First healthy hair relaxer

Today I did my first relaxer since starting my healthy hair journey; my mum relaxed my hair and I got her to do a few things differently and I have to say I'm really pleased with the results

 Relaxer used: I was in the beauty supply shop and I noticed that Creme of Nature have a new relaxer out which includes a bit of coconut oil that you add directly into the relaxer. I was intrigued so I figured I would give it a try. I usually use super strength but I also downgraded to regular to see how this would work for my hair.

1. Timing: Whenever I've relaxed at home in the past we have never timed it, but in order to avoid over processing (and because I am now less concerned about being bone straight now that I'm learing to manage my hair better) I stuck to the instructions in the box and limited the whole application and smoothing process to 20 minutes.
2. Avoiding the dreaded rat tail: Usually my mum uses a tail comb to art my hair and apply/smooth the relaxer. This time I got her to use one of the brushes hairdressers use for applying colour, and I made her section my hair with her fingers to avoid snagging on comb teeth or the seam on the "rat tail" bit.
3. Mid-Relaxer Protein Treatment: If you follow me you'll know that I am using the book "The Science of Black Hair" as a guide to my hair journey. In the book the idea of restoring some of your hair's protein immediately after you have broken it down with the chemical process of relaxing, and BEFORE you bring the PH down to normal with neutralizing shampoo, is introduced. I decided to give this a go too and used my Aphogee 2 Minute Restructurizer conditioner for this step. We left it on for 5 minutes and then neautralised, deep conditioned (30 minutes with heat) and styled as usual.
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As I said, I am really pleased with how my hair turned out...sadly I forgot to take a photo, but it felt strong and thick...perfect! :-)

How to travel in style....

Here's a quick tip on how to arrive in style when you're travelling...

When I travel I don't do my hair at the start of the journey. My go-to style for a long haul flight is to have my hair wrapped and tied under a pretty headscarf - I also don't do my makeup either.

Once I get off the plane my first stop is the ladies room where I do my face and my hair - then I step out to meet whoever's picking me up looking fresh and having them wondering how I look so put together after a long flight :-)

Ms Henissi x

Second Wash Day - Damp-wrap with the hood dryer

I didn't have time to air dry after my wash day on Thursday so I decided to try out the hood attachment I bought for my blow dryer (£10 at my hairdressers).

Second Wash Day - Protein Conditioner

My second wash day rolled around incredibly quickly!
I was a but pressed for time as I was washing late on a Thursday evening before having to go to work and then heading to V Festival (yes I had to get that in there) on the Friday.
I have bought some coconut oil and peppermint oil so I did a pre-poo with that before washing with my Keracare shampoo. I decided to go for a protein conditioner so used my Apogee keratin reconstructor under my heat wrap then used the Apogee Keratin and Green Tea leave in. I didn't't notice a massive difference in the feel of my hair after using it but I have noticed a reduction in breakage.

First Wash Day Air Dry Results!

So...my first attempt at air drying my hair is complete and I'm really pleased with how it came out.

Here's what I did...

And here are the results...

My First Wash Day (part 1)

Today was a lovely warm, sunny day and I was working from home so I decided it would be perfect for my first wash day and a good time to try out pre-pooing, doing a DC and air drying.

I also decided that I'd do my first video to document how everything went...

Products...continued

My Aphogee products have arrived from Pak Cosmetics in North London (I ordered them online)

My first products

Yesterday I bought the first batch of products to start building my regimen

I've set my goals!

This is my first time setting hair goals so I'm keeping it simple. But by posting it on a blog this is me making a commitment to achieving the following:

1. Identify products that work well for my hair
2. Develop and maintain a healthy hair regimen
3. Neck Length (have thicker, fuller, stronger hair) by February 2013
4. Shoulder Length (SL) by December 2013

Chop Day!

All of the advice I've been reading online about starting a healthy hair journey advocates cutting off your spilt ends - trying to hold onto them in the name of "length" doesn't work (they will eventually snap off) and let's be honest - the straggly thin "long" bits just make your hair look uneven and unkempt anyway! So today I went to the hairdressers for a treatment and a "trim".

Bye bye thin split ends

Wow - instant results! Moisturising and sealing works

I'm 3 days into my hair journey and I am amazed and oh so please to be reaping immediate benefit of a bit of "hairducation" - after just two nights of moisturising and sealing my hair before wrapping it for bed I can already feel and see a noticeable difference.

And So It Begins...But What Kind of Hair am I Dealing With?

After a couple of evenings spent starting to  "hairducate" myself about caring for Afro-Caribbean hair (by lapping up the great blogs and hair care websites out there, and purchasing  The Science of Black Hair [SoBH]), I've taken my first active steps on the road to healthy hair...classifcation

No Routine = Bad Routine

One of the first things I'm going to have to do as part of my hair journey is to develop a "regimen" for my hair. From my reading up on hair sites and blogs I gather that a good regimen (or routine) is one of the key steps to growing and maintaining healthy hair.

I've come to believe that my hair is naturally fine - it seems to get clogged down with product very easily and even when it's in its "best" condition there seems to be a lot of it but it's thin - but maybe that's not the case at all, maybe it would have potential to be thick and lustrous if I didn't mistreat it as follows: