henna gloss & tea rinse (wash day)

I did quite a few things my last wash day.

1. If you follow me on Instagram, you know I suddenly decided to try bangs. 
2. It was protein wash day, so I continued my protein layering regimen.
3. And lastly, I did a tea rinse (with garlic) to decrease shedding.  

With my current schedule my wash days have been on Thursday, so this'll be a recap. It's been about three weeks since the start of my Protein Layering challenge, and accordingly, I did a protein treatment on the bottom half of my hair last wash. The protein layering method I've been doing is applying protein by gradually working up the hair length every protein wash day (visit here for an illustration).

Aside from protein layering, I've also been focusing on reducing shedding my last few wash days. I've been having an increase in hair loss lately (nothing big, but noticeable) and from analyzing the loss strands I see the majority is shedding. Not sure if it's a seasonal thing or change in my diet, but I've been doing tea rinses to try and combat it (that and trying to remember to take garlic supplements).


Here is what I used on my wash day

• Tea Rinse/ Prepoo - Created a tea rinse made of fennel tea, hibiscus tea, nettle tea, peppermint tea, and juiced garlic and poured it over my head, focusing on my scalp. That sat for about an hour. 
• Cleanse - Shampooed with Creme of Nature's Argan oil Shampoo
• Oil Rinse - Poured some grape seed oil over my hair while still in the shower, wanting it to be damp and a little oily before applying my henna gloss. 
• Protein - Did a henna gloss and allowed it to sit for about an hour
• Condition - Deep conditioned with Aubrey Organic's Honeysuckle Rose Conditioner for about two hours
• Moist - Finished of with my diluted Kimmaytube leave-in and Vatika Frosting

BLACK HENNA GLOSS

If you follow the henna gloss link above, you'll see I use Aveda's Black Malva Conditioner in it in attempt to get darker undertones. I have never updated how this idea worked for me because, well, I still don't know if it works. I've been having a dilemma of trying to take before and after pictures of my hair's undertones. From what I can tell from the before and after pictures I attempted to take this wash, there isn't much of a difference. Maybe next time I attempt it I'll do it more like a two step henna treatment, using the black malva instead of indigo. 

TEA RINSE

The hair care knowledgeable might have noticed I didn't use black tea in my mix, when it's the most known tea to help combat shedding. Black tea rinses have helped me in the past when I noticed an increase in shedding, but recently, not so much. When I first started doing tea rinses to combat this period of increase shedding, I was only using black tea. I wasn't noticing any improvement this time, not sure why. With the fennel, nettle, and garlic juice mixture I have now, however, I have noticed slight improvement. I plan on continuing to change it up though, until I find the tea rinse recipe that works best for me.  

protein layering challenge

Hey guys, I started a Protein Layering challenge on Hairlista. If you're interested in trying out the method, or already doing it, please join us! The group will be active until the end of November. The only real rules is to create a starting posts explaining your protein layering strategy and to keep your protein and moisture balance stable. To help show examples of different ways protein layering can be done, I made the below animated gifs.

• This one is my main method. It involves working up the hair every protein wash day. You start with solely protein deep conditioning your the first wash, then working up to two-fouths the hair length the next scheduled protein wash day, then three-fourths the next one, and then your whole head the final one. Then the cycle repeats.

• This one is inspired by Nadege's method, and unlike the one above, one cycle is done on the same day. The protein treatment is first applied solely to your ends, then a diluted version is applied to the 'lower class' level of the hair. As you work your way up the diluting and letting it sit in your hair steps just repeat for the 'middle class' and 'protein rich' levels of the hair like shown.

protein layering (for even strength)

HAIR HIERARCHY OF NEEDS

Like my first legit infographic? Protein layering is a method, or rather a concept, still stapled to my hair regimen. It has helped my suffering ends with the transitioning from lye relaxers to Japanese straightening. Since sharing this idea, the method has been coined 'protein layering', but technically you don't have to layer protein product in your hair to do it. As shown in the illustration in the link above, I have mostly been doing it by protein deep conditioning my ends one week, then half my hair the next protein wash day, then my whole head the next protein wash day.  

Because all heads of hair has this natural protein hierarchy, protein layering is something everyone can benefit from. Relaxed and fighting a line of demarcation. Natural and afraid of doing full on protein treatments too often. Lye relaxed transitioning to Japanese straightening. Or just wanting even strength throughout your hair length. Protein Layering is also beneficial to individuals that have dry ends who find methods like baggying doesn't work. Such a case would mean that even with the added moisture, the ends have nothing to retain it because of the protein loss.

Below are links to other bloggers that do protein layering. Visit their posts to see examples of the different ways protein layering can be done.

HOW IT'S DONE

Lesley from Fresh Lengths incorporates protein layering into her regimen by doing a protein deep conditioning solely to the bottom half of her hair between normal washes.

KLP from Saving Our Strands uses the concept of protein layering in her protein conditioning by applying a moisture conditioner only to her roots and then using a protein conditioner from the line of demarcation down.

Nadege from Relaxed Hair Health really follows the concept, applying a heavy protein conditioning mix to her ends and then leaving it in for about 15 mins. She then proceeds to dilute her mix and apply it to the rest of her hair.

Petra from Black Hair Information suggests a number of ways to incorporate protein layering into your regimen depending on what your hair needs.

length check ( & setback comeback)

LENGTH CHECK

To the right is my current length after trimming those straggly ends, this picture was just taken a day ago. As I said in my last post, "at first I self-trimmed an inch off by banding, but wasn't satisfied, and trimmed another inch and a half in the shower. (I only recommend trimming in the shower if your hair is straight or has just been permanently straightened.)" When I trimmed using that banding self-trim method, I trimmed my ends in a U/V-shape since that's how my ends have been growing lately. Also about a week ago, I dusted and did the search and destroy method on my ends outside. The weather was nice and I thought trimming outside would give me good enough lighting. But holding up my ends to the computer screen's lightening, I see I missed spots, so I plan on doing the search and destroy method again soon. I just measured, and currently I'm a little pass 25 1/2 inches.

SETBACK COMEBACK

I think it's safe to say I've made a comeback from my setback, but I think I'm going to wait until next touch-up to say whether I fully concurred my thinning ends. My ends obviously aren't thinning anymore, but their health still isn't where I want them to be. They are still noticeable unhealthier compared to the rest of my hair. And whose to say if I stop my stronger ends regimen that they will start thinning again. Below I have done my best to align pictures so you can see the improvement in my ends. The second picture I added lines so the differences are more noticeable.

I'm very pleased with the improvement. I feel the biggest contributors in my comeback have been combing only on wash day, protein layering, protective styling, and doing the search and destroy method. I've also now passed my goal of blunt full ends at waist length, which is now at 23 1/2 inches on me. 

hair updates

GROWTH EXAMS

My life being busy the last couple months, I unfortunately discontinued the growth exams, sorry guys... plus, I kinda already had a bad start with it. I’m also going to take a break, and won’t be doing a season 3 right away. I might still use growth aids or practices now and then, but it probably won't be with proper recording.

STRONGER ENDS REGIMEN

I've been keeping up with my protein layering and stronger ends regimen, but adjusted it slightly to be more on the safe side. Instead of using protein every other week, like the protein laying pic shown above, I was doing it more every two washes. sometimes three. I feel my hair has benefited with it and will continue to use this regimen for more even strength throughout the hair strand. To protect and baby my transitioning relaxed ends, I had also incorporated other things in my regimen, which can be find listed at the bottom of this post. Despite my hair laziness the past couple months, I successfully added most of these practices, all but the ghe method, leave-in steaming, and continuing to test growth aids. My ends still need tlc as they grow out, but my efforts so far are showing.

TOUCH UP AT HAIR IB 

Two weeks ago, June 18, I went to Hair IB Club to get a touch-up. This was my second time going to this salon. This time, instead of getting the japanese brazilian straightening , I got the normal japanese straightening. I decided not to do the JBS because I didn't feel like the extra cash was worth it. And though I had no noticeable adverse effects, I'm also still not perfectly sure how I feel about the absence of neutralizer lotion in the process. It seems like a good idea, but I like to fully understand the science behind what's happening on my head, and there's holes in my understanding of JBS.

With my second Hair IB experience, I have updated pros and cons about the salon. One, is that the salon apparently does not use protection cream. The first time I interviewed them and asked they said they did, but apparently we had a misunderstanding. The protection cream they were talking about was an extra solution they mix into the Japanese straightener for $10-20 more. This caught me off guard when I was at the salon for my touch-up, as I've been very cautious of my ends. Was all the tlc I was giving them going to be ruined in one day? I asked them if they could put conditioner on my already treated hair to create a barrier, and if they could lift it up my hair and wash the roots out exclusively first to keep the JHS from rinsing into my ends. They did, but my ends still took a toll. nothing significant like disintegrating, but noticeable damage I would have to trim (I would have to trim off my thin ends anyway) and work back to health. This makes the salon lose a few points, next time I'm going to see if I can bring in my jar of protection cream.

On another note, in addition to adding their 'protection cream' into the Japanese straightener, they used a weaker JHS formula on my roots. I'm not sure whether to consider this a positive or negative however, since this made my processing time double. The stylist said this was fine, but unless I'm given a good explanation to back things up, I'm hesitant to wholeheartedly believe. The last thing that was different this second visit, was that my hair didn't end up stick- pin- dead straight like last time, and actually had some volume. This was likely from only doing a Japanese straightening touch-up, and not getting the JBS. I liked how my hair tuned out more this time. If I'm recalling properly, my hair also didn't feel as dry as last time.

LENGTH MEASUREMENT

Above is a picture of my hair, right after my touch-up and before I trimmed at home. As you can see the ends are stringy, but the hair that's growing out is thickening nicely. At first I self-trimmed an inch off by banding, but wasn't satisfied, and trimmed another inch and a half in the shower. I only recommend trimming in the shower if your hair is straight or has just been straightened. I haven't taken an after trim picture yet, but I measured after, and if memory is right I'm currently 25 inches. Remember, I'm currently not growing my hair out, and plan to keep my ends in the same area until my relaxer fully grows out.