Moisturizing and sealing

Hi there!

This is the part of my hair routine/regimen I struggle the most with.
I did get quiet quickly into moisturizing every night or every other day but boy, finding the right produtcs was a struggle!
I took me a very long time to find out products that work for my hair. I consider this part the most delicate one. I found out quiet quickly DC and shampoos that work for my hair but the backbone of my regimen that is moisturizing was still missing. All my efforts were pointless without it as I would still experience dry hair and breakage leading to no length retention for a while and unhealthy hair.
I finally figured out what my hair liked and started to see results: soft, moisturized healthy hair and length retention.

I sometimes tweek it but the basics are:

• leave-in conditionner
• hair spritz
• creamy moisturizer
• oils

Leave-in conditionner

I wondered for a while if this step was necessary in my routine. My shampoo and DC routine would give me enough slip to detangle my hair and moisturize that I thought I could skip it. I'm still not fullly convinced about these type of products but they do not hurt. I sometimes skip it when using my aloe vera spritz or when I use my Kerastase produtcts. I'm using them on and off though. On the other hand, they saved my hair when the DC used that day did not deliver.

Hair spritz

My hair hate liquid moisturizers when used alone. It took me a while to figure it out but also to find a spritz that would work. I make my own using the following:

• 1/3 rose water
• 2/3 aloe vera juice
• a squirt of light weight oil. I rotate between argan oil, linseed oil or olive oil.

I use this spritz as a detangler, leave-in conditionner, moisturizer.
When used as moisturizer, I first use my aloe vera spritz, then a creamy mosturizer and then the oil to seal. The L.O.C. method becomes the L.C.O method for me.
As a leave-in conditionner, I use it before a creamy leave-in such as Kinky curly knot today or any other creamy leave-in. It gives me enough slip to detangle easily my hair even with tons of new growth. PLUS my hair is moisturized for the next couple of days.

Creamy moisturizer

I rotate between my home made all natural moisturizer and Elasta QP mango  butter. The Elasta QP mango butter works well during autumn, winter and my home-made creamy moisturizer works all year round. My hair loves it so much that I use it 80% of the time. Any of this creamy moisturizer works wonders after the aloe vera spritz.

Oils

I must confess: I'm an oil addict! I have different types of oils that I purchase from the grocery, in the organic section. I use only cold-press organic oils as they are full of nutrients.
My favourite to seal the moisture in are:

• Coconut oil
• hemp seed oil
• grapeseed oil
• argan oil

I've learned through this journey that moisturizing and sealing consistently with the right products will give you the most amazing results. It's a key point of any routine for healthy hair and length retention.


Ciao Ciao

Coconut oil

Hi people!

What? already another post? Sounds strange for those of you who are familiar with my blog! yeah, yeah, yeah, I know... I'm trying to focus again on my hair journey.
So today, I would like to discuss Coconut oil as you would gess from the title.

At the beginning of my hair journey, I hated this oil in my hair. Do not get me wrong, I love the coconut oil smell, but the effects on my hair, no, mmm, no, No, oh no!
Researching in the internet, most of the article state how this oil could strengthen your strands when added in your regimen but for me it was a whole different story. My soft hair would turn hard as soon as coconut oil would touch it. When combing my hair, I would find small pieces everywhere!
Talk about strengthening...

I stayed away from Coconut oil for a while beacause of this curious reaction from my strands.
I rediscovered it a year ago, when I wanted to get rid of my big unused jar. I first started mixing it with avocado oil or jojoba oil to seal after moisturizing. The result was amazingly soft but strong hair. I could not believe it. I checked every area of my regimen to understand this sudden change. I'm simply using less protein respect to the beginning of my journey. This hindered me from receiving all the benefits from this marvellous oil.
I learn it well: before ditching any product, give it a chance to work with different combinations first and keep an eye on your current protein/moisture balance!

Benefits for my hair:

• Stronger hair
• Soft hair
• Shiny hair
• no more dry hair

It's my first oil of choice now when it comes to sealing or for a hot oil treatment.

What was your experience with coconut oil? please share.
Ciao

Detangling: paradise or hell

Detangling has always been underated in my hair regimen.
I've always relied on the product to work it's magic for it and never really felt the need to improve my technique. Oh boy I was wrong!!!

With my hair's current length, I understand now how important it is to have a good technique for detangling. Do not get me wrong, I'm combing from tip to roots, with a large tooth comb but still my technique had to be improved.

My detangling process is now the following:
1- Take my time. If I'm in a hurry, no detangling for me. I just lightly separate the strands and push back my hair in a bun;
2 - Grab all the products and tools I need: combs, moisturizer, oil, butterfly clips
3 - Gently part the hair in 4 sections and lightly separate the strands with my fingers. This helps a lot to remove all the tangles GENTLY!
4 - Part each section in 2 or 3 and apply the moisturizer to each section and put a butterfly clip on each.
Since my hair does not like wet detangling, I use my moisturizing spritz with aloe vera very lightly before applying the moisturizer.
5 - Once all sections are done, start with applying the oil to each section and put a butterfly clip on each.
6 - Start detangling the first section from tip to root with gentle short strokes using the shower comb. Then use the wide tooth comb to get all shed hairs.
7 - Once all sections are done, I can proceed to styling.

With this technique, no more tangled hair and less breakage from combing.
These are the combs I use in this process.

Ciao Ciao