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.

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.

Rosewood oil - my secret weapon?

Rosewood Essential Oil!

I don't know why this works but it does. As I've been making my cosmetics over the past 2 years or so, I've steadily been stocking up on my essential oils. I think I may have about 20 or so at the moment, I'll write about them all at some point I'm sure.

As I'm naturally curious, I've been adding a drop or 2 to my shampoo or conditioner (after doing my research) to see what it would add to my hair. Some of my favourites for wash day are:

1. Rosewood (obviously)
2. Rosemary - used most frequently
3. Lavender - go to fix all if I don't know what I need
4. Cedarwood - for those itchy / painful scalp days
5. Calendula - by far the easiest way to make your hair drink water fast

Now my Lady Rosewood is a tricky tricky EO. Mostly because I can't find anywhere on the internet that says it does what it does to my hair. I did however find a few mentions of it being endangered and to use Ho Wood oil as a replacement, but all of those articles are from several years ago, and when I bought it, it wasn't that expensive, so I'm hoping I haven't hurt a tree somewhere.

The best I can find is that it's an Astringent so if I work that out in my head, that means it will flatten the cuticles. So I can say, I use Rosewood oil to straighten and strengthen my hair. At 3 weeks post relaxer that was only 75% done in the first place and an awful lot of massaging rosemary oil into my scalp, I had a lot more curl than I was used to, so I thought it's time to put some Rosewood in because I remembered the first and only time I used it, I got a lot of shine and it just felt strong. So here I went again.

It was my co wash day so I put 2 drops in my hand with my JASON Aloe Vera and worked it through, by the time I finished I thought I could feel the hair was straighter but it was just me. I put a grip in it and showered, then rinsed it out with luke warm water. It was probably only sitting in for about 2 minutes. Let me tell you, my hair as I was finger combing it, maybe 2 were left on my hands. Audrey Davis-Sivasothy says that healthy hair will only have about 20 broken strands a day (I think it's a day). These days I'm about 10 in the morning and 15-20 at night which I can tell you is so much better than I was back in the day, when I was brushing my hair and cleaning countless strands out of it.

The ends were so straight and strong that they barely held a curl that first night, which I know sounds counterintuitive but the initial electric shock style hair wears off. As the days went by it was much easier to style, the texlaxed curls and new growth were now just waves. This stayed this way through to Sunday when I washed and deep conditioned it. And I forgot to take a picture before I did - sorry - but I will do next time.

So even now as I'm air drying my hair, the roots are only slightly puffier than they ought to be at this point. I don't even want to put Lady Rosewood into my hair oil or leave in conditioner for fear that my hair gets to used to it.

I did a lovely new scalp massage today which I will write up later, and just added 2 drops of Cedarwood to my conditioner. If anyone ANYONE else has used Rosewood, please let me know how it worked out for you.

Until next time.