Hello, folks!
Yes, this thing is on. I’ve just been … lazy, as usual, with my hair.
Since I last posted, I’ve decided to simplify my hair care regimen and the number of products I use. More than anything, I realized that if: every day I wet my hair, apply a cream, and (maybe) seal with an oil or avocado butter, then everything’s gonna be irie. The most important things here are to wet my hair and follow with a rich cream.
Now, here’s the hilarious thing: Like most of us have found ourselves in a situation where we didn’t have our hair products, I was on a trip recently where I was without nearly all of my toiletries. All I had were a spray bottle of water, avocado butter, and some lotion, specifically Earth Mama Angel Baby’s Earth Mama Body Butter, a rich lotion with aloe vera gel, shea butter, jojoba oil, and other moisturizing ingredients. Many of us aren’t new to the concept of putting lotion in our hair, but none has been so effective at keeping my hair moisturized like this.
I’ve also realized that I love how moisturized my hair feels after I do a clay treatment (I’ll post my recipe soon). Not only is it clean and clarified, but it’s soft, my curls are defined, and I almost feel like I don’t need to use conditioner. Almost. This is my hair we’re talking about here, and we know what a mind of its own it has.
So, I’ve stopped co-washing. Yep. I’m clay-washing. Only.
Even further, I learned that my hair doesn’t really need as much conditioner as I thought, as long as I add some water to distribute it through my hair. I’m saving big time money by not using nearly a half a bottle of conditioner on my hair.
So, then, what am I using on, and doing to, my hair?
- My clay wash (recipe coming; I’ll link to it from here)
- Aubrey Organics’ White Camellia conditioner (they’ve changed the formula, but it still works well for me)
- My ayurvedic herb treatment
- Daily wetting and following with Earth Mama Body Butter and avocado butter
- Aubrey Organics’ Blue Green Algae Hair Rescue Conditioning Mask (my hair does well with this type of protein, once a month)
- Gel: I’m still figuring out which works best for me, but my current rotation includes Curl Junkie’s Curls in a Bottle, Keratese’s Curl Fever Radiant Curl Defining Gel, Naturally Amari’s Curls R Us Flax Seed Gel, and Dark and Lovely Au Naturale Curl Defining Crème Glaze.
- Color: Kool-Aid (seriously) and Surya Brasil Natural Henna Cream (I bought it, but haven’t tried it yet)
That’s it. This is all I’m going to do to my hair, because it works TM.
I have a slew of other products left over—so many creams, conditioners, sprays, etc.—and I want to cry. How am I ever going to get rid of them all? Swapping boards aren’t an option since it costs me about $30 to go to the post office (long story). I keep thinking that I should organize a swap/give away day event in my area, which would be more reasonable. At any rate, sticking with this routine and these products seems to be the cure for my product junkieism.
What does concern me is, because of my laziness, it’s been a long time since I’ve done a wash and go, and I wonder if I’ll be able to do a successful one with my current products. And I don’t think I can do one in the mornings before I go to work, simply because I get up at the crack of dawn (4:45 to 5AM), and to do a wash and go, I’d have to get up around 4. Nope. Ain’t gonna happen. Perhaps a wash and go-to-bed experiment is in order.
So far in my hair journey, I’ve learned to find what works for my hair—even if it doesn’t make sense. As long as it doesn’t damage my hair in the long run (as some people have found with routines like the max hydration method), then I’m just going to do it. I am the Captain of My Hair.