Fluffy hair

As with all knowings in life, your hair will whisper to you, then it will nudge you, then it will hold you by the face and shout at you.

So I've been busy, thus the radio silence, I really hadn't realised it had been so long since I'd written.

I haven't worn my hair straight down since maybe November time, due to our delightfully ever-changing weather, it's just 2 flat twists, and undo it and put a grip in it in the morning. I'm 7 weeks post now so it is more like 3 big canerows and undo it with a grip in the morning.

But the fluffiness! In my busy-ness I just couldn't get why even though my hair was well moisturised and oiled, it still came out fluffy in the morning making the curls look very undefined and undignified too while I'm at it. I know how I wish to present myself and quite frankly I left the flat looking frazzled in the morning.

So you know, if you've done moisture and there's no change then do protein - I did protein spray's and... nothing, or very little movement. It took maybe 2 weeks for me to realise I hadn't done a deep protein treatment - which with the Jason thin to thick on my hair is about 10 minutes MAXIMUM.

So I mixed it in with my Jason Aloe Vera conditioner in my co-wash this week after netball, and that really did the trick. But why did it take me so long to realise what was up with my hair?

Because I was busy, and getting lost in busy-ness not to be confused with business. When I stray from my routine, when I get wrapped up in social media and news because of the election. My mind loses it's usual ability to process the simple things.

The routine that I have that works isn't even that hardcore regimented, there's lots of room for flexibility but as with all aspects of life, you have to acknowledge the addictions you have and how much control they have over you, even down to the basic things like taking care of your hair. It may not seem like a straight swap "If I watch another hour of tv I won't do my hair tonight" but seriously I know this and I'm re-teaching myself everyday. Too much of some of the unnecessary stuff just teaches your mind how to not think. Eventually you just won't think about you at all.

Shampoo-less regime

About a month ago or so, I over moisturised my hair. I thought I'd use that mess up as a good excuse to try the shampoo-less regime so as to lesson the amount of water interaction my hair had.

This is where you only wash your hair with conditioner either 100% of your wash days or most of them. My usual regime was, shampoo and deep con on a sunday (with a oil prepoo in the second half of my stretch), and a co wash on a Wednesday. I changed this to full shampoo and deep con every 2 weeks, and the rest of the time just conditioner.

In summary - it didn't work out for me. It might just be because I've got fine hair or that it's relaxed, but it just wasn't having it.

It's definitely quicker, and at first  your hair definitely doesn't feel like it needs a day to bounce back after the wash, but over the weeks it does build up - even with the shampoo every two weeks.

I also use natural shampoo and conditioner so that may have played a part in why it all built up on me. I just wasn't expecting it as I rarely put silicone in my hair and if I do it's neat so I can see the exact amount.

But, on Saturday, having done this for about 5 weeks, my hair just wasn't playing ball. I put the leave in in which is primarily water, and it just couldn't get to the strands. So yes, my hair had build up and yet my scalp was so dry, every day I felt like I had to put more and more water on.

Really pleased I did it though, as at least I know I can go without shampoo for a week if I needed to.

I have now at this late stage in my life, made a firm decision to use one set of shampoo and conditioner at the beginning of the stretch and a different one at the end. I for some really weird reason, was only using that second set when my hair became too tough to handle, rather than using it as prevention so that it wouldn't become too difficult to handle. Perspective and hindsight.

Beginning of the stretch shampoo and conditioner

Ending 4 weeks of the stretch shampoo and conditioner - Rosemary

Thin to Thick - Hey JASON...

I have found that some conditioners that are supposed to provide protein are really just light touch detanglers. JASON Thin to Thick is not one of those.

I wanted to give myself a few days after doing a co-wash with it before writing. At first I felt like it just made my new growth soft and that was nice but nothing to write home about. As the days went on though, my usually fine hair just felt fat for want of a better word. It felt like I had about double the amount of hair on my head.

By the 4th day I realise that actually my hair now needs significantly more moisture than it usually does. That's on me rather than JASON, where I thought it may just be a light tough protein conditioner I used it when my hair only needed a top up of protein. This is much more like a reconstructor.

I am pleased with it, but I think the next time I use it I'll have to follow it up with a moisturising conditioner for balance, or alternatively add a couple of drops of Calendula essential oil when applying. Calendula is seriously moisturising - I only use it when I'm in real need like when I've had a bad cold for a week and haven't been able to wash my hair. Over moisturising can be as bad if not worse than over loading hair with protein.

I only got the Conditioner but they also do a Shampoo, a Scalp Elixir, and a Volume Spray. Using this really reminded me about timing with hair. I'm much better at listening to my hair now but maybe I was a bit too eager to use my new sparkling product. I'll do better.

This weekend I'll do another hot oil scalp massage before my deep condition. My hair is getting rally curly now so I really need to spend more time detangling gently, it's so easy at night to just want  to get through it, put on my head tie and get on with my meditation.