so you need -cones to make your hair look good again. But then you have to use the -ate shampoo to get rid of the -cones. Oh, and if you don't get rid of the -cones, they build up and build up and build up until your hair basically suffocates, loses its curl, and falls out. Not to mention the icky white flaky stuff that results of all of the build up. Vicious cycle, right? SO, here's some important stuff to know about -cones.
BAD CONES: -cone, -conol, -xane. (ex: dimethicone, dimethiconol, amodimethicone, cyclomethicone, cyclopentasiloxane, trimethicone). These are NOT water soluble. If any of them had a PEG or PPG prefix, then they would be.

These should not be mixed up with PRESERVATIVES (-one). Those are okey dokey. ;D

Alcohols: Now, -cones aren't the only things you've gotta look out for. Alcohols can be bad too. The short chained alcohols are included because they evaporate very quickly, speeding up the drying time for your hair. However, this can leave your hair less moisturized than desirable. Typical bad alcohols: ethanol, SDalcohol, SDalcohol 40, alcohol denat, propanol, propyl alcohol, isopropyl alcohol.
Some alcohols have longer chains though, so they do not really do anything to your hair: Benzyl alcohol, Propylene glycol.
Then there are these SUPER long chained alcohols, which actually stay in your hair too long. However, the effects are barely noticeable, so it's not a big
deal if they are in your conditioner: Lauryl alcohol, cetyl acohol, myristyl alcohol, stearyl alcohol, cetearyl alcohol, behenyl alcohol.

PHEW. How about some photos of my hair after one day of the CG method?


















WOO! So obviously it is quite a bit curlier than before. The canopy (top layer of hair) is still kinda frizzy, but I have read that it's just a result of my hair not being moisturized enough yet. It should get better and better with time. Not to mention I should be getting better and better at actually dealing with curly hair, lol.

The method that I used to make it curly (icequeen's method) is more focused on making hair clump than anything else, whiiiiich I didn't realize until after already doing it. :/ I might try something else that lets my hair have more definition. Quality over quantity! Problem is, I don't know how. :/ naturallycurly.com, here I come!

A beginning

Hi there! I decided to start blogging because...well...why not? I'm about to start on a hair transformation journey of EPIC PROPORTIONS!! Ok, maybe not that epic. But still. It should be interesting. So, how should I work this? I think some photos would be a good way to start things off.
This is more or less my hair on a daily basis. I last washed it on Sunday night, and have been adding coconut oil to the ends periodically. Sometimes I'll add a tiny bit to the length as well, but I don't want it to look oily, so....I don't do it that much.

I'm getting a little ahead of myself here. Let's just lay out exactly what my routine is, starting on the night before washing:

1.) Gently comb out hair and snip split ends while melting coconut oil. Once melted, coat my hair in the oil until it's, well, oily. Pocahontas braids, sleep.
2.) Wake up and wash with Dove shampoo ONLY on the scalp. Use Dove conditioner on the length.
3.) Gently pat dry with a regular old towel.
4.) Finger comb hair into the general shape that I want, and finish with my wide toothed comb
5.) Scrape a little bit of coco nut oil and scrunch it into the ends of my hair.
6.) Scrunch in about a quarter sized drop of "FX Silk Drops"
7.) Go about 4-5 days of wearing hair loose, making sure to braid it at while sleeping in order to avoid tangles.
8.) Repeat

Whew, that sounds like an awful lot of work when I type it all out. The problem with this routine is that my shampoo h as sulfates, and my conditioner (and the silk drops) has -cones. Never fear! I'm getting rid of them ASAP. In fact, as soon as my Curly Girl book arrives in the mail, I'll start switching over to the "no poo" lifestyle. Basically, I'm going to be washing my scalp with a very light conditioner, and washing the length with one that is more moisturizing. I'm sure there will be many other changes to come, I just don't know what they are yet because....I don't have the book! :P


Just for kicks, here's a picture of my hair in a faux french braid. Ooh, aah.

















And another from the front. You can see how frizzy my hair is in this one. :/ That's probably because I haven't washed my hair for a few days though.